2 DUTCH AND ENGLISH ON THE HUDSON

If a libel is understood in the large and unlimited sense
urged by Mr. Attorney, there is scarce a writing I know
that may not be called a libel, or scarce any person safe
from being called to account as a libeller; for Moses,
meek as he was, libelled Cain, and who is it that has not
libelled the devil? For according to Mr. Attorney, it is
no justification to say that one has a bad name. Echard
has libelled our good King William; Burnet has libelled
among others, King Charles and King James; and
Rapin has libelled them all. How must a man speak or
write, or what must he hear, read, or sing? Or when
must he laugh, so as to be secure from being taken up
as a libeller? I sincerely believe that were some persons
to go through the streets of New York nowadays and
read a part of the Bible, if it were not known to be such,
Mr. Attorney, with the help of his innuendoes, would
easily turn it into a libel. As for instance, the sixteenth
verse of the ninth chapter of Isaiah: The leaders of the
people cause them to err, and they that are led by them are
destroyed. But should Mr. Attorney go about to make
this a libel, he would treat it thus: "The leaders of the
people (innuendo, the governor and council of New
York) cause them (innuendo, the people of this prov-
ince) to err, and they (meaning the people of the
province) are destroyed (innuendo, are deceived into
the loss of their liberty)," which is the worst kind
of destruction. Or, if some person should publicly
repeat, in a manner not pleasing to his betters, the
tenth and eleventh verses of the fifty-sixth chapter of
the same book, there Mr. Attorney would have a large
field to display his skill in the artful application of his
innuendoes. The words are, "His watchmen are all
blind, they are ignorant; yes, they are greedy dogs, that