The attorney was Andrew Hamilton, and the prisoner in the dock,
John Peter Zenger, a printer and publisher of the New York Weekly
Journal. Zenger was a zealous, crusading newspaperman who had
come into disfavor with the authorities as a result of his persistent
criticism of the governor of the colony.

Incidentally, both Hamilton and Zenger had strong ties with Mary-
land. Hamilton had a large estate on the Chester River. For a time,
he was a member of our colonial Legislature. Zenger for a few years
also lived in Kent County, near Chestertown, and was the printer of
the Session Laws of our colonial General Assembly.

An indentured printer's apprentice after his arrival as a boy in
this country from Germany, Zenger came south after completing his
apprenticeship and set up a print shop in our colony. While here,
he was naturalized by an act of our General Assembly. His acquit-
tal by a jury in New York in 1735 is generally regarded as the first
important victory for the freedom of the press in America. And, in-
cidentally, this case antedated the first English decision guarantee-
ing the liberty of the press by a half century.

In the quotations I have selected — and throughout the famous
speech, for that matter—Hamilton dwelt not only upon a man's right
to speak and write his feelings, but emphasized also his responsibil-
ity to speak and write the truth. He defended Zenger's liberty to crit-
icize the conduct of the governor, so long as his criticism was con-
fined "within the bounds of truth. "

Our own Declaration of Rights in Maryland places the same lim-
itation upon this liberty which has become sacred to us. A clause in
the Declaration states that "the liberty of the press ought to be in-
violably preserved; that every citizen of the State ought to be allowed
to speak, write and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being re-
sponsible for the abuse of that privilege. "

I like the language used by the framers of our Maryland Consti-
tution, for it not only establishes the right but also defines the
responsibility....

We here in Maryland are fortunate in the quality of our press.
The great metropolitan dailies here in Baltimore and the Washing-
ton newspapers circulated in our State are among the finest in the
world. Excellent small dailies and weeklies are published in all parts
of the State. It is foremost a responsible press, jealous of its freedom
to print the truth as it sees it but aware of its responsibility and the
restraints that have been placed upon that freedom.

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