Note 255 — Chapter XV · ON THE REIGN OF WILLIAM III. (continued 2)
Reading edition
State Trials, xiv. 1103, 1128. Mr. Justice Powell told the Rev. Mr. Stephens, in passing sentence on him for a libel on Harley and Marlborough, that to traduce the queen's ministers was a reflection on the queen herself. It is said, however, that this and other prosecutions were generally blamed; for the public feeling was strong in favour of the liberty of the press. Boyer's Reign of Queen Anne, p. 286.