Star. — London, England, 1819-10-13 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR. liter'! ie hdvenisetnent, headed " National Fire-Office," which appeared in your Paper of the sth instant, I find the Directors of that Office have declared to be a base forgery ; and, a, my name appeared thereto without my knowledge or concur rence, I consider myself called upon to make the same declara tion. I should suppose, that those who inserted it must have discovered, that several Gentlemen of great wealth and respect ability have lately examined into all the circumstances upon which blame had been attributed to me, but who had declared, that instead of blame, I ant deserving of the thanks of every I:ele.her of the Norwich Fire and Life Societies, as well as that • ary well-disposed Citizen., It should be recollected, that what has been stated against me been wholly ex-parte, and has been sent forth principally by, and at the expense of the Insurance Companies, or their Agents. It ether of theist be the authors of the forgery above alluded to. it looks as if tleay were unwilling to leave the insured to the cool and deliberate exercise of their own reason upon matters of Insurar.ce. And further, that, as I am the champion for the system of Insurance Reform, it was necessary to assassinate my reputation, lest I should ultimately succeed. I would recotn ✓those who wish to promote the old expensive mode of In. surxoe, to announce its merits, and chew bow far it surpasses the pan of mutual guarantee, instead of depending on forgeries and falsehood to accomplish their unworthy purposes. And I we all also recommend to all those who have placed dependence on the reports so copiously circulated against me, to examine the documents which are in my hands (and to which they shall have tree access), when I am convinced they will blush at their cre. „ "limy in having so far trusted to what has been said by those who have had s an interest in misleading and misguiding them. Brixton Lodge, Oct. 12, 1818. THOS. BIGNOLD.• 7 - THE EVENING STAR. LONDON. • WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1819. • THE FUNDS. PRICE OF STOCKS THIS DAT AT OY.O . CLCCK Bank Stock 2191 219 ex. div. 3 per Cent. Reduced 681 67f ex. div, 3 per Cent. Consols 69 64 69 6S+ 84 per Cent. 771 761 ex. div. 4 per Cent. 8. ex. div. 5 per Cent. Navy 1030;1 ILtak Long Annuities 17.1 IS Sadia Bonds 14 pre. Exchequer Bills (2d.) Is. pre. Is. dis. Oninium, at pre, par. Consuls for Acct. 69} 68f1. As we stated yesterday, Parliament is to meet on the 23d of November. The following is a copy of the Proclamation which appeared in The London Gazette of last night : A PROCLAMATION. • By his Royal Highness the Prince of Waks, Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty. Whereas the Parliament stand; prorogued to Tuesday, the second day of November next, We, in the name and on the be half of his Majesty, and by and with the advice of his Majesty's. Pr y Council, do hereby publish, and declare, that the said Parliament shall be further prorogued on the said second day of Normiber, to Tuesday, the twenty-third day of said month; and we have given order to the Lord High Chancellor ef that rrrt of the Unit,t! King'dom 9f Great Britain and Ireland called Great Britai:', to prepare a Commission for proroguing the same azzordirsly. :Ind we do further 11..reby, in the name and on tls. be:sal! of lue Majn,ty, ar.d hy and with the advice aforesaid, FddiAs and declare, that the said I'arliament sheik on the twenty-third day of November next, be held and sit for the dis p.:tch of dh:ers urgent and important affairs. And the Lords Si,iritual and Temporal, and the Knights, Citizens, apd Bur_ ge,sus, and the Commissioners for Shires and Burghs of the lloase f'..rirnons, are hereby required and commanded to give thdr attendance accordingly, at Westminster, on the said twenty-third day of November next. Gives. at the Court at Carlton House, the eleventh day of 1 Ctztol,r, 1819, in the 59th year of his Majesty's reign. (ion SAtE THE litho• We this day lay before our Readers the proceed-' Irgs which took place in the trial of CARLILI, from the hour at which we closed our Report yesterday ; with the farther procedure of this day down to the time of our going to Press, Some of our contem. per arias, ate loudest in their declarations against blasphemous publications, but most assiduous in giving circulation, on every occasion that offers, to' the poison they contain, have seized on the present, , opportunity to give publicity to all the vile trash in PAINE'S Age of Reason, by publishing the contents of the different Counts of the Information against CARLILE. It was necessary that the Law Officers should fully set forth the blasphemous matter -of the defendant's publication ; but, to say nothing of the bad taste exhibited by the act, where was the neces sity for these pretended defenders of morals and re ligion to disseminate the poison throughout the country As these writers seem desirous to compel all their readers to taste of the poisoned chalice, that they may learn, experimentally, its deadly qualitiesovhat ray we expect from them now, when power is given to them, by the public nature of a Trial, to com pel their readers to chink the entire cup, to its very dregs?' The whole of the three parts of Paine's Age of lieason was read in the course of CAattris defence, and it is now lawful for them to treat their readers with an entire copy of the wink, as forming part of the Trial. The Paris Papers of Sunday arrived this forenoon, A report is stated to be current in Paris, that a great number of Deputies have signed an Address to the KTNG, in which they protest, respectfully, against the admission of the Ea-llishop Geac.olite into the Chamber of Deputies.,-five per Cents, 70 fr, 18 c. A liarnburgh Mail arrived this morning, which announces the departure of the Duke of CVN/Mit• LA' O flora Warsaw, and the arrival of the Emperor 41atx4I1tatt at Rip, cm the V2d nlp having been preceded by the Grand Ihtke thottoms eq the 21st. Os the 23d there was a grand revie' of 60,00 n mas; with a bell of artillery of 60 pieces of own% . A ' j•tti; . MR. CARLILE'S TRIAL. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, GUILDHALL FIRST DAY.—(Continued frotri the Slaa of yesterday.) When Mr. Carthice ended the reading the First Part of the Age of Reason, he observed, 4. Gentlemen of the Jury, I have now concluded the First Part of 'the Age of Reason ; and I think I have upheld the position I stated in the commencement of my de fence, viz. that in this work, for the publication of which I am this day brought to trial, there is neither an immoral thought nor word. Nay, more, I venture to assert, that it contains more moral truth, more just sentiments of reverence for the DEITY, than can be collected from all the detached precepts and moral injunctions to be found in the voluminous pages of the work of which it is an investigation. I shall now proceed to read the Second Part of the Age of Rea son, from which the Learned Attorney-General has selected passages to form distinct counts of the In formation." He then proceeded to read the com ments of Mr. Paine, on the murders, atrocities, and assassination of infants, which the Bible states Moses to have committed by the order of GoD. " Why, in the name of that GOD, Ids the Attorney-General selected these passages?• But why, Gentlemen, I ask you to consider, is it, that when he selected these passages, he has not ventured, nay, most studiously abstained from speaking a single word upon them. As I am proceeding to read that part of Mr. Paine's works, where, out of the Bible itself, he proves the contradictions of the Bible, I have, for the•serviie of the Jury, a Bible near me, in order to enable them, if they think proper, to compare the extracts with the original." Mr. Carlile proceeded to read the following extracts from Mr. Paine, as taken from 'the Book of Numbers, Chap. 31st : " Is. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the cengre .gation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho. " 13. And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. " 14. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. " 15. And Moe, said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? " 16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balsam, to commit trespass against the Lord In the matter of Peor, and there was a plague anions the congre gation of the Lord. _ _ _ " 17. Now therefore kill every male among the little oats, and kill every woman that bath known man by lying with him. " 18. But all the women children that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." " If," said Mr. CARLILE, " I had written such blasphemy—if I had published it,.and imputed it to the orders of ALMIGIITY GOD, how 'could I appear before you to ask your favourable interpretation of my motives? with what severity of invective would my objects and my moral feelings have been im peached, even by the very persons who now prose cute me ?" When Mr. CARLILE reached that part of the dis quisition of Paine which denied the Book of Job to be a Jewish production, he observed, that in the Li brary of the East India Company, in Leadenhall street. there was a Persian manuscript, which, in the shape of a drama, gave the Book of Job—a proof which coincided with the internal evidence, that it was a Gentile, and not a Hebrew production. • At About half-past tire o'clock, when the candles were about to be lighted, Mr. CARLILE appealed to his Lordship to relieve him in his exhausted state, either by adjourning the Court or permitting some person to read for him, as he found It impossible to proceed. The CHIEF JUSTICE replied, that it was then toe early to adjourn ; but suggested, that if be (Mr. Car lile) wanted to take refrfthment, lie might retire for a short while. Mr. CARLILY then withdrew, accompanied by Mr. HUNT, and in a-few moments returned, and resumed his task of reading the Age of Reason. -Mr. HUNT entered the Court some time after, and sat by his sidc as before. He was loudly applauded by the crowd ateembled in the Hall, as he passed in and out. Mr. CARLILE, after reading the passages which re fer to the Nativity, observed - to the Jury, that the Attorney-General had laid considerable stress upon that part of the subject in the course of his address. It was not a little extraordinary that he should have done so, as he was an Unitarian himself; and as the Unitarians spoke of it in the same tone which Mr. Paine had then adopted, he did not see why Paine should not use the same language which the Unita rians were protected in using by the authority of an Act of Parliament. At another part of the Work which repeats the charge of fabulous invention against the statements of Sacred History, he alluded to the Attorney-General's assertion, that Paine was, in private, a believer in the doctrines whose founda tion he disputed publicly. He defended the consis tency of Paine, by stating that he had no reason, and could have no motive, for contradicting his own be. lief. He was in confinement at the time—he was every day expecting to be brought to the guillotine, and, under such circumstances, had writtejs the Work in question. He further took occaionfo vin dicate his moral character, by an anecdote, which, he thought, would prove, according to his own as sertion, that he never returned evil for evil. The anecdote was as follows :—One day, while Mr. Paine was in France, having entered one of the Coffee houses, where he found a number of Gentlemen, aqd among the rest, an Officer of the English Army... he joined the conversation, and spoke his opinions freely. The English Officer took offence at some of his expressions against the gnpsh Government, and proceeded even so far as to strike him a blow. The offence would, if prosecuted, have exposed the Offi cer to the punishment of death, (or Mr. Paine was at that time a Member of the National Convention / The populace were outrageous at the insult, but Mr. Paine interfered himself in behalf of the Officer, and even assisted him with Money to return to England. Mr. Carlile having read for a considerable time longer, made another pause; after which he exclaimed, " Give me the Age of Reason, And allow me to preach from it, and the Attorney-tkneral may 'do What he likes with the Bible. Why, then should he bring me here? Why should he require of you, Gen tiem Pr the Jury , to hrpw t me into thf hands of —to destroy my p ros p ec t s , t o ru i n my f am il y, o leave me at the me rc y of th ose w h o nay per ill laps throw me into a dungeon to rot and Perish, and that mead/ for publishing this boot ? After all the declamation of the Attorney-General„ I say, give me this m b° o ° u k r respective —igtl) im h texts , avetlh a e n tib i l ee e— w l h et o n w s Wh in dlakprea:s thech I 'most converts r—On comic; to those passages in Third Part of the Publication which allude to Mn, Whiston, he related the following anecdote of that Gentleman:—Being a favourite with Queen-Cato line, the wife of George I. he walked with her Ma jesty one day, while a prosecution was depending against him for some comments on the Bible. The Queen remarked to him—" Mr. Whiston, whatever your religious opinions may be, I think you had bet ter keep them to yourself, and not make such a stir about them."—" Ah r replied Mr. Whiston, " if Lu ther and Chlvin, and other Reformers, had kept taeir opinions to themselves, and made no stir about th em, where would your Majesty be now?" The Queen was satisfied by this appeal—she saw the propriety of permitAkg every man to speak his own fair opi nion, and the prosecution was dropped so on after. —About ten o'clock Mr. CARGILL finished reading the Age of Reason, together with the Appendia, hav ing been ergaged in reading it for nearly eleven hours. His voice was clear, and distinct to the end, and his physical power (for there was no other exer ted) seemed as fresh as ever. His manner of reading was generally unemphatic and monotonous, and his pronunciation, in a great variety of instances, ex tremely faulty. The Bench and Jury paid the ut most attention to every thing which he read or deli vered.—" I have now," be concluded, " presented to you the whole of the Work on which the informa tion i s founded. The .entiments and opinions of Mr. Paine on the subjects under discussion are also mine. —This work contains a body of truth to which I subscribe. It could not be proved to have any im moral tendency ; it evinced an enlarged and liberal mind. The author had said, that be could not be complaisant to error and falsehood, and as he consi dered the Old and New Testament as replete with falsehood, he treated them with little respect. I now feel myself exhausted, and beg your Lordship (ad dressing the Chief-Justice) to adjourn the Court till to-morrow." The CHIEF-JUSTICE—Have you much more to say in defence ? The Defendant—lf my bodily strength would per mit, I could go on till Saturday. The CniEr4usrica--As I would not willingly curtail your defence, if you request me, I shall now adjourn till to-morrow. Defendant—l request it, my Lord. The Csitur-JusTica, addressing the Jury, said, that he was not desirous of imposing upon them any re straints. They would, of course, tare care not to hold communicatidns with any persons on the subject under trial. His Lordship then left the Court. The Jury, of course, were permitted to separate. The immense crowd which filled the Hall, in the early part of the day, remained till the last ; and when Mr. Carlile left Court, he was greeted with clapping and other marks of encouragement. He took some slight refreshment at the Guildhall Coffee house, and was accompanied home in a coach by Mr. Hunt, who during the whole trial sat by him in Court. The Archbishop of CANTERIURY, attired in his Canonicals, waited in the parlour behind the Bench during the greater part of the day, in expectation of being called. It is said that four of the Bench of Bishops were also in attendance in the neighbourhood. SECOND DAY. The course of defence adopted by Mr. CAILIL4 appears to have produced a considerable diminution in the interest which his trial at first excited. -The number of persons waiting to obtain admission into ,Court, this morning, was small, compared with the crowd of yesterday; and, after the doors were opened, not above one-third •of the area allotted to the ac► commodation of the Public, was filled. Mr. CARLILE entered the Court at a quarter past nine, and was followed by several persons, carrying large parcels of books, which were pita on the table, before Mr. C. Mr. HUNT did not Make his appearance. About half-past nine, the Cam Jurrice took his seat OR the Bench. The ATTORNIIII-GENRIAL and SOLICITOR-GENERAL were both at theit posts. The cause of the King v. Carla*, was immediately called. Mr. BELLAMY then proceeded to call over the Jnirr, all of whom answered to their names. Mr. Under-SheriffTuseek now handed up to the Jury-box the twelve copies of the Age of Reason, which were yesterday supplied by Mr. CARLILE. Mr. CARLILE now resumed his defence. " Gentlemen of the Jury—l endeavoured yester day, by going over the chief parts of Mr. Paine's work of the-Age of Reason, to shew that it did not contain one single immoral expression or sentiment; 'and, that the only objectionable passages in it are those which Mr. Paine was obliged to quote from other publications. I endeavoured to sbew, and I trust I have been able to do so satisfactorily, that so far from Mr. Paine being the atheistical person which his calumniators have described him to be, his whole object, in the work now complkined of, was to res- 1 cue the character of the ALMIGHTY from the aspen• sions cast upon it in that book called the Bible. Mr. Paine, Gentlemen, was no . Atheist. lie not only be lieved in a Deity, but entertained ideas of the DRITY of a far sublimer order than any that are in the Bible. I endeavoured to convince you of this yesterdaT, from the work called the Age of Reason, itself; and I shall now make the truth still clearer, by other isrodue dons from his pen. You will see in Mr. Paine's Works what Mr. Paine was, and will not be led away by what those who are unfavourable to Mr. Paine's sentiments have said, or may say, of him. I propose now, qentlemen, to read to you a discourse which Mr. Paine delivered to a Society, who called themselves Theophilasthropists of France. Dien Mr. Carlile took a volume, containing the. Discourse alluded to, into his hands, ancl proceeded to read it ♦erbatim, The readi►:g o f i t occui,,. nearly an hour. 3 Mr. Carlile then read several passages from Koran, which, he said, contained many fine ideas, be such an abundaAce of trash as spoiled their eff ect , Eft was difficult to guess the object of the defer4ar• in making those quotations, except, indeed, 1 1 ; thinks that a Jury are to be fatigued into a favourable to himl Mr. Carlile th en took up e private f r i ends , A l book which he said had never been publi s h ed, 5.: which contained an accurate examinatio n i nto history of the • Christian Religion. A f ew copim h th a e d A be u e: lor c , an d irculst theed ag long th manner which the est a bli s b e. system of Religion was treated in that, was as „, deuce that Torn Paine was not the first who tigated this important subject. The dcfendarr proceeded to read a book, containing all manr,er contempt and ridicule directed against Chris tiauitr. The CHIEF JUSTICE, upon hearing some ser.te:. ct , which were calculated to shock the mind of an 7 m a; interrupted Mr. Carlile. " This is nct to be endure!, Sir," said his Lordship ; " the production y ou ;4 , reading does not at a concern your defetici. - Mr. CARLILL--" My Lord, I wish to sLcw tLz. Torn Paine is not the only person aho iniptlBl.ed Christian Religion." The CHIEF JUSTICE--" That is not the qucAi sa we are trying. The Jury are to decide whether you have dope, in publishing, is a reviling of the ChM. tian Religion, and a blasphemous calumny r" Mr. CARLILE•—" There is no law Applicable to , t case of blasphemy." Cults JusTics-- 11 There certainly is.' Mr. CARLILE-..." Define it. You have not yet let me know any thing of the particular law. The charge .against me is not according to law." The Ciller Jur'.tes—.44 I shat not define it." The ATTORNZY-GEWZRAL—" The course taken by the Defendant is not legal. Should he be displehed at the result of the trial, he mill have an opportunity of appealing to Parliament; and he• will then aster. 'fain whether the charge against him is according to law. The only question before the Jury is, whether he is or is not guilty of what is charged in the in. formation r Mr. C4RLILZ--" I wish to prove to the Jury that I had no malicious intention--my object was to do good to the community by removing a mass of errors from their minds. Every rational creature is bard to inquire into the grounds of religious belief. k a case of such importance, investigation is indispema• ble. This book is one of investigation, and I mug read it." The Coal Jusucz—..“ It is no justification to a man who has published a libel, that another pencil has done the same thing." Mr. Cast.l4,— , 6 You must not accuse mcofbas• iug published a libel. It is not yet declared to be ore by the Jury; and your / l ordship is not justified is callingit it libel.." The CMOS AIffICIP" I shall call it what I please. Certainly the question, Whether it is a libel or L ot? shall be ultimately referred to a Jury." Mr. CAitims...." MT Lord, I am here wholly assisted, and must defend myself to the best of my judgmesat and ability." The Cater Jos:idiom I am willing that you should do so; but you, must do it according to law.' Mr. Cattuma..—u-I see you are all in array against me, and I must do the best I can for myself. To quote from the writers on theological subjects, is ne• cessary to my defence ; and I must persevere, no!• withstanding your disinclination to bear me." He then turned to the offensive book, and was proceeding to read. The knoalirt-Gxxxstat. rose, and requested the interposition of his Lqrdship, to prevent the repetition of . blasphemy in that Court. The Cuter Jusrica--" Defendant, I am desirous that you should state every thing calculated to be of service, but I must not allow what it is improper to hear to be read as an evidence of your innocence.: Mr. CARLILE took no notice of this interdict, bit continued to read, The Armiturv-Gruxam.—ce This Defendant is charged with having published a work, containing an attack upon the truths of Christianity. Let hi:n take all legal means of defence, but he must not make this Court an arena for impious and blasphe mous publications of all kinds. The object of the 'Defendint is palpable. He wishes to give a sort et authority for the dissemination of the pernicious doc trines he quotes. The Court has the power of visiting such conduct with severe punishment, and will, n't doubt, exercise a sound discretion upon the subject." CHIEF JUSTICE-.--" I am here in a situation of, 1 acknowledge, extreme difficulty. Oa the one band s I am most unwilling to restrain a defendant from stating what is conducive, in his opinion, to his in terest ; and, on the other, I must not suffer a Court of Law to be insulted, and the Law of the Land to be violated." • Mr. C0Laz.:14.,-.0 4 I am - not violating any law. If you point out to me what particular law I am rio latingrand -convince me that I am doing so, I shall instantlfilvoid this mode of defending myself." CHIRP ./trartcas--" All law is against the readir; or spealciog language, in a . Court of Justice, w hic:! reviles and calumniates the established religion or the country." SOLICITOR-GENERAL. -.a Upon the trial of Ex.3:-. I ~~ i