The National Register. — London, England, 1819-10-18 00:00:00

M 9 w - Religion.. it was true. contained die doettine of the Trinity. the eery lit st article in particular. It aus well known, however. that order to relieve indiz lintels from proaecution, who dad out dis•lieve in the Trinity, •theie was a Toleration Act. This was as jug as it was ranonal, for the article mentioned was altogether Ineconcilable, one part describing the Deity. us a beihg without mutat:owe or metier. and the othet eliciting that there was an unity of three ;tenors, with substance and match —The Act of ideration, he contended. went . to the repeal of this very article, 'because men were allowed, by law. to worship God, without be called upon to bell‘: we in the Trinity. The Attorney-General tlierefine, in saying that the Christian Religion was the laser of the Jantl, might have added that IDesion was also the law ohthe land, • the Act protected those who did not belies e the Christian doctrines. 'I here was sin law he knew of, which defined or took cognizance of blasphemy ; and it was therefore he felt himself justified in publishing '• Paine's Age of Reason." lie denied . that lie had any malicious or inirieus intention, as alleged against g bh)), and reminded the Jury that the Jews considered the Christian religion a cheat; the Christians thought .the same of • the Jews; both thought a like of the Ilindoos, and all thought the religion oldie Slahometans a cheat. In the case of William., the first who published the tt Age of Reason" Kidd, hie counsel, was not ithowed by the Court to enter upon a justification of the alleged libel, and amaequently the question wits never irly considetol. With respect to Eaton, who was tiled in sale, &Oat person had not the physical power to defend I.iwxlf. He was a very old man, bending under infirmities, and was crushed „la once by the late Lord Chief Juatice. He might fairly contend atliat the question had never been fairly brought Iwfore u .lury He really and conscientiously believed the writer of the work was influenced only by the best motives. His own motives were good. He did not feel that he hurl published one blasphemous avoid as stated in the intiwmation. '1 he eyes of the country were . on the Jury. and they were expected to antic to an honest decision. He had received congratulation and condolence upon the occasion Irvin so many persons, that lie ants convinced trout that eirenoi , Vance alone that the publication hail not demoralized the mind of • any man. 'l'llousamils were looking for a verdict of acquittal,— Those who called liar a verdict of guilty were like the men who lighted the tires in Smithfield. Mr. Carlile then stated, that otir :Christian Religion declared that there was but one God, of infinhe s lower, wisdom, and waxiness ; and that in the unity of this Godhead there were Three Persons. It could not be denied, lie ion'. that this was founded upon the Trinity ; for, without that latimiadon, Christianity could not be admitted. Now, an Act ; bad passed lately for the relief of persons who had impugned the 'Doctrine of the Holy Trinity ; anti it hail been passed on the best iirinontle.—How. lie begged to know, could the first article of the Ltiriatuan Religion be re - :smelled fin a nionient in the mind deny reasonalt4 creature, when it is said in one plat* that there is but tune teal, lind in another that there were 'nine Persons, all of equadisivier, and all of course God.. 'Vida was part of what the _Attorney-General called the law of the land. air. Cathie then read the Act of l'arlianient in favor of the Unitarians, and said that Act was, in tact, nothing less than a repeal of all funkier Acts upon the subject of holding doctrines at variance with those of the Trinity, and of all Acts iii support of the established reli ion of the country, for if one Act of Parliament affected another •tts any shape, it went to repeal that Act. 'lke Attorney-General had bald that Christianity was pert of the law of the land. He •ttliedetenthantt must declare, that was also part of thc ltw of the lard, and that these publiallirg Deistical doctrines were protected by the Statute Law, and secured from all the punish. trent that might have been inflicted previously to the pasaitig of the Act to which he alluded. All laws should be understood.— There shoula! bed written Code, by which the people might be inturtheil of what it might be necessary to adopt and reject..— '1 here was nu written law to authorize tae present prosecution.— ' lie (Mr. ('arlile) did not know what relii;ion the Attorney. General 'login now plaSt. , S, but lie beliesed he once professed Enharianisin, which was the religion of his father and faini'y, and that lie lied held up his hand in that cause. The Attorney. .General had stated that Paine, in his calmer moments, had con. used the truth of Christianity; but he (Mr. Caddo doubted its truth ; and lie was Collfidelll Paine had always doubeed it.— Ile contended that there was not an immoral passage in the . pubkation fur which lie waanew.on bis trial. lie courted Can dour and publicity only. Here Cathie produced twelve copies of Paine's Age of Reason, and was going to hand them to the Jury. when lie was interrupted by The lord Chief Justice. who stated, that he did not wish to prevent the Jury lions having every means el judging of the iiiiesuon; but as the books in question were not rtoduced iu evidence, the proosaling was irregular, and he did not wish to do To' thing which might he afterwards quoted as a precedent. Resides, what proof was there of these being copies of the work, for the publication of which this proaccution had been cowmen • eel. - - Mr. Carlile pledged himself they were the same. The Lord Chiclimaice said, if the Jury wished to kave copies, he did not object to it. Carlile presumed his Lordship had given his consent, ta.d copies were . Immediately handed to the Jury. lle then pro ceeded to read the title of the work and the preface, M which he had stated his motives for publishing the work, as truth was Ails only object. The defendant then read the Preface to the Second Part of A. The Age of ItLmon," acd recited the composition which denies that doses was the author of Genesis. _ . _ In the passage where Moves is censured for ordering the male ghildren and mothers to be put to death, and the young women so be given to the lust of the Israelites, he observed, that NI r. Pain tied omitted to statc that the took 5 of Muse wo men to themselves. The trwisaction was so horrid in itself, that had he published any thing like it, he could 111,): have expected piy favour from the Jury. At half-past five his Lordship called for candles. The defendant expressed a hope that his Lordship would now adjourn the Court; he felt himself much fatigued with the ex ertion, having now been reading upwards of live hours. The Cilia Justice said lie could not adjourn the Court at this Lately hour. .If the defendant wished tt, lie might retire for a short time to take any refreshment he required. The defendant, under this permission, quitted the Court, and was absent about ten minutes. lie then returned, and resumed his reading. On that part of the work contained in the informa tion relating to the miraculous conception and birth of our Savi our, the defendant expressed great sum prise that the Attorney- General should have observed with to much severity on this part, since the sect called Unitarians had dissented from this history, and as he had before stated, the Attorney-tienend was, or at least had been, an Unitarian.— _ _ _ The defendant then ptoceedsd to read the third part of " The Age of Reason," which is principally made up of observationa on the proplieties, eke. telative to our Saviour's appeatanee. He concluded reading at ten O'clock, and observed. having new stated to the Jury the w hole subject of the infomiation, he aould put it to diem to say, if tiler: was any thing ohm immo ral tendency in it. The author had not perhaps spoken always in the most respectful terms of the Scriptures; but, it should he recollected, he considered !hen, fible. With respect to him self, he was completely exhausted, and hoped his Lordship would now adjourn the further proceedings tilt monorrow, us lie had still matter to submit to the Court and Jury. which would occupy Oil Saturday night, in reading, if his strength was equal tti it. Chief Justice said he should be sorty to curtail hint in . any thing he considered nuerw*.ry for his defence, and therefore would now adjourn till Lo•worro hall-pabt nine o'clock. The Court adjourned aLcunlit,gly, at a quarter past ten to!clock. )s 11411 and pe.,eages, as rill us 4 Yatd, were saowil• THE NATIONIAT. REGISTER. with the populace, who received Carlfle, accompanied by Hunt and How, who left the Court at .lie same time the defendant did, with loud cheers and acclamations. (mut:own HAY.) Wellnt nday mor :: i:: g, he les 1 his defence, justifying the " Age aJ Reason," and Its blasphemously drelaiing the Bible to be nothing more thin a collection of falsities. We cannot pollute oar page., b y giving his defence, which was wi.ree than the woi k, for whit li lie seas in dieted, I. no/ called forth not only the frequent interruptions of the Judge and the Attorney-General. nut it last a de eliflation front the Jul) tit their opinion of en inc of defence. After much farther observation of this kind, Mr Carlile said he had a great deal of important matte.: to introduce in his de fiance, but that the interruption he had experienced haul derang ed him. He wail also quite exhausted, having tasted nothing but water all day. The Lord Chief Justice said, he could not adjourn unless the defendant showed that the matter he wished to introduce was relevant to his defence. Ile was played in a very painful situa tion between his wish to grant indulgencv to the defehdant, and tile consideration that, as an English .budge, he could not suffer the truth of the Christian religion to be impugned. The defend ant had. unfortunately, consumed his strength in a struggle to introduce into his defence matter uhich was inadmissible. After some further conversation. the Lord Chief-Justice in quired whether the Jury wished to adjourn. The Jury intinia ted that they did. An adjournment was then consented to, upon a pledge being given by Jlr. Carlile, that lie would not seek to introvittee into the conclusion of his defence any matter which had been decided by the Court to be admissible. nay.) The Court was opened this morning at the usual hour, there were very fcw person. .present at the commencement of the proceedings, but tile crowd(; .a In theanticipation that Mr. Carlile would shorten Ins defence, and that the case would in consequence be brought to an catty conclusion, the Juries on the infommtions for the seditious libels, and on the three indictments for blasphemous libels, were sunamontsl to attend. A tumour was circulated in the course of the morning, arising, it is said, front an expression use.l by some of the de fendant's friends on the preceding night, that he had gone elr to Dover on his way to Fiance. 3 . ltis rumour was in some meamre supported by the non-appearance of Mr. Carlile, until utter the hour appointed tbr the sitting of the Court. and until the Attorney General and the Counsel for the Crown had arri ved; but at 33 minutes after y lie entered the Court, accompa nied by Mr. Fry, and bringing with hint several books. Mr. Sheriff l'arl.ins immediately addressed Mr. Carlile, and begged to ask him a question: he said he undmstural that he had been interrupted in his entrance into the Court, and that he had been deprived of some books. lie considered such conduct to be very improper, after the pains that had hem taken to keep order. :Mr. Cathie said. both himself and his friends had found dlfi culty in gaining admission to the Court; and sonic of the books had gut into the hands of strangers; he afterwards ascertained that two of his parcels of books had been left in the coach. Mr. Sheriff ltothwell then addressed Mr. Carbk, and said— You will b• pleased to recollect that I expressed s desire you should receive every acconnuodation. .\lr. Caddy assented to this declaration. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the High Priest of the Jews, were in attendance boon after 9, and were seated together in a small room behind the Justices seat... 'lnc names of the Jury having beer, called over. Mr. Cathie then proceeded on his defence, in which he went over the same ground as on the preceding day, only with less indecencies; and addressing himself to the Jury said, " Though he had scarcely any hope that lie had made such en inipreesion o his case on all their minds as lie wished to produce, yet he hoped he had made such an impression as would, in the event, entitle him to their verdict of acquittal. All lie could nut hope to im press ; fur he had heard, and he was sorry to say it, that one of them had said publicly on the eirecening night, that he should like to give that Culile five years' imprisonment, and bread and water for all that time. (There now anise a tumultuous cry of " Name, name," from all pals of the Court. A strong feel ing of indignation appeared to be excited, and " Shaine" was reiterated among the spectators. So far as our situation under the box allowed us to judge, we believe the gentlemen of the Jury themselves joined in the exclamation of " Name, name." The accusation appeared to cause the utmost astonishment and disgust to every juror.) The laird Chief-Justice (interposing.)-ob, no, I hope you will not allow any think so indecorous, gentlemen. (It mope' to remark, that the debiniant once or twice expressed his concern that he had been 'immaturely betrayed into the declaration of the intelligence he haul mentioned, and appealed solicitous that the circumstance should not prejudice bun with the Jury.) It was a maxim of English law, that where twelve men were formed into one body its IS Jury, and it should happen that while a portion 01 that body were willing to return a verdict of guilty, there yet remained a doubt of the guilt charged on the accused in the mind of Only one individual of that Jury, the doubt shot.:1:1 entitle such accused party to a vertle, of acquittal : and it wits, lie believed, admitted also, that it was better that ten guilty men should escape, than that one innocent luau should he contleinned. Applying these obser • vations to his own case, he argued that if only one of them should entertain a doubt whether or no, he (Cathie) was to be brought in guilty, then that doubt, it was to be remembered, wits the doubt of the whole Jury, and was to be construed to his be nefit. The sum and substance of his argument was, that the charge had no foundation in the comnion law, and that the only statute which made it en offence, had been superseded by a sub- sequent and recent one: and under this last statute he trusted that through their means he should find pnitection. [lt N as ab 3 o'clock when lhu tieleithe closed.) Previous to calling wit , Mr. Canals rose again, and wished to explain what lie understood to have passed oil ihis subject the night before. The Lord me tor what purpose and to utast points you wish witnesses to he examined. Mr. Carlile said, lie had intended to call several of the leading persons of dittrreut Gbri.tian sects, in order to show the wide diversity of opinion which prevailed among them ; that souse of them appiwtelied limy nearly in erred to himself; and as they weir all tolerated, 60 ought lie to The Lord (71iie . f.litstice.—That is your object, is it? Mr. Cathie had a further ime„ but he leasell it - would be objected to it was 10 übtaiu she opinions of the sectaries ou muds) pints of the Bible. The Lord Chief Justice..—Havr you any farther object ? Mr. Cailile.—That was the ch i ef object, SR he run. mired that lie could show by these wean. that each sectary would ;ire a different account of the v.irious parts sub mitted tut hiuu. lt hod been also his intention to inquire, whether they thought the Chriplialli fault could be pro lamed by any aid from the secular attn. The Lord • ChiefJuswer.—As :ion have now stated the purposes fur whirls you were desirous of examining thew witniases, I bare to dentate my clear opinion that their evidence is inadmissible. The truth of the Holy Scrip tures is not the question to be tiled here. it is well known that various denominations or Christians differ in attar tenets still articles of laitli,sud it would be meat in- OCT. 19. decorous and intim . rhi our to calllupon pet sous to this Couil to give so Nei omit of their rt•lieious priticii.les, cettninly cannot receive opinion.: it is fin• the Jody to decide. The defendant, might otherwise call half the city of Loudon, H suds 4 course Mete ;dlow rd C4I4iIC Uhru mg'Wird that he should only call witnesses to his morel clots netrr. The Lord Chief Justice.—Mr. Attorney-General, you have no objection to this? The Atiotney General answered in the negative. William Cumming was then called and examined by the Court.—He stated, that he had known the defendant l years ; the latter having served his apprenticeship to bins. ilia general character was extremely good. Hr. Garble wished the witness to be asked one or two questions, as to his having an aged norther who— The Lord alt (pessimism' to moral character are general: particulate cannot be entered into. James Yams, a person reined irons business was arm called: be had known the defendant she yeasts, during which time he had always borne ass eacellent character. Thomas Walker, a messenger of the Navy-office, had known the defendant 4 or 5 years; he had lodged with witness, was always considered its am honest, industrious, sober man, and our who paid his way. Mr. Cathie wished it to be understood, that wills these persuies he had lodged since his first apprenticeship till he became u housekeeper. The Attorney thornsl briefly replied, in doing which he look a review of the amelioratiom afforded from time to time to conseientions dirsenterii on particular points, but asserted that such concessions could never be intend ed, or allowed to he converted, into a shelter for blas phemy 115141 impiety. The Lord Chief Justice then summed tip at great length, and wills honourable impartiality, mid having stated with precision the substance of earls remit in the information, as the °deuce chat ;red was ditto-reality described, referred 10 the several points on w Melt the defence had brew rest. ed. Nlitirls.liad beets urged in the course tit that delenre of which all who heard it must disappi use ; but the Jury were nut on that account to sutler any prejudice to m ith draw their consideration from the simple question un which they had to decide. It had been nests:fed in the progress of this in q uiry, that all that hail been wi hien of the Scriptures and published by the de Irsidant was : just and true, fit and proper to he so published. The defend ant load wished to read other waiters, who maitstained si milar opinions, though not capses•e.l in so strung, or pet haps so coarse a manner. He bad also desired t.: call wit. nestles to speak wills megard to the differences prevailing among different religions sects. His Lordship had felt it his duty maturely to consider mud it would hardly be supposed that he came to a trial like this, wi bout pm. viously turtling hit thoughts to the subject, to inform his mind as to what course he ought to pursue in the different circumstances which might be expected to arise ; he had then determined, and he did not regret that dete atien. That it was not entitle:trot so a Christian country, in a court of law, to rise up and say. that the Christian religion was not a religion of truth. It would be strange, indeed, if such a queetion were to he pot its issue, its order to he tried before this tribunal. He hail resisted, therefore, every attempt to introduce such a discussion, and should hare felt that he was disgracing his situation if he had acted otherwise.— Another topic of defence, strenuously and in some de gree properly urged, was the danger of restraining free discussion and free inquiry. God forbid that any such restraint should take place I But they had to diftiii guisti, whether the present publication was an instance of that free inquiry and discussion oil a work of mere • calif y and ridicule. There was no ituluidual and no 1 1 subject, to whose character or whose merits, feedings and calor:mica-could be lawfully applied. Time exercise of reason was allowed in the fullest manner by the law of England, because it was a law of public libesty and freedom. That law had adopted into itself, and was tfound.ll its a great degree on, the Christian religion ; awl from this assurer it was, that its principles of lie berality and humanity, the spirit that influenced and guided the ad • • rat iiiii ofjustice in tliis country, were drawn and derived. But though as a law of horny it allowed perfeci freedom of opiuioq, and interfered with slim Wales private b. lief, it did not allow to every man In do whet seemed goof in his owls .eyes, if it were inju rious so society. They had then ito consider the charac. ter and tendency of this work, for with regard to inten tion they had no nieans of judging, and could not decide Nero the motive of any act except from t h e stature of the act itsell, supposing it to be deliberately performed.— Tim purpose contemplaied must be inlerred from the natural. obvious, and direct tendency of the act, unless by some extraneous proof it could be shown that the agent had a different intention. ThetChristian religion forming part of the law of the land. it was not fit that he or ally other person al Id openly deny its tru th .— float must be taken for granted in a court of justice. But in the consideration at motors, it was not unrea sonable to look at the object assailed, and compare with that which it was proposed to substitute.— The Christian religion had advantages which never existed under any other religious system. By the institution of the Sabbath, a stated day iof rest was afforded; and he could nut allude to this subject, without expressing that this alone had always appeared to him to be strong evidence of its cis. vine origin. Mats nester had steep so kind to man, as the author of our religion had berm in establishing this regulation. Christianity I ikewist gate the best summit to the afflicted, taught thesis to bear their sufferings, with patience and with resignation, in holding out to them a hope of the highest kind—that of ass eternity ofjov hereafter. Now, before any 10411 assailed an establish ment thus utkring blessings to all classes, will dis. tioction of rich or poor. prayerful or weak, learned or unlearned, lie inialst be expected to pause and consider what he would substitute for that which he was aux . - ous to destroy. Toe Jury, and not lie, were to decide this question; but he thought no mats wishing well to um fellow creatures would approach the subject without awe and reverence of feeling, without decorum both of thought and of expression. Let them consider for a moment what was this creed of Deism which had beets so eulogized. Christianity was addressed to &!I; it was Oast/dad for all, and especially fur the poor arid humble.