The Sun. — London, England, 1819-10-14 00:00:00

roes t jou ball t t vi 1 l I . ! it I nie t 3 ; s id's Ad-. ith eat ,sue ark lie - le ir il I'' , ti. " .11 : 0 erer be had to offer which I.Fas characterized by decorum, bat he could not stiffer the re vd .h'lr and calumniating of the Ciiiiitian Reli gion. Dar. Car am not disposed tn,,belietre - the tsi,ith of that Religion, and I.will promulgate my _opinions whatever may be the conseglience.— Dome of the Jury here burst into an expression•ot ludigneition.] , • Mr. Cathie then went on to lilrea his case to th,it of Galileo, who tvas imprison,d for asserting ti doctrine which was alt erw Ards O:Oieved by all the civilized - . part of tnlnkifid. He. Hvg.ied 111,1 the Christian Religion could not be injured by fair discussion, and that if error was imputable to * 4 ny person for introducing, this subject; that error was to be ascribed to the Attorney-General. All be wanted was the examination of this hook (the I)ibL), vtdiieli be publicly deno:inc.ed a bLisphemy inward , : God I—[Another shudder . ivaN iu ihe Jury.] Ili.e.Chiet Justice once more interposed, and exclaimrd-1 cannot hear this—it is too bat! Mr. Csrlile—l am willing to state my rea s ons for Ibis belief. . '11;e Chief 'Justice—We cannot listen to rea- Sonc for such sentiments. Mr, Carlile then !everted to his former argu ments, contending for the legality of deism, and his ri;:ht to question the genuineness of the boly volume. The Chief Justice denied that any such law *listed, and clearly exphined the meaning of the Act, which need only to be read to be under stood. Air. Carl& proceeded in his observations. in the enerse of which he denied that he had impugned !iatlit v. Chief J ui -Ai e e said, that be bad beard him State Hs tip'tnitto to he, that the Holy Scripture siiss 'iLT, , Splintrons libel Tr. C,oliie then prleeedecl to state, that an tdif it , n of the Bible, by a Mr. Bellamy, and to N't#l , cl i his !loyal 1-liJincss the Prince Regent had a vt-r ,, eaten-ire sul,;scriber, was now pub- T' former ear on, published in the rti gn of James I. was stated by Mr. Bel bony to he incorrect ; and to c.rr-ct those errntr, he, h:id tarred tip the Heblekg' . eiti -11"11. and Navin;; cliscoimred the errors, had cor ree!cd them in his own. -If Mr. Bellamy's edition W et' , heliemed then -the 'persons so acing be came Helier tinder the Statute; and if they be lieedd in the tOrmer one; he mightifind•fault 'vett) Ua( conuect, dud •theY h,ed acte . tl incortet tly; sod it was clear 'that 4 - 11de - edition received was not a ct4rect translation of tie. 1-Ichrew edi 7 tilit); it did not express the rev Piled Cirstran Re 7 It Was !its intention to.linve broligiir for weed several pert;Orts, prOtessors of the Hebrew ,to pros that the copy of the reign of J ames. ; evas incorrect, and '' how," he a.ketl, could' any o.:e solisCribe . to that of. Mr. Bella. "tv: ow e , as • svasto•siiir the times in Which we ?" It conk! not be denied char the totting- I rff't incorrect, • for all COnitnentatOrs differed! cue titit;t, oo By th e ~, t s'itt- i the-Priesls-ot-fi!r..: 'tows, it had been matte" treason td read the } Aide; t. r 'they knew that what they had written v et i'n o t the truth, and feared the serditioizing eye of tide deAder. If he could saistantiate n hat 'Paine s'ai:t" - respecting • the 'liable, he thought he ah'6l 'fril be tinkled to a verdict iii 'his - favottr , lie the Age of Reason for the, purpose . c n o t tl l i ' l ing. it pasSib!e; what he' knew i n his 'heart ri nor be done, namely, a refutation of Paine's Wolk l a id before the public. Paine had heed' br dnfied as an At L ist, an Infidel, &c. but he so. le 9thly helleYed that'ni; man had done mor e . than Lc had in f avour o f r ey ea l e d religion. He.'would. 11 4 ,, proceed with the Bible, if bis Lordship flea"'' firit that was ,not allnwed to be done, e elite not krow how he could go forward, The . Chief Justice said, he might' do all he could in his own he letlf. but be could not suffer hitn to ' t ilify and to use blasphemy against the Scriptures. -11-1 r• Cartile—But, rimy Lord, which translatiOn a° y ou mean me to refer' to ? • '1:1 )e Chief Justice-Lam not sitting here to an• abler q ' 7 ,ses t , Carlile—WEll then, my il you will al. ow me to use My *owl) Opinions. • IL)e Chi e f Justice--4 have told you befor e, that t ir you conduct ynnt•self properly, I'lM willing to mein* au % y thin; you have to adduce. 1.,( 111 r2 Carldle said lie bad already informed his _ "Ishii) of the sufferings of those , persons who itiere concerned in t he - early dissemination of the ti 41e . Ile could not' see any other difficulty than 13 1 ,e difference of opinion that existed; for, it the 6 ,1 h1 " was correct, was good, - it would not be ,tiected by any man - was impossible to pro - Z - e( 1 if ise:lvet-41 to experience sneb repeated inter? and foilds.own part be ; could not sec that i e , l-1 e existed at\ylaw by which he could be tried. If tiOtit petiectited than, there never existed L e ' Persecution by'faggots.and flames; nor could Ike lo in 'bts conscience, attribute : it.to, the present fil er s fr..... the Information bad been before he came into office. In fact, he fl 11 9 t think that lie . could have acted so, hut he 11 ve been excited to his p resent. c on d uct by it . ers; [lie was then about to describe a sys -1411!. persectilion to have existed for the last o:llthed years,* vs hen the Chief Justice again de -01:s141.1 that he could not stiffer him to proceed, and , ( 81. !et1 that the defendaot had adopted a mode ) (40 4r guroent. that could not be tolerated. His ii: j k b if: , Was joined try the. Jury in his expres ,,n,sr of disapprobation.) of • Callile—Then I am denied the opportunity i . ea ding the Bible in mtlefence, lie, a re ! , Justiee-7-N ys o, you arc not. You ),, tt thinied to read any passage you please : i ts '- h 5 - I leae repeatedly told you, you cannot be 1 . , . ._red to b laspheme it. itsb4r. Carlile.—There was annually, expended no • 1 4. SliO! than six trillions from the pockets of tt, e l ; e ,"ple of the country, in the maintenance of `;-11 isders of th e G os p e l, an d yet t h ey cou ld tu rt :, el "( l .their r e li g i on . H e ca ll e d on t h e A t . , Y.:-Gytieral to produce the Bible he would be b... ). • s',.:7.lchief: ._ , I.Ustice.—He. has no occasion to I "Jr. Ihen, am I to take the one Just bad in my hands, or stn 1 to take the puht . jisultsteitcleb.Lz•Mr. 'Bellathy ? ain not to tell you which. 41 Mr. Carlile.—My Lord, the law is the same in both cases ; the fact,is we differ in opinion ;- you profess yours, but you refuge me .to express mine. Chief Justice.---I do not ; I only stop you from acting contrary to law ; and if I did not do so, 1 should myself be blameabig.. Mr. Carlile then went on to contend that the Statutes of the . 9th and tO t h of Willi am an d M ary wire the same, an'd that the .53d of the King over ruled them. He described the latter to have pro tected blasphetny.—[Considerable disapprobation was_ here expressed.]--He had, he said, all the law on Otis side, fOr the present quoted Statutes were so unlike others, that they could not be misunderstood. Chief Justice.—You have invited my opinion; will you itow go on, and 1 will give it yon. •Mr. Carlile again read the 53(1 of the King. The Chief Justice expressed his opinion to be, that the 513 d of the fling left the other two Statutes wiio!ly untouched, with the exception of tliose Persons•who . denied the Trinity. Mr. Carlile--r cannot agree•to that. It is not so, my Lord, as far as my rea,on goes. No Iter son say, that the Bible was the " handy work" of the Deity, The answer given to Paine's opinion was, " That nothing Was impossible - to God ;" but this did not disprove th e j ustness o f his opinions. if be (Mr. Carlile) erred, he was open to conviction, but it would not convince him of his error were they merely to send him to pri son, for he could only be convinced by'argument, He then proceeded to read Paine's letter to Mr. (now Lord) Erskine, on the occasion of the trial of Williams, a nd in th e course o f it,.atte.nied to the practice of packing Juries, and proceeded to ahu'e again the Holy Writings, when he was in- : terrupted by the Attorney.General'i applying to. the Court, to prevent the defendant going over the same grounds, after the frequent admonitions he had received. The Gentlemen of the Jury again expressed their disapprobation uf the course adopted by the de-, iendant. Carliic—After siornP farther observations, " can outy say, my Lord, that if the law of the laud is groonde , '. on Christianity, I do not see any 'of that Christi.inity arounr! me." again latincw.d out into expressions which called forth repeated expressions of disgust from "and, in 'procee•ling., an universal burstot ioriignation took place; %nd A Jnryina - n, said, " My Lord, it is the mianittuois -)pinion of the Jury, 0i :a the defen dant n e t d not again refer to Sk:riiiture." The Chiet Justice having ag,tin occasion to ex prei, his conviction hat the Defendant could not suffered to porsue his present course, Carlile s4id, I,e had contended, and would con-. ti qu e to no so, 'teat the question was merely whe ther the 13;hle might to he treated with more re spect than Paine had give_ii it. The Chief ,Itiee---Tnat is not the case. The Holy Scriptures must not be thus . blasphemed and Mr. Carlile—They have not been proved holy. TakinK op ti.c Korio:he said, here is a book cOn sideied by millions more holy than the Bible. The Ch 14 JiWice - said, that 'bad he been placed its, the situation of a blasphemer in Turkey, not a 'tithe part of w bathe had this day said would have been heard. • • • Cathie then. proceeded to read extracts from the work of Dr. Geddes. The Attorney-General objected to :he ,Defend• ant going on with the.matter in the book he was reading, on the ground that it had not the least application to the defence. The Chief Justice callea upon the Defendant to explain his motive.. , You' are going on to proNe the Divine authority of the Scriptures. We don't doubt that. . • - Mr. Carlile—h. is the work of a learned man, who had doubts.of•Certain parts .Of Scripture,. 'I have doubts perhaps. • Paine had dalub:s,- and I. mean ,to . show we,. are not the' only persons _who have,dqubted parts. of the Scripture. ,1 The Chief Justice—No r you have not doubted parts,.you have doubted. -the whole. The whole is irrelevant. lan most anxious to afford.,you the . legislative means ,of defence, but you are taking up the time.of the, Jury to no useful pur pose. . „ One of the. Jury ; here said—My Lord, the Jury do not think This .applies to his defence. Car feel myself crushed. Are crushed by the weight of your own publication. It you have done some thing which you cannot,defend ,withont i►npugn ing the law of England;-you cannot defend your self at all. •-• , -definition your-Lordship has.given of the law, as-applying to the Act of William and Mary is, that only' one of the provisions is re•• pealed, and that tb•ree remain in force, I con tend the last Act: repealg the whole of William and Mary: Chief Justice—The Jury will judge • whether you or I are-hest acqUainted with the law. Mr. Carlile—l-may judge froth a right view. Chief. JuStice—YeS , but if you judge right, you must not go ma in error. • Mr. Carlile—lf I produce learned men who have published works like Paine's, without being Prosecuted, I may ask the Attorney-General why he prosecutes me ? Chief Justice—l know of no such works. Cat-tile—lf I take in band the volumes . of Gib bon., I find he undermines the Christian religion. Chief Justice—Well; what then—am I to al low you to impugn the Christian religion because Mr. Gibbon did ? I tell you again you are not to (to so, because others have, . Carlile—lt is because I stand in an humble si tuation that I am prosecuted, Gibbon, after his writings, received an office under Government, Hume, who went further than I have gone, re ceived 5001. a year! His works were answered by Mr. Campbell—why not answer mine ? Why throw me into a dungeon for what men of all de scriptions have done before me ? There is an in tendon to put me down, and prevent we froin going to a dose defence. Chief Justice—ln justification of myself, I must declare I am no party to any such intention. Ask yourself why should I he called upon as an Eng lish Jutl,ge to do what 1 and not tillowed to do by law ? 1. am not to allow tiny Man to deny dm ttuth s of the Christian religion by the expression of Ills own opinions. or the opinions of others. Mr. Carlile—lt appears that the statute law is to avail' nothing, but 1 - hope - the Gentlemen of the Jury will consider the Act the 53d of the King as repealing the Act of William. He then proceeded to argue that the Unitarians were pro tected by the last Act, and they were as far op posed to ths? principles of the Christian religion as himself, who was a Deist. It eould not be eharged.that he had any malicious intention. He sold the book because he conceived that it incul cated more morality than any book he knew.— There were tens of thousands, nay, half the peo ple of the country were Deists; .but from their situations in life they dared not express their opi nion. He believed in one God, and the statute law would not make him helieee more. It had been his intention to place. before the Jury 30 or. 40 persons of different sects, to prove that their tenets were tolerated so long a. 9 they did not in terfere with the Priestlitiod.. He was thrown down, by being driven out of his line of defence. and he could not convect his statement with the evidence. It was said he improperly occupied the time of the Court. He reminded the Court that trials had lasted a fortnight or six weeks. The Chief Justice said, any thing short of evi dence denying the truth of the established tell gion, he would hear. Lne was wrong in the law he had stated, 'namely, that he ought not to hear the Christian religion degraded, he was amenable 'o the judgment of a- higher tribunal. Mr. Carlile said, he did not know any case in which an Attoroey-General had objected to the line of defence he had adopted. The next work he shook! read, Was nothin g ; more than a fair ex= aminstioh of the Hebrew Scrip - tire. Ir was a line of argument to prove ilia ,- (bete cas -a foun dation for Mr. Paines attack on Christiaoity. He was pla-ed in a most unpleasant situation ; he wished to justify the act he 'had done, and being denied the Means us FStifiCalion, had no defence. He considered Paine the finest and .most able of writers. lie had a mass of information to show that others had done the acts imputed to Jesus Christ Tile Chief Justice said be had nothing to do with writers of that description. He was in duty bound not to suffer books to be reel which denied the truth of the Established Religion. No man ought to stand up in an English Court of Justice, and defend himself by proving he win not the only unbeliever. The law declatCd the Chtistian reli gion to be pure. Mr. Carlile—But I deny_ it is pure. The Bible is set up . as being good, yet the advocates of the book are afraid or ashamed to have it read; He could prove that every sect or religion• had been persecuted by the sect more powerful. It %vas:a lamentable fact that he was to be immured within the wails of a prisod, for publishing liberal opinions. The • same spirit had led men to the fires kindled by superstition. Ile then cited a work called Stattt • illortttorum.— It said God could not be so unjust as 'to damn hie own creatures. The writer went on to in struct the Clergy, that they were not to Preach from their own feelings . , hut received opinions. He also said men's minds Must be hrought by•de. grecs to bear the lighi of truth. Too moch.light at one bole was otf,,,sive to the eyes. The De fendint contended that troth' was never too strong for the human mind. It was evident the writer had doubleA the troth of the Scriptures. 'radius bad praised the time when men could speak their mind. Milton, • adopting the sentiments of. Eur ipides, had said the same. Judge Bacon was of the same opinion. Mr. Boyle said, " The Mo narch may command me, but not my opinion." He could not tall an Unitarian to give an opinion. ,He could not ask him whether he believed the -doctrine of diel s 'iini7y. , Tire bave only excluded you front the fine of defence which leads you to deny the truth of the Holy Scriptures.. nr. ei4lile-1 know well, if the Jury return a verdict of:guilty, I any thrown into the hands of those : who are my persecutors. I.know not bow to make my defence. The Chief lustice:—Make it according to law. • Mr. Carlile , --The!Conrt lies nothing to do, it says, with private opinions. The Chief Justice—The law does not allow you,.or any roan,_ to state in a COurt of Justice OpFnions tending to revile the Established Reli gion. Catlile—l do not know how-to proceed, I am chained I can go no fa.riher. . The Chief jos - Hee—Theft you must stop. Have you any-wirnessesi . .; .114r..Carlile—The-tinie is not come. I have not made my : defeoce. He then proceeded to read' passages from the Ecclesiastical History of Cusebius aml otliers He -read the story of •Sinion,Magus, the Magician, and said, all the tales of Scrip tire were replete with absurdities of 'the same description. ' At ten minutes after four the Chief Justice call ed for lights, and the defendant was allowed a short pause. 1 He then contended that the book wa3 read by all .Christians as a proof of the truth of the Scrip tures. It was, how...ver, considered irrelevant ; and he proceeded to the history of Martin Luther, saying that that person was puroued with the same spirit of persecution which the Attorney General adopted in his case. Proceeding with his defence, lie compared himself to Luther for devotion to the cause of truth, and anxiety In benefit and enlighten his fellow -creatures. The Jury, he hoped, would not use him worse than Luther had been used by the nig:tors of Saxony. He did not ask them to adopt his opinions, but be trusted they would not give him up, to the Attorney General. contended that he had done nothing to call for punilitnent, and asserted that he had only imi tated those men whom they had all been taught to admire—he meant those persons who brought about the Reformation, by attacking the super stitions of the present day, as they had attacked the superstitions of other times. Those Re fortneis bad been pursued by law and persecu tion, as b e was, and loaded with all the oblo quy and reproaches, which bad been lavished upon him. They had been excommunicated and anathematized—to this he had no objection in his own case, so be were acqaitted by a ver dict of the Jury. The principles of the Ite• formers had triumphed in spice of all opposition, as he was confident those would do of which lie was the •advocate. Ke thew called upon the Jury to leave him to be dealt with as they would have had the Reformers dealt with at the pericd in which they lived. If he were in error, the er ror would soon correct itself ; if he were not in error, how unjust would it be to punish him tor what he conceived lo be the truth. Ile then pro ceeded to examine the sroey (as he called it) on which they differed, and at great length he con tended, that there was no evidence (nn which lie could rationally depend) of 14 . the Miraculous Conception." Dilating on this subject, he con tended, that if there were blasphemy in the case, it was committed, not by him, but by the com pilers of the New'restat»ent. These, he said, were his own sentiments, they were written in hit own hand, and had not been prepared for hint hit others. He went on to compare the accounts given of the birth of Jel,is Christ by St. Matthew an d St. Luke, which he described to he at vari ance iu many essential points. The Unitarians; in the course of his address, he represented to have published a New Testament for themselves, In which the chapters containing the accotw. of the Miructilous Conception, did not appear. That part of the Testament they had rejected. The Chief Justice—But not reviled it. Mr. Carlile contended that to reject a part of it as false, weifi to tevile it. The Chief Justice—Go, on Sir, with your de fence, and. it you can, confine yovselt within the bounds of mo4eration. Mr. Cartile had no wish to offend.. He, how ever, still contended, that the tenets of the Uni tarians were opposed to what his Lordship said was protected by :Statute as the law of th e lan d. Rejec!ing .a part - of the New Testament, he must still consider that they reviled it, That they in this had ()Mooted against the Christian reli gion, must, he thought, he admitted, from a reference to the 22d Chapter of Revelations, in which it was stated, that '' he who should add to that book, should have added to him all the curses that it contained; while from hiaa who look away from it, God would take away his part of the Book - of Life " He was of opinion that the principles of the Unitarians, making as they dill against the- Trinity, made against Chris tianity altogether. An Unitarian he regarded as it Deist With a cloak on. From Eusebias he knew that the books of the Testament had not been written by - those persons whose names were attached to Went, amd he had it►tended-to show front various books with which he was provided, by whom the Books in the New Testament were held to have been written, helot e they were examined by the Conncils of Nice and Laodicea. He strongly insisted that lie had committed :no offence. His diligent in dustry in seet:ing troll merited applause ra ther than punishment. He had sought the tenets of the Christian religion by referring to those who were most eminent among its supporters,—froth Or igen, Ensebins, others, down to the pretended Evidences of Christianity, collected by Addison. He had done 'this, not with the wicked intentions imputed to him, but withohe.view of improving the morality of the people; for, the was of opinion, that mora lity could not.fiourish if it were not founded in • truth. He denied that he had any evil intentions, and he declared that he believed himself to be sheltered i 'making the publication, now the 50)ject of prosecution,hy the Statute of t hes3d of the King, to which he had before referred. On that Statute he contended that he was fully eutithol to an ac quittal. He had made most extensive arrangement, for defence, but the defence be had intended to make, and which was his only defence, was taken from him. In this he conceived himself to be unfairly treated. When a man was accused of an improper act, and offered to justify that act, if he were not allowed to do so, he might be re gaoled as being condemned unheard. In conse• quence of the interruption he had received, lie could not proceed further with his defence that evening. He heal many witnesses to call to his moral character, and to the tenets that he had pro fessed. Many of those were already subpoenaed, and more would be so by to-morrow. He there fore requested his Lordship would adjourn the Court. The Chief Justice inquired for what purpose be' desired the Court should adjourn. Mr. Carlile—To give me an opportunity of ex •amining witnesses. • The Chief Justice—And for that alone ? Mr. Carlile did not exactly say that. The Chief Justice said, the Court could not adjourn to give him an opportunity of doing that to-morrow which he could not he allowed to do to-day. Ile might now examine witnesses to his character, but his moral character was not arraigned but inasmuch as it was affected by the publications now under prosecution. Mr. Caine said it certainly was, since he was called in the Information a wicked and depraved person. The Chief Justice said, if accused of theft, it ..vonld be proper that he ~hould prove his honesty —if of murder, he might show that he was of peace Ade h:ibits; but in the plesent instant , e the evidence he proposed to bliug forward did ti,r seem necessary, and :my thing that might be f et ed to show the differences existing among Chris thins of various denominations, would be rejected as utterly irrelevant. Probably he might nave some of his witnesses in attendance now who could speak to his moral character. Mr. Carl& hail none present then. The Chief Justice said, Ire ought to have had theta is attendance. Mr. Carlite ha►d supcenaed the Chiefs of different Sects, with a view of making them state to the Court the grounds of their belief, in order to show, front the differences existing among then), the necessity of inquiring into the origin of their tenets, Tha.Chief Justice would think it improper that such evidence should - be given, and mote especi• ally must he object to any eidence that went to prove the Christian religion untrue. Mr. Carlile thought it would be important to place one or two Unitarians in the box, in order t o show that with their tunets, they ttnuld nave felt instiritd in offering remarks on the Christian