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

~'~'"a' LAW IN ITIA,IGENCE, C L 1 1..14;'S TR! AL. SECOI!3 DAY.-[Fur,r, PARTICULARS.] COr'R'i' BENCH, ,GUILDHALL. Om 13. i‘Joce Chrrf .la,4ice ABUOTT, and a Special Jury. ATT- , RHEY-GENERAL V. RICHARD CARLILE. roorninethe defendant took his place as le!* re on the Solicitor's Bench. His dragoman and is‘ee- takt r was heavily laden with bags of hunks, aiol weer written or printed authorities front whieli the defendant was to extract the matelials tot his viodit ation. teilreiast nine the CHIRP JUSTICE took his St.'l:, and the names of the• Jury were called over. Air. Celt LILTS immediately rose, aird.proceeded a-lif.ens the Jury itt continuation ot his defence. Ile that he had yesterday endeavOnted to con' ince them that the three parts of The Age of did not contain any immoral expression or sent intent, but that Mr. Paine had ouly quoted other publications. He endeavoured to show them thet Mr. Psit'e's object was to rescue the character of the Almighty from the account given ot him in the book called the Bible. He was now ar,e;ons to show to them, that there was not the sligl , test pretence for imputing to Mr. Paine those atheistical principles which were eharged upon him by his opponents. In effecting this purpose, he would read to them a short discourse written in refutation of atheism, front which they would he enabled to infer, that, of all things, a disposi tion to deny the existence of a God, was the last which could fairly be attributed to Mr. Paine. [Here the defendant read a discourse addressed to the Theophilanthropists of Paris—which has bet ot published by hint, along with the other Theo logical works of Paine.] , Go coming to one passage in the wotk he was reading, which described persecution to have ceased, he digressed for a triAtnent to address the J o ry, an Said " It would be fortunate for ma r , Gyntiem-n, if persecution had ceased." lie then rc•ornttd I,is rcading. Having finished the address, he rtmArked, the work lie had jest lead had Inert considered by the society of Geotlemeo to whom it was addrcsseri, a tompletc retutat ion ot Atheism, aoc! it I:act in uousrquenet been published by cer tain ,persuos who .tppruved of it, ,with the name of Mr. Value attached to i - . Ile hail now gone thiongh so much ut tnu'k a: s he intended to read it present. Snbsequeroly he, might have oc. casino to - r Ito ceitilio othe• parts of MI. Paine's wiitings, but he shtitthe e o•It precut t o th e exa . mittatiou of that book, which had hetto tovestia go r e d i i , th e svotk that was the stibjeet of this pro secution—the Bible. He, had to rentals th a t th e Bible was not the only book in the WOi Id ilia( was supposed to earntain revelatiott from God. — The Koran was belie%ed by malty millions of men to he of divine origin. ' The ATT ,, RNEY-GENERAL objeCtetl.(o the course. shout to be pnestied by the defendant. He had stated it to be his intention to eater into an ex amination of the book celled the Bible. 'lie ap ptehended lie conid not be toffsred to do this. The only question now to be derided was, .whether or not the defendant bad reviled the Christian e‘igiort. It was not compe,eot for his Lordship tied the Jtoy to try the merits of the Christian frath, end, there-tote, he submisted it was incom petent for the detemiant t o go info it. The CHIEF' JUSTICE—roII bear the objection. Mr. Cathie renl3(ked, that the Ationiey-Gene nal had said he did not think the, Court or, himself ('he delve-taut) competent to go. into the merits of the Bible. Ile forgot that this was most cote petent for his defence. The charge against him 'was, that he .had published a book describing the Bible to be filthy tales, histories of cruel and tor tuJQUS executions, and obscene statements. He ' felt i:. to be his duty ro justify litmselle by referring to those parts of the Bible whielt contained the stories alluded to. The Attorney-General, •in making - his objection, had tingot that he (Mr. Cathie) flail all interest itt the trial. . The Attoreey 7 Geneeal had nOt forgotten that the tit'endant was touch intetestedin the result•of Otis but ire considered that this flirt' must be conducted according. to the tides by which all other. prosecutions were, regulated, and therefore he assumed that it was not istonpeteot for the dee fetolant to eo into an isa4nination of die 'Bible. He begged to refer Lo:,tship to the ease of who had het 0 prose,iiitql for a Skatilat offence. When that pet sop was IP'01!gla np to receive judgment, LOrd .Keuyou said, on reflec tion, lie had to reproach . himself forealloWiog the defendant to go into that mks of remarks which , had been permitted on 'the trial. His Lordship remembered that in tire case. of the " King v. W6l ciSt ," this bad not been allowed. Oir this precedent he would seam', and contend that it was incompetent for the defendant to pursue that course which be was desirous of taking, arid ifhis Lmdthip concurred with him 'in, this, ire would = not stiffer there the further promulgation of the doctrines of which he (the 'defend.: en ) teas the advocate. • The.Chiet .Justice said; the charge against the Defeodint was, that he had published a book to tevile , the Hof!! Scriptures—not - that Ice had sent. forth a work to canvass- particular points, with . tit-it temper and deeornin which onght to he pre-; setvetl itt the discussion of every object, homan or divine, public or' private. Jr could he no de; leeee to such a charge, if tire party reiterated there tee elate calumnies for Which -Inc had hero prose tatter!. Pie (the Chief Jostice) should very ill B ;erioitn'his dirty, as a Jodge or as a Christian, if st:tiog there he were to suffer that Court to be made" a theatre, from which new calumnies against tie Cloistian Religion :night be sent fotth to the' .s told. He had every disphsition to afford the dceendant the fullest. opportunity of explaining the i - p„k he had published, and of showing that, it t ie d n ot Hie tendency which had been imputed to IL Theinesent, as well as every other defen-; haul, he would readily allow to defend hiniself according to the laws of his country, but he could oot suffer the law of the country to be violated by detsnce. He, therefore, - certainly could not a tiow the-defea s iaut no proceed to the inquiry un woicli.ne had been about to Mr. Cathie said, his only csoject was to clear the Age of hullo', from ale chat ge Which -bad beta preferred against it, and to prove that Mr. Paine lad no bad object iu view when be wrote it. lie contended the present proceedings were not fL:unded on the la.:• of. the land. When the At. torney•Geueral talked of the.law applicable to this case, he Would wish to know what law it . was The Chief Justice=" I will state it to *pin— the common law of the land.-1 state to you that the Christian Religion is a part of the law of the land, and a most, important part too=—that part on which all our civil institutions are founded, for all of them have a reference to that Religion. I speak of the Christian - Religion generally. One parti cular I►„rtion of the followers of the Christian Religion constitute what is called the Established Church ; but the law of England pennt's every class of Christi:►ns to enjoy their religions opi ttif'ins., by worEhipping the Almighty according to th.e pht 7 m9de.orthe;r faith. It permits all to act, ,but the law of . the lawl allows no war► to impugn the Cbristiiin Religion generally, and treat the holy Scripttares•which contain its tenets as books toll of lies and fables." - - Mr. cannot subscribe to this. The Chief 3i►stice--Whether you can sub scribe to it or not, I state it to he the law of the land. lam to give the law here, and not you. It is not tor an individual under prosecution in this Court to say what is and what is not the law. 1 speak in the presence of Gentlemen of respects= bility and experience, who are not 'infrequently here, and they will bear testimony to the truth of troy assertion, that though 1 am in the habit of hying the law down, as it is toy duty to do, on any disputed - point, every •question of fact 1 a► anxious to leave open to their Dullest considera tion, But here I cannot sir as Judge to si.ffer the Holy Scriptures to he reviled in lily prer,enee. Mr. Csrlilc•--i wish to ►'k, wh a t proof w e have that the 'Scriptures are•of divine o►ight ? Ti e Chief Justice - -1 ill not answer that question, Sir. We are not here to inquire into tiie Origin of the Christ lass reiigion , but to decide on the character of a work, charged as having.been w :Suet, to revile anti c4lumnia!l that is a pit of the law of the land Ate we to suppose that the law of England, while it pro tects every individual in it, has no power to pro tect itself and its own establishments ? Are we to soppose that it C4ll afford 110 protection to, those, who, from their tender age, or from ignorance, are exposed, from not being sufficiently confirmed to their faith, to he misled, not by the reasoning, 'but by the ealonmies directed against the Chris tian tel ? Mr . . Cathie said, he had the same object as his Lot dship----to ',sevent otners from, being misled — but they differed as to the means by which this Wai to be accomplished: The Chief Justice again declared, he could not sufferJhe Scriptures to be reviled, Mr. Carlile contended, that if the work, were . of divine authority, no injury cc.)tild be sustained fiom its being submitted to the Most sigorosis' examination. - He proposed going into this in quiry„ as withoot doing so, be could not defend the climiacti* of the work which was the subject •of . this prosecution. The Chief Justice remaiked,• it would soon be seen in what way be p'roposed. to conduct the iuquisy. Mr. Carlile then stated to the Jury, that many books were in 'exisfetsce that were supposed to he of divine , One of, (hens he held .in his hand, the Koran, in which as many millions of tutii believed as 'could be found to believe in the B:ble. He then read froM the Ewan the ac count given by Malsotnet of the manner its which that hook was communicated to mankind, and the object of such communication being; Made. The lc , ,ran he stated to be filled rip With histories of mri ll y o f the prersossages of whom. we read in the Bible. He then proceeded to read part_ of the work referred to, in order to spew the charaCier and dogmas of the Mahomedan Religion. This, lit said, was one specimen of religion ; but he con tended, that it failed to give so sublime an idea of the Deity as was tube found io the works of l'aine. Out of the variety of books i;rid ttibetrf divine ori gin, how were , men to determine which were best entitled to belief, it the freestyxamination of all of thefts' were not permitted ? Koran con• tattled some gOodieSsoa--some fine morality, but much trash was mixed up with it,. Which , spoiled the whole. He next ,proceeded to .shew that Pattie was not the only 'mail who had written against the Bible. A Gentleman higli in _office, Who had been Ambassador:lrons this couotry to Naples, and who wits now a Member of the .Privy Council—Sir W.Drommond—had written a work, though lie 'had slot published it, Which made against the -Scriptures. From that work lie made souse extracts, which went to spew that the writer was of opinion that the ancient Jews, like many other people of former tithes, had recorded snitch of their hiStirrY in'inetapisorical laognage, which had been. literally understood by those. Isho had in latter days expounded the Bible ; and having given at large, his reasons for Dirt padishing his opinions, the Writer expressed regret that philo sophy should be considered at'variance with , Some comments on the. Bible, followed. [While . Mr. was'reading from this work • Mr. Hunt came into - COW, rand Wok 'a seat by his side.] . The ~4ttorney-General again objected to the cour'e which the defendant was pursuing, by reacting the passages he was from the 'work he bad•refer red to. Alr..CarlUe n►aiataiued that he had a tight to' proceed. The ChierJuitice confessed that : he felt his si tuation to be one of great difficulty.: On the one ; hand, he was'anxious to give the defendant every: opportunity of defending hin►self, but, on the other,. be,could'Oot sit there to bear the Christian itch.; 'give reviled.' * • • •• Mr. •Carlde asserted, that the only way by which it could _be ascertained whether or not the work which he had phbliihed might - ti.) be prose cated, svasi . extiwitiing that book to' which referred. ••, • . • The Attorp.ey-General repeated that no such , examination could he gone into there. • Mr. Carrde then urged, that there•was•no law tipplicable to his case. The Chief Jitstice--1 say there is. Mr. Ca , i! l —"lllett I t%,1 to know where it it to bt touildi • The Attnrncy•General said, if there were in :lced no law , for the punishment of that with which the defendant was charged, he would have 'all the benefit of such deficiency, as he could appeal to that Court from which the record ema nated—the Court of King's Bench—and, as his Learned Friend near him had suggested-, he might also go to the highest Court known in this coun try—the House of Lords. On this subject there could be no question raised at present. The defend ant was charged with reviling the Christian reli gion, and all that the Court and Jury had to try was, whether he was guilty or not. Mr. Carlile said, his intentions were good, and to prove this, lie was disposed to show what had been written on the subject by another person, a prison of high character. The Chief Justice remarked, t4►is would he ut terly useless, as one libel could be no justification of another. Cariile—lt has not been yet proved to be a libel. Vie Chief Justice—l only make the remark, that one libel can be no justification of another. Air. Carlile—Then it' would be quite time enough to call it a libel, when it has been proved to be such. The Chief Justice said, l►e should call it what he pleased. It would he for the Jury to deter mine the real character of the publication before them. Mr. Carlile said, he must expect that his Lord ship would can it by the name given to is in the information. The Chief Justice wished to afford him every opportunity for dertmding himself, but could not admit one libel to be produced as the defence of another. 111 r. CarWe answered, that lie knew he had no thing to expect from his LurOship. He siood there alon'e, and must defend - hhuself, ab he per 7 crived the whole area was against , He then resumed the retiring in winch he had been inter rupted. On c o l ui ! i g to a passage which mention eu the Deity to have been desclibed in the,Bible —as Hying in a box of shittim wooo— Mr. Gurney obj , •cted to the course pursued. The Chief Justice repealed the remark that this could be iiu defence. Mr Carlile—lf it were . not true that the Deity had been so t epresented— The Chiet Justice replied—No. Mr Carlile said, then he should only injure himself by stating it to the Jury, and might thete fore be suffered to proceed. lie then attempted to pursue the ,same:eourse ; and though admo nished by the Chiet Justice to abstain from act ing such a part, and opposed by the Attorney- General, tt.r Solicitor-General, and Mr. Gurney, who contended to 'do so was illegal, and a viola, tion of the statute of William and Mary, he. per sisted to defend himself in the way he had first proposed, sheltered, as be contended he was, by a statute passed since Eaton was tried, which _in - effect repealed the Statute referred to. The Chief Justice denied that the late statute had such an effect, it repealed certain penalties affecting one particular body of dissenters, but kit untouched all the otlier provisions of that Act. 11r. Carlile—l hold in my hand the statute 'which relieves persons from the i.lonserprences of ;impugning the doctrine of the Trinity—a statute which l submit mnkes Deism the law of the laud. The Chief Justicc—lt does no such thing ; and .1 will not suffer any man to say so in my pre sence. Mr. Carlile—l say it does. I stand here alone. I am the bestjudge of what is essential to my de fence. The Chief Justice-- . —You may be in' rim. own ,opinion ; but I am to judge of what. can legally be received. Mr. Carlile—lt is impossible that I can submit. The Chief Justice—lf you cannot ,defend your self without impugning -the doctrines of Chris tianity, you cannot defend you'r3elf at :all: Mr. Carhle then proceeded to contend, that, acceding to ihe terms of the. statute to 'which he last. 'referred," he was justified in defending his deistical Principles. The Chief. Justice--If yore will conduct your defence with decorum, and ",!,)Stain against the law, I will hear, you. Mr: Carlile—l am not sensible .that I have yet done wrong: Your . Lordship' cannot po'ssibly refuse my appealing to the Bible, to, ascertain whether. Christianity is not founded on the- doc trine of the Trinity. The Chief Justice,—l cannot listen W any dis cossiohs ton this.Subjecr. , The historical part of the QM Testament is the history of as sinful peo ple, which exhibits many offences against:the Al mighty. Mr. Carlile—l dos not believe the troth of that history. [lleve a Gentleman behind tarlile uttered, an "ex, : hiniation of horror . ,':iiibiclEdi-e* the animad version of Orator Hunt.] , Air. Carlile was 'then proceeding• again to read Drtimmond's pablieation—*hen The Solicitor-General addressed his Lordship, and said—The defendant is pursuing the same course. The Chief Justice—l cannrit•suffer this. ne defendant is mistaken if he thinks'ite can defend one error by committing another. I cannot sit here and suffer any man to I . evile anti•caluMniate the Holy Scriptures. Carlile—l have no intention to revile; I -only intend to examine. The Chief Justice—Exannination does not con sist in a repetition of the offence with which yon ate charged. Mr. Carlile—l find it contrary to mason to be compelled to believe. The Chief Justice—No man is-answerable for his belief, if lie keeps it to himself. Mr. Carlile— Your Lordship's 'observation argues nothing but the absurdity of - legislating upon religious opinions. The defendant recurred to his reading, and the Solicitor-General again interfered. The Chief Justice--1 will not sit in this Court to-hear the writings of those read, who impugn the Holy, Scriptures. Mr.' , Carlile—For what norp.ose do these Gen aemen (the Bat) quote authorities cut to support •tbeir opiniovis ? 1. am doing no more, The Chief Justice—l have told you my deter*.. mination, and hare laid down the rule for your conduct. Mr. Carlile—l must conduct my defeu4 e io my own way. The Chief Justice—Not if it is in opposi►ioti to IHW. Mr. Carlile—lf my defence is improper, I shall be the only person injured. The Chief Justice—Yes, you may commit a great misdemean our , an d an offence which 1 will not countenance. Mr. Carli!e—My object is to defend . n l y.,eli from the imputation of malicious intenti ,, o. the e9mmon practice of the Gentlemen behind•me to quote authorities in favour of their clients - '; I quote Sir William Drummond upon the same' inciple. The Chief Justice—Sir William Drummond!s opinion of the Holy Scriptures is totally it3a4l!—' missible. Mr. Carlile—lt is as good as "Lord Ellenbo-- - . rough's in my opinion. The Chief Justice—l wish not to act with- . harshness. Do not mistake me ; I have had great forbearance ; but the time may come when for bearance will cease. . _ Mr. Carlik-1 do not ask for favour or for• bearance. 1 .slt for justice only. The Chiet Justice—Justice you shall have; but not contrary to 'law. Mr. Carrile-1 cannot justify , my own conduct unless I bring forward the nntborities of men ca pable of judging of these things, and who have deeply considered the subje't. The Chief Justice-1 tell you it can he no jus tificadon of one offence to quote the opinion of a pet son who has committed another. 111 r. Carlile-1 have pleaded or guilty. I do not admit 1 have committed any offence. The Chief Justice---I used the term offence by-. potheticaliy, and not with a l view of intimating any opinion of my own. rlr. Carllle-1 think I hare satisfactorily shown that there is nothing in Paine's writings wiiich not instifiable in a search after malt, Sir Drummond again says— The Solici►or-Gehcril—l must regliest that the defendant may he prevented from proceeding ia this course. The Chief Justice—lt extremely difficult to judge at the commencement of a sentence of tae naturee - of what will follow. The Solicitor-General—The aefendaut sayp lts is quoting Sir Win. Drumniond to justify the li bel which lie is charged with publishing. The Chief Justice-1 say that is no juStiliefaion • at ail, I will not, however, prevent - hts readiu4 ()pillions which are not Offensive to the Court. Mr. Cerlile then read on till he came to another most offensive passage, when Mr. Gurney interfered, with great warmth. ' The Foreman of the Jury—My Lord, it is quire unnecessary that the defendant should continue reading this book. - The Chief Justice—You hear what the Jury, say, and will judge for yourself. Mr. Carlile—Am 1 to understand that that is the sentiment of all the Jury Another Juryman, at the further end of the. box—Most certainly, that is the universal semi.- went of the Jury mound me. . Mr. Carlile—To what am I to anneal, if not tt7. reason ? is reason. to beset aside ? • , The Chief Justice—You are charged with hay.. log published a work which reviles 'the ChriStiark religion. if any reason can be adduced to justify that offence, I am ready to hear you. Mr. will ,pass Qver those passageo which may be 'objectionable. The defendant agaits went on, but being again interrupted, he alms"' doned the Work, with an, observation, that believed .he had read' all that was material. .14 4 then took up a copy of 'the Bible, which appei" ed to he - bound up with mabuscript obserVatiO* between each leaf, and said, " I shall now go 1 0 the Bible ; and I here he leave to state, that' .l examining and reading this work, I considen:irrs self:entitled to state toy. own opinions, i n j kla ri.h" . cation of the Libel with - which I am charged' He then went on to read the first chapter, of Cie' nesis, and to observe up th o.r,r-re contrariety opinions which - had .:, - ,1 - isted as to the m otet . therein ....00:aitied being allegorical or literal. Some believed it to be allegorical, and it was 0 believed by the first founders of the Christiai i i Church, While others belieVed it •to be a true dc' scription of the origin of the. world. Ile next entered into an argument to prove the impossibif bility of any human being, being able to trace 'di existence of a first cause; and hence the absurdilt of the hypothesis which the history had attempt,d. to establish. The Attorney-General submitted, that the Court could not listen to the inquiry into which the defendant now proposed to go. The Chief Justice said, that : he stood in a situ' . ation of great difficulty ; 'nevertheless, be Wa s willing to allow to'a person placed in the situation which the defendant was, all tbt latitude whiCS, the law could possibly justify. The Attorney-General—The whole tenor 0( 01 1 defendant's observations proves, that his inteull • is to inquire into the probability of the wet" „, religion. The Chief Just ice--I have repeatedly said. 0, 2-11 ,: we are not here to try the t r uth o f t h e Cltrila Mr. Gurney—The defendant bas' avowed O s all he is doing is for that purpose. The Chief•Justicel asn unwilling to interlP t , ' where the defendant c o nducts hi mse lf with tile cornm and moderation, hot I ca n not permit introduction of illegal and irrelevant matter. hot Mr. Carlile—The information charges, the book which I have pnblisbed describes . ( 4, Old Testament to be u hook of o b scen e `stbrif ii voluptuous debaucheries, and cruel and torturuo, executions, I want to sinew the troth of iv to allegation, which I can only d o by a reference the book • itself. The Chief Justice—l repeat, we are not.. • to try•the truth of ;he Holy Scriptures,Mr. Caride-1 ant sensible that it js an lirc°;' f. per question for examination in a Court'ot J ll5 and think the Attorney-General will show hisivrou, good sense by withdrawing thisAtthirmation ' • your Lordship's consideration. bO r The Chief Justice repeated th a t he Si."' ;r?,, hp t Eitlf i excl ton Ines: Voh •lis the Co.; cniii CI.- at at Was edit bee, the. lain) err() ii()11 Iree! ( Iver:( eiinti Levt th - 81 aiid vv's tion wit( . 1 a C(1 brv; I; trrk 1114 ~~i~;l~ (i f .1i) kad licit] nt I); toll!, ILL! , Ti •t{•er 10%V Of tel Art , 1,, ~„t "am