The Sun.
London, England, 1822-05-28 00:00:00

OLD BAILEY.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL 46SWIATION.
Yesterday, at twenty minutes past 11re-o'clock, Mr. DEN-
MAN took his seat on the Bench, and the man who refuses to
give his name was put to the Bar.
The Deputy. Clerk of the Arraigns read over the indictment
against the prisoner. It charged him with having published,
on the 27th of December, 1821, a blasphemous and seditious
libel against the religion of the country,, and tending to bring
into contempt the laws and Kingly Government. He then
stated that the prisoner having refused to give his name on a
former indictment,. he had on the present occasion been indict-
ed under the description of a man while name was unknown,
and had been brought before the Grand Jury, when he was
identified as the person who had published the work in ques-
tion, but wilfully refused to give his name. They had, how-
ever, returned a true Bill against him for the misdemeanour.—
The prisoner was then asked if he were Guilty or Not ?
Prisoner—ls that the whole of the charge against me ?
Mr. CLARK—The indictment charges the same as that on
which you were arraigned last Sessions.
Prisoner—l pleaded above three months ago.
Mr. CLARK—Are you Guilty or Not Guilty on this indict-

ment ?
Prisoner—Am I to plead again ?
The Commox SERJEANT—The indictment on which you
are now placed at the bar is not the same as that to which you
pleaded before. You must now plead Guilty or Not Guilty.
Prisoner—Then I plead Not Guilty.
Mr. CLARK—WiII you be tried on this indictment now, or
will you traverse until the next Sessions ?
Prisoner—Pll be tried now.
Mr. CLARK proceeded to swear in the Jury.
• Prisoner—Stop ; I .wish eachof those persons now in the box
to be asked if he was on the Jury two Sessions ago.
.The COMMON SERJEANT put the question, which.was,
answered in the negative, and the Jury were sworn.
Mr. ADOLPHUS addressed them for the, prosecution, and
after reading the passages complained of, called the following
witnesses :
Mr. Wm. Paine, of the Guildhall Police-office, proved the
pamphlet to have been put intohis hand by Wm. Smith, and
the issuing of a warrant to apprehend the prisoner.
Wm. Smith proved purchasing the libel in the shop of Car-
lile, on the day mentioned, of the prisoner, who was serving be=
hind the counter.
Cross-examined by the prisoner—Was employed by a person
named Turton to buy the pamphlet.
Prisoner.—Who is he F--An officer of Bow-street. 'Witness
did not know who Turton was employed by ; he only knew by
hearsay.
Mr. AnoLrirus,—That is not evidence.
Prisoner.—What have you received for purchasing that pam-
phlet ?—Nothing further than for his time. He could not say
what sum he had received ; it might have been 31., but could
not say within a few shillings; could not say if it was 41., nor
would not swear he had not received 51. He did not receive a
weekly salary. He read part of the pamphlet going towards
the office for the warrant. Was told it was blasphemous, and
had sworn it was at Guildhall.
By Mr. ADOLPHUS.—The witness had been employed .on
Other business for the Society.
The passages were then read by the Clerk, and compared
with the indictment. ,The only difference that appeared was
the words " the" and "this," which was held to be not ma-
terial.
The prisoner was now called on for his defence : he held a
written one, and describing himself as a poor journeyman me-
chanic, called on the Jury to give him all the indulgence in
their power. He then defended the work he had published,
and attempted to justify the observations it contained, by al-
luding to certain passages of the Bible.
Several of the Jurymen were about to question him, but de-
sisted at the suggestion a the COMMON SERJEANT, who
humanely warned him how he was about to act.
The prisoner, however, insisted on reading the passages, and
the females and boys were ordered out of Court. He then read
the passages in question, and commented upon them. He called
no witnesses.
The COMMON SERGEANT summed up and observed, that
the only question was, whether the passages bore the character