The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-16 00:00:00

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! riblicatione could' only he remedied hy porsnligast kbe. ree 't.
I ' LffNOutnrio. tnhHeoUfPNektnTi petition
ond'nelt'anbregidne being read
gat
hntidis'eoArPFecile: 4:::. ,-:7':,-'(ille' :it;ll4',-. - iteert,;:e.; ;'
i
down Colthett's Register, for at that '• , A i
__ ,
- '. ,Iso other works published, such as ' .
Dwarf, Sherwin's Register, 4-c. .11.111.001 T
Mr. O'CONNELL referred the Hon. Member to the
debates of that period, wherein he would find that the
I avowed object was to suppress Cobbett's Register.
1 Mr. HUNT still denied it, and said Cobbett was out of
s ' the country, and did not return for a twelvemonth.
Mr. HUME next called the attention of the House to
another petition, of equal importance to the last. It %vs.
from 1,200 individuals in Bolton, praying the House to
tike into consideration the punishments lately inflicted upon
persona, at the instance of the Society for the Suppress
' 1 sion of Vice, for entertaining certain religious opinions,
1 The petitioners referred more particularly to the case of
the Rev. Robert Taylor. This individual was known
to entertain opinions differing from those of persons of the
I Established Church. A Jew, a Unitarian, a Mahotnedan,
I and a .Hindoo, all entertained opinions differing from
those of the Established Church; and if the principle were
admitted that one class of opinions were to he put down,
then there would, in consequence, be a monopoly of reli-
gious opinion. Every Act which bad a tendency to
impugn the religious opinion or sentiment of any c'aes
of persons, he (Mr. Hume) conceived to be an Act of
gross tyranuv and of the very worst kind. He also depre-
cated the prosecution of these persons by the Society for
the Suppression of Vice. There were persona belonging,
1 to that Society who were Members *f Societies for the.
Diffusion of knowledge (which received not leas th la
16,000/. a year from this House) and for sending out
missionaries to convert the inhabitants of India, and it
was his opinion that it ill became those persons to institute
prosecntions in this country against persons who enter.
tained opinions differing from theirs. It was a disgrace to this
country to allow such laws to remain on the statute-book.
Mr. Taylor was a gentleman ; he had been a member of the
Church of England, who had gone through all the degrees
at the Cambridge University, and held a lucrative situation.
Was •it to he supposed that he was not acting from con-
scientious motives, when he declined to subscribe any
longer to the Thirty-nine Articles, and when be left the
church and the emnfuniersts that he received? He (Mr. H. )
contended, that to punish an individual whose opinions were
changed solely froin-his conscientious feelings,was unjust and
impolitic. That a person of telents,education, and an enlight-
ened mind, should he confined in Horsemonger-lane gaol for
two years, deprived, if the rule* of the prison were followed
up, every
Of . comfort, deprived of the use of all booms.,
except those which were sanetioned by the Chaplain or by
two Magistrates, he held to be alike monstrously unjust
and dangerous in principle. There was, however, no
medium, he thought, to be observed in the execution
of such a system. Mr. Taylor had only expressed honestly
his private opinions, end in a private room, to those only
who went to hear and were desirous to understand his
opinions.—(Hear, hear, and cries of " Oh, oh.") He
(Mr. Hume) had often moat sincerely regretted, never
doubting the sincerity of Mr. Taylor's opinions, the mode
in which that unfortunate individual had persevered on
many occasions in forcing them on public notice--(Hear)
—because there was most certainly a deference which was
due to the established religious opinions of the country,
and they ought never to be assailed otherwise than by
moderate fair argument and reason. But he oould not but
consider him the victim, in this instance, of private infor-
mation, and the unfortunate object of tyrannical oppression.
If in places of public resort-...at Charing-eross,for example--
Taylor had • presented himself, reviling and bringing into
ridicule the established religion cf the land, he then ought
most certainly to have been removed as a public nuisence,
but he was condemned to imprisonment because he had
uttered his opinions in a private room, for such he would
call the Rotunda.—(Cries of " Oh, oh.") He did not
think that twelve men could have been found in London
that would have, upon evidence he would say surreptitiously
obtained, found Taylor guilty of the alleged misdemeanour.
No man differed from the principles of Mr. Taylor more
than (Mr. Hume) did, but if the sentence were deeigned
to arrest the progress of infidelity, he could say from pri-
vate knowledge that it could only have a different effect,
Mr. J. WOOD had always considered the opinions of
Mr. Taylor moat revolting and pernicious; the manner,
too, in which he had attempted to promulgate them was
' net less revolting and obscene. He considered him, how-
ever, rather an object of pity than of punishment.; and as
prosecutions for opinion always tended to extend its publi-
city, he regretted that any notice had at all been taken of
him. He would support the prayer of the petition.
Mr. TREVOR was surprised to hear the Hon. Member
offo r
merelyll I i d tll e she xo l
dairnggu e
thosethi cars,op
i it
iaoas i„fpwriTeunaadyiplzionrr;laimatetiltdb green con-
thm:dhrtaeiidgamnt
hacnuTtee,reedi
right
eihftaes
votrrrdotatuiuoaffai simple differeoce of religi:ns opinion ; and
Inded, :di:::
console
ledehi
voi.h luernot:wpm. i
hnobi;s3ott
ulnitnte,opv itisel:23i
dot
opinion
:I,
he been
cbi sentence7o s
n,
ac
on
ndrvenipcal
ten:dee
individuals who were not really aware of the circum-
stances,
harshness and injustice. But bad Taylor been convicted
opinions, e At
o denym
andan
to gain converts to his blasphemous' doctrines ; hence it.
was a public offence, an offence against society, which
called for public interferenee and punishment ; and
those who could bring themselves to believe and imagine
that the sentonces pronounced upon Mr. Taylor was
harsh sold unjust, must also bring themselves to hold that
She principles of public morality and religion were of no
importance whatever.oo(Hear, hear.) Air. Taylor
had been sometimes represente.l as a man a education,
as one brought op at an University, and lsap able of know-
ing right from wrong—if he had an ,enlightened mind,
lie (Mr. Trevor) held it to be an aggravation of his
crime, and calling for, if pesaible, a heavier sentence.
He considered that tit ateeh doctrines as had been broached
by Mr. Taylor the greater part of the criminality and vice
that presa-ileci was to be attributed, and he was at a loss
to know how the argument was to be sustained, that in
endeavouring to repress the diffusion of such opinions
the laws were more lesteh than the Spanish Inquisition,
For his part, he never would allow opinions like these to
go abroad without expressing his utter abhorrence and de-
tez:skion of them. He thought Mr. Taylor had not been
treated more severely than his case deserved, for if there
was one crime the% ought to be visited more heavily ti,au
another, it wail that of which he had been guilty. The
opinions. that had been spread abroad by him were not
cniy destructive to society, but the salvation of his fellow-
mortals.

Captain CORI-16N expressed his unqualified dissent to
the speech of the lion. Member for Middlesex. With
res.peet so the complaint against the Society for the Sup-
pression of Vice, he not only conceived .it Unjust, but
he considered the country under great obligations
to it for tho meritorious part it had acted; it bad
reared its influence as a barrier against blasphemy end
vice, and as a patron to virtue. Mr. Taylor bad not only
blasphemed the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of Eng-
land, but he had done every thing in his power to turn
them into ridicule and contempt. When the Honour-
able Member for Middlesex talked of Mr. Taylor's not
diffusing his opini4ns publicly, could he he aware that
Mr. Thlor was the writer and contributor to a work
earlui the Devil's Pulpit, than which a more improper
publication could not exist. He eionsider ed the sentiments
of the Hon. Member for Middlesex could only be consistent
with the views of shore who looked upon religion and blas-
phemy in the saute light, and he, trusted he should never
see thit.-ae views advocated by any man who %tithed well
to his country.
Mr.-O'CONNELL—Though no man disagreed more
than he did with the sentiments of Mr. Taylor, he would
support the prayer of the petition. He deprecated all re-
ligions prosecutions, considering that if the principle
laid down by the lion. Member for Dundalk and Durham
was to prevail, the luquiaition would soon be revived in
this country. The speech of the Hon. Member for
Dundalk would doubtless operate as an advertisement for
the sale a Mr. Taylor's work which nobody had ever
• heard of before, and would be the means of extending the
blasphemy of which he so much complained.
Mr. DENISON, after the charge that had been made
ags.itiat the Magistrates of Surrey, could net refrain from
making a few observations. He denied that Mr. Taylor
was imprisoned in so solitary a cell as had been referred to.
Ilia room was IS, feet by 24, and he had every comfort
that a man could be allowed, except wine and spirits.
If his sentence had been too severe, and he ge,,et) no opinion
about it, if the rules of the gaol were too severe, there were
means of correcting that, and he trneeecithose gentlemen
whose business it was to lay dews rules for its regulatioa
would, during the present resew, apply themselves to that
desirable object. Eye.l since he had sat in, that House he
had always avoiesect acting as a Magistrate, thinking it
inconsisteiet to make and administer the laws.
kir. BRISCOE agreed that no man ought to be punished
for uttering expression& in a private room on any subject,
but that veil not the cage in the present instance. The
roost in which, Taylor appeared was a large and public room,
into which persons were admitted on payment of rid. or Is.
for the advertised object of bearing a lretnre ou astronomy,
'Tesler was there in the garb of an Archbishop, with a
cross hanging before him, and turning the Scriptures into
ridicule. He (Mr. Briscoe) never could be brought to
sanction such foolery—such mockery. At the same time
he could not approve of the prison treatment he
bad beau subject to. Another person had c0irint.;,,..,4 .-