The Sun.
London, England, 1823-03-27 00:00:00

tants of Dublin' complaining of the local taxation of that city.
Referred to the Committee of Dtiblin local Txxition.

Al!. BENNET presented 3 • petition froth three persons,
named Elliott, complaining of the-effect of the meastrres adopt- _
ed by Parliament for altering-the Currency, .and praying for
"an equitable adjustment' of Contracts.—Ordertxl-to lie on
the table.

• ;Mr. S. RICE presented -a petition for, certain Importers of
China in Limerick, complaining of the effect of the Irish Union
Duties.-.. Ordered to lie on the table.

BRITISH MUSEUM.
Mr. CROKER postponed the notice he had given yesterday
respecting the British Museum. Hit object was to cull the at-
tention of the House to the perilous state of the building ; but
as he understood the Cotnnuttee had turned their attention to
the subject, he should withdraw his notice of motion at all
events until after the Easter holidays. In the interim he trust-
ed that the (kninnittie would be able to decide upon some, ad,
vantakeous.measure, which would render it altogether unne..;
cessary for him to trouble the'llouse.
-- PETITION FROM 'MARY ANN CARMIAE. • .

• . .
Mr.(JAM presented a petition trom Mary Ann Carlile,
now confined in Ilchester•Jail, Ile trusted that the, preju-
dice which erierally caisted against her name 'would not pre..
atidNwithl , 110
would say was a ccitiiipirecy of Certaut camin...,
themselves the Society fir the Suppression of Vice. He thought
this Society most objectionable in principle; but at present: he
should confine himself to the present individual case. She had
been convicted on this prosecution ; he had been at grunt pains
to ascertain who were the actual prosecutors, and he wished to
obtain a list of them, not merely with reference to this partial,
hr case;; but for the purpose of supplying himself with infor-
mation on which to bring the general conduct of this Society,
as well as that of the Constitutional Association under the no-
tice of the House. He was of opiniom that the former violin its
effects, a Society for the promotion rather than the Suppression
of vice ; and he pledged himself to make good his assertion
when he brought the subject forward upon a specific
When he endeavoured to gets list of the members of the So-
ciety, in some prospectus stating its objects, he was inform-
ed that neither of these had been published since the year 1807,
and neither of this list nnr of the prospectus could he obtains
a sight. Considering the mystery in which the Members; ap-;
peered to enwrap themselves and their object, he after much
deliberation came to the conclusion that they were an assein-
bly of infidels, whose design under pretence of prosecuting seep:
deal anti other works of controversy, was really to awaken cu.
riosity about them, and thus gave them an extended circulation.
This, he assured the House, was the opinion to which he came
upon a review of the actual effect of their proceedings, • and
a consideration of the secrecy which they preserved with re-
gard to themselves. Ile however, at length, applied to the
Secretary of the Society ; and stating that it was his intention
to bring their conduct before Parliament, desired to have, a
list of the Members. lie was favoured with- a sight of the
list ; and, to his great surprise, found it contained, among
others, the names of several individuals whom he knew to be
respectable, and of great private worth, including some Itleimo.
berg of both Mouses of Parliament ; and he found also that a
great many of the Clergy formed a portion of this Society.--
Of these individuals he bad no wish to speak with any disre,
spect. He believed, therefore, that with perhaps the Very best
intentions, they had been the means of giving the most enten-
sive circulation to the works they wished to put down.. lie now
came to' address himself more particularly to the individual case
of the petitioner, who *as indicted at the instance' of this So-
ciety, for publishing a work called "An Appendix to the
Theological• Works of Thomas Paine," which, in substance,
called in question the divinity of the Christian Religion.—
Be (Mr. II.) in consequence of the prosecution, had read the
work, and found nothing in it which was improper in language
for a person who entertained Opinions such as those of the au-
tior. The petitioner, however, was convicted, without hav-
ing been heard in the whole of her defence. lie had also read
the defence; and he must say, that there was an end of
controversy if the. interruption of this defence was to be
countenanced, The defence consisted•entirely of argument, in
support of the opinionS stated in the work ; but it appears that
Mr. Justice Best, who tried the case, had interrupted the
petitioner before LI out of nearly 101) pages of the defence
had been read, and would not suffer her to read the remainder.
Ile (Mr. H.) was not aware of any law by which people were
to be put down in their defence by Judges, merely because
the Christian religion was a part of the law of the land. lie
had read many Books of Controversy ; on Deism, Atheism,
and other topics ; but he had found no one written in lan
fguage so temperate as that of the Defence of Mary Anne Car-
ile; and lie thought the Judges bad treated her with a seve-
rity not warranted by the principles of English
.justice. Her
case ivas equalled only by those which occurred in times when'
people were brought to the stake tor expressing their opinions.
Ile really thought, that at Ali, lilettent day more of Christian
feeling would be ;hewn towlitils:l* than hail been displayed'
by the Judges.- The wholetiptierAsllngs had been marked by
a misguided seal on the pat kit the prosecutors, which in
matters of religious opinion, Ives sure to produce an effect ex-
actly opposite to that which was intended. The crime with
which she was charged scarcely admitted ofdefinition ; and if it
were intended to persist in charging persons with this species of
blasphemy, he trustedahe Law Officers of the Crown would
introduce a Bill ,to define the crime. But such prosecutions
were always impolitic; they were precisely like those insti-
tuted by the Boman Catholics against the Reformers. Ile
thought that those who differed from us in opinion should be.
visited with a eharitable Christian-like feeling, and not with
,oppression: and tyranny. This young woman was now in it
dungeon, under a sentence which amounted to imprison-
nient for life; and lie would therefore ask the Membert
of the Society which prosecuted her, if they could refer himack
any part of the New 'Testament, the • foundation of the Chris-.
. roan. lleligitm, which recommended, or even tolerated severity
to those who tittered-in opinion from its Divine Founder
The whole tendency of the Divine Book Yin *the other way;
and he (Mr. Hume) called upon the Members Of this Society
to extend their professed principles of Christian Charity to
those who differed from them in opinion. He should here oh,
serve that die book in question had been Originally published
in, America, a country from which our owu might draw
no onprofitable lesson in matters of legislation, An Act
had been passed by the -
Assembly of Virginia, declaring
that every person might lawfully entertain what religious
opinions he pleased, ,without being visited by any legal
punishment. The, book, for which Mary Ann Caddo wits
punished, was nothing more than the expression of religietic
opinions, supported by reasonable argument,' and temperately
expressed. Had he been. on the'jnry who tried her, he shoillti
not liave taken the ipsi dillt of the Judge. The antho.:
city of Sir Matthew Hale was always quoted on Ehese
elisions, to show that Christianity was a part of the law of
the land ; but the opiniOn of such' a man as Sir Matthew
nate was "unworthy to 'be adopted by the country in whiCh
he lived. Ile was a Judge who had sentenced several puor
people to death on the charge of witchcraft ; and be would ask
any than whether the opinion of such a Judge And on such
` subject as the present ought `not to he received with* every
possible Caution ? In fact, the crime of blasphemy never had
-and he believed never could bb defined ; for it always de.
petaled Upon the opinion*. of those who were in power. Ile
now mile to the sentence which hadbeen retied atiahis .young,
Woman. It was, that she should be iinpnsoned .fbr a year in
Dorchester jail, pay a fine-of five hundred pounds to the King,
and find securities for her good behavioor for a limited time;
herself in 1,0001. and two sureties in a istneller sum. When
he considered, the sentence with regard to the person on whom
it was pronounced, he could only say that one of the eliargva
against King James the Second and for which, ,lie wax.de,
throned, was the inflicting
demanding of excessive bail.°fAtr tejethle'u4amitiarnelintasif the
the petition stated, that the Chief Justice,of, the. Court had
declared, last December, tromp. the Bench, that the
awarding fines, always paid attention to' the ability, or,
supposc-il ability; •of the defendant to pay. Now, ,on
pail of the subject he held in his hand an allidavit of Mary
':lVal Cathie, stating that hie had no property whaterek 'but.
114 .wearing appacr; furniture 'enoiigh forfora small "luoom,l
,and :a -few books of little value; that she never ha tf h4d'i
property hitt that whieit' she derived front lie: latiadr
and that ;he' hail 'no other respectable means of °bride-
ing tt subsistence,. ',poking to these facts, conipared with the
sentence, lie asked was it too much to ecimpare this 4.11* 10 one:
-of the cases in the titue'ot aarnem-the Second how-
ever, this ease Wattle be' cried upon a comparison with anti-
tlit.r. When the Bishop of Clogher was held 113 bail, it was in
tlie Simi of 1,001..;' the ,Maigivtrate observing-that the' Bill of
;:ilightiVforbutt the taking 'ot escetuiive' kill. The Bishop
-stated.; Vary tAtily,.to' be worth lqiktitial., and haviliatt;
tairdy in tile 'reetipt of 20,000/..it "war: .11 I,OOOL, bail, Inert-
fore, .waW-theehigliest which could betaken of , 'this Itiabop
w infringitig upon the Bill ef Nights; whet' bum; .whet