The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-13 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

The Moniteur announces that the, attempts at dis-
order, which took place at Toulouse, on the evening of
the 6th inst., were renewed on the following evening.
They were, however, easily repressed. On the Bth there
was still some rioting, but on the 9th order was com-
pletely restored, and the operation of the assessment of
lease property, suspended by the former Prefect, was
resumed and proceeded without opposition.
The Emancipation states that eight or ten persons
were more or less dangerously wounded, and about sixty
arrested. _ _ _ _

The Moniteur publishes the law of the Budget for
1842, in which the expenditures are fixed at 1,276,338,067
francs, and the receipts are valued at 1,160,683,143

francs.

The same Journal promulgates another law, appropri-
ating seventy-five millions to the execution of extraor-
dinary works in 1842, which sum is to be taken out of
the proceeds of the loan of 450 millions of francs.
The Toulonnais of the 7th instant mentions that the
squadron commanded by Admiral Hugon was hourly
expected in Toulon. It was believed there that Captain
Leray's division was gone to the Levant, and that this
officer had been charged with the mission which was to
have been intrusted to Admiral La,ssusse.
The Presse announces that Count de Flahaut was ap-
pointed Ambassador of France in Madrid.
The Univers quotes letters from Candia of the 18th
ult., stating that the reported advantages of the Turks
over the insurgents were mere inventions of a French
physician named Caponal, who is attached to Tahir
Pacha's household.
According to advices from Semlin of the 29th ult.,
Mehemet's Ali's influence is daily increasing at Con-
stantinople, and the appointment of Sami Bey, his de-
voted friend, to the Department of Trade, was con-
sidered to assure the Pacha the complete success
of his ulterior views. On the 15th, a ship of the
line, two corvettes, and a brig, having on board 3,000
regular troops, sailed for Candia, and 3,000 Albanians
had been ordered to hold themselves in readiness to be
embarked immediately for the same destination. It was
reported at Peri that the Archduchess Maria Louise of
Parma had forwarded 10,000 stand of arms to the Can-
diot insurgents.
The Augsburgh Gazette of the Bth states that Russia
was concentrating considerable forces•in Bessarabia. Poli
tical men in that country considered the dismemberment
of the Ottoman empire to be imminent, and entertained
an idea of the possibility of forming an independent
kingdom on its ruins, under the sway of the Duke of
Leuchtenberg
The Swabian Mercury announces, under date Vienna,
4th instant, that the definitive ratification of the new
loan had taken place, and that the certificates were to be
delivered to the contractors at 104, but without com-
mission.

LITERATURE.

SP.EECII FOR THE DEFENDANT, IN THE
PROSECUTION OF THE QUEEN v. 111-OX-
ON, FOR THE PUBLICATION OF SHEL-
LEY'S WORKS.—Moxon, London, 1841.
The circumstances that gave rise to this most absurd
prosecution—which, strange to say, was successful—are
somewhat curious. In the April of last year, Mr.
Hetherington, the. well-known bookseller, was indicted
for selling certain numbers of a work entitled " Haslam's
Letters to the Clergy of all Denonlinations," and being
found Guilty, was sentenced to an imprisonment of four
months. Wishing, we presume, to show the folly of
prosecutions—persecutions, rather—of this nature, he
determined, in his turn to proceed against Mr. Moxon
for publishing Shelley's " Queen Mab ;" and the case
came on for trial the other day in.the Court of Queen's
Bench, when the defendant was convicted—not a little,
we suspect, to the surprise of all who were present in
Court, and heard the eloquent and argumentative—not
to say, unanswerable—defence made for him by his
Counsel, Mr. Sergeant Talfourd. The Learned Gentle-•
man's speech on this occasion was indeed, most convinc-
ing, and Mr. Moxon's eagerness for its republication
does credit to his judgment. After showing that Shel-
ley's crude speculative opinions on the subject of religion
could not by any unprejudiced mind be considered blas-
phemous, but should rather be regarded as curious and
interesting revelations of the progress of a superior, but
as yet unripened intellect, the Learned Sergeant pro-
ceeded to observe that if " Queen Mab" was a fit sub-
ject for prosecution, " Paradise Lost" was infinitely more
so, adding,
" Shelley fancies himself irreligious, and everywhere falters
or trembles into piety ; Milton believing himself engaged in a
most pious work, is led by the tendencies of his imagination to
individualize—to adorn-:-to enthrone—the Enemy of God ;
and to invest his struggles against Omnipotence with all the
nobleness of a patriotic resistance to tyranny, and his suffering
from Almighty justice with the graces of fortitude. Let it not
be urged that the language which his Satan utters is merely to
be regarded with reference to dramatic proprieties—it is attri-
buted to the being in whom the interest of his poem centres ;
and on whom admiration and sympathy attend, as on a sufferer
in the eternal struggle of right against power. Omnipotence
becomes tyranny in the poet's vision, and resistance to its re-
quisitions appears the more generous, even because hopelessly
vain. Such is the force of the 1 net's enthusiastic sympathy
with Satan, that the reader almost thinks Omnipotence doubt-
ful ; or if that is impossible, admires the more the courage that
can resist it. I will not ask you whether you agree with me
in the defence which might be made for Milton ; but 1 will Ask,
do you not feel with me that these are matters for another tri-
bunal? Do you not feel with me that, except that the hold-
!less of Milton's thoughts come softened to the ears by the ex-
quisite beauty of Milton's language. I may find parallels in the
passages I have quoted from • Paradise LoA,' for those selected
for prosecution from Queen Mab ?' Do you not feel with me
that as, without a knowledge of the Paradise Lwt,' you could
not absolve the publisher of Milton from the prosecutions of ,
some' mute, inglorious' Hetherington ; so neither can you—
dare you—convict Mr. Moxon of a libel on. God and religion,
in publishing the works of Shelley, without having read and
studied them all ? If rashly you assail the mighty masters of
thought and fantasy, you will, indeed, assail them in vain for
the purpose of suppression, though not for the purpose of tor-
ture ; all you car do, is to make them suffer, as, being human,
they are liable to corporal suffering ; but, like the wounded
sprits in Mflton, 'they wig soon close,' confounded though
immortal.' "
This argument is forcibly and ingeniously put, and is
recommended by the Learned Sergeant's usual grace of
language. Equally adroit is he in his cursory reference
to Gibbon, whose immortal " History," he observes,
contains two celebrated chapters " full of polished sarcasm
against infant Christianity, which if published at a penny
each, would do more mischief tha4 thousands. of. 13190.-