The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-25 00:00:00

Thus far shall intellectual liberty extend, but here
shall its proud waves be stayed."
" Look round and see
How Providence bestows on all alike
Suushino and rain, to bless the fruitful year
Of different nations, all of Ilifferent faiths;
And though by several names and titles worship'd, r
Heaven takes the various tribute of their praise;
Since all agree to own—at least to mean,
One best, our greatest only Lord of all."
But, gentlemen, what are we to think—what has
persecuted innocence to hope—when, at the VI
time that this prosecution was pending against in e
in the teeth of the barbarous usage which I have
already suffered, and have still to fear, from the
civic authorities, here are the resolutions of the
Common Council, passed on the 9th day of gar
last :
" There is nothing (say they) more unreasonable, Ore
inconsistent with the rights of human nature, more els"
trary to the spirit and precepts of the Christian religion"
more iniquitous and unjust—more impolitic, than Pew
cation. It is against natural religion, against revealed re"
ligion, and sound policy."
Why, yes, it is • God knows it is. Yet, for all th,
the city is prodigal of reward to its vindictive an°
fanatical Solicitor, who commenced this prosecutil
by grinning at me from the very seat of justice, an
lampooning the title of reverence which the o°'
blished courtesy of society affixeYto my name, under
countenance of the Lord Mayor himself, when iw
made me stand at the felon's bar at the Mansion'
house, as the place (as he zaiEl) proper for persons'
like me, charged with capital offences. Thus, in"
deed, is the city itself in the dilemma of sauctioniag
in its officers what it reprobates in its councils, fel'''.
fying in its proceeding what bath appeared in it'
professions—imitating the intolerance but wanting
the honesty of Pope Clement V., when lie issued
his bull for the suppression of the Knights Templar='
with the preamble, " Albeit that of right we caneot,
yet by the fellness of our power, we do !" I ell
from you, gentlemen, no more than that degree, nt,
toleration which your Christian missionaries OP'
in all parts of the world. I ask only to be heard, at
they ask to be heard; and I look up to as high at
power as they can look up to for the final triumph 0'
Deism over Christianity, and over all the super',
stitions of the earth. It is the , religion of Go,'
himself, it is the religion of reason, and of nature, Lt
is the science of the universe; and to have a inift`i
capable of perceiving the demonstrations on which
it rests, is infallibly to become its convert. To punish
me for what I have done in this great cause, is to
declare Christianity tobe the most intolerant religion
on the face of the earth,—a religion that dares o'4
trust itself here to the fair-play which itself exPe"
riences in Canton and Constantinople—from Spitei
Bergen, to Patagonia,—from the frozen regions 0.
1;
the North, to the burning sands of Africa. But will
it be pretended that it is not for havingdisseminated
deistical principles merely that I am prosecuted, but
for having assailed Christianity with abuse, vitupr
ration, and sarcasm only ? Why, look ye, gentlemen'
if it were so, so much the more feeble was the 95:
sault, and so much the less ocrasion to have calico
in your assistance. Ajax was not wont to lift 1119
shield to crush a butterfly. But imagine ever,'
thing my vanity may have taken for cogent and tire'
fragable argument to be frivolous and insignifiant'
let the proofs I have offered to the world of the
baseless condition of the main pillars of the systern'
of the forgery of the celebrated passage of Joseph
°9j
pf the interpolation of that of Tasitus, be
to prove nothing, yet show me, gentlemen, in the
whole compass of your reading, a single instance In
which Protestants have assailed what they call tbe
superstitions of the Church Ronne by any other &111
that self-same mode of argument which I am or
braided with ? When were those so punctilious'Y
delicate in their choice of an epithet for that seallet
invested Lady who is the mother of all church
when were their impious sneers at holy-water, and
their blasphemous jibes at transubstantiation an
powder pimperlimpimp, bounded by any other
limits than the limits of their wits ? And if I have
outwitted them (which I assure you it was Yeti
easy to doll with what show of fairness can that be
punished as a fault in me, which is ,accotmted tlie sin-
gular merit of my adversaries? The cause which
I oppose, is one that dare not trust itself in the fair
field of national controversy ;
its defences, like the
armour of Achilles, are wrought in Vulcan's forge•
Is it against God that I have offended ? Where,
then, are their credentials for acting in hiss name
and, forgive me, Gentlemen, where are yours ? Is it
against society that I have offended ? lam covered
with the approbation of society ; the robe, I wear
was presented to me by the Ladies of the Areopagus,
in testimony of their conviction that my indefatigable
labours were devoted to the promotion of universal
benevolence, of good feLling, and good conduct in
society. But on moral grounds, on the broad basis
of that everlasting law of, righteousness, whose voice
is the harmony of all rational minds, whose seat it
the bosom of the Almighty, eternal as his existence,
and immutable as his will, I ask what shadow of
right is there for these proceedings ? Do the Chris'
tians say that I have injured them ? No, 'tis I who
am injured by them. Have I taken away aught
which is theirs ? No, they have taken away 01
which is mine. Have I shaken their faith ? Ab'
no, let them have it all. lam neither hungry o,A°r
thirsty to be a Christian, and I only wish I cow'
see any body on earth the better for being one. °,..111
moral grounds then, that eternal and mathemati""
parallel of right, that where there hath been no injurf
there can be no redress ; where there hath been 11°
crime committed, there can be no just punishment in"
flirted; I demand the acquittal to which every.ho.
nest man is entitled, however different his religious
opinions may be from those of his Judges, or what-
ever means of eloquence and reason he hatli used t 0
induce other men to adopt the same. Had that elo-
quence been of a mean and scurrilous character, thatd
reason weak and futile, its proper punishment votil
have been the contempt it merited; but tlittt...ltow,, as
not so, you yourgelves are my hone this
d
r
to, if my arguments had been
for never would your authority
with " conscience void
God and towards man."---
that- of tyranny itself--gaily consciousness that
if my adversaries had not felt a
best argument being,
theirs were so, their very
Fero ratione potestasi
I throw myself on your
I stand before you this
rioffdnesgr—none. Gentlemen, I have
no law at this day existing in Eng'
c o been
tm p t pb
ee,al yeo
jolt
siotmiffeveeen, ctedh,oa both oelt hmn
otaoywwsari
gel:eini:no law of these realms, by the pro'
land.
offended T
scribing provisions or manifest 'spirit and intention
of which I can be punished. I have been actuated
through the whole course of an innocent and virtuous
life, by as high a respect for the laws of my country'
and have paid as dutiful an allegiance to them; °5
ever characterized a' -British subject. Gentlemen'
forgive,-if it seem instruction to you, that I should
state that the law of England is of two kinds only;
Ist, the Lex non Seripta, that is, the unwritten or
common law; 2dly, The Lex Scripta, that is, the
written or statute law. Besides these, there is none
,other. If then I can show to you clearer than this
light that I have offended against neither of these,
an adverse verdict against me may be as charitable
and as evangelical as my enemies would have it, hue
'he is a better Christian than a lawyer, whoever 11,
be, that shall pretend that it is legal. The common
law in England is, at its highest source, traced up t
Ethelbert, the first Christian King of this nation;
about 600 years from the era of Augustus ; 300 year 9f
after Ethelbert, bringing us to the ninth centurY.
what is vulgarly called the Christian era, Ki's
Alfred collected the laws of Ethelbert with great illy
provement into one volume, and commanded then'
to be observed through the whole kingdom, where
before they had only affected certain jurisdictions.
From this universality of application, as
being
made common to the whole nation, it Ws-
called the Common Law, and soon after
the folc-right—tbat is, the people's right ; and
King Alfred was termed Leguni Anglicarum Colr
ditor—that is, the Founder of the English Laws.--''
In establishment of this common law, and of the 51:
cred supremacy of juries as the judges thereof, th''
renowned Saxon ICieg is said to have caused fortY
, and four Judges to be hanged in one year, for theig