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

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, OCT. 24.
THE KING V. TAYLOR.

(In our Paper of yesterday we were only able, from the.early
hour of going-to-press, to give an imperfect abstract of Mr. Tay-
lot's defence. We now supply a more correct and full report.)

DEFENCE.

Mr. Taylor then stepped forward, and addressed
the Jury as' follows

Gentlemen of the Jury,—l shall not deny, nor
.affect to conceal, thy deep sense of the pecidiar
ficidties of the situation in which lam placed. 111
: all otlier cases an accused person may confidently
rely on the impartiality of a British Jury; btu
where religious animosities, the very strongest • that
can misguide the judgments of men, have originated
the proceedings, the chances are fearfully against a ,
defendant, though ," his righteousness were as clear
as the light, and his just dealing as the noon-day."
For iri ouch a case the defendant has not to fear
'merely that his mode of defence may.not be the most
judicious.:--hiS proofs of .innocence not the clearest
—his arguments not the most cogent that ever car-
ried conviction to the understandings, and impres-
sion to the hearts of. rational men ; but he trembles
on the far more perilous hazard that he may per-
chance be offering those proofs and arguments to
minds barricadoed by .prejudice—cased in 'adamant
against conviction, that but beholding the avowed
enemy of their faith,.-will consider it.(as religious Per=
sons age's of the world have ever done)as an obli-
gation of consciencelo be unjust, and their duty to be
cruel. The interests of religion will forbid the exercise
of humanity, and faith stand sentinel over captive rea-
son: I need only hint at the perfect parallel of the cir-
cumstances in which this prosecution places me, to
those in which the wisest and best men the world ever
hadinit have fallen sacrifices to the mistaken interests
or misguided zeal of those who " verily believed
that they ought to do such things, and that Avhen
they persecuted God's creatures they did God ser-
vice.' • I mean not to compare myself to the mar-
tyrs, nor my prosecutors to the persecutors in those
cases; but should it be my misfortune on the pre-
sent ()Cession to address persons of similar senti-
ments, or of congenial feelings to those of 'the in-
tolerant :faction with whom this prosecution origi-
nated, God knows the cases would be parallel in-
deed. With them '1 am sure that no defence which
I could urge would avail ; and I am entitled to say,
after the language of the learned opener, by whom
it is conducted—for when I hear such words ap-
plied, even in hypothesis, to any human being, as
that he is a nuisance, and his friends a nest of ver-
min, I ask not if that be the language of charity, I
only inquire if it be that of justice—l am entitled
to say that if such- be the character of the persons
1 address,,then- God knows the cases are parallel in-
deed. With them I am sure no defence that I-could
urge would avail. Gentlemen, the difficulty of pur-
suing such a line as shall be absolutely unexception-
able, is beyond my ability. I can only pledge my-
self—and I do so most cheerfully—not to intend to
offend—not to 'deserve to be interrupted. I will
not, if I can possibly avoid it, utter a single senti-
ment Which any conscientious and honourably-
minded man, however different his religious persua-
sions may%e from mine, can reasonably deem excep-
tionable; and, in return for this pledge, allow me,
gentlemen, to expect from you such a measure
of patience, and, if need should occur, of for-
giveness too, for any word of mine which may
not be the best, as you would feel your need of, if
you stood in my situation, and would most cer-
tainly receive were I in yours. Dismiss from
your minds, I entreat you, all those absurd slanders
which my theological, and, mayliap, my legal enemies
have circulated, that I must needs be a something
which they are not—a monster of iniquity, an
Atheist, a sot, a madman, every thing which malice
could devise, when nothing of the kind could
,be
proved. Gentlemen, lam no such character; lam
not an Atheist, tam not a Christian ; neither am I
a hypocrite, . I am
.in my heart and soul a Deist.
In the cause of Deism I.have siiffered what in any
other cause would be accounted a real martyrdom.
For Deism I have incurred the loss of natural rela-
tions and friends, of property, of liberty itself, and
have' held my life and my life's comfort, of inferior
consideration to the great duty of .inculcating just
and worthy notions of the Supreme Being on an
insulted and priest-ridden people. I sincerely be-
lieve.in God, in the common God and Father of us
all, I believe also that lam bound by the most
sacred obligations that can bind a man to conduct
myself in life, in every respect, just exactly as I have
done," constantly to speak- the truth, boldly to
rebuke vice, and patiently. to suffer for the truth's
sake." I have not brought myself into this unen-
viable situation from a fanatical heroism of character,
nor from an irrational appetite for notoriety; for
though I have confidence enough in this, cause,
and fortitude enough in this heart, to be led
once more to prison, or even unto death, I can-
not deny my fear of air adverse verdict; because,
I could not but regard it arian omen of worse oppres-
sions to mankind, a divot* of the sacred wedlock
which-God bath Consecrated between the heart and
tongue of man—fatal to virtue and to liberty. By
such a 'verdict you will indeed crush me, and put
down the noble institutions which I have founded ;
but, in doing so, you will also crush liberty of con-
science, and set up Popish tyranny and arbitrary
power; (tr, which is the same thing under another
name, methodistical tyranny and arbitrary power.
Gentlemen, you are, I presume, aware that this
prosecution has been instituted under the auspices
of the Lord Mayor (himself -a dissenter from the
Establisha&l Church, claiming and enjoying. that very
liberty which he denies to me), chiefly with a view
to the suppression of the Areopagus, of which I have
been the public orator, and of the Christian Evidence
Society, and the Society of Universal Benevolence,
of both of which I am the founder, and which have
been regularly held—the one for the free and public
discussion of the various treatises which learned men
have 'written upon the evidences of the Christian
religion; the other for the inculcation of moral duties,
in that Areopagus. My defence, therefore; in its
first priposlium, obliges ins to speak of both these
institutions; because, if I can show that they are
innocent, it.will follow that I am so too, and that
the Lord Mayor and:.the city of London have bad
no reason for the measures they hare adopted against
me. The Society of Universal Benevolence was first in-
stituted in Dublin, on the 14th of March, 1824, and
patronised and supported by some of the most l'e•
spectable and opulent persons in that city, for the
public worship of Almighty God and inculcation of
the moral duties, which man, under all circum-
stances, owes to his fellow man,
without
respect or
reference to the dogmas of a, barbarous antiquity or
eredenda of any faith whatever. This society has
been since continued in London in the chapel which
my friends had purchased of the disciples of Dr.
Collyer, 86, Cannon-street, and since called the
Areopagus of the Christian Evidence Society.
There, or at .Founder's Hall-chapel, Lothbury,which
the society previously occupied, Divine Service has
been regularly performed since the month of July,
1826, up to the commencement of my most unjust
captivity in June last, as a victim (under pretext of
a fraudulently pretended debt, which the Almighty
knows I never, owed) to the persecuting sect of
Quakers, the service of boththese places being per-
. formed according to this Holy Liturgy, which lan y-
-• self compiled from the Liturgy of the Church of
England—a compilation of which the congregation
of the Areopagus hold to be more agreeable to, the
dictates of their consciences and more acceptable to
the Deity than any other. The Christian Evi-
dence Society was first instituted in London, on
the 12th of November, 1824, for the purpose (as
the name expressos) of investigating the evidences of
the Christian religion. On that day I delivered,
and have since published and extensively circu-
lated, this Inaugural Lecture,
thee cture, bearing a motto, as
o
you see, declarativeprinciple of my proceed-
ings, from first to last • a pledge and guarantee to
you that it was discussion, and discussion only,- that
I instituted; and therefore no attack on Christianity
can have:been committed by
Selves' shall think that ne, unless you
Christianityyour- is sane of the