Star.
London, England, 1827-10-25 00:00:00

POETRY. .
THE LATE GEORGE CANNING.

AT MICIRDIACON WILAPOIWIL
Theme of all tonguii and object of all eyes.
' In dust the eloquent, the powerful lies!
And shall be fall, the star or our bright sphere,
Without "the meet' of a melodious tear;'
.His glory, like a meteor-blaze, expire,
Tough all instinct with pure celestial Are?
No; feebly as this grief-worn strain may flew,
Still shall it speak one bosom's pious wo. -
Genius of Albion, in what distant dell
Loiter'd thy footsteps, when thy Cassano feU?
Why flew'st thou not, on angel-wing to save
Thy champion son from Iris untimely grave?
Bore to rebuke the vicious and the vain,
*These with his light, and those with graver attain t
If folly wtithed beneath !di playful song,
Or furious faction dyed his scorpion thong-
- Alike his hand, his heart, to virtue given
liesistlesa struck for England and for Heaven !
What though no longer 'mid the frantic tide
His languid grasp thy struggling helm might guide,
When faint with fever'd agony he lay,
And burning anguish drank his life away ;
His thoughts were still, dear native land, with tla/e;
Still did be form the prayer thou inight'st be free--
He could not live to hail thy swelling state ' •
Bet thou, he felt, would'st mourn his early fate.
But Carom lost, lease, raise thy moan ;
Weep, Lusitaoia, weep thy hero gone ;
For him, Columbia, shed thy bitterest tear;
Thy sorrows. iltllas, vent upon his bier;
Yours were Ms daily mighty toils. When pail
Renounced (brief pause!) its empire o'er thetrain,
The transient calm of his immortal mind
Was spent on you, his country, and mankind.
For those, by faction or by malice led,
• Whose demon hoof insults the sacred dead--
s" Be theirs to see for many a year to come,
• '• A grateful nation cluster round his tomb,
:airbere duly hang the well-earned wreath of fame.
grace their happiest births by Comma's name!

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Gumutual., Ocr. 24.
Before Lord Tgaramoax arid a Special Jury.
/HZ KING V. TAYLOR, (IN CONTINUATION !PROM
Tall STAR OT TESTBREAY).
Mr. Taylor having finished his defence, •
Lord TENTERDEN charged the Jury, and observed,
this was an indictment, charging the defendant with
the commission of a misdemeanour, in uttering certain
blasphemous expressions of and concerning our blessed
Savioun and the Holy Apostle Paul, with an intent to
bring the Holy Scriptures and the Christian religion into
contempt. The defendant was not called on to answer
for his private opinions, nor was the right of private
judgment called in question by this prosecution. So far
from that being the Case, the fact was, that the discus-
sion of theological points and opinions, when tem-
perately and properly conducted, could not be consi-
dered a crime at law. Much had been said on the sub-
ject of heresy, and the defendant had addressed the
Court at considerable length, in reference to the writ De
heretieer contburendo. Now he was bound to tell the
Jury, that all the arguments and observations founded
on that proceeding, were totally irrelevant to the case;
and further, that a prosecution for heresy, if instituted
at the present day, could not be supported at common
law. The charge against the defendant was for an
attempt to bring.the Holy Scriptnres an.] the Christian
religion into contempt. It was stated in the in ietm;bt,
that on the day mentioned therein (the 6th of February),
the defendant,in the presence and hearing of divers of
his Majesty's subjects did unlawfully utter certain
things of and concerning our blessed SAVIOUR and the
Holy Apostle Paul, .and did then and there fronounce
profane and blasphemous w.ads, calculated to bring the
Christian religion into contempt. Ilis Lordship having
cited the seteral passages alleged in the indictment to
have been tittered by the defendant on the occasion in
question, observed, it would be for the Jury to consider
whether the evidence was such as to satisfy their minds
that the defendant had made use of the expressions in
question, and, intended to convey by them the meaning
charged in the indictment If the defendant had uttered
these expressions merely as propositions which he meant
to expose and refute, he was not culpable iu the eye of the
14w. But, if on the contrary, they should be of opinion that
he.put them forth with a view to obtain the approbation
and assent of his hearers, then it was their duty to
find him guilty of a crime at law. He (the Lord
Chief Justice) should not discharge the duty imposed
on him by the office with which he was invested, if he
forbore to say that the Christian religion, being in sub-
stance a part of the established Constitution of the coun-
try. was entitled to the protection of the law as much as
any of our civil institutions. He spoke not now of par-
ticular doctrines, which men might lawfully discuss,
but of the general spirit and tenor of Christianity. A
great deal had been addressed to the Jury on the sub-
ject of one or two particular Acts of Parliament, sup-
posed by the defendant to bear upon the case. Among
other things it was said, that the statute of the 9th Wil-
liam the Third rendered blasphemy no longer an of-
fence against the common law, and the defendant ar-
gued that as that statute was repealed by the Act
of the 63d of George the Third, neither was blas-
phemy any longer an offence against the statute
law; so that, in fact, according to this hypothesis,
to impugn the Christian religion was not now a
crime against either tl:e common or statute law.—
The Statute of William the Third, like many °diet
Acts, was passed for the purpose of inflicting certain
punishments on particular parties, and the tepeal of
that law, by the enactment of George the Third, had
the effect of reviving , the common law, and placing it
exactly where it stood before the passing of the former
Statute. No one could, for a moment, doubt that
Christianity was protected by the law of the land. He
would add, it had been handed down to them by their
fathers, and constituted the best birthright of English-
men. His Lordship, after adverting to the nature of
the evidence, and stating that the witness for the prose-
cution only professed to give some few sentences out al'
a long and elaborate discourse, observed, that it the re.,
mainder of the defendant's address was such as showed
that the particular expressions in question were hot used
with a view to excite the approbation and concurrence
of the audience, but, on the contrary, were uttered 'for the
purpose of refutation and exposure, then the defendant
was entitled to an acquittal. Still they should bear in
abind that these words were ut:ered in the presence of
many individuals,who had doubtless frequently attended
and assisted at the defendant's discussions, arid any of
them might have been brought forward to explaid the
general tendency of the defendant's address, if it had been
capable of receiving an explanation different from that
put upon it in the indictment. Having read and com-
mented on the evidence, his Lordship put it to the Jury
to say, whether or not the offence laid in the indictment
had been committed? The defendant was not charged
with attempting to refute or controvert any particular
doctrine of the Christian religion, in relation to which
individuals might reasonably differ. The charge was,
that he had attacked the Christian religion generally,
and declared the entire to be false. The Learned Judge
observed, that he had already given his opiuioa with