Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1810-06-29

'R A. De;ss. no hand In It? Would to God.
we eosld bring the man &C, court who has
,ptompted madame B. to this prosecutions,
ana who advised Paine on bis death-bed not
ia setaowledge his Saviour, iessrchristians
should triumph! Here Mr. n was inter-
.Tu pted by MT. Golden on the allegation that
MI. r: was going beyond the aaatter AZ
issues Mi. r.. coafinaed- Think you this
cause would have been brought into this
court if ,DszsM.was not the basis OF it -
The object of the prosecution is undoubt-
edly to suppress aWovk which.-tN MI. Il.
paid some compliments 20 the work (which
the reader must excuse us Tor not repeat.
inr:1 But we are told Of the unfeelingness
of bringing an innoceh. female before the
public in an odious light. Yes, another
Cleopatra s. to be introduced upon the stage
to grace a dris.ieal triumph. And who is
madam B.. T! Would to God her son was
here TO testify that he approached her for
living with man who had broken up che
tranquility of his fathers house.! Here
Mr.. Golden again Interrupted Mr.: r. on
the ground that this part OF his opening was
irrelevant, there being no testimony to sup:
Fort it,. The court, reserving the question,
decided that M. r. might proceed. Who
Is madam, for will again, said Mr.. r. ask
the questions! To this enquiry Mr.. Golden
again objected, as ex,raneous. What then
wa. Paine, the household deity Of madam
B.? A man devoid of morality, drunk.
ard, and a blasphemer Of our Saviour.
/ Was this an altar for mother to teach her
children to kneel at! Mr.. r. concluded
with observing tina. the only discoverable
malice was in the prosecution, with repeat,
ing that the object Of itSwas to- suppress a
work which alarmed the Deists, and with
maintainiu' that as the defendant had pub
lished nothing respecting MADAM, b. which,
had NOT been communicated to him, which
,, he did no. believe 70 be true, and had rea-
son Fable ground for his belief, he was not
guilty Of a libel.
Mr.. Carver being sworn, testified that
he had told Mr.. Chsetham, that Tom Bon.
neville has " the features, countenance and
temper of Paine 5" that Mistress B. lad
told him that Paine had induced her to
come to this country that Paine had told
him, when speaking harshlyof Mistress b.
that she was not married to Bonneville,
whom she called her husband and the note
| in the Life, p: 249, respecting the bond.
having been shown to him, he testified that
was Stated n The fs as eommunieased i Sy
him to the defendant. To this Mr.. Golden
| objected as not being legal evidence Of the
fact, and entered into al elaborate argu.
ment in support of his objectionable
| court: The question Of malice is the only
one for the Jury to try. This was admitted
by Mr.. Colden.-1he court: The tes,irno.
ny is therefore admissible to shew the bona
6de intention of Mr.. Chee,ham in relating
the facts. An historian or biographer1nust
have his facts from somebody or from some
thing; he cannot be supposed to have
knowledge of them himself. The facts may
be false in themselves in respect to Madam
B.. and yet MI: Chestham may have be-
1ieved them to be true, and have had rea.
souable grounds for his belief. IF this
should be made out, Madam B. may be in
nocent and Mr.: C:u guilty..-Mr: Carter
proceeded-His letter, included in the life,
being shown to him. he acknowledged tha:
he was the writer Of it., and that he placed
it in the hands Of the defendant when he
was writing the Life. HE sent it % Paine
in 1906, three yeats before his death
Mistress Bonneville saw it, and threatened
prosecution he offered to iarnishher mo-
ney for the purpose, but no prosecution was
commenced. From this letter Mr.. Griffin
read the following extracts to the jury -
."'I have often wondered that French
woman and three children should leave
France and all her connexions to follow T.
Paine 70 America. Suppose were to 60
to my native country, England, and take q.
mother mans wife ADD three children of his,
and leave my wife aud family in this coun.
try |; what would be the natural conclusion
in the minds Of the people, bu: tha, there
was some criminal connection between the
woman and myself! You have often told
me that the French woman above alluded
70, has pevsr received one Letter from her
l.,.t~. a. e.. 4. -. 4 -