cessity and justice of stopping its propagation. He then called William Smith. Are you not a Police Officer?

Yes, I am.

Did you on the sixth of March last, purchase of the prisoner, Palmer's Principles of Nature?

I did, I asked for Palmer's Principles of Nature, he told me it could not be had separate, but I might have the first volume of The Deist which contained it. This is the book,-Here the volume was handed to the Chairman. Cross examined by the De

fendant.

What is your name?

William Smith.

What are you?

A Police Officer.

How long have you been a Police Officer?

Four years.

When you purchased the work, who did you see in the shop with me?

There was a little boy and another young man.

Will you swear there were not two young men in the shop?

I cannot swear there were not.

What was your object in purchasing the work?

I received information from Purton, that you would not sell any thing to him.

How long have you been a government spy?

With much confusion, I cannot tell.

How many persons have you sworn against in similar prosecutions? I cannot say how many.

Have you sworn against six ?

I don't know.

Will you swear that you have not informed against twelve? I cannot swear that I have not.

How much money are you to receive for swearing against me?
I have been paid for my lost time.

I wish to know how much you have received for this job?
I have received a day's pay.

Will you swear you have not received five pounds for the evidence you have given on these prosecutions?

I keep no account of what I have got, I have always been paid for my time.

Upon your oath have you not received twenty pounds?

I cannot swear what I have received.

When you went to Bow Street, to obtain a warrant to arrest did you not swear it was blasphemy?

me,

Yes, I did.

What do you mean by blasphemy?.

Speaking against the Scriptures and our Saviour.

I do not understand you, pray let me hear an explanation in more definite terms?

I have read the book in question, it speaks against our Lord and Saviour.

Has the reading of Palmer's Principles of Nature made you a worse member of society?

No, I set my face against it all together.

Do you mean to swear that your judgment is better than the generality of mankind?

I do not pretend to say that my judgment is better than any other man's.

Pray, what part of Palmer's Principles of Nature did you swear was blasphemous?

I read the 25th page and other parts.

What other parts did you read?

I cannot tell which.

How came you to be so particular in noticing the 25th page? To this he made no reply,

Do you know what Christ was persecuted for?

Certainly, for our redemption.

I wish to be informed what was the charge preferred against him?

I cannot tell, neither shall I answer you any more questions upon this point.

The defendant then appealed to the court upon this assertion, stating that the spy had sworn the book was blasphemous, when he obtained the warrant, and it evidently appeared, according to the last answer he had given, that he did not know what was blasphemy. Yet, it was upon such evidence, that his prosecutors were seeking to obtain a verdict. The chairman said, he could not force him to answer questions which he did not think proper. The publication was only to be proved. The book would speak for itself. The Defendant replied, that the jury would see the drift of this injustice.

The passages selected for the prosecution were here read by the clerk.

First Count." Moses and Mahomet governed their followers with a rod of iron, and a military despotism. They were savage and ferocious men, crafty and intriguing, and they knew how to subject to their will the stupid but unfortunate followers who were devoted to their views. If Jesus was more mild, benevolent, and temperate, it was because he had less power, and because his disposition was less cruel and resentful. His followers, when clothed

with power, have not paid a very high compliment to their master, for the history of their conduct evinces the most malignant design, and the earth has been drenched in blood, to defend that system of religion, of which the meek and lowly Jesus is reputed to be the auther." Page 19.

Second Count." The last resort of the believer, must be to the authority and command of his Majesty who has kindly interfered for the purpose of rendering divine and holy, a book, whose indecency and immorality shocks all common sense and common honesty." Page 22 and 23.

Third Count." If the Christian religion be the work of a divine and almighty mind, it should have been presented free from blemish and moral impurity; it should have been clear, intelligible, upright, and immaculate in all its principles, and untarnished by that debauchery and blood which now constitute so considerable a portion of this holy and divine system. Page 85 and 86.

Smith was again called and asked if he had read the passage at page 25. He replied that he had. Purton, another Bow Street Officer, was called, and, in answer to questions put to him by counsel stated, that he got Smith to purchase the book. He was standing looking in at the window, and would swear that defendant was the person who sold it. He had received information that he would not sell any thing to him (Purton.) Cross examined by defendant. Was a Police Officer: had been in the navy, not as a seaman: but as servant to a person on board was employed by Mr. Maule to purchase the book. He knew Poole, a tobacconist, had not received his information from him, that the Defendant would not sell the book to him, (Purton.) Other questions were put to him by Defendant, as to how many he has informed against, how much money he had received for swearing, and about the book being blasphemous; all of which he evaded, or would not answer, and, in which, he was protected by the court.

Mr. Bolland said that was the case on the part of the prosecution.

The Defendant commenced his address to the Jury. From the evidence, he said, he could clear himself from every imputation whatever. He was brought here on a charge of Blasphemy; but the Learned Counsel had not stated what Blasphemy was. It was different in different countries. He commented upon the evidence of Smith and the answers he received from Purton. wished to know, what he had done in publishing this book. was not so far bigoted to it, that, if any person could bring forward truths to contradict it, he would not give it up. He should like to see truth erected on a pedestal and have all mankind for its worshipers.

He He

If the work before the Court were devoid of truth; why did not Mr. Maule, the Solicitor to the Treasury, answer, or let Counsel explain what Blasphemy was. The Lord Chief Justice has said that "the exercise of reason is allowed in the fullest manner by, the Laws of England; because, it is a law of public liberty and freedom." What have I done more than to use my reason in

publishing that book? It is a calm and temperate discussion of the merits and the system of Christianity, which, according to the Chief Justice, it is lawful to do: and, if lawful, it must be meritorious. Though I do not agree with Palmer, in every conclusion which he has drawn, yet I admire the beauty of his writings, and will defend the positions which he has taken, with as much determination as though they were my own, when I behold a band of conspirators, meeting for the purpose of putting down every species of discussion, not by argument, but by imprisonment and fine. I think that I shall be able to shew you, from the most unquestionable authority, from the opinions of men much better able to judge of such matters than myself, the injustice as well as the futility of attempting to regulate the opinions of mankind by a standard. Charges of this kind are formed upon what is called Common Law, upon judge-made law; and not upon any statute. My prosecutors are trying me by an opinion of Judge Hale, a most ignorant and superstitious man, or an arch hypocrite, who imbued his hands in the blood of two innocent old women, upon a ridiculous charge of witchcraft. Gentlemen of the Jury, I shall give you the opinion of Judge Burrough upon witchcraft, delivered at a late trial at Taunton assizes, in Somersetshire. He says, "it is the height of ignorance and superstition." Again" the Lord Almighty would never allow any one to possess any influence over one another, to injure them." If then, I have committed Blasphemy in publishing the book before the Court, Mr. Justice Burrough is equally a blasphemer; for the one is as much an attack upon the scriptures and the Christian Religion as the other; and he, like myself, ought to be arraigned at this bar; for I have not offended any known law, more than the Judge. I shall now proceed to the volume, and shew you, that I can justify every sentence in Palmer's Principles of Nature, and prove that he has not treated the Bible, nor the Christian Religion, with that severity which it deserves. But, in so doing, I crave your forbearance, as I shall be obliged to use language, of which, at other times, I should be ashamed.

Moses, I can prove, was a murderer. I read from the thirty first chapter of Numbers-" And Moses said unto them, have ye saved all the women alive? now, therefore, kill every male among the little ones and kill every women that hath known man by lying with him; but all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." If this were not murder by the express command of Moses, I am at a loss to know, in what murder consists. It was deliberately committed, nay, even infants were not excepted from the slaughter. It did not stop here; for Moses ordered all the maidens to be kept for prostitution, by that horde of villains which he commanded. It was the most shameful and disgusting massacre and debauchery that I ever read of. The Defendant was interrupted by the

Chairman, who said, you may read the Bible, but not comment upon it. It is both immoral, irreligious and illegal. Let the case be what it may, I shall stop you. Defendant. You see the situation in which I am placed, I am charged with publishing a libel against Christianity. Palmer, in the course of his writings, makes extracts from the Bible and I wish to prove them true. Chairman. Then read it from the book. No decent man can sit here and hear it commented upon. Defendant. Well, Mr. Chairman, if you will not allow me to proceed in this way, I must' shift my compass to another point. He then commenced reading the preface to an edition of the Bible, published at Oxford in the year 1821, commenting upon every sentence at great length, and showing the Jury, that it was strictly applicable to the case before them. The following is a copy;

The five and thirty years immediately succeeding the first appearance of the English scriptures in print, namely, from the time when the doctrines of Luther began to be known in this realm, to the settlement of Elizabeth upon the throne, although they comprise by far the most interesting period of our ecclesiastical history, and furnished to Mr. Lewis the most numerous and valuable materials, yet, at the same time, presented to him difficulties of no ordinary kind. The earlier editions of the New Testament, which the people now began to demand with eagerness, were produced, imported and diffused with silence and secrecy; for, as yet, the task was not without imminent danger. The tenets of the reformation were indeed gaining ground throughout the nation; but a powerful and active party was incessantly at work to counteract them. The king too, although it has been supposed, that his sentiments were decidedly for allowing a free circulation of the scriptures in the vulgar tongue, yet, from his repeated waverings and general capriciousness, could not be depended upon as a protection. No man could certainly tell in the evening, what would be the royal will and consequently the national creed on the following day.-No man could divine which feeling was likely to predominate, the fierce denial of the Pope's supremacy, or the fear of sedition among the people; whether, in short, the star of Cranmer or of Gardiner would be in the ascendant. Under these circumstances, the publication of the scriptures in English could not go on without much difficulty. The printers in England were afraid to undertake it. The books, as soon as they appeared, were suddenly and captiously examined. Every kind of heresy and every seed of sedition was declared to be contained in them. The slightest oversight or error was denounced as pregnant with mischief. The people were cautioned to flee the perusal of them as so much poison; and the volumes themselves were required to be delivered up to the officers of justice, and by them were committed to the flames. Again, as Tyndal and his fellow labourers proceeded, the same cry was