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Trial of R . Taylor for Blasphemy . The past month has been signalized by auother , and one of the most remarkable , trials for Blasphemy—those judicial attempts at patronizing Christianity in its . humble character of a " parcel of the law of England . " The peculiarity of
the display which took place on this prosecution , conducted by the officers of the city of London , agaiust the Reverend Robert Taylor , and the feeling by which the scene has been received by nearly the whole periodical press of England , will , we trust , occasion this to be the last of such exhibitions .
First of all appeared in this performance , in the character of prosecutor , ( as Mr . Recorder Knowles assures us , ) not Mr . Alderman Atkins , but the late Lord Mayor himself . This gentleman calls himself . a Dissenter , we have understood j he holds his liigh corporate office , therefore , either by conforming or by the connivance of the law , and has only been
marked by the public , in his official career ^ as , the prosecutor of those who believe less than himself , and ( if we are to belief $$ r . S > mi $ , the street preacher ) as ^ obs ^ uet ^ of those who choose a different course from ; his , of propagating even iis own creed . The funds for the prosecution are supplied by the
corporation of London , that same corporation which petitioned last session in favour of religious liberty , avowing itself the enemy of persecution > while hot a member of the body has been found willing to raise his voice agaiust a practice which evep , the Crown aud tfye fridge-Street Society have abandoned .
fhe trial was opened by Sir Jan ^ es Scarlett , the new Whig Attorney-Qeneral ; who flrops very easily into the track of lits , predecessor ; extols the press ., liberty oi ( jcphscience , &c . ; and has the adroitness to rest his case entirely on the mode
of th £ attack made upon religion . It vtraSj in truth , as proved , as scurrilous , low ,, and self-destructive an attack as cotjld wejil be , and the natural and obvious remark ttyafc would occur to every one on tfie , ? uWecti . would be , that it might be veW ' surety lerlt to its own condemnation , ana tfrat tlje only way in which it could b ^ Jijie ^ tB do mischief , would be in its affording a pretence for a revival of the dingcroutj doctrines of legal persecution , irfider tfc& presence of attacking not opiil M .. Viii the mode and fashion of
ex'¦ ili e Accused , who appeared in full c ^ nmitdife , 'delivered an oration , great ifaf ^ 'JSf Which reads very * well . But the sitfyttitlbh of its delivery , the theatrical
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demeanor pf the orator ^ and the , jnanifest indecency of tile riia ^ er , the subject of the charge ^ tpok ' away , all appearance of simpHcity or sincerity . . Ttiiefe is , in truth , so much iii all this unfortunate man ' s movements and actions , whiph can only be accounted for on grounds which would make him an object of sincere
pity , that we cannot too strongly express the folly of those who , by endeavouring to fix upon him a load of crime and malignity , give him the opportunity , of appearing in the character of a martyr , and , perhaps , of misleading Ms own ill-directed mind into the belief that he really
so . Lord Tenterden ' s exhibition , in charging the jury , was in the first style of the old school of blasphemy-hunters . "V ^ e know what used to be said , but were i > 9 ( t prepared to find it coul 4 still pass-for sense . England he eulogized as a country where people were permitted , by the laws , to entertain what opinions they
pleased on these subjects , provided they did hot express them . Happy country ! His Lordship was not contented forest on the wily position assumed toy the Attorney-General . He chose to stand on the broad ground , that " Christianity is part and parcel of the law of England , **
and , therefore , not to be impugned ; a principle which equally involves in criminality all attacks upon the established opinions , although it may be thought convenient and politic to select for punishment , at present , only those which are expressed with indecorum , aud are , therefore , the least to l ? e dreaded .
The Jury found the defendant guilty . This proceeding ( so disgraceful to the characer of the great body by which it is instigated ) closed , so far as the corporation is concerned , by its Recorder ( himself a judge , and therefore bound to act with some degree of moderation and neutrality , the more so because the salaried servant of the prosecutors )
officially presenting the prime mover in these disgraceful operations in terms of the strongest eulogy , for the kind manner in which he had been pleased to protect Christianity , and of bitter invective against the accused , at the very threshold of the court where he has yet to appear to have his case calmly considered for the purpose of punishment .
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Newport Chapel , Isle of Wi gty . The Annual Meeting to commemorate the re-opening of the Unitarian Chapel , Newport , after its enlargement , took place on Wednesday , the , 3 > Qt \ i October , when the Rev . ' John FuUagar , of Chichester , delivered an admirable discourse
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930 Intelligence . **™ Trial for Blasphemy .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1827, page 930, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1803/page/74/
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