On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
'become Christians , they would still have an opportunity of understanding better the nature of our religion , than when they are kept separate , and confined only to the teaching of their own masters . We shall be curious to see in what
manner the Chancellor disposes of the rest of this case , and whether in a matter of charky a distinction is to be kept up , which does rir » t seem very reconcilable with the spirit of the gospel . It is not improbable ,
that a descendant of one of the apostles may thus be excluded ; and any one who reads the beautiful parable of the Samaritan and the wounded traveller , may easily foresee what would be the decision of our
Saviour upon such a subject . Christianity is said to be the law of this land : if it is so , and any party is not peculiarly excluded by the express words of the testator , it cannot tie made compatible with the Christian
religion to exclude any person on account of his religion in an act of benevolence . The Jews do not act upon this narrow principle , as will be abundantly testified by their very liberal contributions to the public charities of this metropolis .
Whatever may be the- decision of the law on this head , it is hoped , that none of the readers of this article will be , led away by any false prejudices against our elder brethren the Jews ; whose are the glorious
adoption , and the covenants , and the giving of the law , and the service of God , and the promises ; wljose are the fathers , and even Christ by natural descent . Blessed be God , who is over all , both Jews and Christrans for ever . Amen .
Another cause has excited more . general interest . It is of a political nature , and a lady pleading her own cause completely overcame the sophistry of the court . She was indicted for a libel , and her defence was founded on the principles of eternal truth , not on the perverted maxims and
technical rules of law . The judge lamented her ignorance of the law , and her error in not having submitted her case to the learned expounders of it , who attend the courts , and are ready to display their eloquence and knowledge on either side of the question : but she acted more wisely , for we
suspect that not an advocate is to be found who could have done the argument that justice which she manifested . She maintained her innocence of any crime on this basis , that what she nad uttered was true , was not malicious , and there was no scandal in uttering- it . On the other side , the
falsehood , the malice and the scandal were not proved ; but it was contended and main * tained that truth was a libel . Against this false doctrine the lady argued with great energy and on the princip le * of morality ; and , though the judge declared it as his opinion that her publication was a ltbtil , ) l £ e j ary were of a different opinion ^ and
Untitled Article
declared her to be not guilty , and in this opinion the audience generally concurred ; and it is ., we believe , the prevailing * opinion in every quarter of the island . Thus ' the opinion of the judge and of the jury in question of libel is again , as in several preceding instances in the cose of
libel , completely at variance ; and it will become necessary , that the subject should be cleared from the difficulties , under which it is supposed to labour . Three things appear to us to be necessary to constitute the criminality of a libel , for libel in . its original meaning is only a little book , it may contain truth or falsehood , and it must
be from something criminal in its false * hood , its maliciousness , its scandalousness that the writer is deserving of punishment . Of this the jury are happily the judges . The dictum of the jndge is mere opinion , and we cannot see any benefit whatever in his declaring it , before the jury have given their verdict , that it is deserving of punishment . If truth is to be considered as a
libel , the pea of the historian must be stopped ; for what is all history but the record of truths most obnoxious to wicked kings , wicked nobles , wicked priests , wicked judges and wicked people ? And in every age , however we may in the present days be free from such characters , in our own country , there will be a sufficient fund elsewhere for the delineation of their atro
cious actions . That truth is not . to be spoken at all times is a well-known adage i but in whose favour it was made it is not difficult to determine , and before the speaking of the truth is declared to be criminal , it must be cleaily shewn in what manner the party of whom the truth is spoken is damnified . Suppose him to be a wicked ,
prostituted minister , a violent , overbearing judge , a corrupt magistrate , must such a character not be delineated in its proper colours ? With what spirit this is done , and how far the writer has overstepped the bounds of propriety , twelve honest and independent men may easily determine ; but to say in general that the truth of the libel ( i . e . the truth of the writing , ) can in no case be a vindication , is to declare war against common sense and the : dictates of reason and conscience . / ft may be here observed , that the people of this country enjoy an inestimable privilege aver those of most other nations ! in
the publication of the proceedings of courts of law . The institution of juries is highly and deservedly prized by us ; for through it a great number of persons are annually called forth to exercise their judgments on the most important tobies i and by the
publication of the proceed ing * , the whole nation in great measure participates in thete judgments . In other countries a few men only act as judges ; and their tteefcioni , known to a very small sphere , ail * chiefly
Untitled Article
State of Public Affairs . 533
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1818, page 533, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2479/page/61/
-