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    columns of this paper . ]—Was this ( continued Mr . Gurney ) fair , free , and manly discussion , was it argument or reasoning , was it not rather vulgar scoffing and scurrilous abuse ? Whether it originated in

    gross ignorance or in knowledge perversed mattered nothing ; but when the defendant held such language , as , that Christianity was calculated to degrade and to debase mankind , he was answered by those who knew what the state of the

    Heathen world was before its introduction , what savage acts were then practised , what deeds of atrocity were then committed , and they would beg of him to compare with these times the state of Christendom at the present day . Or he could be answered by those who knowing nothing of ancient history , were yet

    acquainted with the condition of those countries from which the light of the Gospel was still concealed . The horrors of the Jaggernaut , and the dreadful superstitions that prevail in those countries , must convince every man whose mind was not imbruted , that Christianity was for every purpose , here and hereafter ,

    man's best and surest guide and protection . The other publication , which was printed and published by the defendant himself , was entitled The Deist ' s Maga ~ zine > which commenced , it appeared , in the month of March of the present year ,

    and which was prefaced by an address to the reader , which was not included in the indictment , but it proceeds reviling and abusing Christianity , and endeavouring by every gross and vulgar insinuation to bring it into direct contempt .

    Here Mr . Gurney was interrupted by the defendant , who , addressing his Lordship , observed , that a Gentleman who sat immediately behind him had remarked , that he hoped he ( the defendant ) would get two or three years imprisonment .

    Mr . Justice Best . —I perceive the Gentleman to whom you allude , and I am persuaded that you are mistaken . No Gentleman in Court feels more for the unfortunate situation in which you are now placed than that Gentleman . A person who appeared to assist the defendant in the management of his case then observed that he had heard the

    observation . Mr . Justice Best . —I am quite convinced , that , to say the least of it , you are mistaken . If , however , any remarks have been made , 1 request that they may "ot again be repeated .

    Mr . Gurney proceeded . He was at a loss to conceive how such a remark , whispered , as it had been , if it were ever uttered , could prejudice the minds of the ^ U 1 y ; and in his opinion the wiser course would have been to have suffered it to voi . xv . 4 t

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    pass in silence . He perceived that '| he defendant attended there to plead his ^ owii cause . What he could have to 8 fnf / hi defence of those passages which he"Thad read to them , it was indeed difficult to discover ; but the usual topics which were selected in these cases weire ^ the right of free discussion , the liberty of the press , the value of private judgment , and

    others of a similar nature ; and no ma& living appreciated them more highly than himself . But we had the right to Write and print good ; had we therefore ' the right to vilify all that was sacred , and to treat as ribaldry all those subjects that * were held by those who believed in them ' as man's dearest possessions , upon which alone he rested his hopes of a futurity ? Was it to be tolerated that a man shouM

    defame and vilify the country in wractj he lived , and reprobate those who administered its government ? Such wasnOtTtne * liberty of the press . Was it to be tolerated that he should go on and hold up

    religion itself as idle or worse than useless , as calculated to degrade and debase mankind ? No ; by their verdict th&t day they would vindicate the press' from its most dangerous enemies , from those who would substitute licentiousness for

    liberty * He would leave the case to their consideration , fully assured that by their * verdict they would , as far as in them lay , preserve the religion of their country from the desolating progress of infidelity apft irreligion .

    Andrew Thomas Frailey . —A pamphlet was handed to him , which he said was the 9 th number of The Republican . He bought it on the 4 th of February last , at Davison ' s , and paid two-pence for it . Davison lived then in Duke Street , West Smithfield . He made a mark on the book ,

    by which he knows it . In hi 3 cross-examination by the defendant , he said that he went there by the desire of Mr . Piitchard ; he had a regular employment . The pamphlet was then given in , and the part charged as libel was read by the Clerk of the Court .

    John Branscomb purchased a publica tion he held in his hand , entitled The Deis fa Magazine \ on the 1 st of April last , at Davison ' s , 10 , Duke Street , West Smithfield , and he paid sixpence for it .

    In his cross-examination by Davison , he said that he held a situation in the Hawker ' s Office ; he resided near the City Road ; he did not live once in Wellingtonplace ; and he never left any house without first satisfying his landlord .

    Mr . Justice Best told the defendant that he had a right to have the publication compared with the record , and the Judge then requested Mr . Bellamy to compare them .

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    Intelligence . —Law Proceedings . 6 !? 5 *

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1820, page 685, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2494/page/57/