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consistent with * th * doctrine an which the Protestant Dissenters acted . The petitioners were of opinion that liberty of conscience was a principle , sacred , universal and inalienable ; and they held
that any restraints placed upon it , either by pains or penalties , or by exclusion from civil situations ,- were acts of oppression and wrong . In conclusion , they called on the House to grant to the Roman Catholics the relief which they prayed for .
Lord G . Cavendish ( we believe ) bore testimony to the great respectability of the petitioners .
Case of Richard Carliie . June 2 . Mr . Brougham presented a petition from Richard Carliie , and six other individuals , whose names he mentioned . The petitioners stated , that they had
been prosecuted , and were immured in different prisons of the country , for not being Christians according to the forms of the Established Church , and for stating their reasons why they were not so ; and they prayed that the House would rescind the various sentences which had been
passed against them , and admit them to the same toleration that was enjoyed by other Dissenters . No one who knew him ( Mr . Brougham ) would suppose that he was inclined to patronize any species of indecent ribaldry against the institutions of the country . ¦ ¦ He considered such ribaldry to be a crime in
itself , and to be the very worst mode which could be adopted to propagate any kind of opinions . For , suppose the party who held such opinions to be right , and the rest of the country to be in ihe wrong , the expression of them in ribald or indecent language , was calculated to
affront the feelings and rouse the indignation of those whom he ought to conciliate rather than offend , if he wished 10 nuike them proselytes . He therefore said , that if these petitioners were right , the most unwise step they could take for the extension <» f their doctrines , would be to attack the received doctrines of the
country in low and scurrilous language . At the same time he thought that the law ought not to picas too heavily upon them because they appeared to be , in a certain degree , enthusiasts and fanatics ; and toleration , as well as expediency , required , that they should not be subjected to that degree of punishment which would entitle them to be
considered , either by themselves or by others , as martyrs to the principles , such as they were , that they professed . If they had taken a bad way to attack the religion of the country , it was incumbent upon us not to take a bad way to defend
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it ; and the worst of itU possible way 8 would be to inflict : severer punishment than their offences required . Having thus endeavoured to guard himself against misconstruction , he would say , that he could conceive no harm as likely to accrue to religion from fair and free discussion 5 and that uutil the mode of discussion became so offensive as to ex * .
cite against it the feelings of almost every man in the country , prosecutions for blasphemy were among the very worst * * methods of defending religion . That was his deliberate and sincere opinion ; and he could hardly conceive any instance in which toleration could be carried too
tar , either to the religion professed , or to the persons professing it . He moved that this petition be brought up . Mr . Peel made several observations , but in a tone of voice which was almost inaudible in the gallery . He was understood to concur with Mr , Brougham that prosecutions should not be instituted on
the score of religious opinions , so long as those opinions were expressed in fair and temperate language : but he contended , that as soon as they vented themselves in scurrilous attack * on established institutions , they deserved the attention of the civil authorities . He maintained .
that the libels published by Carliie and his fellow-petitioners were of the description mentioned by the hon . member for Winehelsea : they were revolting to the feelings of every moral man in the country , and were therefore properly selected for prosecution . He did not see how Mr * Richard Carliie could be well
held up as au object of mercy to the Crown . So far from expressing any contrition for the offence he had committed , he gloried in it , and not only boasted rhat he would continue to repeat it , but actually carried his boast into execution .
To his sister , Miss Carliie , the mercy of the Crown had been extended ; and she had shown herself not undeserving of it , by refusing to participate any further jin the blasphemous publications of her brother . . »
Sir F . Burdett protested against the principle laid down by the Right Hon . Secretary , that a man who whs suffering punishment for religious opinions , should not be entitled to auy mitigation of it ,, unless he turned hypocrite , and retracted the opinions he believed to be true . JVlr . JVIonck ridiculed the idea of
defending religion by prosecuting blasphemy . There was no law in Aiueric * . against blasphemy , and yet he believed that no country in the world was more free from what was generally called blasphemous publications . JVlr . Peel made an observation which was inaudible in the gallery .
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InielUgerice . ~ PerHameht < try * Case of Richard CarlUel . 573
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1825, page 573, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2540/page/57/
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