ble right, to publish the grounds and reasous of their conduct and motives in renouncing that religion?

I mention the name of my brother, because I stand here as his agent; I have no particular interest in the pamphlet in question, because I, have served my brother at fixed wages, without holding any interest in the publications, even where my name stands affixed as printer and publisher. I do not now complain of the responsibility which I have incurred, as I feel indignant at the persecutions which my brother has suffered, and have stood forward, to the best of my humble ability, to resent it; and if it becomes my fate to suffer a similar treatment, there are others waiting to aspire to a similar resentment, in the cause of a free discussion on all subjects.

. The pamphlet in question is supposed to be the writing of Thomas Paine; the different pieces were all written and published in the United States of America, many years since, and as there are some thousands, perhaps millions, in this country, who are admirers of the writings of Thomas Paine, the different pieces have been collected and published here for their gratification and information. Something more than the ordinary bookselling price has been put upon them; and those who profess to dislike those writings are not compelled to purchase or to read them.

The Printing Press is established upon too firm a footing to admit of any attempt to restrain effectually any particular opinions in the present day, and none but a rogue or a mad fanatic would think of or attempt it. Opinions will stand or fall so far as they are related to truth or falsehood,. and the utmost latitude of discussion can never become injurious to truth or honesty, nor merit the epithet of licentiousness. I am bold to affirm, that there is no other licentiousness in the Printing Press than where the grossest printed absurdities and superstitious notions are forbidden by law to be examined. Where such is the law, a licentiousness of the Press and a corrupt Government are established. The utmost limits of discussion cannot be fairly termed licentiousness, on the ground that no man can be compelled to read and believe, therefore every discussion will find support in proportion to its attraction and relation to truth.

Gentlemen of the Jury; there is a statute law in this country, which says, that the books called the Holy Scriptures by Christians, or the books which comprise the Old and New Testament, shall not be reviled or scoffed at; and

the penalty which this law enacts upon the first offence is, a disqualification for all civil and military offices; but my prosecutors are too vindictive to rest their indictment upon this statute, because that disqualification is not tantamount with two or three years imprisonment. They have founded their Indictment upon what they call the common law, but which I shall make appear plain to you, Gentlemen, is nothing but a common abuse

Mr. Justice BEST could not permit the laws of the country to be reviled in his presence. He begged that the Defendant would take her manuscript and expunge such objectionable matter.

Defendant. I have no other defence.

Mr. Justice BEST.-I shall be happy to hear any thing which you can urge to the Jury, to shew that the work in question is not a libel, or that you are not the publisher of it. Take the manuscript and cut out the objectionable parts; or let your friends do it for you.

Defendant. I have no other defence if you will not take

that.

Mr. Justice BEST.-Let it be read; but if it goes on in the same strain, I must stop it. You had better retire with your friends, and get the thing done. The Court will wait for you.

Defendant.-I have no friend to do it.

Mr. Justice BEST.-There are plenty of gentlemen in court who, I am sure, will assist you.

A Juryman intimated that the Defendant was only doing herself harm; it would be better that she should take the learned Judge's advice.

The Defendant repeated that she had no other defence, but left the court.

A pause of a few minutes followed; and the Defendant returned with the following words written upon her book— "If the Court means to decide that an Englishwoman is not to state that which she thinks necessary for her defence, she must abide the consequence of such a decision."

Mr. Justice BEST.-I have decided no such thing. I have said, and I say again, that I am ready to hear any thing you can say in your defence. I would advise you to retire again, and to consult your own feelings, rather than those of the persons by whom you are surrounded.

The Jury again interfered.

Mr. Justice BEST.-There is not a gentleman behind the bar, I am sure, who will not readily assist you.

The Defendant chose to abide by her determination.

Mr. Justice BEST, without the least hesitation, proceeded to sum up the case and told the Jury that the publication was a libel.

The Jury, without any deliberation, found a verdict of GUILTY.

The following is the suppressed part of the Defence:-and a mere nonentity, put in force on all necessary occasions, to suit the purpose of corruption and oppression, when an individual is to be put down or ruined, who has not offended against the statute laws of the country. The lawyers tell us that the common law resides in the bosoms of our Judges, and consists of their dicta and decisions from time to time but since it is notorious that there have been good and bad men among those Judges, as well as among every other class of persons, does it not follow, that those dicta and decisions may be opposed to truth, to right, and to common sense. Tresilian, and Empson, and Dudley, and Jefferies, who were justly put to death for their iniquities and crimes, all acted upon their common law, and whilst they were in power, their dicta and decisions enforced submission. It is notorious, as must naturally be the case, that what one Judge has called common law a subsequent Judge has contradicted; and this arises because there is no standard, and because it opens the way for the passions and caprices of different men to act without controul. Common, or unwritten law, I repeat, to be common abuse, and a disgrace to any community where it is allowed to operate. Under a representative system of Government, where the people were fairly represented, we should hear of no such thing as an unwritten law; for since letters have been invented, an unwritten law can have been kept up for nothing but oppression and corruption.

The laws of a community ought to be known to every individual member of that community, and if a knowledge of those laws be, in any sense of the word, above his reach, he cannot be justly made amenable to them. Every law in the present state of letters and knowledge ought to be written, and written in a language to be understood by all, which should admit of no ambiguity, nor require the aid of a lawyer to say what it meant. Where statute or common law falls short of this, it is founded in injustice, and most probably intended for the purposes of persecution and oppression. I come now to consider, more particularly, my

own indictment upon what is called common law, and I pledge myself to shew, that I have not offended any law of the kind, unless I am to be told, that the Judges can make what they please to be common law, without the necessity of shewing it to be founded upon established or immemorial usage. I am charged with having published a blasphemous libel upon what Christians call their Holy Scriptures, or Holy Religion, and I am told that there are no statutes to define what constitutes this blasphemy, but, that it is an offence at common law, and that Christianity makes part and parcel of that law.

Let us inquire, Gentlemen: This common law is pretended to be established upon immemorial usage; but the religion of the country has been subject to continual change, and therefore, instead of claiming immemorial usage it cannot put in the claim of antiquity, and we shall find that what has been the common law religion in one century has been quite a different thing in another. I may be told that Christianity has been in existence for eighteen centuries, but if those who make the assertion could define what Christianity really was, we might concede the proposition, but Christianity, I am bold to assert, is totally undefinable, and Proteus-like, has assumed every shape, therefore any attempt to bring it within the verge of those rules which are said to constitute common law is morally impossible.

We can trace the period when Druidism was the common law religion, and, for aught we know to the contrary, this system alone can claim immemorial usage; and, as our lawyers say, that the common law so far differs from statute law, that it is not liable to change, Druidism ought in common justice to be considered the common law religion of the land. After Julius Cæsar made a conquest of some parts of this island, we know that the Roman mythology prevailed over our ancient and immemorial Druidism, and this continued for many centuries. The Christian religion was first introduced into this island during the Roman government, and, it is probable, that it even then supplanted the former common law religion. It is probable, that Christianity prevailed more in this than in any other of the Roman provinces, for Constantine, who was the first Christian Emperor, was brought up in this island, whilst his father Constantius, who was a Christian, was Governor, and it was from this island that Constantine drew the flower of that army, by which, he overthrow Maxentius and Licinius, and made himself master of the whole Roman Empire. It is then more than probable, that, at and after this period,

Christianity formed the common law religion; but this Christianity soon beginning to sap the morals of the Roman people, and with them the Roman Empire, that, when the Romans quitted this island to protect their provinces nearer home, and the Saxons came over from Germany to assist the Britons in repelling the ravages of the Scots and Picts, and finally made themselves masters of the country, the Christian religion, this divine religion, was supplanted by the superior saving powers of THOR and WODEN, and became quite extinct; and it was not until the sixth century of Christianity, that Ethelbert, the Saxon king, tolerated its propagation by Austin, and the forty monks who followed. him. If this Ethelbert had not possessed more liberality, and love of truth, than my prosecutors, perhaps the Christian religion had not been the religion of the country to this day. I quote the answer of Ethelbert to Austin, from Hume's History of England: "Your words and promises, said Ethelbert to Austin, are fair, but because they are new and uncertain, I cannot entirely yield to them, and relinquish the principles, which I and my ancestors have so long maintained. You are welcome, however, to remain here in peace, and as you have undertaken so long a journey, solely, as it appears, for what you believe to be for our advantage, I will supply you with all necessaries, and permit you to deliver your doctrine to my subjects." Thus, it appears, that Ethelbert did not fear the scrutiny of his former principles, neither did he tell Austin and his followers, that the common law of England would not tolerate the impugning of the established faith; but his words imply: "I will examine what you propose, and if I find it more consistent with truth than that which I now follow, I will embrace it; but, in the meantime, you are welcome to try the effect of your preaching upon my subjects." You, Gentlemen of the Jury, have an opportunity, and the power at this moment, to display a similar liberality to that which Ethelbert shew - to Austin; and for the sake of the truth, and the honour of our country, I call upon you to dismiss me from this prosecution, as Ethelbert dismissed the Monks, who came for the purpose of subverting the established religion of the country.

But to shew the impossibility of the present established religion having any claim to a connection with the old unwritten law, it is only necessary by way of summary, that, upon the ground of authentic history, we find, that at one period Druidism existed with that unwritten law, at another period the Roman mythology prevailed, then Christianity,