poor labouring curate, whose person forcibly reminds you of one of Pharaoh's lean kine, and who is, as Goldsmith says, On the following day behold this bloated divine, sitting on the bench, in all the aristocratic pride and insolence of his office, sending little children to gaol for stealing nuts and apples, instead of giving mild and gentle reproofs to these juvenile and thoughtless transgressors, and preparing them for a life of virtue, that he may obey the solemn injunction of his divine master, who says, "Suffer little children to come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven." Behold him on another day countenancing the most palpable crimes and debaucheries by the young squires in the neighbourhood of his living, because it keeps up his patronage, and is agreeable to the secret injunctions and creed of his only true god, self interest. “Look here, upon this picture and on this.”—SHAKSPEARE. Shakspeare has sketched the country justice with the pencil of a master, in the following lines, in his comedy of As you Like it, spoken by the philosophizing and musing Jacques, in his description of the seven ages of man : "And then, the justice, In fair round belly, with good capon lin❜d, A more illiterate class of men than these country magistrates, is not to be found throughout the country, and it shows what little attention and regard is paid to the well being of the country by our government. The instances that I have given of the conduct of different magistrates in the metropolis, and I could relate many more, are, I think, fully adequate to establish my objection and argument against a discretionary power being confided in them. I should not have dwelt so long on this theme was it not of great importance, in every point of view, not only as regards our private interests, but as it is intimately connected and blended with the liberty of the subject. Take away the right of trial by jury in one case, and it will not be long before other privileges will share the same fate, just according to the temper and fortitude with which we may bear these grievous and arbitrary exactions. Give the magistrates only a little more discretionary power, and that boasted palladium of our liberties, the trial by jury, will be materially and effectually checked in its beneficial influence on society, and rendered a complete dead letter, and our gaols would be crowded with victims of revenge, malice, and every bad passion of the heart. Besides, there is not a case in the whole compass of the misdeeds of mankind, which is more difficult and complex than the offence of assault and battery, because there are so many motives that exist between the parties to induce them to commit the offence, especially when quarrels between relations or old acquaintances, take place, when the utmost rancour and spleen is shown by the belligerent parties, which are fit points for a judge or jury to consider of. Consequently, being a case of difficulty, it requires more judgment and impartiality for its adjustmentbecause one man is not so likely to be possessed of these qualities as a jury of twelve, as their decision must be unanimous, and the accused party has the privilege of objecting to any of the jurymen whom he may suspect would not act with fairness towards him, that is, if there are no tricks played by the government, at the crown office. But the appointment of magistrates is in the power of the crown, and we need only refer to the proceedings of these men in political cases, and we must be convinced of the danger of a possession of power by one individual. But we are told that this alteration in our law is from a bill by Mr. Peel, and that it is intended by it to save trouble and expense to the parties concerned in assaults. What! to sacrifice the principle of justice for the paltry consideration of a trifling expense. Is this the way to legislate for the community. And who is Mr. Peel, that we are to concede prínciple after principle for the sake of a temporary convenience-merely to gratify the whim and caprice of his fancy? Whether, as it is said, he is possessed of a firm and vigorous mind, an extensive knowledge of jurisprudence, and a tact and fitness for public business, is of little consequence as long as he is associated with the prejudiced and unenlightened administration of the great untaught. A government, which, knowing not true wisdom Is scorn'd abroad, and lives on tricks at home.-DRYDEN. Mr. Peel is not the reformer to suit the temper and genius of the English people, at their present advanced state of knowledge. He reminds one much of the fable of The Mountain in Labour, for as Horace says, Amphora cœpit Institui; currenté rota, cur urceus exit? It has been observed by some of the greatest philosophers, that man when invested with an uncontrolled power, is the most insidious, deceitful, and dangerous being in the universe. Many instances in corroboration of which might be given from the histories of all countries in the world, were it requisite but it is a circumstance so well known to the best part of mankind, that to cite any single fact in proof of the foregoing remark, would be useless even to the juvenile mind. But, at any rate, it is impossible that any amelioration can take place in the condition of the people of the different nations of the globe, until men in power are fully convinced of the following excellent political axiom by the Emperor Adrian :-"I propose to myself so to govern the commonwealth, as to show that I never forget it is not my own property, and that I am no more than administrator for the public." What a fine lesson for arbitrary and extravagant monarchs, and time-serving and parasitical members of parliament, Then might it be said of us, that Libertas quæ sera tamen respexit Respexit tamen et longo post tempore venit.-VIRG. ECLOG. I. I shall conclude by offering the following simple and beautiful inscription in the front of the Palazzo Tolomei, at Sienna, for any inaccuracy of expression or deficiency of judgment, that I may have been guilty of in the course of the above observations Quod potui feci; faciant meliora potentes. Clerkenwell, Sept. 24, 1828. HUMANITAS. Printed and Published by RICHard Carlile, 62, Fleet-street, where all Communications, post-paid, or free of expense, are requested to be left. The Lion. No. 16. VOL. 2.] LONDON, Friday, Oct. 17, 1828. [PRICE 6d. TO THE INHABITANTS OF NOTTINGHAM, &c. LETTER III. I MUST call this letter the third, by way of distinction; for I know not as yet how many I may find occasion to address to you. I was informed, while I was with you, that there was an agreed or promised silence among the newspaper people of your town as to my visit. The " Journal" did say, that "Carlile of Fleet Street notoriety, is now on a visit to Nottingham;" but that was all, until the proposed discussion with Mr. Gilbert had created a fermentation in the mental stagnancy of the town. I saw, it was impossible, upon every moral calculation, that, the force of the general fermentation, which my appearance and actions created, would pass off without some notice; and I have been waiting to see the extent of it, before I notice the proceeding in Messrs. Kendall and Sewell's yard. Lies I expected; because, I knew the newspapers could not afford, if they were so disposed, to speak the truth as to the reality of what I said and did. To have done it, would have been to expose, to eyes hitherto blind, the worthlessness of the political and moral precepts of those papers. The proprietors of the 'Journal' were not only promisedly and studiedly silent; but they did all they could do, by personal interference, as I was informed, to prevent a discussion between me and Mr. Gilbert; fearing, groundlessly, that Mr. Gilbert would have been rash enough to have trusted himself to the carrying on of what Mr. Bailey called his " disadvantageous" conflict. I really do feel that I am great, that I am a little man of very great importance, when I see, as I saw in Nottingham, the whole talent and learning of the town cowering and trembling before my Printed and Published by R. CARLILE, 62, Fleet Street, No. 16.-VOL. 2. 2 I presence and dreaded speech. I cannot but feel that I am great and powerful in the promulgation of important truths, when I see all the pretendedly divine messengers and preachers of alleged divine revelations shrinking from a contact with me, as bats and moles shrink from the face of the sun. I must be great and must feel that greatness, when I see that which is called the learning or public education of the country, the reverse of that which I teach, yet afraid to cope with me, recommending silence and non-observance toward my proceeding. Week after week, I publish books which challenge the existence of any truth in that which is called the religion of the country. At every convenient opportunity, I invite oral discussion, with the preachers of this religion. At first, they showed their physical power in their religious revenge, and imprisoned me for six years. Growing ashamed of that, finding that they were losing ground by that line of proceeding, they have set me at large, left me perfectly free to do morally what I think proper to do, and now act as if they had agreed to hold their profits as long as possible, by not publicly noticing the assaults which I continue to make upo them. All will not do. I shall publish from town to town the superiority which I hold over these pulpit preachers. I shall go on to show the honest and well-disposed part of the community, that I court discussion, and that my opponents shrink from it: and, in a few years, I will make the religion of the country stink in its nostrils. I will have the best of its preachers out to public discussion, or I will make them the laughing-stocks of the children whom they mischievously catechise. Mr. Gilbert cannot now exhibit the same boasting confidence in the soundness of his religious doctrines, which he exhibited before my visit to Nottingham. It must now be a perfect mockery for him to throw open his library of a Wednesday evening to all disputants, after shrinking from a public discussion with me. I do not know that he continues to do so; but if he does, I should think it worth a ride to Nottingham to look at him again in his library, to think on the past and smile. I have now to exhibit the most Christian and most religious lies of that which, as a report of proceedings among some Nottingham Odd Fellows, I have seen toasted, as "The public press of Nottingham;" a press which I shall press into a very contemptible appearance. The first is a lie or rather a string of lies, as one of four articles which I have cut from the Nottingham Journal of September 13, printed and published by and for George Stretton, 14, Long Row, Nottingham. Mr. Stretton is a pretender to religion; let us see how different is a pretence to be religious, from a love of truth : The Arch Infidel of the metropolis, who for the sake of gain, has, for some weeks past, been outraging common decency, and insulting the understandings of the good people of Nottingham, has at length been com pelled to make a precipitate retreat from the town, and has reason to congratulate himself that he escaped with a whole skin. Having publicly announced his intention of speaking to " the people," in the afternoon of Monday last (all of whom, by the bye, who had the privilege of hearing him spout forth his abominable doctrines, had to pay one shilling for admission), a great number of persons, male and female, collected about the door, and on the opposite bank of the canal, within view of the place of meeting, if not within hearing. In the course of a short time, murmurs and reproaches began to break forth against the speaker, and at length the indignation of the multitude rose to such a pitch, that they threatened to drag him from the spot, and souse him in the canal. Finding it impossible to appease the assembled multitude, and to quell the rising storm, the orator found it prudent to consult his safety, by making his exit, with the assistance of the few who were with him, by an adjoining passage, across the canal, and through the meadows, towards Sneinton. As soon as the mob gained a knowledge of the route he had taken, a general chase commenced, and it was with difficulty he and his companions reached a place of refuge for the night.-The next day the monster took his departure from the town, as we are told, in a private manner, no doubt happy that he escaped with life and limb! This article has been taken up by other provincial papers, which have sent forth a statement in still stronger colours, saying, that I was driven from Nottingham amidst the hootings and execrations of the people. I have heard of such statements in a Birmingham, a Macclesfield, and a Lincoln Paper, and doubtless, it has been a tit bit as a religious lie for every religious paper in the country. The Macclesfield Courier and Herald has it thus, under date of September 20. BLASPHEMY AND SEDITION. The notorious Carlile has been driven out of Nottingham, by the voice of the people. The arch infidel attempted to give lectures and spout nonsense to the people of that town, charging his auditors one shilling each. He was pursued across the canal, and sought refuge in an obscure cottage. The ensuing morning he was glad to find himself alive, and scampered off as fast as he could towards London. First. It is false, to say that I made a precipitate retreat from the town of Nottingham. It is within the knowledge of a hundred persons in Nottingham, that I had arranged a week beforehand to leave precisely at the time and in the manner in which I did leave. The letter, which I sent to Mr. Gilbert on the Sunday evening, announced, that I should not remain in Nottingham, after the Monday, on which I had appointed to meet all opponents in the yard of Messrs. Kendall and Sewell. In addition to my having spent too much time in Nottingham, through the pretence of Mr. Gilbert to meet me in public discussion, I was summoned urgently to return to London, in consequence of the health of Mrs. Carlile preventing her from attending to the business. Otherwise, I was bent for Hull, and further north. A week before I left, I promised Mrs. Carlile, by letter, that I would be in London on the evening on which I did arrive. I left Nottingham in the most public way, and without the least fear or cause for fear. I |