themselves about religion, or at least not to give any preference to one form of it more than to another. But this is not an opinion for which they will disturb the peace of any state. They wish to have this, as well as every other great question, interesting to man and to society, to be freely discussed. But what is the proper use and termination of discussion besides the prevalence of truth and of general happiness? No man who does not persist in supporting what he himself believes to be false and mischievous, will ever say the contrary. Why then should not Dissenters, and all other persons, be tolerated in maintaining this, as well as any other opinion, though it has a remote relation to practice, as indeed every opinion of much importance necessarily has?

Whatever were my political sentiments, though I should be an avowed republican, and, as a person high in office, but, in this respect, of little information, lately said of me, "ready to destroy the King, the House of Lords, and House of Commons too," as this mischief, unless I were the dragon of Wantley, could only be effected by argument, by convincing the people, that such descriptions of men were useless or mischievous to them, it would be no justifiable reason for inflicting on me what I have suffered.

If my publications, be they what they will, be not contrary to law, but merely sophistical, let them be answered. My enemies will hardly say that my abilities as a writer are such, that, even without the advantage of truth, I can outwrite all my opponents, and, in spite of all their efforts, get the great body of the people on my side. And till this be done, the state is in no manner of danger from me. If by writing or acting, I expose myself to the censure of the law, let it have its course; but let not persons, under the pretence of supporting government, encourage lawless violence, subversive of all government whatever.

If by our writings any person be injured in his private character or affairs, Dissenters are punishable by law, like other citizens. But public measures and public characters, have always been, and it is to be hoped always will be,

of

Such language as this may be said to have been unintentionally the cause the Riots in Birmingham, with as much probability as the speech of king Henry II. was that of the murder of Becket. The known, or the supposed, wishes of men in power do not always require to be accompanied with positive orders. They should, therefore, be particularly cautious what they say. The person above-mentioned added, "As to Paine he is no Dissenter, and therefore we cannot take him up." On this I leave my reader to make his own remarks, and some of a sufficiently serious nature cannot fail to occur to him. (P.)

open to public animadversion in this country. Otherwise, there is an end of all true liberty; or if from this liberty the Dissenters alone are excluded, it is no free country for us, whatever it may be for others. Whenever I find myself debarred the exercise of the invaluable privilege of perfect freedom of speech and writing, I shall consider it as a signal for my departure to some other part of the world, where it can be enjoyed without molestation.

SECTION IV.

The Bigotry of the High Church Party the true Cause of the Riots.

THAT the true source of the late Riots in Birmingham was religious bigotry, and the animosity of the high-church party against the Dissenters, and especially against the Presbyterians and Unitarians, and not the commemoration of the French Revolution, is evident from all that has passed before, at, and after the day.

In the public-houses where the people were inflaming themselves with liquor all that day and some time before, there were heard execrations of the most horrid kind against the Presbyterians. One person was heard not only to wish damnation to them, but that "God Almighty would make a week's holiday for the purpose of damning them." The mob did not arrive at the hotel till more than two hours after the company had left it, and there they demanded only myself, who had not been there. No part of their vengeance fell upon any Churchman, whether at the dinner or not. After demolishing the two meeting-houses, and every thing belonging to me, their next objects were the houses of Mr. Taylor and Mr. John Ryland, who were well known to have been much averse to the scheme of the dinner; and during the whole course of the outrages, the constant cry was CHURCH AND KING, and DOWN WITH THE PRES

BYTERIANS.

That the celebration of the French Revolution was not the true cause of the Riots, has indeed sufficiently appeared from the narrative part of this work. That the plan was laid some time before, and that proper persons were provided to conduct it, is probable from this circumstance, that those in the mob who directed the rest, (who were evidently not of the lowest class, and who were sometimes called their leaders,) were not known to hundreds of all descriptions of the inhabitants of the town, who observed them attentively; so that

persons who were no Dissenters, concluded that they came from a distance, and probably from London. The proper Birmingham mob were often persuaded to desist from their attempts, till they were joined by these men, who both instigated them to mischief and directed them how to proceed in the shortest and most effectual manner.*

If there be any foundation for this supposition, the plan of the Riots must have been laid some time before, and of course, have been entirely independent both of the hand-bill and of the Revolution dinner, any farther than the latter directed to the proper time for the execution of the scheme, as these directors must have been engaged before-hand. Time, it is hoped, will throw some light on this dark business. It was probably intended to humble and intimidate the Dissenters, by some persons who thought it more prudent to do it by a mob, than by legal methods.

That the storm was directed solely against those that are commonly called the more liberal Dissenters, and not the Calvinistic ones, was evident from the whole course of it, in which the houses and meeting-houses of the latter were spared. The only exception was the house of Mr. Hutton, who attends public worship at Carr's Lane, but whose son and daughter belong to the New Meeting. It is also thought that he was obnoxious to the lower classes of the people on account of the strict and exemplary discharge of his duty in the Court of Requests. Let us now see what passed subsequent to the event.

The exultation of the high-church party, not only in Birmingham, but through the kingdom in general, on the success of this crusade, was undisguised and boundless. All the newspapers both in town and country, in the conduct of which they had particular influence, were full of the grossest abuse of the Dissenters, and especially of myself, and such narratives of the proceedings were published as cannot be accounted for from mistake or misapprehension, but must have been wilfully fabricated for the worst of purposes. Of this I have given one example from the paper called THE TIMES.†

There were many of the high-church party who did not hesitate to say that, if the mischief had terminated with the destruction of my house, and every thing belonging to me, all had been well. Some openly lamented that the mob had not seized me, or that I had not perished in the conflagra

* See New Ann. Reg. [1792] XII. p. 213.

+ See Appendix, No. X. (P.)

tion. One clergyman in a public Assize Sermon called our sufferings wholesome correction; and another declared that, if all my writings were put together, and myself were placed on the top of them, he should rejoice to set fire to the pile. Many of the high-church party were so far from lamenting my sufferings, or complaining of the illegal manner in which the mischief was done, that they scrupled not to justify it, on the pretence, though absolutely groundless, that my writings were hostile to the state; if not directly, yet indirectly so, as being hostile to the church. One instance of this, and one of the most moderate of its kind, I shall give* on account of the singular circumstance of its being printed together with my own Letter to the Inhabitants of Birmingham, and thrown into many houses in London, with the title of "Self-murder, or the Doctor tried and convicted on his own Evidence."

The strange violence of the same party-spirit also appeared by a hand-bill, † which was distributed in London the day after my arrival there. This could only be intended to point me out as a proper object of destruction, by some person who wanted the courage, though not the will to dispatch me himself.

At the same time I received an anonymous letter from a person who said "he was concerned for my misfortunes and my folly," advising me to "have a strict guard on my future conduct;" adding, "Depend upon it, if you proceed to foment disturbances in this place, nobody can answer for your safety. I can assure you the people of this country will not see their happy constitution insulted by any man.

The same spirit was but too apparent during the trials; the most notorious of the Rioters being acquitted by the jury, against the clearest evidence, to the astonishment of the judge, and all the court, and their acquittal was received with the loudest applause by the surrounding audience. ‡ Nor was this indecent exultation confined to those of the lower class, who were heard to wish" that the Birmingham coin might circulate through the kingdom." Two persons of better condition, as I was informed, meeting in the Town

In the Appendix, No. XIII. (P.)

+"Dr. PRIESTLEY is a damned rascal, an enemy both to the religious and political constitution of this country, a fellow of a treasonable mind, consequently a bad Christian: for it is not only the duty, but the glorious ambition, of every good Christian to fear God and honour the King." (P)

"I have heard it said," remarked Mr. D. P. Coke, (see supra, p. 358, Note,) as I have been passing in the streets, they will not convict any of them." See Report, p. 68.

"were

Hall at Warwick, immediately after the acquittal of two of the principal Rioters, one of them observed to the other, that they had succeeded beyond their expectations, and that since those two hearty cocks" (as he called them) safe, he did not much care for the rest." The poor wretches who were left to be hanged, it is presumed, were such as knew no secrets. This very much resembles the case of Demarée, who was condemned for burning a meeting-house in the time of Queen Anne, but was afterwards pardoned, and who, in the report of the trial, by Judge Foster, is called "one of Dr. Sacheverell's ablest advocates."

We still have confidence in the justice of our country with respect to our damages. As to lives† we never wished to take any more than might be deemed necessary for our own future security, and the peace of the country. We shall still be sufferers in common with others, and much more than they, with respect to things for which no indemnification can be made us.

The same high-church spirit prevailed through most parts of England, and in places where I had nothing to do. Similar outrages were threatened and apprehended at Manchester; and it is thought they would have taken place there, as well as at Birmingham, if some soldiers had not been stationed in that town. Many are of opinion that if Dr. Price had been living, the storm would have fallen at Hackney in preference to Birmingham. A friend of mine at Exeter, who had invited me to spend a few weeks with him this summer, said that he durst not now receive me. The Dissenters were also threatened by the high-church party at Bristol, at Taunton, at Maidstone, and other places very distant from each other. However, things wore a better aspect in the northern and in some of the eastern parts of the kingdom. I had friends who offered me an asylum at Leeds, Norwich and Ipswich.

It will not be easy to produce an example of treatment so merciless and shameful as mine has been; and yet the highchurch party are perpetually saying, that, though the proceeding has been irregular, I have not, in fact, suffered more than I deserved. As to my manuscripts, they say that the loss of one part of them, viz. the philosophical ones, is sufficiently compensated for by the loss of the other, viz. the theological ones; so that I have my deserts, and the public

* This confidence appears to have been misplaced. See Vol. XV. p. 523, Note*. † See supra, p. 358, Note.