TO RICHARD CARLILE. SIR, Liverpool, Feb. 6th. 1822. IMPELLED by a conviction of the truth of the principles you profess, we beg to offer you our best thanks for the noble stand you have made against the infuriated professors of a popular system of error and superstition. Bigotry, has ever been the parent of vice, the abettor of crime, and the promoter of cruelty and persecution; and every system of religion which has arisen in the world from the earliest recorded periods, bas originated in ignorance, has been cherished by blood, and had its consummation in the subjugation of every principle which ennobles man, or distinguishes him from the brute creation; and even under the Christian dispensation, avowedly the mildest that has been propagated, more blood has been shed than can be attributed to the influence of every other passion, which disgraces human nature. If it could be proved that the spread of revealed religion had produced a redeeming degree of virtue or happiness, or had tended in the least to lessen the sum of human misery, we might give it a favourable consideration; but, when we find that the darkest pages of history record the deeds of those times, when superstition has had the greatest influence over the minds of men, and when our own experience teaches us, that Priests and the dupes of Priests, are the supporters of tyranny, and the instigators to persecution, we cannot but look upon Christianity, and indeed all other systems of religion which are not deduced solely from nature and reason, as the greatest curses of society. The benefits you have rendered by fearlessly disseminating the works of that great Apostle of Reason THOMAS PAINE, entitle you to the warmest gratitude of the lovers of truth in the present generation, and will give you a place in the affections of posterity, when time shall have consigned to oblivious contempt the very names of your enemies and persecutors. Dark and gloomy as are the present days, we hope to live in times when the clouds of ignorance, and superstition shall be dispersed, when the moral horizon shall be clear and spotless, when the SUN OF REASON shall shine in all the glorious refulgence of meridian splendour, and the edifices of idolatry shall be converted into temples of truth, where mankind may assemble to contemplate the purity of that religion which the GREAT ARCHITECT OF THE UNIVERSE has revealed in his works, to ALL mankind, works which stand imperishable monuments of the mutability of creeds, works which shall survive the wreck of priesthood, and the crush of canon law. You Sir, have been a faithful and zealous servant in the cause of truth: continue your efforts and they must be crowned with success; our hearts, and the hearts of every REAL FREE MAN are with you. Finally, to convince you and the world, that we are not your friends in words alone, we beg to transmit you a portion of the worldly good, which we have been able to save from the grasp of our corrupt governors, and hope shortly to establish some means of supplying you with our periodical contributions, to enable you to persevere in the cause of virtue, and of truth. We remain, your true friends and brethren, THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THE FUND. With this address a Ten Pound Bank of England note. was received. A private letter of thanks has been returned. TO MR. R. CARLILE. DEAR SIR, Newgate, Feb. 6th. 1822. We have just heard of the conduct of your unfeeling enemies, at Fleet Street. We are unable to express our indignation at such villainy, but we fervently hope you will live to have justice done you for all your sufferings. We beg you will not give yourself any trouble on our account; we will not accept of any pecuniary assistance until your affairs are in a different situation to what they are at present. H. BOYLE. W. V. HOLMES. As a mark of admiration for the virtues of such men, the above article is made public, and the subscribers may be assured, that, the first prisoner from the Temple of Reason, who confines himself to Gaol allowance, as a matter of necessity, shall be R. CARLILE. THOMAS PAINE. The difficulty of obtaining information respecting the private characters of those who opposed established creeds and opinions, is well exemplified by the following circumstance. It was well related to the writer, by the late Mr. Robert Sutcliff, a well known and most respectable Member of the Society of Friends, and author of Travels in the United States :-Entering an Inn at Burford, in Virginia, he thus addressed some persons who were in the same room: : 'The celebrated Thomas Paine lives in this town, I am informed; what kind of a character does he bear here ?" "Oh! he is a drunken profligate fellow! you may see him drunk in this house every day of the week." In this the whole company agreed. A little time after, the landlady, who was not then in the room, brought in Mr. Sutcliff's dinner; whilst she was attending him, he said to her," I understand Thomas Paine often comes to this house, and is frequently drunk here?" To which she replied, "No, Sir, he never was in this house, that I know of at any time he comes to the window every morning for his letters, and that is all we see of him." The persons who had given first information being thus convicted of falsehood, appeared very angry, and said that if he did not get drunk there, they were sure he got drunk somewhere. To which the landlady replied-" I can readily believe that; for I never had a good opinion of him since he sold the Americans to the English during the war.' -"Pray how did he betray the Americans?" "When he had the command of a fort on the Delaware, he supplied them with black sand instead of gunpowder :-he is a very bad man and yet he does more good to the poor of Burford. than any other person in the place." "In what way?" " By visiting them when they are sick, and relieving their distresses." These circumstances do not require comment.-Monthly Magazine. J. JONES returns his sincere thanks to the amiable and patriotic Lady, who left the following note, with a subscription, at 55, Fleet Street; and feels himself highly honoured in receiving the approbation of so virtuous and patriotic a female, born in that land of liberty, a land that suffers not that animal called a king to disgrace its soil. "Fourth Subscription to the English Patriot, J.-Jones, who volunteered his services in the Temple of Reason, Fleet Street; by an American Lady, 2s. 6d." THE Proceedings of the 29th of January, the anniversary of the birth of Thomas Paine, are delayed for another week, for the purpose of concentrating and exhibiting them to one view. The reports from London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Stockport, Stokesley, not forgetting the brave fellows in Newgate, have reached Dorchester Gaol: we wait for Leeds, and a few other places. Dorchester Gaol, Feb. 9. TO CORRESPONDENTS. R. B. is informed that his note was received on the 4th instant, and the sovereign on the same day. The bearer was not admitted to see R. C. nor was any communication made through the officers of the Prison; but he has learnt from the shopman, who is now in Newgate, that the message was an offer of a dozen of wine. R. C. returns his thanks for the kind offer, but begs to observe, that he drinks no wine at his own expence, and therefore he does not desire it at the expence of another, for, if it were as cheap as milk, he would give the preference to good milk; but he is candidly instructed to say on the part of Mrs. C. and his sister, that they prefer an occasional glass of wine to milk or water. A letter of thanks would have been addressed to R. B. if his address had been known, or if the shop in Fleet Street had not been closed by the Public Robbers. For the moment the present is the only available channel for communication. Janus is informed, that No. 45, of the North Briton, will be copied into the Republican, with a suitable historical preface. Printed and Published by R. CARLILE, 55, Fleet Street. All Communications (post paid) are requested to be sent to Dorchester Gaol, until a further Ad. dress to some House or Shop be given.-Orders, with remittances, or references for payment, will be punctually attended to. Corntry Agents will find the most liberal Terms for prompt Payment. No. 8. Vol. V.] LONDON, FRIDAY, Feb. 22, 1822. [PRICE 6d. TO THE REPUBLICANS OF THE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN. CITIZENS, Dorchester Gaol, Feb. 18, Year 3, of the Spanish Revolution. I PROMISED you in my Sixth Number, that I would lay before you every thing of importance that occurred in the Parliament in the present Session. The first thing that did occur, as a matter of course, was the King's Speech; but as it was, what it has ever been, an unmeaning thing, a mere thing of form and ceremony, words of sound without meaning, thrown together to tinkle in the ears of empty heads, I shall not copy it here. This speech was no sooner uttered, than down came Castlereagh with two new laws for Ireland, or one it may be called, which legislates that the people of Ireland shall perish quietly, or be transported to Botany Bay without trial, charge, or any waiting for the commission of offence: that is to say, they are not to be out of their hovels after sun set, or before sun-rise, without being liable to be sent on board a convict ship, and that in chains to Botany Bay, or to some other part of New South Wales, and if it be the pleasure of their tyrants, they are to be imprisoned with or without cause, and, to a certainty, without redress the whole of which signifies, that the magistrates of Ireland have power absolute over the lives and properties of every human being that treads the Irish soil, as much as the Grand Turk has absolute power over the lives and properties of his slaves. These laws, or this law, was passed in violation of all the usual forms of legislating, that is, they were hurried through both Houses of Parliament within thirty-six hours, and received the Royal Assent, as it is called, at the first moment that it could be given. In this affair Castlereagh was seen to dance and fidget with delight. He was, in the very element that always ex Printed and Published by R. CARLILE, 55, Fleet Street. |