Mr. Campbell-Was he requested by a party for a special purpose to buy it? The Bench did not think that was a necessary question. John Russell-On Saturday evening, about nine o'clock, I received this paper from Kendrick; it is No. 25, of the Oracle of Reason. Mr. Williams submitted that the paper must be read all through, as one part might explain the other, so as to deprive the part pointed out of its sting. Mr Bubb said in the case of Southwell, the judges would not allow it to be read; this was in the nature of a newspaper, and if that was necessary, every newspaper that contains a libel must be read all through. Mr. Campbell said Southwell was punished for publishing No. 4 of this work, which is a weekly periodical; but it did not follow that because there was a libel in that number, there was in every other number. Mr. Williams (clerk) read the commencement of the article, and pointed ont the passage which had been marked. Defendant said he wished it to be known that he never denied the existence of god, and he believed it as much as any one; he had never read the work. Mr. Campbell could not see the effect of Russell's evidence; he asked Russell whether he had read the work? The bench thought this an immaterial question. This closed the case for the prosecution. Mr. Adams said he never denied the existence of a god, nor did he read the publication, nor know that they were illegal except one, all the numbers of which he put by; he did not intend to sell any more. Kendrick examined-I gave the penny into the hand of the man. Mr. Campbell said he would call evidence to prove that the penny was not paid to Adams. Mr. Bubb suggested that was immaterial. Arthur Parker entered the box, and Mr. Bubb asked him if he believed in the testament, but he refused to answer. On the question being put from the Bench, Mr. Parker replied in the affirmative. Mr. Blagdon-Do you' believe in almighty god? Mr. Parker-I do. Mr. Blagdon - Do you believe in a father in heaven? Mr. Parker refused to answer the question; he had been asked one direct question, and he had given a direct answer. Arthur Parker deposed-I was in Mr. Adams's house when Kendrick came in for a book; I asked him what book it was; he said he did not know; there was a number of the Oracle of Reason in the window; he said he wanted that; that book was not paid for; there was money placed on the table for books; there was one penny left on the table, Mr. Campbell said after what they had heard, it would be for the bench to consider whether they would proceed with the case. Mr. Campbell said he did not justify the language; the paragraph was of so ambiguous a nature that it could not be proved to refer to any deity; there were many thousand deities. The bench called upon him (Mr. Adams) to find bail, himself in 50 and two sureties in 25 each. Mr. Fry said he came forward because he knew the parties; he had never purchased or read a num ber of the Oracle of Reason. He was accepted as bail. Mr. Edwin Parry offered himself as bail and was refused as he said he did not believe himself worth £25 after all his debts were paid. HARRIET ADAMS was also charged with selling a blasphemous libel. Mr. Bubb said-The charge was for selling the Oracle, No. 4, for which Southwell is suffering im prisonment, but as I see the woman with a child at her breast, I will not press the case, but beg you to take her own bail, and if she does not persist in selling them, it is probable it will never be heard of. The parties wished the case proceeded with. William Watts-I bought No. 4 of the Oracle of Reason on the 7th of this month, of this woman, at her house in King-street; I did not see her husband; I bought two other papers, and on the following morning paid threepence for the lot to this woman; gave the paper to Richard Russell. I Cross-examined-I work at the Chronicle office; I am an errand-boy there. Mr. Campbell-You were requested by your employer? The Bench objected that the question was imma terial. Cross-examined-1 do not know whether there is more than one apartment at 21, King-street; I don't know whether the husband was in the adjoining room; I went to the house and said Mr. Fry sent me for papers; Mr. Fry requested me to go; I said I came for some of the Oracle of Reason, Mr. Fry sent me; Mr. Fry told me where I could get them. Re-examined I went to Mr. Fry to buy the Oracle of Reason; he said you go to Mr. Adams and you will get them. Mr. Fry-The boy came to my shop for some books; I was not there; I sell some books; I sent for him, he told me he wanted Mr.Holyoake's books, I told him he could get them at Mr. Adams's; i understood on the following morning that he had got them in my name'; I told him I should appeal to the magistrates for he had got them dishonestly; the following morning the editor of the Chronicle, Mr. Thomas Rawlings, called upon me and said he did not send for them, but it was sent for by his men; he did see them. Mr. H. Beckett became bail for the husband, conjointly with Mr. H. Fry. There was no bail required for the wife. During the proceedings at the police-court, which was crowded, there were continual expressions of disapprobation, which the magis trates could not suppress. I copy the following from a letter of G. A.'s, correspondent of the Oracle, which was written in answer to some queries forwarded to him upon HOLYOAKE'S case:- I have much pleasure in informing my readers that the magistrates accepted the bail tendered for Mr. HOLYOAKE, on Friday last, and that he is now actively engaged in preparing his defence. W. C. IS THERE A GOD? XVI. "Mr. CAPPER.-It is not only wickedness but folly; no heathen in the world denies the existence of a a god." --HOLYOAKE'S Committal. "A Daniel come to judgment! Yea, a Daniel !"— MERCHANT OF VENICE. ONE of the Jew-Bookers says that" there is no new thing under the sun," Mr. Capper was not then in being, or the truth of the assertion might have been questioned. In the mind of this venerable vender of "justices' "The magistrates committing for blasphemy on a charge of felony, are doubtless actionable for so doing- they ought to have dismissed the charge of felony, and taken up that for blasphemy, as a separate case. But the probability is, that there really never was a charge of felony before them, and that it springs from their own pure inventions. With a sufficient command of money, a good counsel, and a tolerable lawyer, there might be abundant retaliation reaped for all these things. I shall now touch upon a point which I hope will also prove somewhat discomfiting to these justices, who are so clever at reasoning upon deity existences. Mr. Bubb, in his opening, talked very pompously about proceeding upon the ancient un-justice"- -a queer compound of prejudice and written law of the land the common law and why? Because his object was to make it a sessions case, and to take it out of the statutary law, which (9 & 10 W. c. 32) would bave required that information of the words spoken should be laid before a justice of the peace, within four days from their utterance, and would likewise have insured a trial at the ussizes. So that instead of these prosecutors being entitled to take credit for the respectability of their proceedings, the latter are actually discreditable as being at variance with the more humane provisions of the written laws, which provisions are certainly those which, on the part of a public prosecutor, ought always to be preferred, as being more in accordance with the (supposed) will of the community; this statute, too, gives the party an opportunity of renouncing his opinions, and thereby escaping punishment for the first offence; whereas, the common law is of infinitely more barbarian a character, and the contrast will, I think, afford fine scope for animadversion upon the trial. " stupidity-wickedness and folly are convertible terms: ergo, he would treat the idiot precisely as he would the villain. Wicked actions are those performed with an evil intent, and foolish ones without design or evil premeditation, in pure ignorance of the consequences. A man may, for purposes of his own, commit an act, hoping to get somewhat by it, which might lead to consequences injurious to society, and would call for the forcible interference of his fellows; whilst another, committing the same offence, but from ignorance, would only require to be reasoned with to induce him to desist surely there is a vast difference between the two! As much as there is between the assassin and the self-murderer. But Mr. Capper thought and acted otherwise, for had he imagined HoLYOAKE'S conduct to result from follyand no man would deny a god, did one exist, except from ignorance-he should have rea soned with him, or have gotten some one else to do so, instead of sending him to a prison, as though he had acted from wilfulness. But As regards your note of the 14th inst., I the two motives--wickedness and folly-apcannot help laughing outright at the magna-pearing to this second Daniel precisely alike, nimous junta who are going to prosecute all the remedy suggested to him would be simipersons publishing sentiments calculated to lar in both cases. bring act of parliament religion' into contempt. Why, no man writing sensibly on any subject could scarcely avoid bringing such a religion as this into contempt, even though he should say not one word about it. The tendency of all sensible writing being to bring into contempt whatever is senseless or bad-nay, even the very act of writing in favour of this institution, as it at present stands (or totters, if you please), is looked upon by the sensible and unbiassed, as at best nothing better than burlesque; the prosecutors will therefore have plenty to do, they themselves actually starting to put down that which they are all the while producing-contempt to the uttermost degree !!!" My present purpose, howeyer, is with the latter part of his worship's remark, wherein we are informed that "no heathen in the world denies the existence of a god," and consequently that it is wickedness and folly for a sensible man to disagree with the heathen. Now, at first sight, to numbers this would appear confirmation strong of the truth of the proposition, it being a godism, that the uni versality of the god idea proves a god; also, that the god idea is innate. That the god idea is nearly universal, or has been so, cannot, I presume, be denied, but that it is ir nate is a falsehood. Ideas are the effects of contact with outward objects and elements, and cannot exist until the organism is in a condition to be acted upon from without; and intervention in the affairs of humanity, never rise again in our time; it belongs ex- The celebrated Matthew Hale burnt old women for witchcraft, which executions are now pretty generally considered as so many "cruel and barbarous murders;" still, in his day he could have declared that "no heathen in the world denies the existence of witches," and that it was wickedness and folly to dispute it. I remember that Blackstone, in his "Commentaries," is in a dilemma to get over the advancing opinion of the age in reference to this subject, because it runs directly foul of the Jew Book, wherein it is expressly stated that witches existed; another evidence of its damnable effects upon society; inducing men to become the conservators of ignorance and apologists for murder. For if witches existed in the time of Saul they might exist now, and the believers in that book say they have the word of one who never lied that they did; and if it was right in his eyes to put them to death in those days, it is right now, for he is a being in whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning, who is the same yester-we make allowances for difference of customs. day, today, and tomorrow. A century since and Schleiermacher and Southwell would have been sacrificed as a burnt offering to the Christian Moloch, for their wickedness and folly in denying that which "no heathen in the world denies,” if But why should we go to the heathen, can there be stronger evidence of the folly of such reasoning than is furnished by the following * Strauss's Life of Christ. Taylor, Birmingham. + Mr. Smith, counsel against Southwell. extract from the "Apocryphal New Testa-individual must be an Atheist to every other ment," intended to prove the certainty of individual, although in reality they are all the resurrection, which opinions were enter Theists, or believers in a god. For if there tained by some of the early Christians, and be but one god, of the eight hundred millithere cannot be much doubt were considered ons of inhabitants on the earth, seven hunnecessary to eternal salvation by the party dred and ninety-nine millions nine hundred espousing them, just as the belief in the pre- and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and sent Jew Book is by the Christians of this ninety nine at least must be wrong, seeing day:-"Let us consider that wonderful type that they all differ, and they may all be of the resurrection, which is seen in the easwrong. Of two antagonistic ideas of a pertern countries, that is to say, in Arabia. There is a certain bird called a Phoenix; of son or thing, if one be right the other is, per consequence, wrong; the same holds good of this there is never but one at a time, and that lives for five hundred years, And when the time of its dissolution draws near, that it must die, it makes itself a nest of frankincense and myrrh, and other spices, into which, when its time is fulfilled, it enters and dies. But its Besh putrifying, breeds a certain worm, which being nourished with the juice of the dead bird brings forth feathers; and when it grown to a perfect state, it takes up the nest in which the bones of its parent lie, and carries it from Arabia into Egypt, to a city called Heliopolis: and flying in open day in the sight of all men, lays it upon the altar of the sun, and so returns from whence it came. The priests then search into the records of the time; and find that it returned precisely at the end of five hundred years. And shall we then think it any very great and strange thing, for the lord of all to raise up those that religiously serve him in the assurance of a good faith, when even by a bird he shows us the greatness of his power to fulfil his promise?" Doubtless there were men, when this was first written, who said it was 66 not only wickedness but folly" to disbelieve it, and that the man who did so was worse than the devils, for they "believed and trembled." I am aware that all this is not enough to convince an out-and-out godite, a follower of parsons through thick and thin, that belief of any kind does not rest upon fact but upon faith; and that, though a hundred millions eutertained a similar belief, it would be no better proof of the truth of the opinion, than its advocacy by units only, would be of its falsehood. Tait once described the Tories, with their cry of "Church in Danger," as never to be beaten. First you dislodged them from the porch, then they mounted to the roof, from theuce to the clock, and at the last, in despite of your exertions, you found them bestriding the vane, bawling out as lustily as ever. Just so is it with a believer, you can't beat him. The godite, in persisting that the god idea proves a god, overlooks this difficulty, that, inasmuch as every man has a different idea of a god to his neighbour, arising out of the varieties of organisations, every 1. Corinthians. Taylor, Birmingham. a god. W. C. THE EFFECTS OF PERSECUTION. REPORTS OF PROGRESS. To the Sub-Editor of the Oracle of Reason. DEAR SIR.-I have pleasure, great pleasure in informing you that a splendid meeting was held in Manchester, on Monday evening, June 13th, in favour of G. J. HOLYOAKE, and arrangements entered into to collect subscriptions for his defence and support, in case of conviction. A good meeting was held, also, in Stockport, on Tuesday, 14th, for the same purposes and with the same results; also in Macclesfield, on Wednesday evening; the latter was not a splendid meeting, but still a satisfactory one, and ended with the same result as the two above mentioned; the resolutions were unanimously passed in each place, and memorials to Sir James Graham, home secretary, adopted. principal speakers at these meetings were Socialist and Chartist lecturers; among the former were Messrs. Watts, Farn, and Ellis, Social missionaries; among the latter Messrs. Campbell, Warren, and Clark. I send this report for insertion, trusting that other parties in other places will follow our example. I hope the suggestion as to penny subscription cards, in No. 21 of the Oracle, will be immediately acted upon, and some sent to active individuals in every town. Yours, in the cause of liberty, The J. C. FARN. [Friend Farn's wish was accomplished before he could utter it. Cards have been issued by the Birmingham committee to several places, and a circular containing the information, with bills enclosed, has likewise been forwarded to every Social branch in the kingdom.-W. C.] Social Institution, Glasgow, June 12th, 1842. MY DEAR SIR.-Your very appropriate ap meal in behalf of our persecuted brother, Mr. G. J. HOLYOAKE, was laid before our executive, and by their most particular request, I have to say, we shall not neglect our duty in assisting, and as early after the open ing of our new institution, which takes place on the 26th inst., as we can conveniently do it. Meantime, you will perceive by the enclosed bill, that we, as well as Edinburgh, have commenced to do our duty. You will give our best regards to our respected brother, and our hope that a consciousness of the rectitude of his conduct will help to support him in his time of trouble, and trust that a knowledge of our principles will be of some service to him; and although we cannot love the viper that stings us, still let us feel for the horrible state of those who persecute us, and let us persevere to rid ourselves of our enemy by making them tolerant and better beings. You may depend as early after our opening as we can conveniently attend to our duty in a pecuniary way we shall do it. My dear sir, sincerely yours, T. Paterson. J. NOCKLES, Sec. While Bishopwearmouth, June 12th, 1842. MY DEAR SIR.-I am requested by Mr. Hartzburg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, conveying the sad intelligence of the arrest, imprisonment, and gross persecution of the noble-hearted HOLYOAKE. Mr. Hartzburg, in common, with other friends,deeply sympathises with the sufferings of Mr. HOLYOAKE, regarding him as a martyr to friendship and principle, he has to regret that his means of manifesting his sympathy are very limited. The Socialists of Newcastle and of Sunderland, ought, as the professed friends of reason and truth, to have taken up this case in the spirit of brother-. hood, and combined their resources as one man to protect and support him, on whom the power of a priest and the priest-ridden had fallen with evil power. But Mr. HOLYOAKE will not, I believe, be surprised to learn that, as a body, they will take no part, and no sympathy or succour need be expected from them individually to any extent. A few there may be, who know the essential principle of socialism is mental freedom, and who feel that its noblest fruit is sympathy with the moral heroes who are battling against error, sin, and suffering, yet, generally, they will be found characterised by cold prudence and base servility to popular prejudice and influential tyrants. Mr. Hartz 222 burg, however, has found beyond the pale of the Socialists body, men who possess more of its social sympathy than its professed, or its official, adherents. The subscription that is now being raised, Mr. Hartzburg purposes forwarding to Mrs. HOLYOAKE, in compliance with the wish of the subscribers, A gentleman possessed of wealth, and digni fying its possession by a liberal mind and handsome contributor, but as he is now in a heart, will, Mr. Hartzburg believes, be a distant part of the country, it will be some time before Mr. Hartzburg hears from him. If you have published an appeal on behalf of Mr. HOLYCAKE, please to forward copies of it to Mr. Hartzburg and to myself, and insert our names for the receipt of subscriptions. I am, sir, on behalf of the priest-scourged HOLYOAKE, yours, faithfully, T. Paterson, J. WILLIAMS. Birmingham, went by packet-boat to Dudley A numerous party of young people from Castle, on Tuesday, June 14, the profits of the festival being intended for the assistance of C.SOUTHWELL.The day was most delight. ful, and the perfection of good humour and harmony prevailed throughout, The time was wiled away by a visit to the caverus, rambles through the woods, and dances on the green sward in the ample court-yard. Similar parties in other towns are recommended to the social brethren, by the conductors of the above. The sum of £4 was cleared. A public meeting was held on Monday, June 13, in the Clarence Gallery, Cheltenham, with the most favourable results, to consider the case of G. J. HOLYOAKE, and to memoralise the Home Secretary and the House of Commons; the announcement, at the arrest of Mr. and Mrs. ADAMS, protwo different periods of the proceedings, of duced considerable excitement. |