one, truth will be the first and perpetual president, and merit alone will be exalted and honoured. That persons who have so little of it as counsellor Smith, the judge, and serf-like jury will be treated as mental invalids there is no doubt; and that the iniquity which demands their profession would be removed they know. The name of a god, that pretext for all enormities, was, as usual, invoked to justify the prosecution. The jury were assumed stupid enough to swallow it, which, to their everlasting disgrace, they did, and a new infamy was thereby stamped upon christianity. se and morality is always on the side of the better paid brief. According to the argument, this judicious and all-essential restraint was founded on the fear of a god and a devil, which must there fore be protected from doubt by the jury and the gaol. Holiness, then, is founded on hotgoblins. Piety, not on love but fear. Here then is justification, new and ample, of the assertion that our sublime and sacred mysteries were concocted merely to terrify, and the preaching is a trade, encouraged only to frighten people, who ought to have been trained in morality and educated in virtue. G. J. H. (To be Continued.) ULITITARIANISM AND THE DELUGE-A calcu Then, Mr. Smith, kind, careful soul, would extend his fatherly protection to the press. The press, the light of the world, the " cond ark" of mankind, of which Ebenezer Elliott has sung so gloriously, but for the re-lating friend, who seldom employs any other straints of the law would exceed all decorum interpreter to the bible than the "Rule of and shock all Mr. Smith's proprieties! It is Three," being asked his opinion of the deluge, the boy wanting to lead his father. The law replied in a manner worthy of Jeremy Ben should be the child of the press, and will be tham, "I think it a great waste of water, yet. Is the imputation to be borne, that the which might have been more profitably and giant pioneer of civilisation, the nurse humanely employed in quenching hell fire." mother of morality, is to be walked about with leading strings held by legal libellers? Are we to be told by bribed maligners, that it is the alcohol of immorality, making drunk all who drink at its fountain? No it has Holy light within, And every form of grief and sin, Mr. Smith seems the embodiment of original sin. The poet, Campbell, once humorously affirmed, that he had nothing original in him, but original sin. This might be believed of Mr. Smith, without his confession of it. He might be pointed to, as the incarnation of depravity of conception, who looks out upon the world as on a great gaol, where slaves crawl up and down, and adore their keeper through fear of the rack, and do homage to a tyranny before which they humble. Exalted conception of humanity! He sees no love leading to kindness, no nobleness inciting to justice, no honor, no morality, excepting that which is the forced offspring of base-born terror. Our servants, apprentices, &c., will do nothing for their superiors; and all mankind, like so many comets, will run wild through eccentric orbits, but for the restraints of religion. No other, and no more fitting use, can these gentlemen discover for religion, than that of keeping slaves submissive, and servants obedient and dutiful to their pastors and masters, and all set in authority over them. It is never expected to influence kings and bishops who, locust-like, feed on the green things of the earth. Nobody ever dreams that it is to guide the conscience of the lawyer, whose soul, like the merchant of Burke, lies in his money bag, and whose love of religion 88 THE HUMANISING EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY. -The Rev. W. Hoales, in his "Memoirs of Mr. Chubb; or a fuller and more faithful account of his Life, Writings, Character, and Death," published in 1747, after asserting, without the slightest evidence, that Chubb was addicted to the most abominable vices, declared that he would have his corpse, being decently buried, "Dragged by a halter and that of every similar sceptic, instead of round the neck to a gibbet, where the hangman, after having cut out the heart, plucked out the tongue by the roots, and chopped off the right hand, should burn the whole in & fire made with the works which he wrote; and his ashes being thrown into the air, with execration and contempt, would make all those who bow the knee at the name of Jesus, lift up their hands with joy and great gladness.' ORACLE OF REASON Or, Philosophy Vindicated. SECULAR UNION "FAITH'S EMPIRE IS THE WORLD; ITS MONARCH, GOD; ITS MINISTERS, THE PRIESTS", EDITED FOR CHARLES SOUTHWELL, DURING HIS IMPRISONMENT, No. 11.] POLICY versus PRINCIPLE. [PRICE 1d. exactly what I feel and think with regard to TO THE SOCIALISTS OF ENGLAND. that the English language sunk under him. FRIENDS, LETTER V. "Honesty IS the best Policy." Is the Times of Monday, the 7th instant, there are some remarks worthy of attention; the writer, in alluding to a pamphlet lately printed at Paris, by General Cass, which treats of the question now pending between this country, and America, respecting "the right of search," observes, "Of course a political writer is quite at liberty, in plain but measured terms, to impute to his opponents such motives as he considers their actions clearly evidence. Whether he does so in a spirit of truth, it is for others to judge, not for him to proclaim; and they will not be prejudiced in his favour, by seeing that before, and whilst making his accusation, he does not manfully take up such invidium as attaches to his position, but tries to shelter himself by a disclaimer from the responsibility of a suggestion by which he yet plainly intends to preoccupy the mind of the reader." I was forcibly struck with the above spirited passage, which in my present somewhat delicate position came completely home to my feelings. Though I cannot allow myself to be called an opponent" of your party, I know that in taking my present course it is scarce possible I should escape such a charge. But I am far less anxious to ward off such a charge than to do you justice. Either in attacking or defending parties it is difficult to keep strictly to the line of moderation. Could I convey to you all, and exactly what I think, I am persuaded that no sane man among you would take offence, but to conceive is one thing, to execute another. Lacedemonian Chilo thus profest, Nothing too much, a mean in all is best, which was admirable advice of the Grecian sage, but advice few indeed know how to act upon. No one can deny that "the mean in all is best," but who can safely determine what is the mean, the neither too much nor too little which should be said or done. For myself, whenever I attempt to put on paper I invariably find that I sink under the lan- I am by no means desirous, while making "accusations" against the policy of your party, to shrink from the invidium which may attach to such conduct, at the same time it is but fair that I should provide against mistakes, and speak by the card, lest equivocation should undo me." I know the folly of attempting, or rather expecting, to please all men; those who are over solicitous to do so much, will probably succeed in doing very little, and like the poor old man with his ass, receive no other reward than scorn and derision. Having therefore determined to take the strictly honest course, I am prepared manfully to take up such invidium as attaches to my position," nor will I attempt to "shelter myself by any disclaimers from the responsibility of any suggestion by which I plainly intend to preoccupy your minds." As all inuendos, parables, or dark sayings of any kind, savour of servitude, and would never be used by the really free, such modes of expression will here be avoided, so that no man shall have the power to say, I wished indirectly to convey that which I dared not openly proclaim. And here I may allude to a sentence in a former letter, with a view to guard against misapprehension. I there state, that in "all that relates to thought I call no man master;" but standing as it does, it is calculated to convey a false idea, an idea it was never intended to convey. It is true, that in all that relates to thought "I call no man master," but it should have been added, that I accept thousands as friends and instructors. I am opposed to mastership and discipleship, but no less opposed to arrogance and presumption. pernicious character: and I must insist, tha Mr. Owen puts forth clainis to being a "prac tical man," and the only rational one; which is neither warranted by his conduct or abili ties. Mr. Owen has been called by enthusi astic admirers, "the greatest luminary tha ever rose above the political horizon," which if we admit, I see no reason why men should fall down and worship him. But I do no admit anything of the kind, and am clearly of opinion that Mr. Owen, though well qualified to point the way to a new and superior state of society, has no notion how to build up : science of morals. He sees a few truths, and only a few, and mistaking them for all truth he sets to work with a perseverance which does him honor. As a friend once said to me "A duck's leg is not a duck; and he who would expect it to lay eggs would be disappointed;" just so with Mr. Owen, he has got a duck's leg which he mistakes for a duck, and is always on the look out for eggs. If Mr. Owen were content to moderate his pretensions, they would not be so often challenged but the most friendly cannot stifle disgust at offensive displays of excessive egotism. Besides, as my object is to infuse fresh blood into your party, and make you acquainted with the true state of your affairs, it is essential that you should be undeceived with regard to Mr. Owen. I wish to show you that he is but a man like yourselves, and not a demigod, as some would seem to think him. Mr. Owen says that he is the only sane man in the I have long been an ardent admirer of Mr. Owen, and to the best of my ability have defended him from the coarse, assassin-like attacks of priests and their emissaries, but my admiration never degenerated into idolatry, and I hope that I shall never so far dishonor myself as to prostrate reason before any human idol. Not a few of your party are mere Owenites, who puff Mr. Owen up as an oracle of wisdom as well as of reason, and have instituted a species of man-worship. It has long been my opinion that the worship either of god's or men is a pollution of our humanity. Mr. Owen exercises great influence in your party; and as regards the attain-country, all others are grossly irrational; now ment of certain inferior objects, perhaps a salutary one, but if you would march towards the largest measure of freedom, he is a stumbling block in your way. I do not hesitate to affirm that Mr. Owen's connexion with your party is fatal to its progress in just ideas and the noblest practices. It is usual to flatter Mr. Owen, but I have other objects than that of pleasing individuals. There are few men who can resist the poison of flattery, and Mr. Owen is certainly not of the number. Flattery almost always acts injuriously upon public men, but specially so upon such susceptible natures as Mr. Owen's, who, with rare benevolence and most astonishing perseverance in the cause of suffering man, is seemingly without his own knowledge, lustful of power, and strongly, I may add fatally, inclines To give his little senate laws And sit attentive to his own applause. This opinion is not set forth in spite, but in duty; for, as regards Mr. Owen, personally, I have no quarrel. I think that no man of the present generation is at all comparable to him, in the essentials of a truly great and good man; but he is not infallible, nay, of late, he has manifested weakness, and displayed inconsistencies of a most glaring and I only go one step further, and say that we are all mad together. We may safely lay it down as a rule without exception, that all are mad a little. When at Congress, I was positively ashamed to hear some of the delegates pour forth their flattery. These big babies were everlastingly talking about "our dear father" doing this, and "our dear father" saying that; in fact, their conduct was preposterous, and better suited to the eunuchs of an eastern harem, than the members of a rational congress. I have heard of a monarch, who, being unfortunate enough to have a crooked neck, not a single courtier could be found with his neck straight. Another suddenly determined upon taking snuff, when all his courtiers at once became snuff-takers, and nothing was heard but sneezing about the palace; and I verily believe that Mr. Owen, had he put his neck awry, or begun to sneeze, would have found his courtiers at the Congress equally complaisant. Mr. Owen was by no means averse to the 'popish trick" of calling him dear father, but listened to that and the most fulsome adulations with great complacency and unmixed delight. His whole manner strongly reminded me of a certain French quack who I confess that my admiration of Mr. Owen, which at one period was almost unbounded, has much cooled of late. Close contact with him has cured me of my enthusiasm, and given new value to the remark of Dr. Johnson, that men talk like angels and act like men, His conduct upon one particular subject has given me great offence: I allude to his attempt to teach bis "disciples" what he is pleased to term a "Rational Religion." I shall take the liberty to consider Mr. Owen's personal merits or demerits, in other papers, my object now being merely to shake your faith in Mr. Owen's infallibility, and to protest against the idea of Rational Religion, as most absurd in itself, and if not exposed will speedily prove most disastrous in its consequences. It matters little whether Mr. Owen's opinions and conduct, with regard to this, or indeed any other question, result from what is called policy or sheer ignorance; for whether error proceed from folly or lefthanded wisdom, it is always destructive to the morals and happiness of society. The overthrow of superstition has been for ages the grand aim of wise men, and as to the cant, for it is nought else, about all religions being destroyed, except the true and rational one, it unfortunately happens for Rational Religionists that philosophers consider all religions equally rational. They deal with them most liberally, placing all exactly upon the same footing. As to what form it may assume, it may be truly said, For forms of religion let fools contest, there being a settled conviction in men of sense, that whether it assume the Presbyterian, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, or Pagan forms, or whatever may be its object, crescent or cross, one or a thousand gods, it is always a dead weight upon human intellect. Mr. Owen has lately discovered that religion is a most excellent thing, if it be of the right quality. He abhors superstition, but Rational Religion, the religion of charity, as he sometimes calls it, cannot be dispensed with. As the parsons say of prayer, it is as needful for the body as for the soul. Mr. Owen never seems to have thought deeply upon the subject, if we are permitted to judge of his latest writings. He talks about Rational Religion as though entirely ignorant that a religion, like a revelation, if proved by reason, would be destroyed by the proof." To prove revelation by rea son," said Soame Jenyns, "is to destroy it;" undoubtedly, and it is not less certain that a religion proved to be true, would lose its religious character and take rank among the sciences. Belief is the essence of religion; knowledge is the essence of philosophy. Mr. Owen should have avoided the rock on which so many great reformers have split. He should not have made religion part and parcel of his system, but boldly drawing the line between conjecture and knowledge, said to the people, I will show you the way to peace, wealth, and happiness in this world; but as to the next, JE NE LE CONNAIS PAS, SO Í leave all to find that for themselves. Your well wisher, C. S. A BROADSIDE FOR CANT AND WITH A FEW HINTS TO MEN OF PRINCIPLE. MR. EDITOR-I've been to a hob-nob, a public hob-nob; you know what a hob-nob is, don't you? So many legs under a table, so many heads over a table, so many hands clenching so many glasses, so many tongues wagging in concert, so many voices a-shouting, and so many throttles a-gulping. I have but just left one of these hob-nobs, a very superior thing of its kind, I assure you. Everybody acknowledged the rights of everybody else, decried the "vile and selfish oligarchy;" the "upstart aristocracy;" the "landed monopolists;" the "dominant priesthood;" everybody said that everything that was said was the best thing of the kind that ever anybody did say; and everybody vociferated for freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press; liberty and equality for ever! hip, hip, hip; hurrah! hurrah! hurrah! Gorging and sympathising must go together; for how can we express a fine sentiment, except in a fine toast; or how could a shilling be coaxed out of our pocket, except through the medium of our stomach? A sixpenny subscription per quarter for active co-operation, is a mighty call on our resources; a couple of pounds per annum would be next to ruin; there are so many calls on our benevolence. But a feed, oh, that's quite another thing-any range, from a couple of shillings to a couple of guineas : "Oh yes, Sir; I'll take a ticket for the sake of the cause!" Of a verity we are a dinner-loving people, and an after-dinner speech-making people, and we love to greet our favorite talker with vociferous shouts; it reflects credit, as it were, on our own taste and judgment; and besides, needing something or some one to idolise, whom better than a political pet? But then, the reckoning! Oh, never mind the reckoning till settling day. The nation didn't mind the war course, and unfalteringly pursue it. Let the foes of superstition never forget what they are here told, and they will either at once halt in their course, or proceed, strengthened by just, and not preposterous expectations. The opposition or secret machinations of the religious world are not all, we repeat, against which they must expect to contend. Not listlessness and apathy alone will be found on the part of the quasi-infidels. There will be shrugging of the shoulders and forebodings and foretellings, and exclamations of " injudicious," and "self-willed," and "headstrong," and "imprudent," and "indecorous," and "unsuitable," &c. For position's-sake, and caste's-sake, and connection's-sake, and the sake of anything and everything but truth; and because each free-Briton is afraid of every other free-Briton, the real friends of free inquiry must expect to hear open disavowals and denunciations. And to scrape still further favour with the orthodox and respectable, these worthies may occasionally be heard even exulting at the punishment of the blasphemer. An instance of disgusting sycophancy and time-serving apostacy was actually displayed by one of these gentry, a few brief days since. This admirer of Volney, and Paine, and Voltaire, and Spinosa, and everybody afar off in time or space, positively enunciated the truly pious wish, that the next that followed in SOUTHWELL'S footsteps, may be doubly and trebly punished. Think of this my neophites of the Oracle; think of this my priests in expectancy, and having once determined, after carefully weighing all contingencies, and having fully "envisaged" all the possible difficulties, you will be thoroughly prepared for the arduous struggle, in which you will have to bear the brunt of the battle. Having thus deliberately decided, you will act promptly, energetically, firmly, and undauntedly; and unlike Cæsar, who with the memorable exclamation, "Et tu Brute," fell vanquished, more by his own broken spirit than by the daggers of his assassins; you will, knowing the hollowness of the many, engendered by the rottenness of our social system, bear up undismayed through all indifference or through all attacks. lence will not retard your progress, and opposition will give increased celerity to your movements." till it had to pay the debt; and it never thinks it buys its whistle too dearly, till the bill comes in. Do we know why we are allowed to get up our hob-nobs? Because it gets rid of our sulks. The national safety-valve is turned, and the national steam is let off; the pressure is lowered. It is with public dinner meetings, and such like displays, as it is with the Protestant-asserted right of private judgment. Freeborn Englishmen shall talk as they like, as long as they like, and as loud as they like, provided their talking and their thinking result not in something "dangerous to the authorities," that is, serviceable to the people; or "hostile to the church," that is, favorable to philosophy; or "subversive of the interests of society," that is, destructive of the slave bonds and class interests. Talk plainly, searchingly, without circumlocution; expose any greas political or religious cheat-no more hob-nobings, no more impunity. You are scowled down by the slavies, and put down by the law. You have done what is unfashionable, and unfashionable and illegal are convertible terms. There is fashion, not only in the cut of a gown, or the sit of a coat, but in the expression of an opinion. There is fashion in belief and unbelief; nothing so bad as unfashionable Infidelity; fidelity and Infidelity being determined by the knaves and simpletons; the former few making the latter many do their bidding in crushing all attempts at general enlightenment. "If I may give a short hint to an impartial writer," says De Foe, "it would be to tell him his fate. If he resolves to venture upon the dangerous precipice of telling unbiassed truths, let him proclaim war with mankind-ù la mode le pais de Pole-neither to give nor to take quarter. If he tells the crimes of great men, they fall upon him with the iron hands of the law; if he tells their virtues, when they have any, then the mob attacks him with slander. But if he regards truth, let him expect martyrdom on both sides, and then he may go on fearless." Let this sink deeply into the minds of those who regard truth above all things, and who would proclaim it. The history of the lovers of truth, and of their species, is not read in the recital of the favor of the great, the support of a party, or the acclamations of the multitude. The fury of a mob, neglect of party, the loss of connection, rejection of friends, and disunion of family, with the fine, the gibbet, or the rack, have chronicled in misery and blood and anguish, the actions of the friends of man. And not till death has satiated the vengeance of their assailants, and their bones have mouldered in the grave, or the cross-road, have their merits been disco vered, their virtues extolled, and their memories revered. Such was De Foe's experience. Such is the experience of all who mark out for themselves a similar "Si The writer, one of the pledged band, ready to take his stand at the post of danger the moment his turn comes, has had "extensive experience," as the venerable and respected founder of the "Universal Community Society of Rational Religionists," would say, in these matters. He is made, as friend SoUTIWELL has it, of tougher stuff than that of which he is composed, who would lie down and die on witnessing the treachery of socalled friends of the cause. He will receive no more of repulse or opposition than he ex |