The History Of The Last Trial By Jury For Atheism In England

issue an address to our readers. The substance of it, which was a

afraid I must say, as William Hutton said of an untoward sweetheart-"There was little love between us at first, and heaven has been pleased to decrease it on a further acquaintanc

d other places, I owe many thanks for what has been contributed

special acknowledg

e niece of the Innk

aiting Trial, both

her knowledge of me

h no prepossessio

from that generous

tly brought me refre

communication with m

of my family which

rendered it impos

e of incident, she

r. Chilton. The oth

man in humble circu

my imprisonment, br

Price and her hu

own

he death of Madelin

Mrs. Holyoake ￡3, s

sonal f

ess he does not expect. When the words were spoken which led to my prosecution, I expected that the cautious would think that I had gone "too far"-that the prude

oughts is every

ar, in council

ary to calculate consequences; a man's true concern is with his principles, and not with his fate. I pretended to no public virtue, and I laid claim to no praise-I did no more than every man ought to do. That doing so little has been so rewarded

here, sir, for punishment, and you have nothing else to expect. I consider you worse than the greatest felon in the gaol; you have been guilty of the most atrocious crime a man

nconsistency of the

nerous nature, that

behaved with so muc

ction to the turnke

ew to save me from

an that which, in

inflicted on

rshire a famous specific for the cure of atheism, it may not be out of place to explain its virtues. The gruel was little remarkable for its delicate flavour and little celebrated for its nutritious qualities, and known by the luxurious cognomen of "skilly." The rice had a blu

d been styled "apostles of freethought." Knowing this, I felt that it would be a dishonourable reflection should any one refuse personally to support what he was known publicly to approve. Had Mr. Fleming been placed in Mr. Southwell's situation, and had he been of opinion that I could have defended his violated liberty by taking hi

the loss of which no religion will ever compensate. The conviction should be permanent that Christianity is a fearful thing. But bad men may laud it-mistaken men may contend that there is some good in it-unthinking men may give currency to its terms-and weak men may connive at its delusions, but we ought to regard with different sentiments a system which tramples upon the feelings of humanity and the principles of liberty. Let us then secure the antidote-free expression of opposite opinion. Shall it be said that we are content to wear mental fetters? When Protestants, who dare never think without t

er me from what I conceived to be a duty, and which might make the future easier for others who might follow me in the same way. Besides the endeavours I

our notice a little recent experience in such matters. What I have written, I intended to have stated to a public me

t." Probably, he refers the prisoner to the surgeon. The surgeon is seen-he refers him to the governor, the governor refers him to the visiting magistrates-they reply, "we have no power to grant the request, Sir James Graham only can do that." Sir James Graham is memorialised, who, as is usual, answers, "The visiting magistrates best know what is prop

abridged fro

useful to make appl

It prevented mist

The governor used t

is of no use send

ficer and every authority, and deliver them to your care, as in duty bound.' I knew the Captain would not burn them-I knew more, I knew he dare not burn them. I knew, also, that each would be duly delivered to the proper party. Further I knew this, that if his dissuasions had deterred me from sending in my complaints, that when I left the prison the authorities would destroy every representation I might make, by saying 'If there had been anything wrong Holyoake would have complained, b

ities, and some unintelligible conduct; that the surgeon possesses the suaviter in modo without the fort

and the province of the surgeon the care of my health. The governor ought not to have permitted the reference to him, and the surgeon ought not to have made it. Either the surgeon should have refused my application with decision, or have allowed it with independence. Upon this subject, the commissioners reminded me, "that if the surgeon did not order what was necessary for my health, he was responsible for it." I replied "that I knew this, and that they also knew, that a prisoner, like Beale of Northleach, must die before he could avail himself of such responsibility, and that this was but grave consolation." But of the surgeon I wish to speak impartially, and I gladly admit, that

f these representa

ity were brought i

to be in no danger,

was not regarded a

d I did not make a c

enough. They app

und to keep me a

shed. The governor sometimes permitted the "Fines-Class" in which I was, to walk in his garden; but the occasions came seldom and lasted not long-and I was previously so enervated by confinement, that t

efore the other prisoners denounce me as the "worst felon in the gaol, and the most atrocious of criminals." I was directed to

to me was broken open and read-and the very seals, if they happened to be heterodox, were interdicted. Th

ing can be spoken to a visitor unheard by officers, but it is no light matter to a prisoner. The commissioners inquired-"Can you make no communication to your friends without its passing under the eyes of the governor, or through the ears of the turnkey?" I answered-"None; an

s stated, much regret. But this I did regret-all my letters were detained, and I was refused the privilege of writing a single letter to my family. The reason as

r, and the window was filthier still, for in the window was-what I sicken at while I write-a rag full of human excrement. And of the bed, a prisoner assured me t

to was this. Mr. B

out to state that

tary would not be a

d not prescribe any

sir, that the surge

nless he was firs

answer of Mr. Coop

'Of course, sir, he

this man broke thr

urrounded prisoners

for

n told that Mr. Alc

ho, being a visitor

nity of cal

ichard Carlile broug

rge razors, which w

with them. The rule

ch articles, but t

n the rules, but ad

a

ters of an hour, and the penitentiary men, on their return to their cells, find their gruel on the stone floor, gone cold in their absence. I mention this matter with reluctance, as some may suppose that I notice it only from want of religion; but perhaps a little reflection will convince them that believers, as well as unbelievers, can appreciate a warm breakfast on a cold morning!-and that an asthmatical man,

my term of imprisonment had elapsed, and after I had memorialised Sir James Graham, I was permitted to remain up in an evenin

lege was conceded I

on the cover of a

equal intervals; u

thus wrote on the

in the dark the wo

oy I learned to writ

irement now became

me letters for the

Scattered by force,

ome years after, had

redible as it will s

m first to last nea

e them all, but he

t out more letter

local po

r appearing before the public. If I have made any misrepresentations, I shall be sorry; and what is proved to be wrong I will cheerfully retract. I have written from no malevolence, for I feel none, and, as what I have related affects me no longer, my only motive is the hope of benefiting the unfo

common air"-from those whom the bonds of friendship connected, and the ties of affection endeared; and some of these ties are broken for ever. After this, I can only say, that I have greater diffic

are made but to coward fears, and no antidote applied to error but misery. Indeed, I cannot dwell upon Christianity's treatment of what she considers my errors, without wishing, with Themistocles, that I could learn the art of forgetting. With regard to the cause of my prosecution, I admit that I might be wrong in the sentiments which I held, bu

k one thing an

ts him as the

those who cannot pronounce the required Shibboleth must arm themselves to bear. Those are poor principles for which a man is unwilling to suffer when they are in danger. It is an

respe

ter, Feb

. Hol

er asked me, when I was first taken before

id I

to give it

id I

called up and taken into their presence again. The governor of t

the speaker of the Board-Dr. Bli

ve you to complain of?' sai

ing,

Why what d

I say,

hat you had evidence t

d

est that you have been brough

ha

o understand by you

I cannot give evidence before these gentlemen

'Captain Mason, Mr. Hicks,

Mr. Holyoake, you can speak

arantee that I shall suffer no

er do you run?

horities come to regard him as reporting them. If you decline to give me this guarantee I shall not make any communication to you, and when I am at liberty aga

at you shall suffer no inconvenience in con

everity of the discipline, instituted by the governor when a visitor came, was somewhat relaxed; and once or twice, when I was suffering f

esses confronted-by the Christian Press misrepresented-by Christian juries found guilty, by Christian judges condemned.' It is necessary to put the argument in this cumulative form to satisfy some understandings; but a well-informed and candid Christian can hardly be supposed to need formal proof on this head. A careful study of the Evangelists some time after this imprisonment, satisfied me that the religion of Jesus involves persecution. A man who believes that men need saving, that there is only one way whereby they can be saved, that his way is that way, and that it is better for a man to lose the whole world than to lose his own soul by missing that way, such a believer will ine

-who were able to see what there was to be seen, and devout enough to render it in their lives. Try the question even in our day. If Christ be the symbol of love and gentleness to all who believe in his name, how is it that in every part of the world the Freethinker should fear to fall into the hands of the Christian? How is it that he must set a watch upon his words in every town and hamlet in our own land, lest the free expression of his deepest convictions should

he conventional (and these make up the mass of mankind), are all deterred by danger or opprobrium, The resolute and the reckless, the only parties who persist, labour under accumulated disadvantages. Condemned to spend then time in self-defence, development of doctrine-the legitimate and only source of permanent influence-is nearly impossible to them

sure to be discountenanced as men become manly and refined. The armies of a civilised people observe, even in the deadly strife of battle, some rules of honourable warfare, and do not descend to the arts of treachery or tactics of savages. We may surely hope that in the battle for religious truth, a sense of honour will prevent the dominant party from taking against its opponents the undue

t has at least been of this service-and this is all-it has enabled me to speak accredited by the sincerity which otherwise could not have been so satisfactorily manifest to the multitude. To have spent, without shrinking, some portion of life in prison in defence of public liberty, gives the same authority among the people as having graduated at a university does among scholars.* The fact is a sad illustration of the brutal manner in which

ere awarded me for

nchester Unity, an

the ground of my hav

ely quashed. When t

e House of Lords, t

an objection to th

but the Unity refus

e to this day. The

me instances by t

e the people hav

and walk into a gaol at the call of duty. I should think this state the death of progress. When, some time ago, insuring my life in the Equity Law Insurance Office, I asked, before I took out my policy, whether it would be forfeited if my death was occasioned by imprisonment or transportation. The Directors naturally asked whether I was liable t

een an insight into their misery for that. But he who pretends to take the side of the people ought to see his way all thr

making the laws, the breaking of any law would require grave justification. Men have two lives-a private and a public one. Conscience is the guide of all that relates to private duty, but law is the conscience of society, and it is best when private conscience can be subordinate to the public conscience. Private conscience may be the child of selfishness, fanaticism, or vanity, as well as of the greatest purity and intelligence. A man, therefore, should be careful how he places so uncertain a thing above the law. If private conscience be more just and intelligent than the public conscience, a democratic form of government affords peaceful facilities whereby it can come into the ascendant. But where these modes are denied, no alternative remains but that of rebellion or unconditional and indefinite submission. Resistance to the law, however, or to what is tacitly accepted by the majority as law, is, under any form of government, so pernicious an

vain!' Even o

ots of fruitfu

ortune loathe

that may base h

J.

o the dogmas of Priests, and are the sources whence guidance and duty independently spring. The Priest breaks in upon the integrity of life, and diverts its course. He says he makes an addition to our knowledge-we do not find it so. He professes to show us the hidden mysteries of the future-we fail to see them. He simply encumbers us, and we pray him to stand aside. The responsibility of our course is our own and not his, and we have a right to be left free. Rejecting his advices, he proclaims that we reject truth, honour, justice, love. This is his error or the retaliation of his disappointment. We appeal to the candid and the impartial to judge between us. We respect Theology as the science of man's destiny, and regret that it bears no fruits for us: but this is not our fault; and we therefore attempt to solve the problem of life for ourselves. Our progress already counts some distinct steps. We have recast the practice of controversy: we forbid to ours

E

Brothers,

's Head-

noste