cu5,v. cv , 
 
 THE PEOPLE: 
 
 MORAL LUNACY OF OUR CLASS LEUISLATORS, AND OF 
 THEIR SUPPORTERS, 
 
 DEMONSTRATED. 
 
 ARTHUR TREVELYAN. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 J. WATSON, 3 QUEEN'S HEAD PASSAGE. 
 
 EDINBURGH: W. & H. ROBINSON. GLASGOW: W. LOVE. NEWCASTLE: FRANCE. 
 MANCHESTER: HETWGOD. 
 
 MDCCCXLIX. 
 
 / 
 
WAR versus MESMERISM. 
 
 A STARTLING LETTER TO THE BISHOP OE LONDON. 
 
 ON THE INSANITY OF MANKIND, 
 
 ON HEAT AND THE VITAL PRINCIPLE. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE: 
 
 the moral lunacy of our class legislators, and of their 
 
 SUPPORTERS, DEMONSTRATED. 
 
 “ In- taxation, tlie privileged classes liave evinced great cunning and con¬ 
 summate tact. They have said to ministers, ‘ If you look chiefly to us, 
 the wealthy orders, for your revenue, you will take pounds upon pounds 
 from us; and as we are comparatively few in numbers, the result will 
 
 splendid style of living, our mortgages, and the marriage portions we 
 have to pay. The humbler classes are millions, and, therefore, tax 
 them, through what they must eat and drink; their farthings and pence, 
 and the shillings of the middle classes, will be equal to our pounds, and 
 far more, so that you may have more to spend in patronage. Besides, 
 being mixed up with the good things on which the people at large spend 
 the bulk of their incomes, they will scarcely perceive the taxes at all; 
 they will merely grumble about the dearness of things, and they must 
 work the harder to make up the difference. Therefore, in all your tax¬ 
 ings, spare us, we pray, and lay it on thick below.' By such means the 
 poor man has been actually brought to pay, in the shape of taxes, from 
 five to seven shillings out of every pound he has earned ; while the great 
 proprietor and capitalist has not paid, I am sure, three shillings in the 
 pound on his more ample income .”—Speech of Mr John Smith, Finan¬ 
 cial Reform Tract, No. 16. 
 
 We all need forbearance <fcc. as private individuals, but when we become 
 public characters, perhaps receiving pecuniary payment from the people, 
 and are a part of, or support in public, a government which dishonestly 
 wastes the revenue, enacts unjust laws, countenances bad institutions, 
 and allows willing hands to lack employment, it becomes the bounden 
 duty of others to expose our evil deeds—indeed, it is criminal not to do 
 so—the time-server, the self-aggrandizer, and those, deficient in moral 
 courage, alone stand aloof, looking on, either with indifference, or dread 
 that such reforms inav take place; but the man whose moral organs 
 have the supremacy, when acquainted with the evils arising from a bud 
 legislature, must exert himself, morally, for reform; his sense of justice, 
 from such knowledge, making him miserable, he must quiet the prompt¬ 
 ings of an outraged conscientiousness, by doing his duty, in that way 
 that seemeth best to him. 
 
 Men possessed of the feeling of benevolence, and a sense of justice, 
 could not be members of, or have given, or give, their support to the 
 British Government as at present, or heretofore constituted, for this rea¬ 
 son, were they, or had they, been conscientious and benevolent men, 
 the deeds of the government being neither just or benevolent, would 
 cause their moral feelings to be cruelly outraged, thus giving them great 
 moral pain; and as no sane man would lain in a situation causing him 
 unhappiness, therefore, the only way we can account for the apathy of 
 the members of the government, in reg; d to public acts, wanting justice, 
 and benevolence, is, that Nature has not endowed them with such feel- 
 
ings. Thus being naturally moral idiots, they are not accountable, fur 
 not obeying those great moral laws, therefore we cannot blame them ; 
 but we should not bo governed by moral idiots, therefore, those of the 
 community whoso moral feelings have the supremacy, should exert them¬ 
 selves in their moral might, to turn such men out of power, and replace 
 them by men of superior moral endowments. 
 
 them. But the members of our government being deficient in that quality, 
 cry out, spare us, i. e. spare us the “ loaves and fishes.” Patronage and 
 wealth is their sole object of getting into power, and the dread alone of 
 losing these, causes them to revenge themselves on those who point out the 
 wrongs they inflict on this country and on its colonies. Provided they can 
 find an excuse for taking the agitators into custody—the excuse lately has 
 been for advocating reform by physical force, only imitating those already 
 in power. Being a man of peace, and knowing the injustice of physical 
 force, which spares neither the innocent or the guilty, and the evan¬ 
 escence, generally, of reforms obtained by brute violence, I think it well 
 for the well-being of society, and for the success of moral reform, that 
 such lunatics are locked up, (although it is by the orders of those who 
 act in the same way, under different circumstances, therefore justly de¬ 
 serve a like punishment), besides, it is levelling the just cause of reform 
 with the unjust deeds and spoliations of our class-legislators, who are kept 
 in power solely by the point of the bayonet, i. e. physical forco. 
 
 Thus I have not the least hesitation in asserting they are moral 
 idiots, which position is easily proved, not only by their acts, hut by 
 having their brain-map, i. e. the exterior of the head, examined in an 
 asylum for the insane, and what I assert, nature would invariably point 
 out to he fact. 
 
 A government needs not to employ physical force to induce the people 
 to obey just laws; hut being unjust, they know the inutility of employing 
 
 Among the unjust laws may he enumerated, first, — as human life 
 ought to be esteemed sacred, —Capital Punishment. Many innocent 
 persons have been destroyed, i. e. murdered, as many as one every three 
 years during the last fifty years ;* hut if only one innocent person had 
 been killed, that would he sufficient to stamp this law as unjust; there¬ 
 fore, any man who is humane and just, could not support so iniquitous a 
 law, or be a member of a government that enacts and supports such 
 
 Those who take upon themselves to order executions, maybe supposed 
 to say, I take upon myself the power of the Almighty,! and thus, know¬ 
 ing that this man or woman is fit to appear in the presence of his or her 
 Creator, I, order him or her to die, i. e. to he murdered by my Lord 
 Jack Ketch. 
 
 What an absurdity it is, to talk of giving the innocent “ a free pardon.” 
 
 I ask, how an innocent individual can be pardoned ? an innocent person 
 cannot have any crime to need pardon; and justice points out that liberal 
 compensation, for judicial error, should he awarded the sufferers, or their 
 relatives, where death has taken place. 
 
 Ignoble warriors slay men, women, and children indiscriminately. 
 
 * Lord Nugent in Parliament, 1848. 
 
 t Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.— Rom. xii. 19. 
 
The soldiers, i. e. men butchers, is the most disreputable trade that 
 exists, even inferior to that followed by my Lord Jack Ketch, because 
 wholesale murder and plunder accompanies war, whilst Jack murders 
 retail and without plunder.—“ lieu who have nice notions about religion, 
 have no business to he Soldiers.”'*' 
 
 I ask how it can be esteemed an honour to take linman life under any 
 circumstance ? the most we can allow, is, that, under peculiar circum¬ 
 stances, it may he a dreadful necessity, but honourable it can never be. 
 
 Is the ambition of a crowned head, or of the minority of the popula¬ 
 tion, called the aristocracy, to be put into competition with the lives, the 
 liberty, and the property of thousands or millions of human beings 1 un¬ 
 doubtedly not. 
 
 Can any man, or body of men, legalise murder and robbery ! 
 
 As the innocent suffer more or loss in all war, therefore is all war 
 essentially unjust. Tints, individuals possessing a correct sense of justice, 
 could not encourage or engage in war ; neither could a man, possessing 
 correct moral feelings, hire himself into a trade, which, scorning all moral 
 rectitude, and despising the Christian, and all other systems of morals and 
 religion, slaughters both the tender infant, the delicate female, and the 
 unoffending male ; spares neither youth nor age, violates the virgin, the 
 wife, and the aged woman, and plunders wholesale both rich and poor ; 
 it follows, that men who countenence or engage in such an immoral 
 trade, cannot possess the correct moral feelings pertaining to humanity, 
 therefore, such men must naturally be moral idiots. 
 
 To destroy human life, (which should at all times be esteemed sacred,) 
 may be, (under peculiar circumstances,) a dreadful necessity, but can 
 never be esteemed honourable. Supposing it honourable to take a way- 
 human life, Jack Ketch must be a right-honourable, as he exorcises the 
 important function of sendiug souls, found guilty by fallable men, into 
 the presence of their God !—these souls often innocent—but it guilty, 
 pronounced by the executive to be in a fit state to appear in the presence 
 of their Creator; thus, are both innocent and guilty individuals judicially 
 murdered. 
 
 Christians, not content with cutting the throats of their neighbours 
 professing a different religion, serve their brother Christians in liko 
 manner. It is but a poor system of morals that cannot restrain the hand 
 of man from murdering the unbeliever; but that his brother believer 
 should suffer from his cruelty, is truly horrible. Deposed Christian 
 potentates, and others, who have lost power by the popular voice, if 
 sincere believers in the doctrines of Christ, would, like true Christians, 
 imitating the example of Jesus, bend at the dispensations of Providence, 
 however adverse such decrees might be to their worldly pride and vanity, 
 and not like infidels, daringly fly in the face of the decrees of God, and 
 casting aside the laws of Christ, slaughter their fellow-men in the hopes 
 of re-attuning riches and power. 
 
 So low is the moral tone, and so animal is the veneration of many 
 Christians, that they actually imagine the Creator assists them to destroy 
 their fellow-men whether Christian or not, and that God is gratfied at then- 
 prayer of thanks when successful, thus, according to their line of argu¬ 
 ment, the consequent crime and horrors that follow war, must ol course 
 be committed by God’s sanction. 
 
 * Duke of Wellington. 
 
6 
 
 Some pious Christians argue that the only way of introducing civilisa¬ 
 tion into a country,—as India and China, for instance,—is hy slaughter¬ 
 ing and plundering the inhabitants; an argument at variance to reason 
 and humanity, but quite in accordance with Christianity, as practised 
 in Christendom. Justice and benevolence have never yet been tried. 
 Time enough to employ brute-force when peaceable means have failed, 
 and even then strict morality forbids the employment of violence against 
 nations whether or not our property. 
 
 Robbing the conquered, and seizing on lands, which being stolen, 
 belong equally to the conquering nation, with a stolen watch, or any other 
 article to the thief who steals it. 
 
 A Government selling stolen land needs no comment. 
 
 No wonder murders are greatly on the increase in this country, when 
 so little respect is paid to the sacredncss of human life hy those in power, 
 who countenance legal murder often of the innocent; and at their inti- 
 gation, countries are invaded hy hired land pirates, who massacre the 
 inhabitants, violate the women, slaughter the children, take all the 
 plunder they can find, and, when afterwards it is called a British Colony, 
 the plunder is still continued, hy heavy and unjust taxation. 
 
 One instance is the salt-tax in India ; a tax most cruel, oppressive, 
 and unjust; although that country produces, hy the chemical laws of 
 God, pure salt spontaneously; the natives are actually forbidden to collect 
 it, under severe punishment; and thus are obliged to purchase, at a very 
 high price, enhanced hy a heavy duty, (and dirt included,) a most inferior 
 and impure article, exported from Christian (?) England. From the de¬ 
 scription I have read of it, I believe the salt is sent from this country 
 without being purified, and sold to the natives, mixed with the red earth 
 just as it comes out of the salt-mines in Cheshire. From the nature of 
 the food used by the natives, and perhaps from some peculiarity in their 
 constitution, the use of salt appears to he essential to preserving them in 
 good health, more so than in any other country, thus is the tax the more 
 
 The land-tax, in some parts of British India, is also so oppressive, as 
 to cause large tracts of country to be thrown out of cultivation, and return to 
 a wild state, thus accounting for the frequent famines which have desolated 
 that land, since taken possession of by Christians; at times millions of natives 
 have died from actual starvation. Prior to the British rule, the native 
 governments (like the enlightened and humane Chinese) were always pre¬ 
 pared against the effects of a time of scarcity', hy having public stores 
 filled with rice, to supply the wants of the people; a forethought not 
 attended to by their cruel and dishonest conquerers, whose conquest is 
 made more secure by the desolating effects of famine, and the desolating 
 use of alcohol sent from Christian England. Imbibing these poisons, 
 having been taught by Christians in parts of India where they mere pre¬ 
 viously unknown. With such a horrible example, need any one be sur¬ 
 prised at the number of murders, and large amount of other crimes com¬ 
 mitted in this country 3 
 
 False excuses may he made, hut plunder is the object in ninety-nine 
 cases out of a hundred of all war. Two modern instances out of many 
 that could he named, are sufficient proof, viz. the Chinese, i. e. the 
 opium war, a commercial war, waged to force that nation to trade 
 with the English for opium, manufactured fabrics, and other articles 
 
—in which war, a Christian soldiery slaughtered, wholesale, defenceless 
 men, women, and children, to frighten the Oriental Government into the 
 payment of a large sum of money, in default of which, their cities were 
 to be given up to murder, plunder, and ravishings. The second is the 
 tithe massacre of Rathcormuc, in Ireland, to uphold, in worldly wealth, tire 
 priests of a false church. 
 
 Besides plunder, and to gag the popular voice when crying out for 
 necessary reform , another object for war has been to create situations, and 
 make places, for otherwise unprovided aristocrats, to prevent discontent 
 at the laws of primogeniture and entail; and to prevent their being de¬ 
 pendent on their richer relative’s purse. 
 
 In India, the British troops are only conquerors by being armed with 
 superior weapons to those possessed by the natives. 
 
 During the expedition of the British into Affghanistan in the hopes of 
 an easy victory, God sent a deep snow storm which effectually stayed 
 their progress, and, providentially for the natives, put the pirates into 
 their power, which they unfortunately exercised, by destroying the lives of 
 those, who, being already conquered both by nature and man, should have 
 been spared, but what could be expected from barbarians 1 who pro¬ 
 bably had learnt to distrust those whose faith could not be depended on, 
 in treaties made with native princes; thus they might, by letting them 
 see their country, have given the pirates information, which might enable 
 them at another time to carry a successful expedition into the midst of 
 their land. What now follows, why, the government deficient in that 
 Christian virtue, which should always set an example of forgiveness, par¬ 
 ticularly to those they are so anxious to inculcate in the blessings (?) of the 
 gospel of peace, (?) sent another expedition, better prepared, and in a 
 more favourable season, to revenge their former discomfiture, which they 
 do in a style, creditable to the most savage lunatics, murdering young 
 and old, male and female, without mercy. 
 
 Sooner or later, natural retributions will follow injustice, and tbo 
 British Government, may well tremble at the retribution that is in store 
 for their class, “ Bor all they that take the sword, shall perish with tho 
 sword.”—Matt. xxvi. 52. 
 
 The only effect persecution has, is to accelerate progress hj separating 
 error from truth* 
 
 What is now the result of the last European war in which England 
 spent millions of lives, and billions of treasure, to slop the progress of 
 democratic opinions. Why, in the course of a few years, the mass of the 
 European population are thoroughly embued with republican and com¬ 
 munist ideas, and are on the eve of establishing republican institutions. 
 
 The massacres in China what have they done? why, ruined Britain's 
 export trade to that people, which if justice had been done them, instead 
 of injustice, would now have brought us millions of customers. 
 
 A British life is not safe in that country, as revenge fur slaughtered 
 relatives, swells the veins of every Chinaman, and a country, too, as super¬ 
 ior to England in just laws, wise institutions, and moral worth, as the air 
 on the summit of Ben Nevis is to the air in the unventilated homes of 
 the working classes in all the cities in the United Kingdom. The Chinese 
 understood no modern Christian war tactics, as their religion forbids revenge, 
 
 Spirit of the Age. 
 
therefore, trusted, that they never would be again called to defend them¬ 
 selves from savage foes; and that those foes should be named Christians, 
 is an astounding fact in the nineteenth century. 
 
 The late massacres in Canada have lost that colony to this country, the 
 Canadians are only waiting a convenient opportunity to declare their in¬ 
 dependence, and join their republican neighbours of the United States ; 
 and the massacres in India will undoubtedly lead to the downfall of 
 the British power in that empire,. 
 
 Look at the state of Europe, human slaughterings throughout the 
 length and breadth of the land, and look at the slaughterings in India, and 
 in other British colonies, by land pirates, paid by a Christian government, 
 and ask what is the cause of these dreadful scenes, / answer the only 
 cause is a selfish, ignorant, and immoral aristocracy, such unatural 
 class distinctions, have ever kept the human race in a turmoil. Nature 
 points out no distinctions, but tliose of talent and virtue. 
 
 Punishing some individuals by flogging with the cat-o’-nine tails, and 
 driving others insane by solitary confinement, are acts worthy alone of 
 moral lunatics. No comment is necessary on such disgraceful, demo¬ 
 ralising, and cruel practices. 
 
 A Christian government should load their great guns with New Testa¬ 
 ments, and thus shower the gospel of peace (i) among their foes. 
 
 In this country poverty is esteemed a crime, and laws have been made 
 by ourignoble legislators, to punish the pauper, although willing to work, 
 if he could find employment. But the gentry care more for the welfare 
 of their dogs, deer, and game, than they do for their poor fellow creatures’ 
 happiness; and keep large tracts of land, enclosed for the preservation of 
 vermin, besides 15,000,000 of acres, capable of improvement, in Great 
 Britain and Ireland, which, if given up to the unemployed (under loise 
 regulations ), wohW remove pauperism, and the word thus become an 
 historical fact. It is time enough to talk of emigration when all these 
 waste lands are improved. 
 
 It is computed that the annual increase of the population of the 
 United Kingdom is 360,000 in number, and to keep the present popula¬ 
 tion below 30,000,000 it would be necessary to send those surplusites 
 annually to a foreign land, say at L.20 sterling, a-head: this tax alone 
 would amount to the sum of L.6,000,000 sterling, annually. 
 
 The imbecility of our government is strikingly apparent, when we 
 consider that there is a want of employment, aud want, and misery, with 
 a population of only 28,000,000 and the following staticians say, Great 
 Britain is capable of maintaining with ease, and in comfort:— 
 
 Bishop Watson, . . . 30,000,000 
 
 Dr Hall, . . . 90,000,000 
 
 Maculloch, . . . 100,000,000 
 
 Earl of Lauderdale, . . . 180,000,000 
 
 Sheriff Alison, 
 
 England, . . 60,000,000 h 
 
 Ireland, . . 48,000,000 V 123,000,000 
 
 Scotland, . . 15,000,000 J 
 
 Jersey, an island containing only 40,000 acres, including unimproveahlo 
 land, numbered, in 1830, 46,000 inhabitants, and among so large a popu¬ 
 lation is not to bo found one pauper. 
 
 The plough is a most inefficient and wasteful method of cultivating 
 
the land, leaving clods through which no plant can pierce. Nature 
 points out from the admirable muscular formation, that man is a digging 
 animal. Only observe the beautiful combination of powerful human 
 levers when brought into action, how well adapted for giving motion 
 to the spade, and by means of it, how well the earth is pulverized ; 
 every rational beine' who examines the subject must agree in my con¬ 
 clusions, particularly when actual experiments have proved the; truth 
 of my assertion, by the crops being finer in quality and greater in 
 quantity, even as much as three to one, and thus there might he 
 abundance of employment, if justice was done to the laud; hut the 
 only way of carrying out this natural fact, is, by making all those 
 employed in cultivating the land, shareholders in the profits; not only 
 must this'plan of renuineration he adopted in agriculture, hut manufac¬ 
 tories and trades of every description must eventually he carried out on 
 the associative principles. 
 
 The government, and its selfish supporters, have no inclination to 
 give the people the means of keeping themselves above pauperism: 
 fur this reason, were they all constantly employed at remunerating 
 wages, or located on the land, on their own account, few of them would 
 have any inclination to emigrate to aristocratic colonies, where inevit¬ 
 ably they will he kept in a state of serfdom, serving the relatives 
 of British aristocrats who have settled on lauds, plundered from the natural 
 owners of the soil; (what justice can be expected from individuals holding 
 land obtained by iniquitous means) still fewer would have any inclination 
 to enlist in the man-butcher trades, exposing their carcasses as a target 
 for the shot of adversaries, not enemies, who, if they conquer, is of no 
 benefit to themselves, the gentry alone, gaining all the supposed good 
 that is to be got by warfare; thus, poverty alone, forces them unwillingly, 
 either to emigrate, or to join the body of hired assassins, and well the 
 government are aware of these unnatural resultants, forced by poverty, 
 and thus gloat over public distress, with joy hidden, hut no less real. 
 
 From satistical returns it appears that a seventh part of our population, 
 now upwards of 28,000,000 is in a state of destitution and supported hv 
 legal relief. It also appears, that while the population from the year 
 1805 to the year 1842 has increased above 70 per cent, serious crime 
 has increased 700 per cent. 
 
 CRIME THEREFORE HAS AUGMENTED TEX TIMES AS FAST AS ME NUMBER 
 OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 The above facts show, most strilcingly the inutility of the Christian 
 religion in moralising the world, 1800 years has been a pretty long 
 trial, I think it is now full time to try some new moral scheme, void of 
 mystery and superstition. 
 
 The game-laws, worthy of moral lunatics, cause the flow of human 
 blood, for an object beneath the notice of the noble-minded. These laws 
 are harsh, cruel, and unjust in the extreme, levelling a human being's 
 life to the value of vermin, called game; indeed, many aristocrats, 
 (Christians, so called), would glory (if not deterred by the consequence) 
 in slaying a man detected poaching; and these men, dead to a sense el 
 justice, expect their tenants to feed the vermin, free of cost to the land¬ 
 lord. who. with murderous propensity, feels so much delight in destroying 
 the lives of the poor animals. In many instances ut poaching, the landed 
 proprietor, being a magistrate, is allowed to he the judge in his own 
 
10 
 
 cause, and when we consider the unfitness, both morally and intellectually, 
 of the men who fill that office, little justice can the culprit expect, par¬ 
 ticularly when a man is judge in his own cause.* Parson magistrates are 
 invariably found to he the most harsh towards the offender if a dissenter. 
 
 Licencing the sale of intoxicating liquors, thus making a maddening 
 poison appear as if a necessary of life: and when a loyal fellow has drunk 
 his full, to the benefit of the revenue, and to the disgrace of Victoria’s 
 name, whose health he has been drinking, and thus maddened by this 
 horrid fluid, he kills or wounds any one, he is equally punished with, 
 often more severely than, the sober (but naturally insane) murderer—al¬ 
 though none can ho more insane than the drunkard—during the time he is 
 under the influence of the alcoholic poison; the use of which ought to he 
 prohibited. 
 
 Licencing the sale of that noxious weed, tobacco, is also a crime against 
 the well-being of society. If the use of it, and alcohol were prohibited, 
 the prohibition at any rate would tend to shew that they were not neces¬ 
 saries; hut when we consider, that for the sake of money, our govern¬ 
 ment encourage every thing that is noxious to human life, even to tho 
 forcing opium on the poor Chiucse, what hopes can we have of justice to 
 the pool-, and to the working classes, from men, dead to all sense of 
 shame, remorse, and the feelings of common humanity and honesty. 
 
 The law of primogeniture is another disgrace to the aristocracy, a law 
 worthy of the unjust, who, to aggrandize one child, impoverish all the 
 rest of their children, and, in many instances, saddle the country with 
 their maintenance. The law of entail is also a law to protect swindlers, 
 as, by its means, an licir can defraud his progenitor’s debtors to any 
 amount. 
 
 The monetary laws, as at present existing, are most unjust and iniqui¬ 
 tous ;—the selfish inventors of which, (previously aware of the result that 
 would follow), and other fund-holders of that day, made many thousands 
 of pounds by that alteration in the currency, actually turning their funded 
 fourteen into twenty shillings at the expense of the people ; whilst a mul¬ 
 titude of other individuals have been totally ruined, who, had the money 
 laws been founded on rational and just principles, would in all probability 
 have now been thriving merchants, surrounded by happy families.! 
 
 It seems the master of the mint, nor the government of which he is a 
 member, have sufficient power to compel the public servants of that de¬ 
 partment to render an account of their emoluments, and which accounts 
 they determinately refuse to show. From such conduct there is hut one 
 conclusion to he drawn; that is, tho amount of plunder they seize upon 
 is so enormous, that were it known, such an astounding power of plunder¬ 
 ing the public would he instantly stopt. Such a precious system of 
 roguery, both on the part of the moneyers, as well as their employers, is 
 nothing surprising, being all of a piece with the whole conduct of the 
 aristocracy in their selfish mismanagement of public affairs, and thorough¬ 
 ly dishonest, in respect to the waste of the public revenue, as seen by 
 parliamentary papers, abstracts from which, are published in the Financial 
 Keform Tracts. 
 
 Other disgraceful deeds of that class who pride themselves on family 
 descent—perhaps the top of their genealogical tree having been a Danish 
 
 t Sir Robert 
 
 Earl Berkeley. 
 
 , Peel. 
 
pirate or Norman robber, who attended tbe bastard William in his British 
 spoliation excursion—a public peculator, a mean courtier or man-butcher 
 —are the shameful taxes on knowledge, and on the necessaries of life. 
 Among the latter is the tax on daylight, which includes fresh air, taxes 
 on food and clothing, etc. Ac. We may truly call them taxes fur tho 
 benctit of death; and, as to the former, they are aware of the value of, 
 and power gained by, knowledge ; hut being selfish, are naturally anxious 
 to keep the oppressed in ignorance,—thus, heavily tax paper, and oppose 
 all other adjuncts to tho spread of knowledge, which would unite the people, 
 and when united, (were they wise)—war, death punishment, unjust legis¬ 
 lation, and heavy taxation, would cease. 
 
 And our very cunning, but thoroughly dishonest aristocracy—saving 
 their own pockets by unequal taxation, lay the burden of the taxes on 
 those that work, and work hard for their daily bread, and on others whose 
 incomes, varying from many untoward circumstances attending commer¬ 
 cial transactions, are generally least able to hear the pressure of taxa¬ 
 tion. The man of labour and others, pay heavy duty fur any property 
 (except it is entailed land) that they inherit—whilst the individual in¬ 
 heriting great entailed estates, has not one farthing to pay. 
 
 State siuccurists and pensioners on the public purse, are only paupers 
 on a lai-ge scale, too often paupers of disgrace, whilst the union-house 
 pauper is a pauper of dire necessity—the first are honoured for being idle, 
 the latter punished for not being able to get work, and many state- 
 pensioners, often titled, enjoy large private fortunes, besides that which, 
 they dishonestly rob the country of. 
 
 Our government rule tho people by physical force alune, and with 
 such an example before them, can wc he surprised that the ignorant, 
 imagining physical force to he real power, follow the example of their 
 rulers—-however, in vain, because they want both discipline and union. 
 Had they these qualities, the gentry would be easily overthrown: but, 
 unfortunately, the people contain among themselves their worst enemies, 
 viz. those men who enlist as soldiers, and thus make the aristocracy 
 powerful, hid none enlist, they would otherwise be powerless, and even 
 now before a moral force agitation for reform, they shrink, trembling for 
 the loaves and fishes. 
 
 An honest government has no need for secret-service-money, or to 
 open letters, (and have then re-closed with great nicety to avoid detection,) 
 neither has it any occasion to employ spies, men who commit such acts 
 are possessed of morals of the lowest grade.* 
 
 Not the least crime against the community is the law-made church, 
 established by the aid of fraud—the fire and faggot—the halter—tho 
 sword and infernal law, under the auspices of that royal wholesale 
 murderer and plunderer, Henry VIII.—(a divine king, by god,) and 
 now supported by violence. The moral lunatics who adorn that inst.tu- 
 tion, take pounds, shillings, and pence, from the conscientious dissenters 
 by force, physical and legal, although its riches (“filthy lucre ’) are of 
 enormous value, amounting to, annually, upwards of seven millions stor¬ 
 ing, (L.7,202,000) a sum greater than the revenue, when added to¬ 
 gether, of all other churches in the world. Revenue of the Irish Church, 
 b.1,500,000 ; ditto of the Scotch Episcopal, L.500,000 ; total revenue 
 of the three establishments, nise millions, two hundred thousand pounds 
 
12 
 
 sterling ;* t anil the lord bishops of the said church, encourage by their 
 silence, the worship of the idol Juggernath, in pirate-gained India. A 
 Christian government making an annual offering of L.G,000 of the “root 
 of all evil,” to that Indian god, thousands of whose devotees are crushed 
 to death beneath the wheels of the ponderous carriage on which the god 
 rests, thus also is suicide encouraged by the reverend fathers in God—these 
 pious Christian Bishops also encourage the use, and the sale of intoxi¬ 
 cating liquors, death punishment, and'war, thanking the Great God, (as 
 the ancient Greeks and Romans did,) for assisting their armies, in mur¬ 
 dering and plundering thousands of individuals, and injuring, indirectly, 
 millions, and praising warfare as a Christian institution; never lifting up 
 their voices against the desecration of Sunday, by the many bloody battles 
 fought on that day :j; though they exclaim against bathing, travelling by- 
 steam, and innocent pastime, when indulged in by the pour and working 
 classes, on the only day of the week that they could call their own, were 
 they allowed to do so,—the holy prelates, and other “ unco” godly folk, 
 —deficient in moral courage —leave the wealthy to enjoy their own 
 pleasures without interfering. And these pious bishops bless colours, ami 
 commit many other blasphemies to please the government, for fear that, 
 should they act as humane and honest men, and refuse to commit such 
 demoralising and degraded acts, their pockets would be in danger, which 
 undoubtedly would be the case, should they refuse to countenance their 
 rulers in moral enormities, which for greed and ambition’s sake they 
 choose to commit. 
 
 One of the most cruel and false doctrines ever propounded, was that 
 brought to light, by that infernal parson Maltlius, namely, that “ human 
 beings increased in a greater ratio thanfoodfi a doctrine long ago proved 
 at variance with nature’s laws, but greedily believed in by an aristocracy- 
 anxious to carry out their own depopulating and ambitious schemes; there¬ 
 fore, glad to get an excuse to hoodwink the ignorant, thus pretend to 
 esteem—desolating war—famine at home, and in India, created by their 
 own wickedness—and deadly alcohol, as “good gifts of God,” and turn a 
 deaf ear to the cries of the famishing; and these evils are caused by a 
 morally insane legislature, who refuse to locate the unemployed on the 
 land; and order the bishops to make prayers, petitioning the Almighty to 
 avert famino, with food abundant in the land,—the truth is, the people 
 were without employment, and thus had no money, with which to purchase 
 the food; but the government would rather blame God for the evil, than let 
 themselves be blamed for bad management. 
 
 The cool insolence of our servants in theory, but masters in fact, ami 
 only so by aid of the bayonet,— i. e. physical force—is strongly shown 
 by their unjust laws, causing a man to commit a crime in marrying his 
 deceased wife’s sister, whilst permitting the unnatural alliance of first 
 cousins, the latter generally producing malformed progeny, both physically 
 and mentally ; whilst the former, provided the parents are healthy, inva- 
 
 { Druraclog, 1679. 
 Talavera, 1809.* 
 Waterloo, 1815. 
 
 f Torres Ycdras. 
 
 1 Seirra do Bosaco. 
 j-Badajoa. f Several) 
 
13 
 
 riably produces healthy offspring. In fact, the marriage of first cousins, 
 or of brothers and sisters, being prohibited by the laws of nature, (as 
 evinced by the deplorable results to the offspring), is a criminal act. 
 
 There is not much moral dignity in granting licences for the sale of 
 quack medicines, and thus to the ignorant, making them appear to be 
 good remedies ; and which medicines, being advertised, adorn our aristo¬ 
 cratic newspapers with a discourse on their secret virtues, accompanied 
 by a hook in a sealed cover (so precious), delectable reading for married 
 and unmarried, titled and untitled ladies : however, those who read the 
 bible indiscriminately through, thus being prepared tor language grossly 
 immoral, will not have their feelings shocked ; but we may be allowed to 
 question the moral feelings of those who can read such moral poison 
 without shuddering—the legislature, advertisers, editors, and readers, 
 have surely not very refined taste. 
 
 Many other abuses of class legislation could be pointed out, but enough 
 have been mentioned. The closure of those that treat Inman life as a 
 trifle, being the most important. 
 
 ' OmtiSTiAXiTY, according to the opinion of the judges appointed by our 
 Legislators, is the “ law of the laud but the conduct of the men form¬ 
 ing the Government of Britain is in direct variance to what we are told 
 are the commands of Christ, therefore they set the lamentable example 
 of being the greatest of law-breakers. 
 
 Does Christ command them to risk the chances of murder and suicide 
 by fighting duels ? Some of the members of the government are duelists. 
 
 Does Christ command them to take the life they cannot give, for any 
 crime ? And they even allow death laws to exist, when almost annual ex¬ 
 perience of the execution of the innocent, couvictcd under circumstantial and 
 false evidence, should cause such laws to be erased from the statute-book. 
 
 Does Christ command them to hire men, and after training them as 
 mcn-hutchers, send them into foreign lauds, or employ them at home to 
 massacre their fellow countrymen, yea, even fellow Christians, and rob 
 the poor Indians, and ravish their females—deeds even perpetrated by 
 Christians on Christians during the late war, headed by those moral 
 lunatics, Napoleon and Wellington ; and now such dark deeds are 
 perpetrated in various places in Christendom? principally, under the 
 auspices of crowned heads and titled individuals. 
 
 And as to any glory in their Indian and Chinese wars our armies, are 
 conquerors only by reason of being better armed than the natives. Place 
 the Indians on an equal footing with the pirate troops in that respect, and 
 the British Christian forces would be easily beaten. 
 
 Docs Christianity permit them to perpetrate in any way revenge for so- 
 called national insults, often imaginary, (and too often trumped up as an 
 excuse for an opportunity to plunder a nation or city) and making millions 
 of innocent people suffer unheard-of miseries, for the offence of only per¬ 
 haps a contemptible crowned head or a selfish aristocracy. 
 
 Does Christianity allow them to force the Chinese by murder to pay for 
 poison (opium) and rob them in the shape of a ransom, to save their city 
 from Christian brutalities ; what an idea of honesty they must have—de¬ 
 fine it ? ah ! ah! 
 
 Does Christ command them to go to law against their brother, or in 
 any way to revenge themselves for private wrongs, also often imaginary ? 
 
 Does Christianity permit them to drive their fellow creatures extra- 
 insane by solitary confinement in Christian jails. 
 
14 
 
 What sort of animals are Christians, who revenge themselves on a 
 brother because he destroyed a hare or partridge, &c., denominated game, 
 or for trespassing across a field ; verily I think such revengers make game 
 of Christ’s precepts and example ? 
 
 Does Christ command them to take by force money from those individuals 
 who are unwilling to support a blood-stained established religon, falsely 
 called national ? 
 
 Does Christ command them to countenance gambling, and other vices 
 consequent on the encouragement giving to horse-racing ? 
 
 Does Christ intend his ministers to be magistrates, and to meddle in 
 
 Does Christ permit his followers to take an oath, or to swear in any 
 other way ; and what kind of conduct is it in Christians punishing a brother 
 or sister in Christ, who obeying Gods command, in preference to man’s, re¬ 
 fuses to swear. “ But I say unto you, swear not at all ; neither by heaven, 
 for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; neither 
 shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou ean’st not make one hair 
 white or black. But let all your communications be yea, yea, nay, nay, 
 for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.”—Matt. v. 34, 37, 
 also, see James v. 12. 
 
 Does Christ command them to manufacture drunkards, by using 
 alcoholic liquors and licensing the sale of them, and thus making such 
 poisons appear to bo a necessary, and the use of them respectable ? 
 Emphatically has it been said that “ the moderate drinkers are the drunk¬ 
 ard manufacturers.” Alcohol, a dreadful poison, which, by its use, leads 
 to such direful consequences '. Cruel men ! and they put this engine of de¬ 
 struction within reach of the ignorant, miserable, vicious, and insane, 
 and thus cause suicide, murder, vice, and crime. Their brother Christians 
 do what they wish, that is, drink to the prosperity of the revenue, and 
 then they punish them for the results of the extra insanity actually caused 
 by their laws : they know, and I state it without fear of contradiction, 
 and the parliamentary returns prove, that ail crimes are committed when 
 the individuals committing such crimes, are under the influence of Christian- 
 made intoxicating drink. But by the bye, I nearly forgot, if it was not 
 for the use of this Christian-made drink, there would be little business 
 for the lawyers, and no need for jails or other lunatic asylums, and they 
 would not be able to enlist men for soldiers, ( alias men-butchcrs) and the 
 manufacture of prostitutes would cease, and the priests and parsons could 
 not pvay and preach for want of spiritual influence—the latter would be 
 a lamentable loss, forsooth! 
 
 Many Christians affirm that prostitution always will be, and is, neces¬ 
 sary—truly the affirmation of moral lunatics, for, if necessary, it must come 
 from the Creator; then why is fornication denounced by the word of 
 God ? and reason and morality denounce prostitution as contrary to the 
 plain laws of nature, the horrid results arising from it, both mentally and 
 physically, prove it, an infringment of nature’s laws. 
 
 Does Christ command them to make dear the necessaries of life, by 
 heavy taxation and high duties;* even while thousands of their fellow 
 creatures are on the brink of starvation, and numbers actually die from 
 that cause. 
 
 Does Christ command them to punish poverty as a crime ? “ And is 
 * Dukes—Buckingham and Richmond. 
 
15 
 
 Does Christianity intend them to encourage the worship of the idol 
 Juggernath by a grant of L.6000 per annum ; and then punish indi¬ 
 viduals for the imaginary crime of blasphemy. 
 
 If there is any truth in Christianity (as taught), they and the rest of 
 the'men constituting the British Government arc unfaithful to the reli¬ 
 gion they profess to beliece in, therefore arc infidles. 
 
 It appears that they allow all the above deeds to harmonize with Christ¬ 
 ianity, for this reason, that a part of the Government are Christ’s bishops 
 who are associated with duelists, and other murderers, and who never lift 
 up their voices in heavy denunciations against what are unjust acts and 
 immoral laws. Then I say it is a worthless religion, unworthy even of 
 savages, a disgrace to humanity, and none but the ignorant, and morally 
 insane, uphold it as truth. 
 
 After the above statements which we know to be facts, can there be a 
 particle of honour in the brain of any one of Her Majesty’s ministers 1 
 no, impossible; therefore the only conclusion to he drawn, and the only 
 excuse we have for them (and a fact that can be phrenolugieally proved), 
 is, that they are mok&l idiots, and I really believe that the feelings of 
 conscientiousness and benevolence are unknown to them. jVb honest man 
 could he a member of the British Government as at present constituted} 
 
 “ For every tree is known by its own fruit.”— Luke vi. 44. The 
 fruit borne by the aristocracy is Anti-Christ. The denunciations against 
 unbelievers in a future state, are so terrific, that did they really believe, 
 they would be afraid not to obey Christ’s commands; but they know as 
 well as I do, that Christianity is a fable—calculated under circumstances 
 to keep the ignorant in subjection. Thus they employ priests, at a high 
 rate of pay, to propagate its doctrines; and priests, parsons, and mini¬ 
 sters, finding it an easy way of gaining a livelihood, oppose education the 
 utmost in their power—(except their own dogmas are alone taught.) Km- 
 phatically the Mahometan or Christian religions, would noiv only have 
 been known as historical facts, had not the sword been weildcd in their 
 favour; thus being established by animal man, they will fall before 
 rational and moral man. 
 
 It is generally admitted that Queen Victoria is possessed of high moral 
 qualities, and that she is meek, mild, and forgiving, all of which I believe 
 to be correct: but that she is possessed of a very high order uf moral dignity, 
 
 rebel against the position she is placed in, being merely the tool of a party, 
 who sustain her on the throne by the aid of the bayonet alone, and nick¬ 
 name it, by the grace of God. Take away the bayonet (that instrument 
 emphatically Christian), and the grace of God would not avail in keeping 
 her in her present unnatural position. She wastes money on, and decks her 
 person in, tawdry, disgusting to the rational mind to behold— she allows 
 trash called wine at her table, thus encouraging at one time the unnatural 
 and mischievous use of alcohol, and one of the most vicious and dishonest of 
 trades(not excepting even the soldiers’, lawyers’, and priests’) ;andtlunkyism 
 is rife in her court, for what are courtiers, but the meanest (in spirit) of 
 flunkies; but, above all things, could a great moral mind be happy, or could 
 the life (of such a mind) exist, surrounded with animals (moral lunatics) 
 
1G 
 
 called soldiers ( alias men-butchers) (her own husband, like a big child 
 who delights in show, playing at that unnatural and disgraceful game), 
 men who, at the heck of an unjust government, are willing, for money 
 and titles, (but not without cash) (vile mercenaries), to assist in the de¬ 
 struction of human life, sparing neither youth nor age, slaughtering men, 
 women, and children indiscriminately (whether Christian or not, all’s 
 one), and of course arc implicated in all the horrors attending warfare. 
 
 A pity that Prince Albert, whose duty it is to set a better example, 
 wastes his time in the cruel amusement ( !) of shooting harmless birds, 
 and encourages the cruel and vicious amusement ( !) of hunting and 
 racing .—“ What is spiort to yon, is pain and death to us .”—iVo rational 
 man can respect Sportsmen. 
 
 “.The people of Europe have new matters of history to gather from 
 the events of the last two years. Facts are imperishable memorials, 
 and the recorded facts are consoling and encouraging to the people, and 
 for the people alone. Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Frankfort, Milan, Venice, 
 Florence, Rome, Palermo, have been for weeks, and, in some cases, for 
 months, in the hands of the people. On no one of these occasions has 
 private property been violated ; no public buildings were destroyed ; no 
 plundering of any description disgraced the popular victories. What 
 was the conduct of the.so-called friends of order ? Have they not reck¬ 
 lessly and fearfully doomed the treasuries of art, the abodes of the citizens, 
 to destruction, not even sparing churches and hospitals ? Witness Dresden, 
 Vienna, Milan, Pest, Palermo, Catania, and Romo. Why swpll the list 
 with places of minor note ? The contrast is indelibly imprinted on the 
 memory of the men of our times. The cry of order is 'become a scoff, 
 and credit in the hands of continental statesmen is a rod of terror. Can 
 we doubt on which side is the moral victory ?”— Jerrold’s Weekly Sews, 
 156. 1849. 
 
 No honest legislature ought to refuse to grant the six points of the 
 Charter,—viz. 1st, universal suffrage. —2d, no property qualifica¬ 
 tions FOR MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.—3d, EQUAL ELECTORAL DISTRICTS.— 
 4th, VOTE BY BALLOT.—5tll, ANNUAL PARLIAMENT.—Gth, PAYMENT OF 
 
 members OF parliament, and what honest man need dread such reforms; 
 they are hut just, and I am sure both moderate and rational. 
 
 Friends, and Fellow-countrymen, I tell you these facts from no inter- 
 ' rested motives; your welfare alone prompts me to write. Money I cannot 
 make by advocating human happiness, and honours, so called, I despise. 
 No rational man could study the New Testament without perceiving that 
 its doctrines are clearly democratic; and that every sincere believer, must 
 be at the same time a Democrat. The doctrine of Christ is empthaticallv 
 FRATERNITY, EQUALITY, LIBERTY. 
 
 “ War is the statesman’s game, the priest’s delight, 
 
 The lawyer’s jest, the hired assassin’s trade, 
 
 And, to those royal murderers whose mean thrones 
 Are bought by crimes of treachery and gore, 
 
 The bread they eat, the staff on which they lean.” 
 
 Shelly.