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mankind. But mankind will not be disabused. Mankind is an ass, says the Spanish proverb, who kicks those who endeavour to take off his panniers. Reason might combat these errors perhaps, but the people, persuaded by the priesthood, will not have them combated. Reason is accused of impiety, and condemned to death. With what rancour-with what deep-seated malignity is every attempt to correct superstition received in this country at this moment! How miserably ignorant and bigoted are even our own legislators in this most enlightened country upon earth!

Suppose a proof were offered that a person in their clothing well-examined, being locked up in a room with thick and strong walls, the windows fully secured, and the door locked, bolted and barred with every precaution of security, and that there being really no aperture for escape, by the chimney or otherwise, yet that the person so confined was seen a few minutes after walking the streets a mile off. Would a judge be authorised to refuse receiving such testimony? Assuredly: for the counter testimony of every one's experience that such a case could not, and never did happen with any one's knowledge or memory, would be too strong for any positive evidence in support of it to overthrow.

Whatever therefore is established as true, by the uniform experience and testimony of every sensible man every where, and in all time past and present, may reasonably be considered as unrefutable by any testimony to the contrary of a comparatively few persons, who are far more likely to be mistaken or prejudiced, or to have some motive for deception, than the uniform and unprejudiced experience of mankind should prove to be fallacious and untrue. For such a supposition as this last destroys all reasonable ground of certainty in any case.

In fact, the history of the Christian church, from the beginning to the present day, presents little else than a history of disgraceful quarrels of the most rancorous description, and a series of falsehoods unexampled in all the other pages of history. Pious frauds, consecrated by the highest authority; false gospels, false documents, interpolations of ancient authors for the purpose of deception, false saints, false relics, false miracles, forged acts of councils, forged decretals, false donations, false revelations, spectres and apparitions, preternatural communications, miraculous cures and supernatural revivals, and outpourings of the spirit upon ignorant men and hysterical women, supported by the testimony of ancient fathers of the church, pontiffs, bishops, doctors, and holy men of the most popular sanctity, belonging to all manner of conflicting sects, and agreeing in nothing but the common duty of religious lying, forging, and inventing, to serve the interest of the priesthood, and promote the common cause of public deception.

As knowledge and information increases, all these theological contrivances lose their credit and efficacy. What miracle is per

formed or pretended-what ghost appears, who is bewitched at this day in London or Paris, or even in New York or Philadelphia? Priests and the priesthood, and pious frauds, are now confined in their operations and effect nearly to women and children; and the base wretches who enter our families, who work upon the irritable feelings of women and sick persons, who rob them of their property by false hopes, false promises and false fears, and who govern the men by means of the women and children, who always hold the ignorant in their power to stir them up in hatred against the wise, and who are accumulating funds and wealth for their unholy purposes far beyond the suspicion of those who do not examine modern facts-these avaricious and unprincipled deceivers will, according to present appearances, ultimately bring on the darkness and superstition of the middle ages. Why does not the legislature of New York and of every other state pass a mortmain act? Because it is not easy to find a more deplorably ignorant and bigoted assembly-a more priestridden set of legislators, than the legislators of New York.

Primus in orbe deos fecit Timor. Ignorance of natural causes begat terror: terror, superstition: superstition, priests and the priesthood; whose interests and unbending efforts are exerted to perpetuate the fear, the ignorance and the superstition that gave them birth. The experience of past times, and the unhesitating conviction of well-informed men at the present day, render every pretended miracle, Christian, Mahometan, and Pagan, utterly incredible; and imperiously demand not only strong testimony, but every precaution to be taken to prevent mistake, in proportion as any asserted fact is of an extraordinary character. All the modes of judicial investigation and precaution that can be applied, ought rigidly to be required in such a case.

19. Hence no historian is worthy of credit, unless, in proportion as we can ascertain his opportunities of personal information as to the facts he relates, his character and standing in society, his freedom from bias, and all the usual sources of mistake, inaccuracy and deception. Where he relies on the testimony of others, in all cases of fact not intrinsically and antecedently credible, he -ought faithfully to cite his authority, that we may judge of that authority by the same rules we judge of himself. An author who does not accurately refer to his authorities, is evidence for no fact whatever, and ought to be banished from our libraries.

20. All historic authority is destroyed by manifest anachronisms as to dates, persons, and places, words and phrases. When Moses, the reputed author of the Pentateuch, which he had no means of writing, (Deut. xxxvii. 1 et seq.) among fifty instances of this kind, alludes to the times of the kings of Israel and Judahwhen Ezekiel, in his supposed prophecy, anterior to the captivity, alludes twice to that great man, the prophet Daniel, who was but about twelve years of age when the captivity happened-who

can put faith in such authors, or give a moment's credit to their authenticity?

21. Let A be a narrator of a fact; he tells it to B, who tells it to C, who tells it to D. All these amount to but one witness viz. A. No evidence of a fact is strengthened by such a series and succession of derivative testimony. But if A, B, C and D, each of them testify to the same fact from their own separate observation, without communication with each other, the testimony is strong in proportion to the number of such separate witnesses testifying independently of each other. If they agree in all the general, leading, and important features of the transaction, their testimony is not much vitiated by their disagreement as to minute particulars which will admit of being observed differently. But all the sources of false information apply to each of them, and are to be so applied.

22. In transmitted and hearsay evidence, every fresh hand through which the narration passes increases the chances of mistake, and deprives us of weighing the testimony to such a degree, that veracity and accuracy are annihilated altogether after half a dozen transmissions.

Such are the principal canons that bear upon historical evidence generally. They constitute a set of rules for judging of the value of historical evidence, that are founded on common sense, and every day's practice and experience in judicial proceedings. These are strictly applicable to the subject; for whether a man professes to tell truth by word of mouth, or to write it down for our information, the means of deciding whether it be truth or falsehood that he tells us are the same. It may be said that if such strictness be applied to past history, the value of it will be nearly annihilated; and so it ought to be. I have no belief in any historical fact beyond 500 years anterior to our Christian era, for reasons which an anonymous author of considerable acuteness and research already alluded to has assigned. And of all subsequent history, from Herodotus to the last historian, I believe threefourths worthless. I would ask the reader to peruse Mr. Richardson's preface to his Persian Dictionary, as to the histories of Alexander the Great, and the expedition of Xerxes, or the discrepancies in French and English accounts of the same historical transactions. History is only of use for the conclusions we can draw from it, applicable to passing and future events. But from . dubious facts, what useful conclusions can be drawn? The Augustan age of history has not yet arrived, and will not arrive, till readers are taught how to judge and discriminate, as well as read.

PHILO VERITAS.,

Printed and Published by RICHARD CARLILE, 62, Fleet-street, where all Communications, post paid, or free of expence, are requested to be left. ;

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The Lion.

No. 17. VOL. 4.] LONDON, Friday, Oct. 23, 1829. [PRICE 6d.

LONDON RADICAL REFORM ASSOCIATION.

THIS is an association of imbecile pretenders to know something about politics. I was present again on Monday evening last, to hear what would be the nature of the much-talked-of address that was to go forth to the country from the association. Not one spark of useful knowledge was there elicited; nót a single spirit-stirring sentence uttered; not any thing said that could either stimulate the people assembled to any exertions, or leave them a jot the wiser for so assembling. For any thing that the address contains, the people of England, or the kingdom generally, might as well have been told, in a formal address, that, in the month of October, the sun rises at seven, and sets at five o'clock. All the trash about returning to any state of legislation,, that our ancestors enjoyed, indicates nothing but ignorance and imbecility on the part of these addressing reformers, these shallow pretenders, politically to instruct and direct others. So late as the reign of Elizabeth, the Parliament, even the House of Commons, was the disgrace of the country: it was the corrupt tool of the crown for the fleecing of the people. In the reign of James the First, the House of Commons began to assert an independency; and the consequence was, in the ensuing reign, what it must again be in a similar case, a civil war, and a putting down of the Monarchy, the House of Lords, and the Church. When these were restored, the old evils were restored, and from those the present evils have been produced. If you will have a monarchy, or such a monarchy, and such a House of Lords, and such a church, you must have such a House of Commons as you now have to work with it. You can have no other; you deserve no other. If you, the pretended radical reformers, cannot see this, you had better keep at home, and sleep, and dream, until you can see it. If you answer that you see it, but do not think it prudent to say it, you had better attend to other business,' Printed and Published by R. Carlile, 62, Fleet Street. No. 17. Vol. 4. 2 L

until you do think it prudent to say it. For until you say it, you will say nothing; and as reformers, you will do nothing.

I have no objection to the principle of annual parliaments, universal suffrage, and vote by ballot: I do not say that less than this is enough; but what I do say is, that this is not enough, and that it is nothing at all as a reform, in relation to the evils with which the country is afflicted. It is not practicable:-it is not efficient, if it were practicable. It is nothing more than the reform of the whigs, or any other reform that is called moderate. Notwithstanding Mr. Henry Hunt's clamour about the whigs, he has never been any thing more than a whig in political reform. It is an entire delusion for him, or any one else to suppose him more than a whig. They have never advocated any practicable change-he has never advocated any practicable change. They have done no good as political reformers-he has done no good as a political reformer. They propound nothing that can lead to a good or useful change-he propounds nothing that can lead to a good or useful change. His attack upon the whigs is of the same character as the attack of whig upon tory, and tory upon whig. None of them understand, or if they do understand, none of them treat of political principles. Thomas Paine has drawn up a political alphabet for them; but they are either too corrupt to look at it, or too dull to learn it.

I will insert the address, that none of my readers may suppose that I have misrepresented it.

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ADDRESS OF THE LONDON RADICAL REFORM ASSOCIATION TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

"Fellow-countrymen-We address you for our common good. We are in common aggrieved; we invite you to think, and when you have thought, to co-operate with us in attaining, by all legal means, the restoration of Universal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments, with the protection of the Vote by Ballot. The accumulating distress which pervades the productive classes of the community should rouse, you from your apathy. Before now, the commonwealth of England never experienced such dire afflictions, nor has a more culpable disregard of them ever been displayed by those whose duty it is to seek their alleviation. Our aim is not to make charges against particular administrations, as the promoters of our common distress. Men in office are not immediately responsible to the people, but the Members of the Commons' House of Parliament ought to be immediately responsible-professing, as they do, to derive from us their representative character, to speak our sentiments, and to act for the general welfare.

"The Commons' House of Parliament should be, in reality, the people's house. It should politically show forth the body of

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