-that it has been established upon the idolatry of mankind, and can only be available where idolatry doth exist. See man freeing himself from that idolatry, and you see him ceasing to respect the practice of oath-making. The practice has nothing respectable about it, and he who shall move and carry its legal abolition, will mark for himself, in civilized progression, the distinction of eminence.

Consider, my Lord Duke, what will be done for this country, at this moment, in putting a stop to the clamour about Catholic Emancipation, the country's bugbear, and that other, though now almost extinct clamour of Radical Reform, which can only be revived in conjunction with its frivolous compeer, Catholic Emancipation. Give the Catholics their civil and political equality, and leave them to us, who say free discussion, and we will lay their turbulent spirit, as we have lain that of all the other sects. The future peace and prosperity of this country will be to be placed to the account of its infidelity. This principle of infidelity, that proposes to try every other principle by the most rigid tests, is that noble, that glorious principle, on which hinge the future dignity and prosperity of mankind. I feel that I am not pompous in this statement, but that I am taking the calm and correct view of the working of that principle, which cannot be better distinguished than in being called infidel, signifying not faith, but evidence.

I am sensible, my Lord Duke, by whom and by what principles you are surrounded, and what is the amount of their influence, and your necessary attention to such conflicting interests; but, my Lord Duke, you have the decision of a general to make. You have many enemies in your camp, which are to be guarded against, and dealt with. And you have a more arduous battle to fight, more at stake, more laurels to win or lose, than you found in your peninsular and continental campaigns. The only men on whom you can rely as good soldiers, the only men who are not hirelings, who will fight for you without pay, or promise of personal reward, are the infidels who work to the establishment of more correct social principles, and who will support, with all the talent the world can boast, the man who supports their mild and vivifying principles of reform.

Six years of imprisonment, and twelve of serious political thought, without abating one jot of my ardent attachment to the principles which I am advocating, have cooled my former more sanguine expectations as to the rapidity of the movement of those principles. But this I can see, that those principles have already produced very great and good effects in this country, and in France, and that the moment is at hand, at which great additional good is to be done by them. We fear no warfare that can now arise, we are invincible in moral power, and physical power can be no longer brought to act against us.

If, on review, I find that I have not fully stated this question of oath-making, I deem the subject so very important and so well timed, that I shall make a second letter of it. Afterward, I shall proceed to state the other, and higher pretensions of infidelity. I have a sort of presentiment, that your Grace has not yet turned your attention to this subject; therefore, I desire so to simplify it, as to make it at once attractive and intelligible. If it were not so to be simplified, as to be made intelligible to a child, I should count it as good for nothing; for the most important are easily shown to be the most simple truths.

Infidels deal not in mystery, my Lord Duke, nor in divine revelations, nor in prophecies, nor in conjuring tricks; the simplicity of honesty is theirs, and they defy the world of trick and error with it.

Looking at your Grace, as a member of no religious sect, as a man of no political party, as a man not easily to be tricked by quibble and chicanery, as a man of dignified decision, and as one willing to learn whatever is useful to be known, I have here addressed your Grace in a very different tone from that in which I have addressed any other minister, and remain, the political schoolmaster.

RICHARD CARLILE.

ON THE CRUELTY AND ABSURDITY OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF LAWS IN ENGLAND.

Let not the punishment th' offence exceed;
Justice with weight and measure must proceed,
Justice, when equal scales she holds, is blind;
Nor cruelty, nor mercy, change her mind;
When some escape for that which others die,
Mercy to those, to these is cruelty.

SIR JOHN DENHAM.

THE cruel and unnecessary sacrifice of human life, all men might reasona bly suppose would be a mark of distinction, and a test by which they might ascertain the difference between barbarous and civilized nations: but notwithstanding the lapse of ages, in which various schemes have been developed for the government of society, it is still a melancholy subject of regret, that the punishment of death for crimes forms a prominent feature in the Constitution of England. Whether this arises from the inherent savage disposition of Englishmen, or from an ignorance of the real character of man, and the means by which he may be kept within the bounds of subordination, is a question which is replete with interest to all classes of mankind. If this inquiry were pursued, impartially and philosophically, I am of opinion, that it will be found, that this carelessness of human life arises from an ignorance of the principles of nature. Pope, in his Essay on Man, has long ago said, that

"The proper study for mankind, is man." And Volney, in his Law of Nature, has defined an ignorance of human nature, and the laws of the universe, to be a deplorable desideratum in knowledge, viz.—" By the great injury which our existence sustains from

it: for the ignorant, who are unacquainted with either causes or effects, commit every instant mistakes, most pernicious to themselves or others ; like a blind man, who walks groping his way, and who at every step stumbles against, or is jostled by his companions." A position which is fully established by an examination of the principles upon which are. based the many judicial institutions of even free countries: for they are not calculated to dispense that happiness and equality of rights, which is coeval with the wants of man in society.

The excuse, (there can be no reason) that has been offered in palliation of this awful sacrifice of life, at the shrine of Justice, is on the plea of its utility, as it furnishes an example that operates as a terror and check to others-but woeful experience has adduced the incontrovertible fact, especially in this country, that the minds of men are not to be governed like those of children, by that bugbear yclept terror, but it is only a mild and conciliatory system of jurisprudence that can have any material influence on the moral habits of society in England. It is necessary to consult the estimates of the amount of criminal offences, that have been published several times by order of the House of Cominons, and it will be discovered that there has been a frightful increase of crimes within the last twenty years, in defiance of the operation of those laws which awards the panishment of strangulation as an atonement for their infraction. So much for the utility of these sanguinary laws of the olden time. If, then, there is no urgent necessity for inflicting this arbitrary and unnatural punishment upon the transgressor of the laws, on what plea, either of reason or humanity can they be adopted? Surely none, for all laws, criminal or civil, ought to have mercy and benevolence for their basis. They must not be vindictive.

The principle of life is the most sacred thing in existence, and should not be trifled or tampered with by any pettifogging system of legislation or judicial power. The life of man is short, consequently, it should not be destroyed for the committing of any offence, except murder, because, there are many ways by which their labour might be made available and of essential use to that community whose well-being they had disturbed, and whose property they had plundered; and which, I think, is the only rational and just claim of detention they can have to the person of the criminal. There is no system of punishment in practice at the present time, that is preferable to the penitentiary plan, that is, where a due regard is paid to the classification of the prisoners, the neglect of which precaution has been attended with the most fatal results upon the morals of the youth in the prisons of this country, who have been indiscriminately confined with old offenders.

In Holland, this penitentiary plan has been in force for years, and has acquired the admiration of all classes for its mild and benevolent treatment of offenders, who have left its gates with sorrow; for owing to this beneficial plan, their minds were purged of every motive or wish to wrong their neighbours in future; and there were very few instances on record of a return to their former dishonest practices. Therefore, with such a glaring instance of economy and humanity as this staring us in the face, I maintain, that to take away the life of a fellow-creature either for forgery, robbery, or any other dishonest action, provided there is even the most remote chance of his reformation, or a probability of his restoring the property taken, is, to say the least of it, a legal and sanguinary murder. Dryden says, in his play of the Spanish Friar,

"It is not Justice, but a brutal rage,

Which hates th' offender's person with his crimes."

We have a fine illustration of the baneful effects of this human expiatory system, in the conduct of the Recorder of London, on a late occasion, when he received the death-warrants for the execution of those prisoners of whom he had previously made a report; for instead of forwarding it to London with the utmost dispatch, in order to allay the feverish anxiety of the destined victims to these deadly laws, he delayed his solemn duty for a whole day with as much sang froid as if it was of no more consequence than an order for the destruction of as many dogs and cats. Is he so inured to the appalling duties of his office, that it has at last blunted the finest feelings of the heart. At all events, his conduct was highly unfeel ing and thoughtless, and justly deserved the severe castigation he received from Alderman Farebrother.

The absurdity and inconsistency of our laws has long been a just cause of complaint by the most celebrated writers on constitutional law; nevertheless, these laws are still suffered to remain as part and parcel of our Constitution, a stain upon our national character, and as a mark at which the wise of surrounding nations may point their shafts of ridicule and satire. To talk of the wisdom of our ancestors in laying the foundation of this chaos of confusion and contradiction, is one of the greatest proofs of the degree to which the minds of ignorant men may be biassed and thwarted by a blind attachment to the fallacious doctrine of venerating and upholding ancient laws.

To eulogize a body of laws, not for their intrinsic benevolence and mildness, but for their antiquity, betrays such a barren and infatuated mind, that, in some circumstances of life, would consign a person possessed of it to a lunatic asylum. Because the question for the consideration of every reasonable man is simply this,-that if a law is in the statute book, and is an essential part of the Constitution, founded on the principles of equity and wisdom, and is agreeable to the established usages and welfare of the people, then whether it was enacted in ancient or modern times, is a matter of no consequence-but, on the contrary, if a law is in force that is subversive of the imprescriptible rights of mankind, then whether it was passed in the reign of Charles the Second, or in that of George the Fourth, let it be repealed and buried in oblivion. Away then with the revolting and stupid doctrine of a veneration for musty acts of Parliament. We need not wonder at a late Lord Chancellor advocating such a doctrine, as it was by such ancient fiscal statutes that he was enabled to erect his princely fortune at the expense of the tears of the orphan, the bewailings of the widow, and the melancholy ravings of the maniac.

Many instances may be adduced, to show the absurd nature of our criminal code of laws, but one or two shall suffice. The laws regarding adultery are preposterous, and injurious in the extreme to the interests of social life. A man seduces the wife of his friend under the most aggravated circumstances connected with the laws of hospitality, which very often makes her a prostitute for the remainder of her life, reduces his children to a state of orphanage, and himself to the gloomy situation of despair, perhaps for ever. And all the punishment that is inflicted upon this despoiler of the peace and happiness of a virtuous family, is a fine of a few thousand pounds, which he makes the theme of a vulgar and bacchanalian boast at those receptacles for vice called Little Hells. Where is the reparation made to society in this case? What! shall a license be given to a host of brutal ravishers to trample upon the virtues of our wives and daughters, merely upon the payment of a paltry sum of money, which,

in consequence of the parties in general, is no punishment? The man who stops another on the highway, and demands his money, must forfeit bis life as an expiation of his offence. What a pálpable disparity in the quantum of moral guilt and punishment in the two cases, for while the seducer, who acts in the most invidious, ungrateful, and unmanly manner, to accomplish his diabolical purpose, and whose brutal lust, like the Emperor Caligula's, is, in many cases, not even checked by the ties of relationship, is only mulcted of a comparatively trifling sum of money-the highway robber, who inflicts, in general, only a pecuniary loss upon his victim, is liable to a cruel and ignominious death.

The principle upon which the laws respecting many other offences are founded, is equally unsound and equivocal; which is the cause of such an immense host of lawyers, that dishonourable and crafty class of men, who thrive upon the sophistries and ambiguities which are ingrafted in them.

Litigious coifs infest the clam'rous bar;

Prolong disputes, and thrive by managed war.

Our criminal code is so much mixed up with inuendoes and technicali ties, by which wealthy criminals may take advantage, that the proverbial maxim of the spider and the flies has become a beautiful and apt illustration,-for "Bad laws are like cobwebs, for, while the great flies escape, the little ones are entangled in the filmy net."

It is curious to read the reasons given by many political empirics, for the increase of crime in this country. The Report of the Committee that was appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into this subject, and to consider of the best means to check the growing evil, is, at best, but an unsatisfactory production, for it does not pursue the inquiry with that sound sense and depth of reasoning which is absolutely requisite in any question wherein the chief things for discussion are the grand points of cause and effect. To attribute the demoralization of the people to the practice of dram-drinking, is paltry and contrary to truth, because it is an effect, not a cause. The chief cause of the demoralization of the people, has been a deficiency in the knowledge of mankind :-for, as Mr. Brougham has observed, "No man, until he has studied philosophy, can have a just idea of the great things for which Providence has fitted his understanding; the extraordinary disproportion there is between his natural strength, and the powers of his mind, and the force which he derives from these powers." It is an absence of this tact for philosophical researches into the real history of man throughout the whole course of nature, that has been the great and sole cause of the demoralization of mankind. This ignorance of the laws of Nature has been the basis for those corrupt and arbitrary systems of government, which have had such a deadly influence upon the morals of society. For good laws can never emanate from bad systems of governments, as it is a fundamental principle in ethics, that if the source is bad, that which springs from it must be equally so. Until this knowledge of human nature is thoroughly implanted in the minds of men, they are always liable to be deceived by such men as Mr. Peel, in his present mischievous and puerile system of altering, twisting, and perverting, what is even good in our laws; while a more comprehensive, enlightened, and liberal plan of emendation proposed by Mr. Brougham, is neglected, and very likely will never be carried into effect. But, to conclude, this corrupt system of government has evidently arrived at the zenith of its power; and it does not require much foresight to prophecy, that like those of Greece and Rome, it will be more rapid, but less sanguinary, in its declension. Then