The Express.
London, England, 1850-05-23 00:00:00

Ind" has beaded sr homed a issobideal esterom.—_
t os the Brigid
which, thrash slat as 1n digibl=6
he dosomilliebrill AilarlOOlN ; • lase, so •
d a
or
riles its Urn, whist', fe
la ceder to ante the paot flessisershire
I Isar few either there sr
gignehere is say very dear assess Is The ertriblrobaioot
erectly seems to be • saner, eiders is somastion with the
Greek chunk en otherwise. Its innelese who are sloe few,
and are of can lordly be se sad Dian; for some,
limegh not ell of are mania 1.1014, and the sea
sad wiser an see sugerated. tzteirsvar. cell thew
mho sad sides mg riser es wed siren • sad
them grows tie he something of • religion Wad,
wholher nay se well se professedly, er pro-
feral, den, in the seem or design of
the itedisties • Whin, perhaps, esdht eel* dessribed ea a
spiritual blades lame. the* to what lila ofre>igios (U
say), the fenres being amour, I think, appear. I Mien
thr troy de see aseed sayet of wash* in egoist of the
emablidisent. I Mak addressed to the
Bursae Wing, bTaey mar
at. ea I limy do was In the Ma°
of enegilmeles or entreaty to God, pray at all. Tim
Agsperedwas appear to est • higli value apes bodily tam-
eless of a simierfial and wastes kind. stable, aceord-
lag le As description Mr. Theses gave se of it, mot be
aselospeiseedsle. It does not appear whether the Agape-
mosine heat, but they seem distinguished both as
eavalien and akerioters. They play moreover, fret
gond, or oecrioaally, at lively and s senor guar
such as hockey, ladies aad ;so that their life may
he upsilon less ascetic than froliwome. The particulars,
however, of the Appeinonians' esoteric existeses, being not
open to general observation, are little, if at all known beyond
their own boundary ; but to works of usefulness or charity
without, they are not, so far as can collect, addicted. Now
this is the establishment in which Mr. Thomas ha for a con-
siderable time been, end is one of the dweller. He has, I
apprehend, no other home, and thither accordingly, I sup-
pose, that he would take his eon. But God forbid that I
should be memory to condemning any child to such
• state of probable debasement. As id would I
have on my conscience the cosigning of this boy to a
camp of Riosies. It may be suggested, however, he may
possibly be willing and able to find some other abode for his
son, and it has seemed to me proper, upon that supposition,
and otherwise, to consider whether Mr. Thomas has or has
not opinions upon important points such as to disqualify
him in this country for the guardianship of an English
child. In the fist place, I think it right to my that lam
satisfied with his denial of believing the • servant of the Lord"
to he a deity or not .f the human nature, but that I doubt
whether Mr. Thomas', mind is entirely free from participa-
tion In certain views concerning the " servant of the Lord"
not very dissimilar to the °onion. entertained concerning
an eminent personage of the seventh century by 1,
them who consider that personage a prophet, .and that
I doubt. moreover, whether a man who, having been
ordained a minister of religion as a Christian in a Christian
I immunity, hu dionnedly and systematically given up
attending any place of w.ritip, whatever his private feelings
may be, and whatever hymns he may sing, ought in any
Icondition of circumstances to be permitted in this country
to have the guardianship or can of an English child, for
whose maintenance and education there exist any ether
means of providing, though the child be hie own. But that
particular question I think it Lot in the present instance
necessary to decide, and I wish to be understood se giving
•no opinion upon it. However this may be, I appre-
; head that, in England, • man who holds
the opinion that prayer, I mean prayer in the
genes of intreaty and supplication to the Almighty is no
part of duty, but is superfluous ; who cons:der, moreover,
that there is not any day of the we. k which ought to be ob-
served as a Sabbath—as a day of peculiar rest, or se one of
peculiar holiness or is any manner distinct from other days
—must be deemed to entertain opinions noxious to society,
adverse to civilisation, opposed to the usages of Christendom,
contrary (in the ease of prayer at least) to the term,
command of the New Testament, and, finally, pernicious in
the highest degree to any young person unhappy enough to
he imbued with them, I ear, in England—if this is a
just view of such opinions, they mast disqualify
him who avows them, and carries them into practice, for
the education, and, in my judgment, for the guardianship e f
an English child, whether his own son or any other—
it toeing most improbable that these opinions will cot
be communicated to the child—that the child will
maps the infection—that be will remain 'nitrated. But
these opinions ere avowed by Mr. Thomas to be his.
He tarries them into practice. He has not professed
any intention of not communicating them to his ion,
if placid under has charge; and had such an inten-
tion been expressed, I should, I own, have thought it
of impossible or very improbable performance. In this
respect I might found myself perhaps. alone on his address
tor* covet delivered upon the hearing of the petition, to
which I listened earehlly. Whether upon or without con-
sitination of that address, however, I view the affidavits as
containing evidence decisive on this point—evidence some
ravages in which I think it right to state in the very words ;
and first I take up two affidavits of six of the Agspenas.nians.
Thee of these six described themselves as clerks—that is,
clergymen,, one being. I believe, the brother-in.law of the
. servant of the Lord," who is not a deponent in either of
these affidavits, nor • witness at all ; but his wife is one of
the six whom I have jut mentioned. This lady describes
bend! as Julia Prince, wife of Henry James Prince, of
she same place, clerk (" the same place" being
Appemone). There is also another lady among the
six who all depose thus. They gay and affirm that
" The statement that the said Henry James Prince and his
followers, as asserted in the petition, used expressions of CM.
tempt and derision with regard to the Holy Scriptures, is •
wicked, hideous, and diabolical lie, which they cannot too
iedignently repel. That the said Henry Janes Prince was
sot in the habit of stating at any meetings to the persons
assembled that all their relations and hire's who ail not
acknowledge the Spirit of God in him would be eternally
damned. That it is utterly false and a wicked perversion
of truth that people were admitted to the tea meeting upon
the grounds of their rejoicing in the damnation of their
friends. That the moral conduct of the said George Robin-
son Thomas is, and always has been, most exemplary and
fen from every imputation, and feu manners mild and gen- I
tlesualy. That deponents and others amused them.
salvos in various ways, both for health and exer. 1
ciao, and that they sometimes play at " kinky " i
which is not a game like football, and which deponents 1
consider very ridiculous to be obliged to refer to ; that depo-
runts do not regard one day from another, hut every day 1
alike, but each unto the Lord ; that the said Henry James I
Prince has not propounded any blasphemous or irregular I
doctrines, and to as that he has • divine character and is I
a proper object of worship, is a blasphemous libel and hide. 1
out lie ; that the servants of the said Unary James Prince
have by his direction threatened to let loos* the blood
hounds upon any one coming within the walls, is a direct
falsehood. That deponents are not under the influence or
control of the said Henry James Prince, but enjoy the mast
perfect liberty; their life Is the purity of truth, their dwelling
the rest of holy love, and their delight the glory of God, their
peace is like a river, and their strength the munition of rocks."
I have rad from one only of these two affidavits, because
what I have read from it represents with substantial exact-
ness corresponding passages in the other. Mr. Thomas's
three sisters who are in the establishment have joined in an
affidavit in these terms: "They say that they us the
sisters of Agnes Thomas, the mother of the infant; that
they did in the year 1842 attend the ministry of the Rev.
Henry Jams Prince at Stoke, near Clare, Suffolk, and were
greatly blared by it. That they ware also privileged to visit
the said Henry James Prince and the Rev. Samuel Starkie,
at their residence, but :that they were eta requestedby the
said Henry James Prince and the Rev. Samuel Starke, or
either of them, to do so, them deponents most solemnly deny ;
that, on the contrary, it was the constant sad repeated
request of deponents, and of the said Agnes Thomas, that
they might be allowed to do so. That the preaching of
the said Henry James Prince was in truth, in simplicity,
and in power ; that his godliness was real, his exhortations
faithful, but that he or the said Samuel Stern ever assured
deponents that in order to become true Christians they
mast disregard the advice of their parents and other mem
bens of their family, and obey the directions of the said
Heary James Prince, is a gross falsehood ; the deponents
Harriet Lancaster Price and Clara Cobb say that deponents
married their respective husbands, not by the command, or
at the request of the said Rev. Henry James Prince, but
Rarely of their own free choice. But that the said Henry
eases Prince extorted from either a promise to marry, is a
gross falsehood. That the said Hoary ]. Prince was not prams
at their interview with the said Emily Nottidge and rederick
Peter Ripley, at Swansea, nor was he at that tkaa at Swan-
sea, but at such interview, mat all other thr.ea, they sated aa.
ending to their own free and unhttared will. That deponents
were informed, by the direction of the said Henry James
Prince, that there was no longer any occasion for their read-
ing the Bible, as their husband': were now their Bibles, and
that deponents couldnow through them the wt.:, of
God, as made kaorgra to them by the said Henry
James Prince, is false. That deponents and the
mid Agnes Thomas wen not compelled to neploy
themselves the greater part of the night of the 4th of
February, 1846, in packing their husbands' clothes; nor
were they engaged in such packing more than one hour, the
things required being linen, &e.., for a few days; and that
they never understood that they were not to see their has.
bands again; that the said Anse Thomas was not treated
rudely or harshly by the said Thomas Williams, in the
month of February, 1846, but that, in consequence of her
temper and disposition at the time there could be no plow-
ant oomounicatioe between her and those residing in the

muse home ; and that the said Agnes Thonias fre-
quently acknowledged to deponents that she was
in a state of rebellion against Orod, and upwind a desire
openly to acknowledge it, for tha example of others.
Deponents say, and particularly the said Harriet Lancaster
Prise, that the said Harriet Lancaster Price did not
Co to North Curry to Hr. Homes home le be con-
fined by the direetin of the said Henry James Prince,
but of her own choice, and bemuse it wee soon tonanient,
then being no spare room at Charlineh, and also au* bath,'"
medical attendance and militants on the spot at Henn
Carry. That whilst at Noah Curry the said Harriet Lan-
caster Prim received the greatest possible attention and
kindness from Mr. and Mn. Rouse and their servants, the
medical man, and her own nurse. That she was visited
after her confinement by her skink the said Clara
Cobb, and the said Owego Bobbin* Thomas and others
of her friends, and that an had every eseaket she could
possibly require. That the usertion that whoa the child of
the said Harriet Laneester Price was ens mama old she was
required by the said am. Henry JanseaPeinse to give no the
of mash shill some_ puma appalmand him = the mime,smi that she alio swears*. ea that ia
a few maths iirwords it was regensa soeses his followers
that each shill woe deal, h a rasa winked ad diabolical
lie; wad the lahreeee talowdel at he Wesel therefrom
deposeets diatom ss sod maddens sad absedeahla
That the child was shaded by the muddy avow sled
ease with her to Charilask dies* shoe Its Mere
of the said Harriet Leareeter Pries, sad was
that idestaatly with her ame
nd her dolor, awl

dial ha her (the anther's) arms. That &pomade
went te Roes Hill is the month of March, 1860,
ea their own sewed, is eider to obtain IS Minim with the
Mil Armee Thomas or Mn. Netlike, sad that they were
Mean there by the said Hasty Joan Priam, aer bad
lbw an imatisan envying away as latent. t
Illinedet l,eaeseme Pries sank affi the staleatent that =se
doe.. lW Mg of ensiling the ample of the said Items
Wakens Inn wandleriag se the said dime iltemas imp
asniellemein pad*s end preparing te leave Weems* and
hem biddies her Melton le a grass labelieL
This deplane did mist Mr all the Ones el
ber end trapubizomal Cpszer make
breakers =Sr and did Mr Le
Nonihp eshis, that eke kit Roes Hen of Mown sword m
ad
by her ems desire, and that she provieffily sequalated the
said Badly Nettidge mad Cesselialfeelidge of lire intention
to do es, and they assisted in parkin her this's. That in
the meth of November, 1844, ispeasat was riding at her
own lodgings fa lieeltos eksessid,aut that said Frederick
Peter Ripley sad orte &demi Netlike sbruptly broke in
apes her
_carried her off by lime, sad, took her to London
lad imprisoned kit in a mailbenee be nets than eighteen
months, whoa the was released la tomellnaffies of the pro
vices correspoMesee whisk Ni mid George Robinson
Thomas sad Lewis Prise bad with Ni mffiniasionen
touching the lajoetios sad amity of kr illegal imprison-
meet, and whack was the as.. of the action of trespass
tried in Juno, 1849. That darns the tyrannical and cruel
imprisonment of deponent, all communication between her
and her sisters, wrung ohs loved, was forcibly cut off, and
several applications were made by the sisters and brothers.
in-law of deponent to the said Frederick Peter
Ripley sad the said Emily Nottidge, but with no success.
That tbe conduct of the said Emily Nottidge, Frederick
Peter Ripley, and his wife, to deponent, whit., confined,
and thoegh deponent complained to them of their cruelty,
was most insulting, disgraceful, and was calculated, through
their attempts to work upon her mind and teenage, some-
times by enireaties, and sometimes by harsh and noel threats,
and by reading and speaking the mod disgusting. and, es
dimmed hasi since discovered, false things, to make her
indeed a lunatic, which Wzy bad falsely awned her to be.
That deponent did, on her release, Mader the stook, peat
of which stood in her own name, and another part in ffis
name of herself and Josiah Nottidge, deceased, isto the
name of said Henry James Prince, of her own accord, with-
out the knowledge of the and Henry James Prince,
whereby she enjoys more the benefit of it than
ever she did before. Deponents say that ever the
said Henry James Prim and his followers have asserted
in the petition used expressions of contempt and derision
with respect to the Holy Scriptures, is a wicked, hideous,
and diabolical lie, and which they cannot too indignantly
repel. That It is false that mid Henry Jaime Prince was
in the habit of stating, or ever did state to the perso-s
assembled at the meetings of the people, that all their rela-
tions and friends who did not acknowledge the spirit of God
in him would be eternally damned; and that it is utterly
false and a wicked perversion of truth that people were al- -
witted to the tea menhir upon the /Tomas of their rejuic
leg in thedunnation of their friends. That the moral conduct
of the said George Robinson Thomas is most exemplary and
free from the slightest imputation, and his miners mild
sod gentlemanly. That the raid Henry James
Prim has not propounded soy blasphemous or
irreligious doctrines ; and to assert that he
teaches his followers that he has a divine
chancier, and is a proper object of worship, and that his
followers treat him as a proper object of w...rship, is a bia:.
phemons libel and a hideous lie. That persons, not bring
followers of the said Henry James Prince, Lave for some
time past, by his direct:on, been carefully prevented
from coming within the wall surrounding the
Agapemone ; and that he keeps in the outbuildings at-
tached th bloodhounds, which Ins servants, by his direc-
tion, threaten to let loose upon any one coming within such
wall without his permission, is a direct lie. That deponents
are not under the icfluence or control of the said Henry
James Prince. That they enjoy the most perfect liberty.
That they lice in the truth of purity, delight in the sweet-
ness of solid peace, and dwell in the fellowship of holy love.
That they can, and do, and will testify, to the kindness. the
parity, and the truth of all within the Agapenone,where God,
and Oodealone, is tLe bsg:nning,the fultess,and the end of all."
Mrs. Thomaa whose rAdavit I have considered receivable
upon a pr seeding of the present nature, though her husband
is the respondent, deposes se :—" That during the
latter part of 1845, the said Henry James Prince was in the
habit of heldicg meetings at various vain' near Wey-
mouth, whereat he aid his leading followers preached, ant
that sosnetimi • one and sometimes another of the said Geo.
Itobicson, Thomas Lewis Price, and 1 homes Wil:iaan, di I,
by the direction of the said Henry James k rince, usually
pre ich and announce to the persons Resembled thereat the
• immediate coming of Christ, and exclaim in the loudest tone,
' Behold, He cometh, lie month and a little further on,
"And the said Henry James Prince, in the latter part of 1h45,
frequently', professed the doctrine that the practice et
prayer, whether private of public, is useless, and ought to be
abandoned, and he required his followers to abandon such
practice accord irgly. And I have been informed, and verily
believe that the last-mentioned doctrine has ever since been
and new is professed by the said Henry James Prints and
Lis followers." And again she says, "And 1 have been in.
formed, and verily believe, that during part of the year 1846
the acid Henry James Prince and his principal followers,
including the said Samuel Starkey and his wife, the said
Thomas Williams and his wife, the said O. R. Thomar,
Lewis Price, William Cobb,, and Clara Cobb*, resided at
Chsrliscli aforesaid, and during the other part of the same
year at Weymouth ; and that ever since the early part of
the year 1847 the said 11. J. Prince and his principal ft:bow-
ers, of both sexes, to the number of &I and upwards. includ.
ins the raid S. Starkey and Lis wife, the said T. Williams
and his wife, and the said George Robinson, Thome*
Lewis Price, William Cobb,, and Clara Cobbe, have
resided together in a large building at Charlinch,
aforesaid, which building the said Henry James Prince had
caused to be prepared, and to which he gave the name of
Agapemone; and that such building, together with certain
antouildings and yards attached thereto, was and is sue-
rounded by a high thick wall ; and that at the top of such
building a flag is usually diepleyed, bearing thereon a repre-
sentation of a lion and • iamb, and au description to the words
following—" Oh, hail, holy love." Say that I have been
informed, and verily believe, that the said Henry James
Prince and his followers continue to profess the same doe-
trines which were ;professed by him and them in I'll and
BM as aforesaid, and that he and they, by his direction,
have likewise adopted and profess a doctrine that neither
Sunday nor any other day of the week ought to be observed
as a Sabbath day of rest or sacred day. And 1
have been informed, and verily believe, that the men and
many of the women resident in the said building, called Aga-
pemone, have, by the direction of the said Henry James
Prince, ndopted and pursued a practice together at varisus •
athletic games, and among others at a game called hockey
(end resembling football), and of playing at such games a,
well on Sundays as on other days, and that in order more
fully to act upon the aforesaid doctrine as to th 3 uselessness
of prayer, the said Henry James Prince, in or before the
year 1849, as I have been informed, and verily believe,
caused a building adjoining the said " Agapemone," which
had been fitted up as a chapel, to be altered into an ordinary
rcom, or sitting room, and that the said Henry James
Prince has for some timo past not attended, and
does not attend, and that his followers, by his direction,
have for some time past not attended, and do uot attend,
divine service in any place of worship." And again a little
• farther on, " say that, u I have been informed anebelieve,
tbe Moms derived by the said Henry James I's ince from
kis own property does not exceed 4001. a year, but that by
means of large sums of money which he obtains from his
followers he has since he established himself in the said
Agapemone been enabled to live in an exsenain manner,
and to keep a carriage and four horses for drawing the
same, and several handsome saddle hones • and he has been
la the habit of riding in the neighbourhood of Charlitch in
the said carriage, drawn by four horses, also of riding out in
week neighbourhood attended by a lures cavalcade of his
followers, end being himself on such occanoi s usually mounted
an akendrome horse, to whichhe has given the cannot Glory."
Mr. Hayward, who is the solicitor of the next friend of the
Win; out probably is not more biassed than the other di,.
rants en either side, if so much, and is a man of standing
end repute in his profession, and 1 think • trustworthy wit.
sees, deposes thus. (Hi: Honour read passages from the
affidavit, to the effect of some of the statements detailed in
tr aesrt of the hearing in the Daily News.) Mr. Thomas
has made two affidavits in which, respectively, these
passages will be found. In his first affidavit he says :—" 1
and others at the Agapemone amuse ourselves in various
ways, both for health and exercise, and we some time since
did so with hockey, which is a game like football, and that
we did so Sundays and other days ; Ott I do not regard one
de.; non than another. but sin, day sae, cut each day
unto the Lord ; we said Henry Janes Prince has not to my
knowledge or belief propounded any blasphemous or irreli-
gious doctrines; and I solemnly deny that he teaches his
followers that he has a divine character and is a proper object
of worship, or that hie followers treat him as a proper object
of worship." In his second affidavit is the following puns!, :
" I say that the said Henry James Prince and I and many
of those called in the maid petition his followers were pre-
eminently distinguished sa men of prayer; but, as the con-
sequence of holding that the day of grace is past and the day
ofjudgment command, the said Henry James Prince, sod
I, and others of his friends, discontinued the use of prayer
es a means of communion with God, although I maintain
that lan still inAtirnate communion with Him." In such
• ease, seeing that probably or certainly, as I have mid, •
what provision for the maintenance and education of
abbey is or will be made, Independently of his father's re-
offiens, it appears to me that, consistently with the law of
Begbad, as declared and enforced in the Court of
Menem dam and before the time of Lord Eldon,
ell mel ae is more than one important ens by
UM Elden himself, I cannot decline interposing to avert
bum the country the infliction of such a citizen, sad trout
the child such ruin temporally, and such spiritual peril as
his father's threatened are must, I think, without a miracle
Me. I make en order, therefore, substantially, though
words, seek as that asked by the petition. Hie
Boast tea read the terms of the order, referring it
to Ihe Mu tat to WON whether there existed any proMea
be the amisteaeste end education of the infant during his
lei city, indepeadently of any atomises or contribution
tam his father, sad of what nature, and that if the Master
MOM be et side la the affirmative, he should
mem et sem prepaid le he laid before him'
for rearing enekmehtlemass too the petitioner, and that the'
MOUE should appoint mine wpm person to act as merdian
to the pffiltiener, sad skedd mew' et a proper •• for
Ni.eeldeme, maiMemiee, and eduestion of the infest until
Mike mkt t end is dm samethee, et until farther order,
his Hersesr ordered that the r dwelt remain in the
cue sad el the imam mad maternal grandmother,
and that Ni fadlsr and his meats, tin hither order, should
M restrained hem ememim
With
elmaging the custody of the
petitioner, er latesiming the same. And his Honour
reedltiamies libegty to apply Me ilk• Mart they might