The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-10-14 00:00:00

To THE EDITOR OF TQL STATES'3I4.V.

stn,—The very, conduct of Crowned treads de.
gin perpetual warfare, and inflicting oppressions
ti.e multitude hn feed and clothe them, is a proof
of their atheism.—Sir, the very conduct of Crowned
proves their disbelief of the religion they
profess ; their wanton oppressions at honie, and their
osevainary tuts abroad, and the profligacy in which
rony of them have passed their worse than useless
lives, sufficieotly demonstrate that they do not be_
lire in the doctrine of future reward.: and punish.
meats—(r if such an impression had happily been
e
ande on their minds, they would not daily dare the
wool of otf,nded Heaven by crimes w hide would
0,,„5i0 them, according to such a belief, to eternal

puoislitneot.
Sir, the conduct of Crooned Heads, 1 mean such
as we lid secor.!eil in listory, and such as we have
s e in our time dishonour their sceptres, authorises
v. assert that it is ATHEISM they rrectice, though
•i
I 'IIiiISTIANITY they profess, and when
st:Ci. EN coeimand Te perms to be sung for
their 1a0,..-- sacrifice of their fellow-creatures, and
cider public 's to be ebserved by those who have
scarcely the means to pi.,.•fiase food and raiment
(for few else obey the iropioe, ^iaorlate), in order,
as it is prttended, to avert the o • of God, and
sione for ":,,aisifold offences"—a hat is it but a
so;cliti mocker) of the common sense of man.
hind, and an insult to that Divinity whose
c;emeo-y they pretend to invoke?" Can you
he surprised, Sr.! at the general profligacy of the
loaer orders of society—at their practising on a
so.n:lrr scale, what their [Loyal Masters too often

fati.tm Kith impunity on a grand one ? The punish.
remit inflicted on the former compared with the lat-
ter exceeds all reasonable bounds of distributive
ivice —it is indeed " Larlimus rift:tem &Ili,"
when compared with the other. We ar, told from
the pulpit by the far more formidable abettors of
tyranny than the soldiery, that Paradise hereafter
will be the reward allotted for our faith in their
doctrines, and for our loyalty to the Sovereign,
accompayied by a terrible denunciation, if we
presume to rej• et the former and refuse the latter, 1
making it as it were the complete surrender of our
understanding, and an entire renunciation of the
common right of mankind, the sole condition of
eternal happiness in the world to come ! What is
this but an insult to common sense, aggravated by the
blrophemy of the menace?
What is it but ntekitig religion the ally, not mere.
ly of legitimate Coverement, with which, by-the-b: e,
it has nothing to do, hut even of xasurpation and
tytanny ? The Clercy are leo apt to be panders to
authority in i e hope of being admitted to a share of
ill
it, or in such stances as such a miserable wretch as
Irentwso 0. Spain bring on the throne, mono.
poli7ire the whole of it.
Tlit-y offer paradiae to the people as the price of
their absolute submissive to the Church and State ;
but when do we hear a Bishop or a Chaplain holding
out a menace of divine anger to his Royal M tater,
who, in the plentitude of his arrogance, violates all
the obli4atious of religion and morals. end abuses the
confidence reposed in him ? Whence comes this in.
du!geace to 011 e, and severity to the other? Why
should men, pretendina to rule by " the Grace of
God," and who should better respect the laws of
Cod, escape the censure of the Church, and be ex-
empted from the threats and admonitions bestowed
with so much liberality and seeming piety on the
rest of mankind ? Why should revolt from oppres-
sion be branded as rebellion and punished as such ?
And, Orate all, what must we think of the virtue and
utility of n priesthood, who tells us that a servile
dishonourable submission to a tyrant who oppresses
us, and whom the% impiously call the" Lord's anoint-
ed," is loyalty ?—Let all such loyally be dis-
claimed and abhorred—let manly sentiments be
every %there adopted as a more legiqinate fence
against all illegitimate tyrants, and their authority
will no longer exist. Sir, there is something so hor•
ride in despotism—it is a vice of so flagitious a the.
rrcter, that it w iil not admit of any compromise.
I.lllvltl'y or DEATII should be the universal ex-
clamation whenever and WHEREVER it makes its
oprearance. I mean that rational practicable liber-
ty, dm:ion:fed by wisdom and soured hy Legislative
enactments, which, no less assures r* iience and
rcspect to the constituted authorities Hurt the rights
of the people from arbitrary and caprkions Miler-
"eels. If I have expressed myself with warmth on
this sllbifTf, it ii. that the cause I would defend ap-
ea'trs to be in more imminent danger than ever, front
the conduct of the combined Powers in Fiance, who
j.:,.(1.g0tl themselves bs. their Do-dm:lions previous to the
Aiinguitiary battle of Waterloo not to it !--fere with the
hvernal r,overunient of filet country. 'I et- declared
ear only against Boa aPAUTE and his army— the one
i• consigned, if not to oblivion, at least to exile,
red the other is disbanded—yet war is continued
e,;•tinst the French, with almost as much fury as if
N‘roatosr was at the hag,' of his fegi.ois, Etnperor
of France! .\, other inference can be dm. ten from
eiis violence—from this indecent departure from
C.o.e seleme assurances vs hich induced an immense
population to receive foreign troops rattier as friends
!lain enenti..s, than that a consp.rley is formed
le tinxt the (WI rights, not only of Frenchmen, but
of all mankind. It appears to me, tl, the Sore-
ti'i..tt.s of the present Oa s , frogeti g from whom they
derive their authority—for whet purposes they were
ell:rutted with its and that those who CO.‘Di•