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 ^UIBR/ 
 
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 A Letter from Irenopolis 
 
 TO 
 
 THE INHABITANTS 
 
 OF
 
 Ex Libris 
 O.K. OGDEN
 
 
 
 A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM 
 
 IRENOPOLIS 
 
 TO 
 
 The Inhabitants of Eleutheropolis ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 A SERIOUS ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 DISSENTERS 
 
 OF BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 ^ Member of the Eftablijhed Church. 
 
 Birmingham, 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN THOMPSON; 
 AND SOLD BY J. JOHNSON, AND C. DILLY, LONDON. 
 
 MDCCXCII.
 
 Stack 
 
 A 
 
 s 
 
 A LETTER, &c. 
 
 : Multa in homine, Demea, 
 Signa infunt, ex quibu' conje&ura facile fit, 
 Duo cum idem faciunt, faepe ut poflis dicere, 
 Hoc licet inpune facere huic, ill! non licet: 
 Non quo difiimilis res fit, fet quo is qui facit. 
 
 Terence Adelpbi, A&V. Scene IV. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 JL ERMIT me to addrefs you in a fpirit of 
 candour and refpeft, and under the facred and endearing 
 names of fellow-citizens and fellow-chriftians. With in- 
 tentions not lefs pure, and, probably, after refearches not lefs 
 diligent than your own, I cannot profefs to think with you 
 upon many fpeculative fubjefts, both of politics and of re- 
 ligion. But freedom of enquiry is equally open to you, 
 and to myfelf : it is equally laudable in us, when con- 
 dufted with impartiality and decorum; and it muft equally 
 tend to the enlargement of knowledge and the improve- 
 ment of virtue, while our lincerity does not betray us into 
 precipitation, and while our zeal does not ftifle within 
 us the amiable and falutary fentiments of mutual forbear- 
 ance. Upon the points in which we diflent from each 
 other, argument will always fecure the attention of the. 
 wife and good ; whereas inve&ive muft difgrace the caufe' 
 
 which 
 
 20288
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 which we may refpe&ively wifh to fupport. But the prin- 
 ciples upon which we are agreed, are, furely, of a more 
 exalted rank, and of more extenfive importance, than thofe 
 about which we differ; and while that importance is felt, 
 as well as acknowledged, we /hall welcome every argu- 
 ment, and refift every inve&ive, from whatever quarter 
 they may proceed. 
 
 We are convinced, I truft, as to the truth and au- 
 thority of the Scriptures. But in the interpretation of 
 them, we muft be fenfible, that the imperious and delu- 
 live infallibility, which we refufe to others, cannot be 
 claimed by ourfelves. We are fatisfied, I prefume, about 
 the wifdom and utility of thofe fundamental principles 
 that diftinguifti the mixed government, under which an in- 
 dulgent Providence has permitted our forefathers and our- 
 felves to live. Yet, if one clafs of men are difpofed to up- 
 hold the power of the crown, and another, to enlarge the 
 freedom of the people, we have no right to conclude, that 
 the former wifli to be fettered with the chains of flavery, 
 or that the latter are preparing to let loofe the ravages of 
 anarchy. The advocate for monarchy is not neceflarily 
 the foe of liberty, nor is the love of liberty incompatible 
 with reverence for monarchy. Experience, indeed, foon 
 puts to flight thofe chimerical accufations, which iflue from 
 the narrow fpirit of fyftem, or the frantic vehemence 
 of party. In the hour of trial men caft away fubordinate 
 diflin&ions, as incumbrances to their underftandings, and 
 cleave to fome vigorous and folid principle, which arrefts 
 their common notice, becaufe it embraces their common 
 interefts. They ceafe to wrangle, when they are called 
 upon to aft j and . they look back with a mixture of 
 amazement and contempt, even upon tbemfehes^ for all 
 the cavils in which their vanity once exulted, and for all 
 the reproaches by which their malignity was once gra- 
 tified. 
 
 Through
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
 Through circumftances which are the refult of acci- 
 dent, more than defign, through the prejudices of our 
 education, through the habits of our thinking, through 
 the converfation of our acquaintance, and fometimes, it 
 may be, through the authority of our teachers, difference 
 of opinion will arife. But that difference, when care- 
 fully examined, often refolves itfelf only into a queftion 
 of more or lefs, of fit or unfit, as to the time, of proper or 
 improper, as to the mode, of probable or improbable, as 
 to the confequence. It really turns, not upon the actual 
 exiflence, or upon the general validity of principles them- 
 felves, but upon the degree, in which they are applicable 
 to fome fpecific and controverted cafe. As, however, the 
 foluticn of thefe difficulties muft ever be dependent, not 
 only upon the fluctuating nature of all worldly affairs, but 
 upon the many, or the few opportunities we have for ob- 
 ferving their varying afpects, and upon the greater or lefs 
 ability we employ to comprehend their relations and their 
 effects, there muft often be room for fufpenfe of judg- 
 ment, and there will always be a call for the exercife of 
 charity. On the other hand, impatience of contradiction 
 is both weak and wicked. Inftead of facilitating decifion, 
 it perpetuates contention. It darkens the evidences, and 
 obftructs the efficacy of truth itfelf. It originates in a 
 radical defect of judgment, and too often terminates in a. 
 moft incorrigible intolerance of temper. 
 
 I doubt not, Gentlemen, but that you will allow the 
 juftnefs of thefe obfervations. I doubt not, but that you 
 are imprefled with a deep fenfe of their utility. But in 
 the application of them to practice, we all fee and we all 
 lament, very frequent inftances of inconfiftency or re- 
 luctance even among thofe perfons, who in matters of 
 theory may juftly pretend to the fulleft information and 
 the cleared conviction. 
 
 The
 
 [ 8 J 
 
 The fituation, Gentlemen, in which you are placed, 
 attracts the notice of all parties and of all feds in your 
 own country; and the conduct which you may purfue in 
 that fituation, muft exalt your characters to honour, or 
 deprefs them with infamy, not only in your own age, but 
 to pofterity.- By moderation in your opinions, and by 
 prudence in your meafures, you may difarm the prejudices 
 of your enemies, fecure the protection of your governors, 
 and conciliate the favour of the virtuous and the enlight- 
 ened. On the contrary, if you fwell trifles into bulkinefs 
 by a fuperfluous and turbulent zeal, if you inflame the 
 animofities which you ought to mitigate, if you perfe- 
 vere in a frivolous or a pernicious conteft, in which retreat 
 would be lefs inglorious than victory, and victory is lefs 
 probable than overthrow, the confiderate part of your 
 fellow-citizens will be at a lofs to determine whether you 
 are moft to be condemned, for the infatuation of your 
 understandings, or for the perverfenefs of your difpofi- 
 tions. 
 
 You ftand, Gentlemen, upon a high and an open theatre, 
 where every action will be vigilantly noticed, and every 
 motive feverely fcrutinized. You have more to hope from 
 the ftern and folicitous juftice, than from the candour 
 or partiality of thofe, by whom you are obferved. You 
 have a very illuftrious, and, perhaps, a very difficult part 
 to perform. You are fummoned to a triumph, not merely 
 over the prepofleflions of your calumniators, but over the 
 excefles of your own paffions. You are to vindicate and 
 preferve your future reputation, by difproving the heavy 
 charges which have been alledged againft your pa/I beha- 
 viour. You are to meet acquittal or condemnation, from 
 a moft awful tribunal, the fentence of which has been hi- 
 therto fufpended, by uncertainty about what you have 
 done, and compajjlon for what you have fuffered. You are 
 to convince a generous, but a difcerning publick, that peace 
 
 is
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
 is equally dear to you with liberty, that you have wifdom 
 to concede, where conceflion is a duty, as well as firmrufs 
 not to relax, where relaxation were a crime, that the doc- 
 trinal peculiarities of Unitarianifm are perfectly compatible 
 'with the practical rules of chriftianity, and that while you 
 applaud the aufpicious changes in the French government, 
 you meditate no direct or indirect injury to your own. 
 
 Thefe plain but interefting confiderations, Gentlemen, 
 are prefented to your view by a man, who has rifqued, and 
 would again rifque, the imputation of ilngularity, of inde- 
 corum, and even apo/Jacy, by doing to you what is juft, and 
 by fpeaking of you what is true. Though he does not 
 profcis himfelf an advocate for many of your tenets, he 
 can, with fincerity, declare himfelf not an enemy to your 
 perfons. He knows only few among you, but he thinks 
 well of many. He refpe&s you for temperance and de- 
 cency in private life. For diligence in your employ- 
 ments, and punctuality in your engagements for oecono- 
 my without parfimony, and liberality without profufion 
 for the readinefs you fhew to relieve diftrefs and to en- 
 courage merit, with little or no diftindion of party for 
 the knowledge which many of you have acquired, by the 
 dedication of your leifure hours to intellectual improve- 
 ment, and for the regularity with which moft of you are 
 faid to attend religious worfhip. As to fome late deplora- 
 ble events, he believes^ that you have been mifreprefented 
 he knows that you have been wronged he deprecates 
 the continuance of that mifreprefentation, and he now 
 calls upon your judgments, upon your feelings, and upon 
 your confcienceS) to avert the repetition of thdfe wrongs. 
 
 Such, Gentlemen, is the general purpofe for which I 
 take the liberty of addrefllng you ; and in the fequel of 
 this pamphlet, you will find me ftate, without difguife, 
 and without acrimony, my ferious opinion upon the par- 
 ticular event which has induced me thus to ftand forward, 
 
 with
 
 with the zeal, but not the arrogance of a counfellor, and 
 with the fidelity, but not the blindnefs of a friend. 
 
 A report has for fome time been circulated in this 
 county, that you intend to commemorate the French Re- 
 volution upon the approaching I4th of July. Unwilling 
 I was to believe that report, becaufe I was unable to ac- 
 count for that intention. It feemed to me incredible, 
 that men, harraffed, as you have been, by oppreflion, and 
 loaded with obloquy, mould deliberately rum into danger 
 and difgrace, into danger which you cannot pum afide, 
 and difgrace, which, after fuch an, aftion hazarded at fucb 
 a criJtSj you would in vain endeavour to wipe away. For 
 a time, therefore, I difbelieved, and I refifted the report. 
 I fuppofed it to originate merely in conjeflures of what you 
 would do, arifing from mifapprehenfion of what you had al- 
 ready done. I afcribed the propagation of it to the bufy 
 and mifchievous activity of partisans, who are defirous of 
 alarming the ignorant, and of exafperating the prejudiced. 
 I caft it into the common ftock of thofe idle and flander- 
 ous rumours, which rife up, we know not where, and dif- 
 appear, we know not when. I gave you credit for com- 
 mon fenfe enough to perceive that fuch a meafure at fuch 
 a time was unfafe, and for common moderation enough to 
 feel that it was unbecoming. In other men I mould have 
 called that meafure criminal. In you^ Gentlemen, I thought 
 it impoffible. But if my furprife was great, when I firft re- 
 ceived the intelligence, how violent muft have been the 
 Ihock, how deep the concern I felt, upon difcovering, as 
 I lately have done, that it was too well founded? The 
 primitive chriftians, in confequence of their invincible 
 fortitude, were by fome of their antagonifts contemptu- 
 oufly named Biaeothanati, and by others they were bar- 
 baroufly ridiculed, as homines defperates et deplorata fac- 
 tions. But they were actuated by an indifputably good 
 fpirit in a caufe eminently good; in a caufe which imme- 
 diately concerned their duty and their falvationj in a 
 
 caufe,
 
 [ II ] 
 
 caufe, for the defence of which they were compelled to un- 
 dergo perfecution, though it does not appear that they 
 were authorifed to court it. But you, Gentlemen, appear 
 to me to be mewing exceflive hardinefs upon a fubjedt, in 
 which you are remotely and indirectly interefted. You feem 
 to provoke oppofition, without an adequate object. I con- 
 fider you as plunging into calamity, where you have not 
 the plea of difcharging a duty. I think, that for the 
 guilt and the mifery into which your enemies may be 
 hurried, the chief refponfibility muft now recoil upon 
 yourfelves. 
 
 Permit me, then, to expoflulate with you upon the 
 only arguments which you, probably, can produce for af- 
 ferting again your right to affemble, and at the fame time 
 to lay before you the reafons upon which I, without hefi- 
 tation and without apology, pronounce it your duty to re- 
 frain from the moft perilous exercife of that moJJ doubtful 
 right. 
 
 It may be faid, that you are not forbidden to meet 
 by the laws of the land, and therefore, that your meeting 
 is irreproachable. I admit the fact, but deny the con- 
 fequence. A good man, doubtlefs, will not do any thing 
 which the laws interdict. But will he therefore do every 
 thing which the laws have not interdicted ? Will he not 
 confider, that there is a fpirit^ as well as a letter, even in 
 human laws ? Will he, without difcrimination and with- 
 out restriction, infer the tacit approbation of perfons who 
 frame, or perfons who adminifler laws, from the mere 
 abfence of direcl and fpecijic prohibition ? Will he forget, 
 that an external action may fometimes be accompanied by 
 motives and effects, which, if the law-giver had forefeen 
 them, would have met with the moft pointed reproba- 
 tion ? Inftead of rejoicing that penalties are not inftituted 
 of fucb a kind as to become equally fnarss to the harmlefa 
 
 and
 
 and checks upon the froward, will he convert the caution 
 or the lenity of the law-giver into an occafeon of difturbing 
 that order, the prefervation of which is the fupreme and 
 avowed' object of law itfelf? Will he lofe fight of the ju- 
 dicious and temperate distinction which the Apoftle has 
 eftablimed between " things lawful and things not expe- 
 " dient ?" Will he not remember, that as a focial and a 
 moral being, he is under the controul of obligations more 
 powerful and more facred than the beft inftitutions of the 
 beft government ? If, indeed, we examine the aggregate 
 of thofe duties in which our virtue confifts, and of thofe 
 caufes by which our 'well-being is promoted, fmall is the 
 (hare, which muft be affigned to the efficacy of public re- 
 gulations enforced by the fanctions of public authority. 
 The foft manners of civilized life, the ufeful offices of 
 good neighbourhood, the fweet charities of domeftic rela- 
 tion, are all independent of human laws. Such are the opi- 
 nions which we hold, and have a right to propagate, upon 
 abftract queftions of politics. Such are the tenets we may 
 adopt, and are warranted to defend, upon the founda- 
 tions of virtue and the evidences of religion. Such are 
 our attachments or antipathies to public men ; fuch, our 
 approbation or difapprobation of public meafures. Such 
 are our fentiments upon the nice gradations of decorum 
 and propriety,- Such are our principles in eftimating the 
 mafs of merit or demerit, which determines the character 
 of individuals. Upon all thefe fubjects, human laws hold 
 out to us little light, they impofe upon us few reftraints, 
 and yet, upon right apprehenfions of thefe fubjects, and 
 upon the conformity of our actions to thofe apprehenfions, 
 depend our comfort, our reputation, our moft precious in- 
 terefts in this world, and our dearefl hopes in that which 
 is to come. 
 
 There is not any one action, and fcarcely is there any 
 one thought, affecting or tending to affect the happinefs of 
 mankind, upon which any one human being is entirely and 
 
 ftrictlv
 
 [ '3 ] 
 
 ftri&ly a law unto himfelf. There is a law of opinion, 
 which no good man will prefume to treat with irreverence, 
 becaufe every good man is anxious to avoid the contempt, 
 and to deferve the regard of his fellow-creatures. There 
 is a law of difcretion mingled with juftice, which every 
 good citizen is careful to obferve, left he fhould interrupt 
 the tranquility, or encroach upon the equitable rights of 
 his fellow-citizens There is a law of religion, which 
 forbids us to infult the errours, or even to wound the pre- 
 judices, of our fellow chriftians. 
 
 You, Gentlemen, underftand not lefs clearly than my- 
 felf, the exiftence of fuch laws: You will acknowledge 
 their importance, not lefs fincerely ; and you will admit 
 that the perverfe or wanton violation of them cannot be 
 
 extenuated before man cannot be juftified before Gcd, 
 
 by the plea yes, I muft call it, the futile and fallacious 
 plea, that we are ailing under circumftances, where human 
 wifdom is too dim, and human authority too feeble, to 
 controul our actions. 
 
 Here, then, a queftion arifes whether the meeting 
 which you intend to hold, does, or does not, fall under the 
 obligation of thofe laws which I have enumerated, and 
 the neglect or obfervance of which you muft yourfelves 
 confefs to have a permanent and a vifible influence, in 
 preferving or contaminating our innocence, in promoting 
 or impeding our happinefs, in entitling us to praife, or in 
 covering us with dishonour. Now, in my opinion, Gen- 
 tlemen, fuch a meeting is at variance with your duty as 
 prudent men, with your duty as peaceable citizens, and 
 with your duty as fmcere chriftians. 
 
 Many are the fituations in which prudence itfelf is not 
 only expedient, but obligatory ; and in the prefent ftate of 
 things, it is not the part of a prudent man for you to do 
 again, what you have already done, with fo much lofs of 
 
 your
 
 [ -4 ] 
 
 your property, and fo much danger to your perfons. It 
 is not the part of a peaceable citizen, to provoke again 
 thofe ferocious tempers, and thofe outrageous crimes, of 
 which you have yourfelves fo lately and fo largely experi- 
 enced the difmal confequences. It is not the part of a 
 fincere chriftian, to offend, without fome weighty reafon, 
 even his weaker brethren. Much lefs is it bis part to caft 
 upon the rafh and wild decifion of paflion, thofe fpecula- 
 tive queftions, which ought to be decided only by cool and 
 impartial reafon. Leajl of all is it his part, by an unne- 
 ceflary and unprofitable experiment, prattically to involve 
 thoujands in danger^ and ten thoufands in GUILT. 
 
 Well do you know, that, whether juftly or unjuftly, 
 fuch an affembly will immediately bring into review your 
 political and your religious notions, to the utmoft poffible 
 extent, and under the utmoft poflible difadvantages. 
 But in vain will you make profeflions of a general attach- 
 ment to the laws and conftitution of your country, when 
 for fo trifling an end, you venture upon fuch proceedings 
 as will induce other men to tranfgrefs thofe laws, and to 
 maintain that none of you are well affected to that confti- 
 tution. In vain will you infift upon your fincerity in the 
 belief of the gofpel, when you throw fnares and temptations 
 in the way of other men, many of whom believe it with 
 the fame firmnefs, and contemplate it with the fame re- 
 verence. 
 
 Be aflured, Gentlemen, that I have felt difguft, ra- 
 ther than conviction, difguft, I fay, from the reproaches, 
 rather than conviction from the arguments, of certain 
 perfons, who would opprefs you with the entire^ or even 
 the chief refponfibility for the events of the laft difaftrous 
 year. Unlikely it was that you fliould forefee all thofe 
 events in all their caufes, and all their aggravations. It was 
 unlikely, that you fliould fufpect certain machinations, 
 which are/0/V to have been formed againft you in diftant 
 
 quarters.
 
 [ '5 3 
 
 quarters. It was unlikely, that you fhould calculate by 
 your forefigbt, or even by your fears, what you have wit- 
 nefled by your fenfes ; I mean, the moft unexampled de- 
 gradation of the national character, the chriftian character, 
 and the human character. But the plea of ignorance can 
 be urged no longer. Experience has (hewn you, what 
 men are, under the tyranny of prejudice ; experience has 
 mewn you, what they can be in defiance of law; and 
 if that experience is loft upon your difcretion or your hu- 
 manity, every countenance will blufh for your folly, every 
 voice will be raifed againft your ramnefs, but for your 
 fiffirings, believe me, Gentlemen, for your fufferings, no 
 heart, however tender, will hereafter mourn. 
 
 You will fay, perhaps, that the oppofition to you 
 arifes from narrow prepofleffions, from bafe intrigues, 
 from calumnious reports. Be it fo. But if thefe evils 
 do really hover around you, it becomes alike your intereft 
 and your duty to deliberate calmly upon the moft proper 
 and the moft effectual methods of counteracting them. 
 If you are furrounded by numerous enemies, remember, I 
 befeech you, that refiftance is fruitlefs, and that retaliation 
 is vindictive. If you are watched by fecret ruffians, con- 
 fider, that their machinations will be defeated, while you 
 abftain from thofe meafures, which, upon a late occafion, 
 made them fuccefsful. If you are annoyed by venomous 
 flanderers, reflect, that by doing again, what you have 
 done before, you will furnifh new materials for new accu- 
 fations ; and that by doing it under new circumftances you 
 will throw around thofe accufations a more fpecious ap- 
 pearance, and give them a v/ider and a more fatal effect. 
 
 I mean, not, Gentlemen, to affirm or to deny, that th 
 evils of which you complain, are fo great as you reprefent 
 them. But if I am to fuppofe them to exift upon the 
 evidence of your own flatement, I infer from that very
 
 Jiatement)' tiis, very ftrongeft objections to your own in- 
 tended conduct. 
 
 In the town where you refide, there are many perfons, 
 \vhofe talents and.whofe virtues deferve your efteem, how- 
 ever widely they may diflent from you upon number- 
 lefs queftions, about which free enquirers into truth, and 
 the inhabitants of a free country, ever have differed, and 
 ever will differ. Thefe men do not liften with a willing 
 ear, when your reputations are rudely attacked. Their 
 bofoms are not callous, while they reflect upon thofe me- 
 lancholy fcenes, when your families were forced from their 
 homes, when your property was plundered, when your 
 houfes were confumed in a conflagration which deepened 
 the horrours of the nig ht, and drove back even the fplendour 
 of the fun in open day. But, if you meet again, the candid 
 doubts of thefe men, as to the intention of your former 
 meeting, will be fupplanted by indignant fufpicions, and 
 their pity for your former fufferings will be exchanged for 
 difguft and abhorrence. 
 
 I meddle not with the controverfy going on between 
 Dr. Prieftley and the clergy of your town, fo far as it relates 
 to thofe circumftances which preceded, or thofe which fol- 
 lowed the riots But thofe clergymen have profefled 
 openly and unanimoufly to lament the misfortunes which 
 befel you. They have condemned the tumultuous and 
 favage proceedings of a mifguided rabble. They have af- 
 ferted with firmnefs their own opinions, and with lince- 
 rity, I would hope, they have difclaimed all right of con- 
 troul over yours. To fome of them you are indebted for 
 well-intended exertions in the hour of diftrefs, and againft 
 none have you brought any accufations, for encouraging 
 the popular fury at that juntture^ when the aft of encou- 
 raging it would have been moft difgraceful, indeed, to 
 them, but mojl injurious to yourfehes. Individually, as you 
 
 well
 
 t '7 ] 
 
 well know, one of them is much refpe&ed for the depth of 
 his learning, another, for the elegance of his manners, a 
 third, for the cheerfulnefs of his temper, and a fourth, 
 for the liberality of his fpirit. In a collective point of 
 view, they are men who draw down no difgrace upon 
 their facred profeffion, either by the neglecl: of their cleri- 
 cal offices, or by flagrant indecorum, or by habitual vice. 
 Give them the credit, then, I befeech you, of having fome 
 regard for the honour of the church to which they be- 
 long, for the tranquility of the town in which they live, 
 for the fafety even of the congregations which they are not 
 employed to inftrucl:, and above all, let me add, for the 
 morals and the fouls of multitudes, who are committed to 
 their charge. 
 
 By fermons or controverfial writings, they have be- 
 reaved you, it will' be faid, eventually of thofe precepts 
 which you have been accuftomed to hear, and of that ex- 
 ample which you have been accuftomed to admire, in a 
 moft venerable preacher, for whom it is no longer fafe to 
 prefide over a flock, endeared to him by ancient habits of 
 familiarity, and connected with him by many perfonal, 
 many political, and many religious ties. Into the truth of 
 this allegation, it were invidious and impertinent for me 
 to enquire. But the fcriptures, you will confider, ftill lie 
 open to you. The houfe in which you did homage to 
 your Creator will foon be rebuilt. The fame freedom 
 which you formerly enjoyed in opinion and in worfhip, 
 is at this hour fecured to you, by the laws ; and though 
 you cannot again obtain the honour and advantage you 
 derived from fuch an inftru&or as Dr. Prieftley, your fe& 
 is hardly fo barren of excellence, as not to fupply you with 
 a fucceffbr, whofe talents, indeed, may be lefs flattering to 
 your honeft pride, but whofe labours will not be lefs meri- 
 torious in difcharging the duties of his clerical ftation, nor 
 lefs inftrumental in making all of you " wife unto fal- 
 vation." 
 
 B I mould
 
 I mould not think well of your fenfibility, if you were 
 indifferent to the lofs of fo excellent a preacher as Dr. 
 Prieftley. But I mall think very ill of your moderation, 
 if you make that lofs a pretext for perpetuating difputes, 
 which if my arguments or my prayers could prevail, would 
 fpeedily have an end. 
 
 Upon the theological difputes in which the Doctor has 
 been engaged w.th fome clergymen of your town, I for- 
 bear to give any opinion. Yet, while I difclaim all allufion 
 to local events, I will make you a conceffion which you 
 have my leave to apply to perfons of higher ranks as 
 eccleflaftics, and of greater celebrity as fcholars, than your 
 town can fupply that in too many inftances fuch modes 
 of defence have been ufed againft this formidable Herefiarch, 
 as would hardly be juftifiable in the fupport of revelation 
 itfelf, againft the arrogance of a Eolingbroke, the buf- 
 foonery of a Mandeville, and the levity of a Voltaire. But 
 the caufe of orthodoxy requires not fuch aids The 
 Church of England approves them not The fpirit of 
 chriftianity warrants them not. Let Dr. Prieftley, in- 
 deed, be confuted, where he is miftaken. Let him be 
 expofed, where he is fuperficial. Let him be reprefled, 
 where he is dogmatical. Let him be rebuked, where he 
 is cenforious. But let not his attainments be depreciated, 
 becaufe they are numerous almoft without a parallel. Let 
 not his talents be ridiculed, becaufe they are fuperlatively 
 great. Let not his morals be vilified, becaufe they are 
 correct without aufterity, and exemplary without often- 
 tation, becaufe they prefent even to common obfervers, 
 the innocence of a Hermit, and the fiinplicity of a Patri- 
 arch, and becaufe a philofophic eye will at once difcover 
 in them, the deep-fixtd root of virtuous principle, and the 
 folid trunk of virtuous habit. 
 
 If I miftake not the character of that excellent man, 
 whom I refpect in common with yourfelves, he would not 
 
 wifli
 
 [ '9 ] 
 
 wifh to fee you again plunged into mifchiefs, which can- 
 not again reach himfelf. Spare then his bluflies, and his 
 tears Give him the fatisfaction of knowing, that you 
 have proved to the world, the wholefome efficacy of his in- 
 ftructions, by your generofity in forgiving thofe who have 
 already been your enemies, and by your wifdom in not 
 offending thofe, who wifli to continue your friends. 
 
 About the effects of your intended meeting there can 
 be little doubt; nay I mould rather affirm* that there 
 can be no doubt, but that the effects will be far more tre- 
 mendous than the effects of your former meeting, and I 
 ground thefe pofitions, not only upon the general cha- 
 racters of men, but upon fome particular events, which 
 among yourfelves have been fubjects of complaint. 
 
 The age in which we live is diftinguimed not only for 
 an active and ufeful fpirit of enquiry, but by a faftidious 
 and fantaftic turn of mind, which fooths us into felf-ap- 
 probation while we deplore furrounding evils, and contem- 
 plate diftant good. I fay not that thefe illufions may not 
 fometimes prepare us for virtuous action, when opportu- 
 nities for acting exift. But I fear that in too many cafes, 
 the imagination is indulged, while the heart is not im- 
 proved. Upon topics relating to public as well as private 
 life, in ftudying fpeculative politics as well as in reading 
 fentimental novels, we are often the dupes of fecret vanity, 
 and applaud ourfelves for ideal or inactive philanthropy. 
 When no intereft is to be renounced, no paffion to be 
 curbed, no froward humour to be thwarted, we embrace 
 truth, wherefoever we find it, and in theory become the 
 warm and ftrenuous advocates of virtue. But in praElice^ 
 our exertions fall very mort of the rules we have pre- 
 fcribed to ourfelves and to our fellow-creatures, and though 
 we are really inverted with the power of doing good, we 
 either neglect to do it at all, or we are content to do it with 
 that reluctance and languor which we have been accuf- 
 
 B 2 tomed
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
 tomed to condemn in other men. Prepofleflions blind us 
 Antipathies harden us Paflion hurries us into faults, and 
 felf-delufion foon provides us with an excufe. Now, Gen- 
 tlemen, as many of your teachers are eminent for having 
 contributed to the general ftock of knowledge, and as you 
 are yourfelves diftinguifhed by an eagernefs to defend and 
 to propagate it, beware left the want of confiftency mould 
 lead men to charge upon you the want of fmcerity. 
 
 You and I muft often have looked with forrow upon 
 the fituation of the poor, pinched as they are by want, 
 expofed to delufion, mortified by neglect, irritated by op- 
 preflion, bewildered in the mazes of error, and involved in 
 the darknefs of ignorance. And is it a proof then, of your 
 compaffion for their miferies, or of your folicitude for 
 their improvement, that knowing the lower clafles of your 
 townfmen to be fllll under the dominion of the fame un- 
 happy prejudices, you will again provoke them to the 
 fame horrible exceffes ? I lament, Gentlemen, the unhappy 
 end of thofe wretches, who fuffered for the riots ; and can it 
 be your wim, that the dreadful feverity of the laws mould 
 be inflicted again ? The publick feems not perfectly fatisfied 
 with the acquittal of fome perfons, who, by means known 
 or unknown, honourable or dishonourable, were refcued 
 from punimment. But is it a mark of your reverence for 
 the laws, that you would again caufe them to be evaded, 
 and infulted by evafion ? Will Juries, think ye, be more 
 impartial between the profecutor and the prifoner ? Will 
 Judges be more favourable to the one? Will the Sove- 
 reign be more rigourous towards the other? Na No. 
 They will fee obftinacy hereafter, where they before might 
 only fee indifcretion. They will confidsr you as meeting 
 in defiance of common opinion as rifquing a great and 
 a certain evil^ for a very uncertain and a very trifling good j 
 as expofmg your houfes, your perfons, and your families, 
 without the impulfe of provocation, and without the pro- 
 fpecl: of advantage as calling forjujiice, upon thofe whom
 
 you have yourfelves precipitated into crimes as flaking the 
 pleafures of one afternoon's entertainment, or the exercife 
 of one petty right, againft WHAT ? againft laws which, 
 you know, will be tranfgrefled againft lives which, you 
 know, will be forfeited againft the credit of yourfelves, 
 and of others who may hold the fame political opinions 
 with yourfelves againft the counfel of the wife, the ar- 
 guments of the moderate, and the entreaties of the hu- 
 mane Againft the fafety of your houfes and your 
 children- againft the judgment and the quiet of your 
 neighbours ogalnjl the property and the perfws of all the 
 various inhabitants of a great and a profperous town. 
 
 Under fuch circumftances, Gentlemen, circumftances, 
 which you cannot but yourfelves forefee circumftances, 
 of which you, probably, have been informed by other 
 men circumftances, of which you are now moft folemnly 
 forewarned by me, What, let me afk you, can be your 
 claims upon the juflice or upon the companion of your 
 countrymen? In point of law, you may be entitled to pro- 
 tection and redrefs. But in point of common fenfe, you 
 ought to fee, that fuch protection will be re/uftant, and 
 that fuch redrefs will be fcanty. After a fecond meeting, 
 you will experience many galling mortifications from 
 which you hitherto have been free. Your caufe will no 
 longer be the caufe of men " who feek peace and enfue it." 
 Your fufferings will not be the fufferings of perfecuted 
 innocence. Your difhonour will be extenfive, it will be 
 lafting, it will be juft. 
 
 I befeech 'you, Gentlemen, when you read the fore- 
 going fentences, not to mifconceive the temper in which 
 they are written, not to confound the earneftnefs of re- 
 monftrance with the fiercenefs of accufation, not to turn 
 away from me as a declamatory prattler, nor tQ frown 
 upon me as a virulent calumniator, but to liften to me, I 
 had almojl faid, as a prophet, and I do fay, as a friend. 
 
 B 3 Your
 
 Your own good fenfe will, I am perfuaded, tell you, that 
 upon the circumftances of the agent muft often depend the 
 quality of the adion. And give me leave to obferve, that 
 the circumftances, in which you are placed, are fuch as 
 merit the moft ferious confederation from you, as indivi- 
 duals, as partizans, as fubjecls who owe obedience to your 
 government, and as citizens who wim for an enlargement 
 of your liberties. Look around, I conjure you, at the ftorm 
 which is gathering in every part of Europe at the dan- 
 gers which impend over the new conftitution of France, 
 and at the alarm which has fpread, and daily is fpreading 
 more and more, throughout the Britifti empire. The 
 tenets of Mr. Paine, moft of which I defpife as vulgar, and 
 deteft as feditious, are gaining ground among the ignorant 
 and difcontented. The fears of moderate, and fenfible men, 
 too, are awakened by thofe opinions. The indignation of 
 good men is ftirred up againft them The wifdom of par- 
 liament has unanimously pronounced a fentence of repro^ 
 bation upon their principles. The vigilance of govern- 
 ment is pointed, and its Jlre ngtb, too, I hope, is armed 
 againft their poflible effedts. Surely, then, I need not 
 expatiate upon the probability that your meeting will, by 
 many well-meaning and well-informed men, be aflbciated 
 with the very tenets which Mr. Paine is endeavouring to 
 propagate ; and if this be the cafe, the publick voice may 
 pronounce a late parliamentary decifion very juft, though, 
 in the eftimation of many intelligent individuals, it is now 
 confidered as harm. If you perfift in your refolution to 
 aflemble, what you may reasonably hope, will be refufed to 
 you in confequence of the apprehenfions which will be en- 
 tertained of what you moft unreafonably meditate. Perilous 
 it will be thought to grant, and fruitlefs even to difcufs, that 
 which you openly claim, while you raife up againft your- 
 felves a fwarm of fufpicions, about that which you fecretly 
 inten^ If therefore, you really wim to be relieved from the 
 preffure of thofe rigorous acts which hang over the heads 
 of Unitarians, do not frighten benevolent and loyal men 
 
 from
 
 C 3 ] 
 
 from becoming your advocates. Do not fuffer your reli- 
 gious tenets to be confounded with the feeming tendency 
 of your political opinions united with your political ac- 
 tions. Do not furnim a triumph to thofe, who have hi- 
 therto infulted you, perhaps, without a caufe, and cenfured 
 you without a proof. The juftice of your claims, depend 
 upon it, will at this moment be meafured by the violence, 
 or the calmnefs of your proceedings: And from your 
 meeting, after what you have experienced, it will be in- 
 ferred, that inftead of meaning folely to celebrate the 
 French Revolution, you are not unwilling to encourage 
 fuch notions, and to excite fuch diforders, as eventually 
 may accelerate a Revolution among ourfelves. Far, very 
 far, be it from me *o charge you with fuch an intention ; 
 and far, alfo, be it from me to flight the terrours, or to 
 condemn the indignation of other men, whom your future 
 conduct after the events of laft year, and during the ap- 
 pearances of the prefent, may induce to load you with fuch 
 an imputation. If, therefore, you are friends to order, as I 
 believe, you are, endeavour to preferve it. If you are ene- 
 mies to exceffive innovations, abftain from the very ap- 
 pearance of promoting them. If you wim for the favour 
 of government, and the approbation of your fellow- citi- 
 zens, let not a dinner, or the right of eating a dinner, 
 upon a certain day, or in a certain place, be thought too 
 confiderable a facrifice for the attainment of thefe fubftan- 
 tial and permanent advantages. Gentlemen, for peculiar 
 and obvious reafons, you cannot avail yourfelves of a plea 
 which fome men have urged in your favour. I will lay it 
 before you, and then I will tell you why you cannot avail 
 yourfelves of it. If other men dine, as they probably will 
 in other places to commemorate the French Revolution, 
 why may not you do the fame thing with the fame im- 
 punity ? Confider, I entreat you, the motto which is pre- 
 fixed to this pamphlet In appearance non diflimilis res eft; 
 I grant it to be fo But then the circumftances of him 
 muft be taken into the account. There is not, if 
 
 I may
 
 I may believe your own reprefentations, fo ftrong a fpirlt 
 of intolerance in many other places, as for fome time paft 
 has reigned at Birmingham. There have not been riots 
 in other places, as there have been at Birmingham. There 
 have not been civil profecutions, an4 criminal profecutions 
 in other places, as there have been in this county againft 
 the inhabitants of Birmingham. The fame fufpicions 
 are not entertained of other men in other places, as are en- 
 tertained of you at Birmingham. The fame reftraints do 
 not exift upon the difpofition of other men to hold a fe- 
 cond meeting in other places, which now do exift at Bir- 
 mingham. My wiflies are, that no fuch meetings may 
 be holden in any place, becaufe they are ufelefs to the re- 
 formers of France, and offenfive to many worthy men at 
 home. But with whatever propriety and whatever effect 
 they may be holden in other places, the action is not the 
 fame in your town, becaufe, as I have told you, the fitu- 
 ation of the agents is not the fame. 
 
 When the folly or the wifdom of man has arbitrarily 
 connected certain ftgns with certain overt-ads, they who 
 know, as you do, the connection between the fign and the 
 thing fignified, will in vain attempt to fever them by the 
 fubtilties of difcrimination, or the confidence of denial. 
 I fee no necejfcry union between the tenets of Unita- 
 rianifm and very enlarged notions of political liberty. 
 But the/atf is, that both are to be found in the fame men, 
 and when the paffions of ignorant perfons are once in- 
 flamed, their imagination will pafs by a rapid tranfition 
 from one to the other, and the odium which is caft upon 
 your religion, will rebound upon your politics. In a ge- 
 neral way of ftatement, I fliould not at firft have a doubt, 
 why they who aflembled together quietly and parted foon 
 laft year, fliould not do the fame in the prefent year : and I 
 am perfuaded, that it is your inclination to do the fame But 
 the prejudices and the apprehenfions of your neighbours, 
 not permit you to do fo, and becaufe you are all per- 
 
 feaiy
 
 feclly fenfible of the terrible effe&s which muft arife from 
 fuch prejudices and apprehenfions, my cool and fettled 
 judgment is, that you are refponftble for fuch effefts. You, 
 perhaps, will plead, that you did no harm and meant no 
 harm but there will be numbers ready to reply, that 
 trifling a&ions have and are intended to have momentous 
 effe&s, that he who defaced the Emperor's ftatue, was juftly 
 punifhed, becaufe he meant an indirect indignity to the 
 Emperor himfelf, that fo much ardour, and fo much per- 
 feverance would not be (hewn in commemorating the 
 French Revolution, if they were not mingled with fecret 
 wifhes for fimilar events in a nearer quarter. Gentlemen, 
 I would not inlinuate, that you have fuch wifhes - 1 be- 
 lieve that all or the greater part of you never harboured 
 them for one moment But they who live in your neigh- 
 bourhood, and who will fit in judgment upon your mea- 
 fures, may not deliver a fentence quite fo favourable as my 
 own ; and where you have fo little chance of juftice, why will 
 you expofe yourfelves to flagrant and inevitable inuftice ? 
 
 What, I befeech you, can be the end you propofe to 
 yourfelves in this entertainment ? To indulge in revelry 
 and intemperance cannot be the end, for your chara&ers 
 are marked by the oppofite virtues of fobriety and regu- 
 larity. It cannot be to proclaim your fentiments about 
 the Revolution in France, for they are already known, 
 and already reprobated, too, by thofe to whom they are 
 imperfectly known. It cannot be to multiply converts, 
 for converfion is rarely efre&ed by the unpopular meetings 
 of unpopular men. It cannot be to affert your freedom 
 of thinking upon a fubjeft, where for better purpofes than 
 meeting at a dinner you are already free. Study, if you 
 pleafe, the French Revolution in your clofets, difcufs the 
 principles and the detail of it in your converfation, explain 
 them when mifconceived, defend them when mifrepre- 
 fented. Celebrate, if you pleafe, the glorious defiru&ion of 
 the Baftile in your own private houfes pour forth your 
 
 praifes
 
 [ = 6 J 
 
 praifes upon the framers and the fupporters of the French 
 government Lift up your prayers to heaven for the final 
 fuccefs of the French arms All this, Gentlemen, will be 
 allowed to you, not only by the laws of the land, but by 
 the laws of opinion. No peaceable man will, for this, 
 condemn you. In this, many enlightened men will fympa- 
 thize with you. But if you have fo little regard for the 
 loyal fentiments, or even the rooted prejudices of your 
 neighbours, fo little feeling about your own perfonal fe- 
 curity, fo little refpecl for the general approbation of your 
 countrymen, fo little caution in the critical ftate of your 
 country itfelf, as in defiance of reproach and in defiance of 
 perfecution, to aflemble again ; where is the man of vir- 
 tue, who can approve of your caufe, or where the man of 
 wifdom, who can be fatisfied with your excufe ? 
 
 It may be fuggefted, that for not aflembling, as you 
 meant to do, you will be charged with daftardly fub- 
 miflion. But by whom-. Gentlemen, will this charge be 
 alledged ? Sure I am that it never will proceed from men, 
 of found wifdom, and of pure honour, to whofe fentence 
 it becomes you to make your fifji and your loft appeal. 
 From whom then will it proceed ? From filly men whom 
 you ought to defpife, from impetuous men whom you 
 ought only to pity and to reftrain, or from factious men 
 whom you ought not to imitate. But what, after all, do 
 we difcover in this term fubmljjion^ which feems to delude 
 and to fcare fo large a part of mankind ? One being, in- 
 deed there is, whom a poet of your own country has thus 
 defcribed in language moft luminous and moft fublime. 
 
 " Is there no place for pardon left ? 
 " None left but by fubmiflion, and that word 
 " Difdain forbids me, and the dread of fhame 
 " Among the fpirits beneath, whom I feduced 
 " With other promifes and ether vaunts 
 Than to fubmit." 
 
 True
 
 [ 7 ] . 
 
 True it is of too many reafonable creatures, and too 
 many nominal chriftians, that even they are fometimes 
 driven onward to perdition and to infamy, by this infernal 
 fpirit of falfe pride, falfe courage, and imaginary fidelity to 
 a bad or a doubtful caufe. But God forbid that I mould 
 impute to you fuch a fpirit, or difcover in you even the 
 flighted veftiges of fuch a fpirit. I cannot fufpecl: you of 
 fuch fatuity, as to be pledged for holding a fecond a#em- 
 bJy I will not accufe you of fuch phrenzy as to redeem 
 your pledge, by the lofs of your reputation, or by the 
 hazard of your exiftence. To whom, ahb, Gentlemen, is 
 this tribute to be now paid by yourfelves ? Grant that it 
 were, to a violent rabble whom you can neither appeafe 
 nor refift fubmiflion would be an at of confummate 
 prudence. Suppofe that it were to the exceflive, but I will 
 not add the dimoneft prejudices of enemies and tories 
 fubmiflion would then approach to the dignity of virtue. 
 But if it were, as in reality it /V, to be paid to the 
 wifhes of your friends, to the fafety of your relations, to 
 the good order of your town, and to the general tran- 
 quillity of your country, Then, doubtlefs, fubmiflion rifes 
 into a real virtue, into a virtue of the firft magnitude, into 
 a virtue of the brighteft fplendour. Its nature cannot be 
 mifunderftood its motive cannot be traduced it will be 
 imputed to magnanimity, it will be crowned with praife. 
 Farther let me afk, what is the facrifice that you are 
 making by fuch fubmiflion? Is it any political opinion ? 
 No. Is it any religious tenet ? No. Is it any fecular in- 
 tereft ? No. It is a dinner, Gentlemen, it is only a dinner, 
 and when I reflect upon the trifle it is in itfelf, or upon 
 the applaufe you will gain by renouncing it, or upon the 
 danger you will incur by contending for it, I will not offer 
 fuch an indignity to your good fenfe, as to prefs this part 
 of the fubjecl: with one word more of illuftration or re- 
 monftrancg. 
 
 Gentlemen,
 
 Gentlemen, in the intention of your friends, and in the 
 conduit of your enemies, you will find precedents, fuch as 
 will juftify the reUnqulJhment of your purpofe, or I mould 
 rather fay, examples, fuch as will exclude your perfeverance 
 in it from juftification, 
 
 If I am to believe Mr. Dadley, feveral refpeclable Dif- 
 fenters laft year were difpofed to give up their meeting, 
 left the town mould be difturbed. If I am to believe 
 your clergy, the propofal for aflembling at a publick din- 
 ner in oppofttion to yours, was abandoned at the fame 
 critical time for the fame weighty reafon. But if fome 
 of your friends, and fome of your foes mewed fo much 
 attention to the quiet of your town, when the temper 
 of the common people was known imperfectly, and by 
 mere conjetture^ it is incumbent upon j-sw, to (hew more at- 
 tention to the prefervation of that quiet, when the violence 
 of that temper is known to you completely and by me- 
 lancholy experience. If the Church and King party then 
 underftood their real dignity, and preferved it by receding 
 from an ideal, or an imperfect right, let it not be faid of 
 the DhTenters, that with fuch an inftru&ive example be- 
 fore them, they now infult the very perfons by whom 
 they were not themfelves infulted that they are more 
 defirous to incur the cenfure, than to merit the approba- 
 tion even of their oponents that they miftake contu- 
 macy for firmnefs, and ramnefs for heroifm. If church- 
 men (hrunk from the guilt of hurting a party, let Diflen- 
 ters ftiudder at the greater guilt of embroiling a nation ! 
 
 There is, I confefs, one plaufible argument which hi- 
 therto has been untouched. I will ftate it for you ftrongly, 
 and fairly I will anfwer it. They, whom you fuppofe, 
 whether juftly or unjuftly, to be your enemies, have infti- 
 tuted a fociety under the appellation of the Church and King 
 club, and the tendency, you fay, of that fociety is to en- 
 creafe and to perpetuate the odium which has been excited 
 
 againft
 
 againft you. Gentlemen, 1 fee little in the tendency of that 
 fociety which as a fiiend to the quiet of my neighbourhood, 
 or to the civil and ecclefiaftical conftitution of this land, I 
 can reafonably commend. But I alfo fee nothing in the pro- 
 ceedings or the profeflions of that fociety, which can poffibly 
 juftify you for meeting upon the fourteenth of July. Let me 
 again remind you of my motto. They afTemble, and you 
 afiemble. But the perfons aflembling are different, and 
 though it may be faid with truth, that while their purpofe 
 is to fupport government, yours is not to weaken it, Stilly 
 Gentlemen, there are many circumftances which will lead 
 to very different conft ructions, of aflemblies which in ap- 
 pearance, and in appearance only, are the fame. You meet 
 to celebrate the French revolution, which they certainly do 
 not. They meet, perhaps, to difcourage an Englifh revo- 
 lution, which as certainly you do not. Their caufe is popu- 
 lar in the town, and yours is not. A precedent, then, their 
 aflembly cannot be called for yours, and I am e'qually at a 
 lofs to difcover, how it Ihould be *.j unification. 
 
 Were I to grant you that they meet very often, and 
 were I ex hypotbefi, to grant yet farther, that the fpirit with 
 which they meet is not very friendly to you, I am ftill un- 
 able to find in their conduct an apology for yours. The 
 majority of the town, in all probability, views their meeting 
 with a favourable eye But the minority have nothing to 
 fear from it, while their own behaviour is circumfpeft and 
 temperate. Many perfons may be unwilling to believe that 
 a fyftem of unrelenting oppofition is intended to be carried 
 on againft the DifTenters. Nay I am myfelf difpofed to hope, 
 that not one member of that club, can feriouJJy wim to fee 
 your perfons again in danger, or your houfes in flames. 
 But whatever may be their intention, and whatever their 
 wiflies, ftill it is in your power to counteract them by re- 
 fraining from that perilous meafure, which it is the purpofe 
 of this addrefs to reprobate and to prevent. By forbearing 
 to meet only for one day, upon your own parts, you may 
 
 defeat
 
 [ 3 J 
 
 defeat the collective ftratagems, and the collected malignity 
 of many meetings upon theirs. This obfervation I ground 
 even upon your own ftatement, for be it remembered, that 
 it is you, not myfelf, who accufe them of fuch ftratagems 
 and fuch malignity. If they are innocent, I congratulate 
 them. But if they are guilty, I (hall not acquit you, be- 
 caufe the proof of that guilt muft be accompanied by cir- 
 cumftances which may equally tend to difgrace both you 
 and them. They, Gentlemen, even if they have not a 
 better c atife, may bring forward a ftronger plea. They may 
 contend, that the fpirit which they have long obferved and 
 long refifted in you, is not yet fubdued, that it rifes fuperior 
 to difficulty and danger, that it challenges, inftead of (hun- 
 ning perfecution, that it has incited oppofition by paft ap- 
 pearances, and that by realities avowed at the prefent hour, 
 fuch oppofition is amply and notorioufly juftified. Whe- 
 ther or no, I mould myfelf admit, either the fincerity or the 
 validity of this reafon, is of no confequence It is fufficient 
 for my purpofe that they are likely to employ it, and that 
 you may not be able entirely to refute it. 
 
 Reflect, then, I intreat you, upon the aggravated mif- 
 chiefs which muft flow from the meafure you are faid to 
 intend, and confider that you become yourfelves ftri&ly 
 and immediately anfwerable for the whole extent of thofe 
 mifchiefs, if you diftinftly forefee them, and forefeeing 
 them are unalterably determined to provoke them. 
 There are fituations in which events become fo probable, 
 as to carry with them all the evidences, and to draw after 
 them all the moral obligations of practical certainty. There 
 are caufes, which, however trifling or harmlefs in the com- 
 mon courfe of the world, may from temporary or local 
 circumftances be pregnant with the moft baneful effe&s. 
 But when thofe effects may be juftly apprehended, they 
 cannot be innocently hazarded. The club of which you 
 complain, may have been at the expence of much trouble 
 in collecting the gunpowder, and of much contrivance in 
 
 laying
 
 [ 31 ] 
 
 laying the train. But it is you, Gentlemen, who apply the 
 fire to it-, and upon whom the explofion may fall, Oh! 
 confider this ! upon whom the explofion may fall^ can be 
 known only to that Being who "feeth events afar off". 
 
 If fenfelefs prepofleffions or mercilefs animofities ftill 
 prevail among you, can it be fuppofed that a meeting on 
 the fourteenth of July will either correct the one, or af- 
 fuage the other? No. But by forbearing to aflemble, 
 you will at leaft hold out to the publick a bright and un- 
 equivocal proof, that prejudices and animofities ought from 
 henceforth to fubfide. 
 
 It is chiefly from your own reprefentation of your 
 own caufe, that I infer ttie certainty and the greatnefs 
 of your own danger. If too many offenders were ac- 
 quitted upon trial, or too few were punimed after con- 
 demnation, the terrours of the law are diminimed among 
 the lower claiTes of the community. If the damages al- 
 lowed you upon your late profecutions, were too little, you 
 muft in future look even for lefs; They who attacked you 
 before, will, certainly, not be intimidated ffom attacking 
 you now. They who hated you upon the bare fufpicion of a 
 turbulent temper or of an unbecoming behaviour, will not 
 ceafe to hate you, after proceedings which, in their judg- 
 ments, will conftitute a decifive/>ra/"both of the one and 
 of the other. 
 
 Since the late riots, there has been little appearance 
 of actual reconciliation, or indeed of the flighteft difpofi- 
 tions in any of the contending parties to be reconciled. 
 After the lapfe of many months, we have heard only of 
 crimination and recrimination, of what you intended to do, 
 and what your enemies have done, of juftice, which, as you 
 fay, has been imperfectly difpenfed to you, and which, 
 as others fay, has been difpenfed even beyond your deferts. 
 Thefe different ftatements affeft differently the publick 
 
 mind.
 
 [ 3* ] 
 
 mind. But however divided that publick may be upon 
 paft events, it will have one judgment, one feeling and one 
 voice, if in contempt of the very pla inert and very worft 
 confequences, you do again, what I believe you to have 
 done before, without any fenfe of guilt, without any in- 
 tention of committing injury, and without any certain 
 profpect of being injured. A fecond meeting will avert 
 from you the good opinion, and the good wifhes of thofe 
 who difdained to join in the clamours that were raifed 
 againft your firft, and this confederation alone you ought not 
 to negle6L Even if a riot fhould not happen to fweep away 
 your property, ftill your reputation will be ftigmatized on 
 account of fuch fteps as tend to provoke a riot. 
 
 There are many perfons who believe the caufes of the 
 late riots to be very deep : many, who have wondered at 
 your vehemence in complaint, when compared with your 
 fupinwefs in aflion : many, who have been taught to fuppofe 
 you in pofleffion of ftubborn proofs againft perfons ge- 
 nerally unknown or generally unfufpe&ed ; many who 
 feel a ftrong mixture of amazement and fcorn, that thofe 
 boafted proofs have not been brought into open day, for 
 the fatisfa&ion of the doubtful, the confutation of the 
 malevolent, and the conviction of the guilty. The fxp- 
 prejjion of thefe proofs, if fuch they be, impartial men are 
 at a lofs to reconcile to the known motives and the 
 known tenour of human conduft. They cannot reconcile 
 it to your declarations of having obtained evidence, and to 
 your menaces of inflicting puniftiment. They cannot 
 reconcile it to the reliance you are reported to have 
 upon the protection and the advice of adminiftration, or to 
 the confidence you profefs to feel in the juftice of your 
 caufe. But if you perfift in fheltering thofe whom you 
 have already accufed, and then proceed to irritate thofe 
 whom you may accufe hereafter, moft difficult will it be for 
 you to explain thefe feeming inconfiftencies upon any re- 
 ceived principles of upright intention. The unprejudiced 
 
 obferver
 
 t 33 ] 
 
 obferver will be confounded and offended at fo much ob- 
 fcurity combined with fo much precipitation. The airy 
 witling will exclaim, that however you may rejecl myfte- 
 ries in matters of faith, you retain them in matters of 
 practice. Gentlemen, you will excufe me for expoftu- 
 lating; with fo much freedom. Often have I condemned 
 the violence of your perfecutors, and the afperity ofi your 
 
 accufers 1 have lamented, almoft as often, a want 
 
 of opennefs or a want of firmnefs* in fome refpeclable 
 perfons among yourfelves. But if you venture to rufh 
 upon new dangers, inftead of overwhelming with difgrace 
 the real and fecret authors of your paft fufferings, I muft 
 think your temerity greater than your fortitude I muft, 
 in refpe to the ftrength of your charges, fubftitute diftruft 
 
 for belief In regard to the motives of your conduct, 
 
 I muft exchange apology for condemnation. 
 
 The foregoing confiderations I chiefly addrefs to your 
 prudence. But there yet remain other and weightier mat- 
 ters, which I muft hold up, at once, to your prudence, and 
 to your conference. Let me then entreat, that you would 
 ferioujly throw back your attention upon what is paft, and 
 that with equal ferioufnefs, you would confider what is 
 about to come. 
 
 In the paft you have feen your furniture plundered 
 your papers rifled your houfes deftroyed, by an unthink- 
 
 * Some obfervations in this paragraph are in part obviated by the 
 judicious, though ineffectual, attempt which Mr. Whitbread has lately 
 made to bring the. fubjeft of the riots before the legiflature. But the 
 very application of the Diffenters for redrefs of paft injuries, con- 
 ftitutes, furely an additional and a moft powerful reafon for their future 
 circumfpeclion. It will appear to many perfons, a trick upon the 
 juftice, and an affront to the authority of parliament, for men to afk 
 for protection, at the 'very moment in which they are hurrying to the 
 precipice of deftruction unneceffarily, voluntarily, and, therefore, 
 criminally. Though parliament, may have been wrong in refuting 
 an enquiry, the Diffenters at Birmingham cannot be right in adopting 
 fuch meafures as muft prevent that enquiry from being refumed with 
 propriety, and purfued with fucceis . 
 
 C ing
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 ing and an unfeeling multitude. But the evils to come, I 
 fay it again, the evils to come will be more numerous in, their 
 immediate, and more baneful in their ultimate confe- 
 quences. The unruly paffions of the contending parties 
 have been inflamed by many diftant, and by fome recent 
 events. The blood of thofe who have perifhed, in what 
 the vulgar think a righteous caufe, will, from the vulgar, call 
 aloud for expiation. The mifchiefs which burft out fud- 
 denly, and raged wildly, in a former year, will in the prefent 
 year be arrayed with circumftances of hideous preparation. 
 Among ycurfelves, probably, difmay will not, again, chain 
 down refeniment. Among your enemies, frefh and greater 
 provocations will be followed up by frefti and greater out- 
 rages Violence will be repelled by violence.. ..Life will 
 be flaked againft life The fire which falls upon your own 
 houfes, wiil fpread to the houfes of your offending and 
 unoffending townfmen. The havock which breaks out 
 in one town, willy in one or two days, pour its fury through 
 the whole neighbourhood What moots up a tumult in 
 one county, may in one month, or even in one week, 
 grow into a REBELLION through a whole Jdngdom. 
 
 Be not in hafte, Gentlemen, to impute thefe repre- 
 fentations to the colouring of a heated imagination, rather 
 than to the dictates of fober reafon. More worthy would 
 it be of your understandings to reflect upon the proba- 
 bility, and magnitude of the difafters which I have de- 
 cribed; and more would it redound to the praife of your 
 moderation to avoid all mare in the guilt of fuch meafures, 
 as unquestionably are likely to produce fuch difafters. 
 
 It is the common refuge of detected folly, or difap- 
 pointed obftinacy to fay that men firft predift evils, becaufe 
 they wifh them to come to pafs, and then caufe them to 
 conriw to pafs, by the alarm which accompanies prediction. 
 But for my part, Gentlemen, I difdain to meet fuch trite and 
 contemptible fophiury, with the folemnity of denial, or the 
 
 formalities
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
 formalities of refutation. It is condefcenfion enough, 
 and more than enough, to notice an objection, which the 
 weakeft man among you is incapable of believing, and 
 which the hardieft man among you would be unwilling 
 to utter concerning myfelf. Whether I were to publiih 
 or to fupprefs thefe well-meant fuggeftions, the loyaMs at 
 Birmingham will be difpleafed at your meeting, the rabble 
 will be incenfed at your meeting, and the foldiers might 
 catch the general contagion. By fuppreffing my pam- 
 phlet, I might leave you to indulge the delufive hope of 
 efcaping oppofition, or of quelling it. But by publiihiug 
 that pamphlet, I may awaken in you the wife and virtuous 
 refolution of not deserving to be oppofed. Aniidit the re- 
 ports, then, which I hear of your defign, and the proipecT: 
 which I have of your danger, I cannot hefitate for one mo- 
 ment between the two alternatives. Expoftulation, at the 
 worft, were only a weaknefs, but filence muft be a crime. 
 
 You will believe me not very indifferent about the fub- 
 jecT: upon which I addrefs you, when I fay that the inten- 
 tion of writing this pamphlet was formed on Sunday night 
 laft, in confequence of fome intelligence which then reached 
 me, and that the act of writing it was begun and rimmed 
 in the courfe of the next day. But after beftowing upon 
 the contents two revifals, I found very little which it was 
 then of importance for me to add to the preceding parts 
 of this addrefs, and nothing which it was neceflary for me 
 to omit, or even to foften. I, therefore, without farther 
 delay fent the manufcript to prefs ; for as the matter was 
 fo intelligible and fo interesting, I would not affront your 
 
 understandings by lavifhing decoration upon the ftile. 
 
 Sufpe& me not of any intention, to alter or to ftifle your 
 opinions about the French revolution. Many parts of that 
 revolution I myfelf approve, after calm and ferious exami- 
 nation. But no one part of it would I eagerly adopt as a 
 model for imitation in this country. To me it feems fafe 
 and wife to wait for thofe gradual changes, which the fpirit 
 of freedom, enlightened as it muft be by French experi- 
 ments.
 
 ments, whether they be immediately fuccefsful, or fruitlefs, 
 and invigorated as it will be by French arms, whether 
 they be victorious or defeated, will moft afluredly produce 
 in the temper of every government, and in the judgment 
 of every people. 
 
 Within a few days after this book had been com- 
 mitted to the prefs, fome events burft forth, which ought, 
 I am fure, to drive you from your prefent purpofe, 
 and to encreafe your future circumfpection. The pre- 
 caution of reading the riot act, which moft unpardonably 
 was not taken to protect your houfes of worfhip and your 
 dwelling houfes, has been taken very feafonably for the 
 protection of Brothel Houfes. The military force which 
 in confequence of proper information given in proper time 
 to proper perfons, ought to have been on the fpot to pre- 
 vent the riots in July, 1791, fortunately was at hand to 
 fupprefs the riots of May, 1792. But whether the magif- 
 trates would be equally active, or the foldiers equally zea- 
 lous, in defending you from confequences which you cer- 
 tainly muft have forefeen, and eafily might have avoided, 
 are points, upon which your doubts, probably, are gloomier 
 than my own. And can you then, conceive a fituation 
 more humiliating, than that in the hour of diftrefs, con- 
 fcientious Unitarians mould be thought lefs worthy of fuc- 
 cour than the fliamelefs proftitute, the defperate bully, and 
 the execrable procurefs? 
 
 Narrow muft have been the forefight, and rooted muft 
 have been the prejudices of thofe perfons who could either 
 think with indifference, or talk with exultation of the dif- 
 turbances by which, in the courfe of laft year, the national 
 police and the national character were alike difgraced. For 
 reafons which at once excite the compaflion of the benevo- 
 lent, and call for the vigilance of the powerful, the lower 
 clafles of every community, are in every age, too prone to 
 violence. Permitted I muft be to add, with my ufual 
 opennefs, though without any intentional rudenefs to you 
 
 or
 
 [ 37 1 
 
 or to your opponents, that in Birmingham there are 
 many phyfical and moral, many latent and prominent, 
 many inveterate and recent caufes by which the paflions 
 of your inferiors are become more ferocious than in other 
 towns of equal or fuperior magnitude. To men of ferious 
 and impartial obfervation it is unnecefiary for^me to point 
 out thofe caufes, and to the fuperficial or the captious 
 they would be pointed out in vain Intenfe labour fuc- 
 ceeded by frequent and fyftematic intervals of idlenefs and 
 
 intemperance Political animofities in thofe who have 
 
 not even a glimmering of political knowledge Religious 
 antipathies among thofe who attend not religious worfhip 
 Inflammatory pamphlets and corrupt examples The 
 expectation of that impunity which has already been 
 obtained for Rioters The idea of merit to Government 
 ftrangely afibciated with the commiffion of crimes againft 
 law Thefe, Gentlemen, are circumftances which pecu- 
 liarly diftinguifh the condition of your common people 
 which loudly demand fuch exertions as, I truft, will here- 
 after be made by their fpiritual inftru&ors and which 
 more efpecially require fuch caution, delicacy, and mode- 
 ration, as, I hope, will not be neglected by yourfelves. 
 In alluding to thefe circumftances, I mean not to infult 
 the poor Many a tear have I fhed for their forrows, and 
 many a plea have I framed for their faults Rather would 
 
 I preferve their innocence, than deftroy their lives 1 
 
 would rather fee them enlightened and foftened by the 
 law of God, than fcourged and crumed by the laws of man 
 My compaffion is due to the poor, but my indignation 
 is referved for thofe wretches by whom the poor are de- 
 luded or inflamed. 
 
 It is a trite maxim, that the mafs of the people, how- 
 ever weakly they may reafon, ^are capable of feeling juftly. 
 But the misfortune is, that when they have proceeded to 
 act, they feldom continue to feel, or that their feelings are 
 at once exceffive in degree, and criminal in kind. Hence 
 in the fupport of a favourite caufe, no enquiry is made 
 
 about
 
 about the point where right terminates, ami wrong begins. 
 Humanity is then extinguifhed by zeal, and zeal is alike 
 encreafed by triumph and by defeat. After our habitual 
 reverence for the rights of individuals and the laws of a 
 country is overcome by temporary circumfhnces, and the 
 fpirit of mifrule has once burft its bonds, every flight ru- 
 mour, every fudden mifconception, every allurement from- 
 immediate advantage, every provocation from feeming hof- 
 tility, will be fufficient to change its direction, without 
 diminifhing its vigour. The paflions of the multitude are 
 fickle as well as impetuous ; or if exempt, in fome parti- 
 cular cafes, from ficklenefs, they become more untame- 
 able from ftubbornnefs. 
 
 That fury which a great provocation has lately turned 
 againft the corrupters of good morals, may by a lefs provoca- 
 tion^ be pointed with yet greater violence againft the fol- 
 lowers of an unpopular religion, and before its ftrength is 
 fpent in the extirpation of Diflenters, it may fuddenly be 
 hurried by the luft of rapine, or even by the mere wanton- 
 nefs of fuccefs, into outrage againft Churchmen. All parties, 
 therefore, and all feels, are Equally interefted in difcouraging 
 this propenfity to riot, by perfuafion, in repreffing it by re- 
 fiftance, and in averting it by an inoffenfive, temperate, and 
 amicable behaviour. Uncandid it were, indeed, to fuppofe 
 that Churchmen will not be roufed by a fenfe of danger to 
 a fenfe of duty. It were equally uncharitable to believe, that 
 finding the fame turbulent difpofition ftill raging among the 
 fame mifguided populace, Diflenters will fhew themfelves 
 infenfible to every danger, and regardlefs of every duty. The 
 cry of Church and King has, you know, been lately heard 
 in broken and indiftin& murmurs, and if you meet again 
 to commemorate the French revolution, that cry will again 
 thunder in your ears, when the ftorm of public indignation 
 is collected to one point, and when they upon whom it falls 
 with the fureft aim and with the greateft force, will be left 
 to perifh without refuge and without hope. 
 
 It
 
 [ 39 3 
 
 It is for you, Gentlemen, and not for myfelf, to reap 
 either honour or advantage from the relinquifliment of 
 your intended meafures, and the renunciation of your fup- 
 pofed right. As I give not my name to the publick, you 
 will have the fatisfadHon of yielding only to the force of 
 my reafoning ; and even ;/ I were to reveal that name, I 
 believe that fome worthy perfons among you would not be 
 afhamed of mewing fome littte deference to the mere per- 
 fonal authority of the writer himfelf. 
 
 That writer is a lover of peace; and of liberty, too, he is 
 a moft ardent lover, becaufe 1'berty * is the beft mean by 
 which real peace can be obtained and fecured. He therefore 
 looks dpwn with fcorn upon every fpecies of bigotry, and 
 from every degree of perfecution he (brinks with horror 
 He believes that, wherefover imperious and turbulent 
 teachers have ufurped an exceffive afcendancy over the minds 
 of an ignorant and headflrong multitude, religion will al- 
 ways be difgraced, morals always vitiated, and fociety al- 
 ways endangered. But the REAL interefts, the REAL ho- 
 nour, the REAL AND MOST IMPORTANT Caufe of the ef- 
 
 tablifhed Church, he ever has fupported, and will fupport, 
 as he, alfo, ever has contended, and will contend, in favour 
 of a liberal^ efficient^ and progrejfive toleration. He con- 
 founds not the want of confidence in the meafures of an 
 adminiftration, with the want of refpecl: for the principles of 
 a government. He diftinguifties between dutiful obedience, 
 and abject fervility to that Regal power, which, in this 
 country, he holds to be not only conducive, but eflential, to 
 the publick welfare. Heis not much in the habit of refign- 
 ing his judgment to the forebodings ofthe timid, the infinu- 
 ations ofthe crafty, or the clamours ofthe malevolent Yet 
 he looks, perhaps, with no narrow line of forefight towards 
 events which may be approaching, and upon the prefent 
 fituation of the Britifh empire, he cannot reflecl: without 
 
 * Et nomen pads dulce eft, et ipfa res falutaris ; fed inter pacem 
 & fervitutem plurirnum intereft j pax e/i tranquilla libertas. 
 
 CICERO Philippic II.
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
 a paufe without a pang without jealoufy of every 
 
 opinion, that may (hake the fair fabrick of our conftitutioft 
 without abhorrence of every meafure, that may deluge 
 this land of freedom in blood. 
 
 In regard to yourfelves, Gentlemen, he means to warn 
 rather than to cenfure The effect of that warning he con- 
 figns to your own wifdom, and to the unfearchable will 
 of that Providence, in fubmiflion to which he has ever 
 found the moft:. folid comfort. But in giving you that 
 warning he has'.an entire confidence in the purity of his 
 motives: fn enforcing it, he boldly appeals tothejuftnefs 
 of his arguments : and upon concluding it, he is at this 
 moment confers of having difcharged a moft important 
 dury, to you and your neighbours, to the Church and the 
 State, to his country and his GOD. 
 
 MAY 1-7, 1792. 
 
 N. B. For Biaeothanati which is ufed by Tertullian, and Bio- 
 thanati, which is the more coAmon word, the reader is referred to 
 Suicer's Thefaurus Ecclefiafticffs, page 690. 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 18, Une 13, add ".I confefs with forrow" before that, in 
 
 many inftanccs, 
 
 p. 20, 1. 29, for rigourous, read rigorous 
 p. 25, 1. 19, for inuftice, read tnjuftice , 
 
 p. 30', 1. 1 8, for reafon, read reafoning 
 
 THE END.
 
 
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