of Nature; seeing that they have stated this to be a being without extent, who is an infinity of times whole in each part of the universe. But when there shall appear as much sofidity in the answer, as there is a want of it, it must bes acknowledged that in whatever manner the spirit or the roul finds itself in its extent, when the body moves forward the soul does not remain belsind; if so, it has a quality in con mon with the body, peculiar to matter; since it is conveyed from place to place jointly with the boly. Thus, when even the soul should be admitted to be immaterial, what.con - 1 clusion must be drawn? Entirely submitted to the motion of the body, without this body in would remain dead and iner'. This soul would only be part of a two-fold machine, necessirily impelled forward by a concatenation, or conectio with the whole. It would resemble a bird, whirls a chili conducts at its pleasure, by the string with which it is bound. "Thus, it is for want of consulting experienc, 'bý not attending to reason, that man has darkened his ideas upon the concealed principle of his motion. if, disentanglal fron prejudice-if, destitute of gratuitous suppositions,-if, throwing aside error, he would contemplate his soul, or the moving principle that acts within him, he would be convinced that it forms a part of its body; that it cannot be distinguished from it, but by abstraction; that it is only the body itself, considered relatively with some of its functions, or of those faculties of which its nature or its peculiar organization, ren ders it susceptible:-he will perceive that this soul is obliged to undergo the same changes as the body; that it is tora with it; that it expands itself with it; that like the body, it passes through a state of infancy, a period of weakness a season of inexperience; that it enlarges itselt, that it strengt hens itself in the same progression; that like the body, it arrives at an adult age or reaches maturity ; that it is then, and not till then, it obtains the faculty of fulfilling certain functions; that is in this stage, and in no other, that it enjoys retson; that it displays more or less wit, judgement, and activity; that like the body, it is subject to those vicissitudes which exterior causes obliges it to undergo by their influence; that, conjointly with the body, it suffers, enjoys, partakes of its pleasures and its pains, is sound when the body is healthy, diseased when the body is oppressed with sickness; that like the body it is! continually modified by the different degrees of density in the atmosphere; by the variety of the seasons, and by the various properties of the aliments reeeived into the stomach:in short, he would be obliged to acknowledge that at some periods it manifests visible signs of torpor, stupefaction, deerepitude, and death. Printed and Published by T. DAVISON, -10, Duke Street, Smithfield. Cap of Liberty. A London Weekly Political Publication. No. 17, Vol. 1.] Wednesday, December 29th, 1819. [PRICE 2d. If Humanity shows to the God of this World A sight for his fatherly eye, "Tis that of a PEOPLE with banger unfurl'd, LETTER TO SIR ROBERT GIFFORD, HIS MA JESTY'S ATTORNEY GENERAL, On the consequences attending his persecuting conduct against the various Venders of THE REPUBLICAN SIR, I will premise my arguments by stating that in addressing you, I am spurred on by no very elevated idea of either your candour or integrity; but as th your eye, they may perhaps create the greater attention and impression on your mind, by being addressed to yourself individually, rather than to the great body of the nation. Your predecessor, Sir Samuel Shepherd, was very active in issuing his exofficioes; but to do him justice, he generally, at least in the vicinity of the metropolis, attacked only the publishers of those works which he pretended to deem seditious and libellous: you Sir, however adopted a different method of proceeding, and pursued a line of conduct not less atrocious than unjust not less unjust than it was cruel and vindictive." You attacked the venders, whilst of the publishers you took but little notice. You made the following maxim your rule;' "If there are no venders, there can be neither publishers or purchasers." You in some few instances partially succeeded in terrifying the venders of the REPUBLICAN from persisting in selling it; but good God, what a dreadful catastrophe has been the consequence of one instance of this cruel and un-' just method of procedure. I allude to the case of Howard, of Gray's Inn Lane; against whom you must be aware of having recently issued an "ex-officio." This weapon of business, my remarks must course of professional T. DAVISON, Printer and Publisher, 10, Duke Street, Smithfield. arbitrary power, was put into execution late in the evening, and Mr. Howard being arrested, was taken to Westminster Hall. Mrs. Howard had been put to bed but a short time previous, but in consequence of her husband's arrest, was compelled to enter the shop during his absence, in the depth of winter, by which she caught a severe cold, which she communicated to the infant babe which lay sucking at her breast, and the unfortunate child fell a sacrifice to the persecution against its father!!! This, Sir, is a plain narrative of facts, which the casual hearer may hallow with a sigh, and then discharge it from his mind for ever; but to you Sir, if you possess any feelings of humanity, it must be a lasting pang. Does not your conscience accuse you of being accessary to this child's exit from the vale of misery, and to the grief of his disconsolate Mother; or has your professional career seared up every remnant of that necessary requisite in the composition of an honest man. You, cannot, Sir, plead in justification of your conduct, that it was an unforeseen consequence of the discharge of your official duties. Unforeseen it might have been, but it is obviously a dereliction from duty, to attack the innocent for the crimes of the guilty, if guilt was at all in question, which we are convinced was not the case. If a publication was deemed libellous, the publisher alone should be attacked: he is responsible for what he publishes, and we have not for a series of years witnessed an instance, where it could be said that they shrunk from their defence against an ex-officio information, or rather wherein they have not boldly and eagerly met the charges of the foes to all and every species of Liberty and Independence. If a verdict be registered for any particular publication, against a publisher, and a vender subsequently continues to sell such publication, he voluntarily places himself in the situation of a publisher, and as such is by every principle of justice liable to a prosecution. I feel confident that you cannot have the smallest expectation of obtaining a verdict against the venders from a London Jury, while the publisher is forthcoming, to answer the charge if brought against him. Your conduct, Sir, deserves to be exposed and to be reprobated-I have now done the former-the latter will follow as a necessary consequence. I intended noticing some parts of your parliamentary conduct, but on second thoughts it is altogether so utterly contemptible that it shall even be committed to the obscurity it so justly merits. I remain, Sir, A Freeman in the Land of Despots, J. GRIFFIN, PUNY OBSERVATIONS OF SOME OF THE MEMBERS ON THE LIBEL BILL. ALDERMAN HEYGATE We have ever considered as a shilly-shally sort of a milk-and-water character, a man with just sufficient sense to enable him to tell when the Stocks are above or below par; but for such a character to dabble in politics is, in our opinion, rendering him ridiculous. We cannot pretend to say what are his political sentiments, for we conscientiously believe he does not know them himself, He is neither Whig, nor Tory, nor Radical; but he is an Alderman, and having a spice of each of the foregoing sentiments, he carefully keeps them separate, and occasionally acts upon them in a distinct manner. Thus, to-day he is a Radical, to-morrow a Tory, and the next day again a Whig. He is always wavering in such a manner that we are apt to think he is only waiting to know from which party he may eventually expect the better bone. This Alderman stood up the other night in the House of Commons, and proposed that the duration of the Bill for the punishment of Seditious and Blasphemous Libels should be limited to three years; this motion was very well, but that he openly avows that he agrees with his Majesty's Ministers in the necessity for the arbitrary measures they have so unwarrantably brought forward, and imposed upon the necks of a harrassed and suffering community. The only parallel which we can find for Alderman Heygate's pusillanimous and imbecile acquiescence in such atrocious measures, is the barefaced impudence and effrontery of Lord Castlereagh, who with all the assurance imaginable said that he believed the House never passed any Act which was so perfectly in unison with public opinion." This sentence needs no comment: his Lordship was never very remarkable for an adherence to truth; at an early period of his mis-spent life he forfeited all pretensions to veracity, and convinced the world that truth would never rank amongst his numerous attributes. His Lordship coincides in opinion with Hudibras, who reasons thus: "For if the Devil, to serve his turn, "Can tell truth; why the saints should scorn, We will next revert to the speech of Mr. Serjeant Onslow, who said "that the Bill would affect no respectable bookseller, but only those who, having nothing of their own at stake, were urged by others to usher into the world News papers which it was the object of this measure to put down, and which no respectable bookseller would publish. This Learned Gentleman doubtless thinks that the Editor of the Courier is a respectable publisher, and that it is only such as him that should at all be permitted to send forth any publication to the world. This short speech, however, was not altogether so infamous as that of Mr. Wharton, who said that " it had been assumed that this Bill was to affect all printers. That it would affect those who, with small means and no character to lose, had no stake in the common-weal, was true. This he deemed to be a good. All public questions would still be discussed, but in a more temperate and decent manner."-Here we have a confession that it is henceforth intended that no person shall offer his opinion to the public, until his abilities are measured by the agents of the Ministry according to the depth of his pocket. As to a printer, however poor, having no stake in the common-weal, it is on the face of it an argument devoid of reason. In proportion to his poverty, his interest in the welfare of the people is greater than that of any nobleman in the kingdom. It is upon the prosperity of the people that he must depend for the circulation of what he publishes; and as his livelihood depends upon that circulation, it of course follows that he must be more deeply interested in the welfare of the community, than the wealthy nobleman, who can live upon his heaps of gold, almost totally independent of the poverty or prosperity of the great body of the people. The nobility and the great landed proprietors have a separate and distinct interest from the mass of their fellow-countrymen. The printer, on the contrary, feels a serious interest in their prosperity, because they can then afford to lay out their money in acquiring valuable information, and the printer finds his account in the increased sale of his publications. Mr. Wharton concludes by telling the House that "all public questious will still be discussed:" we can tell him that for once he spoke truth. They shall be discussed as boldly and as fearlessly as ever. We are not to be intimidated by the vapouring of Castlereagh, Canning, and the whole host of their miserable hangers-on their threats have no terror in them for us; we look upon them as the idle ravings of impotent scoundrels; and, strong in conscious honesty, we spurn the base idea of cringing before the footstool of a tyrant: no! our every effort shall be directed to awaken the torpid energies of the nation, and to give to despotism a final and a fatal overthrow. Away with the whining cant of "we have lost our liberties:" in such a case, what is the duty of the peo |