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angel has to carry up from our custom-houses , our various courts , our hustings , our offices of taxation , and —from onr altars ? Are they such as a tear will blot out ? Have we calculated the mischief which is done to the ingenuous mind , when the virgin dignity of his soul is first violated by a falsehood ? Have we calculated the
wound whioli is given to the pea , ce of a good man , the thorns that are strewed on his pillow , when , through hard necessity , he complies with what his soul abhors ? Have we calculated
the harm done to the morals of a nation by the established necessity of perjury ?" When this striking appeal was first made , the danger of innovation was sounding in every ear ; war was
engrossihg the mind , and the spirit of party was sowing the seeds of discord , which , during subsequent years , acquired deep root ; many of the fatal effects of which still remain . They are , however , diminishing , and the united efforts of friends to the
amendment of our criminal code of laws , must have given the celebrated author already quoted , the hope that Britons are beginning to regard righteousness as the true exaltation of their nation . Times of peace are peculiarly suited
to produce these desirable results . Till lately , the practice of the Society of Friends was the only standing protest against the abundance ^ of oaths , which clog onr trade , and disgrace our courts of justice . The ^ subject is now
receiving ' a more extensive investigation * It has begun where it was most to be wished , and carried on with a prudence that precludes the fear of ultimate disappointment . All party views have been shunned . The general principle alone has been discussed . Avoid all unnecessary appeals to the Deity , has been the Christian ' s motive for
exertion * The lawyer has shewn the difficulty ofenforcingthe penalty now resulting from perjury , whilst the merchant has proved that a pecuniary penalty is the only valid security against ** ny attempt to defraud the revenue . There are , therefore , sufficient inducements for persons of all descriptions to lend their aid to a cause which
requires only to obtain publicity to secure approbation - A brief account of what has been done shall be given ; and if the subject should to you , Mr .
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Editor , appear of the same importance as it does to myself , you may , through the widely-diffused circulation of your publication , be exciting a bond of union , where it has not already been called forth ; and thus hastening * the period when one of the sins of the
nation will be lessened , if not totally blotted out . It is deserving of notice , that government has thrown no impediment in the way , but on the contrary , has facilitated every inquiry , and different persons in office * as well as members of parliament of every
political description , hav £ expressed their cordial co-operation in the measures pursued for abolishing customhouse , &c . oaths . Th London the plan begun . Some gentlemen concerned in shipping and in different branches
of merchandize , presented a memorial to government , stating the evils attendant on the administering of oaths , now required at the custom-house . This was duly received , but as the matter did not seem to interest the
nation in general , it was not surprising that no active means were employed to give it effect . "When this was known at Liverpool , the merchants of that port united in a judicious and temperate address , similar in spirit to what was presented from London . A wise scheme was
also proposed to correspond with other sea-ports , and to solicit their co-operation . This met with ready concurrence in Bristol . A memorial was framed by the merchant
adventurers of that city , which proves that respectable body well understood the cause they undertook to advocate . Other places are following the example ; and it cannot be doubted , from the mass of information communicated
to the public by the Committee appointed by the House of Commons , for investigating the present state of our criminal law , that if the nation proves sufficiently solicitous to remove a crying sin , the legislature will manifest a proportionate eagerness to correct the evil . As the subject is new , would it not be a suitable
employ-ment of a few of your pages to insert some of the more striking memorials that may be drawn up ? These would furnish materials and encouragement for general co-operation . If the idea should meet with your approbation , the memorials sent from
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4 © £ Commercial Oaths .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1819, page 492, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1775/page/32/
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