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undermine the pillars of social life ? It ? it tainted with such pestilential vapours , that the heart of religion must sicken by its attack ? Js the deed so atrocious , that the common
feelings of humanity rise in judgment against it , and call for a vengeful retaliation ? Is Christianity at so low an ebb , that its bark must founder on such perilous shoals ? Or is truth so feeble in its own support , that the
arm of unrelenting and unreflecting authority must crush all opposition by its ponderous weight , and neither permit argument or raillery to approach its ' tottering fabric ? Allowing time for the solution of these questions , and to vindicate the violence that would lacerate the offender with
cutting up every comfort arid prospect of life , pass we on to the second case . Extract of a letter from Mr . Russell , the resident < tt Hydrahad . " February 5 , 1819 . " I have the pleasure to inform you that the Fort of Nowah was taken by
assault , by the force under the command of Major Pitman , on the 30 th ult . The garrison , consisting of upwards of 500 men , principally Arabs , having twice refused to surrender , and all their attempts to escape having been frustrated , were the greatest part pf them put to the sword "
What say you , ye rigidly orthodox , ye pious evangelicals , ye men of superior sanctity , ye distributors of Bibles , ye world-encircling missionaries ? What say you ? Is this right
or is it wrong ? What is the proud feeling of Englishmen that inculcates bravery as the highest pinnacle of human virtue ;—that scorns to capitulate or surrender , and yet drenches in cold Wood the same
heroic-devotedness m others ? Would you not have stigmatized them as base-born cowards , if they had neglected every prospect and means of resistance , and will you murder them for it as an offence against the first principles of uniocrtn society ? Or again , Who are the aggressors ? Can a subaltern or
a private deliberate ? Have they any voice in the councils of war ? Would not instant death be decreed against the individual who should dare to give hili opinion , and especially a pusillanimous one ? Why then say that the 5 OO refused to surrender , and why butcher them for tlie obstinacy of
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their commanders ? It does not appear that Mr . Russell had any hand in this 1 vork of blood , but it gives him unmingled pleasure , witl'dut a particl ^ of regret or commiseration . Let imagination anticipate the two con * trasted Russells al the bar of final
retribution , and on which of the culprits ^ hall the severest censure fall ? See to these things—you " Society for the Suppression of Vice ! ' *—try to establish some rational ground for public morals , or you may depend
upon it your eftorts are worse than unavailing . You may advocate or connive at the butchery of 500 men , while you punish a miserable wretch for selling , a cabbage on a Sunday morning , or a printer for a harmless satire ; but this is not the way to reform the world . Christianity either
allows such violence , or prohibits it ; if the former , heaven defend rne from such a religion ! but if the latter , then the Christianity of the State is n 6 t that of the Bible ; then the Litany which prays , " Go forth with our
fleets and armies , " is in opposition to the pacific spirit of the gospel ; and then is it deserving the censure or ridicule of every friend to humanity . JAMES 1 AJCKCOCK .
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Character cf Mr . Bretland . 55 $
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Hackney , Sir , September 7 , 1819 . LET me , too , be allowed to bless the memory of one , whom I loved arid honoured as soon as I could
admire wisdom and virtue , and long before I could justly appreciate them . 1 can remember no period of my life ( up to the moment in which 1 left the house of my fathers ) with which Mr . Bretland is not associated in delightful and endeared recollections .
He was distinguished by a beautiful simplicity of conduct and character ; an extraordinary serenity amidst vi ^ cissitude , resulting equally from a high estimate of man , and an unshaken confidence in God ; an exquisite sense
of wrong , which would have been blunted by a more enlarged communion with the world ; and that enviable ignorance of moral evil in himself or others , which made his life a long and lovely summer ' s day .
He chose to tread in a secluded and noiseless path . There he found his happiness , and he had no earthl y
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1819, page 559, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1776/page/35/
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