from which it came is considered.
Mr. Justice Best in the month of November 1819, sat as a judge in
the Court of King's Bench, and advised the sending me to the gaol of
Dorchester for three years and the imposing a fine upon me of fifteen
hundred pounds for stating and supporting a great philosophical truth.
Not content with the imposition of this enormous fine and tremendous
imprisonment, he also immediately sanctioned the issuing of a writ of
_levari facias_, on the very same day, by which my business and my
property was destroyed, and by which: cause I am at present deprived of
all visible means of making up that fine. Yet, Mr. Justice Best, had the
effrontery to say from the bench, which should ever be sacred to truth
and justice, that no philosophical truth stated and supported in this
country, would be considered libelous! I do aver, and I challenge any
Man of Science to contradict me publicly, if he dares, that the two
volumes, for the publication of which I am now suffering imprisonment,
and for which I have been so excessively fined and robbed, contain
nothing more than philosophical truths, as plain, as, simple and as
important, as those for which Galileo was imprisoned by the Christian
Inquisition, about two hundred years since. I appeal to Mr. Justice
Best himself--he knows the truth of what I now write--yet he has had the
effrontery, in contempt of the good sense and discernment of the whole
country, to put forth this vile falsehood--still more vile, because he
himself partook in the order for my punishment, Galileo was told in
the seventeenth century by the Magnificent Inquisitor General that, his
astronomical ideas were not in unison with the Holy Scriptures, and that
he must not promulgate them. Mr Justice Best told me in November 1819,
that he would not sit on the bench as a judge and hear a particle of the
Bible called in question. Then where is the difference in the conduct of
those two Magnificent Inquisitors General, and between my case and that
of Galileo? The Judges who condemned Galileo were quite mild and humane
when compared with mine, they did not rob him of all his property and
fix a fine with a hope that he would never be able to pay it: they
merely, in addition to his imprisonment, ordered him to repeat, aloud
the seven penitential psalms once a week! Canst thou Mr. Justice Best
read this statement and these observations, and again take thy seat as
a judge in a Court of law or what ought to be a Court of Justice? Blush!
Best! blush! Every Man of Science--every lover of great philosophical
truths, will proclaim thee a liar for thy assertion on the bench at
Carlisle in Cumberland. The very name of the place might have reminded
thee of the grossness of that assertion!
Neither will it become me here to lay down the elements of Astronomy, my
appeal is to the Astronomer, and I have merely to remind him, that, if
he supports the dogmas of the Priest, or the astronomical blunders of
any holy book, he is a corrupt and wicked hypocrite, and a disgrace to
the science which he studies, practises, or teaches. Science and truth
ought to be synonymous terms, and neither the one or the other ought,
upon any consideration whatever, to pay the least respect or deference
to established error. To those same persons whom I have given a
reference for the elements of Chemistry, I would also refer to other
works for the elements of Astronomy. They are now published in a variety
of shapes and forms, and I am much pleased to see that a number of
gentlemen are giving lectures on Astronomy in all our towns and cities
of any note. Such men are worthy of support in preference to the Priest,
and although they may jointly, from fear, or other motives, attempt to
mix up religious dogmas with their scientific lectures, I know that it
must tend to a due enlightenment of the public mind. An Eidouranion or
Orrery to have been displayed a few centuries ago would have gathered
a pile of faggots for the lecturer, and he would have been burnt as a
daring blasphemer, and his machine with him, as the devil's workmanship.
Such is the rapid progress of natural knowledge, that I almost doubt
whether the person, that shall now stand forward and publish Thomas
Paine's Age of Reason, and Elihu Palmer's Principles of Nature, in the
same open and determined manner as I published them, would find even
imprisonment for it, let him do it openly and I will commend him, and be
almost answerable for him in point of loss or suffering.
It is not a sufficient excuse for Men of Science to plead established
institutions, or to say that Priestcraft is powerful because six
millions of money is wrung from the people in the shape of direct taxes
to support it, and about as much more levied in the shape of voluntary
contributions upon that class of people called Dissenters. Shew the
people that they are imposed upon, and they will no longer be robbed
and laughed at, they will soon perceive that the money which this
Priestcraft takes from their pockets would be sufficient for a splendid
execution and administration of the laws and government of the country.
Abolish Priestcraft, and the expense which now attends it will cover all
the other necessary expences of the state. This twelve millions of
money is spent for the very worst of purposes, for it does not civilize
society, but rather brutalizes it, by setting its members one against
the other, upon different points of belief, all of which are proved to
be erroneous and to have no foundation in Nature.
The Man of Science ought not to look at, or respect, any thing but the
discovery and propagation of truth. Instead of respecting mischievous
and erroneous establishments, he, of all men, is bound, by every
honourable tie, to make an exposure of them, and to teach the people
right from wrong. His knowledge and discoveries should be like the
benefits of Nature dispensed alike to all without price or reward. He
ought to be the patron of truth, and the enemy of error, in whatever
shape it might appear, or whatever effect it might produce. Like Nature
herself, he should be no respecter of persons or of things individually
but collectively.
I have now gone through the first head of this Address, and I trust
that I have performed what I promised under it. I have shewn that Men
of Science, either from having their minds tinged with superstition,
or from the fear of offending those who might labour under that malady,
have deprived society of many of those benefits which it was their
bounden duty to have conferred upon it. They have withheld from the
public the most important discoveries, because, as the Christian
Inquisition said to Galileo, such discoveries, or such doctrines,
were contrary to those of the Holy Bible. Shame upon such dastardly
principles, say I--they are a disgrace to mankind, which assumes a
superiority over all other animals. We had better never have possessed
the gift of speech, and its consequent reason, if we are only to use it
for the propagation of falsehood, and the production of misery, to
the majority of the species. I have broken through the trammels of
Priestcraft publicly, I bid defiance to all the persecution it can
inflict upon me, and I now call upon the Men of Science in this island
to stand forward and support me. However it might affect the momentary
interest of individuals, ought not to be a question, it is certain that
superstition would not linger another year, if the Philosophers of the
country would stand forward and make war upon it: they would then find
that the extortions of the Priesthood would be willingly given for the
erection of Temples of Science, and the support of competent professors
in the Arts and Sciences; and that a mutual instruction in every thing
that can benefit a society would be the first and last object in view,
both individually and generally.
I come now to the second head of my address, in which I have undertaken
to shew, that, all existing systems of education are imperfect and
improper, and further, to give a sketch of a system that shall be more
proper. In the first place I would remark that, in all the schools of
this country, or with scarce an exception worthy of mention, the youth
are subjected to a certain system of religious study and exercise. They
have to attend certain ceremonies called public worship or prayers--they
have to get those prayers by heart, and also a catechism of religious
belief, or I should rather say religious dogmas, as there can be no real
belief where there is no comprehension of the object in contemplation or
discussion; however, altogether, about these religious ceremonies, one
half of the time of youth is wasted; for the lessons in reading, lessons
in grammar, copies for writing, and even those lessons in which foreign
languages are taught, have their subject matter founded upon religious
dogmas, either ancient or modern. Here and there a moral precept is
thrown in, but the dogmas of religion have a decided preponderance, and
more than half of the time of youth is wasted upon them. It is evident
that these religious dogmas make not the least impression upon the minds
of youth, further than to stupify them by so dull and so constant a
repetition, and the reason of this is, that these religious dogmas
have no foundation whatever in Nature. They neither instruct, amuse,
interest, or delight, because the youthful mind has no comprehension of
their object, and can perceive no real utility arising from them. They
are viewed but as a matter of school discipline, and the youth returns
to them with a loathing. Still they are continually pressed upon him as
long as he remains under parent or tutor, and he grows up with a mind
soured by an habitual distaste of that which he is told to venerate.
If you were to instruct a child in the elements of Chemistry, you
would find that it would be constantly amusing itself with such simple
chemical experiments as its childhood could practise and comprehend: it
would feel an interest in all the little experiments it could make,
and that interest would lead on to a self-importance, to industry, to
a knowledge and due comprehension of the value of time, about which
children think so little, or rather think nothing at all, under the
present system of education. They are exhorted to set a value on their
time by written precepts, but they have no inducements to that object,
owing to their system of education being one dreary monotony. No part
of it is calculated to kindle the fire of genius, or to cherish the
aspiring spirit of youth. It is from such a system of education that
true genius has become so very scarce, and is so seldom seen: it blunts
and stupifies the mind, and obscures that radiance to which the system
I now propose would have given energy and opportunity to display itself.
Many of Nature's Nobles have passed through life unknown and unheeded
entirely from the influence of a superstitious and genius-destroying
education!
From the evident disposition of children to imitate all the actions of
grown persons, from their little scientific propensities to produce in
miniature what they see in magnitude, from the delight which they feel,
and the deep interest which they take in all their little works and
playful amusements, it is certain that nothing more is required to put
them in the channel of correct ideas than to give them such instruction,
and to bend their minds to such objects as shall at once employ, amuse,
and delight, and at the same time form a playful and healthful exercise
for them; whilst it is calculated to expand their minds in the knowledge
and comprehension of those objects which are above all things conducive
to the interests of society, and which relate to the progressive
improvement and advancing state of the Arts and Sciences.
The objects to which I allude, are chemical experiments, and experiments
in every other branch of Natural Philosophy: and a study of Natural
History by observation and examination of natural subjects. I need not
enumerate the various branches of Natural History, suffice it to say,
that I would have a system of education that should embrace the whole
successively; and here a wide field would be open for the conversion of
priests to professors in the various departments of this science; and
this science alone is so far infinite as to make the life of man a
continual system of education and research. Independent of the foregoing
sciences there are Geography, Astronomy, Mechanics, and all the lesser
branches which are commonly and necessarily taught to youth in the
present system of education. This I consider would be a natural and
proper system for the education of youth, and this system has all the
degrees which are as well adapted to the comprehension of infants or
children of three and four years old, as to the most mature age and
knowledge.
The beauty of scientific pursuits is, that there is always a novelty
in them--that discoveries in them will ever be infinite, and that the
further you proceed the more you see before you, and the more ardour
you feel in those pursuits. It is the best of all amusement and pastime,
because, it produces universal advantage and universal satisfaction,
whilst it neither fatigues the follower nor injures his neighbour. Other
amusements and pastimes are apt to occasion individual injury and even
misery, but this cannot. The sportsmen cannot hunt or shoot, without
damaging the cultivated property of others, and whilst in the pursuit
of his game his mind allows no obstacles to be just. With the Man of
Science the case is different, his amusements and experiments are made
within a narrow sphere, and the result is calculated to benefit all
without injury to any.
Chemistry I deem to be the foundation of all other science, and in a
manner pf speaking to comprise all other branches of science. As
matter and motion comprise everything we can behold or conceive, and
as Chemistry is an investigation of the properties of matter, with the
causes and effects of its various combinations, it is evidently the most
important part of science, or rather, the first and last part of it.
The cultivation of the earth--the cookery of our food--its quantity
and quality, and every thing connected with feeding the body--the
preservation of our health, and the very preparation of our clothing,
may be said to be comprised in the terms chemical analysis and
composition. There is no one part of the Arts and Sciences, but to which
Chemistry has relation, and even the most important relation. In all
manufactures, whether wood or metal--clay or stone--wax or glass--paper
or cloth, or what not, the knowledge of Chemistry is essential. It is to
the science of Chemistry that we owe all our artificial productions,
it is to the science of Chemistry that we owe all our knowledge and
comprehension of natural productions, and their adaption to our several
uses. It is therefore of the first consequence that we should commence
our studies in this all important science, even in our infancy. As the
Science of Chemistry embraces so extensive a variety of objects, it is
not without a class simple enough for the comprehension of children.
The burning of a candle is a chemical experiment for the production
of light--the burning of the fuel which keeps up our fires, is but a
chemical experiment for the production of heat; to which a thousand
might be added equally simple, a definition of which could not fail
to be of the greatest importance in the education of children. And why
might not even the first lessons of children be comprised of these and
similar simple chemical experiments, which beyond every other subject
must instruct and amuse, attract the child's particular attention, and
expand its mind by filling it with correct ideas?
I would banish from our school-books every word about God or
Devil--Heaven or Hell, as hypocritical and unmeaning words, mere words
of sound, and confine the attention of children and youth to such
subjects, as an every day's experience shall evince to them to have a
foundation in Nature. Moral precepts might, be necessary and useful but
even morality might, in my opinion, be taught much better by example
than by precept. Therefore, I would say, that the books of children had
better be filled with scientific subjects than with moral precepts, as
the former are infinite and cannot be too early entered upon, or
too closely studied, whilst the latter might be comprised in a few
expressions, and taught better, and with more impression by colloquy and
example, than in lessons for reading and writing. However, lessons
on moral virtue might be most appropriately mixed up with lessons on
scientific subjects. They lead to one common end--the happiness and
welfare of the human race in society.
Let no one imagine that I hold moral virtue in light esteem, or that I
deem it a secondary object, No, the possession of moral virtue with the
grossest ignorance on every other subject, is preferable to the most
extensive knowledge connected with an immoral and vicious character.
Moral virtue should form the foundation of every motive, and every
action in life. It is from the conviction that scientific pursuits, or
a scientific education, must naturally lead to the extension of moral
virtue, that I have been induced to submit this sketch to Men of
Science. Moral virtue is with me a _primum mobile_ in all things. It
forms the beginning and the end of all my views, and, according to my
conceptions, of all the principles I advocate and teach. But I would
most strenuously exhort the reader to abandon the idea, if he does hold
it, that morality is dependent on religion, or that the former cannot
exist without the latter. I solemnly and deliberately assert, that
religion is rather the bane than the nurse of morality. I have imbibed
this impression from the deepest reflection and the closest observation
of mankind. To those who think Lord Bacon an authority worth notice, for
what I assert, I would refer them to a quotation from his writings on
a former page. However, I want no written authority, nor no name, to
convince me of the truth of my assertion; we have but to look around us
with an impartial eye, and we might read it in the every day actions of
the majority of mankind.
I would also banish from our schools Homer, Hesiod, Horace, Ovid,
and Virgil, and every volume that makes the least allusion to the
mythologies of Greece or Rome, or any-other part of what have been
called the Pagan mythologies. If such books are amusing or instructive
in ancient history, it will be time enough to read them after having
gone through a scholastic education. They should make, no part of the
school routine. I do not here mean to dispute the propriety of children
been taught the dead languages, although I must confess, that I consider
them no farther useful than to teach the etymology of our own language.
Paine, Franklin, and Cobbett, are powerful instances that they are by
no means essential to an enlarged mind. However, if the dead languages
continue to be taught in our schools, I could wish them to be taught
through a different medium than at present. Those languages might be
taught on other subjects than wars, famines, and massacres, immoral
mythologies and the history of base and vicious characters. It has been
the common misfortune of historians to take especial notice of base and
vicious characters. Hitherto profligacy has been the chief passport
to immortality, and the virtuous few have passed through life unheeded
before or after death with but very few exceptions. The very books
which are called holy and divine are filled with descriptions of human
monsters, and scarce any set off or contrast to exhibit the benefits and
beauties of moral virtue among mankind.
I am sensible that at present no books exist, such as I point out for
the use of schools, embracing the elements of the Arts and Sciences,
and free from allusion to all kinds of mythology and superstition,
among which I wish to be understood as including the mythology and
superstition of the Christians, but no task can be more simple than for
a few Men of Science to compile them. Of late some brief and partial
descriptions of the Arts and Sciences have been introduced into
school-books, but it has been mingled with so much trash about religion
and superstition, as to render it of no avail, and but as a secondary
or useless object. It is high time that the subject was taken in hand
by Men of Science, and that such books, in the various departments of
science, should be compiled, as to be adapted for all the different
stages of education. None but he who is skilled in any particular
science can be equal to the task of compilation. He alone can judge of
the best method of introducing that particular science to the youthful
mind. It will not be necessary that I should here draw out any specific
plan for this system of education; I submit the outline to the judgment
of Men of Science. My meaning is too clearly stated to be misunderstood
or cavilled with. The subject is a proper one to attract the attention
of any legislature that emanates from, and legislates for, the benefit
of the people, and he that shall move it as an amendment to Mr.
Brougham's proposed system, which has no other object than to become a
new prop for decaying superstition, will at least deserve well of his
country and every lover of science and real liberty, whether he succeeds
or not. It is a subject that no honest man need be ashamed of. It is
by no means a theoretical subject; if it be a novel one, its
practicability, and its importance, must reach every mind that has the
least idea about Science, and its utility. I break in upon the present
system of education no further than that I would change the medium
through which the lessons for reading, exercises in grammar, copies for
writing, and that in which the dead, or even living foreign languages
are taught: the medium which I would substitute, should treat
exclusively of scientific subjects, so as to leave the mind in a
continual state of exercise upon the subject of Science, and that alone.
Unlike religion, Science can never weary the mind: the dreary monotony
of the former is a perfect contrast to the life-inspiring power of
the latter. Every step you take in Science, stimulates you to further
pursuit. The vast volume of nature, that book of books, that only
revelation worthy the attention of man, is always open to the Man of
Science; and in this book the child can find a language that shall be
intelligible, and adapted to his youthful capacity. He can read here
without stupifying his senses, and gain useful information without
corrupting his manners.
I would even exclude all historical subjects from our schools, as very
little of what is left us can be relied on as true, and such as is true,
is of very little consequence to a rising generation. However far it
might be useful in the shape of example, or amusing and instructive to
grown persons, it forms but a waste of time with children at school.
General History is but ill adapted to correct the bad or stimulate
the better passions of mankind. It displays scarce any thing but the
ignorance and brutality, the massacres and superstitions, which have
been so common to mankind hitherto. It is rare indeed to find a sketch
of a virtuous character. I am of opinion that we could not do better
than draw a veil as close as possible over the past, and endeavour to
start upon a system that our posterity shall not blush to read when
impartially stated. Who can read the history of the past, without
blushing and pitying the madness of that animal man, for making so bad a
use of his gift of speech and its consequent reason? I must confess that
I cannot.