breast, than the most extravagant tyrant in the universe. He is very fearful of being made a flave, but is very defirous of being a flave-maker; for whenever he crys out for liberty, he is endeavouring to deftroy it; and never thinks himself a compleat free-man, till the nation he lives in, has no religion to guide him, no law to punish him; for his chief aim is to pull down all, when the madnefs of the common people gives him a fair opportunity. In all conditions, he is as reftlefs as a froward infant, whilst breeding of his teeth; will please no government, and with no government be pleased. He is as tempeftuous as the ocean, that fwells into rage with every gale, that happens, and seldom reconciles himself to a calm, till like that he has been the occafion of fome remarkable mischief."

I fhall not attempt to wound the feelings of those of my countrymen, whofe minds want no conviction, by a painful rehearsal of the tragical catastrophe of our late fovereign king Charles the First: *« who was given up to the violent outrages of wicked men, to be defpitefully used, and at last murdered by

* Vid. Book of Common Prayer: Form of Prayer for the 30th of January.

Dr. Priestley's exultation in the murder of king Charles.

them. And, though we cannot reflect upon fo
foul an att but with horror and aftonishment,"
yet too true is it, that even in this enlightened
age is the commemoration of this day kept
up by many in a spirit widely different from
that, which the church and * parliament
of England countenance and recommend.
On the bringing of king Charles a
t
prisoner to London, in my opinion, there
was fufficient caufe for triumph. The 30th
of January was (to use a phrase of admiral
Keppel's) a proud day for England, as well
as the 14th of July for France; and it will
be remembered as fuch by the latest pof-

The act of parliament, which, as already obferved, binds every individual unexceptionably in this community, is of the fame tenure and spirit as the service of the church. I mention this to prove how little any set of individuals are authorized, upon the univerfal principles of all governments, to vilify, refift, and counteract the most folemn religious and legislative acts of the majority. "The horrid and execrable murder of your majesty's royal father, our late moft gracious fovereign Charles the First, of ever blessed and glorious memory, hath been committed by a party of wretched men, desperately wicked, and hardened in their impiety, who having first plotted and contrived the ruin and destruction of this excellent monarchy, and with it of the true reformed protestant religion, which had been fo long protected by it and flourished under it." 12 Car. II. c. xxx.

+ Dr. Priestley's Fifth Letter to Mr. Burke, pub. lifhed last year,

terity of freemen." Little furely does it become a loyal fubject of Great Britain triumphantly to revel in the remembrance of. fuch scenes; let him rather put on the awful feelings of the noble hiftorian of this rebellious and bloody tragedy.

*The feveral unheard of infolencies, which this excellent prince was forced to

fubmit to, at the other times he was brought before that odious judicatory; his majestic behaviour, and refolute infifting upon his own dignity, and defending it by manifest authorities in the law, as well as by the clearest deductions from reafon; the pronouncing that horrible sentence upon the most innocent perfon in the world; the execution of that fentence by the most execrable murther, that was ever committed fince that of our blessed Saviour, and the circumftances thereof; the application and interpofition, that was used by fome noble perfons to prevent that woful murther, and the hypocricy, with which that interpofition was eluded; the faint-like behaviour of that blessed martyr, and his chriftian courage and patience at his death, are all particulars fo well known, and have been

+ Clarendon's Hift. of the Civil War, vol. iii. lib. xi. P. 197.

fo

The true and

proper fentideath of king

ments upon the Charles.

Reafons for not entering into

of the rebel

lion.

so much enlarged upon in a treatise peculiarly writ to that purpose, that the farther mentioning it in this place would but afflict and grieve the reader, and make the relation itfelf odious, as well as needlefs, and there-. fore no more shall be said here of that deplorable tragedy, fo much to the dishonour of the nation, and the religion profeffed by it, though undeservedly."

The publisher of Lord Clarendon's history the particulars has furnished me with a reason, which fully warrants me in paffing over the particular scenes, which were effected by the levelling party of the laft century. "It is a difficult province to write the hiftory of the civil wars of a great great and powerful nation, where the king was engaged with one part of his fubjects against the other, and both fides were fufficiently inflamed, and the neceffity of speaking the truth of feveral great men, that were engaged in the quarrel on either fide, who may still have confiderable relations defcended from them now alive, makes the task invidious as well as difficult.'

The avowed purport of this publication is to prove, that the present establishment of our

• Preface to the History of the Civil War, p. 11. fol. Edition of Oxford.

conftitution and government is admirably calculated to ensure the subordination, and preferve the welfare and happiness of all British fubjects. I hope the philofophers and politicians of the prefent illuminated day will again forgive me for recurring (after the example of Mr. Burke*) to the fentiments of the last century.

* Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, p. 84. "It is current, that these old politicians knew little of the rights of men; that they loft their way by groping about in the dark, and fumbling among rotten parchments and musty records. Great lights, they fay, are lately obtained in the world; and Mr. Burke, instead of shrowding himself in exploded ignorance, ought to have taken advantage of the blaze of illumination, which has been spread about him. It may be fo. The enthusiasts of this time, it feems, like their predeceffors in another faction of fanaticism, deal in lights. Hudibras pleasantly says of them, they

Have lights, where better eyes are blind,
As pigs are faid to see the wind.

"The author of the Reflections has heard a great deal concerning the modern lights; but he has not yet had the good fortune to see much of them. He has read more than he can justify to any thing but the fpirit of curiofity, of the works of thefe illuminators of the world. He has learned nothing from the far greater number of them, than a full certainty of their fhallownefs, levity, pride, petulance, prefumption, and ignorance. Where the old authors, whom he has read, and the old men, whom he has converfed with, have left him in the dark, he is in the dark ftill. If others however have obtained any of this extraordinary light, they will use it to guide them in their researches and their conduct,”

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