of it, it follows, as a matter of course, that every share would be a freehold estate. Now, in England, no freeholder can sell any hereditary estate, except for his own life. The moment he is

dead, his heir or heirs, claim and take possession of it, as by law entitled.

The laws of primogeniture are bad enough, which bind down estates to the eldest child, instead of dividing it among the whole family; but R. H.'s code invests one individual with the right to sell, and another the right to buy the birth-right of succeeding generations to the end of time.

What a pity it was, that R. H., when he got his little colony' safely landed in his uninhabited island, did not think of dividing the rents or property arising from the land, instead of dividing the land itself among his people. The land remaining public property, or a joint stock farm, buying and selling of land would be unnecessary. Indeed the right to buy and sell land must be out of the question altogether.

Let this system be once linked to the wings of ambition, and to the car of cupidity, and the one may flap her wings, and the other flog his steeds, but neither would be able to advance a single step, beyond the interest of the whole community.

R. H. like most other writers, who attempt to form plans for bettering the condition of the poor, lays all the stress on the article labour; he finds, that the stock of labour in the market is greater than the demand, and then concludes there must be a redundant population. Now, there would be plenty of work for. all hands were it not for the oppressions that are heaped on the working people, which compel one man, when he can get it, to perform that quantity of labour, which, in any other country, would take three men to perform. The English mechanic and labourer cannot otherwise command those necessaries and comforts without which life is misery and pain. In some instances, this struggle is made without obtaining more than the means of protracting a wretched existence.

It therefore follows, that, if one man perform the labour, which ought to be performed by three, there must remain uothing to be performed by the other two men.

I have known individual shoemakers make three or four pairs of shoes a-day, when one pair, probably, is as much as any individual, considering the unhealthiness of the business, ought to be compelled to make. This sufficiency accounts for the thousands that are always out of employ, and for the stock of labour in the market being greater than the demand. Remove the oppressions from the working people, and all checks on population will be unnecessary.

Nevertheless, if we cannot do all we could wish, we ought to do all we can, and under present circumstances, R. H. speaks

my sentiments, where he says that, " any thing is better than to allow him (man) to perpetuate the present wretched system; far better that he should lose a few pleasurable sensations in his youth, than to live a life of misery in continual dread of being cut off by starvation !"

R. H. adds but even the sacrifice of pleasurable sensations is not required. He alludes no doubt to the anti-conception scheme, dedicated to the fair sex, in the " Every Woman's Book," sold at 62, Fleet-street.

When R. H. writes again on the principles of population, he had better address himself more immediately to his fair countrywomen, as the check rests almost entirely with the fair sex.

I have every reason to believe, that nine women, out of every ten among the poor classes, after having had two or three children, feel a secret dread, at the thought of having a numerous family, foreseeing, as every sensible woman must, the improbability of her children being comfortably provided for. This dread urges them on to adopt measures, with eagernees, which only promises to check the rapid succession of children.

One of those measures is, suckling the last child until it is a year and a half, or two years old; I have known instances of children being kept to the breast for three years, when they could walk, talk, and stand upon their feet, while they drained the last dregs from the flabby breast of the squalid and consumptive mother. Thousands of women are cut off in the prime of life, after suffering the most excruciating pains, by the wretched practice of excessive suckling; and thousands more have perished by deleterious drugs, which had been madly swallowed to procure abortions!

I can listen with all the calmness of a philosopher to any scheme that is not injurious to health to prevent the production of children; but when I hear of plans proposed to destroy them when they are produced my philosophy forsakes me.

What! repeal the poor laws? And let the aged, the sick, and the unemployed depend on charity? With the poor laws in full operation, aided by public subscriptions, and private charities, do not the poor people through want of the necessaries of life, die by hundreds? Is it wished that they should perish by thousands? By millions! O! why are we not cannibals, that we may devour, as well as destroy each other?

The English system is like an hour glass. When all the sand in the hour glass is run into one vessel, the machine stands still, and becomes useless, But in this case, the remedy is always at hand. A turn up sets all right again.

England possesses as much wealth now as at any former period; but one portion of the community having drained almost all of it from the other portion, the machinery of the system begins

to flag, and in a short time the whole system will be compelled to stand still from the same cause that makes the hour-glass stand still; namely, the want of supply. Every thing has its hour, so when the hour comes there must be a turn up.

Meantime, I remain, Sir, yours respectfully,
ALLEN DAVENPORT.

HINDOO COMIC STORY.

ONE day a disciple of Siva wishing to sacrifice to his lingam (idol,) left it by the side of a tank, while he went to gather flowers for the offering; a monkey seeing it, snatched it up and carried it off. The disciple, after searching for it in vain, went to his djangouma (priest) with tears in his eyes; "Alas," cried he,." I have lost my lingam, what shall I do?"-" Wretch !" cried the priest, "thou hast lost thy god! then thou hast only to prepare to die. Nothing but thy death can appease the wrath of Siva. The only favour that can be granted thee, is to choose one of three kinds of death-that thou shouldst pull out thy tongue, or be suffocated by the steam of incense, or drown thyself; choose, and choose speedily." "Well then," said the disciple," since I must die, I should prefer drowning to the other kinds of death, for then I can advance into the water little by little, and so lose my life, as it were, unawares. I trust, however, that you will accompany me to the water's edge, and give me your blessing. The djangouma willingly consented, and followed his disciple to the stream. As the latter went in, the priest loudly exhorted him to be courageous, promising him perfect happiness in paradise. The disciple was now in the water up to his neck, when, turning to the priest he said, "My dear master, before I die grant me one favour; lend me your lingam that I mayore it, after which I shall die contented." The priest consented, and the disciple came to the bank, received the lingam, and so-entered the water. When he had got to a considerable depth, he let fall the lingam, as if by accident, and cried out with great apparent emotion," Ah, Sir! what a misfortune! your lingam is also lost! it is gone to the bottom. Alas! how sincerely I lament your fate! Yet were it not for my attachment to your person, I should bless this accident as the happy means of obtaining for me the advantage of dying in company with my spiritual guide. Yes, we must die together, as we have both lost our lingams, and I trust I shall follow you to the paradise of Siva." He then approached the priest, and seizing him, protested he would die with him; while the priest, pale and trembling, regarded his wicked disciple for some time without speaking. At last he said, "Well,

after all, where is the great harm of losing a little stone image not worth a farthing? Come to my mata, where I have got an assortment of lingams; we will take one a piece, and nobody' will be the wiser."-New Monthly Magazine,

The" lingam" is a carved emblem or copy of the male organ of generation, a priapus, the object of adoration in every nation, in its progress from the savage state to civilization. The Christian Cross is the Christian's Lingam. It was the Lingam of other idolators before it was adopted by the Christian sect.

SIR,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE REPUBLICAN.,

IN reading Gulliver's Travels, (nay, start not at my naming such a work for the pages of "The Republican,") I find, though written nearly a century ago, that the author was not unacquainted with the principle of population, and the evils resulting from it, when allowed to go on unchecked. Indeed, I have frequently found allusions to it in works which are not ostensibly political. The principle is so evident, and the bad effects so clear, that I wonder a contrariety of opinions can be maintained But, to Gulliver. The witty author, be it observed, is satirizing, under the form of travels, the vices, follies, and absurdities, into which: human beings somehow manage to fall. He conducts the reader into various remote nations, the last of which is the Houyhnhums, where the only reasonable beings are in the shape of horses, and these, we are informed, regulate the extent of their population in this manner: When the matron Houyhnhums have produced one of each sex, they no longer accompany with their consorts, except they lose of their issue by some casualty, which very seldom happens but in such a case, they meet again; or when the like accide befalls a person whose wife is past bearing, some other couple bestow on him one of their own colts, and then go together again till the mother is pregnant. This caution is necessary to prevent the country from being overburdened with numbers. But the race of inferior Houyhnhums, bred up to be servants, is not so strictly limited upon this article; these are allowed to produce three of each sex, to be doméstics in the noble families."

C.

Printed and Published by R. CARLILL, 61, Fleet Street.-All Correspoudeirces for "The Republican," to be at the place of publications

The Republican.

No. 8. VOL. 14.] LONDON, Friday, Sept. 1, 1826. [Price 6d.

TO WILLIAM ALLEN,

Lecturer on Experimental Philosophy to the Students of Guy's Hospital, on the question :

WHAT IS GOD?

FRIEND,

LETTER II.

THE subject of your third paragraph consists of the properties of matter; and my pledge is made to shew, that your knowledge of matter is the best refutation of the theory of an omnipotent god.

"

If we read your third paragraph with the omission of what you say about god, we see no deficiency, we see you stating, that the properties of matter are equal to all the identities that matter displays.

There is an exception, you state, that you and your pupils were convinced, that matter has no power to move itself. This is an error, which can be easily removed by an enquiry into

WHAT IS MATTER?

If we enquire deeply, we find, that we can give no more definition of matter in its elements, or as far as we trace elements, than we can give of the words god, soul, spirit. We have no means of comparison. There is a point, beyond which it evades our research. Finding it under some peculiar states, we have no solid objection to the conclusion that it is the sole being: and no theory that has been raised of any other being has the slightest plausible foundation. We know a certain something which we call matter and of which we form a part: we know certain qualities found in matter in certain states; but we know nothing distinct from those states and qualities which we consent to call matter.

Bishop Berkeley saw the force of this conclusion and to get rid of it, he denied the existence of matter or made it questionable, on the ground, that we know it only in idea, and that those ideas might be delusive. His book upon the subject is well

Printed and Published by R. Carlile, 62, Fleet-street.