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LETTER

TO THE

HON. THOMAS ERSKINE,

ON THE

PROSECUTION

OF

THOMAS WILLIAMS

FOR PUBLISHING THE

Age of Reason,

PART II.

BY THOMAS PAINE.、

London:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY R. CARLILE, 62, FLEET STREET.

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INTRODUCTION.

IT is a matter of surprise to some people to see Mr. Erskine act as counsel for a crown prosecution commenced against the right of opinion: I confess it is none to me, notwithstanding all that Mr. Erskine has said before; for it is difficult to know when a lawyer is to be believed: I have always observed that Mr Erskine, when contending as a counsel for the right of political opinion, frequently took occasions, and those often dragged in head and shoulders, to lard, what he called the British Constitution, with a great deal of praise. Yet the same Mr. Erskine said to me in conversation, were Government to begin de novo in England, they never would establish such a damned absurdity, (it was exactly his expression, as this is. Ought I then to be surprised at Mr. Erskine for inconsistency?

In this prosecution Mr. Erskine admits the right of controversy; but says the Christian religion is not to be abused. This is somewhat sophistical, because, while he admits the right of controversy, he reserves the right of calling that controversy, abuse: and thus, lawyer-like, undoes by one word, what he says in the other. I will, however, in this letter keep within the limits he prescribes; he will find here nothing about the Christian religion; he will find only a statement of a few cases, which shews

the necessity of examining the books, handed to us from the Jews, in order to discover if we have not been imposed upon; together with some observations on the manner in which the trial of Williams has been conducted. If Mr. Erskine denies the right of examining those books, he had better profess himself at once an advocate for the establishment of the Inquisition, and the re-establishment of the Star Chamber.

THOMAS PAINE.

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