"Enfield, February 19th, 1839.
"You will find by this that I am neither dead, dying, nor asleep, but still in vigorous health and mind, after my six months of vegetable diet. I hope you will live to see me still beating down all opposition yet."
"Enfield, March 2nd, 1839.
"I see there is nothing in a reforming or a political public to be relied on. They may be cajoled, cheated, led by the nose or ears, but to reason with them offends them, while the multitude will follow where immediate interest or even excitement is imagined. O'Brien's (Bronterre) threats all ended in vapor. He is no politician, as shallow as any other Irishman; I never knew one that could reason on any subject except Roger, the father of Fergus O'Conner. Fergus is an empty, shallow creature, and will be found in a ludicrous position in the autumn of this year, from his having set a day for universal suffrage to be the law of the land. I like to see Owenian discussion in print, and this is where, and alone where, the Owenists are doing good. I sent you a Sunbeam, with something of mine in it. I shall write more articles for the different papers under the signature of 'Cadmus', which, being interpreted, is the same as Jesus Christ. We want him, but have never had him yet, either in body or spirit."
"Hull, May 13th, 1839.
"The Socialists here will not allow me to use their room notwithstanding that their leader and founder was an old London friend of mine. My subjects are, 'Science in the Church,' 'Science, the Religion of the People,' 'Down with Superstition!' The Socialists are a little frightened at my view and review of Owen's projects. They say that if the preachers get hold of it they will vend it from their pulpits. I am not so bitter with them in open discussion, and would defend them where I saw them unjustly pressed by the fanatics."
"Doncaster, June 7th, 1839.
"Dear Friend, – I made a fine beginning last night to a fine audience, but I so frightened the clergy that they have threatened Mr. Bright to buy no more trinkets of him if he allows me to use the betting room again. I called on the Mayor to ask him for the Town Hall; am to see him at four.
The people behaved remarkably well in manners, and in the-expression of delightful approbation. Had you, my desponding friend, been there, you would have said, 'Go on at all hazards and consequences indoors and out of doors, home or no home, life or death, fortune or starvation'. And so I will go on if I walk from town to town, from village to village, confined to a diet of bread and water.
"Mr. Levison complimented me this morning with saying that he would have walked any distance to have heard the fine philippic I gave the clergy of the Established Church for their neglect of the education of the people. I am all the talk in Doncaster this morning, frightening some, pleasing others; but fright is predominant among those who did not hear me.. Even the people here in the inn are beginning to exhibit alarm. Alas! for superstitious minds. The 'Crier of Doncaster' is a Methodist local preacher, and found himself in a pucker to satisfy his conscience that I was a real convert from infidelity. He was sure I was from the bills, but many out of doors assured him I was not. He went to Levison, came to me and I satisfied him of the goodness of my religion and that I was no infidel. He cried for me, but he declared he would neither cry for the Socialist, Chartist, nor Infidel. I doubt if the fool has slept to-night between his illformed conscience and his interest. I have a letter from Crowly saying that no room can be got for me there [name of place not given] in consequence of the alarm about Socialism. These Socialists will be very much in my way for a time. I see the Whigs have dropped their modicum of education; they are utterly contemptible as ministers. The editor of the Chronicle (Doncaster) says the clergy ought to cope with me. Mind, he says this privately; I doubt if he will say anything publicly or perhaps the contrary. I had a pretty group of well dressed ladies at first, but unluckily they did not feel themselves kept sufficiently in countenance, as I, in giving St. Paul's definition of a Jew, had to read something about circumcision, which passes in a church pulpit, but is offensive as a public reading elsewhere. Determine to be happy within yourself and family, and let not the external circumstances annoy you. Proud of exchanging friendship with you."
"Doncaster, June 8th, 1839.
"Have Faith, my good friend! Have Hope! Charity you have in abundance. Faith, Hope and Charity, are blessed qualities in this wicked world. All that the Doncaster religious folks can say to me is to ask how it is that I am the only wise man on the subject of religion in the country? I answer that it is for them to find out how they have been misled? I pity the solidity of the materialists who cannot see my present course to be the most useful and spiritual. Bigotry is universal; it belongs to every sect and party, be you a Catholic Christian! I am very happy in Doncaster."
"Wakefield, June 13th, 1839.
"I came to Wakefield and spent the evening in the Working Men's Association Rooms, which has a good library. They sent the 'crier' round to say that I would address the people in the market place, which I did in good style. At the conclusion, a Mr. Nichols, the principal bookseller here, took me off to his house. This morning he took me over the Proprietary School and introduced me to all the teachers. To-morrow he is to introduce me to Charles or rather Squire Waterton, the Catholic, whom I am anxious to see. Nichols is a religious man and saw lately in London, in the possession of a Quaker, the signet which Pharaoh gave to Joseph!
"Friday, a.m. – I had a fine audience last night, even amidst a smart shower of rain, in the market place. I standing sheltered and wrapt up in the spirit, did not discover it till the business was over. The open air work is my forte, as I find I have a more perfect command over even the religious folks. With the Bible in my hand I can go anywhere without the least sacrifice of principle. It is a magic book on human ignorance, and I will try to work its magic among the learned, unravelling those mysteries, which was the promise of my early life."
"Bradford, June 21st, 1839.
"I found Leeds placarded with a challenge from Lloyd Jones to six or seven preachers by name, undertaking to prove that there was no rational evidence to conclude that the Christian scriptures are of Divine authority. No other preacher coming forward, I took up the cudgels against him to maintain there was such evidence. To my astonishment I found Leeds in the highest state of excitement, fifteen hundred people crammed into the music saloon, and hundreds standing about it. This was a fine opening for me, and I made the most of it. I found my old friend Laurence, the showman, there, with his fine bald head, and a more gratifying evening I never spent. I have warm work in prospect. I begin to feel all my powers and extensive reading available in speech. This was not so until of late.. I am getting to be called the 'Prince of Lecturers', Tuesday night I had an electrified audience."
"Manchester, July 17th, 1839.
"I left you to find out by the Northern Star where I was for the last fortnight, increasing in usefulness, but not in wealth. I began my first speech with an angry audience, but mastered their feelings and commanded their respect. O'Brien is but a miserable orator with a miserable subject, he revenged himself on me by abusing Thomas Paine, not much to the taste of the audience. I have challenged him to discussion, which, I fear, he will not accept. On Sunday at Leeds I addressed an audience of 5,000 persons, also in Dewsbury. Bradford presented me with over 2,000 people; with very large audiences in Bolton, Rochdale, and Halifax. I must be doing good, for new as is my subject, it delights my audiences. I have well agitated every town I have visited since leaving Sheffield."
"Manchester, August 3rd, 1839.
"My warfare here is a curious one with reformers. They denounce me as a spy and an agent sent down by the Government to divide and distract them. In this neighborhood things are very critical as to the temper of the people. A large quantity of pikes have been openly made and as openly sold. My judgment is that the people here have a real taste to try the use of such weapons. At Halifax on Sunday last the magistrates and constables were there to arrest me if I attempted to preach in the market place, it being private property. A gentleman came forward and offered me a piece of his own property to speak upon. The authorities followed, and after listening awhile, they sent the constables away saying it was no use, they could do nothing. I am, unfortunately, suspected by all parties, so none support me. Yet I think of myself that I am the nearest right of any. I cannot despair, I am in the same temper with five shillings in my pocket as with five pounds. I am sure they are principles and not profits on which I rest."
"Birmingham, September 11th, 1839.
"You must ere this have thought my silence ungrateful, and ingratitude above all the vices is the one I wish to avoid. On the third of August I found the excitement about Chartism and the national holiday to be so overwhelming that I could do nothing in Lancashire. I went to Bolton on the fourth and addressed an immense crowd of 5,000 people, more than the church would hold in the morning, and about 3,000 in the evening.
"My address to the reformers has excited a good deal of interest, and I verily believe saved some property from destruction and some necks from hanging, if not other lives. I found the Chartists of Berry, Leigh, Bolton, and part of Manchester, madly rabid for the destruction of property, life, or something. Almost every London paper noticed the address, some of them quoting largely from it, and I was told that the Tory paper of Birmingham had noticed that the 'Great Satan of the day had begun to rebuke sin'. I satisfied all who heard me last night that it was nonsense to talk about reforming the House of Commons. It could only be reformed as a representation when it ceased to be a House of Commons, separated, mixed with, or distinguished from a House of Lords. They could not but applaud my statements, but I fear they were too stupid to understand them."
"Enfield Highway, January 15th, 1840.
"I shall expect to hear of other Chartist outbreaks, besides this of Sheffield. I am very much afraid that Tom [his son] will, in his desperate circumstances, be committing himself in Manchester. I was told some weeks since, by a Dewsbury man, of a turn out there one night of a thousand armed men, ready and willing to lay Dewsbury in flames. Such movements as these will decide the fate of Frost, and begging pardon moral force Chartism is as pure a piece of humbug as physical force Chartism, and more so. The first cannot succeed, the second may by haphazard and desperation. And as to the Socialists, their propositions for reform are monstrous. Imagine an appeal to all the agricultural, manufacturing, mercantile, and trading interests of this country, to stay their pursuits, and shape themselves by Mr. Owen's parallelograms. If there were unanimity, and no dissent, no adverse interests, it could not be done; with one mind, and successful examples, it would be a work of centuries in one country. Then would come the consideration of the conflicting interests or passions of other countries. I should be unmerciful in satire on the Socialists but for their warfare with the other superstition. They are a shabby, unstable crew of reckless projectors. There is really a moral want in their characters, and such I have found with the great mass of working-men reformers. If ever a man devoted himself body and soul to serve them I am that man; and yet how few of them there are who can find for me a civil word. I shall go on to reform the reformers, and have not a doubt but I shall get up a paying register."
"January 27th, 1840.
"For the first time in my life I have a secret to keep. I am working an incog. experiment to market my labor. Do not mention this, for a breath of suspicion would paralyze it. I dislike secrets, but they are absolutely necessary to existence among the competitive tricks of human beings. I have had inflammation in my eyes ever since I returned from Birmingham. The doctors would tell me not to harass them by candle-light, but I must, and say as a doctor said of brandy, that 'he liked it better than his eyes' after warning a patient not to drink it who found him drinking. Our London Chartist insurrection was more contemptible than that of Sheffield. The truth is that Englishmen are not now weapon-fighting men, until they are trained as soldiers."
"February 12th, 1840.
"My going to town in the winter seems to be at the hazard of my life. If I could live without it I would not see London from 1st of November till April. I am quite out of the lecturing world, being neither a Tory, Whig, Radical, Socialist, or Chartist. I find I am nothing and nobody. I am pleased with the Bishop's movements, it will do good. There is nothing like prosecution of opinions to propagate them. The cessation of prosecution was my political death. If I am dead, which I am not, I am getting compliments as an incognito writer; some day I will startle you with a curiosity in this way in which I am likely to do more good than before. I have proved that the general public has no objection to my writing, but will not have my name. It is a question if any periodical is the better for a name? I shall send you O'Brien's challenge back, for I have a great repugnance to hoarding anything, though I often sustain wants for which my carelessness has left me unprovided. My nature is a circulatory one, it hoards nothing, is pained by secrets, and wants the human mind as open and visible as the human face.
"T. P. C. [his son] has come to London and renewed his-Regenerator and Chartist Advocate, I am a rejected writer!
"The Socialists and Chartists preach at one another, but don't discuss. I have offered to fight the Bishop of Exeter for them if they will guarantee me £200 for five years; it will take that time to settle the question. The Government is bound to prosecute. Lord Melbourne is now in the same predicament as to Owen as he was with me and the Rotunda. He will be goaded to prosecution, though Owen has sent round circulars advising his followers to drop theology. They have nothing else to talk about. I am glad the life of Frost is saved; but I wished to see the Chartists put upon their mettle, if they have any, for I doubt if they have. They are quite down in London. Socialism is the only thing that lives here, and that must go down. It has no living principle."
"Enfield, February 26th, 1840.
"The office I was seeking in London was a place in a good situation for business. They who could or would help me to an official situation are afraid of my name. Heywood, of Manchester, I hear, is prosecuted for Haslam's letters; he cries out and says he would rather give £50 and the stock of publication than stand the prosecution. We shall see what sort of martyrs they make. I cannot tell you my secret yet I pass incog, as a man of respected and admired talent; you shall see the proofs of this some day. I fear that I have lost two papers, merely by the knowledge of my handwriting.
It is a case, too, where an amanuensis or copyist cannot be trusted. I have sketched a petition to the House of Lords, if an outcome be found to present it, stating that as the Church is founded upon Jewish history, the way to establish it well is to correct the current errors of that history, return to the original Jewish philosophy, and remove all the heresies of the last eighteen hundred years. I ask the Lords to make the Lords Spiritual a Committee of Enquiry on this subject so interesting to all nations. The Ham Common School (Bronson Alcott's) is a failure. There was nothing generous in it, save that my Gloucestershire friends paid the expenses. I have sadly lost by it in my income. It has from beginning to end been a bad project. In all your preparations for heaven, I hope all your family will find it. I have great need of a warmer climate, but unless I am transported for treason, do not know how I shall ever get there. When the sun is out I am alive, when not I am dead.
"Most of the reformers or pretended reformers that I have known have been flighty men, flying about after everything without solidity to rest on, and accomplish anything. They are, as such, too often deficient in moral character."
"Enfield, March 11th, 1840.
"I see by the Times yesterday that memorials are being sent to the Protestant monarchs to combine and send the Jews back to Palestine at this struggle for Syria between the Sultan and the Pasha. Would the Jews go back? that is the question. No! they know better. They are commercial men and could have very little commerce in Palestine. I never knew an unemployed Jew living retired without business. I am now writing leaders for the country papers of Liberal principles. I find I am so far master of all political and theological subjects that I could write-equally well for any party and please them all in turn. I find, too, that there is much good to be done in this way.
All that is required is to support the cues and bent of the paper and party, and you may introduce any good sentiments under that guise. I got a famous letter on blasphemy into the Cheltenham Free Press, of February 29th, signed 'Christian'. The editor wondered how a Christian could write so. My politics never consisted of property burning or the assassinating of innocent people, nor did yours; and I would willingly give evidence against any such cases, to serve better political principles."
"July 9th, 1840.
"Cogswell's imprisonment was fully reported in the Gauntlet. I supported his family. His wife died during the prosecution, for she too was prosecuted. He afterwards married her sister, who came to look after the children. I have found him a very grateful, honest fellow. I feel content with myself in not having joined either the Socialists or the Chartists. There will be something better coming up by and by."
"Enfield, August 6th, 1840.
"I had not heard of the death of Abner Kneeland, and I have reason to think he is still living in Boston, U.S."
"October 13th, 1840.
"I made a declaration last Sunday that there was a mistake between me and the public, that I had not recanted a sentence I ever published, but had only gone on another tack in my warfare with superstition. When I box up the Gods in the human head as I do, making it the heaven, the earth, the garden of Eden, the ark, the tabernacle, the temple, depend upon it, I will not let them roam abroad in the physical world for superstitious mischief.
"I would be bound to bother Acland, though I confess he is on his best ground. I had a fine triumph over him about the Poor Laws, in the Bolton Theatre, and never before nor since did I hear the phrase of 'Three cheers for Carlile'."
"November 13th, 1840.
"I have been rolling restlessly on the bed all this week since my return from London on Sunday, incapable of lying still any way for a quarter of an hour at a time, with a high (more than usual) inflammation of the chest. This is my first salute for the winter. I am now worse on Friday than on Monday, and have some fear that I shall not be able to go out soul saving on Sunday next. I shall go if there be a possibility to stand up and talk. I find that I have reached a point in my ever sanguine calculation, and that is that the time has come in which I can excite more interest in London than any of the Socialist or Chartist leaders. I have restored a lost audience to the Hall of Science, and have drawn well there; moreover, I have pleased. Have sold my books freely, and have brought home about £5 in four weeks, which is a welcome addition to my slender income. I work now on Sunday afternoons, as I have no evening vacancy. I am enquiring for a place of my own – but my health!"
"Enfield, March 17th, 1841.
"You would have been delighted on Sunday, the 27th, I had a Brindly-like opponent, who, however, could but regret that such splendid talent as he had to his astonishment witnessed that evening should be prostituted to so bad a purpose; and yet he talked himself quite round to me; paid me high compliments, and came to shake hands warmly. Owen, I hear, is veering round to some new point about colonisation, and offending his community party. Sir H. R. Inglis brought up my name in the House of Commons last Friday in the question of Jewish Emancipation. He wanted to know how a Jewish alderman could have met me? I immediately drew up a petition of my whole case, briefly as possible, praying for two things: examination on the question of ancient Jewish history, and compensation for damage and merit as soon as the Jews are introduced among the legal authorities of the country. Peel moves well in the item of scientific schools. I have told him this week that he has only to move into the Church with them to be all right. I will send your books with Baraclory's parcel. I may keep out one for my very good friend Charles Roach Smith, the chemist, of 5, Liverpool Street, City, who came out enthusiastically to lecture at the Rotunda when Mr. Taylor was sent to Horsemonger Lane Gaol. Mr. Smith is a young man much respected among the antiquarians. His papers are read in the Antiquarian Society, consisting of bishops and all sorts; and lately the Marquis of Northampton sent him a card of admission to his soirée as President of the Royal Society; so we swim. I feel myself growing daily in public interest, though the money does not flow in yet. My passion for doing public good is as strong as ever; it is tempered a little with the discretion of experience. I am now a regular correspondent of the Bolton Free Press; my signature is – 'A Reformer of the People.'"