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.
In teaching Geography it is by no means necessary to describe the ancient division of the earth into Empires, Kingdoms, Principalities, &c, or the customs of their former several inhabitants, as they have been subject to a continual change, to trace which, serves but to distract the mind without filling it with any useful information: it would be sufficient for all purposes in studying this science, to become acquainted with the present divisions of the earth, and the present customs, manners, and distinctions of its inhabitants. The same rule applies to Astronomy, it is by no means necessary, but as a matter of curiosity, to trace and study its history: it is sufficient to acquire all the present information that can be obtained in that science, and to stand prepared to make further discoveries or to receive the discoveries of others. By cutting off all that part of the present system of education which forms but a waste of time, you will gain so much the more time for making fresh advances in the various Arts and Sciences. Of course, I do not expect that under my proposed system, one individual can become an adept in all the various branches of all the sciences—no—it would be still necessary that some individuals should confine themselves to one particular science, and some to another, as their peculiar abilities and dispositions might suggest, as the best means for a further and a quicker improvement and advance in the whole. It is sufficient that they all begin right, and waste no time about unmeaning and useless trash; but, by an assiduous application to their several branches, make the farthest possible progress.
That infinity of experiments which Chemistry opens to our view, and that infinity of subjects for examination in Natural History, makes it necessary to begin at those two sciences as early as possible. The elements of Chemistry, a knowledge of which is so essential in all the relations of life, might be simplified for an adaption to the meanest capacity, and even to that of children beginning to read, of which I have before pointed out two familiar instances, upon which a more enlarged explanation might be made, and to which a thousand others equally simple and instructive might be added. In Natural History what a vast field is open? wherein
"To teach the young idea how to shoot."
Here every thing both in the animal and vegetable world, which comes under the every day observation of the child, or even the grown person, might be familiarly described and explained in our school-books by a regular classification and arrangement. By such a system of education as this, the youth would instinctly and involuntarily read a useful lesson in every object that came within his view; his mind would be incessantly led to a contemplation of Nature, a knowledge of which can alone lead a man to true and substantial happiness. No part of matter would then escape the scrutinizing disposition of man, he would explore the ocean and the rivers, the mountain and the valley, the forest and the plain, the bowels of the earth and its atmosphere, and even the surface and atmosphere of other orbs to gratify his scientific and laudably insatiate curiosity. The blade of grass, the leaf, the tree, its fruit, the flower-bed with all its vivid tints and animating effluvia, with all the infinite variety both in the vegetable and animal world, would alike form matter for his scientific research, and objects for him to explore. Here in contemplating the stupenduous organization which constitutes animal and vegetable life in Nature's infinite variety, all varying, yet all connected by one common link, operating by one common cause, and to one common end, a successive production and decay, decay and production, the human mind might find an exercise as infinite, and have ideas stirred up equally stupendous. I cannot help exclaiming: This is the path of Nature: tread here, O Man! and be happy.
The works of Nature though infinite are strictly analogous, and human reason is produced by the same laws as every other natural product. The culture of the mind, by which human reason is produced, bears a strict analogy to the culture of the soil, by which we subsist In each Nature will produce to a certain degree, but the aid of art is necessary to produce a sufficiency, and to reach refinement and perfection. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we begin right, that all the ideas of our infancy and youth be founded in Nature, and that the poisonous effusions of Priestcraft be carefully weeded, and kept from our minds. We should guard our minds against those destructive enemies of human reason, the priests, as we would our fields and gardens against the destructive powers of the locusts, or similarly destructive insects and animals. Our interest and happiness is as much at stake in the one instance as the other, for the Priest is not content with destroying our happiness, but he must be also fed by our labour. He takes on an average an eighth of all our produce.
The children or the man might here learn that the organization of the vegetable is not less stupendous than that of the animal—that the life and the death of the vegetable is as near alike the life and the death of the animal as that the life and the death of any two animals of a different species are alike each other—that there are animal-vegetables and vegetable-animals, or living substances, in life and vegetation, that partake both of the properties of animals, and vegetables—that this is an evident link between animals and vegetables which unites them in the great chain of nature—that they exist by the same cause, for the same purpose, and to the same effect, He might also learn, that the organization of the smallest insect and animalcule is equally stupendous with the organization of man himself; that it is alone from a peculiar organization that the different animals have the power of uttering so many different sounds, and that man is indebted to the power of uttering a greater variety of sounds for his gift of speech, and for a greater degree of reason, than any other animal possesses, as its consequent. Let the child, or the man even, be taught to reason in this manner, and he will soon feel himself humbled down into his proper sphere in the scale of Nature. He will leave off all the mad tricks which now daily and hourly occupy his time, he will occupy his time by a self and social improvement, and will perceive that a study of Science can alone lead him to true happiness.
Why might not the Linuean system of classification, arrangement, and description, both of animals and vegetables, with all the improvement which has already been made, or which might be made in future, upon that system, be taught in our schools to children? What can be more simple, more amusing, or more useful, and more instructive? What other system of education can be so well calculated for a proper expansion of the juvenile mind? How much more advantageous to society would such a system of education be, connected with a knowledge of Chemistry, Astronomy, Geography, Geometry, and the Mathematics, than all that lying and stupifying lore about religion and its offspring; for the support of which mankind are so excessively robbed? If religion be a word that has any substantial definition, or if it be a proper word, and can be made applicable to Nature in its meaning, or the action it indicates, I have no hesitation to say, that the System of Education which I now propose forms the basis of the only true, the only rational religion. The word religion implying a fixed faith or belief, and having its etymology in the Latin verbreligo, to bind fast, there can be no true, no just, no rational religion, but that which applies to something we can comprehend, and which has its foundation in Nature and her laws. We cannot strictly speaking fix our faith on a phantom, unless we admit faith itself to be but a phantom of the mind, yet such is the pretence of all those who make so much clamour about the word religion. A study of Nature and her laws, alone forms any substantial faith or religion. This study I would make the basis of all education, to the exclusion, or explosion, of all the remaining mythological nonsense of the day.
Arithmetic, Geometry, and the Mathematics, being taught in figures, admit no change in the system of teaching, or at least in the medium: the same might be said of Algebra, which has the simplicity of the alphabet for its medium for instruction and practice. This forms the only part of education that the priests have not corrupted, and the reason is because they could not; and these figures being above their reach to corrupt or destroy will prove their overthrow. The science of the Mathematics has given a fatal blow to Priestcraft, and this science, connected with Astronomy, was the first which, began to undermine the dogmas of all priests. The science of Chemistry has come to its aid, by proving that matter is indestructible and imperishable, and must have existed as it now is, to all eternity as to the past, and will exist as it now is, to all eternity as to the future. The sciences of Physiology and Zoology have convinced us that the organization of the animal called man, is not more wonderful than that of every other animal and vegetable, nor is he of more importance in the scale of Nature. All that can be said of him is, that he is superior in mental strength to any other animal, and his superiority over the lion, the tiger, or the elephant, is not more than the superiority of those animals over the lesser beasts of the forest. Man only possesses the highest degree in the rank of animals. It is high time to teach man what he really is in the scale of Nature, and no longer allow him to play such fantastic tricks as he does play, by pretending to be something beyond other animals, and to possess supernatural and immortal powers of existence. Man has nothing but the dogmas of superstition in support of his future sensible existence—these dogmas are false and wicked impostures. No appeal can be made to Nature in support of them. Man, as a part of a whole, or as an atom of matter, is immortal, but with whatever he might amalgamate after his frame has passed its dissolution, and has evaporated like a dunghill, or a bed of rotten vegetables, that atom can retain no sense of a former existence. The system of Pythagoras would have been strictly true and rational, if he or his disciples had not imagined a sense of former existence, or that an animal under one shape could retain a sense of his existence under a former shape, although the two might form two distinct animals of a different species. Pythagoras, and his followers, have erred only on this point. I would bring the whole race of mankind back to a conviction that they exist to no other purpose, and by no other cause than every other animal and vegetable. Let mankind be once sensible of this important fact, and they will cease to persecute, to harass, to rob, and to destroy each other. They would then make the best use of their time, and view their animal existence but as a moment in the space of eternity. They would sedulously endeavour to increase the sum of human happiness, and lessen the sum of human misery, and this alone would form the first and the last object of their wish and existence Let our youth be educated upon this basis, and let even grown persons, re-educate themselves in the same manner, and we shall soon see mankind in its proper character. That character will be the opposite of what it is at present. The representative system of government will be found to be the only necessary government amongst them, and the chief part of legislation will consist in an advancement of the Arts and Sciences.
I have now completed the task which I set out by promising, and whatever reception my address might find among Men of Science, I feel assured that I have misstated nothing, and that nothing which it contains can bear contradiction. I neither fear the critic or the caviller upon the ground-work of my address. I have performed a task which I have many months had in view, and the more I have considered the subject, the more I have felt its importance. I submit the whole, not to the prejudices of the bigot or the priest, but to the clear impartial judgment of Men of Science. I have kept much within bounds in noticing the advanced state of Science, and I feel assured that what I have recommended can be easily and immediately reduced to practice. The breath of Philosophy is now sufficiently strong to puff out the glimmering superstition of Priestcraft. The Philosopher should no longer bend the knee to this or any other corrupt power. There is a keen public appetite for philosophical truths. I feel satisfied that I have the daily thanks of thousands for rescuing their minds from the horrible dogmas of Superstition and Priestcraft. I have so strong an assurance of the rapid decay of superstition, and the powerful effect of the books and pamphlets which I have thrown into the social system, that no persecution, no punishment, no fines, shall deter me from proceeding to the utmost of my power and abilities. I am happy to see others following in the same path, as I rather court assistance and emulation than dread it. I am ever pleased at the extensive circulation of those publications to which mine are exposed, as it is of the first consequence to stimulate mankind to read, to examine, and to discuss the pretensions of all principles. The Bible Society might circulate its millions of books, and not a member of that society shall feel more pleasure at the circumstance than myself. I do not wish that any of my publications should fall into the hands of any individual, but he who can read the Bible, and who is fully acquainted with its contents, and all the dogmas which the priests of this country teach. It is on this ground that I wish to try the force of those principles which I advocate and no other. I feel assured that no impartial and disinterested man ever read a copy of
Thomas Paine's Age of Reason without having his faith shaken in the Christian religion, and if ever he has read Mirabaud's System of Nature he will find his faith shaken on the subject of all religion. He will see that the whole has arisen from one common fault—the ignorance and credulity of mankind.
For instance, when the use of the telescope and the advanced state of the science of Astronomy has given us ocular and mathematical demonstration, that every orb we see revolving in the wide and infinite expanse of space, and that each of that infinite number of orbs, which something more than hypothesis convinces us do revolve in space, corresponds with a portion of that solar system, of which our parent earth is a part, that they are guided by the same laws and composed of the same species of matter, by which we infer that they bear the same productions, does not the query arise in our minds, which must inevitably strike down the fabric of the Christian religion, that if it was essential for a Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, as old as his father, to pass through the virgin-womb of a woman, to be buffeted, scourged, and put to an ignominious death by a sect of superstitious bigots, who have constantly for the space of eighteen hundred years denied all knowledge of such a person, for the purpose of procuring the future happiness of those animals on this orb whom we call human, and their salvation from the eternal torments which he and his father had prepared for those who should reject them; was it not also essential, that this same Jesus Christ, this only begotten son of God, as old his father, should have submitted to a similar incarnation in a virgin-womb, and have been buffeted, scourged, and executed, as a criminal malefactor, according to the respective customs of treating such characters on the several orbs, or the peculiar part of them on which he might chance or choose to inhabit; was it not essential that he should have performed a similar mission for the similar salvation and future happiness of the several inhabitants or animals denominated human on each and every one of those orbs? Can any priest answer this question? The Man of Science I know will smile at it, and pity the credulity and ignorance of all who have believed, who do believe, or who may believe, such ridiculous nonsense. Then let him come forward and preach up his scientific knowledge, and silence the dogmas of the priest. It is reserved for the Man of Science to rid mankind of this horrid ignorance and credulity, and to impress upon their minds the all-important subject of scientific knowledge. Man does not naturally delight in ignorance and credulity, but he naturally strives to free himself from those vices. There is no truth that you can impress upon the mind of man, but what he will rejoice at feeling it to be truth, and himself undeceived as to former error. It is the interested hypocrite alone, that is alarmed at the progress and power of truth, he whose very trade is the known propagation of falsehood and delusion, the tyrants tool and scourge. All tyranny, oppression, and delusion, have been founded upon the ignorance and credulity of mankind. Knowledge, scientific knowledge, is the power that must be opposed to those evils, and be made to destroy them. Come forward, ye Men of Science, ye must no longer remain in the back ground as trembling cowards, ye must no longer crave protection from, and creep at the pleasure of, your direst foes; grasp at tyranny, at oppression, at delusion, at ignorance, and at credulity, and you shall find yourselves sufficiently powerful to destroy the whole, and emancipate both the mind and the body of man from the slavery of his joint oppressors.
The latter of the before-mentioned works is a most important one, and has hitherto passed through several editions without molestation by the Attorney General, or the Society for propagating Vice. Whatever they may attempt, it will defy the malice of either. Many other very important publications are now in full sale, and from the appetite which I find still exists for them, I have been induced to make this bold appeal to Men of Science, calling upon them to stand forward and vindicate the truth, from the foul grasp and persecution of Superstition; and obtain for the island of Great Britain, the noble appellation of the focus of truth; whence mankind shall be illuminated, and the black and pestiferous clouds of persecution and superstition be banished from the face of the earth; as the only sure prelude to universal peace and harmony among the human race.
DORCHESTER GAOL, MAY 1821.
Eighteenth Month of the Author's Imprisonment, and the Fourth Month of the Imprisonment of his Wife.