The Battle of The Press

He compiled a chronological table of the principal freethinkers of the last three centuries, a galaxy of names that adds lustre to the pages of literature, science, poetry and reformed religion. These tables show considerable research. He was also a poet of no mean order, and Carlile published many pieces of his.

The following short specimen does equal credit to his heart as to his talent.

"TO RICHARD CARLILE

"Read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest.
When honest virtue sinks beneath the arm
Of tyrant power, when terror and alarm
Stalk o'er the country with gigantic stride,
And hungry, dismal want spreads far and wide;
When Liberty, long harassed and oppressed,
Prepares to leave the land she once caressed;
When patient labor, too, may yield its toil
That fools may live, or quit its native soil;
Shall I be silent and my voice refuse,
And smother in my breast the sacred muse?
Oh! no, I own I feel her power inspire
And fill my soul with Freedom's sacred fire.
Oh! that my pen could pierce the coward's heart,
Who dar'd confine thy limbs, Carlile.   I smart —
My soul does smart – whene'er I think of thee,
Thou dear devoted Son of Liberty!
But droop not thou; in Britain still are men
Will wake to Liberty, thy mighty pen
Has rent the mask away and thousands see
Corruption in its own deformity.
Then droop not thou! we yet shall sweep away
The juggling fiends who bar the light of day.

    "Julian Hibbert."
To which the following was added by Carlile: —

"I will not droop! but sweep away
The juggling fiends who tax and pray,
And though in jail with limbs confin'd,
I still am free in soul and mind!"

"Julian Hibbert to ye Invincible Richard Carlile.

"Health and tranquillity!

"Thanks for your kind note. I am surprised to hear that you are already free. I thought that the Whigs would have detained you another half year for your rejection of a mere formality. However, as it is, you (and Admiral Napier) have dared more than you ought, and have been gloriously successful – though rashly.

"I hope that now you will turn over a new leaf, i.e., that you will cease to insult the Unions, and to applaud the Duke of Wellington. Leave to the Times newspaper the inglorious task of trampling on the low and exalting the powerful. You are at present the most unpopular man in existence. But you are in the prime of life and full of vigor. You may, therefore, if you choose, as easily write yourself up, as during the last few years you have been writing yourself down. If you want any more of this disagreeable advice, you will call on me whenever you may happen to pass this way. I am most generally here between four and five p.m., but sometimes I am so ill that I do not come to London for a week at a time. Farewell, and try to be more a friend to committees which are the essence of republicanism.

"30 West Norton Street,

"Friday, 9th August, 4 p.m."

The munificence of Julian Hibbert to Carlile as the advocate of Freethought, etc., excelled that of anyone else, though there were many instances of bountiful generosity which might be related. In the ten years or so of their personal acquaintance, Mr. Hibbert gave to Carlile for the cause sums amounting to £7,000 (nearly $35,000). On visiting Carlile in prison one day, the conversation turned upon the fact (which had just been published) of a political leader having been presented with a cheque for £1,000 by his supporters, Mr. Hibbert, saying that it ought not to be said that the advocates of Freethought were less generous to their exponent, sat down and wrote a cheque for the same amount, which he handed to Carlile. This most generous man and most dearly beloved friend died at the age of thirty-four, after a very short illness. His death was supposed to have been caused by a ruffianly verbal attack made upon him by Charles Phillips, a magistrate, who was presiding at a trial to which Mr. Hibbert had been subpoenaed, and was in consequence of Mr. Hibbert's avowal of being an Atheist, when called on to swear upon the Bible. Phillips was known as one of the most ruffianly and ungentlemanly of presiding magistrates, and many stories are extant of his abusive manners. Julian Hibbert, though a giant mentally, was of a peculiarly delicate constitution, and the attack really killed him. He lived but a very few days afterwards. Carlile grieved long and deeply for this dear and sympathetic friend who had stood by him through all his sufferings and weary imprisonments, and in a burst of grief and sorrow at the news of his sudden death, bewailed him as the great, the god-like Julian Hibbert.

Lines written on the death of Julian Hibbert.

"There was praise of the good from the lips of the just,
And Julian it taught us to know thee;
To prize what we held and to feel what we've lost,
And to scan the huge debt that we owe thee.

"There are none could have heard with an unmoistened eye,
That most simple and eloquent story,
Which told us of virtues, so rare and so high,
That we paused to admire and deplore thee.

"Oh thine was the spirit and thine were the deeds,
Which told us of hope, light, and promise,
We talked not of dogmas, we thought not of creeds,
We but felt what a heart had gone from us."

Joseph Harris.

The Joseph Harris mentioned in several of the letters of Isis and of Carlile was one of the volunteer shopmen who received a sentence of six months' imprisonment; he again served them when prosecution had well-nigh ceased, but was fined and locked up for one night during the Church tithes trouble. Harris was, like all the other young men who volunteered, an exceedingly intelligent, upright and moral man, and he endeared himself to Carlile and Isis by his upright conduct and exemplary manners. He was of a studious habit, and Isis took great pleasure in assisting him with his studies; he became to her as a brother in the confidence she reposed in him, and he in turn gave to her and all of the name of Carlile his best friendship and assistance in time of need. It was to Joseph Harris Isis turned in her widowhood for advice and sympathy, and received such as a loving brother might give to a sister.

Some time after Carlile's death Harris entered into the London Post Office service as a letter-carrier, and by dint of pure merit rose step by step till he came to-occupy the position of paymaster – a most responsible post – which he held for several years.

Later on he went to America and was elected to-the State Senate of Wisconsin in 1863; he had been a newspaper man before that time, publishing a paper called the Advocate. The life work of Mr. Harris was the promoting and carrying through of the Sturgeon Bay Canal, and is best known in this connection. To-this work he devoted many years of his life, and almost every dollar he had. He was librarian to the United States Senate for eight years, and was special agent for the Impeachment Committee that was organised against Andrew Johnson, President of the United States. Later in his life he was private secretary to Senator Sawyer of Wisconsin. In all these offices he conducted himself as a strictly moral and upright citizen. In every sense a worthy specimen of the sort of young men who earned the name of being pupils and followers of Carlile. This testimony to his noble and superior qualities is given by one who has his history almost from birth.

Gratitude and respect for Joseph Harris is compulsory, for he was indeed the widow and orphan's friend. As he helped Isis and her fatherless children, so he helped the widow and nine orphans of Carlile's eldest son Richard, when he died on shipboard, or rather in hospital, on his return to America after visiting London in 1855.

Mrs. Sarah C. Chichester and Mrs. Welch.

The "West Country friends" to whom Carlile so frequently alluded to in his letters to Turton, sometimes calling them "My Gloucestershire friends", the "Ebworth ladies", and "My lady friends", were two very highly connected ladies, sisters, and both widowed. They were Mrs. Sarah C. Chichester and Mrs. Welch, grandnieces of the Archbishop of York. They were great admirers of Carlile and his principles, and sent him large sums of money to assist him in his various enterprises. They first commenced a correspondence with him under the assumed name of "Clay", but afterwards revealed their identity and invited him to their home, where he spent several happy weeks on different occasions. Isis was, too, a favorite friend and guest, and for some years a constant correspondent. These generous friends always urged Carlile on in his public work, assuring him that they would provide for his wife and family, should he be unable to leave them a support, and an allowance of £200 a year was agreed upon, but for some reason or other this money never reached Isis, possibly through the dishonesty of their chosen agent. These were the ladies who furnished the money to start Bronson Alcotts Concordium at Ham Common, near Richmond, and they sunk large sums of money in that venture, which did not prove a success. Many letters are extant to show how close was the friendship existing between these ladies and Carlile and Isis. Mrs. Welch also made some provision for Carlile's three children in her will, but this provision, like the £200 a year, did not mature. It goes to prove, however, that Carlile's friends were among the best people in the country. These ladies were advanced thinkers, always ready, too, to accept any new thought or help on any new project, and were humanitarians in the largest sense of the word.

I extract the following from Carlile's letters to Turton: —

"June 22nd, 1837.

"Some unknown lady has sent me £30 from Gloucestershire in sympathy for my loss in the Phoenix."

"September 20th, 1837.

"Did I tell you that my West of England friends had sent me another handsome remittance before I left, and still promise future good? Mrs. Carlile has been put in fine spirits and is delighted at this."

"Manchester, September 30th, 1857.

"My new friends remitted me £35 for my present excursion."

"December 8th, 1837.