Remarks on the explanation, by Dr. Priestley, respecting the intercepted letters of his friend and disciple, John H. Stone. To which is added a certificate of civism for Joseph Priestley Jun / By Peter Porcupine [i.e. W. Cobbett].

  • William Cobbett
Date:
1799
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks on the explanation, by Dr. Priestley, respecting the intercepted letters of his friend and disciple, John H. Stone. To which is added a certificate of civism for Joseph Priestley Jun / By Peter Porcupine [i.e. W. Cobbett]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    at the fufpe&ed treachery of a miferable though perverfe old man, I (hall not pretend to determine ; but, if the reader will lend me his patience through a few pages, I pledge myfelf to prove, that what- ever fufpicion or alarms the Intercepted Letters were, in themfelves, calculated to excite, it ought by no means to be diminifhed by the “ fatisfac- tion” which the DoCtor has vainly attempted to give. But, before I enter on the explanation itfelf, I (hall beftow a minute or two on an infinuation, with which the cunning Sectary has thought proper to preface it, refpeCting the motives from which the letters were made public. His words are thefe : “ They [the Letters of Stone] were <c firft publifhed in England, with a view to render “ me obnoxious here.” No great degree of fagacity is requilite to enable us to difcover the objeCt of this defpicable com- plaint. The authenticity of the Intercepted Let- ters was too well eftablilhed to be (haken by any denial of his: no equivocation, no fubterfuge, would, on this fcore, have anfwered the lead pur- pofe ; and he therefore was driven to avail him- felf of a mifreprefentation of the views from which they were made public. Unable to contradict the fa£t, to deny the truth of the teftimony againft him, he endeavours to deaden its effcCt by complain- ing of the hard-heartednefs of his accufer: confci-