Letter To Sir Samuel Shepherd

Upon the Subject of his Prosecutions of Richard Carlile for Publishing Paine's 'Age of Reason'

The progress of liberal opinion has been very rapid, indeed, of late years; and though Judges and Attorney-Generals, whose daily pursuits, certainly so unfavourable to liberal and comprehensive reasonings, are generally among the last persons to shake off antiquated prejudices, yet they too, however slowly, will, unquestionably, at last, be borne down by the tide of public opinion. - Excerpt from Letter to Sir Samuel Shepperd.