Guy A. Aldred Archive
Written: 1912.
Source: RevoltLib.com
Transcription/Markup: Andy Carloff
Online Source: RevoltLib.com; 2021
Carlile was unexpectedly released from the Compter in -1833, after the Government of the day had sent three warrants to the governor of the jail ordering his release, the third of which removed the two sureties he had been ordered to find in £250 each, and a heavy personal fine that had been imposed, so that the Government had yielded on the two most important points of his indictment. The Sunday subsequent to his release, both Carlile and the Rev. Robert Taylor made their reappearance at the Rotunda, receiving an enthusiastic reception from an audience of over 2,000 people, this being their last appearance at this hall of free discussion, which was leased on the succeeding day to an actor named Davidge. This worthy, in an announcement to the public referring to the change of management, “hoped that they would congratulate themselves on the remarkable advantage a first-class theater would be to them over this sink of profligacy, etc., etc., which had been a focus for the concentration of the worst characters, from whence had emanated the most demoralizing and destructive doctrine both in religion and politics, etc., etc., operating at once as a shock to the good sense, good feelings, and as a serious detriment to the interests and comforts of the entire neighborhood, etc., etc.” The public interest awakened, Mr. Davidge, with an eye to further business, wrote a private letter to Carlile, offering to sell him the lease of the City Theater, formerly a chapel, for £600, with immediate possession, the rent being £200 per annum, and the period of lease unexpired being about sixteen years. Carlile published both the public announcement and the private letter in The Gantlet.
The authorities now turned their attention to preventing him speaking in the open air, claiming that none but licensed clergymen were entitled to the then privilege which we claim to-day as a right. Accordingly he found that it was only necessary to profess a belief in God, and to pay 2s. 6d. to the authorities, in order to obtain this cheap honor of “reverend” prefix. The decision to act in this manner, and the consequent juggling with terms involved, marked a lamentable sacrifice of principle on the part of one from whom such a sacrifice was least expected. It is given to none, however, to always do the right thing; and what with Carlile was a lamentable exception, with many another reformer might have proved the rule. Thus let us think of his weaknesses, for his strength of character has earned of posterity the drawing of " the veil over his faults. Nor was his compromise on the present any reflection on his courage, since, in the year following his release, he was arrested for refusing to pay his church assessment rates, and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, fined 40s., and ordered to find sureties for good behavior for three years in £200. This, however, Carlile refused to do, and, being once more sent to the Compter, was released four months later, having yet again defeated the intentions of his captors. This marked the end of his imprisonments, the total time that he had served being nine years seven months and one week.
With Isis (Eliza Sharples) he made a lecturing tour of the country, in the course of which their six-months-old baby-boy died from small-pox, after the death of whom the bereaved parents leased a pretty house at Enfield. “The place,” wrote their daughter, Hypathia, many years ago, though not large, had a nice garden and many fruit trees, with a fine spreading yew on the front lawn, under which tea was often served in fine weather. Here they lived for seven years, and here their two daughters (Hypathia and Theophila) were born, Julian having been born at 62, Fleet Street. The many years of imprisonment had seriously affected Carlile’s lungs, and had developed a family tendency to asthma. This, with the fogs and dampness of the usual London winter, made it almost impossible for him to breathe in the city's atmosphere. He was almost well at Enfield, but whenever he was called to London to lecture, or on any other business. he would suffer agony until he got back to the country again. Unfortunately. these calls were frequent, and often required forty-eight hours in bed to overcome their effects, and Isis had frequently to take his place on the rostrum. But he was not idle by any means. In the summer months he made extended trips to the leading towns of the island, and in the winter he wrote much, always with a good grate-fire in his room, for he could not live without a good fire, being so very sensitive to changes of temperature.”