And as to the persons that compose their societies, it is notorious that the great bulk of them are young men and women, who are attracted solely by the pleasures and amusements which are there held out to them; and the remainder consist either of persons of bad moral character, or men of unsettled religious views, as atheists, unbelievers, the followers of Johanna Southcote, etc.; or, where any have joined them who were once attached to other bodies, or were professed believers in the doctrines of revelation, they are, almost without a single exception, persons whose practices did not accord with their profession—“men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith,” 2 Tim. iii. 8. And, although it is not fair nor honourable to charge either the sentiments, or the practices of particular individuals upon a whole body, or even to lay them to the account of the system which they profess; yet, when those sentiments and practices can be shown fairly to arise out of the system: and moreover, when they are neither disavowed nor discountenanced by the body generally, nor by those persons that may fairly be considered as representing the body, there can be nothing wrong in adducing them as illustrations of the nature and the tendency of the system which produces them. It is solely with this view that I bring forward the following facts, for the truth of which I can vouch:— “A man named —, of —, the clerk of the socialists at —, and a clever lecturer, who was once a missionary, is of so abandoned a character, that nearly at the time of his marriage with one female, he had an illegitimate child by another; and he threatened, if a certain person, —, of — opposed his marriage, he would shoot him.” Another person, the editor of a periodical which supports the views of Mr. Owen, and one of the champions of their cause, is charged publicly by the author of a pamphlet entitled, “Truth without Mystery, mixture of Error, or fear of Man,” with seducing his own wife’s sister: nor has the charge, as far as I can learn, been in any shape denied, or attempted to be disproved. And not only is he not disowned, but is still continued as an acknowledged and recognised supporter and expounder of their principles. Another man, who was once a preacher, is now a warm advocate of socialism, and has given a clear illustration of the kind of morality which may be expected, if the principles of this system should become at all general; for he has lived already with not less than eight or ten women in succession.