But, if man from his birth has an evil principle within him, (I would call it a depraved nature,) then Mr. Owen’s principles, however much they may modify and change the external character, will not avail in changing the heart. His system will no more produce the results which he promises, the paradise of joy which he pictures before his followers, than have the systems of the old world. And, therefore, he is only amusing and deluding those that attend to him with pleasing dreams which can never be realized. If this, however, were all, it would not much matter; he might be left to pursue his course undisturbed; but when it is known that the effect of his system, whatever may be his design, is to take off the mind from everything but what is connected with his earthly paradise, and so cause it to neglect, and even despise everything connected with eternity and everlasting life, and the happiness of the principle which never dies, it would be, not only a dereliction of principle, but also a want of love to one’s species, not to lift up the voice against him, and endeavour to warn such persons of their fatal error, and the destructive consequences which must, and will inevitably ensue. But another fundamental principle of Mr. Owen’s system, as expressed in the 2nd and 3rd Fundamental Facts, and 13th Law, is, “Man is compelled by his original constitution, to receive his feelings and his convictions independently of his will;” and “his feelings, or his convictions, or both of them united, create the motive to action called the will, which stimulates him to act, and decides his actions;” and “each individual is so organized that he must believe according to the strongest conviction which is made upon his mind:” the plain meaning of which is, that man is not accountable for his belief, neither ought he to be considered accountable for his actions; and which, indeed, Mr. Owen does not leave his readers to deduce from his principles, but which he himself explicitly states. Thus, he says, “Man cannot be bad by nature, and it must,” therefore, “be a gross error to make him responsible for what nature and his predecessors have compelled him to be.” (Book of the New Moral World, p. 54.) That man is not accountable, that he can think as he likes, and act as he pleases, without being amenable, either to God or man, for his thoughts or his actions, is a doctrine which will well accord with the wishes of all those who feel the idea of God and judgment a restraint upon their conduct, and human laws oftentimes a barrier in the way of indulging their evil desires. And it is lamentable to think how many, even of this description of persons, there are to be found in the world.