MURDERER'S MANUSCRIPT

NZ Truth, Issue 539, 16 October 1915, Page 6

MURDERER'S MANUSCRIPT

Warton'* Agnosticism.

Remarkable Reasons Written by

Himsolf.

With referenco to ttao letter printed below, it may bo explained that after his condemnation, the man Warton, having expressed a desire to see some one of the Brisbane Froothought Association, some of the former members of that body were communicated with, and as a result, Mr. J. O. Smith, tho wellj known coffee -stall proprietor, a forme* ' president of the association, called on Wortoa at the gaol and there ascertained that the latter desired some friend to Bocure publication of a letter he had written. This, Mr. Smith gladly agreed to arrange, and very Idndly handed the manuscript to "Truth," and it to hereunder reproduced, tho punctuation of tb« orl«ina.l being: accurately followed: BRISBANE PRISON, A.P. Dec'd llth July, '05. Supt. To Mr. J. G. Smith, < 21 Jessie-street, Petrie Terrace. Sir, — Being a prisoner condemned to death, I have received a visit from a member of your society, as a deputed member of your society, conveying sympathy and kindness for me m my distress. I thank you. As I Interpret what has boon snid to me you have cxprcMsod si winingncnn to do for me such hlmJnesu as 1 may BUggeM, and as may bo reasonably within your power. I am glad to accept your offer, and m asking you to give publicity to tho message I am herein sending* you, to suggest the »er- { vice that Is within your power to ren- ; dor. I am not about to lecture, or to j Imagine that, apart from what ts personal, I have anything to say that l« not already generally known. Hut I will be spoken of when I am gone, If not before: and however true much that will be said may be, much also will not bo jmld that is also truo. 4 I. have not the intention nor the desire* to supply what Is mliutln's;: and yet neverth*Utta, I would say a few brief last words for myself that no roan can say may net be true. 1 leave the world with a religious, moral and social ortu'd tlmt Is, 2 am sure, more than It xhould b« crude, chaotic and founded on mlHapprti'henwlon and Ignorance. Doubtless thore be here "withers that are unwrunp." But to the fullest extent of my ability unit power 1 hay*> plnrfd mys«ir at th« bar of »h«' »no»t honvHt judgment that 1 tun capable of. And. In the j»r<»jJ«m-<> of t3od—lf llifri* tin n tJod - and In iht« Mghl of f:iobi ( huvw rovlow^d my Uff, rti^jj by tfU'p and fact by fact from ii»fcradlu tvi thin uinr-. To uvciiu <-r ri*>if m my n*-n f^\'or I have trK»»l io i-rr,

if err I must, Ln my disfavor. If I am wrong m my judgment I cannot help it; I have done the best that I am capable of. And I go hence with this In my' heart and on my lips, to abide with it the judgement—if it be so — of the next world. I cannot stop by the way now — the time is much too short — to attempt the riddle of the ways of God or Nature to man, or the perplexing and damnable riddle of, the way of God or Nature, to say nothing of man, to me. That the conscience of a man should be regarded as a something divine, divinity implanted, and a link between him. and God; and that there should be no other link, and no other gift, and all else a complete practical denial and negation of any tie, or regard, or right, or sympathy seems a startling contra- ! diction, m the scheme of the moral uni- ] verse. What is there m the world to tie a man down to the duty and responsibility of right acting and living? It is not "conscience," for before conscience must come a sense of relationship with the human or the divine, or both, and if that sense, or the reason for it, exists conscience will justly, and m proportion, tie a man to what then becomes his duties and responsibilities. But to leave that sense wanting — not supplied — from either source, is to leave an engine -without steam. You may, If you will, break up the engine as useless, but at least do not condemn it with any harsher judgment. I have been told recently by an expert, a clergyman, that man has a dual i nature, God being m his heart; and this is the man's obligation, the mainspring force that turns him to rightacting and living. But the edge of simple facts cannot be turned; there are men m whose hearts and minds and constitutions God never had a place from infancy to old age. And if so, that mainspring is absent; and the absence seems to be as much a matter of ordinary course and circumstances and- chance as the absence of health, or wealth, or ability, or genius, or any other fortuitous happening of his place m the world. For instance, and this is one key-note of this letter to you. God was never, as a companion, a friend, a master, or a guide m my heart When I was an infant, and a child, and a boy. He was not there as a Divine Father, or a Providence, or a Moral Governor, or as a saving or helping God m any recognisable sense. As a dog under the Tivisector's knife dumbly wonders why his house of life should be so outraged and invaded, so have I wondered at the cruel desertion, all my life long of my Creator! If His presence is — : as we are told — accorded to | man as a birthright or a gift my need was greater than the need of most, for | m denying me this He (or tho laissez faire that after all seems to be left to |be tiie ■ ruler of the world's affairs) took from me ruthlessly and with unsparing hand every other saving, help- I ing and humanizing influence. Sty mother was taken from me -when I was a tiny child, and my father was — what ho was. I think of him with aversion and condemnation and dream of him even now with fear. His wife, my stepmother was — also what "she was. The gift of a good fat) • and loving mother is, It may be, ..jm God! it means also, the gift of much that endures till the eyes are closed m a kindly death, and afterwards. But it is sometimes denied, and God and the State acquiesces m any and all consequences of the denial. Fools, brutes or friends are given, also It may be from God, Instead: "a stone for bread," "a serpent for a fish." And the road to hell for the child, the boy, the youth is not recognised or realised by the man until It is late, and usually too late. "The Creator" says some wise philosopher with winkers on "keeps his word with us." Then if He does it should be, and must be, apparent. But by Heaven! some of vs — and I for one — must be mad for not seeing it. And another winkered oracle, Carlyle, speaks of the "want of loyalty to the Maker of .tho Universe." Well. I for one believe that the Maker of the Universe would Himself be loyal. And loyalty must be part of a contract, and there must be some reciprocity between tho Creator and even the creature. Is "loyalty" to be only on the one side? And with it such a breach of contract as "poverty, hunger and dirt." ignorance, suffering, weakness, loneliness, God-for-sakeness, and, from the cradle to the grave, and want and the denial of everything that makes life worth having, or worth acceptance at . tho hands of God. - God, or the nature of things to which also we are expected to be loyal, has made these things, and all these things, and always all these things my Creditor account; and I know of almost nothing on the other side. If I have ever had any chances ln life they have been few, and hard to hold. Testing all this, while the last sands are running, by memory, oxparience, and what I mean for — and believe to be — honest and responsible judgment I believe tho statement to be true. Nowhere can 1 reasonably say: — Here, find here hath God helped me, Hens, and here hath man helped me. And yet I am sorry for the evil life that has been the fruit of so evil a grift of lift*. It is hard — who can say it U not — for me to repent while 1 remember and realise how destitute I have been of every ray of love human or divine; of regard, of con*, of generosity, or* — us It seems to my Imperfect judgment — Justice; of anything to generate the smallest glimmering of contrition; yet I am sorry. And I do not say only, or m the greatest measure, that I am sorry for myself: although surely I have a right to be. I must have a right to bo sorry that the duties and rcsponttibilitlcs of life were thrust "jpon me with-' everything that could stood to mako performance unlikely, and even impossible. I am sorry for others that I liavo Injured. 1 will not say that no man vraa ever Borry for mo before I bad sinned, or after; but I will say that If man — like God — had not failed me m my need my responsibility would now bo greater than 1 am able to feel that it is. But I am willing to era»o evory word thai I lmve written except this, that 1 rupont of tho evil that I have done. I am Borry. When I have uaid all else 1 will return to that I <Jo not repudiate r&jipon.s!bU!ty or guilt; m »plr»> of all that I have said my judgment upon inyaelf lias not Mono ho, and will not do ao. But howTUfncult ll Ik to recohcllo my responsibility to Ooil ant) man ami my repentances, with tho IniliflVrunce of God and man to nto. It should be dinicult to expect vlrluo from lxion on his wheel, from TunUiluK m hiu loneliness and suffering, and In ItlH just but never satisfied want*. After all. man In Judged ln this world by Modal law, and It Is not equal, or a tru«? Social law. Wo talk of moral law. m lt»t'lf &ml »« tho foundation of nodal law, anu we think that by Oilk moral law Wtt Judge each other; but r wondor If It bo not true to my that we force each other to follow thr primeval lmHlnctK of our iiuuim, tin. natural law thai catni' to man bfforo Un« moral law; ami th»»u Imjiriton uiul hunt: each other for doing bo. What 1 have- Kilil of mytuMf I havo naid, and b«lt«vt«, nay know, to ,b«j true. l^l them? that judca m<> wlicn I ;i in j;ono ilo ho; th«-y do :»o m ih- llklu. or <]iirkm*»K, »Ot of what Hu-y know i.iv » f what Uu-y hfSir, I havi. i,o; r ut<u ) h-iv a biography, or any part or on-. ! I twil <tinl<»ni \o lr? lh;i\, m u« rtjltl- ! plehn'jy*, !!«» within tn» Knowing* ami , ji! !,;<n"f(l of ;*»iot)i<T ali'll"«. «• than U><- ! tor I h;iv»' now done with for i.<vi.-r. Hut: