A Letter to Sir Samuel Shepherd, Knt., His Majesty's Attorney General Upon the Subject of His Prosecutions of Richard Carlile, for Publishing Paine's Age of Reason

In the years after the French Revolution, a London printer was tried for publishing Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason. The work begins with a pointed letter to Attorney‑General Sir Samuel Shepherd, setting up a clash between state authority and the right to question religious doctrine. The author, a committed advocate of free speech, casts the prosecution as part of a self‑styled Society for the Suppression of Vice. He vows a vigorous defence that attacks the era’s legal conventions.

He argues that allowing three Crown pleadings against a single defence is a clear injustice. He accuses the judge of acting as the Crown’s advocate, interrupting the defence and barring the reading of larger passages of the contested work. By pointing out inconsistencies in earlier blasphemy trials, he shows how the courtroom can become a tool of censorship. The tone is learned yet urgent, inviting listeners to hear a passionate plea for reason and legal fairness.