A Letter Addressed to The King, by Thomas Thrush, on Resigning his Commission as a Captain in the Royal Navy, on the Ground of the Unlawfulness of War. From the London Edition. Cambridge: Printed by Hilliard and Metcalf. 1825. 24 printed pages.
In 1823 Wellbeloved, a Unitarian Lawyer, defended Captain Thomas Thrush, a
Unitarian naval officer who, after his conversion, publicized pacifist
principles. The strategy of his opponent, Archdeacon Francis Wrangham, was to
attack and destroy his adversaries' reputations. Wellbeloved made no
counterattack on Wrangham, but answered the charges reasonably with learning
and modesty. It was generally agreed that Wellbeloved had the better of the
dispute. He wrote to Wrangham, "If, in vindicating the doctrines you have
so bitterly opposed, and the characters you have so wrongly aspersed, there has
been any thing in my manner needlessly harsh and offensive; if I have been
betrayed into any thing unbecoming a scholar and a Christian, here avow my
sincere regret, and tender a willing apology. And if I have, in any instance,
misapprehended your words, and attributed to them a meaning which they will not
bear, or which you did not design them to express; or if I have fallen into
errors of any other kind, I require only to be convinced, in order publicly to
acknowledge and correct them."
The public sided entirely with Wellbeloved. The Rev. Sydney Smith, a
well-known Anglican vicar, remarked that if he had a cause to gain, he would
fee Wellbeloved to plead for him and double-fee Wrangham to plead against him.
A pamphlet with retained sewing, some foxing and staining with some paper edge loss but otherwise in good condition. A rare item!!! Good luck bidding, no reserve!!
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