text:  That the inhabitants of distant countries should believe what they hear so constantly asserted cannot be a matter of much surprise; nor that the enemies of England and of order should credit what it suits their inclinations to believe; but that those who live close to the scene of such grievous inflictions--that those who are the fellow-subjects of the oppressed and who may be said to be the instruments whereby those enormities are perpetrated--should take for granted all they hear stated without endeavouring to discover the truth of those assertions or the extent of their own culpability does seem to us almost incredible