1 10 23 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/493cd2fd747fae6d0ab7e3041be59340.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=fLeqFB0nHPMWlefdv3ZuBt-CXMdQhkTzabWt96tfpo1eI-Y58qQX2uUutiL6N3WZiNlDPBYrVh2jBQolat5RAxeQD5GkF3EFt7xwxsUvccP9OHavE9eywwHhta5H9XHHChxlLFUx-Z6C-hMPAqFhFk8W2SZyRXGYGqiwhjEoApHQop9FfaCH-z%7Ev6WGkZch6iy7z3lT86DhGp9-vKgC2U0l5gNFK0wx%7EIdmm2niKmk9FJE8c0dF471x-mFUaD8Ot0WQMmFxDstnIhLwBNz1KZkTnz2QqGYBnYGAfhkfdzyIchM8IjWN%7EZPNjMZDMvKopetBWAQv7AS49EtfcTxjzEw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM b84329ee442258d2215a4cffb3a79735 PDF Text Text Ji_ - '■ X*; ■ft Ar * ’ J ■ '^'4 ~*>Wilrf>> ■! i’’'' Mt "Finsbury Chapel, South Place, t”. February 17, 1864. » *v 4 My ' z &. M .Ju ■?- ,x.' F **j . **The Committee of South-Place Chapel beg respect- fully to inform you that Mr. M. D. Conway, of Boston, United States, has undertaken to conduct the Morning Services for/ihe next six months continuously, and they invite your Renewed cooperation with them in maintain- A. ing these Services. South-Place Chapel having been ori­ ginally constituted as a place where the freest Religious Thought then* reached might have unrestrained utterance, a majority of the members have, from time to time, suc­ cessfully combated every attempt to reduce them to a merb sect; and the Committee cannot doubt but that their success hitherto is a guarantee for their future suc­ cess, especially at the present moment, when the test of unshrinking | criticism is applied to every dogma and every doctrine, however venerable, and when only what is True has |ny chance of permanent endurance*. ours truly, 4 $ J . , 1**% M. E? MARSDEN, f Ti rer. Treasur 4* a! '4 7 ** W y ** , < WU /? ���� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Letter giving notice of M.D. Conway's agreement to conduct South Place Chapel Morning Services] Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Marsden, Mark Eagles Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [London] Collation: I folded leaf. Notes: A notice of M.D. Conway's appointment signed M.E. Marsden, Treasurer, on behalf of the Committee of South Place Chapel dated February 17 1864. The blank side is a handwritten passage by Conway which is the beginning of his first sermon on his predecessor, W.J. Fox. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available South Place Chapel Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1864 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5576 Subject The topic of the resource Conway Hall Ethical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work ([Letter giving notice of M.D. Conway's agreement to conduct South Place Chapel Morning Services]), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Moncure Conway Sermons South Place Chapel https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/021c93ee0b9e631798ff0a2d42cfc5d5.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=N5eYNpdD3ssnRmNJOapIJ972iTPH7GkyMPypUkm0F9V-ItSEHI82xSOz9SBiovPcdv%7EGuOJK3s77X25sLeufmk8OOLCG1g6YrIiLrocdeat9N1y6%7EaAxeBR2qXF46hRyT2Pdn3hKEwRvvzkKVdhoLbPQluehvT3OB4uDHi0KKp0FVL7wAFWZp0tzU6YmNHLBco9YcrwNmkZs0zMn6Uu0ChCxowDT-SvzLpyzcAbYBiF-FE3G9MuOhAEZnM4KeMQRa3dujQXwv9wrF0hccD-PEUADS9DKV6zFCdnHW6MLn2Y273pvKU3umccX-2dHRpZaxUDcXA-7IBP491-R9uc9fQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 91bb9ceec1a60a6127bb918a642a1537 PDF Text Text South Place Chapel, Finsbury, June, 1884.. The Committee of South Place Religious Society have with much regret to announce to the Members the approaching resignation by Mr. CONWAY of his office as Minister of this Congregation. The Committee have deemed it their duty to immediately make the Members acquainted with Mr. CONWAY’S decision, and the reasons for it; which they have also felt would be much better conveyed in Mr. Conway’s own words than in any of their own selection. They therefore send to each Member a copy of Mr. Conway’s letter, which they commend to the most sympathetic consideration. It need only be added that a Special Meeting of the Society will be ■summoned in due time to consider how Mr. Conway’s ajHace can be supphmt? * with the best prospect of carrying on successfully the wrork to which he has for so many years devoted himself. [COPY OF LETTER.] London, May <yth, 1884. To the Committee of the South Place Religious Society. My Dear Friends, After much anxious thought, I have concluded to send you my resignation of the office I hold as Minister of the South Place Religious Society. The resignation is hereby made, to take effect at the close of the present year, 1884. I do not know that I should have done this so soon had not a paragraph appeared, unfortunately, in the press announcing my intention of returning to reside in America. How that paragraph reached the public I do not know, but suppose that some private conversation with a friend or relative in America must have passed from one to another until it fell on the ear of the New York paper which first gave it to the world. �However, the announcement—though I could have wished it first made through yourselves—was only premature. had already come considerations of a When I asked for the appointment of a colleague it before me as a probability, though I then hoped not so near, that personal nature would draw me back to my native land. My wife and I have both and equally endeavoured to prolong our stay in England, for the sake of our work in South Place, but have now made up our minds that we cannot remain in Europe longer than next year, if so long. If you should desire me to speak again at South Place in the earlier part of next year, and I am able to do so, my present resignation will not prevent it. Meanwhile, after August, the Society will again have the opportunity of listening to my colleague, to whom I have been looking, and still look, to commend himself to you as one able to carry on the work which I must leave. It is unnecessary that I should say more concerning the reasons that have impelled me to this decision, than that they are of a purely private and domestic character, and include no dissatisfaction with South Place or with the country in which I have so long and happily resided. My residence in England was neve^ pleasanter, -aryl mv relations with^^outh Place. _ so:**fer as I. Anow. happier-^Ahan present. The giving up of South Place will mean Blr me giving up the ministry altogether. I have no intention of ever again taking charge of a congregation. It seems a kind of death to leave the work to which twenty-one years, representing the heart of one’s life, have been devoted; and as the time of my departure draws near I trust it may be attended with kindly sentiments, and that I may have the con­ solation of passing away amid peace and friendship. Faithfully yours, MONCURE D. CONWAY. �i ;i»-JXt - ’.‘intra ’sali , 0: K,‘J -' �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource [Notice, June 1884, announcing Mr. Conway's resignation as Minister and copy of Conway's letter] Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource South Place Religious Society Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: [2] p. on folded sheet. Notes: Conway's letter of resignation date May 9th 1884. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1884 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5583 Subject The topic of the resource Conway Hall Ethical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work ([Notice, June 1884, announcing Mr. Conway's resignation as Minister and copy of Conway's letter]), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Hall Ethical Society Conway Tracts Moncure Conway South Place Religious Society https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/bdef040859356f963435a525b6d9d0ec.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=rF-2cYFs1DFSPO9JXLIjyP%7EzCNuAZvcVx1U0dmszADRslCz-lsAVmZ4j46Y5Qb1Z6TEbniQVe-w7IlYdHlpoHq3kjSlYyskMdXT2WZsarRtg%7EkbFJ%7Ewd4Z6vZGyiXO%7EUHwssGRzD-YT9It%7EVUW-iZwjvGhIWDXjLpAm-uYzTXeVIGx3i20JQkJVbROS3Ez8XzUxYVNuRFhVYkQNr5Qi5z7FZzwuZM1pkHvlz5woeAfb37a7GP78Ddx-6eGNYiD7uOiLWr5l7axeRrHHFonBesTfIyjf1yzTy7Rk-hdhlwbQqlXa%7Ec83RoXyTW%7E8Z8s292vTXeHNoN0pPQs7JHgyzvg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 7043a95697031fc4caadd4214ba5bc2c PDF Text Text A SKETCH AND AN APPRECIATION OF MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY FREETHINKER AND HUMANITARIAN An Address at the Paine-Conway Memorial Meeting of The Manhattan Liberal Club, January 31, 1908 BY EDWIN C. WALKER / . It is my conviction, that there is not one wrong, not one evil, moral or physical, in this great nation [England] which may not be traced to the root of a guarded superstition. That means that every belief, defended by law, involves human sacrifices. Did not man suffer by it, it would need no protecting law.—Conway, “Lessons for To-day.” PRICE, 15 CENTS Published by Edwin C. Walker, 244 West 143rd Street, Manhattan, New York City, May, 1908 ��NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY A SKETCH AND AN APPRECIATION OF MONCURE CONWAY FREETHINKER AND HUMANITARIAN An Address at the Paine-Conway Memorial Meeting of The Manhattan Liberal Club, January 31, 1908 BY EDWIN C. WALKER We must define intellect as that which emerges out of this conven­ tional mass; not indeed unrelated to it, but carrying its slumbering powers to conscious realization and effective action through indi­ vidual thought and will. Intellect must become individual that it may be universal. Conway, ‘‘ Intellectual Suicide.” PRICE, 15 CENTS Published by Edwin C. Walker, 244 West 143rd Street, Manhattan, New York City, May, 1908 �The scholar is not the retained advocate of the party that pays best. He is not the attorney for commerce, nor the professional casuist of those who would combine the advantages of conven­ tionality with those of simple truth. Better he should again be a hermit than dwell in society at the cost of honor. As yet, alas, though subtle as the serpent, our scholarship has also its double tongue, uttering now that which is true, next that which is sordid. From the day when Shel­ ley was banished from Oxford, no scholar has remained under the flag of the common Chris­ tianity save through a visible servility. But it is spiritual perjury! If we demand that the banker shall be honest in money matters, that the soldier shall be brave, that the judge shall be just, shall we be satisfied that he who is con­ secrated to Reason shall weakly or meanly part its sacred raiment among those who would fain trick out their lucrative creeds or customs with its divine sanctions? There is needed a Scholar’s caste, removed from the world of self-seekers; a brotherhood of those whose verdict is the dictate of absolute reason and rectitude; the fraternity of those who, amid a world that weighs eternal verities in their relation to gold and fashion, steadily say, “Unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united.”—“An English Sinai,” in “The Earthward Pilgrimage.” �In Apology This fragmentary and otherwise very imper­ fect sketch of the life and labors of Dr. Moncure D. Conway is offered only because there is no money to pay for the preparation and printing of anything more adequate. Nearly all of it ap­ peared first in The Truth Seeker, and the lino­ types have been held for several months in the hope that it might be possible to bring the ad­ dress out in a form more worthy of its subject than is this in which I am at last compelled to present it to you. Unless one commands almost unlimited re­ sources, it is practically impossible to bear the burden of the repeated corrections and resettings that are necessary in order to completely elimin­ ate the archaic English spellings upon which the printers insist, and work out the defective and wrong-font matrixes which careless workmen use over and over regardless of protests. So this must go out with many cumbersome spellings and numberless wrong-font letters and broken faces. Machine composition has its economic advantages, but its seemingly almost conscious antipathy to the use of necessary compounds, its often horrible division of words at the end of lines, and the faults in casting render it very trying to the nerves of the careful writer and the intelligent reader. �—4— There is no Conway bibliography extant, so far as I can discover. Of his works, a few are ac­ cessible in the New York Public Library. The Library of Congress has the largest collection, supplied by Dr. Conway himself. I shall be very glad to receive from any one who may read this, the title, date and place of publication, name of publisher, number of pages, style of binding, and other items of information concerning any book or pamphlet by Moncure D. Conway. Also, data refering to any magazine or newspaper article written by him. EDWIN C. WALKER, 244 West 143d Street, Manhattan, New York. �Moncure Daniel Conway Know’st thou not at the fall' of the leaf How the heart feels a languid grief, Laid on it for covering; And how sleep seems a goodly thing, In Autumn at the fall1 of the leaf? And how the swift heat of the hrain Falters because it is in vain, In Autumn at the fall of the leaf, Knowest thou not? and how the chief Of joys seems not to suffer pain? Know’st thou not at the fall of the leaf How the soul feels like a dried sheaf, Bound up at last for harvesting; And how death seems a comely thing In Autumn at the fall of the leaf? These perfect lines, written by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, set to music by his friend Dannreuther, and given to Dr. Conway in 1874 for incorporation in his “The Angel of Death/’ voice the some­ times mood in the closing years of‘ the life of this tireless worker for man. A Record of Struggles In the preface to his “Autobiography” (1904) Moncure Conway says: “The wisdom or unwisdom of a new genera­ tion must largely depend on its knowledge and �interpretation of the facts and forces that operat­ ed in the generations preceding, from which are bequeathed influences that become increasingly potent when shaped in accepted history. ... I have been brought into personal relations with leading minds and characters which already are becoming quasi-classic figures to the youth around me, and already show the usual tendency to invest themselves with mythology. ... A pilgrimage from pro-slavery to anti-slavery enthu­ siasm, from Methodism to Freethought, implies a career of contradictions. One who starts out at twenty to think for himself and pursue truth is likely to discover at seventy that one-third of his life was given to error, another third to ex­ changing it for other error, and the last third to efforts to unsay the errors and undo the mistakes of the other two-thirds.” We see that Conway realized, what many radi­ cals forget, that the past, present and future are links in a chain that cannot be broken, and that forgetfulness of this brings in its train individual and social peril and catastrophe. The value of memorial meetings and papers consists far less in eulogies of dead leaders of thought and ac­ tion than in summaries of their principles and pic­ tures of their environment, with the record of their struggles to inculcate those principles and modify that environment. In a word, history before worship. At the outset, I must indicate what I think is the relation of my part of this commemorative meeting to the parts taken by the other speakers.. It was not merely the great work done by Mon- �-7cure Conway in the rehabilitation of the fame of Thomas Paine, important as that work was, that made him so commanding a figure in the world of letters and in the Freethought party. Farther along, it will be shown that the love of justice and the service of it were the vital elements in the life of this friend and leader so recently dead. He could not bear to witness the neglect of worthy character and intellectual power; still less could he endure the misrepresentation of that charac­ ter and that mental energy. It was his love of justice—and with Moncure Conway justice was not simply a fair name with which men are prone to flatter, and disguise, if they may, their ven­ geance—it was this genuine love of justice that made him the biographer and vindicator of Paine, just as it had earlier led him to write his “Omit­ ted Chapters of History,” in order to take from the name of Edmund Randolph the stain of un­ deserved obloquy; it was this loathing for un­ truth and injustice that made him protest against the slander with which, through the centuries, the Christian world had clouded the reputation of Mary of Magdala. With Conway, “truth” was not an abstraction; it did not rnean'W truth,” something mystical and divinely given; it meant what science means by the word, the correspon­ dence of statement to fact. That which Conway did for Paine’s memory merges into and is a com­ ponent of the vastly greater whole of the labor of the nearly sixty years that followed the first steps he took as a youth, when he entered upon what he so aptly calls his “Earthward Pilgrim­ age.” Earthward, mind you; not “earth/v” in �—8— the theological sense of contumely. It was an Earthward Pilgrimage from the skies and the gods to the earth-home and to man, closer and closer, more and more powerfully drawn with every year of the too-quickly speeding existence. So my task is to say something of the immediate antecedents of this splendid man, to follow in un­ satisfactory haste that long trek from the fabled land's of angels and demons to this home of men and women and the children that renew them. There are two Pilgrimages here, that of the man whose activities objectively were concerned with the sufferings and joys of his kind; that of the mind that journeyed from error to partial truth, from one partial truth to another partial truth, until the moment when the golden bowl was shattered on the rocks of mortality. The “Scholar in, Politics ” Moncure Daniel Conway was one of our few splendid examples of the “scholar in politics,” and by “politics” I mean the affairs of men considered in their larger aspects, involving the rights and ac­ tivities of communities, states, nations, races, and world-embracing religious and secular federations. In the culminating years of the slavery struggle in America, he was intimately associated with nearly all the leading workers for emancipation; and with the progressive ministers and the great writers, men and women, of the country. During his thirty years ministry in London, he was at the centre of the intellectual and esthetic life of the generation, and touching hands with a multitude of the teachers of the preceding generation who passed off the stage in those three decades. Of �the great men of science of that period in Eng­ land, the leading statesmen, the eminent indepen­ dent clergymen, the poets, essayists, Orientalists, dramatists, tragedians, musicians, and wielders of brush and chisel, it is possible to name but few that he did not know well. With many, very many, of the most famous men and women of the age he was on terms of the closest confidence and cooperation. He knew the surviving exiles of ’48, the men of Germany and Italy, the French victims of Napoleon the Little, fugitive Commun­ ards, Russians who had come to London fortheir lives, East Indians who had made a like journey in search of the knowledge of the West, even as later he visited Asia on his “Earthward Pilgrim­ age” in search of the lore of the East. Of William Johnstone Fox, who for forty years had occupied the pulpit of South Place Chapel, where Conway spoke for thirty succeeding years, we read in Conway’s “Autobiography” (ii, 54): “He was for nearly twenty years the most famous orator in England; neither Bright nor Cobden could be compared with him; but in 1864, ten years after his public career had closed, the people generally who had idolized him hardly knew that he was living, and the new generation had no knowledge of him.” This should not be and I think will not be Conway’s fate, for while he was keenly alive to and untiringly active in movements for the settle­ ment of the “issues of his own time,” he was by no means limited to these in his thought and sympathies; a large part of what he wrote is rich in the elements of race-energy and potential �—IO---- growth that is not circumscribed by geography and time. Dominating Ideals Conway (Pilgrimage, 355) mentions the story that when Ralph Waldo Emerson first stood be­ fore the Sphinx she said to him, “You’re another.” Emerson was not a Sphinx in the sense that his lips were sealed, but in that they opened often for the utterance of contrarious transcendental­ isms. In the latter sense, Conway also was a Sphinx, for his positions could not always be harmonized, not even those of his later life. His emotional inheritances sometimes were at war with the conclusions of his studious and logical brain. But our retrospect of his whole mental existence must convince us that he never lost sight of the great and dominating ideals of his earlier years—peace, freedom, love, beauty, truth. The strongest fiber in his being was the love of peace; on its negative side, the hatred of war. Freedom was a goal to be kept ever in view, but it was not to be reached through bloodshed. He grasped firmly the Freethought standard, and it never touched the ground” in all his pilgrimage. Reason must settle all disputes; the wrongdoer is not to be killed', but directed from his evil ways through the enlightening of his mind and the quickening of his conscience. His consistent record as an opponent of war was the most prec­ ious possession of his old age, and the fear of smirching its whiteness, even in seeming, explains his repeated refusals to appear on a platform or at a banquet where there was the slightest danger that his presence might associate him in the pub- �—II— lie mind with any who advocate or condone the use of force in modern reform, or are erroneously supposed to assume that attitude. This he often told me, but it was not until I had carefully read his “Autobiography” and his “Pilgrimage to the Wise Men of the East” that I fully realized how imperative was the mandate he obeyed. Slavery he hated because it represented vio­ lence and pain; if war represented more of these, then war was the greater evil and liberty was not to be sought by sword and cannon. So he stood for peaceable secession as against blood-cemented union. An unshrinking and uncompromising apostle of his ideas, he was not an undiscriminating parti­ san as concerned persons. Whoever it might be from whom he must differ, whom he must criti­ cise, at the same time he never failed to indicate that person’s acceptable though^ never failed to concede his good qualities, to explain his taking a given attitude rather than to denounce him for that attitude. He would not deny to any one comradeship and opportunity because of race, because of nationality or lesser organization. With him, human, rights did not depend upon “belong­ ing” ; as a Freethinker who knew why he was a Freethinker, he held all badges and labels of exclusiveness and exclusion as symbols of servi­ tude and shame, as the stigmata of disgrace and degradation. He was tender, loving, emotional. Art in all its forms appealed to him far more strongly than did nature outside of man. He knew the com­ posers, singers, instrumentalists, painters, play- �---- 12---- house folk, wherever he went. The old Metho­ dist hymns never lost their charm, while the bare walls of the Protestant house of worship repelled. We catch many glimpses of the esthetic passion of the man. Here is one: It is a Sunday in Eng­ land with some distinguished Liberal friends in their home, and the only religious service has been the rendering of the whole of Handel’s “Mes­ siah” on the piano, without words. I quote (Auto, ii, 156): “It was a beautiful day; the low windows open­ ed on the flower garden and the landscape dressed in living green and blossoming trees. There we sat, souls who had passed through an era of storm and stress and left all prophetic and Mes­ sianic beliefs, but found in the oratorio hymns of an earth in travail.” Growing Radicalism So he was one from whom religious garments dropped slowly, yet ceaselessly, bit by bit, in ap­ prehension and pain. But if his advance was gradual, still it was more swift than that of his congregations, for ever and anon a conservative wing would go off and start anew in the hope of preserving some dogma threatened by his grow­ ing radicalism. Wherever he was, he was a stormcentre of thought. He could learn, even against his hot zeal and prejudices, and continued to learn to the last hour of his life. Emerson gave the first impetus to his “Earthward Pilgrimage,” while the rugged Car­ lyle and the lucid Francis William Newman and Kingdon Clifford probably were next in order of influence, Carlyle in particular cutting through �—13 the transcendental cobwebs that impeded the freeest movement of his mind. Spencer, one of his first friends in England; Huxley, Tyndall, Dar­ win, and others of the great evolutionists of that epoch, contributed largely to his training and equipment. The part that a long heredity may play in the development of the temperament and mentality of a man no less than in his physique is not to be ignored. Moncure Daniel Conway was born in Stafford County, in Northern Virginia, fifteen miles from Falmouth, March 3, 1832. He was a blend of the Conways, Daniels, Peytons, Mon­ cures, Washingtons, Browns, Stones, and other early Virginia and Maryland families. The first Conways in Virginia came in 1640; the first Mon­ cures, French Huguenots, by way of Scotland, in 1733. The Peytons, well known in England, in­ termarried with the Washingtons. The Browns, from Scotland, were in Maryland in 1708; the Stones, in 1649. The Catholic proprietor of Maryland, Lord Baltimore, made William Stone governor, because he wanted a Protestant who would be just as between Catholics and Protest­ ants. Thomas Stone was a signer of the Declara­ tion. The mother of Dr. Conway was a Daniel; the first of the American branch were in Vir­ ginia in 1634. The members of all these families were educated men and women, severally promi­ nent in the social, professional, religious, political, judicial, and material life of the two colonies, later states. Conway says (Auto, i, 6): ‘‘Sir Francis Galton’s works 'on ‘Heredity nut before me in a new form the catechetical question, �-14- ‘Who made you?’ Only when I was beginning to turn grey was any curiosity awakened in me to know how it was that I should carry the names of three large families into association with re­ ligious and political heresies unknown to my contemporary Virginians except as distant hor­ rors. Who, then, made me?” Sources of Conway’s Skepticism Then he tells how, when he was a boy of twelve, he overheard his grandfather, John Mon­ cure Conway, say to his brother-in-law, “I can not believe that the father of mankind would send any human being into this world knowing that he would be damned.” Of this grandfather again: “One Sunday when leaving his office for dinner he saw a gentleman angrily bundled out of the only inn in the place because he had devoted the morning to a walk instead of going to church; he took the ‘Sabbath-breaker’ to his house’and en­ tertained him several days. The guest was A. Bronson Alcott, the Emersonian philosopher, who told me the story.” And there was capacity for untraditional thought on the other side of the house. His mother’s uncle, Walter Daniel, left a Bible with a marginal note in his writing beside Judges i, 19, “The Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain [hill country, Conway renders it] ; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had char­ iots of iron.” The comment was: “Not omnipo­ tent after all!” His great-great-grandfather, John Moncure, for twenty-six years rector of the parish of Overwharton, one evening had his game of �—15whist interrupted by a deputation of farmers re­ questing- that he would next day pray for rain. He said at once, “Yes, I’ll read the prayer, but it isn’t going to rain till the moon changes” (Auto, i, 7)Upon all of which Conway comments: “Can I not pick my skeptical soul out of these old peo­ ple?” As concerned the slavery question, he had good precedents in his family, for his great-grand­ father, Travers Daniel, presiding justice of Staf­ ford county, was a strong emancipationist, and would have freed his slaves had not the laws of Virginia stood in the way. He imported from England in his own ship window curtains “rep­ resenting Granville Sharp striking chains from negroes, and displayed them about his house,” to the disturbance of mind of his neighbors. The independent strain in the blood showed in another way. His father, “a gay and hand­ some youth of high social position,” joined the then lowly Methodists, to the horror oihis father. A brief estrangement ensued, and this “touch of martyrdom” brought to the young convert’s side three of his sisters and two of his brothers. “Thus it was that our family became Methodist—the first of good social position in our region belong­ ing to that sect.” Methodism of Earlier Years In the close atmosphere of the strictest Method­ ism the boy Moncure passed his early years— two sermons on Sunday, Sunday school, only religious reading permitted on that day, even the fourth page of the Christian Advocate being barred, as it was literary and scientific; two prayer �—16— meetings a week in the basement of his father’s house, where his cultivated parents knelt together with the illiterate and unkempt who made up the membership of the new sect. “Every Sunday an hour was found for us—white and black children together—to be taught by my mother the catechism and listen to careful selec­ tions from the Bible. In some way this equal treatment of slaves got out, and some officious men came with a report that my mother was teaching negroes to read, which was illegal. It was not true, but it was prudent to avoid even the suspicion of such an offense in the house of a magistrate; so the mixed teaching ceased” (Auto, i, 21). His parents’ home was a headquarters for preachers. “Two of the most pious,” he says, “were discovered to be impostors, but the major­ ity were honest, hell-fearing men.” He attended Dickerson College, Carlisle, Pa., from which he was graduated when three months past seventeen. Once while there he and his brother and the other Southern students had their belongings packed to go home, their pro-slavery sensibilities having been roughly touched, as they thought; but the storm blew over. He started and edited a collegiate paper, and also was “con­ verted” while there. He characterizes an address of his given at that time as a specimen of “the eloquence of inexperience,” and adds that he felt “the burden of youth.” Going home, he found his father and uncle the respective lay leaders in Virginia of the divided Methodist church, split on the rock of slavery. �—i7— He joined a Southern Rights Association, wrote for the Southern Literary Messenger, and other Virginia papers, gave his first lecture, outside of college, when eighteen (the subject was “Pan­ theism”) and studied law. “My scrap-book of crudities,” he calls his collection of his effusions of this period. Just now some of Emerson’s writ­ ings came in his way and added to the ferment in his mind, as did a work of Hawthorne’s, a series of essays by Greeley, and a volume of Patent Office Reports. They helped to open to him a new industrial, intellectual, and ethical world, as did debates in Congress to which he listened. He wrote a pamphlet on the negro separate-origin theory, but it was not published. To the Constitutional Convention of Virginia (1850) he addressed a pamphlet urging free schools and compulsory education. His uncle printed 500 copies for him at the reduced price of $50, a heavy strain on his literary earnings, and he gave them away to newspapers, ministers, pro­ fessors, and public men. Troubled by Greeley’s letters from Virginia to the Tribune, he wrote to that paper and Greeley replied editorially: “Never will Virginia’s white children be general­ ly schooled until her black ones shall cease to be sold. Our friend may be sure of this.” This was in Conway’s nineteenth year, and Greeley’s prediction was stamped indelibly on his brain. His Plunge Into the Ministry Abandoning the law when prepared for admis­ sion to the bar, and giving up excellent pros­ pects of a good position in Richmond journalism, he plunged into the Methodist ministry, preach- �—18— ing his first sermon when just past nineteen. Rid­ ing the circuit, with Emerson, Coleridge, and Newman beside the Bible in his saddle-bags, he read and thought in the silence of the woods, and the result was that while he preached with fervor, he already was on his Earthward Pilgrimage. After a sermon in his home town of Falmouth, his Methodist father said with a laugh: “One thing is certain, Monc—should the devil ever aim at a Methodist preacher, you’ll be safe.” On this circuit, he encountered the Quakers, and -was deeply impressed by their high character and the happiness of their lives. He corresponded with Emerson, read more widely, thought more deeply, grew more and more heretical in religion and politics, and entered Boston, February 26, 1853, as a student at Harvard Divinity School. He notes that at the hotel where he stopped “they have prayers morning and night, at which a piano with eolian addition is used.” His father could not conscientiously support his son at a Unitarian school, but he managed to make his way, the pay he received for playing the organ in the college chapel helping him a little. “ ’Twas one of the charmed days When the genius of God doth flow,” he writes of May 3, 1853, when he first met Emerson. Then commenced the intimate friend­ ship which lasted to the end. Next he met Tho­ reau, and after that all the Unitarian and Abo­ litionist leaders, Agassiz, and the poets and prose masters of the Golden Age of New England cul­ ture. From the Rev. Jared Sparks, the historian, he first learned that Thomas Paine was a man �—IQ— to be respected. In his Senior year he preached in Boston and other cities. In September, 1854, he went to Washington on the invitation of the Unitarian church there, one of the most import­ ant in the country, and became its pastor in his twenty-third year, which indicates his standing in Boston. Chief Justice Cranch of the District of Columbia, who had held his official position for fifty-four years, was a member of the Wash­ ington church. Conway delivered the funeral discourse and it was published by the society, making it one of the earliest items of the Con­ way bibliography. Enthusiasm for “Leaves of Grass” In 1855 Emerson called Conway’s attention to “Leaves of Grass/’ then first published, and in September Conway visited Whitman in what was then “farther Brooklyn.” Whitman told Conway that he was the first one who had visited him on account of his book. 1 can not forbear to quote a little here: “Here too was a revelation of human realms of which my knowledge had been mainly academic. Even while among the humble Methodists, the pious people I knew were apart from the world, and since then I had moved among scholars or persons of marked individuality. Except the negroes, I had known nothing of the working masses. But Whitman—as I have known these many years—knew as little of the working class practically as I did. He had gone about among them in the disguise of their own dress, and was perfectly honest in his supposition that he had entered into their inmost nature. The Quaker �—20— training tends to such illusion; it was so in the case of Thomas Paine, who wrote transcendental politics and labeled it ‘Common Sense.’ . . . My enthusiasm for ‘Leaves of Grass’ . . . was a sign and symptom that the weight of the world had begun to roll on me. In Methodism my burden had been metaphysical—a bundle of dogmas. The world at large was not then mine; for its woes and wrongs I was not at all responsible; they were far from me, and no one ever taught me that the world was to be healed, except at the millennium. The only evils were particular ones: A was a drunkard, B a thief, C a murderer, D had a cancer, and so on. When I escaped from the dogmatic burden, and took the pleasant ra­ tionalistic Christ on my shoulders, he was light as the babe St. Christopher undertook to carry across the river. But the new Christ became Jesus, was human, and all humanity came with him—the world-woe, the temporal evil and wrong. I was committed to deal with actual, visible, pres­ ent hells instead of an invisible one in a possible future. Such was now my contract, and to bear the increasing load there was no divine vicar” (Auto, i, 218). This marks a most important step in the Earth­ ward Pilgrimage. In Behalf of Negro Education In conjunction with Samuel M. Janney, the lead­ ing Quaker of Virginia, he framed a petition to the Virginia legislature asking for the repeal of the law which forbade the teaching of slaves to read: “a private reply came from a leading4 mem­ ber of the legislature, declaring that no such �—21— petition could be read in that body.” A similar answer came from North Carolina to Daniel Goodloe. During the first presidential campaign of the Republican party, when Fremont was the stand­ ard-bearer, Conway’s Washington church went to pieces over the slavery issue and he was dis­ missed by a bare majority, because he would not be silent on that vital question. He now accepted an invitation to the pulpit of the First Congregational Church of Cincinnati (1856). Buchanan had defeated Fremont; two days after the inauguration, the Supreme Court gave the famous Dred Scott decision. It was a fruitful city and a momentous period for Conway. Earnest friends of his, either within or outside his church, were such men as Judge (later Gov­ ernor) Hoadley, Judge Stallo—both historically placed as Freethinkers—Alphonso Taft, Stanley Matthews, and many others prominent in learn­ ing and position. He threw himself with ardor into every form of literary and artistic life, writ­ ing criticisms of “the classical concerts, the pic­ ture exhibitions, the operas, and plays.’’ “At Cin­ cinnati, I seemed for the first time to know some­ thing of all America.” Here he found remnants of the colonies and other reminders of the work of George Rapp, Robert Owen, and Frances Wright. He read1 Frances Wright’s “A Few Days in Athens” and her lectures, and “many a time,” he says, “joined in the pilgrimages to her tomb.” At Yellow Spring, Horace Mann had founded Antioch College, the first to educate men and women together. Mann was a Unitarian and �■22— the greatest educator ofi his time, but he was fran­ tic because of Dr. T. L. Nichols’s radical com­ munity called “Memnona.” He feared it would corrupt and bring disaster to his co-educational school. In i860, Conway reviewed in his “Dial” Dr. Nichols’s “Esperanza—the Land of Hope: A Work Written on the Gospel of Free Love,” and with his ever-keen instinct for justice, took all pains to discover the facts concerning “Memnona,” long a thing of history only, and he wrote toler­ antly of principles which were new and largely antipathetic to him. Dr. Mann had character­ ized “Memnona” as “the superfetation of diab­ olism upon polygamy.” Conway pointed out that, contrary to this prejudiced view, the asceti­ cism and celibacy inaugurated there had carried Dr. Nichols and seven other leading members into the Roman church, one being at that time a nun in Cuba. Among his correspondence, Conway found a letter from Modern Times, New York. “It seemed to come from some place in Bunyan’s dreamland,” he comments. Answering his inquiry, a friend in New York city wrote that it was “a village on Long Island founded on the principle that each person shall mind his or her own business”; upon which he satirically observes that “the place seemed even more mythical than before.” At the first opportunity he went to Modern Times, made the acquaintance of Josiah Warren and his associates, and in his “Autobiography” he gives us several pages of chatty and) kindly description of his visit and a summary of the principles of Warren. This was in keeping—wherever he went �•23— throughout his life he sought out the Divergent no less than the Convergent, and gathered at first hand his materials for analysis and conclusion. In 1857 or 8, his first book, “Facts for Today,” was published. At Cincinnati, his opening sermon was a plea for liberty for the slave, for reason, and for hap­ piness as against Protestant asceticism. He de­ manded for woman freedom and occupation; for the unfortunate, a hospital for inebriates, and foundling hospitals, and homes for other social victims. “So did I confroiit the wealth and conser­ vatism of my church, and they stood by me from first to last.” In preparing for work along some of these lines, he was in consultation with Arch­ bishop Purcell of the Romani Catholic church, who, remarks Conway, confirmed “my assertion that it was not sensuality that led women into vice, but that the want of lucrative occupation left them no alternatives but physical or moral sui­ cide.” He lectured for the Catholic St. Nicholas Institution, for the Turners, the Jewish societies, the actors, and filled evening appointments in a vacant Methodist pulpit. In the Western Unitarian Conference of 1858 (he was now 26), he was intrusted with the prep­ aration of the manifesto on slavery, and his dec­ laration was adopted, reversing the “timid reso­ lution of three years before.” It caused the with­ drawal of the strong St. Louis delegation. The incident created much comment, and he was de­ scribed as an “ambitious agitator.” In reply, he said to his people that “inhumanity in man or nation must always prove a demon of unrest.” “A �—24— legend on which twenty-three years later I pub­ lished a volume then first arose before me as a prophecy: ‘That fable of the Wandering Jew shall be dread reality to the heart which know­ ingly drives from its threshold the Christ who falls there in the form of those who now bear the cross of wrong and oppression, and toil up the weary hills of life to their continual crucifixion’ ” (Auto, i, 275). “A little recrudescence of prejudice against the Jews” carried Conway into the papers in their de­ fense, and this made the Jews his friends, “and important friends they were,” he avers; and he speaks of Rabbis Wise and Lilienthal as able and progressive leaders. Emerson, Darwin, and Evolution His literary studies were extending and his en­ thusiasm therein was increasing as that decade neared its end, while the publication of Darwin’s “Origin of Species” freshened an interest in evo­ lution that had been created by Emerson in 1853, when the latter had spoken of “the electric word pronounced by John Hunter a hundred years ago —‘arrested and progressive development’—indi­ cating the way upward from the invisible proto­ plasm to the highest organism—gave the poetic key to natural science—of which the theories of Geofrey St. Hilaire, of Oken, of Goethe, of Agassiz, and Owen and Darwin [Erasmus] in zoology and botany, are the fruits showing unity and perfect order in physics.”1 The suggestion of John Flunter, which Emerson had condensed into the phrase, “arrested and progressive develop­ ment,’’ was in these words: �—25— “If we were capable of following the progress of increase of number of the parts of the most perfect animal, as they formed in succession, from the very first to its state of full perfection, we should probably be able to compare it to some of the incomplete animals themselves of every order of animals in creation, being at no stage different from some of those inferior orders; or in other words, if we were to take a series of animals, from the more imperfect to the perfect, we should probably find an imperfect animal cor­ responding with some stage of the most perfect.” When, in 1883, Conway showed this to 'Huxley and Tyndall, they were startled that Emerson should have discovered this very early anticipa­ tion of the theory of Natural Selection. In his Dial for October, i860, Conway points out that “our popular Christianity has not fulfilled the law of the higher formation. It must everywhere sum up all the preceding formations, and lose none of their contributions, as the animal generations are summed up in the forehead of man.” He adds in his “Autobiography”: “It was to be twenty-five years before I dis­ covered that the function of Human Selection was to take the place of Natural Selection, and develop the Calibans into beauty, but also that it was possible for man to develop himself and his world downward.” It is not to be presumed that Dr. Conway meant to be understood as saying that human selection is not natural selection; he intended only to distinguish human from pre-human selection. In 1859. Conway delivered lectures against �—26-- supernaturalism, and the orthodox idea of God that shocked a part of his congregation and led to the secession later of a considerable number of the conservatives, who organized a new society. They could endure his political and other secular heresies, but when he laid profaning hands on the Ark of the Covenant of their primal super­ stitions, they were panic-stricken. This was an­ other demonstration of the fact that, no matter what “reforms” may interest a man, you never can be sure of him until his brain has been cleared of the sediment of the religious flood', for until that hour comes he may at any moment pass back under the dominion of the fears that, together with wonder, lie at the foundations of all cults of supernaturalism. Speaking of “superstition,” I know of no better definition than that given by Conway himself in his book, “Republican Superstitions”—“A super­ stition is any belief not based upon evidence.” His Vindication of Paine During the years immediately preceding the civil war, Conway sometimes attended the Sun­ day afternoon meetings of the small society of “Infidels.” Listening from a quiet corner to the speeches and discussions of these earnest parti­ sans, Conway learned much concerning Paine, which led to his discovery of very much more in his further unprejudiced investigations. The clerical fictions about Paine which had been poured into his ears in his youth now reminded him “that towers may be measured by the shadow they cast.” The immediate fruit of his researches was a sermon on Paine, January 29, �—27— i860. The announcement crowded the church. He had feared that some of his congregation might be disturbed, but instead he received a request to publish the address. The request was “signed by many eminent and wealthy citi­ zens, some of whom did not belong to my con­ gregation.” Thereafter the Freethinkers fre­ quented his church, and Moreau dedicated one of his works to Conway “as the first who had ever uttered from a pulpit a word favorable to Paine.” Conway’s address was printed under the title, “Thomas Paine. A Celebration.” From this period on there rested in Conway’s mind the purpose sometime to place Paine in the right light in the eyes of the world. This pur­ pose he put into splendid effect when he wrote the Life of Paine (2 vols., 1892), compiled and edited Paine’s Works (4 vols., 1893-1896), and prosecuted further researches in the succeeding years, some of the results of which were made known through the Liberal press and other pub­ lications from time to time. It is quite prob­ able that if there shall be posthumous publica­ tion of the papers embodying the results of the labors of the last years of Conway’s life there will be revealed more of these treasures. But the little group in Cincinnati did some thing more for Conway and through him for the world. I quote from page 305, vol. 1, of the “Autobiography”: “My vindication of Paine and its unexpected success was felt by the Freethinkers in Cincin­ nati as a vindication of themselves also, and 1 felt it my opportunity for grappling with what �■28— I considered their errors. My Theism was not indeed of the Paine type—I had passed from all dynamic Theism to the Theism evolved from Pantheism by the poets—but I found that in criticising the opinions of these Atheists I had undertaken a difficult task. Several of them— I remember the names of Colville, Miller, and Pickles—were shrewd disputants and steadily drove me to reconsider the basis of my beliefs. I entered upon a severely logical statement of the corollaries of Theism. In a course of dis­ courses, I had rejected supernaturalism, to the distress of a third of my congregation, this being the first time that simple Theism had invaded any Western pulpit. “That, however, was less disturbing than the sermon on ‘God,’ in which I maintained that the creation and government of the universe by an omnipotent and omniscient deity was inconsist­ ent with any free will. I affirmed that the socalled free agency of man was a much over­ rated notion. I contended that what theologians called the Will of God was a misconception; an all-wise and morally perfect deity could have no freedom. There can be but one very best, and to that he must adhere; the least deviation from it would undeify him.” And so another stage was traveled on the Earthward Pilgrimage! On the Eve of Civil War The clouds of civil war were throwing out their advance columns in 1859, and the land al­ ready was darkening with the shadows of com­ ing death. John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry �and his capture and execution well-nigh closed all ears to the counsels of reason. In his ser­ mon of October 23, Conway said that Brown had been driven into madness by the murder of his sons in Kansas, perverting devotion to the principle of liberty into a morbid monomania. He thanked God that one man could go crazy for an idea, arraigned the nation for its crime against the negro, and declared that the Aboli­ tionists, being non-resistants, would “denounce the methods” of Brown. He himself described the action of Brown as “worse than a crime—a blunder.” But he had not fully taken into ac­ count the contagiousness of violence. After the sermon, Judge Stallo took him to his home and “argued earnestly” against his view and his “ex­ treme peace principles.” And anti-slavery men in the East—Garrison, Emerson, for examples— also were carried off their feet. On the other side, in Virginia, Governor Wise “raised a mole­ hill into a volcano.” The pro-slavery govern­ ment at Washington used the raid as an indict­ ment of the abolitionists, and “the canonization by them of Brown as a hero and martyr became inevitable.” .Neither side realized the situation of the other, nor could, for passion and panic blurred all eyes. Conway confesses with shame that “the enthusiasm and tears of [his] anti­ slavery comrades” swept him from his solid an­ chorage, confused the calm judgment that dic­ tated the discourse of October 23; the execution of Brown, on December 2, hurling against him the last wild wave of reason-dethroning emo­ tion. “I did not indeed retract my testimony �•30— against the method of bloodshed, except by im­ plication.’’ Three months later came James Redpath’s “The Public Life of Captain John Brown.” Redpath was a friend and follower of Brown, but there was. enough in the book to set Conway to inquiring. Part of the result of this inquiry was given form in the novel, “Pine and Palm” (1887), where “Captain Brown (alias Gideon) figures in a light that could not please his ad­ mirers, but it is better than I could find for him now when, reading his career by the light of subsequent history, I am convinced that few men ever wrought so much evil. John Brown’s Victims “On either side of the grave of a largely im­ aginary Brown wrathful Northerners and panicstricken Southerners were speedily drawn up into hostile camps, and the only force was dis­ armed that might have prevented the catastrophe that followed. Up to that time the anti-slaverjr agitation had marched on the path of peace, and every year had brought further assurance of a high human victory in which South and North would equally triumph. But now we were all Brown’s victims—even we anti-slavery men, pledged to the methods of peace. In my sermon already quoted on Brown’s death, I did entreat that we should all ‘do a manly Christian part in the development of his deed, and in control­ ling it lest it pass out of the lawful realm of the Prince of Peace,’ but the plea was lost under my homage to the insanity of a man who had set the example of lynching slaveholders. Too �—3i late I repented. For other anti-slavery men there might be some excuse; at least it appears to me now that there had remained in nearly every Northern breast, however liberal, some unconscious chord which Brown had touched, inherited from the old Puritan spirit and faith in the God of War. I had been brought up in no such faith, but in the belief that evil could be conquered only by the regeneration of the evil-doer.” I quote so much here because it throws a flood of light on the psychology and exalted ethics of Conway, and explains his attitude as the lead­ ing advocate of policies antithetical to those of the administration of Lincoln. And do I need to suggest that there is in all this a solemn lesson for the radicals of today who have to deal with almost infinitely more nicely balanced and ter­ rible forces, potent for peace or slaughter as a careless breath or hand-touch shall determine? How rapidly this clergyman was leaving be­ hind him the orthodoxy of his church is indicat­ ed in this paragraph of his “Autobiography,” which immediately follows the one just quoted: “I had, however, been influenced by my youthful optimism to adopt the doctrine of a deity that ‘shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will.’ When civil war began to threaten the country, I did, indeed, modify my divinity. With some satisfaction I find in the Cincinnati Inquirer a letter signed ‘A Soldier of the Con­ stitution,’ written after hearing one of my ser­ mons, which says: ‘Any man professing to be a Christian minister, who classes Jehovah, the �Christian’s God, in the same category with Mars and Jupiter, and Odin, the barbarous and licen­ tious creations of a heathen imagination, and says, as did Mr. Conway, that our God of Battles is no better than these pagan deities, should be indicted under the statute against blasphemy, if there be one in your state laws.’ ” The Dial and Its Contributors The wide discussion provoked by his theo­ logical and philosophical heresies had its in­ evitable outcome in the establishment of a month­ ly of his own, The Dial, which appeared in Jan­ uary, i860, and which expired at the end of the year, killed by the civil war. The prefatory word was remarkably fine, I think, especially in its symbolry of the floral dial. This is the clos­ ing paragraph: “The Dial stands before you, reader, a legiti­ mation of the Spirit of the Age, which aspires to be free—free in thought, doubt, utterance, love, and knowledge. It is, in our minds, sym­ bolized not so much by the sun-clock in the yard, as by the floral dial of Linnaeus, which recorded the advancing day by the opening of some flowers and the closing of others—it would report the Day of God as recorded in the un­ folding of higher life and thought, and the clos­ ing up of old superstitions and evils; it would be a Dial measuring time by growth.” The magazine “was well received”; “it had a large subscription list—the Jews especially in­ teresting themselves—and received good notices from the press.” The one of these that moved him most was in the Ohio State Journal, and he �—33— soon learned that it was written by a very young man, William Dean Howells. In a few days they met, and became lifelong friends. Emer­ son, Howells, Orson Murray, Frothingham, were among the contributors, as was our old radical of North Carolina, Dr. M. E. Lazarus, who usually used his second name, Edgeworth, in writing for the press. Almost my last communication from Dr. Con­ way was the request to find for him a volume of The Dial; which I succeeded in doing, after an extended search. But, alas! he stopped, in his be­ loved Paris, before it could reach his hand. Idolatry of the Union Conway heard Lincoln say in a speech in Cincinnati in 1859 that “slavery is wrong,” and that “the government is expressly charged with the duty of providing ‘for the general welfare? We believe that the spreading out and perpe­ tuity of the institution of slavery impairs the general welfare.” The words “and perpetuity” had new and startling meaning for Conway, and he printed them in capitals in The Dial and voted for Lincoln. “It was the only vote I ever did cast for a president, having in Washington had no vote and in the later years no faith in any of the candidates or in the office” (Auto, i, 318). But when Lincoln in his inaugural said he had no objection to a proposed amendment to the Constitution which had just passed the Con­ gress, that amendment forbidding any amend­ ment which would authorize the Congress to abolish any state institution, including slavery, �—34— Conway and others were shocked. To him the "idolatry of the Union” "was inconceivable ex­ cept as a commercial interest.” He had no par­ ticular sentiment for the South as a section. "My enthusiasm had been for slavery, and it had turned into an enthusiasm for humanity which naturally sympathized with Garrison; the Union appeared to me an altar on which human sacri­ fices were offered—not merely in the millions of negroes, but even more in the peace! and har­ mony of the white nation. I hated violence more than slavery, and, much as I disliked President Buchanan, thought him right in declining to coerce the seceding states.” The idea of a Union preserved by arms with slavery untouched was abhorrent to him and to such jurists as Stallo, Hoadley, and Alphonso Taft, and the anti-slavery leaders in the East, and he says that such utterances as this, from his first sermon after the fall of Sumter, ex­ pressed their convictions no less than his: "The American arms can win no victory nor conquer any peace which shall not be the victory of hu­ manity from the wrongs that degrade and af­ flict humanity. In the Promethean games of Greece those who ran in the races all bore light­ ed torches, and he won the race who reached the goal first with his torch still lighted. If he reached the goal with his torch extinguished he lost the day. It was not, therefore, the swiftest racers who won the prize. Indeed, the swiftest were more apt to have their torches put out by the wind. It is thus with the contest on the American arena. Our true prize cannot be vron �—35— by getting the better of the South in an appeal to arms. What if, when we reach the goal, the torch of Liberty intrusted to America to bear in the van of nations be extinguished! What if, by some dishonorable treaty with this or that [border] state, which would be a good ally in war, we have pledged ourselves toi continue en­ slavers of men, and come to claim the prize with the light of that sacred torch lost!” (Auto, i, 326.) His Plan to Abolish Slavery Conway went to Washington and found his old church used as a depository of arms. “So had repelled light returned as lightning.” He talked with his old friends, Rev. Dr. Furness and Senator Sumner, who “both trusted a good deal in God,” he says. “I said that I had heard all my life that God would end slavery ‘in his own good time,’ but I had learned from history that when reformation was left to God he brought it about with hell-fire. That, I urged, was just our peril, and it could be averted only by using the natural weapon of liberty—namely, liberty itself. I knew slavery and slaveholders well; if the President and Congress should at once declare every slave in America free, every Southerner would have to stay at home and guard his slaves. There could be no war. We could then pay all the owners with the cost of the army for one month. Furness and Sumner earnestly accepted my doctrine, and Sumner begged me to devote myself to spreading it through the North and West” (Auto, i, 330). This he did, and his maintenance of this �tion in Ohio led the irreconcilable Clement L. Vallandigham to say of him: “It seems to us that about three months in Fort McHenry, in a strait uniform, with fre­ quent introductions to the accommodating insti­ tution called the town pump, and without the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus, would have a tendency to improve the gentleman mentally and, for a while, at least, rid the community of a nuisance” (Auto, i, 338). In a few months this “honest fanatic”—Con­ way’s kindly description—was himself in prison as a traitor. The Republic of Hayti asked for diplomatic re­ lations; Washington, by Seward, answered that a black minister could not be received. Con­ way says: “Then there arose before me asf if in letters of flame—‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. “ ‘And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder.’ His “Rejected Stone ” “Then I set myself to write the little book en­ titled, ‘The Rejected Stone; or, Insurrection vs. Resurrection in America. By a Native of Vir­ ginia.’ ” The rejected stone was Justice. The book had a tremendous circulation, and was reviewed by the whole press. A large edi­ tion was printed for distribution among the sol­ diers, Conway gladly relinquishing his royalty on these tens of thousands. �General Fremont, in Missouri, had proclaimed confiscate the property of those found in arms against the United States, “and their slaves, if any they have, are declared freemen.” The proc­ lamation sent a thrill of joy through the North, but the President canceled the proclamation and soon relieved Fremont of Southern command. A vast indignation meeting was held in Cin­ cinnati, Judge Stallo presiding. Conway’s speech at this meeting so excited the New York Herald that it demanded his suppression by the govern­ ment as a “reverend traitor.’’ The gist of the passage in which The Herald found treason is in these lines: “A decree that this government ignores the relation of slavery ends the war. There is from that moment no army in the South, but a home­ guard.” Conway lectured in Washington early in 1862 and Sumner suggested that he call on the Presi­ dent, which he did in company with W. H. Channing, who had succeeded him; in the Wash­ ington pulpit. The interview with Lincoln was prolonged and earnest, but neither could con­ vince the other. Proceeding from Washington to Boston, the literary men, including Emerson, Holmes, Lowell, Whipple, Fields, gave him a grand dinner at the Parker House. The next day, Emerson went over with him his forthcoming lecture before the Emancipation League. Its title was “The Golden Hour” and it was soon brought out in book form. Emerson adopted Conway’s idea, al­ ready set forth, that slavery was the commis- �-38sariat of the Southern army, embodied it in his own cpming lecture, "American Civilization,” giving due credit, and it appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, April, 1862. The President, so Senator Sumner miormed him, would give him a consulate if he desired it—“which I did not,” he says. At the Western Unitarian Conference at De­ troit, May, 1862, Conway offered this resolu­ tion : “That in this conflict the watchword of our nation and our church and our government should be, Mercy to the South; death to slavery.’’ It was unanimously adopted. An Incident at the Conway Home. It is interesting to know thaH the portrait of the heretical and seditious son saved from des­ truction the old home in Virginia. His father was in Fredericksburg, his two brothers away in the Confederate ranks, and the house in charge of the slaves. As a detachment of Union soldiers was marching by a shot was fired from a win­ dow of Conway House or a corner of the yard and a man was wounded. It was never known who fired the shot. The soldiers were furious and began breaking up the furniture preparatory to destroying the house. But a youth who had known Conway in Washington caught sight of his portrait hanging in the mother’s bedroom and cried to the others to stop. “The servants were called in and were much relieved when they found that it was to speak of my portrait. Old Eliza cried, ‘It’s Mars’ Monc, the preacher, as good abolitionist as any of you!’ ” �—39— This Conway House at Falmouth became a hospital and here, for a time, Walt Whitman nursed the soldiers, the second time that his path and Conway’s had converged. His Father’s Slaves Taken North After much difficulty, Conway got a pass to go down into Virginia and bring up his father’s slaves, all within the Union lines, but before starting he found that they had got away and were quartered in a small house in Georgetown. How to get them into Ohio, where he purposed colonizing them, was a very serious problem. But finally he triumphed over all difficulties, the most grave being the Confederate mob in Balti­ more by which they were surrounded and menaced for three hours while waiting for a train to the West, after being transported across the hostile city by the help of local free negroes. “At length, much to my relief, the ticket­ agent appeared at the window. I saw that, like the other officials, he was angry, but he was a fine-looking Marylander. He turned into flint as I approached; and when I asked the price of tickets, he said sharply, ‘I can’t let those negroes go on this road at any price.’ I knew that he would have to let them gio, but knew also that he could make things very uncomfort­ able for us. I silently presented my military or­ der to the disagreeable and handsome agent, and he began to read it. He had read but two or three words of it when he looked up with astonishment, and said, ‘The paper says that these are your father’s slaves.’ ‘ 1 hey are, I re­ plied. ‘Why, Sir, they would bring a good deal �—40— of money in Baltimore!’ ‘Possibly,’ I replied. Whereupon (moved, probably, by supposing that I was making a great sacrifice) he said, ‘By God, you shall have every car on this road if you want it.’ ” So the seventy negroes were taken to* Ohio and settled at Yellow Spring, where they did well. In September, 1863, appeared the Boston Com­ monwealth. It was financed by wealthy anti­ slavery Republicans and edited by Moncure D. Conway and Frank B. Sanborn. It was on the best terms with Garrison’s Liberator, paid at­ tention to literature, and in its columns several young writers made their bows to the public, among these being Louisa Alcott. Conway rejoiced in the President's emanci­ pation proclamation, limited as was its field. “But,” he mournfully writes, “when our ecstasy had passed, some of us perceived that while free­ dom had got a paper proclamation, the cannon­ ball proclamation had gone to slavery. The anti-slavery generals were in the North; the military posts where slaves might become free were under military generals or governors no­ toriously hostile to emancipation. The three generals who had proclaimed freedom to the slaves in their departments—Fremont, Phelps, and Hunter—had all been removed, and to the slaves these removals were pro-slavery proclama­ tions which they understood, while this of the New Year they could not read even if it were allowed to reach them.” Among the most effective obstructionists was �—4i— Stanley, an old politician of North Carolina, ap­ pointed military governor of the reconquered portion of that state. Boston sent a delegation to talk with the President, Wendell Phillips, Moncure Conway, and Elizur Wright being prominent members. The interview was amica­ ble but resultless. On this visit, Conway preach­ ed to the Senate, having an audience of nearly 2,000 and pressing home his arguments for free­ dom for all. “Complications with England were arising; our golden hour for ending at once both the war and slavery had passed.” In February, Phillips suggested that Conway go to England to lecture for a few months and “persuade the English that the North is right.” The proprietor of The Commonwealth agreed to give him $1,000 for two letters a week; Phillips, Wright, Longfellow, and others raised $700. He started in April, 1863, armed with a letter of introduc­ tion from Emerson to Carlyle, another from Geo. W. Curtis to Browning, several from Garrison to the anti-slavery leaders, while from Mr. and Mrs. George Stearns he carried a life-size bust of John Brown for Victor Hugo. In his diary, written on the steamship City of Washington, he says: “I have brought along John Stuart Mill’s new book on ‘Liberty,’ published in Boston the day I left. It is a book of wonderful truisms, of startling commonplaces. In reading it one feels that such a book should be in the course of college study everywhere, so axiomatic are the laws it states; and yet there is scarcely1 a state! �—42— on earth that would not be revolutionized by a practical adoption of its principles. Mr. Mill’s views of social and individual liberty are in the direction of those stated by William von Hum­ boldt in his ‘Sphere and Duties of Government.’ ‘The grand, leading principle,’ says Humboldt, ‘towards which every argument unfolded in these pages directly converges, is the absolute and essential importance of human development in its richest diversity.’ ” There is not time to follow Conway to Eng­ land ; to trace the footsteps of his thirty-years’ pilgrimage there. Nor can I go with him now on his visit to the Wise Men of the East? nor let you get a glimpse of the rich treasures stored in such books of his as “Republican Supersti­ tions,” “The Wandering Jew,” “Lessons for ToDay,” “The Earthward Pilgrimage,” “Idols and Ideals,” “Travels in South Kensington,” and the “Lives” of Hawthorne, Emerson, and Carlyle. Neither can I take you with me now into a score of other fields where I have spent so many de­ lighted and instructed hours. All this must await the pleasure of Father Time and the great god Plutus; it is my hope to put into other papers a small part of what I have been com­ pelled to leave out of this. An Ideal Biographer of Paine I think that you will agree with me that Mon­ cure Daniel Conway was just the man that could have been expected to lift Thomas Paine again into the honoring gaze of his countrymen of the world; I think you will agree that he was a much more important figure in the ethical and �—47— remorseless enough in the South—one who was asked if he had ever been in a certain Virginia town answered, ‘Yes, I was there three weeks one Sunday’—but nowhere else in the world was I ever so waylaid and plundered by! thei Sabbath as in Honolulu.” Again: The missionaries—“Their theology alone might have been innocuous, for the Hawaiians could not have understood it; the moral system, the superstition that nudity is wicked, that gaiety and pleasure are offensive to God, and consequent changes in their ways of life—as Charles Darwin pointed out—these are the things fatal to tropical tribes. Dr. Titus M. Coan, quoted by Darwin in his ‘Descent of Man,’ says, ‘The [Hawaiian] natives have undergone a greater change in their habits of life in fifty years than Englishmen in a thousand years.’ ” Speaking of the distinguished English men and women who raised a fund to buy clothes for the native women of Australia, Conway says: “It was these pious prudes who killed off the Tasmanians. It was the belief of every scientific man I met that they all were attacked by tuber­ culosis soon after they put on clothing.” Of a group of Australian natives: “Were it not for the filthy skins and blankets on which the Brit­ ish prudes insist, they would by no means be repulsive.” Of Australasian federation: “Where either in­ dividuals or states are fettered together, their movements must be that of the slowest; and the slowest is apt to be the colleague that refuses to move at all, unless backward. The more free �-48individuals, whether men or communities, the more chances for those variations from which higher forms are developed. The old shout of ‘Liberty and Union, one and inseparable,’ has a fine sound, but so has the prophecy of the lion and the lamb lying down together. The lamb will be inside the lion, and Liberty be devoured by over-centralization.’’ Justice, Peace—and Farewell I have said that the dominant note in Con­ way’s message was the plea for peace, and so I cannot do better in closing than to give to you his latest suggestion and prayer, offered to us all in these simple and earnest words com­ posing the last paragraphs of his Autobiography: “And now at the end of my work, I offer yet a new plan for ending war—namely, that the friends of peace and justice shall insist on a demand that every declaration of war shall be regarded as a sentence of death by one people on another, and shall be made only after a full and formal judicial inquiry and trial, at which the accused people shall be fairly represented. This was suggested to me by my old friend, Professor Newman, who remarked that no war in history had been preceded by a judicial trial of the issue. The meanest prisoner can not be executed without a trial. A declaration of war is the most terrible of sentences—it sentences a people to be slain and mutilated, their women to be widowed, their children orphaned, their cities burned, their commerce destroyed. The real motives of every declaration of war are un­ avowed and unavowable. Let them be dragged �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource A sketch and an appreciation of Moncure Daniel Conway, freethinker and humanitarian : an address at the Paine-Conway memorial meeting of the Manhattan Liberal Club, January 31, 1908 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Walker, Edwin C. [d.1931] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: New York Collation: 49 p. ; 20 cm. Notes: Inscription inside front cover: From Mrs Mildred Conway Sawyer. H.N. Bradlaugh Bonner. Sep. 22, 08. 'The writings of M.D. Conway in print at this date' available from Edwin C. Walker listed on back cover. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Edwin C. Walker Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1908 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N656 Subject The topic of the resource Free thought Conway Hall Ethical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (A sketch and an appreciation of Moncure Daniel Conway, freethinker and humanitarian : an address at the Paine-Conway memorial meeting of the Manhattan Liberal Club, January 31, 1908), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Moncure Conway NSS https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/3fcde48f6a3ae3bbfdf69c26c424d638.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=dOjRoufGtpU5t-NbefpD-9ip8GmGPeJEr2qC0aDQHOoVxTEuXl73kKmmwgWU16i2YzVt0KfR9EgP2PJbX0RU7pFwNYVWDG72lc0IhGYeGYatjGKldG2YKELezXqWI3hekP8tqKHqljw2F3byMlmeCpIvgZnoEsqwTRbGBZfOrXMXOgvO7GO4E48QpmBm1l%7EHrqOK2RGMZJO6a8oWG6YJLpBHSZs%7El4DX69h%7Ej7B00LWGOOQYCd0Kbg0aO4yYReF-QpR0Ywo670qPsNjCiTV6sBDU5Q5aHJuklzAawBSWS5pmvpRN9fPk6Wv%7E0opzdJzKYGDSik1ZZgngFNW3vVlB9A__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 499bf818a6c03dbfa34dc5f1dd45ace4 PDF Text Text al w Private.] 6rtracts from Annual ^tparfs RELATING TO THE CHOIR AND MUSIC AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE COMMITTEE OF SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL AND MR. H. KEATLEY MOORE, B.A., THE LATE MUSICAL DIRECTOR. LONDON: PRINTED BY WATERLOW AND SONS LIMITED. 1877. ��From the Annual Report for 1873. The issuing so large a number of new Hymns necessitated a reconstruction of the arrangements for the musical portion of our services. Your Committee advertised, and in other ways searched, for a properly qualified person to fill the post of Musical Director. As no suitable professional musician offered himself, they gratefully accepted the generous offer of Mr. H. Keatley Moore, to undertake the entire work, and have appointed him Honorary Musical Director. They feel sure that everything in his power will be done to improve both the music of our services and its performance. From the Annual Report for 1874. The musical portions of the service, always a distinctive feature at South Place, have shown a marked improvement during the past year under the management of the Honorary Musical Director, Mr. H. Keatley Moore, who has already provided carefully-chosen music for a large portion of the new Hymn Book. All this music has been specially arranged by him, and several compositions are from his own pen. From the Annual Report for 1875. The specification (of the new organ) was drawn up by W. J. Westbrook, Esq., Mus. Bac. Cantab., to whom your Musical Director has often been indebted for valuable aid in the formation of our collection of music. �4 CORRESPONDENCE. 104, Bishopsgate Street Within, Feb. 23, 1876. To the Committee of South Place Chapel, Gentlemen, I have this day signed a circular to the Members of the -Congregation, resigning my stewardship of their interests at South Place Chapel. I now resign into your hands the office of Musical Director, which I received from you at our first meeting. In the difficult circumstances which surround me I have thought best not to act on my own responsibility ; and have placed myself therefore, unreservedly, in the hands of the most experienced among my friends. Having carefully considered all the facts (with which I do not propose to trouble the Committee), they unanimously approve of a suggestion—that I should restore the Music of the Chapel to as nearly as possible its state when I came into office towards the close of 1873. * * Extract from Mb. H. K. Moore’s “Report on the Music of the Chapel, for 1874.”—“This (themusic at Christmas, 1873) was in the worst possible order..................................... I then carefully went through the whole mass. The quantity of loose sheets written or printed lying loose in the boxes, and the bound collection, also made under Mr. Barnett, &c., I found, after wearily wading through them, to be quite worthless (Mr. De Lacy’s anthem ‘ I Stoop,’ is the brilliant exception). This collection—if it deserve the name—was without an index, without author’s names, full of mistakes and errors, and I much regret the time wasted in examining it. Turning to the collection of Miss Flower.......................... This collection was partly printed and partly written, and as the printed portion was damaged and �5 I have consequently withdrawn the MSS. music, written by myself in books given to me by Mr. Henman ; and also * my other MSS. on loose sheets. I have, also in accordance with the views of my friends, refunded to the Treasurer the whole of the sums he paid me towards the expenses I incurred through my honorary musical directorship of the Chapel—about three-fourths of the entire expense I was at—amounting to £23. 12s. lOd. This I have paid, partly in music (value £14), partly by cheque (value £9. 12s. 10d.). I will lead the service next Sunday unless I get a welcome relief from that most unpleasant task; but after that date, I must ask you to excuse me from even temporarily filling so painful a post as the Directorship of the Music has now become to me. I do not think you will find much difficulty, as I have prepared the March Anthem-slip, and the first three entire services for March, as in enclosed memorandum. The music (above alluded to as having been returned) being now in the Treasurer’s hands, you must request him, if you please, to have all Miss Flower’s music (20 vols.), and Hymn No. 527, at the chapel next Sunday, for performance and practice. defective, and indeed there were not books enough, and also as the written parts did not agree the one with the other, had no full score, &c., &c., &c. I gladly escaped from all the confusion by accepting Mr. Henman's offer of ten complete sets of the lithographed edition of the entire collection, the few printer's errors in which its complete clearness amply compensates me for correcting. The remaining forty-two copies of this edition were sold, as the Committee is aware, at a guinea per copy, and the proceeds generously handed over by our good friend to the treasurer. Fifty of Mr. Fox’s hymns were still left unprovided for, and of these thirty-three are in the New South Place Tune Books, whilst of the remaining seventeen four are ready as separate anthems, and eight more are in course of preparation. The hymn book, therefore, as far as regards the Fox collection, may be con­ sidered practically completed.-’ * The New South Place Tune Books. �c Thanking you for the kindness and courtesy I have up till now received from you all, I am, Yours truly, H. KEATLEY MOORE. STATEMENT OF MONEY received from Treasurer by H. Keatley Moore, towards his expenses as Honorary Musical Director. 1874.—1st Quarter. Paid Mr. Westbrook for musical assistance Music * Other expenses 2 2 1 2 0 7 2nd Quarter. Paid Mr. Westbrook .. Music Other expenses .. 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 7 0 3rd Quarter. Music copying .. Other expenses .. Music £ s. d. 0 11 0 9 1 10 4th Quarter. Paid Mr. AVestbrook .. Music .. 0 0 0 £ s. Music purchased and re­ turned to Treasurer .. 3 10 Ten copies (2 vols. each) Miss Flower's music, litho copy, as cor­ rected, presented to myself by Mr. Hen­ . .10 10 man, 21s. Net balance due to Treasurer ..9 12. d 0 0 0 0 0 0 ..220 .. 1 18 10 1875.—1st Quarter. Subscription to Novello’s Lib.. 2 9 rary, folio, &c. .. 0 18 Music 0 6 2nd Quarter. Paid Mr. Westbrook Music .. 2 2 .. 0 15 0 6 0 0 .. 0 15 .. 2 2 0 0 .. 3rd Quarter. Music, &c. 4th Quarter. Music, &c. aid Mr. Westbrook .. 1 .. t In all .. £23 12 10 £23 12 10 * Memo.—Cost of excess railway every Sunday to Deptford, not charged. + 1876.—1st Quarter.—Subscription to Novello’s Library, £2. 2s., and music, &c., 8s.; viz., £2. 10s. not charged to Treasurer. I have supposed the Committee would be desirous, as I should be, of using the copies of Miss Flower’s music as pre- �7 pared by me, corrected, &c. Should they not so wish, upon a communication to that effect, I will forward a cheque for £10. 10s.—their value. H. K. M. 24, Cricketfield Road, Lower Clapton, February 26th, 1876. Dear Sir, I have been instructed by the Committee of South Place Chapel, at whose meeting yesterday your two letters of the 23rd instant were read, to return you the cheque of £9. 12s. lOd. enclosed by you to the Treasurer, and to state that the discussion on the two letters referred to, with their enclosures, has been postponed. I therefore enclose herein the cheque in question, and remain, Dear Sir, Yours very truly, CLARENCE II. SEYLER, lion. Sec., pro. tern. H. K. Moore, Esq., 104, Bishopsgate Street. In deference to your feelings, Mr. Hickson has kindly undertaken to conduct the music during the service on Sunday next (to-morrow). 24, Cricketfield Road, Lower Clapton, March 11, 1876. Dear Sir, Referring you to my last letter of the 26th ultimo, I now beg leave—in accordance, as you will see, with in­ structions received yesterday at a meeting of the Committee �8 of South Place Chapel—to communicate to you the follow­ ing extract from the minutes :— “ Mr. H. Keatley Moore’s two letters, dated 23rd Febru­ ary, 1876, to the Committee and to the Treasurer, and another of the 9th March to Mr. Hickson, on the subject of the New South Place Tune Books (20 vols.), the Lithographic Edition of Miss Flower’s Collection (20 vols.), and the Anthems, having been read, it was moved, seconded, and resolved unanimously: That, in the opinion of the Committee, the above-named works are the property of the congregation. And it was ordered: That the Secretary do send Mr. H. Keatley Moore a copy of this resolution, with a request that he return, at his earliest convenience, that portion of those books and papers that are now in his possession.” I remain, dear Sir, Yours very truly, CLARENCE H. SEYLER, Hon. Sec. H. Keatley Moore, Esq., 104, Bishopsgate Street. 104, Bishopsgate Street Within, March 11, 1876. Dear Sir, I at once reply to your official communication just received, that none of the music named, neither the 20 vois Miss Flower’s music, nor the 20 Tune Books, nor the Anthems, are the property of the congregation of South Place Chapel; and I request the return of that portion which I recently handed to Mr. Hickson, as Treasurer, unless my statement of account, recently sent in to the Com­ mittee, be accepted by them. If that statement be accepted, and a receipt or notice to that effect be sent me, then the �9 20 books of lithographed music, and the printed music accord­ ing to list, will become the property of the congregation. Otherwise I am prepared to send a cheque for the balance of account on receipt of the music. If the Committee desire really to ascertain the truth of the matter, they should apply, as I have before said, to Mr. Henman. Excepting that I await a formal acceptance of my state­ ment, or settlement as above suggested, I hope this may be the last communication I am to be troubled with on the subject. Yours truly, H. KEATLEY MOORE. To the Hon. Sec., South Place Chapel Committee. 4 104, Bishopsgate Street Within, April lsi, 1876. To the Committee of South Place Chapel. Gentlemen, I am impelled by recollections of our past associa­ tion to address you again upon the subject of my late director­ ship of the music of the Chapel. I am sure, when I think the matter over quietly, that in passing the resolution concerning the music which was lately communicated to me, you did not perceive the terrible insult it inflicted upon Mr. Henman and myself; and if you are aware that the Treasurer has even up till now refused to acknowledge my statement of account, and if his refusal has your sanction, you probably have not considered the charge of dishonesty which this refusal inflicts upon us. Allow me to say that Mr. Henman gave to me personally �10 at my own request ten two-volume copies of the litlio’ edition of Miss Flower’s works, and paid the Chapel ten guineas for them (as the Treasurer’s documents'will show), that the fund then raising might not be deprived of the full benefit of the donation of forty-two copies, the entire remainder of the edition. These volumes are therefore my property. Also, when I gave Mr. Henman a pattern for our new Tune Books, he prepared these books at his own charge and gave them to me personally, in order that if by inadvertence I had infringed musical copyright (which is very stringent), I might have the power to withdraw the volumes—as well as from the affection with which, in spite of many differences of opitiion, he has always honoured me. This question of copyright vexed me much, and I finally laid it before the Committee, as you will remember, about a year ago. Mr. Westbrook often advised me not to produce certain arrangements, and these were set aside. The Com­ mittee passed a formal resolution that all my own writings shculd be considered my own copyright and property, and altl ough cautioning me to be careful (as I always have been, consulting my experienced friend Westbrook and the like), even went so far as to promise to hold me blameless in the event of any unfriendly action on the part of proprietors of music. You will see, therefore, that there really is not the slightest doubt of my property in the music, and that your resolution ought to be rescinded. Had you called me before you, or had you consulted with Mr. Henman, you would at once have discovered the real facts of the case. It is remarkable that Mr. Hickson has several times seen Mr. Henman since I referred you to him, but has never alluded to the subject. In one word, your resolution and the Treasurer’s refusal to pass my accounts (which surely cannot be considered ungenerously prepared) stigmatise my friend, Mr. Henman, as �11 having taken the property of his (then) employers, and myself as haviDg received the dishonest gift. I am, yours truly, H. KEATLEY MOORE. 24, Cricketfield Road, Lower Clapton, April Vtth, 1876. Dear Sir, I am instructed to forward you the following communication, emanating from the Committee of South Place Chapel:— “ This Committee—having taken into consideration your letters of the 11th ultimo, and 1st instant, addressed to them, together with their minutes from time to time upon the question at issue; your Musical Reports for the years 1874 and 1875 ; fifty-eight letters from you to Mr. Hickson, written during the years 1873-4-5-6; and other papers— are still unanimously of opinion that all the music mentioned in their resolution of the 10th ultimo, is the property of the congregation of South Place Chapel, and they collectively— and individually, entreat you to give your best attention to the following recital of facts :— 1. That the entire remainder of the edition of Miss Flower’s works consisted of fifty-two or fifty-three copies, not of forty-two, as stated in your letter of the 1st instant. 2. That the Treasurer has only received payment for forty-three copies, which remained after presentation of the ten sets in dispute. 3. That the “ New South Place Tune Books ” were �12 prepared for the Choir (not even “ for the use of ” the Choir), and that there is a minute to that effect. 4. That there is no resolution whatever that your own writings should be considered your own copyright and property. 5. On the contrary, there is a minute on the subject of copyright, to the effect that the danger of any pro­ ceedings being taken against the Committee, in conse­ quence of any possible infringement of copyright by you, was very remote. As this matter was brought by you before the Committee, it is evident you then (March, 1875) considered the property in question to belong to the congregation. The Committee hope you will receive this communication in the same spirit in which it emanates from them—namely, with an earnest desire that this matter may be settled amicably; they have, therefore, adjourned in order to give you time to again carefully consider the whole subject, and they will be much obliged if you will, in the meantime, let them have answers to the annexed questions. Believe me to remain, Dear Sir, Very truly yours, CLARENCE H. SEYLEB, Hon. Sec. H. Keatt.ey Moore, Esq. 104, Bishopsgate Street Within. QUESTIONS. 1. Of what, in your opinion, the South Place Musical Library consisted at the end of 1874 ? �13 * 2. What was meant by the following, extracted, from your Report on the music of South Place Chapel for the year 1875 “ In the preparation of the Musical Library, I have been not less diligent this year than last, ... 21 hymns of the Lithographed Collection of Miss Flower’s works have been corrected and brought into singable condition during the year. ... I have written afresh three hymns in Mr. Fox’s collection, either unset or badly set to music; and, finally, I have composed or arranged six anthems . . . and eighteen hymns in the New Hymn Book..................... “ The year’s work stands thus :— Miss Flower’s collection— (corrected, 10 parts) ... ... 21 Hymns. Mr. Fox’s collection— Composed or arranged ... A The new collection ... “ Total addition to Library ... JA. 1 C. 1 (D. 1 A. 10 B. 5 1 C. D. 6 3 48 Hymns.” 3. If any portion of the Musical Library were your own property, why did you allude to that portion in your Musical Report of 1875 ? 4. Was not your suggestion to Mr. Hickson and others, in October, 1874, that the music in use in the choir up to about the end of 1873, should be given to Mr. Revell’s con­ gregation at Ladbroke Hall, based upon the full knowledge that the new Library was replacing it ? 5. If the “ New South Place Tune Books ” belong to you �14 —when and to whom was payment made for the twenty Hymn-books which were cut up and pasted into them ? 104, Bishopsgate Street Within, April nth, 1876. To the Committee of South Place Chapel. Gentlemen, The ungenerous style of your letter of yesterday’s date surprised and pained me deeply; for I did not think you would so treat a former friend and colleague. It is not the reply I expected from a body of gentlemen who, I hoped, were anxious to deal in a kindly and open way with a regretable difference of opinion between themselves and one who has in the past been (I venture to assert) of valuable service to them. I have worked hard, both before and during my conduct of the choir, to raise the performance of the music of South Place Chapel to a higher level; and have, by the judgment of those whom I respect, been not unsuccessful. I have left you with a far better provision of music, and with a choir of much higher capacity, and of incomparably superior training, than you had before I took the music in hand—and I have done this at absolutely no cost to you, for I have repaid you every penny received towards my expenses. At no time have I ever intended to present my music to the Chapel as a gift. My original intention was, in case of my ever leaving the choir, to retain my music as my pro­ perty, but allow the Chapel to use it under certain stringent restrictions. I observed Mr. Fox’s caution with regard to Miss Flower’s music, and profited by it. I have abandoned this idea, and wholly withdrawn the music ; but, as you are �15 in error concerning my original intention, I have clearly stated it. Although I cannot descend to answer your questions, I. should like to set you right as to some matters affecting Mr. Henman, and I again express my surprise that he has not been communicated with. Mr. Henman knows only of 42 copies of Miss Flower’s music presented to the Chapel (of which he bought and gave me ten): and of a 43rd copy which he withdrew from his library, in his own generous way, to appease the anxious regret of .... of ... . who had been too late to obtain one. You have not yet perceived that the order to Waterlow’s, to prepare Tune Books for MSS., was really never carried out. My books were prepared not by that firm, but some by me and others by Mr. Henman, at his own cost—even the sheets of the Hymn Book used for pasting in were mere printers' waste. These books were never given to the Chapel, nor purchased on its behalf, and the order concerning the Tune Books has still to be carried out. Again I express my sincere regret that you do not shrink from leaving Mr. Henman and myself under grave charges affecting our honour, by your withholding the acknowledg­ ment of the statement of account long since submitted by me. I am, yours truly, H. KEATLEY MOORE. �16 24, Cricketfield Road, Lower Clapton, April 21s 1876. , * {Registered.) Dear Sir, I am instructed to acknowledge your letter to the Committee, and to express their regret that you deem it expedient to decline answering specific questions most rela­ tive to the question between us. The Committee, feeling that it is quite impossible to arrive at an amicable arrangement where such a state of affairs exists, have only now to notice one or two points in your letter under reply. The Committee consider it unnecessary to communicate with Mr. Henman, as your Musical Report for 1874, litho­ graphed and circulated by that gentleman, confirms their statement as to the number of copies of Miss Flower’s work. {See page 4.) * Your own Reports, both for 1874 and 1875, confirm the opinion of the Committee as to the books in question being the property of the congregation, and clearly show that your control over them was purely official. With reference to your remark that the order for the Tune Books “ has still to be carried out,” the Committee find, by their minutes of the 26th September, 1873, that you sub­ mitted a plan for a tune book for the choir, and undertook to select tunes for the hymns, and arrange them in the books, and to prepare anthems as well as the tune books. Your statement that the sheets of the hymn book used for the New South Place Tune Books were mere printers’ waste, is incorrect. There is an entry in Mr. Canning’s book (November 2nd, 1873) of twenty hymn books in sheets supplied to you, through Mr. Henman, from the box in the library. * The passage alluded to may also be found in the foot-note on p. 5 of this pamphlet. �17 Your allusion as to the refunding of your expenses is beside the mark, as your cheque has already been once returned. As you still seem to imply that a settlement has been made by the fact of their holding it at your disposal, the Committee beg to hand it to you again enclosed here­ with. Being anxious to avoid going to extremes, so long as there is any possible chance of avoiding so unhappy a result, the Committee still hope that you will answer the questions contained in their letter of the 10th inst. I remain, Dear sir, Faithfully yours, CLARENCE H. SEYLER, Hon. Sec. H. Keatley Moore, Esq., 104, Bishopsgate Street Within. 24, Cricketfield Road, Lower Clapton, May Zlst, 1876. Dear Sir, The Committee of South Place Chapel would be glad to know whether their registered communication, 21st ult., duly reached you. Will you kindly hand bearer a line in reply to this ? I remain, dear Sir, Very truly yours, CLARENCE H. SEYLER, Hon. Sec. H. Keatley Moore, Esq. 104, Bishopsgate Street Within. �18 104, Bishopsgate Street Within, JZey31si, 1876. Dear Sir, In compliance with your request, I beg to acknow­ ledge receipt of registered letter some weeks since from you, and had the letter not been regisrered (and its delivery there­ fore proved) I should have of course acknowledged it without troubling you to request me to do so. If you desired my acknowledgment of receipt it seems rather a waste of money to have registered the letter. Yours truly, H. KEATLEY MOORE. C. H. Setter, Esq. 24, Cricketfield Road, Lower Clapton, June 7, 1876. Dear Sir, I am instructed by the Committee of South Place Chapel to refer you to my letter of the 21st of last April, and, as they have not been favoured with a reply, to express with regret their apprehension that you have decided to take no further steps to bring about an adjustment of the con­ troversy between you and them. Although the Committee much desire that all past differences may speedily be forgotten, their duty to the congregation upon this particular question—involving, as it does, an outlay of their money—compels them to exhaust every means in their power to have the matter decided. They feel assured that the congregation will not consider that every effort has been made to establish their ownership in the property in question, until they have offered to submit �19 all the facts of the case to one or two independent and im­ partial Referees, by whose decision all shall abide without hesitation. The Committee, trusting that you will see the propriety of agreeing to such a reference, and believing, moreover, that the friendliness and fairness of such a step will recommend it to your acceptance, at once beg to nominate Mr. Macfie to act on their behalf. Upon hearing from you the name of the gentleman upon whose judgment you will rely, and as soon as the Referees have nominated an Umpire to decide finally, in the event of their not being able to agree in their award, the usual li Arbitration Agreement ” shall be drawn up. The Committee hope it will not be inconvenient to you at once to favour them with a reply to this proposal. I remain, dear Sir, Yours truly, CLARENCE H. SEYLER, Hon. Sec. H. Keatley Moore, Esq., 104, Bishopsgate Street Within. 104, Bishopsgate Street Within, June 9th, 1876. Sir, I have received your letter of date 7th inst., and am surprised at its contents. Yours truly, H. KEATLEY MOORE, � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Extracts from annual reports related to the choir and music and official correspondence between the committee of South Place Chapel and Mr. H. Keatley Moore. B.A., the late musical director Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mr H. Keatley Moore South Place Chapel Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 19 p. ; 22 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by Waterlow and Sons Limited, London. At head of title: 'Private. Conway Hall copy registered seat holder no. 42, Mrs Conway'. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [s.n.] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1877 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5587 Subject The topic of the resource Conway Hall Ethical Society Music Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Extracts from annual reports related to the choir and music and official correspondence between the committee of South Place Chapel and Mr. H. Keatley Moore. B.A., the late musical director), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Henry Keatley Moore Music South Place Chapel https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/6a95d333b13f848f9a34f9fde51f2a8b.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=myZKPmC4s9Z7CAksVh74YczFL39VvJdOjoldiLltYX4jmCdaMXdmlpLzbaSNMch4x9QCNGyjw6RoNZwFfprbt%7ESfb7jmkPXhSgQKPIz8Txf2HJJKPeTkT4NMGdguGN5QSi0QqA8-Sag31GVxAq6xOgKrpeQ9YqIh8fWCoO0F2HWpm5SIWYg9bHkBr6Q8yjZeIlWtkNEYAhuKrmC1vJl8dDgDPFgtrq2O%7E3ylWAYgEsHBfmiUmnGx4KcIJFb%7EwqJmWEpsPVD06wPd3g7Qa6NhM3v4hx1h1Me%7EtbkovQJZC2AKnhWS87OwYZpChmNulyYnBzn0UpjSAQQdqSo3cSU00w__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM fbd862eca62e90c8a88c6a7883ad55dd PDF Text Text �������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource In memoriam. John Stuart Mill, ... South Place Chapel, Finsbury, Sunday, May 25th, 1873 Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [s.l.] Collation: [6 p.] ; 18 cm. Notes: Hymn by W.J. Fox, music by E. Taylor; Readings; hymn adapted from Gaskell, music from Beethoven; Meditation; poem by George Herbert; Discourse; poem by Sarah F. Adams, music by Miss Flowers. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [s.n.] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1873 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5202 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource South Place Religious Society Subject The topic of the resource Conway Hall Ethical Society John Stuart Mill Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (In memoriam. John Stuart Mill, ... South Place Chapel, Finsbury, Sunday, May 25th, 1873), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts John Stuart Mill Memorials South Place Chapel https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/d4cb5226ebbc56bb4de29f04a0b89e0c.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=AdnmEgYw4HrTY3PmfqvjawGtRsiWUlKcqm%7ELb-1hnkH7BuAHHxtYE6aEopIshzXPO5SEOBW4NInpMHDsRw-QzlZcPeRLaC8l0kTTO7l-1zgQOFsZWVUGFoxSvjMvgTnqeZ02b6cu78HavtfWLuS5ZDZZby7IGD%7ECONJF6PCOPgq2368HjjDy8q6uux4ReuM5E8ueW%7EfKT5lmaFCjEZ2Efr7DE8fNW7G2LKMLwFv69rl7-EPe3zXDYs3t7a8i6VNGgRMi6EkS49w40ZenuLU2nTNK9-%7EeiswOXFiI2mit4-JEY9at8DcAjJzWIDGN9lf0mTLxR%7EOcJhHfRdmWw3nCfg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM b5f1ccd3a1db28e0c2742c2e54b3f93c PDF Text Text LESSONS FOR THE DAY, Consisting of DISCOURSES delivered it South Place Chapel, Finsbury, By MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A. PRICE ONE PENNY. Published every Thursday. HE publication of this Serial was commenced on October 5th, 1882, to meet the the Tdiscourses delivered onconstant applicationsat for copies of Chapel, Sunday mornings South Place Finsbury, and also with the view of disseminating as widely as pos­ sible the principles of Rational Religion. Of those principles Mr. Conway is recognised as one of the most able exponents, and when fairly examined they will be found to meet the requirements of the modern intellect, and to have a thoroughly practical bearing on the every-day life of the individual, the family, and the community. It has been too much the habit to treat religion as a matter only for the church and for one day in the week ; but “ Lessons for the Day,” although delivered on Sunday mornings, will not be found inappropriate to any time or place, since they deal with matters in which all intelligent persons not only ought to be, but are interested. The co-operation of all who desire to see rational religion triumph over superstition on the one hand, and selfish indifferentism on the other, is earnestly invoked, to aid in securing for this periodical a wide circulation. Since the publication was'Steeted there have been many expres­ sions, both in the press and privately, of the high estimation in which the “ Lessons ” are held by those under whose notice they have come ; and it may fairly be hoped that a further continued effort to make their existence known amongst the liberal and earnest-minded will make the enterprise self-supporting. A FEW OPINIONS OF TITE PRESS. “ ‘ Lessons for the Day ’ is the title under which, from week to week, will in future be issued the discourses of Mr. Moncure D. Conway, at South Place, Finsbury. Mr. Conway is well known as one of the boldest and most eloquent of the preachers who undertake to propound on Sundays a higher religion than generally finds expression in the orthodox churches and chapels. He is also a well-known writer of books on secular subjects, if, indeed, it is possible to distinguish between the secular teaching of one who sees religion in everything, and the religious teaching of one who finds the purest spiritual life in the honest performance of every-day affairs. These penny ‘ Lessons of the Day,’ published by Mr. E. W. Allen, ought to be profitable to a very large class of pupils.”—Weekly Dispatch, Oct. 15, 1882. “ We commend this tract (‘ Blasphemous Libels ’) to the atten­ tion of the zealous, well-meaning folk who in this ancient city are ‘ working the oracle ’ against the Affirmation Bill. We think that a quiet perusal of the tract will show them that the less they stir up this matter the better for the religious peace of the common people.”—Western Times, March 27, 1883. [P. T. O. �“ Mr. Moncure D. Conway has now for some time published, week by week, his Sunday morning discourses at South Place Chapel, .Finsbury. Number 16 of these publications deals with the subject of ‘Prayer;’ and though the views which are ex­ pressed by Mr. Conway upon this matter are not those which are cherished by most of our readers, we may say that his words are often so suggestive, and always so pertinent, that Christian preachers and teachers will do well to peruse them. In peaceful hours of thought and feeling, when religious men are far off from the battle, and the noise of things militant, Mr. Conway observes that ‘ a very serious confusion is apt to arise in any mind that attempts to pray. To whom are we praying ? For what are we praying ? And why should we pray for it ? Are we praying because of old habit, or because of a genuine conviction that prayer has a definite place in the economy of nature, like eating and working ?’ Such questions as these arise, and may stagger the sincerest heart. Strong thinkers and deep natures want help on such difficulties. Any way, Mr. Conway writes like a man in earnest.”—Christian World, Jan. 25, 1883. “ In literary value alone they are of high merit, and the rational thought which pervades them is well calculated to sow the seeds of Rationalism among the thoughtful. Mr. Conway is an apt and versatile scholar, and his discourses are well worth preservation.” —Secular Review, Nov. 18, 1882. The following have alre idy been published No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. 1.—THIS OUR DAY. 2.—THE CELESTIAL RAILWAY. 3.—JACOB’S WELL. 4.—THE DESCENT FROM THE ' CROSS. 5.—MARY MAGDALENE’S VISION. 6—INDIVIDUAL AND SPECIES. 7.—THE EDUCATION OF CHARACTER. 8.—PESSIMISM. 9.—NEW VIEWS OF NATURAL RELIGION. 10.—SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SUBJECT. 11.—TRUTH CRUSHED TO EARTH. 12.—THE DOUBTING DISCIPLE. No. 13—THE BIRTH OF A GOD. No. 14.—THE HUMANIZED UNIVERSE. No. 15.—SACRED BOOKS. No. 16.—PRAYER. No. 17.—SAINTLY SOLDIERS. No. 18.—SAINT AGNES. No. 19.—THE FIRST PERSON. No. 20—THE GOSPEL OF ART. No. 21.—EVOLUTIONIST ERRORS. No. 22.—WHAT CAN INDIA TEACH US ? No. 23.—THE WOUNDED CHRIST. No. 24.—BLASPHEMOUS LIBELS. No. 25.—WAGNER. No. 26.—THE FREETHINKER’S VISION BEYOND DEATH. The Publisher, Mr. Allen, Ave Maria Lane, will supply copies free by post for 6s. 6d. per annum, if any difficulty is four 1 in obtaining them otherwise. USTOW BEADY. LESSONS FOR THE DAY, VOL. 1, Containing the above 26 Nos. neatly bound in cloth, PRICE THREE SHILLINGS. Also CASES for binding the first volume, price SIXPENCE EACH. LESSONS FOR THE DAY May be obtained of the following Booksellers and Newsagents :— Wade & Co., Ludgate Arcade. J. Samuel, 41, Randolph St., Camden Town. H. Cattell. 84, Fleet Street. M. A. Baker, 125, Kentish Town Road. Freethought Publishing Co., Fleet Street. M. Austin, 12A, Grange Rd., Chalk Farm Road. J. Simpson, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. B. Dobell, 62, Queen’s Crescent, Haverstock Ritchie & Co., Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. Hill. Fawless & Co., 1, Philpot Lane, E.C. B. Ralph, 10, St.John’s Road. Hoxton. Terry & Co., 6, Hatton Garden. G. R. Hanson, in, Roman Rd., Victoria Park. E. Truelove, 256, High Holborn. W.Ackland, 4, BishoD’s Rd., Cambridge Heath. T. Baker, ig, Windmill Street, Finsbury. R. Morriss, 19, Camberwell Green. W. Toler, 54, Praed Street. W. Shore Bros., 33, Newington Green Road. Dale, 50, Crawford Street, W. B. Buckmaster. Newington Butts. R. M. Morrell, 13, Francis Street, W.C. St. George’s Hall, Lower Edmonton. G. Chard, Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square. Wm. West, 4, Birkbeck Villas, Birkbeck Rd., G. Biddiss, 98, Euston Street. Tottenham. J. C. Parkinson, 39, Ossulston Street, N.W. J. C. Ames, Lyham Road, Clapham Park. W. Gammell, 35, High Street, Camden Town. &c. &c. Additions to this list may be sent to , ■. "t. R. Wright, 44, Essex Street, W.C. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Lessons for the day, consisting of discourses delivered at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, by Moncure D. Conway Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource South Place Religious Society Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 1 leaf ; 23 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1882] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5715 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [s.l.] Subject The topic of the resource Conway Hall Ethical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Lessons for the day, consisting of discourses delivered at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, by Moncure D. Conway), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Lectures Moncure Conway https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/a0faa05105e73b8b0988e4a4d64385d0.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=dkVDvuOelDcofmH2cp645ExUzhtzTfY2zyw%7EDQEHAg-TO73nnoAq2MGov3EmjtzDZWmGFIG3IiXDBToM9NORSkbeib7WQOAj5swA2NBlWpaWPua-eSDuqdWZkKVbzUsYFfCeJoi4i48gL6UY1jKyAYu5UgL-wa-e8F3E65Nxuog%7EtJ9gZCzm71LNfvLhjjcQfOETimeZkUfKxf09sovjo3mKPq-09amsiIAmNQqV5xcU2geT9GpQCpKjgK-BB92sVSBWzkF-nE%7EaB%7E2O6DZt8fJsKtYe%7EIuaXVYegd7TOp22%7Ern08EMSpWuJNo2Jdd6NHrQByn-h-xo-U4-ZNMihoA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 803f9d7ba65c1a87b0c496edebd595af PDF Text Text ������ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Moncure D. Conway Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [s.l.] Collation: 299-304 p. ; 22 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Inscription on title page: 'The Biograph, March '81'. Extracted from an issue of 'The Biograph'. March 1881. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [s.n.] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1881] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5201 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource [Unknown] Subject The topic of the resource Conway Hall Ethical Society Moncure Conway Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Moncue D. Conway), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts Moncure Conway https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/fc76da30db592926f9424384a8a3b172.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=gcv3SrT95NIItmhYbrmJHSt7Q93mOrSYBunfjjZ731viEkt25PSz2XbWuYPRZfZbd%7EgCReJNbQgwxZUiCpiL%7EJrhsdILIXtH%7E9MD08FUf0Jbs1to5jPtw471c7W98JFMgaa8gsZEcVeawo7TSEhvM7X58HqgV6IZQHnMvtUoS8OwoPb4a-uSBAseHqNr-GcnT9mgwhCIEFf9R5Y8RmPGL--wVx83Rqttn6YO61JZiK2w-PeBEXHzcAsr249LOhKX%7ESjSaN3A7bLt9xfczfWsU6PD0MMXb1x8lhH4-1mdBA7%7EsmuRg4UD538%7EcYpD7tepms1IZ9wlS%7EAKEASc1I01qg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM f8d88fc29c29fd8c7e4450b36ae16ab1 PDF Text Text SOUTH-PLACE CHAPEL, FINSBURY. % is >•■■■. f' ’ . ' ' of ilje (Joimiwttw for 1871, Your Committee commenced last year’s Report by congratulating the Congregation on their improved posi­ tion and prospects, and they have much pleasure in being able to state that there is still greater reason for congra­ tulation now. Several new Member^ have joined us during the year, and the average attendance of Visitors J has increased, while the progress of surrounding circum­ stances has tended, in various directions, to develope those principles of Religions Truth and£*Freedom which it has ever been the aim of this Congregation to cultivate. We no longer stand alone,, but several other centres have come into existence from which our principles are dis­ seminated. Mr. Voysey, whose entire separation from the Established Church has been effected during the past year, and from whom we had a most interesting Service soon afterwards, has established a regular Sunday Morn­ ing Service at St. George’s Hall, Langham Place, attended by a Congregation which numbers from 800 to 1,000. The Sunday Lecture Society gives Literary and Scientific Lectures at the same place on Sunday after­ �2 noons, which are very fully attended; and on the Sunday evening another Society (the Sunday Evenings for the People} provides a similar Lecture at the same place. At Croydon, Mr. Suffield, a seceder from the Roman Ca­ tholic Church, in which he held an important position, has succeeded in establishing a Free Religious Society very similar to our own. To two of these Societies Mr. Conway contributes his occasional assistance, and by them all Principles of Thought are inculcated which are identical with ours. Literature generally is becoming more liberal in its tone; while the discussions that have taken place throughout the country on the subject of Education in connection with the School Boards has tended in the same direction. Nor is this progress towards Mental Freedom confined to our own country. Dr. Dollinger’s resistance to the dogma of Papal Infalli­ bility has produced, and will produce hereafter, conse­ quences as important as those which followed from Luther’s denunciation of Papal Indulgences; while in Germany generally, in Austria, in Italy, in France, and indeed almost throughout the civilized world, strenuous efforts are being made to take the education of the People out of the hands of the Priesthood. All these evidences of progress, with many others, are, your Committee think, subjects for congratulation to the Congregation. In proceeding to narrate the Congregational events of the year, the Committee feel that the first place is due to the memory of their late friend and coadjutor, Mr. Bra­ ham, whose recent death has deprived them and the Con­ gregation of a most efficient, energetic, and devoted Member. Than Mr. Braham no member of the Congregation had its interests more thoroughly at heart; he was always in his place, and ever ready to devote both time and trouble to its service. Your Committee felt it their duty to address a special letter to Mrs. Braham expressive of their deep sympathy with her, and of their high sense of their �3 mutual loss. Mr. Conway conducted his funeral service, which was attended by several members of the Congre­ gation. The services of the fear have been conducted, with a few exceptions, by Mr. Conway, with increased pleasure and advantage to the Congregation. He has devoted to them a vast amount of thought and labour, and has shown unflinching courage in denouncing many conventional shams of the day. During his vacation he attended the Miracle Plays at Ober-Ammergau, of which he gave us a ihost vivid description on his return. The Committee have felt great pleasure in having been enabled by the Congregation to increase Mr. Conway’s income in the past year, and thus to assist him in meeting the heavy expenses which are entailed by the preparation of the Lectures delivered here, so different in their character from ordinary Pulpit ministrations. Two of his Lectures have been published during the year by Mr. Scott, of Rams­ gate, who is doing so much to spread Free Opinions amongst those to whom he has access. Besides the Service from Mr. Voysey, before alluded to, we have had two most instructive and interesting Services from Mr. Channing-, one in consequence of Mr. Conway’s temporary illness, and the other on account of his sudden engagement at Newcastle. Your Committee cheerfully concur in the occasional absences of Mr. Con­ way, not only from their desire to show courtesy to him, but because they also feel that it is their duty to facilitate the extension into new spheres of the Principles which Mr. Conway so admirably inculcates. On one other Sunday the Congregation had the great pleasure of listen­ ing to an excellent Service from Mr. Robert Collyer, of Chicago; in connexion with whom your Com­ mittee cannot but allude to the dreadful fire which occurred in the autumn at Chicago, by which his Church and private dwelling were destroyed, with nearly �4 all his personal property; and it is very gratifying to them to be able to add that the Unitarian body in England displayed their sympathy with him by contributing about £3000 towards the restoration of the destroyed property. On the Sunday of Mr. Collyer’s Service an impromptu and informal meeting was afterwards held in the Chapel, presided over by Mr. P. A. Taylor, the member for Leicester, to petition Parliament for such an alteration of the law with respect to Sunday Trading as should prevent the partial and unjust oppression which was then being exercised against a few poor shopkeepers, whom the Magistrates were obliged unwillingly to convict and fine. Your Committee, through their Treasurer, have the pleasure of occasionally hearing from Mr. Sen, their interesting visitor of last year, and of learning that, partly by his efforts,' the Theistic movement is steadily progressing throughout the vast population of India. The friends of Mr. Sen in England, amongst whom are to be reckoned many Members of this Congregation, have had the pleasure of sending him an Organ for his Church, which, it is hoped, arrived on New Year’s Day. Another generation will probably see vast progress made towards dispelling the darkness of Indian superstition by the simple and rational efforts of Mr. Sen and his fellow­ workers. In the course of the year a case of gross. Religious Persecution occurred at a township near Sydney, New South Wales, which greatly excited the sympathies of the Congregation. A person named Jones had been con­ victed of Blasphemy, and sentenced to fine and imprison­ ment, for the expression of sentiments, in a controversy to which he had been provoked, which, at least, are not very unlike our own. A Meeting was held in the Chapel, and Resolutions were passed, but happily it was not necessary to take any action in the matter, as the conviction was quashed on appeal to the Superior Court. �5 Several amateurs, Members of the Congregation, have joined the Choir during the past year, in response to the invitation of the Committee. It is still susceptible of further improvement from further additions, and the Committee repeat their invitation. They also invite volunteer additions to the Committee. A very pleasant Soiree of the Members and their Friends was held at the Cannon Street Hotel early in June, which was fully attended. These reunions give an opportunity to the Congregation of becoming personally acquainted with each other, which is scarcely furnished by the brief weekly meeting at the Chapel on Sunday mornings, especially considering the different and distant localities from which the Congregation gather, and the absence of those other various means of personal inter­ course possessed by most Congregations. The Com­ mittee hope to arrange another Soiree shortly, and antici­ pate from it not less pleasure than has been afforded by previous ones. It is%ratifying to be able to state that these pleasant Meetings are self-supporting, and do not burden the General Funds. In furtherance of the same object of promoting the personal acquaintance of the members with each other and with himself, Mr. Conway has instituted a series of Receptions at his own residence, to which he invites the Members of the Congregation. Two such pleasant Receptions have already been held, and it cannot be doubted that they greatly tend to further the object in view, that of assimilating the Congregation to the cha­ racter of a Family, and of promoting mutual Union and Cooperation. The Treasurer’s Report shows the Receipts during the year to have been £579 8s. 5d., and the Expenditure £624 5s. Od., leaving a balance due to him of £44 16s. 7d. It must be gratifying to the Congregation to observe that, although a larger sum than usual has been paid to �6 Mr. Conway for his invaluable services during the past year, the deficiency to be now made up is much less than usual. They feel it their duty, however, to state that the Treasurer is almost always without Chapel Funds, chiefly in consequence of many of the Seat Rents, which ought to be all paid in advance, being considerably in arrear— sometimes to the extent of a whole year. This is a state of matters which ought not to exist, and your Committee hope that it is only necessary to call attention to it to ensure its being remedied. The Benevolent Fund Report is as follows :— 1871. Dr. £ s. d. Jan. 1. To Balance in hand......... 32 1 3 Dec. 31. Subscriptions and Donations throughout the year -............ 11 3 7 £43 4 10 1871. Cr. £ s. d. Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. By Annuities, Donations, and Christmas Gifts 11 2 0 Balance .........<....... 32 2 10 ■ w £43 4 10 During the past year the Committee have been en­ abled to render help to others besides the one Annuitant noW on the Fund ; especially have they been able to assist one afflicted Member of the Congregation, and to help him to help himself. They are glqd. still to have the means of meeting any emergency that may arise. Your Committee conclude their Report in the same tone of congratulation with which they commenced it. Looking back to the time when this Chapel was built— not quite fifty years since—and noting the vast social improvements which have since been effected, in the pro­ motion of which this Congregation has honourably borne its part, they cannot but feel that they have every encour­ agement for continued effort. And there is still a vast phalanx of evils against which to devote our efforts: amongst them, at the present time, perhaps the most �7 immediately prominent are the defects in the Education Act of last session. Each and all of us must do whalFin him lies to root out Denominational]’sm from the State Education of flhe People, and' to effect a complete sepa­ ration between Secular and Religious Teaching. When that has been done and the Education Boards have got * into working order, we may fairly hope for our Country that the Night of Ignorance will have begun to*pass away,* * and that the Day will be dawning in which Superstition shall give place to Faith in Universal Law, and«the Heaven hoped for in another world shall have commenced, its realization in this. January 28, 1872. • GEORGE LEVEY, PRINTER, WEST HARDING STREET, LONDON. �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Report of the committee for 1871 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource South Place Chapel Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 7 p. ; 21 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available South Place Chapel Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1872] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5575 Subject The topic of the resource Conway Hall Ethical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Report of the committee for 1871), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts South Place Chapel South Place Committee https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/a2725553db7c7bbbc7b66b9319caa041.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=O3f1cYnCnZKx1Tu78LuJkdv1I1KJ2u3ouxjYfGR9Lz-trfwWAlWkDeV2dfioBrcjKbeQ9gJkjgYwbDBAxkgDubkJux-XY%7EBtRcZX08yY7pxE0aPMSRzMTNZ2Ch7JC1wD-gkd7V-wZ2LNu3CwLkH5xfLDKNpNNjeN49EABKooXbctH2uzuYgOLu432jUXiBEYDSIfbPkbj76QECkNNZaJeBCUUMY797iX3mEorx%7EgCAVaDaMlrsSU8AHVpYAsAz-MCcASxLFn%7ESL090cBTSNhkbTTAvCIK11KVkzMVo8Ytw83jIEa375ZczvINyNGZtZ9kTUABjP1la4HSVN3Q7uJrw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM c69d760ade5847fab5fea89fed4228db PDF Text Text % REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL FOR THE YEAR 1877. �SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL 1877. JMinistcr. MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A., Hamlet House, Hammersmith Committer. Mrs. ANDERSON Mr. E. K. BLYTH „ W. BURR „ G. W. COOKE „ E. DALLOW „ R. G. HEMBER „ G. HICKSON „ P. HICKSON „ R. S. JOHNSON „ J. KNIGHT „ E. R. LEVEY Mrs. McMORRAN Mr. W. J. REYNOLDS „ C. H. SEYLER ,, J. SHAW „ W. SHURY „ J. STOUT Mrs. THOS. TAYLOR Mr. W. D. THOMSON ,, A. J. WATERLOW Miss WILLIAMS. treasurer anti (^airman. Mr. GEORGE HICKSON, 35, Highbury New Park, N. Swretarp. Mr. E. R. LEVEY, 162, The Grove, Camberwell, S.E. Secretarp Soiree Committee. Mr. CORRIE B. GRANT, 8, Fig Tree Court, Temple, E.C. ®^o(r=j|¥Iaater. Mr. J. TROUSSELLE, 7, Blandford Place, N.W. �REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL FOB THE TEAR 1877. Your Committee are glad, while submitting their Annual Report, to be able to express their assurance of the growing appreciation of the cause promoted at South Place, shown in the rapidlyincreasing numbers that attend the services, and listen with rapt attention to Mr. Conway’s interesting discourses. Satisfactory evidence of this is to be found in tho amount received for seat­ rents, which from £431 in 1875, rose to £478 in 1876, and £586 in the year just concluded. In consequence of this increaso in the attendance, your Committee deemed it necessary, for the purpose of providing additional accommodation in the body of the hall, to re-arrange the sittings, and by so doing they have obtained 52 more seats, many of which are already let. It will be within the recollection of the majority of the Members of this Society that last year a guarantee-fund, amounting to £1,700, was formed; and it is with much satisfac­ tion that your Committee refer to the accompanying Balance Sheet to show that the current expenses of the year have again, notwithstanding the additional demands made upon the resources of the Chapel, been fully met without calling upon the Guarantors. �4 One of the first duties your Committee had to consider, was the preparation of the Hymn Book for a reprint, the first impression of 1,500 copies having been exhausted; and it was a great satisfaction to them to be able, by printing 4,500 copies, to produce an edition, a part of which, printed on cheaper paper,, might be sold at Is. a copy. About 500 copies of this re-issue have already been disposed of. Typographical and other errors in the previous issue have been corrected, and the work now takes its place as one of the best of the kind for the use of free religious Societies. It is gratifying to know that one other Congregation, viz., that of the Rev. Gr. Dale, of Burton-on-Trent, has already adopted it, and it may confidently be expected that other Societies will do the same. Your Committee regret that they have been unable to carry out the resolution, passed at the last annual general meeting, “ that the whole question of the music be referred to arbitra­ tion.” Mr. H. K. Moore, acting under the advice of his friends, declined to submit to arbitration the only point really at issue, viz.: the right of the congregation to the continued use of the music composed and arranged by him, during his tenure of the office of Musical Director, for the use of the Congregation in connexion with their hymn book. Your Committee therefore took steps for the preparation of new tune books, and are pleased to express their acknowledgment of the valuable as­ sistance rendered by the choir-master, Mr. J. Trousselle, in the composition and selection of music, and of the general efficiency of the choir under his able and energetic management. The amount received for letting the chapel is in excess of the previous year, although the Sunday League have not engaged it for their “ Sunday Evenings for the People,” and a growing item of revenue may be looked for from this source. The Committee congratulate the League in being able to carry on their good work in a larger and more commodious building. The Annual Soiree was held at the Cannon Street Hotel with unprecedented success; and the Monthly Soirees have taken place in the Chapel, affording pleasant opportunities for the �5 members of the Society to become better acquainted. The Com­ mittee cannot sufficiently thank the ladies and gentlemen who arrange these evenings in so satisfactory a manner. The Chapel was closed during the month of August. On the other Sundays of the year, Mr. Conway has delivered discourses noticeable for those distinctive charms and qualities, always iden­ tified in our minds with his name. Several of these discourses have been printed during the year, and Mr. Conway has pub­ lished his “Idols and Ideals,” a work embodying much of the thought contained in discourses previously delivered at South Place. These publications have been received by the congrega­ tion with evident satisfaction. A meeting was held in the Chapel on Sunday, the 6th of May, to support the policy indicated in the resolutions which the Eight Hon. W. E. Gladstone proposed moving in the House of Commons on the following day. Eesolutions to that effect were passed by the meeting, and a petition signed by the chairman was presented to the House of Commons. It is hoped that the deplorable war which has during the past year raged in Turkey, may shortly be terminated by an enduring peace, under which freedom and good government may be secured for the oppressed populations of Eastern Europe, A collection was made in the Chapel on Sunday, the 28th October, in aid of the funds of the Normal College for the Blind, when the sum of <£33 Is. 8cL was contributed. In April last a bust of the late W. J. Fox, by the late eminent sculptor Mr. T. Earle, was presented to the Congregation by his widow, and the Committee took it upon themselves, to tender to her, the best thanks of the congregation for her acceptable present. The members of South Place Chapel will be glad to hear that the kindred Society meeting at the Atheneeum, Camden Eoad, con­ tinues to attract those who are beginning to face the religious problems of the day; and in this way many who might never reach South Place are brought into sympathy with its views and objects. �6 In conclusion, your Committee believe that the progress of freedom and the growth of intellectual activity, both of which this Society has so warmly at heart, are evidenced by the move­ ments which have taken place in the religious and smentific world, and especially in the cordial reception which has been recently accorded to Mr. Darwin, and the honour awarded to him by one of our most ancient Universities ; in the overwhelming majority, by which Convocation has now admitted Women to the degrees of the University of London, and by the important, events which have taken place in France and other parts of the world during the past year. ��� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Report of the committee of South Place Chapel for the year 1877 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource South Place Chapel Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 6, [1] p, ; 22 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [South Place Chapel] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1878] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5577 Subject The topic of the resource Conway Hall Ethical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Report of the committee of South Place Chapel for the year 1877), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts South Place Chapel South Place Committee https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/ee6f73260cdebabf5e76ae4da98a3020.pdf?Expires=1782345600&Signature=NaTzSH21Rd7qczQOu6ETjacJuohuFl7tsxG2HC4M8r0P9LukWRQhj7Olfhve-g9HCXryXp14R-rSXFFls1wd0yR4GN2eaH0A3AGaG-XA0bOS1capHZN1y0x2iEQwlMFzgaNqqWU7EFdzCBF7MbGkhhN-GYXZlR1X5bFpFUXkH2i51VYSJAB1S8orglI%7ELXlvbpIki77r6qK8yTafGqV7RjSne3MtXK7WkO1vA2VbfEEoBmcTmjsddvDxFo1vd0IelSbSVUC6Sw3o0WEDsN7a9dpgRelFqi1RVgAwHkWq3uLlKkJGUjlnO-Q9%7EsCotp0OU23lwMvpv5E2XFkT3kHEKw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 0da90ac9b6e1057c18f28749853c9495 PDF Text Text REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL, FOB THE YEAB 1878. �SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL 1878. jMinister. MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A., Hamlet House, Hammersmith. Committee. Mrs. ANDERSON Mr. E. K. BLYTH „ W. BURR „ G. W. COOKE „ E. DALLOW ' „ R. G. HEMBER „ G. HICKSON „ P. HICKSON „ R. S. JOHNSON „ J. KNIGHT „ E. R. LEVEY Mrs. McMORRAN Mr. W. J. REYNOLDS „ C. H. SEYLER ‘ „ J. SHAW „ W. SHURY „ J. STOUT Mrs. THOS. TAYLOR Mr. W. D. THOMSON „ A. J. WATERLOW Miss WILLIAMS treasurer anb Chairman. Mr. GEORGE HICKSON, 35, Highbury New Park, N. Secretary. Mr. W. J. REYNOLDS, Elm House, Mare Street, Hackney. 'auditors. Mr. McMORRAN 1 Mr. J. A. LYON ®rustee». Mr. „ „ „ „ WM. BURR JNO. CUNNINGTON GEO. HICKSON J. A. LYON M. E. MARSDEN Mr. „ „ Sir W. C. NEVITT J. L. SHUTER F. WALTERS S. H. WATERLOW, Bart., M.P. Mr. A. J. WATERLOW Secretary Soiree Committee. Mr. CORRIE B. GRANT, 1, Mitre Court Buildings, E.C. d&oir=j¥laster. Mr. J, TROUSSELLE, 7, Blandford Place, N.W. �Mlfiport of the OTominittee OF SOUTH PLACE CHAPEL, FOB, THE YEAH 1878, The Committee in presenting the members of South Place Congregation with the customary Annual Report, have again the pleasure of recording a period of steady progress. Not only is the financial position of the Society, as will be seen from the annexed balance sheet, satisfactory; but what is perhaps, of even more importance, there has been during the past year a continued influx of new members. This cir­ cumstance alone, apart from others to which attention wfll be drawn, indicates that not only do the force and originality of Mr. Conway’s discourses continue to command a deserved popularity, but that liberal opinions in religious matters are— notwithstanding many adverse influences—steadily advancing. Probably, one of the circumstances that most tends to pre­ vent the spread of advanced ideas in religion, as in politics, is the want of union and sympathy between the various divi­ sions of liberal opinion. Conscious of this, the Committee gladly welcomed and assisted a proposal of Mr. Conway’s to hold during the month of June a “ Conference of Liberal Thinkers,” the meeting of which it was thought might pos­ sibly result in some more systematic work being done in furthering moral progress and spreading enlightened opinion. This conference was held on June 13th and 14th, and was well attended by ladies and gentlemen fairly representing �4 the various schools of advanced thought, both in |Europe and America. As might have been expected from such an assem­ blage, much diversity of opinion prevailed, not only as to the objects to be attained, but also concerning the best means of securing them. Nevertheless, the papers read, and the dis­ cussions held, had the result of clearing away much misappre­ hension, and indicating many points of agreement between minds of a very diverse order * The most important result, however, was the formation of an “ Association of Liberal Thinkers,” which.there is good reason to believe, will shortly enter upon an energetic and useful career. In support of these anticipations, it may be mentioned that the Association has already, by the exertions of Mr. Conway, secured the adhesion of the leading scientific and literary men. With such honoured names as those which will duly appear, enlisted for active work, it is scarcely rash to predict a character and influence for the Association, which must redound to the credit of the place where it was initiated. Another matter that has engaged the attention of the Com­ mittee, during the past year, has been the preparation of new rules for the government of the Society. For some time past it has been felt that the old rules were inadequate, and as no provision was made for circulating them amongst the members, many were unaware of the existence of any rules whatever. Early in the year the Sub-Committee that had been entrusted with the task of drafting a new code of rules, reported, and the General Committee at a number of meet­ ings carefully revised the work. The result was submitted to a general meeting of the members on October 20th, and the Committee feel well rewarded for the trouble they have taken by the keen interest shown in the matter by the general body of the members. Two adjournments were found neces* The Report of the proceedings has been printed, and can be obtained in the Library. �5 saxy., the rules being ultimately adopted, with some modifi­ cations, on November 3rd, and confirmed, in accordance with the provisions of the Trust Deed, on December 8th. Two main objects have been pursued by those engaged in the preparation of these rules. First, to extend and define the rights of the members as fully as written regulations can do so; and, secondly, to interest as many as possible in the active work of the Society. Amongst the events of the year, the Committee record with satisfaction the following interesting incident. One of our members, Mr. McIntyre, sought permission to make a collection of surplus books for the use of the patients in the various London Hospitals. The Committee willingly gave their sanction and approval to the scheme, and have pleasure in being able to state that no less than 1,500 volumes have been distributed amongst the Metropolitan Hospitals. Another circumstance also indicates that there is no lack of energy in our Society. In the month of October, the Committee were asked to permit a series of lectures on Philosophy, to be given by Mr. James M. Rigg, B.A., Oxon., a gentleman who had recently come amongst us. Believing that all educational efforts of a high character were completely in accordance with the aims of the Society, the Committee gladly granted the use of the building at a nominal charge, and have the satisfaction of reporting that upwards of 100 ladies and gentlemen have given these lectures their support. The Soirees have been held during the season with the accustomed success, and the Soiree Committee have arranged the details of these social gatherings with so much prudence and care that they have been able to contribute materially ■towards the funds of the Society. It will also be freshly within the recollection of the members that a most agree­ able meeting has been held in the nature of a Reception �6 to Mrs. Conway, on which occasion a substantial gift was handed to Mr. and Mrs. Conway, in the name of the congregation. In addition to the usual ministrations, the Society has had the pleasure of listening to discourses from Mrs. Livermore and Colonel Higginson, both of the United States ; from Dr. Andrew Wilson j an able representative of liberal thought in Scotland ; and from Mr. J. Allanson Picton, whose championship of religious freedom has made him well known to us all. The discourses too of Mr. Conway have been a continued source of pleasure and advantage to our members, the freshness and impartiality with which he has treated the numerous moral and social problems that are now engaging public attention, being appreciated by an ever widening circle of hearers. The Committee are also happy to state that an arduous literary labour of Mr. Conway’s has during the past year been completed. For nearly twenty years the work on Demonology has engaged his anxious attention ; and the important character, scope, and object of this work can, perhaps, best be estimated by the following short quotation from the preface :— “ The natural world is overlaid by an unnatural religion, “ breeding bitterness around simplest thoughts, obstructions to “ science, estrangements not more reasonable than if they “ resulted from various notions of lunar figures,—all derived “ from the Devil-bequeathed dogma that certain beliefs and dis“ beliefs are of infernal instigation, Dogmas moulded in a fossil “ demonology make the foundation of institutions which divert “ wealth, learning, and enterprise to fictitious ends. “ It has not, therefore, been mere intellectual curiosity “ which has kept me working at this subject these many “ years, but an increasing conviction that the sequelse of such “ superstitions are exercising a still formidable influence.” The musical arrangements, which have added so much to the attractiveness of South Place Chapel in the past, have �7 not been neglected during the past year; the Choir, under the direction of Herr Trousselle, having maintained its high character for efficiency. In conclusion, the Committee congratulate the Members on the prosperous and successful nature of the year’s progress, on the increased activity and earnestness displayed within the Society, and on the disposition shown to work harmoniously for common aims; and they see no reason why, with such forces at work, the character and influence of South Place Religious Society should not be indefinitely augmented as the years pass by. ISTO TICE. In accordance with the New Rules, seven members of the Committee (the rotation determinable by lot) will retire from ^office at the ensuing General Meeting, and are not eligible for re-election until next year. The members so retiring are Mrs. McMorran, Miss Williams, Mr. W. Burr, Mr. Gr. W. Cooke, Mr. E. R. Levey, Mr. W. J. Reynolds, and Mr. A. J. Waterlow; in addition to which Mr. R. Gr. Hember, Mr. P, Hickson, Mr. R. S. Johnson, and Mr. W, Shury have resigned office. The members, therefore, will have to elect eleven new members of Committee and two Auditors. �iO II 1 co II 1 co 1 | r—^ || rH ' ■ r—( O rH rd t> o rd t> 00 t> CO * t MH rH pH O xH Hd * M o r—< rH MH * t pH cq MH � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victorian Blogging Description An account of the resource A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library &amp; Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Conway Hall Library & Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Conway Hall Ethical Society Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Pamphlet Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Report of the committee of South Place Chapel for the year 1878 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource South Place Chapel Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 7, [1] p. ; 22 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [South Place Chapel] Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource [1879] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5578 Subject The topic of the resource Conway Hall Ethical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (Report of the committee of South Place Chapel for the year 1878), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource English Conway Tracts South Place Chapel South Place Committee