1 10 7 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/30a9e22e17ee5bc6bf812b5f48d26e6d.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=pEWmO2nZD8452iAsCfQ5iB5LENBmuJ6mzoUbEc2aCPQ3pP7uwTzMRqPdcl2ls4wyD8nBjrgd2u%7ENGtWkjU1psQ1k5H3JLgF-NOqiqGL6k-DMB3IExwdEejmJBhmv5Yc8BMkX24cerBb-v3d1Xmdw66RiLkBY3NwTzH6hjDzYYyB8Ds6yisfjJzBRgUnGbdyxPw4o0HWVeYT4TJ9UaWjDIM%7EWrEAVagvOFXRDg7xTIGo1XS%7ER3I9XasQIa%7Erl7Iydj67x9eeABjQhg2GiINlWG79s03LtaAO807Wu8f6Q3R54Mdk9pbbElI4-2mhrk3ybwErRpluv3maY08JM3WnQeg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM b666984b70eefc59bb8d8f09e7d924b1 PDF Text Text The Massacre of the Piegans. THE MASSACRE OF THE PIEGANS* BY SHENANDOAH, AUTHOR OF “ SHERIDAN’S LAST RIDE,” AND “ MOKE-TA- VA-TA, THE MARTYRED CHIEFTAIN.” Stern winter flashed its frozen bars Across the fiery belt of Mars ; The mountain brow was crowned with light, The valley robed in spotless white ; Calm justice, bending from the sky, Looked o’er the battlements on high, Her shining balance downward hung, All solemnly and still it swung To weigh the deeds of shame and worth, At that hour passing on the earth ; On one side was a nation’s ban, The other held the poor Piegan. Great was the power, wealth, and pride Piled mountain high upon one side, The prowess and the strength of years, The triumphs over doubts and fears ; The conquests, sometimes gained o’er wrong, With Freedom’s name to make them strong; The other side held want, distress, The children of the wilderness, Feeble and faint, with garments few, The wintry winds could pierce them through; A nation’s army—Sheridan, Against the outlawed, poor Piegan. On one side glittering steel and fire, To do thejwork of death so dire; Steeds prancing, banners waving high, Strong men to conquest drawing nigh, Such victory as might could gain, With none their weapons to restrain; The other but a few souls brave, Who fought their helpless ones to save, Women and babes, shrieking awoke To perish ’mid the battle smoke, * As rendered at the close of a lecture upon the subject of “ Moke-ta-va-ta ; or, The Nation and its Wards,” in Masonic Temple, Washington, D. C., March 30th, by Cora L. V. Tappan. �The Massacre of the Piegans. Murdered, or turned out there to die Beneath the stern, gray, wintry sky; Here, a great Christian warrior’s plan, There, Pity, and the poor Piegan. Far o’er the seas, Columbia’s hands Uplift the fallen of all lands ; To Ireland’s stricken sons, her voice Speaks, bidding them awake, rejoice ; From England’s pride and wealth of state, She bids the paupered millions wait; Wakes from her dismal, dreary trance The sleeping liberty of France ; Salutes across the golden sea, Brave Garibaldi’s Italy; Pleads everywhere for rights of man, Why not for her own poor Piegan ? The summer fields of flowery Spain Give promise of bright Freedom’s grain ; Far to the distant Orient A flash of fiery thought is sent, The dark Mongolian is stirred With every potent, piercing word ; To all the races 'neath the sun She welcome gives ; even the one So lately bound to shame and toil, , Enslaved, enfranchised on her soil; For whom her‘own fair sons were slain, To wash away foul slavery’s stain; Oh 1 in this splendid, perfect plan, There is a place for the poor Piegan. Justice still bends above the earth, To mark the deeds of shame or worth • Each in the balance shall be tried ; Oh ! not upon the nation’s side Of shame, let us our tribute lay, But on the side of truth, alway; Remember, “Whatsoe’er is done Unto the feeblest little one,” The loving Master once hath said, KThat do ye unto me instead I look, behold the Son of Man Bears in his arms the poor Piegan. 9i �93 Friends among the Indians. “FRIENDS” AMONG THE INDIANS. From a report made by Samuel M. Janney, Superintendent of In­ dian Affairs, for the Northern Super­ intendency, in the State of Nebraska, to a convention of Friends held re­ cently in Philadelphia, we extract the following : At the Santee Agency, the survey of the allotments of land in severalty is well advanced, and the Indians are eager to occupy their farms as soon as houses can be built. A new steam saw-mill has been put in ope­ ration, a large number of saw-logs are in readiness, and lumber is being rapidly prepared for building pur­ poses. The agent expects the In­ dians to do most of the work in erecting their own houses. He has contracted for machinery to build a flouring-mill on Bazille Creek—which affords a sufficiency of water-power. He has seeded about a hundred acres with spring wheat, and intends to put in a corn crop on the agency farm. The schools are flourishing, and the In­ dians manifest a disposition to help themselves by honest labor. The condition of the tribe is very encour­ aging. At the Winnebago Agency, about three hundred acres of prairie land were broken by Indian labor last summer, to prepare for a crop this year. The agent writes : “ We are getting along very nicely with our work, having finished sowing about four hundred acres of wheat several days ago ; it is now coming up and looking well. We are at this time plowing for corn, and preparing to build fence.” The allotment of land in severalty is well advanced toward completion. The schools, according to the last information I received, were in a sa­ tisfactory condition. From the Omaha Agency, the agent writes : “ Industry and thrift are now taking the place of idleness and im­ providence. The men work well, and even the old chiefs now shoulder their axes and go into the timber to work with the rest.” The timber they have been cutting is for their own use, to be sawed into lumber for the building of their houses. The past winter was the first in which they have had the care of their own cattle. Though steadily work­ ed, these are now in good condition, and not one has died, so far as the agent has learned. Only one dayschool for children has yet been es­ tablished, though many that can not be accommodated express a desire to go to school. Funds are much needed for the support of more schools. At the Pawnee Agency, a disposi­ tion has been manifested recently by many of the men to engage in agri­ cultural labor, which has hitherto been performed almost exclusively by the squaws. The sum of $4000 deducted from their annuity last falL by direction of the chiefs, has, in ac­ cordance with their wishes, been ap­ plied this spring to the purchase of wagons, harness, and plows. They have a very large number of ponies which were of little use except they went on the hunt; some of these have been broken to work, and are �Friends among the Indians. now used for agricultural purposes. .Considerable area of land has been prepared for a wheat crop, and is probably sown by this time. These Indians generally raise a large supply of corn. The Manual Labor School is flou­ rishing, and now numbers seventyfive Indian boys and girls, who are boarded and clothed, and taught the most useful branches of an English education. The boys are taught to work on the farm, and the girls in­ structed in household work. The Agency farm is cultivated by the labor of the boys and young men who have been educated in the school. The agent of the Otoes and Mis­ souri Indians writes : “ The condi­ tion of the tribe is very promising, and I think its prospects are gradu­ ally growing better. A day-school, under the care of an experienced teacher, is progressing satisfactorily, but its existence does not do away with the necessity of an industrial school.” There has been' much sickness in the tribe, and about thirty children have died, mostly from measles. 93 The practice of bleeding for the cure of most diseases is very common with the Indians, and often very in­ jurious. The fund sent by friends for the supply of suitable food for the sick, has been of great service, and in some instances medical aid has been supplied from this same source. All the children of the tribe have been clothed by the Society of Friends, and now present a very creditable appearance. They attend school with cheerfulness. From the Great Nemaha Agency I returned yesterday. There has recently been much sickness among the Indians, chiefly from measles; but a skillful physician, living within six miles of the reservation, has at­ tended them, and the deaths have been few. The Iowa tribe is evidently much improved since I first saw it, and many of the men who were formerly intemperate and idle, have reformed, and are now sober and orderly in their habits. The school taught by Mary B. Lightfoot is well attend­ ed, and the progress of her pupils is encouraging. � 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 The Massacre of the Piegans Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shenandoah Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [Chicago] Collation: 90-91 p. ; 24 cm. Please note that this pamphlet contains language that may be upsetting to readers. This reflects the time in which the pamphlet was written and the ideologies of the author. 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 [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5445 Subject The topic of the resource Indigenous peoples Human rights 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 (The Massacre of the Piegans), 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 American Poetry Conway Tracts Marias Massacre of Montana Native Americans Piegan Peoples Poetry in English https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/c44e9670b9b41a3a74f0ddf7700fccc1.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=W4W3RCz6Ld7rsXDg3a4TVWk3H%7EQ%7EGGUlsxWOKhmkWo12YFQBMlx-BBNcIy5P3WE7C5lfDbn4FEYbaJFfyXcCSk-b62wiv4joGwc5J-kWgddgsNiE0WeRaxj0v-YiVlLN9mOKASjW0WKCMxyXHQmbFZ3MHBYBh3VpXE153UisQeCu5nR3TFL6SEZQ6PI-3QuOKURpEjQjGvour5ZnG5Acj1Q%7E3izCYP1%7EtorXq22waIx4HaZni179Cginx0JhyX42464mRDcpgXVH1xl6M5hUZHQB8bYqtGAHzEBtaER%7EQtDZuYun3b8ytXvfr2-kFF85kI-755k3L71bj2PhV7o0FQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM ae3bb5665d01c1f5de01b4e51d829309 PDF Text Text national secular society THE LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD. BY COL. R. G. INGERSOLL. LIBERTY SUSTAINS THE SAME RELATION TO MIND THAT SPACE DOES TO MATTER. LONDON: FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY, 63, FLEET STREET, E.C. 1883. PRICE SIXPENCE. �LONDON: PRINTED BY ANNIE BESANT AND CHARLES BRADLAUGH, 63, FLEET STREET, E.C. �THE LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD. Thebe is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of intelligence. The history of man is simply the history of slavery, of in­ justice and brutality, together with the means by which he has, through the dead and desolate years, slowly and pain­ fully advanced. He has been the sport and prey of priest and king, the food of superstition and cruel might. Crowned force has governed ignorance through fear. Hypocrisy and tyranny—two vultures—have fed upon the liberties of man. From all these there has been, and is, but one means of escape—intellectual development. Upon the back of in­ dustry has been the whip. Upon the brain have been the fetters of superstition. Nothing has been left undone by the enemies of freedom. Every art and artifice, every cruelty and outrage, have been practiced and perpetrated to destroy the rights of man. In this great struggle every crime has been rewarded and every virtue has been punished. Reading, writing, thinking, and investigating have all been crimes. Every science has been an outcast. All the altars and all the thrones united to arrest the forward march of the human race. The king said that man­ kind must not work for themselves. The priest said that mankind must not think for themselves. One forged chains for the hands, the other for the soul. Under this infamous regime the eagle of the human intellect was for ages a slimy serpent of hypocrisy. The human race was imprisoned. Through some of the prison bars came a few struggling rays of light. Against these bars Science pressed its pale and thoughtful face, wooed by the holy dawn of human advancement. Bar after bar �4 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. was broken away. A few grand men escaped and devoted their lives to the liberation of their fellows. 5 Only a few years ago there was a great awakening of the human mind. Men began to enquire by what right a crowned robber made them work for him ? The man who asked this question was called a traitor. Others asked, by what right does a robed hypocrite rule my thought ? Such men were called infidels. The priest said, and the king said, where is this spirit of investigation to stop ? They said then and they say now, that it is dangerous for man to be free. I deny it. Out on the intellectual sea there is room enough for every sail. In the intellectual air there is space enough for every wing. The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellowmen. Every man should stand under the blue and stars, under he infinite flag of nature, the peer of every other man. Standing in the presence of the Unknown, all have the same right to think, and all are equally interested in the great questions of origin and destiny. All I claim, all I plead for, is liberty of thought and expression. That is all. I do not pretend to tell what is absolutely true, but what I think is true. I do not pretend to tell all the truth. I do not claim that I have floated level with the heights of thought, or that I have descended to the very depths of things. I simply claim that what ideas I have, I have a right to express; and that any man who denies that right to me is an intellectual thief and robber. That is all. Take those chains from the human soul. Break those fetters. If I have no right to think, why have I a brain ? If I have no such right, have three or four men, or any number, who may get together, and sign a creed, and build a house, and put a steeple upon it, and a bell in it—have they the right to think ? The good men, the good women are tired of the whip and lash in the realm of thought. They remember the chain and faggot with a shudder. They are free, and they give liberty to others. Whoever claims any right that he is unwilling to accord to his fellow-men is dishonest and infamous. In the good old times, our fathers had the idea that they could make people believe to suit them. Our ancestors, in the ages that are gone, really believed that by force you could �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 5 convince a man. You cannot change the conclusion of the brain by torture ; nor by social ostracism. But I will tell you what you can do by these, and what you have done. You can make hypocrites by the million. You can make a man say that he has changed his mind; but he remains of the same opinion still. Put fetters all over him ; crush his feet in iron boots; stretch him to the last gasp upon the holy rack; burn him, if you please, but his ashes will be of the same opinion still, Our fathers in the good old times—and the best thing I can say about them is, that they have passed away—had an idea that they could force men to think their way. That idea is still prevalent in many parts, even of this country. Even in our day, some extremely religious people say: “We will not trade with that man ; we will not vote for him ; we will not hire him if he is a lawyer ; we will die before we will take his medicine if he is a doctor; we will not invite him to dinner; we will socially ostracise him ; he must come to our church ; he must believe our doctrines ; he must wor­ ship our God or we will not in any way contribute to his support.” In the old times of which I have spoken, they desired to make all men think exactly alike. All the mechanical inge­ nuity of the world cannot make two clocks run exactly alike, and how are you going to make hundreds of millions of people, differing in brain and disposition, in education and aspiration, in conditions and surroundings, each clad in a living robe of passionate flesh—how are you going to make them think and feel alike ? If there is an infinite God, one who made us, and wishes us to think alike, why did he give a spoonful of brains to one, and a magnificent intellectual de­ velopment to another ? Why is it that we have all degrees of intelligence, from orthodoxy to genius, if it was intended that all should think and feel alike ? I used to read in books how our Fathers persecuted man­ kind. But I never appreciated it. I read it, but it did not burn itself into my soul. I really did not appreciate the infamies that have been committed in the name of religion, until I saw the iron arguments that Christians used. I saw the Thumbscrew—two little pieces of iron, armed on the inner surfaces with protuberances, to prevent their slipping ; through each end a screw uniting the two pieces. And when �6 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. some man denied the efficacy of baptism, or may be said: “ do not believe that a fish ever swallowed a man to keep him from drowning,” then they put his thumb between these pieces of iron, and in the name of love and universal forgive­ ness, began to screw these pieces together. When this was done most men said: “I will recant.” Probably I should have done the same. Probably I would have said : “ Stop, I will admit anything that you wish; I will admit that there is one God or a million, one hell or a billion ; suit yourselves ; but stop.” But there was now and then a man who would not swerve the breadth of a hair. There was now and then some sub­ lime heart, willing to die for an intellectual conviction. Had it not been for such men we would be savages to-night. Had it not been for a few brave, heroic souls in every age, we would have been cannibals, with pictures of wild beasts tat­ tooed upon our flesh, dancing around some dried snake fetich. Let us thank every good and noble man who stood so grandly, so proudly, in spite of opposition, of hatred and death, for what he believed to be the truth. Heroism did not excite the respect of our fathers. The man who would not recant was not forgiven. They screwed the thumbscrews down to the last pang, and then threw their victim into some dungeon, where, in the throbbing silence and darkness, he might suffer the agonies of the fabled damned. This was done in the name of love—in the name of mercy—in the name of the compassionate Christ. I saw, too, what they called the Collar of Torture. Imagine a circle of iron, and on the inside a hundred points almost as sharp as needles. This argument was fastened about the throat of the sufferer. Then he could not walk, nor sit down, nor stir without the neck being punctured by these points. In a little while the throat would begin to swell, and suffocation would end the agonies of that man. This man, it may be, had committed the crime of saying, with tears upon his cheeks : “ I do not believe that God, the father of us all, will damn to eternal perdition any of the children of men.” I saw another instrument, called the Scavenger’s Daughter. Think of a pair of shears with handles, not only where they now are, but at the points as well, and just above the pivot that unites the blades, a circle of iron. In the upper handles �The Liberty oj Man, Woman and Child. 7 the hands would he placed; in the lower, the feet; and through the iron ring, at the centre, the head of the victim would be forced. In this condition he would be thrown prone upon the earth, and the strain upon the muscles produced such agony that insanity would in pity end his pain. This was done by gentlemen who said: “ Whosoever smiteth thee upon one cheek turn to him the other also.” I saw the Rack. This was a box like the bed of a waggon, with a windlass at each end, with levers, and rachets to pre­ vent slipping; over each windlass went chains ; some were fastened to the ankles of the sufferer; others to his wrists. And then priests, clergymen, divines, saints, began turning these windlasses, and kept turning, until the ankles, the knees, the hips, the shoulders, the elbows, the wrists of the victim were all dislocated, and the sufferer was wet with the sweat of agony, And they had standing by a physician to feel his pulse. What for ? To save his life ? Yes. In mercy ? No ; simply that they might rack him once again. This was done, remember, in the name of civilisation; in the name of law and order; in the name of mercy ; in the name of religion ; in the name of the most merciful Christ. Sometimes, when I read and think about these frightful things, it seems to me that I have suffered all these horrors myself. It seems sometimes, as though I had stood upon the shore of exile and gazed with tearful eyes toward home and native land; as though my nails had been tom from my hands, and into the bleeding quick needles had been thrust; as though my feet had been crushed in iron boots ; as though I had been chained in the cell of the Inquisition and listened with dying ears for the coming footsteps of release; as though I had stood upon the scaffold and had seen the glittering axe fall upon me ; as though I had been upon,.the rack and had seen, bending above me, the white faces of hypocrite priests; as though I had been taken from my fire­ side, from my wife and children, taken to the public square, chained ; as though faggots had been piled about me; as though the flames had climbed around my limbs and scorched my eyes to blindness, and as though my ashes had been scat­ tered to the four winds, by all the countless hands of hate. And when I so feel, I swear that while I live I will do what little I can to preserve and to augment the liberties of man, woman, and child. �8 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. It is a question of justice, of mercy, of honesty, of intellectual development. If there is a man in the world who is not willing to give to every human being every right he claims for himself, he is just so’critich nearer a barbarian than I am. It is a question of honesty. The man who is not willing to give to every other the same intellectual rights he claims for himself, is dishonest, selfish, and brutal. It is a question of intellectual development. Whoever holds another man responsible for his honest thought, has a deformed and distorted brain. It is a question of intellectual development. A little while ago I saw models of nearly everything that man has made. I saw models of all the water craft, from the rude dug-out in which floated a naked savage—one of our ancestors—a naked savage, with teeth two inches in length, with a spoonful of brains in the back of his head—I saw models of all the water craft of the world, from that dug-out up to a man-of-war, that carries a hundred guns and miles of canvas—from that dug-out to the steamship that turns its brave prow from the port of New York, with a compass like a conscience, crossing three thousand miles of billows without missing a throb or beat of its mighty iron heart. I saw at the same time the weapons that man has made, from a club, such as was grasped by that same savage, when he crawled from his den in the ground and hunted a snake for his dinner; from that club to the boomerang, to the sword, to the cross-bow, to the blunderbuss, to the flint-lock, to the cap-lock, to the needle-gun, up to a cannon cast by Krupp, capable of hurling a ball weighing two thousand pounds through eighteen inches of solid steel. I saw, too, the armour from the shell of a turtle, that one of our brave ancestors lashed upon his breast when he went to fight for his country ; the skin of a porcupine, dried with the quills on, which this same savage pulled over his orthodox head, up to the shirts of mail, that were worn in the Middle Ages, that laughed at the edge of the sword and defied the point of the spear ; up to a monitor clad in complete steel. I saw at the same time their musical instruments, from the tom-tom—that is, a hoop with a couple of strings of raw hide drawn across it—from that tom-tom, up to the instruments we have to-day, that make the common air blossom with melody. - �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child 9 I saw, too, their paintings, from a daub of yellow mud, to the great works which now adorn the galleries of the world. I saw also their sculpture, from the rude god with four legs, a half-dozen arms, severalties, and two or three rows of ears, and one little, contemptible brainless head, up to the figures of to-day—to the marbles that genius has clad in such a personality that it seems almost impudent to touch them without an introduction. I saw their books—books written upon skins of wild beasts —upon shoulder-blades of sheep—books written upon leaves, upon bark, up to the splendid volumes that enrich the libraries of our day. When I speak of libraries, I think of the remark of Plato : “A house that has a library in it has a soul.” I saw their implements of agriculture, from a crooked stick that was attached to the horn of an ox by some twisted straw, to the agricultural implements of this generation, that make it possible for a man to cultivate the,soil without being an ignoramus. While looking upon these things I was forced to say that man advanced only as he mingled his thought with his labor, —only as he got into partnership with the forces of natureonly as he learned to take advantage of his surroundings— only as he depended upon himself—only as he lost confidence in the Gods. I saw at the same time a row of human skulls, from the lowest skull that has been found, the Neanderthal skull— skulls from Central Africa, skulls from the bushmen of Australia, skulls from the farthest isles of the Pacific sea—Up to the best skulls of the last generation;—and I noticed that there was the same difference between the products of those skulls, and I said to myself: “ After all, it is a simple question of intellectual development.” There was the same difference between those skulls, the lowest and highest skulls, that there was between the dug-out and the man-of-war and the steamship, between the club and the Krupp gun, between the yellow daub, and the landscape, between the tom-tom and an opera by Verdi. The first and lowest skull in this row was the den in which crawled the base and meaner instincts of mankind, and the last was a temple in which dwelt joy, liberty, and love. It is all a question of brain, of intellectual development. �10 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. If we are nearer free than were our fathers, it is because we have better heads upon the average, and more brains in them. Now, I ask you to be honest with me. It makes no differ­ ence to you what I believe, nor what I wish to prove. I simply ask you to be honest. Divest your minds, for a moment at least, of all religious prejudice. Act, for a few moments, as though you were men and women. Suppose the king, if there was one, and the priest, if there was one, at the time this gentleman floated in the dug-out, and charmed his ears with the music of the tom-tom, had said : “ That dug-out is the best boat that ever can be built by man ; the pattern of that came from on high, from the great God of storm and flood, and any man who says that he can improve it by putting a mast in it, with a sail upon it, is an infidel, and shall be burned at the stake,” what, in your judgment—honor bright—would have been the effect upon the circumnavigation of the globe ? Suppose the king, if there was one, and the priest if there was one—and I presume there was a priest, because it was a very ignorant age—suppose this king and priest had said : “ That tom-tom is the most beautiful instru­ ment of music of which any man can conceive; that is the kind of music they have in heaven; an angel sitting upon the edge of a fleecy cloud, golden in the setting sun, playing upon that tom-tom, became so enraptured, so entranced with her own music, that in a kind of ecstacy she dropped it—that is how we obtained it; and any man who says that it can be improved by putting a back and front to it, and four strings, and a bridge, and getting a bow of hair with resin, is a blaspheming wretch, and shall die the death.” I ask you, what effect would that have had upon music ? If that course had been pursued, would the human ears, in your judgment, ever have been enriched with the divine symphonies of Beethoven ? Suppose the king, if there was one, and the priest, had said : “ That crooked stick is the best plough that can be in­ vented : the pattern of that plough was given to a pious farmer in a holy dream, and that twisted straw is the ne plus ultra of all twisted things, and any man who says he can make an improvement upon that plough is an atheistwhat, in your judgment, would have been the effect upon the science of agriculture ? �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 11 But the people said, and the king and priest said: “We want better weapons with which to kill our fellow Christians ; we want better ploughs, better music, better paintings, and whoever will give us better weapons, and better music, better houses to live in, better clothes, we will robe him in wealth and crown him with honor.” Every incentive was held out to every human being to improve these things. That is the reason the club has been changed to a cannon, the dug-out to a steamship, the daub to a painting; that is the reason that the piece of rough and broken stone finally became a glorified statue. You must not, however, forget that the gentleman in the dug-out, the gentleman who was enraptured with the music of the tom-tom, and cultivated his land with a crooked stick, had a religion of his own. That gentleman in the dug-out was orthodox. He was never troubled with doubts. He lived and died settled in his mind. He believed in hell; and he thought he would be far happier in heaven, if he could just lean over and see certain people who expressed doubts as to the truth of his creed, gently but everlastingly broiled and burned. It is a very sad and unhappy fact that this man has had a great many intellectual descendants. It is also an unhappy fact in nature, that the ignorant multiply much faster than the intellectual. This fellow in the dug-out believed in a personal devil. His devil had a cloven hoof, a long tail, aimed with a fiery dart; and his devil breathed brimstone. This devil was at least the equal of God ; not quite so stout, but a little shrewder. And do you know there has not been a patentable improvement made upon that devil for six thousand years ? This gentleman in the dug-out believed that God was a tyrant; that he would eternally damn the man who lived in accordance with his highest and grandest ideal. He believed that the earth was flat. He believed in a literal, burning, seething hell of fire and sulphur. He had also his idea of politics ; and his doctrine was, might makes right. And it will take thousands of years before the world will reverse this ■doctrine, and believingly say: “Right makes might.” All I ask is the same privilege to improve upon that gentleman’s theology as upon his musical instrument; the same right to improve upon his politics as upon his dug-out. �12 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. That is all. I ask for the human soul the same liberty in every direction. That is the only crime I have committed. I say, let us think. Let each one express his thought. Let us become investigators, not followers, not cringers and crawlers. If there is in heaven an infinite being, he never will be satisfied with the worship of coward and hypocrite. Honest unbelief, honest infidelity, honest atheism, will be a perfume in heaven when pious hypocrisy, no matter how religious it may be outwardly, will be a stench. This is my doctrine : Give every other human being every right you claim for yourself. Keep your mind open to the influences of nature. Receive new thoughts with hospitality. Let us advance. The religionist of to-day wants the ship of his soul to lie at the wharf of orthodoxy and rot in the sun. He delights to hear the sails of old opinions flap against the masts of old creeds. He loves to see the joints and the sides open and gape on the sun, and it is a kind of bliss for him to repeat again and again : “ Do not disturb my opinions. Do not unsettle my mind; I have it all made up, and I want no infidelity. Let me go backward rather than forward.” As far as I am concerned I wish to be out on the high seas. I wish to take my chances with wind, and wave, and star. And I had rather go down in the glory and grandeur of the storm, than rot in any orthodox harbor whatever. After all, we are improving from age to age. The most orthodox people in this country two hundred years ago would have been burned for the crime of heresy. The ministers who denounce me for expressing my thought would have been in the Inquisition themselves. Where once burned and blazed the bivouac fires of the army of progress, now glow the altars of the church. The religionists of oui’ time are occupying about the same ground occupied by heretics and infidels of one hundred years ago. The church has advanced in spite, as it were, of itself. It has followed the army of progress protesting and denouncing, and had to keep within protesting and denouncing distance. If the church had not made great progress I could not express my thoughts. Man, however, has advanced just exactly in the proportion with which he has mingled his thought with his labor. The sailor, without control of the wind and wave, knowing nothing or very little of the mysterious currents and pulses of �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 13 the sea, is superstitious. So also is the agriculturist, whose prosperity depends upon something he cannot control. But the mechanic, when a wheel refuses to turn, never thinks of dropping on his knees and asking the assistance of some divine power. He knows there is a reason. He knows that something is too large or too small; that there is something wrong with his machine ; and he goes to work and he makes it larger or smaller, here or there, until the wheel will turn. Now, just in proportion as man gets away from being, as it were, the slave of his surroundings, the serf of the elements, —of the heat, the frost, the snow, and the lightning—just to the extent that he has gotten control of his own destiny, just to the extent that he has triumphed over the obstacles of nature, he has advanced physically and intellectually. As man develops, he places a greater value upon his own rights. Liberty becomes a grander and diviner thing. As he values his own rights, he begins to value the rights of others. And when all men give to all others all the rights they claim for themselves, this world will be civilised. A few years ago the people were afraid to question the king, afraid to question the priest, afraid to investigate a creed, afraid to deny a book, afraid to denounce a dogma, afraid to reason, afraid to think. Before wealth they bowed to the very earth, and in the presence of titles they became abject. All this is slowly but surely changing. We no longer bow to men simply because they are rich. Our fathers worshipped the golden calf. The worst you can say of an American now is, he worships the gold of the calf. Even the calf is beginning to see this distinction. It no longer satisfies the ambition of a great man to be king or emperor. The last Napoleon was not satisfied with being Emperor of the French. He was not satisfied with having a circlet of gold about his head. He wanted some evidence that he had something of value within his head. So he wrote the life of Julius Caesar, that he might become a member of the French Academy. The emperors, the kings, the popes, no longer tower above their fellows. Compare King William with the philosopher Haeckel. The king is one of the anointed by the most high, as they claim—one upon whose head has been poured the divine petroleum of au­ thority. Compare this king with Haeckel, who towers an intellectual colossus above the crowned mediocrity. Compare �14 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. George Eliot with Queen Victoria. The queen is clothed in garments given her by blind fortune and unreasoning chance, while George Eliot wears robes of glory woven in the loom of her own genius. The world is beginning to pay homage to intellect, to genius, to art. We have advanced. We have reaped the benefit of every sublime and heroic self-sacrifice, of every divine and brave act; and we should endeavor to hand the torch to the next generation, having added a little to the intensity and glory of the flame. When I think of how much this world has suffered ; when I think of how long our fathers were slaves, of how they cringed and crawled at the foot of the throne, and in the dust of the altar, of how they abased themselves, of how abjectly they stood in the presence of superstition robed and crowned, I am amazed. This world has not been fit for a man to live in fifty years. It was not until the year 1808 that Great Britain abolished the slave trade. Up to that time her judges, sitting upon the bench in the name of justice, her priests, occupying her pulpits, in the name of universal love, owned stock in the slave ships, and luxuriated upon the profits of piracy and murder. It was not until the same year that the United States of America abolished the slave trade between this and other countries, but carefully preserved it as between the States. It .was not until the 28th day of August, 1833, that Great Britain abolished human slavery in her colonies ; and it was not until the 1st day of January, 1863, that Abraham Lincoln, sustained by the sublime and heroic North, rendered our flag pure as the sky in which it floats. Abraham Lincoln was, in my judgment, in many respects the grandest man ever President of the United States. Upon his monument these words should be written: “ Here sleeps the only man in the history of the world, who, having been clothed with almost absolute power, never abused it, except upon the side of mercy.” Think how long we clung to the institution of human slavery, how long lashes upon the naked back were a legal tender for labor performed. Think of it. The pulpit of this country deliberately and willingly, for a hundred years, turned the cross of Christ into a whipping post. �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 15 With every drop of my blood I hate and execrate every form of tyranny, every form of slavery. I hate dictation. I love liberty. What do I mean by liberty ? By physical liberty I mean the right to do anything which does not interfere with the happiness of another. By intellectual liberty I mean the right to think right and the right to think wrong. Thought is the means by which we endeavor to arrive at truth. If we know the truth already, we need not think. All that can be required is honesty of purpose. You ask my opinion about anything ; I examine it honestly, and when my mind is made up, what should I tell you? Should I tell you my real thought ? What should I do ? There is a book put in my hands. I am told this is the Koran ; it was written by inspi­ ration. I read it, and when I get through, suppose that I think in my heart and in my brain, that it is utterly untrue, and you then ask me, what do you think ? Now, admitting that I live in Turkey, and have no chance to get any office unless I am on the side of the Koran, what should I say ? Should I make a clean breast and say, that upon my honor I do not believe it? What would you think then of my fellow citizens if they said : “ That man is dangerous, he is dishonest.” Suppose I read the Bible, and when I get through I make up my mind that it was written by men. A minister asks me : “ Did you read the Bible ?” I answer that I did. “ Do you think it divinely inspired ?” What should I reply ? Should I say to myself: “ If I deny the inspiration of the scriptures, the people will never clothe me with power.” What ought I to answer ? Ought I not say like a man : “ I have read it; I do not believe it.” Should I not give the real transcript of my mind ? Or should I turn hypocrite and pretend what I do not feel, and hate myself for ever after for being a cringing coward ? For my part I would rather a man would tell me what he honestly thinks. I would rather he would preserve his manhood. I had a thousand times rather be a manly unbeliever than an unmanly believer. And if there is a judgment day, a time when all will stand before some supreme being, I believe I will stand higher, and stand a better chance of getting my case decided in my favor, than any man sneaking through life pretending to believe what he does not. �16 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. _ I have made up my mind to say my say. I shall do it kindly, distinctly; but I am going to do it. I know there are thousands of men who substantially agree with me, but who are not in a condition to express their thoughts. They are poor ; they are in business; and they know that should they tell their honest thought, persons will refuse to patronise them—to trade with them ; they wish to get bread for their little children ; they wish to take care of their wives; they wish to have homes and the comforts of life. Every such person is a certificate of the meanness of the community in which he resides. And yet I do not blame these people for notexpressing their thought. I say to them: “Keep your ideas to yourselves ; feed and clothe the ones you love ; I will do your talking for you. The church cannot touch, cannot crush, cannot starve, cannot stop or stay me; I will express your thoughts.” As an excuse for tyranny, as a justification of slavery, the church has taught that man is totally depraved. Of the truth of that doctrine, the church has furnished the only evidence there is. The truth is, we are both good and bad. The worst are capable of some good deeds, and the best are capable of bad. The lowest can rise, and the highest may fall. That mankind can be divided into two great classes, sinners and saints, is an utter falsehood. In times of great disaster, called it may be, by the despairing voices of women, men, denounced by the church as totally depraved, rush to death as to a festival. By such men, deeds are done so filled with self-sacrifice and generous daring, that millions pay to them the tribute not only of admiration, but of tears. Above all creeds, above all religions, after all, is that divine thing— Humanity; and now and then in shipwreck on the wide, wild sea, or ’mid the rocks and breakers of some cruel shore, or where the serpents of flame writhe and hiss, some glorious heart, some chivalric soul does a deed that glitters like a star, and gives the lie to all the dogmas of superstition. All these frightful doctrines have been used to degrade and to enslave mankind. Away, for evei' away, with the creeds and books and forms and laws and religions that take from the soul liberty and reason. Down with the idea that thought is dangerous! Perish the infamous doctrine that man can have property in man. Let us resent with indignation every effort to put a �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 17 chain upon our minds. If there is no God, certainly we should not bow and cringe and crawl. If there is a God, there should be no slaves. LIBERTY OF WOMAN. Women have been the slaves of slaves ; and in my judg­ ment it took millions of ages for woman to come from the condition of abject slavery up to the institution of marriage. Let me say right here, that I regard marriage as the holiest institution among men. Without the fireside there is no human advancement; without the family relation there is no life worth living. Every good government is made up of good families. The unit of good government is the family, and anything that tends to destroy the family is perfectly devilish and infamous. I believe in marriage, and I hold in utter contempt the opinions of those long-haired men and short-haired women who denounce the institution of mar­ riage. The grandest ambition that any man can possibly have, is to so live, and so improve himself in heart and brain, as to be worthy of the love of some splendid woman; and the grandest ambition of any girl is to make herself worthy of the love and adoration of some magnificent man. That is my idea. There is no success in life without love and marriage. You had better be the emperor of one loving and tender heart, and she the empress of yours, than to be king of the world. The man who has really won the love of one good woman in this world, I do not care if he dies in the ditch a beggar, his life has been a success. I say it took millions of years to come from the condition of abject slavery up to the condition of marriage. Ladies, the ornaments you wear upon your persons to-night are but the souvenirs of your mother’s bondage. The chains around your necks, and the bracelets clasped upon your white arms by the thrilled hand of love, have been changed by the wand of civilisation from iron to shining, glittering gold. But nearly every religion has accounted for all the devil­ ment in this world by the crime of woman. What a gallant �18 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. thing that is ! And if it is true, I had rather live with the woman I love in a world full of trouble, than to live in heaven with nobody but men. I read in a book—and I will say now that I cannot give the exact language, as my memory does not retain the words, but I can give the substance—I read in a book that the Supreme Being concluded to make a world and one man ; that he took some nothing and made a world and one man, and put this man in a garden. In a little while he noticed that the man got lonesome ; that he wandered around as if he was waiting for a train, There was nothing to interest him ; no news ; no papers ; no politics; no policy ; and, as the devil had not yet made his appearance, there was no chance for reconciliation ; not even for civil service reform. Well, he wandered about the garden in this condition, until finally the Supreme Being made up his mind to make him a companion. Having used up all the nothing he originally took in making the world and one man, he had to take a part of the man to start a woman with. So he caused a sleep to fall on this man—now understand me, I do not say this story is true. After the sleep fell upon this man, the Supreme Being took a rib, or as the French would call it, a cutlet, out of this man, and from that he made a woman. And considering the amount of raw material used, I look upon it as the most suc­ cessful job ever performed. Well, after he got the woman done, she was brought to the man; not to see how she liked him, but to see how he liked her. He liked her, and they started housekeeping; and they were told of certain things they might do and of one thing they could not do—and of course they did it. I would have done it in fifteen minutes, and I know it. There wouldn’t have been an apple on that tree half an hour from date, and the limbs would have been full of clubs. And then they were turned out of the park, and extra policemen were put on to keep them from getting back. Devilment commenced. The mumps, and the measles, and the whooping' cough, and the scarlet fever started in their race for man. They began to have the toothache, roses began to have thorns, snakes began to have poisoned teeth, and people began to divide about religion and politics, and the world has been full of trouble from that day to this. �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 19 Nearly all of the religions of this world account for the existence of evil by such a story as that! I read in another book what appeared to be an account of the same transaction. It was written about four thousand years before the other, All commentators agree that the one that was written last was the original, and that the one that was written first was copied from the one that was writ­ ten last. But I would advise you all not to allow your creed to be disturbed by a little matter of four or five thousand years. In this other story, Brahma made up his mind to make the world and a man and woman. He made the world, and he made the man and then the woman, and put them on the island of Ceylon. According to the account it was the most beautiful island of which man can conceive. Such birds, such songs, such flowers and such verdure ! And the branches of the trees were so arranged that when the wind swept through them every tree was a thousand TFlolian harps. Brahma, when he put them there, said : “ Let them have a period of courtship, for it is my desire and will that true love should for ever precede marriage.” When I read that, it was so much more beautiful and lofty than the other, that I said to myself : “ If either one of these stories ever turns out to be true, I hope it will be this one.” Then they had their courtship, with the nightingale singing, and the stars shining, and the flowers blooming, and they fell in love. Imagine that courtship ! No prospective fathers or mothers-in-law; no prying and gossiping neigh­ bors; nobody to say: “Young man, how do you expect to support her?” Nothing of that kind. They were married by the Supreme Brahma, and he said to them : “ Remain here ; you must never leave this island.” Well, after a little while the man—and his name was Adami, and the woman’s name was Heva—said to Heva : “ I believe I’ll look about a little.” He went to the northern extremity of the island where there was a little narrow neck of land connecting it with the mainland, and the devil, who is always playing pranks with us, produced a mirage, and when he looked over to the mainland, such hills and vales, such dells and dales, such mountains crowned with snow, such cataracts clad in bows of glory did he see there, that he went back and told Heva: “ The country over there is a thousand times better �20 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. than this ; let us migrate.” She, like every other woman .that ever lived, said : “ Let well enough alone ; we have all we want; let us stay here.” But he said : “ No, let us go so she followed him, and when they came to this narrow neck of land, he took her on his back like a gentleman, and carried her over. But the moment they got over they heard a crash, and looking back, discovered that this narrow neck of land had fallen into the sea. The mirage had disappeared, and there were naught but rocks and sand ; and then the Su­ preme Brahma cursed them both to the lowest hell. Then it was that the man spoke—and I have liked him ever since for it—“ Curse me, but curse not her, it was not her fault, it was mine.” That’s the kind of man to start a world with. The Supreme Brahma said : “I will save her, but not thee.” And then she spoke out of her fullness of love, out of a heart in which there was love enough to make all her daughters rich in holy affection, and said : “If thou wilt not spare him, spare neither me; I do not wish to live without him; I love him.” Then the Supreme Brahma said—and I have liked him ever since I read it—“ I will spare you both and watch over you and your children for ever.” Honor bright, is not that the better and grander story ? And from that same book I want to show you what ideas some of these miserable heathen had; the heathen we are trying to convert. We send missionaries over yonder to con­ vert heathen there, and we send soldiers out on the plains to kill heathen here. If we can convert the heathen, why not convert those nearest home ? Why not convert those we can get at ? Why not convert those who have the immense ad­ vantage of the example of the average pioneer ? But to show you the men we are trying to convert: In this book it says : “ Man is strength, woman is beauty ; man is courage, woman is love. When the one man loves the one woman and the one woman loves the one man, the very angels leave heaven and come and sit in that house and sing for joy.” They are the men we are converting. Think of it! I tell you, when I read these things, I say that love is not of any country; nobility does not belong exclusively to any race, and through all the ages, there have been a few great and tender souls blossoming in love and pity. In my judgment, the woman is the equal of the man. �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 21 Slie has all the rights I have and one more, and that is the right to be protected. That is my doctrine. You are mar­ ried ; try to make the woman you love happy. Whoever marries simply for himself will make a mistake ; but who­ ever loves a woman so well that he says : “ I will make her happy,” makes no mistake. And so with the woman who says : “ I will make him happy.” There is only one way to be happy, and that is to make somebody else so; and you cannot be happy by going cross lots, you have got to go the regular turnpike road. If there is any man I detest, it is the man who thinks he is the head of a family—the man who thinks he is “ boss ” I The fellow in the dug-out used that word “ boss ; ” that was one of his favorite expressions. Imagine a young man and a young woman courting, walk­ ing out in the moonlight, and the nightingale singing a song of pain and love, as though the thorn touched her heart— imagine them stopping there in the moonlight and starlight and song, and saying: “ Now, here, let us settle who is ‘ boss.’ ” I tell you it is an infamous word and an infamous feeling—I abhor a man who is “boss,” who is going to govern in his family, And when he speaks orders all the rest to be still as some mighty idea is about to be launched from his mouth. Do you know I dislike this man unspeakably ? I hate above all things a cross man. What right has he to murder the sunshine of a day ? What right has he to assassinate the joy of life ? When you go home you ought to go like a ray of light—so that it will, even in the night, burst out of the doors and windows and illuminate the darkness. Some men think their mighty brains have been in a turmoil; They have been thinking about who will be aiderman from the fifth ward; they have been thinking about politics; great and mighty questions have been engaging their minds ; they have bought calico at five cents or six, and want to sell it for seven. Think of the intellectual strain that must have been upon that man, and when he gets home everybody else in the house must look out for his comfort. A woman who has only taken care of five or six children, and one or two of them sick, has been nursing them, and singing to them, and trying to make one yard of cloth do the work of two, she, of course, is fresh and fine and ready to wait upon this gentle­ man—the head of the family—the boss ! �22 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. Do you know another thing ? I despise a stingy man. I do not see how it is possible for a man to die worth fifty million of dollars, or ten million of dollars, in a city full of want, when he meets almost every day the withered hand of beggary and the white lips of famine. How a man can with­ stand all that, and hold in the clutch of his greed twenty or thirty million of dollars, is past my comprehension. I do not see how he can do it. I should not think he could do it any more than he could keep a pile of lumber on the beach, where hundreds and thousands of men were drowning in the sea. Do you know that I have known men who would trust their wives with their hearts and their honor, but not with their pocket-book ; not with a dollar. When I see a man of that kind, I always think he knows which of these articles is the most valuable. Think of making your wife a beggar! Think of her having to ask you every day for a dollar, or for two dollars, or fifty cents! “ What did you do with that dollar I gave you last week ? ” Think of having a wife that is afraid of you! What kind of children do you expect to have with a beggar and a coward for their mother ? Oh, I tell you if you have but a dollar in the world, and you have got to spend it, spend it like a king ; spend it as though it were a dry leaf and you the owner of unbounded forests! That’s the way to spend it! I had rather be a beggar and spend my last dollar like a king, then be a king and spend my money like a beggar I If it has got to go, let it go ! Get the best you can for your family—try to look as well as you can yourself. When you used to go courting, how elegantly you looked! Ah, your eye was blight, your step was light, and you looked like a prince. Do you know that it is insufferable egotism in you to suppose a woman is going to love you always looking as slovenly as you can! Think of it! Any good woman on earth will be true to you for ever when you do your level best. Some people tell me: “ Your doctrine about loving, and wives, and all that, is splendid for the rich, but it won’t do for the pcor.” I tell you to-night there is more love in the homes of the poor than in the palaces of the rich. The meanest hut with love in it is a palace fit for the gods, and a palace without love is a den only fit for wild beasts. That is my doctrine! You cannot be so poor that you cannot help �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 23 somebody. Good nature is the cheapest commodity^in the world; and love is the only thing that will pay ten per cent, to borrower and lender both. Do not tell me that you have got to be rich! We have a false standard of greatness in the United States. We think here that a man must be great, that he must be notorious ; that he must be extremely wealthy, or that his name must be upon the putrid lips of rumor. It is all a mistake. It is not necessary to be rich or to be great, or to be powerful, to be happy. The happy man is the successful man. Happiness is the legal tender of the soul! Joy is wealth. A little while ago, I stood by the grave of the old Napoleon —a magnificent tomb of gilt and gold, fit almost for a dead deity—and gazed upon the sarcophagus of rare and nameless marble, where rest at last the ashes of that restless man. I leaned over the balustrade and thought about the career of the greatest soldier of the modem world. I saw him walking upon the banks of the Seine, contem­ plating suicide. I saw him at Toulon—I saw him putting down the mob in the streets of Paris—I saw him at the head of the army of Italy—I saw him crossing the bridge of Lodi with the tricolor in his hand—I saw him in Egypt in the shadows of the Pyramids—I saw him conquer the Alps and mingle the eagles of France with the eagles of the crags. I saw him at Marengo—at Ulm and Austerlitz. I saw him in Russia, where the infantry of the snow and the cavalry of the wild blast scattered his legions like winter’s withered leaves. I saw him at Leipsic in defeat and disaster—driven by a million bayonets back upon Paris—clutched like a wild beast —banished to Elba. I saw him escape and retake an empire by the force of his genius. I saw him upon the frightful field of Waterloo, where Chance and Fate combined to wreck the fortunes of their former king. And I saw him at St. Helena, with his hands crossed behind him, gazing out upon the sad and solemn sea. I thought of the orphans and widows he had made—of the tears that had been shed for his glory, and of the only woman who ever loved him, pushed from his heart by the cold hand of ambition. And I said I would rather have been a French peasant and worn wooden shoes. I would rather have lived in a hut with a vine growing over the door, and the grapes �24 The, Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. growing purple in the kisses of the autumn sun. I would rather have been that poor peasant with my loving wife by my side, knitting as the day died out of the sky—with my children upon my knees and their arms about me—I would rather have been that man and gone down to the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust, than to have been that imperial impersonation of force and murder. It is not necessary to be great to be happy; it is not neces­ sary to be rich to be just and generous and to have a heart filled with divine affection. No matter whether you are rich or poor, treat your wife as though she were a splendid flower, and she will fill your life with perfume and with joy. And do you know, it is a splendid thing to think that the woman you really love will never grow old to you. Through the wrinkles of time, through the mask of years, if you really love her, you will always see the face you loved and won. And a woman who really loves a man does not see that he grows old ; he is not decrepit to her; he does not tremble ; he is not old; she always sees the same gallant gentleman who won her hand and heart. I like to think of it in that way ; I like to think that love is eternal. And to love in that way and then go down the hill of life together, and as you go down, hear, perhaps, the laughter of grandchildren, while the birds of joy and love sing once more in the leafless branches of the tree of age. I believe in the fireside. I believe in the democracy of home. I believe in the republicanism of the family. I believe in liberty, equality and love. THE LIBERTY OF CHILDREN. If women have been slaves, what shall I say of children; of the little children in alleys and sub-cellars; the little children who turn pale when they hear their father’s foot­ steps ; little children who run away when they only hear their names called by the lips of a mother; little children—the children of poverty, the children of crime, the children of brutality, wherever they are—flotsam and jetsam upon the wild, mad sea of life—my heart goes out to them, one and all. �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 25 I tell you the children have the same rights that we have, and we ought to treat them as though they were human beings. They should be reared with love, with kindness, with tenderness, and not with brutality. That is my idea of children. When your little child tells a lie, do not rush at him as though the world were about to go into bankruptcy. Be honest with him. A tyrant father will have liars for his children ; do you know that ? A lie is born of tyranny upon the one hand and weakness upon the other, and when you rush at a poor little boy with a club in your hand, of course he lies. I thank thee, Mother Nature, that thou hast put ingenuity enough in the brain of a child, when attacked by a brutal parent, to throw up a little breastwork in the shape of a lie. When one of your children tells a lie, be honest with him ; tell him that you have told hundreds of them yourself. Tell him it is not the best way ; that you have tried it. Tell him as the man did in Maine when his boy left home : “ John, honesty is the best policy ; I have tried both.” Be honest with him. Suppose a man as much larger than you as you are larger than a child five years old, should come at you with a liberty pole in his hand, and in a voice of thunder shout: “ Who broke that plate ? ” There is not a solitary one of you who would not swear you never saw it, or that it was cracked when you got it. Why not be honest with these children ? Just imagine a man who deals in stocks whipping his boy for putting false rumors afloat! Think of a lawyer beating his own flesh and blood for evading the truth when he makes half of his own living that way! Think of a minister punishing his child for not telling all he thinks! Just think of it! When your child commits a wrong, take it in your arms ; let it feel your heart beat against its heart; let the child know that you really and truly and sincerely love it. Yet some Christians, good Christians, when a child commits a fault, drive it from the door and say : “ Never do you darken this house again.” Think of that! And then these same people will get down on their knees and ask God to take care of the child they have driven from home. I will never ask God to take care of my children unless I am doing my level best in that same direction. But I will tell you what I say to my children : “Go where �24 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. growing purple in the kisses of the autumn sun. I would rather have been that poor peasant with my loving wife by my side, knitting as the day died out of the sky—with my children upon my knees and their arms about me—I would rather have been that man and gone down to the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust, than to have been that imperial impersonation of force and murder. It is not necessary to be great to be happy; it is not neces­ sary to be rich to be just and generous and to have a heart filled with divine affection. No matter whether you are rich or poor, treat your wife as though she were a splendid flower, and she will fill your life with perfume and with joy. And do you know, it is a splendid thing to think that the woman you really love will never grow old to you. Through the wrinkles of time, through the mask of years, if you really love her, you will always see the face you loved and won. And a woman who really loves a man does not see that he grows old ; he is not decrepit to her; he does not tremble ; he is not old; she always sees the same gallant gentleman who won her hand and heart. I like to think of it in that way ; I like to think that love is eternal. And to love in that way and then go down the hill of life together, and as you go down, hear, perhaps, the laughter of grandchildren, while the birds of joy and love sing once more in the leafless branches of the tree of age. I believe in the fireside. I believe in the democracy of home. I believe in the republicanism of the family. I believe in liberty, equality and love. THE LIBERTY OF CHILDREN. If women have been slaves, what shall I say of children; of the little children in alleys and sub-cellars; the little children who turn pale when they hear their father’s foot­ steps ; little children who run away when they only hear their names called by the lips of a mother; little children—the children of poverty, the children of crime, the children of brutality, wherever they are—flotsam and jetsam upon the wild, mad sea of life—my heart goes out to them, one and all. �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 25 I tell you the children have the same rights that we have, and we ought to treat them as though they were human beings. They should be reared with love, with kindness, with tenderness, and not with brutality. That is my idea of children. When your little child tells a lie, do not rush at him as though the world were about to go into bankruptcy. Be honest with him. A tyrant father will have liars for his children ; do you know that ? A lie is born of tyranny upon the one hand and weakness upon the other, and when you rush at a poor little boy with a club in your hand, of course he lies. I thank thee, Mother Nature, that thou hast put ingenuity enough in the brain of a child, when attacked by a brutal parent, to throw up a little breastwork in the shape of a lie. When one of your children tells a lie, be honest with him ; tell him that you have told hundreds of them yourself. Tell him it is not the best way ; that you have tried it. Tell him as the man did in Maine when his boy left home : “ John, honesty is the best policy; I have tried both.” Be honest with him. Suppose a man as much larger than you as you are larger than a child five years old, should come at you with a liberty pole in his hand, and in a voice of thunder shout: “ Who broke that plate ? ” There is not a solitary one of you who would not swear you never saw it, or that it was cracked when you got it. Why not be honest with these children ? Just imagine a man who deals in stocks whipping his boy for putting false rumors afloat! Think of a lawyer beating his own flesh and blood for evading the truth when he makes half of his own living that way ! Think of a minister punishing his child for not telling all he thinks! Just think of it! When your child commits a wrong, take it in your arms ; let it feel your heart beat against its heart; let the child know that you really and truly and sincerely love it. Yet some Christians, good Christians, when a child commits a fault, drive it from the door and say : “ Never do you darken this house again.” Think of that! And then these same people will get down on their knees and ask God to take care of the child they have driven from home. I will never ask God to take care of my children unless I am doing my level best in that same direction. But I will tell you what I say to my children : “ Go where �26 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. you will; commit what crime you may ; fall to what depth of degradation you may ; you can never commit any crime that will shut my door, my arms, or my heart to you. As long as I live you shall have one sincere friend.” Do you know that I have seen some people who acted as though they thought that when the Savior said : “ Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven,” he had a raw-hide under his mantle, and made that remark simply to get the children within striking distance ? I do not believe in the government of the lash. If any one of you ever expects to whip your children again, I want you to have a photograph taken of yourself when you are in the act, with your face red with vulgar anger, and the face of the little child, with eyes swimming in tears and the little chin dimpled with fear, like a piece of water struck by a sudden cold wind. Have the picture taken. If that little child should die, I cannot think of a sweeter way to spend an autumn afternoon than to go out to the cemetery, when the maples are clad in tender gold, and little scarlet runners are coming, like poems of regret, from the sad heart of the earth —and sit down upon the grave and look at that photograph, and think of the flesh now dust that you beat. I tell you it is wrong; it is no way to raise children! Make your home happy. Be honest with them. Divide fairly with them in everything. Give them a little liberty and love, and you cannot drive them out of your house. They will want to stay there. Make home pleasant. Let them play any game they wish. Do not be so foolish as to say : ‘‘You may roll balls on the ground, but you must not roll them on a green cloth. You may knock them with a mallet, but you must not push them with a cue. You may play with little pieces of paper which have ‘ authors ’ written on them, but you must not have ‘cards.’” Think of it! “You may go to a minstrel show where people blacken themselves and imitate humanity below them, but you must not go to a theatre, and see the charac­ ters created by immortal genius put upon the stage.” Why ? Well, I can’t think of any reason in the world except “ minstrel ” is a word of two syllables, and “ theatre ” has three. Let children have some daylight at home if you want to keep them there, and do not commence at the cradle and �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 27 shout: “Don’t!” “Don’t!” “Stop!” That is nearly all that is said to a child from the cradle until J^e is twenty-one years old, and when he comes of age other people begin say­ ing: “Don’t!” And the church says : “Don’t?” and the party he belongs to says : “ Don’t! ” I despise that way of going through this world. Let us have liberty—just a little. Call me infidel, call me atheist, call me what you will, I intend so to treat my children, that they can come to my grave and truthfully say : “ He who sleeps here never gave us a moment of pain. From his lips, now dust, never came to us an unkind word. People justify all kinds of tyranny towards children upon the ground that they are totally depraved. At the bottom of ages of cruelty lies this infamous doctrine of total depravity. Religion contemplates a child as a living crime—heir to an infinite curse—doomed to eternal fire. In the olden time, they thought some days were too good for a child to enjoy himself. When I was a boy Sunday was considered altogether too holy to be happy in. Sunday used to commence then when the sun went down on Saturday night. We commenced at that time for the purpose of get­ ting a good ready, and when the sun fell below the horizon on Saturday evening, there was a darkness fell upon the house ten thousand times deeper than that of night. Nobody said a pleasant word ; nobody laughed ; nobody smiled ; the child that looked the sickest was regarded as the most pious. That night you could not even crack hickory nuts. If you were caught chewing gum it was only another evidence of the total depravity of the human heart. It was an exceedingly solemn night. Dyspepsia was in the very air you breathed. Everybody looked sad and mournful. I have noticed all my life that many people think they have religion when they are troubled with dyspepsia. If there could be found an absolute specific for that disease, it would be the hardest blow the church has ever received. On Sunday morning the solemnity had simply increased. Then we went to church. The minister was in a pulpit about twenty feet high, with a little sounding-board above “him, and he commenced at “ firstly ” and went on and on to about “twenty-thirdly.” Then he made a few remarks by way of application ; and then took a general view of the �28 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. subject, and in about two hours reached the last chapter in Revelations. In those days, no matter how cold the weather was, there was no fire in the church. It was thought to be a kind of sin to be comfortable while you were thanking God. The first church that ever had a stove in it in New England, divided on that account. So the first church in which they sang by note was torn in fragments. After the sermon we had an intermission. Then came the catechism with the chief end of man. We went through with that. We sat in a row with our feet coming to about six inches of the floor. The minister asked us if we knew that we all deserved to go to hell, and we all answered : “Yes.” Then we were asked if we would be willing to go to hell if it was God’s will, and every little liar shouted : “Yes.” Then the same sermon was preached once more, commencing at the other end going back. After that, we started for home, sad and solemn—overpowered with the wisdom displayed in the scheme of the atonement. When we got home, if we had been good boys, and the weather was warm, sometimes they would take us out to the graveyard to cheer us up a little. It did cheer me. When I looked at the sunken tombs and the leaning stones, and read the half-effaced inscriptions through the moss of silence and forgetfulness, it was a great comfort. The reflexion came to my mind that the observance of the Sabbath could not last always. Sometimes they would sing that beautiful hymn in which occurs these cheerful lines : “ Where congregations ne’er break up, And Sabbaths never end.” These lines, I think, prejudiced me a little against even heaven. Then we had good books that we read on Sundays by way of keeping us happy and contented. There were Milners’ “ History of the Waldenses,” Baxter’s “ Call to the Unconverted,” Yahn’s “Archaeology of the Jews,” and Jenkyns’ “ On the Atonement.” I used to read Jenkyns’ “ On the Atonement.” I have often thought that an atone­ ment would have to be exceedingly broad in its provisions to cover the case of a man who would write a book like that for a boy. But at last the Sunday wore away, and the moment the sun went down we were free. Between three and four o’clock �The, Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. we would go out to see how the sun was coining on. Some­ times it seemed to me that it was stopping from pure mean­ ness. But finally it went down. It had to. And when the last rim of light sank below the horizon, off would go our caps, and we would give three cheers for liberty once more, Sabbaths used to be prisons. Every Sunday was a Bastille. Every Christian was a kind of turnkey, and every child was a prisoner—a convict. In that dungeon, a smile was a crime. It was thought wrong for a child to laugh upon this holy day. Think of that! A little child would go out into the garden, and there would be a tree laden with blossoms, and the little fellow would lean against it, and there would be a bird on one of the boughs, singing and swinging, and thinking about four little speckled eggs, warmed by the breast of its mate­ singing and swinging, and the music in happy waves rippling out of its tiny throat, and the flowers blossoming, the air filled with perfume and the great white clouds floating in the sky, and the little boy would lean up against that tree and think about hell and the worm that never dies. I have heard them preach, when I sat in the pew and my feet did not touch the floor, about the final home of the unconverted. In order to impress upon the children the length of time they would probably stay if they settled in that country, the preacher would frequently give us the following illustration : “ Suppose that once in a billion years a bird should come from some far-distant planet, and carry off in its little bill a grain of sand, a time would finally come when the last atom composing this earth would be carried away; and when this last atom was taken, it would not even be sun up in hell.” Think of such an infamous doctrine being taught to children! The laugh of a child will make the hcliest day more sacred still. Strike with hand of fire, 0 weird musician, thy harp strung with Apollo’s golden hair; fill the vast cathedral aisles with symphonies sweet and dim, deft toucher of the organ keys ; blow, bugler, blow, until thy silver notes do touch and kiss the moonlit waves, and charm the lovers wandering ’mid the vine clad hills. But know, your sweetest strains are discords all, compared with childhood’s happy laugh—the laugh that fills the eyes with light and every heart with joy. 0 rippling river of laughter, thou art the �30 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. “blessed boundary line between the beasts and men ; and every wayward wave of thine doth drown some fretful fiend of care. 0 Laughter, rose-lipped daughter of Joy, there are dimples enough in thy cheeks to catch and hold and glorify all the tears of grief. And yet the minds of children have been polluted by this infamous doctrine of eternal punishment. I denounce it to­ day as a doctrine, the infamy of which no language is suffi­ cient to express. Where did that doctrine of eternal punishment for men and women and children come from ? It came from the low and “beastly skull of that wretch in the dug-out. Where did he get it ? It was a souvenir from the animals. The doctrine of eternal punishment was bom in the glittering eyes of ■snakes—snakes that hung in fearful coils watching for their prey. It was born of the howl and bark and growl of wild Leasts. It was bom of the grin of hyenas and of the depraved chatter of unclean baboons. I despise it with every drop of my blood. Tell me there is a God in the serene heavens that will damn his children for the expression of an honest belief 1 More men have died in their sins, judged by your orthodox creeds than there are leaves on all the forests in the wide world ten thousand times over. Tell me these men are in hell; that these men are in torment; that these children are in eternal pain, and that they are to be punished for ever and for ever ! I denounce this doctrine as the most infamous of lies. When the great ship containing the hopes and aspirations of the world, when the great ship freighted with mankind goes down in the night of death, chaos and disaster, I am willing to go down with the ship. I will not be guilty of the ineffable meanness of paddling away in some orthodox canoe. I will go down with the ship, with those who love me, and with those whom I have loved. If there is a God who will damn his children for ever, I would rather go to hell than to go to heaven and keep the society of such an infamous tyrant. I make my choice now. I despise that doctrine. It has covered the cheeks of this world with tears. It has polluted the hearts of children, and poisoned the imaginations of men. It has been a constant pain, a perpetual terror to every good man and woman and child. It has filled the good with horror and with fear; but it has had no effect upon the in- �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 31 famous and base. It has wrung the hearts of the tender: it has furrowed the cheeks of the good. This doctrine never ■should be preached again. What right have you, sir, Mr. clergyman, you, minister of the gospel, to stand at the portals of the tomb, at the vestibule of eternity, and fill the future with horror and with fear ? I do not believe this doctrine : neither do you. If you did, you could not sleep one moment. Any man who believes it, and has within his breast a decent, throbbing heart, will go insane. A man who believes that doctrine and does not go insane has the heart of a snake and the conscience of a hyena. Jonathan Edwards, the dear old soul, who, if his doctrine is true, is now in heaven rubbing his holy hands with glee, as he hears the cries of the damned, preached this doctrine ; and he said : “ Can the believing husband in heaven be happy with his unbelieving wife in hell ? Can the believing father in heaven be happy with his unbelieving children in hell ? Can the loving wife in heaven be happy with her unbelieving husband in hell ? ” And he replies : “I tell you, yea. Such will be their sense of justice, that it will increase rather than diminish their bliss.” There is no wild beast in the jungles of Africa whose reputation would not be tarnished by the expression of such a doctrine. These doctrines have been taught in the name of religion, in the name of universal forgiveness, in the name of infinite love and charity. Do not, I pray you, soil the minds of your children with this dogma. Let them read for themselves ; let them think for themselves. Do not treat your children like orthodox posts to be set in a row. Treat them like trees that need light and sun and air. Be fair and honest with them ; give them a chance. Recollect that their rights are equal to yours. Do not have it in your mind that you must govern them ; that they must obey. Throw away for ever the idea of master and slave. In old times they used to make the children go to bed when they were not sleepy, and get up when they were sleepy. I say let them go to bed when they are sleepy, and get up when they are not sleepy. But you say, this doctrine will do for the rich but not for the poor. Well, if the poor have to waken their children early in the morning it is as easy to wake them with a kiss as with a blow. Give your children freedom ; let them preserve �32 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. their individuality. Let your children eat what they desire, and commence at the end of a dinner they like. That is their business and not yours. They know what they wish to eat. If they are given their liberty from the first, they know what they want better than any doctor in the world can pre­ scribe. Do you know that all the improvement that has ever been made in the practice of medicine has been made by the recklessness of patients and not by the doctors ? For thou­ sands and thousands of years the doctors would not let a man suffering from fever have a drop of water. Water they looked upon as poison. But every now and then some man got reckless and said: “ I had rather die than not to slake my thirst.” Then he would drink two or three quarts of water and get well. And when the doctor was told of what the patient had done, he expressed great surprise that he was still alive, and complimented his constitution upon being able to bear such a frightful strain. The reckless men, however, kept on drinking the water, and persisted in getting well, and finally the doctors said: “ In a fever water is the very best thing you can take.” So, I have more confidence in the voice of nature about such things than I have in the conclu­ sions of the medical schools. Let your children have freedom and they will fall into your ways; they will do substantially as you do ; but if you try to make them, there is some magnificent, splendid thing in the human heart that refuses to be driven. And do you know that it is the luckiest thing that ever happened for this world, that people are that way. What would have become of the people five hundred years ago if they had followed strictly the advice of the doctors ? They would have all been dead. What would the people have been, if at any age of the world they had followed implicitly the direction of the church ? They would all have been idiots. It is a splendid thing that there is always some grand man who will not mind, and who will think for himself. I believe in allowing the children to think for themselves. I believe in the democracy of the family. If in this world there is anything splendid, it is a home where all are equals. You will remember that only a few years ago parents would tell their children to “ let their victuals stop their mouths.” They used to eat as though it were a religious �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 33 ceremony—a very solemn thing. Life should not be treated as a solemn matter. I like to see the children at table, and hear each one telling of the wonderful things he has seen and heard. I like to hear the clatter of knives and forks and spoons mingling with their happy voices. I had rather hear it than any opera that was ever put upon the boards. Let the children have liberty. Be honest and fair with them ; be just; be tender, and they will make you rich in love and i°yMen are oaks, women are vines, children are flowers. The human race has been guilty of almost countless crimes; but I have some excuse for mankind. This world, after all, is not very well adapted to raising good people. In the first place, nearly all of it is water. It is much better adapted to fish culture than to the production of folks. Of that portion which is land not one-eighth has suitable soil and climate to produce great men and women. You cannot raise men and women of genius, without the proper soil and climate, any more than you can raise corn and wheat upon the ice fields of the Arctic sea. You must have the necessary conditions and surroundings. Man is a product; you must have the soil and food. The obstacles presented by nature must not be so great that man cannot, by reasonable industry and courage, overcome them. There is upon this world only a narrow belt of land, circling zigzag the globe, upon which you can produce men and women of talent. In the Southern Hemi­ sphere the real climate that man needs falls mostly upon the sea, and the result is, that the southern half of our world has never produced a man or woman of great genius. In the far north there is no genius—it is too cold. In the far south there is no genius—it is too warm. There must be winter, and there must be summer. In a country where man needs no coverlet but a cloud, revolution is his normal condition. Winter is the mother of industry and prudence. Above all, it is the mother of the family relation. Winter holds in its icy arms the husband and wife and the sweet children. If upon this earth we ever have a glimpse of heaven, it is when we pass a home in winter, at night, and through the windows the curtains drawn aside, we see the family about tho pleasant hearth; the old lady knitting; the cat playing with the yarn ; the children wishing they had as many dolls or dollars or knives or somethings, as there are sparks going out to join �34 The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. the roaring blast ; the father reading and smoking, and the clouds rising like incense from the altar of domestic joy. I never passed such a house without feeling that I had received a benediction. Civilisation, liberty, justice, charity, intellectual advance­ ment, are all flowers that blossom in the drifted snow. I do not know that I can better illustrate the great truth that only part of the world is adapted to the production of great men and women than by calling your attention to the difference between vegetation in valleys and upon mountains. In the valley you find the oak and elm tossing their branches defiantly to the storm, and as you advance up the mountain side the hemlock, the pine, the birch, the spruce, the fir, and finally you come to little dwarfed trees, that look like other trees seen through a telescope reversed—every limb twisted as though in pain—getting a scanty subsistence from the miserly crevices of the rocks. You go on and on, until at last the highest crag is freckled with a kind of moss, and vegeta­ tion ends. You might as well try to raise oaks and elms where the mosses grow, as to raise great men and great women where their surroundings are unfavorable. You must have the proper climate and soil. A few years ago we were talking about the annexation of Santo Domingo to this country. I was in Washington at the time. I was opposed to it. I was told that it was a most delicious climate ; that the soil produced everything. But I said : “ We do not want it; it is not the right kind of country in which to raise American citizens. Such a climate would debauch us. You might go there with five thousand Congre­ gational preachers, five thousand ruling elders, five thousand professors in colleges, five thousand of the solid men of Boston and their wives ; settle them all in Santo Domingo, and you will see the second generation riding upon a mule, bareback, no shoes, a grapevine bridle, hair sticking out at the top of their sombreros, with a rooster under each arm, going to a cock fight on Sunday.” Such is the influence of climate. Science, however, is gradually widening the area within which men of genius can be produced. We are conquering the north with houses, clothing, food, and fuel. We are in many ways overcoming the heat of the south. If we attend to this world instead of another, we may in time cover the land with men and women of genius. �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 35 I have still another excuse. I believe that man came up from the lower animals. I do not say this as a fact. I simply say I believe it to be a fact. Upon that question I stand about eight to seven, which for all practical purposes, is very near a certainty. When I first heard of that doctrine I did not like it. My heart was filled with sympathy for those people who have nothing to be proud of except ances­ tors. I thought, how terrible this will be upon the nobility of the old world. Think of their being forced to trace their ancestry back to the duke Orang Outang, or to the princess Chimpanzee. After thinking it all over, I came to the conclusion that I liked that doctrine. I became convinced in spite of myself. I read about rudimentary bones and muscles. I was told that everybody had rudimentary muscles extend­ ing from the ear into the cheek. I asked: “ What are they ? ” I was told: “ They are the remains of muscles ; that they became rudimentary from lack of use; they went into bankruptcy. They are the muscles with which your ancestors used to flap their ears.” I do not now so much wonder that we once had them, as that we have outgrown them. After all I had rather belong to a race that started from the skull-less vertebrates in the dim Laurentian seas, vertebrates wiggling without knowing why they wiggled, swimming without knowing where they were going, but that in some way began to develop, and began to get a little higher and a little higher in the scale of existence; that came up by degrees through millions of ages through all the animal world, through all that crawls and swims and floats and climbs and walks, and finally produced the gentleman in the dug-out: and then from this man, getting a little grander, and each one below calling every one above him a heretic, calling every one who had made a little advance an infidel or an atheist—for in the history of this world the man who is ahead has always been called a heretic—I would rather come from a race that started from that skull-less vertebrate, and came up and up and up and finally produced Shakspere, the man who found the human intellect dwelling in a hut, touched it with the wand of his genius and it became a palace domed and pinnacled; Shakspere, who harvested all the fields of dramatic thought, and from whose day to this, there have been only gleaners of straw and chaff—I would rather �36 The, Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. belong to that race that commenced a skull-less vertebrate and produced Shakspere, a race that has before it an infinite future, with the angel of progress leaning from the far horizon, beckoning men forward, upward and onward for ever—I had rather belong to such a race, commencing there, producing this, and with that hope, than to have sprung from a perfect pair upon which the Lord has lost money every moment from that day to this. CONCLUSION. I have given you my honest thought. Surely investigation is better than unthinking faith. Surely reason is a better guide than fear. This world should be controlled by the living, not by the dead. The grave is not a throne, and a corpse is not a king. Man should not try to live on ashes. The theologians dead, knew no more than the theologians now living. More than this cannot be said. About this world little is known,—about another world, nothing. Oui’ fathers were intellectual serfs, and their fathers were slaves. The makers of our creeds were ignorant and brutal. Every dogma that we have, has upon it the mark of whip, the rust of chain, and the ashes of fagot. Our fathers reasoned with instruments of torture. They ^believed in the logic of fire and sword. They hated reason. They despised thought. They abhorred liberty. Superstition is the child of slavery. Free thought will give us truth. When all have the right to think and to ex­ press their thoughts, every brain will give to all the best it has. The world will then be filled with intellectual wealth. As long as men and women are afraid of the church, as long as a minister inspires fear, as long as people reverence a thing simply because they do not understand it, as long as it is respectable to lose your self respect, as long as the church has power, as long as mankind worship a book, just so long will the world be filled with intellectual paupers and vagrants, covered with the soiled and faded rags of superstition. As long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man. The Bible was not writ­ ten by a woman. Within its lids there is nothing but humi- �The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child. 37 liation and shame for her. She is regarded as the property of man. She is made to ask forgiveness for becoming a mother. She is as much below her husband, as her husband is below Christ. She is not allowed to speak. The gospel is too pure to be spoken by her polluted lips. Woman should learn in silence. . In the Bible will be found no description of a civilised home. The free mother, surrounded by free and loving children, adored by a free man, her husband, was unknown to the inspired writers of the Bible. They did not believe in the democracy of home—in the republicanism of the fireside. These inspired gentlemen knew nothing of the rights of children. They were the advocates of brute force—the disci­ ples of the lash. They knew nothing of human rights. Their doctrines have brutalized the homes of millions, and filled the eyes of infancy with tears. Let us free ourselves from the tyranny of a book, from the slavery of dead ignorance, from the aristocracy of the ail. There has never been upon the earth a generation of free men and women. It is not yet time to write a creed. Wait until the chains are broken—until dungeons are not regarded as temples. Whit until solemnity is not mistaken for wisdom __ until mental cowardice ceases to be known as reverence. Wait until the living are considered the equal of the dead—until the cradle takes precedence of the coffin. Wait until what we know can be spoken without regard to what others may believe. Whit until teachers take the place of pieachers until followers become investigators. Wait until the world is free before you write a creed. In this creed there will be but one word—Liberty. Oh Liberty, float not for ever in the far horizon—remain not for ever in the dream of the enthusiast, the philanthropist and poet, but come arid make thy home among the children of men ! I know not what discoveries, what inventions, what thoughts may leap from the brain of the world. I know not what garments of glory may be woven by the years to come. I cannot dream of the victories to be won upon the fields of thought; but I do know, that coming from the infinite sea of the future, there will never touch this “bank and shoal of time ” a richer gift, a rarer blessing than liberty for man, for woman, and for child. �Works by CHAS. BRADLAUGH— The Freethinker’s Text-Book. Parti. Section I.—“ The Story of the Origin of Man, as told by the Bible and by Science.” Sec­ tion II.— “What is Religion? ” “ How has it Grown ? ” “God and Soul.” Bound in cloth, price 2s. 6d. Impeachment of the House of Brunswick.—Ninth edition. Is. Political Essays. Bound in cloth, 2s. 6d Theological Essays. Bound in cloth, >s. Hints to Emigrants, containing important information on tbo United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Is. Debates— Four—with the Rev. Dr. Baylee, in Liverpool; the Rev. Dr. Harrison, in London; Thomas Cooper, in London; the, Rev. R. A. Armstrong, in Nottingham ; with Three Discourses by the Bishop of Peterborough and replies by C. Bradlaugh Bound in one volume, cloth, 3s. What does Christian Tneism Teach? A verbatim report of two nights’ Public Debate with the Rev. A. J. Harrison. Second edition. Gd. God, Man, and the Bible. A verbatim report of a three nights’ Discussion at Liverpool with the Rev. Dr. Baylee. Gd. ° On the Being of a God as the Maker and Moral Governor of the Uuiveise. A verbatim report of a two nights’ Discussion with Thomas Cooper. Gd. Has Man a Soul? A verbatim report of two nights’debate at Burnley, with the Rev. W. M. Westerby. Is. Christianity in relation to Freethougbt, Scepticism and Faith. Three Discourses by the Bishop of Peterborough, with Special Replies. Gd. Secularism Unphilosophical, Unsocial and Immoral. Three nights’ debate with the Rev. Dr. McCann. Is. Is it Reasonable to Worship God? A verbatim report of two nights’debate at Nottingham with the Rev. R. A. Armstrong Is. ' The True Story of my Parliamentary Struggle. Contain­ ing a Verbatim Report of the proceedings before the Select Committee of the House of Commons ; Mr. Bradlaugh’s Three Speeches at the Bar of the House, etc., etc. °... 0 G Fourth Speech at the Bar of the House of Commons. 30th Thousand ... ... ... ... 0 i May the House of Commons Commit Treason? ... ... 0 i A Cardinal’s Broken Oath ... ... ... 0 1 Perpetual Pensions. Fortieth thousand ... ... 0 2 Civil Lists and Grants to Royal Family ... 0 1 Real Representation of the People ... ... 0 2 Letter to Albert Edward Prince of Wales, on Freemasonry 0 1 Why do Men Starve? ... ... ... ... q ; Poverty and its effect upon the People... ... ... 0 1 Labor's Prayer ... ... ... ... .01 I he Land, the People, and the Coming Struggle... ... 0 2 live Dead Men whom I Know when Living. Sketches <>f Robert Owen, Joseph Mazzini, John Stuart Mill, Charles Sumner and Ledru Rollin ... ... ... ... 0 4 �Cromwell and Washington: a Contrast... ... ... Life of George, Prince of Wales, with Recent Contrasts and Coincidences .. ... ... ... ... Anthropology. In neat wrapper ... ... ... When were our Gospels Written? ... ... ... Plea for Atheism ... ... ... ... ... Has Man a Soul ? ... ... ... ... ... Is there a God? ... ... ... ... ... Who was Jesus Christ? ... ... ... ... What did Jesus Teach ? ... ... ... ... The Twelve Apostles ... ... ... ... The Atonement ... ... ... ... ... Life of David ... ... ... ... ... Life of Jacob ... ... ... ... Life of Abraham ... ... ... ... ... Life of Moses .., ... ... ... ... Life of Jonah ... ... ... ... ... A Few Words about the Devil ... ... ... Were Adam and Eve our First Parents ? ... ... Heresy; its Morality and Utility. A Plea and a Justifica­ tion ... ... ... ... ... ... The Laws Relating to Blasphemy and Heresy ... ... Je6us, Shelley, and Malthus, an Essay on the Population Question ... ... ... ... s. d. 0 6 0 2 0 4 0 6 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 9 0 6 0 2 Verbatim Report of the Trial of C. Bradlaugh before Lord Cole­ ridge for Blasphemy, in three Special Extra Numbers of the National Reformer. 6d. Verbatim Report of the Trial, The Queen against Bradlaugh and Besant. Cloth, 5s. With Portraits and Autographs of the two Defendants. Second Edition, with Appendix, containing the judgments of Lords Justices Bramwell, Brett, and Cotton. Works by ANNIE BESANT— The Freethinker’s Text-Book. Part II. “On Christianity.” Section I.—“Christianity: its Evidences Unreliable.” Section II.—“Its Origin Pagan.” Section III.—“Its Morality Fallible.” Section IV.—“Condemned by its History.” Bound in cloth, 3s. 6d. History of the Groat French Revolution. Cloth, 2s. Mv Path to Atheism. Collected Essays. The Deity of Jesus— Inspiration—Atonement— Eternal Punishment — Prayer — Re­ vealed Religion—and the Existence of God, all examined and rejected; together with some Essays on the Book of Common Prayer. Cloth, gilt lettered, 4s. Marriage: as it was, as it is, and as it should be. Second Edition. In limp cloth, Is. Light, Heat, and Sound. In three parts, 6d. each. Illustrated. Bound in limp cloth, Is. 6d.; cloth, 2s. The Jesus of the Gospels and The Influence of Christianity on the World. Two nights’ Debate with the Rev. A. Hatciiard. Is. Social and Political Essays. 3s. 6d. Theological Essays and Debate. 2s. Gd. �Pamphlets— Christian Progress. Third Thousand ... ... ... Fruits of Christianity ... ... ... ... The Gospel of Christianity and the Gospel of Freethought Blasphemy ... ... ... ... ... The Christian Creed; or, What it is Blasphemy to Deny... God’s Views on Marriage ... ... ... ... The Gospel of Atheism. Fifth Thousand ... ... Is the Bible Indictable ? ... ... ... ... The True Basis of Morality. A Plea for Utility as the Standard of Morality. Seventh Thousand ... ... The Ethics of Punishment. Third Thousand ... ... Auguste Comte. Biography of the great French Thinker, with Sketches of his Philosophy, his Religion, and his Sociology. Being a short and convenient r&umif of Posi­ tivism for the general reader. Third Thousand ... Giordano Bruno, the Freethought Martyr of the Sixteenth Century. His Life and Works. Third Thousand ... The Law of Population: Its consequences, and its bearing upon Human Conduct and Morals. Seventieth thousand Social Aspects of Malthusianism ... ... ... The Physiology of Home — No. 1, “Digestion”; No. 2, ‘•Organs of Digestion”; No. 3, “Circulation”; No. 4, “Respiration”; Id. each. Together, in neat wrapper ... Electricity and its modern applications. Four lectures. Id. each. Together, in wrapper ... ... ... Eyes and Ears ... ... ... ... ... Vivisection... ... ... ... ... ... Henry Varley Exposed ... ... ... ... Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity ... ... ... Landlords, Tenant Farmers, and Laborers. Third Thou­ sand ... ... ... ••• ••• ••• The English Land System ... ... ... ... English Marseillaise, with Music. Second Thousand ... English Republicanism ... ... ... ... The Political Status of Women. A Plea for Women’s Rights. Fourth Thousand... ... ... ... ... Civil and Religious Liberty, with some Hints taken from the French Revolution. Sixth Thousand ... ... The Transvaal ... ... ••• ••• England, India, and Afghanistan, and The Story of Afghan­ istan, bound together in limp cloth ... ... ... The Story of Afghanistan ... ... • •• ... Force no Remedy. An analysis of the Coercion Act (Ire­ land) 1882 ... ................................................. 0 Coercion in Ireland and its Results ... ... ... Egypt, a Protest against the War. Second Edition ... Free Trade v. “Fair” Trade—Ne. 1, “England before the Repeal of the Corn Laws”; No. 2, “The History of the Anti-Corn Law Struggle”; No. 3, “Labor and Land: their burdens, duties and rights ”; No. 4, “ What is Really Free Trade”; No. 5, “The Landlords’Attempt to Mislead the Landless ”; Id. each. In neat wrapper with Appendix ... ... ••• ••• ••• s. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 d. 2 2 2 1 6 2 2 2 0 2 0 1 0 6 0 1 0 6 0 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 3 1 2 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 2 0 6 London: Freethought Publishing Company, 63, Fleet Street, E.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 The liberty of man, woman, and child Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 37 p. ; 18 cm. Notes: Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. Works by Bradlaugh and Besant listed on unnumbered pages at the end. No. 46b in Stein checklist. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Freethought Publishing Company Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1883 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context N368 Subject The topic of the resource Human rights 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 (The liberty of man, woman, and child), 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 Human Rights Liberty NSS https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/143ffb534e0bbc5577860b913432bbca.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=vlFNJ8x1Nloko1byfgoHEItPoC7yMJZ1%7EqXNM0BXne2WrQcmkIA-5ecHR16Q8DZcc4v6mvOC4VEpJh1%7EEUbecXNf03t4NOx2IiK3eZ1VL28w7u6rqnBMV14bViBV5hpoWxB6vXdhfQ5CKiuD1m8bQp1tmWiY2yf2LLEbnNJeE-VR58BrbgJZF7CG7bnmOcvvGl55MqXwZNxS5-NCREsqjWqPr4c6nSwQRaBlynIqUWMC8J-as6ieVQJGZppBGDaI9oGtgfA%7EvumPzuWfC6KGEDIfxDRsY01JPg43z9OAgLZiM9tonuk1O9p1Oqzy6DVWFg45529ejJGfyxNhPYB%7Eng__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 8e3e2ecaed9535e99750391c107a5bb1 PDF Text Text Phases of Human Rights. if 7i ft PHASES OF HUMAN RIGHTS. BY JOHN T. SARGENT. The old anti-slavery enterprise in its inception, purpose, and prosecu­ tion had, of course, as its main mo­ tive, the great radical idea of human rights. Though organized primarilyon behalf of the colored race, yet the great underlying principle of the whole movement was the dignity and worth of human nature, the equal claim of all human beings to the same social and civil privileges. It insisted on the unity, eternity, and singleness of this claim for all classes of humanity, however degraded, whe­ ther black or white, male or female. As dependents on the same over­ ruling providence, children of the same heavenly Father, heirs of the same inheritance, it could see no distinction between them ; and, though it worked and pleaded main­ ly for freedom to the black man, it could see in him, and through him, as it were, only the type of human­ ity’s rights and humanity’s wrongs. With this view, then, of its breadth of motive and philosophy, it can hardly rest or be remitted, even now, but in the fuller consummation of those great interests everywhere, and the assurance of those rights to every mortal man and woman. In every right construction of its motive-purpose it is still, in a certain sense, pressing for the recognition of these rights, the admission of these claims, whether for the colored man, not yet. socially recognized; or the poor white laborer, not yet invested with industrial rights ; the long-suffering Indians, so cruelly down-trodden and crowded from their homesteads by a murderous treachery; the meek Chinese, those poor victims of com­ mercial fraud ; or for woman, every­ where a compeer and claimant with us in social influence, authority, posi­ tion, and suffrage. And here let me say how I hope that in its advocacy of these great interests this monthly periodical, The Standard, which is, after all, but the old Anti-Slavery Standard transfigured by the needs of the time, will listen to no compro­ mise and allow of no prevarication ! True to its antecedents, its habits, and its pledge, we hope and believe it will be satisfied with nothing short of the recognition and maintenance of human rights, all human rights, here, now, and everywhere. It were surely a great mistake to suppose that the whole philosophy of the anti-slavery enterprise were exhaust­ ed, and the whole aim of that great reform had culminated merely by . the abolition of the chattel system of the South, or the taking off the iron fetters from the limbs of the poor Southern slaves when President Lincoln issued his Emancipation edict; as if the Southern tyrants, who had, all their lives long, been treating the poor slaves so like brutes and ridiculing their claim to humanity, were, all at once, to be­ come sublimated saints, and cordial­ ly concede without a question the rights and equality of a race they had so long brutalized and de­ �72 Phases of Human Rights. graded ! Oh ! no, such a social mil­ lennium as that we certainly have not, as yet, realized. Hardly dare we say, in the strength of our faith, we have it fully in prospect. Just look at it. What is our actual so­ cial status, and what the condition of the colored man even here at the North ? Socially ostracized, shun­ ned, excluded from our churches, avoided as if he were a nuisance or an offense, debarred from the com­ monest privileges, shut out from all familiar assemblings, forbidden even a lodgment in our public-houses, while at the South he is still more signalized by scorn and shamefully maltreated. What does such freedom as that amount to? Of what use were it, and how much better than a mere tantalizing mockery and pre­ tense, to give to the black man a nominal freedom by merely taking off from his wrists and ankles the chains of a chattel servitude, if you still leave him only the more rigidly overborne by social prejudice, and manacled by the worse fetters of a social exclusion and outlawry. Of what use and how much better than bitterness to say to him, “There, now, go where you will, you are free P' if, at the same time, you have closed against him every avenue to advancement, every path to social progress ? What an inexpressibly potent insult to talk thus of the liberty you have given him, if, at the same time, you deny him the com­ monest rights of a man—the rights of a citizen and of social recognition —which alone constitute a genuine liberty, forcing him thus to bite the very dust of social degradation, and to feed on the dire ignominy of a caste exclusion ! In what sense can freedom be his except as the un­ questioned equal and peer of other men in social relations, their rival even, and competitor, if need be, for the very offices and distinctions in society, so that, instead of one Sena­ tor Revels, we might have a score of such complexions foreshadowing our duty ? Look, too, at the shameful treatment of colored people in our churches ! How invidious and dis­ reputable their marked separation from the rest of the congregation in most of our so-called Christian as­ semblies. O shame, shame on such a Christianity as that! reenacting the odious exclusiveness of the Scribes and Pharisees, and with a social rancor even worse than the Jews of old had toward the Samari­ tans. Again, look at the condition of but too many of what I am con­ strained to call a servile class among ourselves—our white domestics. How much better than serfdom, think you, is the position of many of the young women in our fashion­ able, wealthy, and aristocratic fami­ lies ? What know they, and what are they allowed to know, of oppor­ tunities for self-culture, intellectual discipline, or moral progress ? How much is there even of intelligent sympathetic converse between them and their employers ? What chances have they for the indulgence of a taste for reading, or any other form of aesthetic and mental recreation ? And how slight the concern, gene­ rally, for their welfare and improve­ ment on the part of the more fa­ vored class 1 So, of all classes of our operatives, and of either sex, much the same might be said of their need of our better sympathy. Woe be unto us, as a people, if we �% Christianity and Reform. fail seasonably to heed and to an­ swer their appeals. What a benefi­ cent work might we accomplish for the elevation and welfare of humanity were we but unanimous on this one great principle—the recognition of all human rights, and to all classes. We need, above all else, to have this radical element of human­ ity and its claims so inherent in our social ethics, so installed in our daily intercourse that we shall recognize in every laboring man and woman 73 an equal, and, as it were, a brother and a sister, having constant claim on our good-will. “ He who loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen ?” Here, surely, is a direct re­ cognition of a true philanthropy as the only genuine indication and defi­ nition of true piety and religion. Let us see to it that we have such a religion by the fulfillment of its con­ ditions. CHRISTIANITY AND REFORM. BY MRS. JULIA WARD HOWE. ADDRESS IN APOLLO HALL, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE NEW-YORK REFORM LEAGUE. I have gone to church in the streets to-day, and whereas I came here to New-York to preach, NewYork has preached to me. Not that what I have seen has caused me to dismiss a single conviction ; but that, standing and looking at the multi­ form current of life that rushes by, I have been compelled to acknow­ ledge the insufficiency of foregone conclusions to deal with an element so uncertain, so difficult of govern­ ment. The material distance be­ tween New-York and New-Eng­ land is but about eight hours by railroad, but the moral distance has the whole breadth of the Atlantic in it. Europe is visibly here. The power with which your city draws to itself this vast arterial current of life illustrates to me the two-fold character of human nature. Rascality hovers here like the moth about the candle. Villainy is no­ where more desperate, more unscru­ pulous. On the other hand, thought­ ful souls also must come to you. Hidden under your rank and florid prosperity are elements so precious, sympathies so sincere, that the house­ hold of faith itself would be incom­ plete without the New-York rela­ tions. So we who hear accounts of disorder and misrule, who read Mr. Parton’s record of the City Hall, and Mr. Adams’s account of Erie, know that you have better things than these with which to meet and stem the tide of unrepublican ten­ dency which ever threatens you. Woe to you and to us if you had not! The time that each of us can oc­ cupy this evening is necessarily so short, and the subject given to us to � 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 Phases of human rights Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sargent, John T. Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [Chicago] Collation: 71-73 p. ; 25 cm. Notes: From The Standard, Vol. 1, No. 2, June 1870. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed in double columns. 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 [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5440 Subject The topic of the resource Human rights 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 (Phases of human rights), 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 Human Rights Slavery https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/cdc2965bfd8fe08cf1f0a53a14bd85de.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=Pn8h1V9iGFra8qlcB0TKRKSb0K8uJ2tvOHyF87tTjT48ed5fmuyvTOhZrVtWaeBAAhG--r6ewHKP2b1wB8ECBBpeGqmnpnSYv1bIvpe%7ENEL9nar-7cALRwau5%7ExPUc8z6D2C3Tz1KTjG1DebQnZVPgDl2lhSrLEemPESJUolMZyEo-N3Yyn7uCfmgATtB%7ElLzTQvMTlIdTq09rRCPSW%7E49mgECV5%7EwObVmqh8lQrPZJA5RCkvyqUTQorDeRlpfm-RVbYtfkd1CLsae9gbK6XQxyeYo-SoN40p4f3il1EEe44G636aO7eftRHlC6gg9RjsEJX%7EwSbWvFwPc6NtVx6hw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 886288a581847bf131b6db30f68a8de7 PDF Text Text Our Indian Relations. one. The world is all complex to the child, to the savage. Science simplifies by formulating laws and grouping results. Religion needs to be simplified in like manner. The Gospel as an abstraction is as perplexed as other abstractions. Ap­ ply it in life, and you will find that it simplifies itself more and more. Peo­ ple may talk as much as they will of the subtleties which it delights man­ kind both to invent and to refute. This may be a harmless, even a useful mental gymnastic. But let us seek more and more for this applied Gospel, and for such purity of prescription and stringency of ex­ ample as may help us more and more to its application. And one word more about simplicity. There are two opposite views of God, which, like other oppositions, should illusstrate instead of excluding each other. God may be considered in his three-fold aspect, for every true unity is capable of a three-fold in­ terpretation. But the unity of God remains for Christianity the cardinal doctrine, the simplest, most scien­ tific and practical. So pray let us hold to this divine unity, which does not exclude the study of trinity, but which must preclude any such divi­ sion. I think you ought to have more Unitarian churches in NewYork—more, and other. The want of centrality makes itself felt in this. Much thought which orthodoxy fails to crystallize does not enter into the faithful combination which forms a church; and this is the last place in the world in which such a concourse of consciences can be dis­ pensed with. Here the faithful should constantly meet, and uphold each other in the constant, peaceable warfare against the wrongs that un­ dermine society. OUR INDIAN RELATIONS. BY COLONEL S. F. Y?; TAPPAN. “ A sound of war is on the western wind ; The sun, with fiery flame, sweeps down the sky ; Athwart his breast the crimson shadows fly Of fearless forms no fetters e’er can bind. -3 “ The eagle plunges from his mountain nest, And screaming, soars above the distant plain, / Plucking his plumes without a pang of pain, Though stained with blood from his own beating breast.” Again is the country startled by reports of an impending conflict, the hurrying of troops to the plains, and active preparations for an armed contest with the Sioux Indians. The excitement is temporarily allayed by an occasional telegram from Wash­ ington, that the general of the army is confident that there is to be no serious trouble after all. He is alarmed, and foolishly imagines that, having raised the storm, he can coni trol it. He very well knew—for he is not an idiot—that when he, with his �Otir Indian Relations. Meutenant, as early as last October, deliberately planned the betrayal and assassination of a small camp of Piegans, when the winter and small­ pox should have rendered them com­ pletely helpless ; a conspiracy that culminated, in January last, in a mas­ sacre so atrocious as to fill the coun­ try with amazement and horror; that such a deed of shame would drive the Indians to make common cause and retaliate, and a general war would be the result. Having for months failed to force the Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, Arrapahoes, and Apaches to open hostilities, by massacre and the most excessive cruelties, he made sure work of it by the destruction of the Piegans. And now, while making extensive pre­ parations for war, and demanding an increase of the army, he assures the country that the trouble will soon be at an end. War threatens us, which, under the circumstances, will prove the greatest of calamities, a calamity not so much in the loss of life and treasure, as in the loss of our national honor and fame. The government, not the Indians, is at fault; for it refuses them simple, even-handed justice, which is all they demand, as a condi­ tion of a permanent and honorable peace. This nation is guilty of a wanton, persistent violation of sacred obligations, entered into with the red men of the west, and thereby forces them on to the war-path as their only means of self-preservation and safety, as their only tribunal for a re­ dress of grievance, their only way of resisting the terrible and infamous edict proclaimed against them, that they are to be “ exterminated, men, women, and childrenthat the 17 dreaded fate of the poor sick Piegans is to be theirs, whenever an oppor­ tunity offers the troops for the con­ summation of such transcendent trea­ chery and atrocity. They see the black and piratical flag displayed in their country by our army, and com­ prehend its villainous and bloody import. They understand fully the design of their Christian, civilized, and cowardly enemy who refuses them quarter, and glories in the massacre of helpless men, women, and children. They know very well that if they submit they are lost; if they rely upon the plighted faith of the nation, they are betrayed and assassinated. The regular army, in its fear of re­ duction, becomes a scourge to the Indians, and to the country as well; it afflicts them with suffering and death, while it fastens upon us as a people dishonor and shame. It commends them to the eternal sympa­ thy of mankind as victims, while we are doomed to be execrated for all time to come as the assassins. Of the two give me the fate of the In­ dian. “ Better the victim than the assassin.” Better leave the world by the hand of violence, the last of a noble race more sinned against than sinning, than to remain forever with untold wealth, unlimited power and fame, with the consciousness of hav­ ing aided in the destruction of an en­ tire people, for no crime, but upon the miserable, cowardly, and false assumption, criminal in the ex­ treme, that we could not govern or civilize it. Believing that all this trouble ori­ ginated with men of prominence, for the purpose of preventing a threaten­ ed or anticipated reduction of our military establishment; that wars with �78 * Our Iudiait Relations, Indians are wholly unnecessary, can easily be avoided, and are dishonor­ able to all connected with them ; that the children of the wilderness only demand simple justice as a con­ dition of a permanent and honorable peace ;. the writer enters his earnest protest against these warlike proceed­ ings, and declares that there is no necessity or justification for them whatever; 'that under the circum­ stances it is not war but massacre, and, if persisted in, fastens upon our beloved country a crime more atro­ cious and infamous than that of the St. Bartholomew massacre in France a few centuries ago. With these convictions, the writer will attempt, in this and future num­ bers of The Standard, to present the true state of this great cause ; to write from an experience of years among the Indians of the plains and the Rocky Mountains ; first, as an officer in the military service, in com­ mand of troops and posts in their country, and afterward as a member of the Indian Peace Commission, cre­ ated by unanimous vote of Congress, by an act approved July 20th, 1867 ; writing with no other wish or desire than to deal justly with all, arraigning before the country the real criminals, whatever their position may be, and protecting from misrepresentation and slander the innocent, under what­ soever ban they may exist. The United States Indian Com­ mission was organized some two years ago, by distinguished and phi­ lanthropic gentlemen of New-York, for the benevolent and statesmanlike purpose of removing the ban of out­ lawry from the Indians, making them citizens of the United States, pro­ tected by and amenable to its laws ; to prevent the government from waging wars against its wards and dependents ; to promote their ad­ vancement in the useful arts, pursuits, and education of civilization, and so far influence the government and public opinion as to create a whole­ some and humane sentiment con­ cerning their rights and privileges; to publish and circulate the best in­ formation, from official and other sources, concerning the condition and interests of the unfortunately pro­ scribed Indian race ; also to facili­ tate the organization of similar asso­ ciations throughout the country, and, by agitating this question, create a better public sentiment, which would induce Congress to give it sufficient prominence to command their atten­ tion, and thereby secufe the much required legislation. For two years this commission has existed and labored in various ways, doing splendid service, sending one of their number, Mr. Vincent Col­ yer, to visit the Indians of the plains and mountains, to examine into and report their condition and Wants. Faithfully and ably was this work performed by their agent, who, return­ ing to this city to make preparations for a visit, under the auspices of this commission to the native population of Alaska, was appointed by Presi­ dent Grant, in recognition of his valuable service on the plains, and the importance of the New-York as­ sociation, as one of the Board of In­ dian Commissioners, and sent to our newly acquired territory of the ex­ treme north-west, from which he re­ turned a few months later and sub­ mitted his able and faithful report, which, more than any thing else, will prevent a costly war in that quarter. �Our Indian Relations. The military were determined to bring about a conflict with the Indians by outrages upon them. Now, the record so unmistakably vindicates the peaceful character and intentions of the natives of Alaska, and so strongly condemns the conduct and actions of the troops stationed there, that trouble is averted. This commission is still at work, sustained by the public sentiment of the country, although that sentiment does not yet find expression in simi­ lar organizations which are so much needed. At a meeting of the com­ mission on the evening of the 26th of April, at the. Cooper Institute, presided over by the president of the society, the distinguished and vene­ rable Peter Cooper, Esq., resolu­ tions were unanimously adopted, call­ ing upon the friends of this great movement throughout the country to organize for cooperation with this association, and to meet with it in convention on the 18 th of May. A call that the exigencies of the public service demand, should be generally responded to by the American peo­ ple. At the April meeting referred to, the Indian question was discussed in its broadest and truest sense. One of the speakers, Hon. Sidney Clarke, member of Congress from Kansas, and Chairman of the House Commit­ tee on Indian Affairs, in his adddres stated an important truth when he said, “All the government wanted in this crisis was an Indian policy.” Now, no well-defined arid understood policy exists. The President, deter­ mined on a radical reform in the ad­ ministration of Indian affairs, has sent well-known peace men as the representatives of the government to the Plains Indians, with most favor­ able results, even while the nation’s wards rest under the ban of outlawry and outrage, and are the victims of the most violent passions and unjust prejudices, with the army determined on war, and Congress refusing its aid. Even under these adverse circum­ stances, the policy of the present ad­ ministration has commended itself to the country as a success. What would it not be if these obstacles were removed and the President had a clear field ? It proves beyond ques­ tion that the Indians are not opposed to a permanent and honorable peace. During the summer of 1865, after the Sand Creek massacre, and during the continuance of a war that fol­ lowed as a consequence of that cow­ ardly and infamous atrocity, Congress saw the necessity of a radical change in the administration of Indian affairs, and delegated a committee of their own members—including the then President pro tern, of the Senate— to proceed at once to the Indian country, ascertain the cause of trou­ bles, and suggest a remedy. These distinguished gentlemen faithfully performed the work assigned them, reported as the cause of Indian wars the fact that the Indian was an out­ law, and the remedy a very simple one, namely, the extension of the civil law over the Indian country. To secure this, they prepared an act which passed the Senate by a con­ siderable majority, but it was after­ ward defeated in the House. This committee had no difficulty in con­ ferring with the then hostile tribe. The Cheyennes heard of their com­ ing, and stood ready to meet, and did meet them in council, when an agreement of peace was made and �8o Our Indian Relations. faithfully adhered to by the Indians, until the burning of their village two years after. In 1867, war again existed on the plains, attended with a fearful loss of life, a serious interference with settlement and travel, and an im­ mense expense of treasure. The Indian Peace Commission was cre­ ated by act of Congress, approved by the President on the 20th of July. This commission was sent out to meet the hostile Indians, which was easily done. Council with them was held, hostilities on their part stayed, and terms of settlement agreed upon. After which the commis­ sion reported to Congress not only the causes of Indian wars, but sug­ gested the remedy: The ban of outlawry must be removed from the Indian, the protection of laws ex­ tended over him, civilization, edu­ cation, liberty, and a permanent home guaranteed to him and his forever. Unfortunately for the coun­ try and the peace of the plains, these recommendations have not yet been acted upon. Consequently, Congress is not free from all guilt in this matter; it has persistently refused to legislate upon the subject, as advised by its own commissions ; but, on the contrary, has repudiated them in a manner so treacherous and unjust that the Secretary of the Interior was im­ pelled to send in a special message, indorsed by the President, defending the Peace Commission and its deal­ ings with the Indians from the un­ accountable action of the House of Representatives. * The treatment of the Indians for centuries, by the government and people, has made them outcasts and vagabonds, has fastened upon them the enslaving and degrading ban of outlawry, given free license to ruf­ fians to murder them as if they were wolves, has encouraged the army to betray and massacre them while trust­ ing in the plighted faith of the re­ public, has robbed them of their right to the soil, and driven them step by step, by treachery and atrocity, be­ yond the pale of civilization, govern­ ment, and law; has outraged them in every possible way, at one mo-| ment dealing with them with all the solemnity and dignity of an indepen­ dent power, and then spurning them as if they were poisonous reptiles. Even with this system of wrong and outrage, persevered in for hun­ dreds of years, we have not yet suc-l ceeded in destroying the truly noble and generous characteristics of their nature, have not converted them into fiends; they still retain their virtues, and are, in the words of the Indian Peace Commission, “ the very embo­ diment of courage •” my experience among them enables me to add, of honor as well. They have never yet, from the earliest settlement of the continent by their enemies, who hunted them with bloodhounds, maim­ ed and murdered them by hundreds and thousands, and sold their children into slavery, until now, equaled the whites in atrocities upon the living and the dead, in perfidy and treach­ ery—never, to our shame, never. The Indian race is able to present for the admiration of the world re­ presentative men, men like the Che­ yenne chieftain Moke-ta-va-ta, (Black Kettle,) whose peer for all the manly heroic virtues does not exist, and never has existed in our his­ tory, or the history of any other na- �Disbanding of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. The writer, who knew Mokeintimately and well for years, once told the story of his ■Uft and services, of his magnani­ mity, generosity, integrity, and cou­ rage, to the celebrated historian, Mr. Motley, and challenged him to refer to his equal in any age or * history; he could not do it. Moketa-va-ta is without a peer, the true hero, the true man; he sleeps by the side of his ever faithful and devot­ ed wife, Vo-ish-ta, in his bloody shroud, on the crimson banks of the Wichata. tion. ta-va-ta “ And thou wert slain. Whoever dared to trace His name upon the order for thy death Will wear the sting until his latest breath, And bind the curse of Cain upon hislrace.” Betrayed, assassinated, and muti­ lated by our troops, in a massacre of unparalleled atrocity and treachery, applauded by the commanding gene­ rals of the army as a glorious victory. 81 “ Moke-ta-va-ta, thy wrongs shall be redressed, Thy viewless form fills all the vernal air; Nor earth’s fair bosom, nor the spring more fair, Can stay the footsteps of a race oppressed. Their name is legion, and from mountain slope And distant plain their fearless forms appear, All conquering and all potent, without fear They come with our proud nation now to cope. And if the rivers shall run red with blood, And if the plain be strewn with mangled forms, And cities burned amid the battles' storms, Ours is the blame—not thine, thou great and good. Thy name shall live a watchword for all time— A herald and a beacon-light to all On whom the tyrant and the despot fall, Making thy death a heritage sublime. If of this noble line thou wert the last, And stood on the extremest ocean verge, Thy eloquence would all thy people urge, And in one deadly conflict they would cast Their gauntlet in our shameful, flaming face, And then, without a thought of praise or blame. Would perish to’avenge thy noble name, And prove that thou wert of a kingly race. A sound of war is on the western wind; The sun, with fiery flame, sweeps down the sky; Athwart his breast the crimson shadows fly, Of fearless forms no fetters e’er can bind. Down through the golden gateway they have The mighty scions of a nation come In sweeping circles from their shining home. With weapons from the battle-plains of Go a. DISBANDING OF THE PENNSYLVANIA ANTI-SLAVERY . SOCIETY. BY JOHN K. WILDMAN. After the consummation of that act in the progress of liberty which banished political restrictions on ac­ count of color, there seemed to be nothing left for the anti-slavery so­ cieties to do but disband. This be­ came a willing service, grateful to every member. They had witnessed the fulfillment of the pledge made to the colored people of the nation, and saw that the grand purpose of the anti-slavery movement was thereby accomplished. All that was essenVol. i.—6 tial in the aim and scope of the con­ stitutions of their societies had be­ come absorbed in that of the United States. It was therefore fitting that they should meet together and ex­ change congratulations and fare­ wells. The final meeting of the national society was followed by that of its auxiliary of Pennsylvania, which oc­ curred on the 5th of May, just a third of a century from the date of its organization. Rare indeed was the � 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 Our Indian relations Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Taffan, Samuel F. [1831-1913] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [Chicago] Collation: 76-81 p. ; 24 cm. Notes: Samuel Forster Tappan was an American journalist, military officer, abolitionist and a Native American rights activist. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From The Standard, Vol. 1, no. 2, June 1870. 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 [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5442 Subject The topic of the resource Indigenous peoples Human rights USA 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 (Our Indian relations), 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 Human Rights Indigenous Populations Racism United States of America https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/a8d9ea1474e192c7b1ff2e91932f180d.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=IHdead9T%7EN5sN8LCi1pKN2nME86JeAGPPOl2nef1Ak8c4gzV3Lw0I1nJOuFKbQKZJFqBDP3SQ8par0gYoUx2ShC8-BZ0GhGOuk22vhYJhU6IM3eWXehQ%7Em0EotUs3q5lUksTEneCnqjUw5Byn74TjC5GPaDOmrneRaTY4ChvWMGT1d-yte36hKI393sYpTIqfm35ofYO0cvfMGmv1gLbM%7EI9Nzrx2nUw99Yt4O35M1AH0S88aavIM%7EFx%7EffK6AeuGC6SViSNyAVtUWjiBLBgUx2Ar39-oYUWR34Jsk-0JQlxg8kyqLI8L9MqyC-Q8MMcB4ByiR5LJ%7EufI7IeGV29PQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 8dfc2874782cead3db19e6df504b95b2 PDF Text Text Pamphlets for the Million—No. 6 2 ^onalsecuursocety *e£ LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD By R. G. INGERSOLL London: WATTS & CO., 17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C. �PUBLISHERS’ NOTE This famous Lecture of Colonel Ingersoll is taken from the Dresden edition of his works (12 vols.; ,£6 net), which was published in America shortly after his death. In this country nearly all his principal lectures and essays, apart from his legal addresses, are included in the series of Lectures and Essays issued in three parts at is. net each (by post is. 2Xd.; the three parts 3s. 6d.), or in one volume, handsomely bound, at 6s. net (by post 6s. 6d.) xvi+ 139 pp.; cloth, 2s. 6d. net, by post 2s. iod.; paper cover, is. 6d. net, by post is. gd. THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD. by r. McMillan. Bishop W. M. Brown, D.D., of Galion, Ohio, U.S.A., recently paid the following remarkable tribute to this fasci­ nating work :— “ I regard this book as being worth many times its weight in gold. I have read it five times, and am expect­ ing to re-read a chapter almost every week during the rest of my life. It was written by an aged scientist for a young girl who desired to know about the origin of the world. Its exceptional value consists in the fact that it covers a very important, extensive, and difficult field of a scientific character in language which is free from technical terms. I regard it as being one of the most interesting and illuminating books that I have ever read. I wish that I had read such a book when I was young. It would have had a great and beneficial influence upon my life.” London : Watts & Co., Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, E.C.4. �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD LIBERTY SUSTAINS THE SAME RELATION TO MIND THAT SPACE DOES TO MATTER. HERE is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of Intelligence. 1 he history of man is simply the history of slavery, of injustice and brutality, together with the means by which he has, through the dead and desolate years, slowly and painfully advanced. He has been the sport and prey of priest and king, the food of superstition and cruel might. Crowned force has governed ignorance through fear. Hypocrisy and tyranny—two vultures— have fed upon the liberties of man. From all these there has been, and is, but one means of escape—intel­ lectual development. Upon the back of industry has been the whip. Upon the brain have been the fetters of superstition. Nothing has been left undone by the enemies of freedom. Every art and artifice, every cruelty and outrage, has been practised and perpetrated to destroy the rights of man. In this great struggle every crime has been rewarded and every virtue has been punished. Reading, writing, thinking, and investi­ gating have all been crimes. Every science has been an outcast. All the altars and all the thrones united to arrest the forward march of the human race. The king said that mankind must not work for themselves. The priest T �4 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD said that mankind must not think for themselves. One forged chains for the hands, the other for the soul. Under this infamous regime the eagle of the human intellect was for ages a slimy serpent of hypocrisy. The human race was imprisoned. Through some of the prison bars came a few struggling rays of light. Against these bars science pressed its pale and thought­ ful face, wooed by the holy dawn of human advancement. Bar after bar was broken away. A few grand men escaped and devoted their lives to the liberation of their fellows. Only a few years ago there was a great awakening of the human mind. Men began to inquire by what right a crowned robber made them work for him. The man who asked this question was called a traitor. Others asked, By what right does a robed hypocrite rule my thought? Such men were called infidels. The priest said, and the king said, Where is this spirit of investigation to stop? They said then, and they say now, that it is dangerous for man to be free. I deny it. Out on the intellectual sea there is room enough for every sail. In the intellectual air there is space enough for every wing. The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men. Every man should stand under the blue and stars, under the infinite flag of nature, the peer of every other man. Standing in the presence of the Unknown, all have the same right to think, and all are equally interested in the great questions of origin and destiny. All I claim, all I plead for, is liberty of thought and expression. That is all. I do not pretend to tell what is absolutely true, but what I think is true. I do not pretend to tell all the truth. I do not claim that I have floated level with the heights of thought, or that I have descended to the very depths of things. I simply claim that what ideas I have, I have a right to express; and that any man who denies �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 5 that right to me is an intellectual thief and a robber. That is all. Take those chains from the human soul. Break those fetters. If I have no right to think, why have I a brain ? If I have no such right, have three or four men, or any number, who may get together, and sign a creed, and build a house, and put a steeple upon it, and a bell in it—have they the right to think? The good men, the good women, are tired of the whip and lash in the realm of thought. They remember the chain and faggot with a shudder. They are free, and they give liberty to others. Whoever claims any right that he is unwilling to accord to his fellow-men is dishonest and infamous. In the good old times our fathers had the idea that they could make people believe to suit them. Our ancestors, in the ages that are gone, really believed that by force you could convince a man. You cannot change the conclusion of the brain by torture, nor by social ostracism. But I will tell you what you can do by these, and what you have done. You can make hypo­ crites by the million. You can make a man say that he has changed his mind; but he remains of the same opinion still. Put fetters all over him; crush his feet in iron boots; stretch him to the last gasp upon the holy rack; burn him, if you please, but his ashes will be of the same opinion still. Our fathers in the good old times—and the best thing I can say about them is that they have passed away— had an idea that they could force men to think their way. That idea is still prevalent in many parts, even of this country. Even in our day some extremely religious people say: “We will not trade with that man; we will not vote for him; we will not hire him if he is a lawyer; we will die before we will take his medicine if he is a doctor; we will not invite him to dinner; we will socially ostracise him ; he must come to our church; he must believe our doctrines; he must worship our god, or we will not in any way contribute to his support.” �6 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD In the old times of which I have spoken they desired to make all men think exactly alike. All the mechanical ingenuity of the world cannot make two clocks run exactly alike, and how are you going to make hundreds of millions of people, differing in brain and disposition, in education and aspiration, in conditions and surround­ ings, each clad in a living robe of passionate flesh—how are you going to make them think and feel alike? If there is an infinite God, one who made us, and wishes us to think alike, why did he give a spoonful of brains to one and a magnificent intellectual development to another ? Why is it that we have all degrees of intelli­ gence, from orthodoxy to genius, if it was intended that all should think and feel alike? I used to read in books how our fathers persecuted mankind. But I never appreciated it. I read it, but it did not burn itself into my soul. I did not really appreciate the infamies that have been committed in the name of religion, until I saw the iron arguments that Christians used. I saw the thumbscrew—two little pieces of iron, armed on the inner surfaces with pro­ tuberances, to prevent their slipping; through each end a screw uniting the two pieces. And when some man denied the efficacy of baptism, or, maybe, said, “ I do not believe that a fish ever swallowed a man to keep him from drowning,” then they put his thumb between these pieces of iron, and, in the name of love and universal forgiveness, began to screw these pieces together. When this was done, most men said, “ I will recant.” Probably I should have done the same. Probably I would have said : “ Stop, I will admit any­ thing that you wish; I will admit that there is one god or a million, one hell or a billion; suit yourselves; but stop.” But there was now and then a man who would not swerve the breadth of a hair. There was now and then some sublime heart willing to die for an intellectual conviction. Had it not been for such men, we would be savages to-night. Had it not been for a few brave, �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 7 heroic souls in every age, we would have been cannibals, with pictures of wild beasts tattooed upon our flesh, dancing around some dried snake fetich. Let us thank every good and noble man who stood so grandly, so proudly, in spite of opposition, of hatred and death, for what he believed to be the truth. Heroism did not excite the respect of our fathers. The man who would not recant was not forgiven. They screwed the thumbscrews down to the last pang, and then threw their victim into some dungeon, where, in the throbbing silence and darkness, he might suffer the agonies of the fabled damned. This was done in the name of love—in the name of mercy—in the name of the compassionate Christ. I saw, too, what they cajl the Collar of Torture. Imagine a circle of iron, and on the inside a hundred points almost as sharp as needles. This argument was fastened about the throat of the sufferer. Then he could not walk, nor sit down, nor stir without the neck being punctured by these points. In a little while the throat would begin to swell, and suffocation w^uld end the agonies of that man. This man, it may be, had committed the crime of saying, with tears upon his cheeks, “ I do not believe that God, the father of us all, will damn to eternal perdition any of the children of men.” I saw another instrument, called the Scavenger’s Daughter. Think of a pair of shears with handles, not only where they now are, but at the poirfts as well, and, just above the pivot that unites the blades, a circle of iron. In the upper handles the hands would be placed; in the lower, the feet; and through the iron ring, at the centre, the head of the victim would be forced. In this condition he would be thrown prone upon the earth, and the strain upon the muscles produced such agony that insanity would in pity end his pain. This was done by gentlemen who said : “ Whosoever smiteth thee upon one cheek turn to him the other also.” I saw the Ra' k. This was a box like the bed of a �8 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD wa&&on> with 3 windlass at each end, with levers, and ratchets to prevent slipping-; over each windlass went chains; some were fastened to the ankles of the sufferer; others to his wrists. And then priests, clergymen^ divines, saints, began turning these windlasses, and kept turning, until the ankles, the knees, the hips, the shoulders, the elbows, the wrists of the victim, were all dislocated, and the sufferer was wet with the sweat of agony. And they had standing by a physician to feel his pulse. What for? To save his life? Yes. In mercy? No; simply that they might rack him once again. This was done, remember, in the name of civilisation; in the name of law and order; in the name of mercy; in the name of religion; in the name of the most merciful Christ. Sometimes, when I read and think about these fright­ ful things, it seems to me that I have suffered all these horrors myself. It seems sometimes as though I had stood upon the shore of exile and gazed with tearful eyes towards home and native land; as though my nails had been torn from my hands, and in the bleeding quick needles had been thrust; as though my feet had been crushed in iron boots; as though I had been chained in the cell of the Inquisition and listened with dying ears for the coming footsteps of release; as though I had stood upon the scaffold and had seen the glittering axe fall upon me; as though I had been upon the rack and had seen, Bending over me,the white faces of hypo­ crite priests; as though I had been taken from my fire­ side, from my wife and children, taken to the public square, chained ; as though faggots had been piled about me; as though the flames had climbed around my limbs and scorched my eyes to blindness; and as though my ashes had been scattered to the four winds by all the countless hands of hate. And when I so feel, I swear that while I live I will do what little I can to preserve and to augment the liberties of man, woman, and child. It is a question of justice, of mercy, of honesty, of �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD f) intellectual development. If there is a man in the world who is not willing to give to every human being every right he claims for himself, he is just so much nearer a barbarian than I am. It is a question of honesty. The man who is not willing to give to every other the same intellectual rights he claims for himself is dishonest, selfish, and brutah It is a question of intellectual development. Whoever holds another man responsible for his honest thought has a deformed and distorted brain. It is a question of intellectual development. A little while ago I saw models of nearly everything that man has made. I saw models of all the water craft, from the rude dug-out in which floated a naked savage —one of our ancestors—a naked savage, with teeth two inches in length, with a spoonful of brains in the back of his head—I saw models of all the water craft of the world, from that dug-out up to a man-of-war, that carries a hundred guns and miles of canvas—from that dug-out to the steamship that turns its brave prow from the port of New York, with a compass like a conscience, crossing three thousand miles of billows without missing a throb or beat of its mighty iron heart. I saw at the same time the weapons that man has made, from a club, such as was grasped by that same savage when he crawled from his den in the ground and hunted a snake for his dinner; from that club to the boomerang, to the sword, to the cross-bow, to the blunderbuss, to the flint-lock, to the cap-lock, to the needle-gun, up to a cannon cast by Krupp, capable of hurling a ball weighing two thousand pounds through eighteen inches of solid steel. I saw, too, the armour from the shell of a turtle, that one of our brave ancestors lashed upon his breast when he went to fight for his country; the skin of a porcupine, dried with the quills on, which this same savage pulled over his orthodox head, up to the shirts of mail that were worn in the Middle Ages, that laughed A 2 *J �io LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD at the edge of the sword and defied the point of the spear; up to a monitor clad in complete steel. I saw, at the same time, their musical instruments, from the tom-tom—that is, a hoop with a couple of strings of raw hide drawn across it—from the tom­ tom, up to the instruments we have to-day, that make the common air blossom with melody. I saw, too, their paintings, from a daub of yellow mud to the great works which now adorn the galleries of the world. I saw, also, their sculpture, from the rude god with four legs, a half-dozen arms, several noses, and two or three rows of ears, and one little, contemptible, brainless head, up to the figures of to-day —to the marbles that genius has clad in such a personal­ ity that it seems almost impudent to touch them without an introduction. I saw their books—books written upon skins of wild beasts—upon shoulder-blades of sheep—books written upon leaves, upon bark, up to the splendid volumes that enrich the libraries of our day. When I speak of libraries, I think of the remark of Plato: “A house that has a library in it has a soul.” * I saw their implements of agriculture, from a crooked stick that was attached to the horn of an ox by some twisted straw, to the agricultural implements of this generation, that make it possible for a man to cultivate the soil without being an ignoramus. While looking upon these things I was forced to say -that man advanced only as he mingled his thought with his labour—only as he got into partnership with the forces of nature—only as he learned to take ad­ vantage of his surroundings—only as he freed himself from the bondage of fear—only as he depended upon * himself—only as he lost confidence in the gods. I saw at the same time a row of human skulls, from the lowest skull that has been found, the Neander­ thal skull skulls from Central Africa, skulls from the Bushmen of Australia—skulls from the farthest isles of the Pacific Sea—up to the best skulls of the last genera- �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD n tion—and I noticed that there was the same difference between those skulls that there was between the pro­ ducts of those skulls, and I said to myself : “ After all, it is a simple question of intellectual development.” There was the same difference between those skulls, the lowest and highest skulls, that there was between the dug-out and the man-of-war and the steamship, between the club and the Krupp gun, between the yellow daub and the landscape, between the tom-tom and an opera by Verdi. 1 he first and lowest skull in this row was the den in which crawled the base and meaner instincts of man­ kind, and the last was a temple in which dwelt joy, liberty, and love. It is all a question of brain, of intellectual develop­ ment. If we are nearer free than were our fathers, it is because we have better heads upon the average, and more brains in them. Now, I ask you to be honest with me. It makes no difference to you what I believe, nor what I wish to prove. I simply ask you to be honest. Divest your minds, for a moment at least, of all religious prejudice. Act, for a few moments, as though you were men and women. Suppose the king, if there was one, and the priest, if there was one, at the time this gentleman floated in the dug-out, and charmed his ears with the music of the tom-tom, had said: “That dug-out is the best boat that ever can be built by man; the pattern of that came from on high, from the great God of storm and flood, and any man who says that he can improve it by putting a mast in it, with a sail upor\ it, is an infidel, and shall be burned at the stake ” ; what, in your judgment—honour bright—would have been the effect upon the circumnavigation of the globe? Suppose the king, if there was one, and the priest, if there was one—and I presume there was a priest, because it was a very ignorant age—suppose this king �12 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD and priest had said : “ That tom-tom is the most beauti­ ful instrument of music of which any man can conceive; that is the kind of music they have in heaven; an angel sitting upon the edge of a fleecy cloud, golden in the setting sun, playing upon that tom-tom, became so enraptured, so entranced with her own music, that in a kind of ecstasy she dropped it—that is how we ob­ tained it; and any man who says that it can be im­ proved by putting a back and front to it, and four strings, and a bridge, and getting a bow of hair with rosin, is a blaspheming wretch, and shall die the death ” —I ask you what effect would that have had upon music? If that course had been pursued, would the human ears, in your judgment, ever have been enriched with the divine symphonies of Beethoven? Suppose the king, if there was one, and the priest had said : “ That crooked stick is the best plough that can be invented; the pattern of that plough was given to a pious farmer in a holy dream, and that tv sted straw is the ne plus ultra of all twisted things, and any man who says he can make an improvement upon (hat plough is an atheist”; what, in your judgment, would have been the effect upon the science of agriculture? But the people said, and the king and priest said : “We want better weapons with which to kill our fellow Christians; we want better ploughs, better music, better paintings, and whoever will give us better weapons, and better music, better houses to live in, better clothes, we will robe him in wealth and crown him with honour.” Every incentive was held out to every human being to improve these things. That is the reason the club has 'been changed to a cannon, the dug-out to a steamship, the daub to a painting; that is the reason that the piece of rough and broken stone finally became a glorified statue. You must not, however, forget that the gentleman in the dug-out, the gentleman who was enraptured with the music of the tom-tom, and cultivated his land with a crooked stick, had a religion of his own. That gentle- �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 13 man in the dug-out was orthodox. He was never troubled with doubts. He lived and died settled in his mind. He believed in hell; and he thought he would be far happier in heaven if he could just lean over and see certain people who expressed doubts as to the truth of his creed gently but everlastingly broiled and burned. It is a very sad and unhappy fact that this man has had a great many intellectual descendants. It is also an unhappy fact in nature that the ignorant multiply much faster than the intellectual. This fellow in the dug-out believed in a personal devil. His devil had a cloven hoof, a long tail, armed with a fiery dart; and his devil breathed brimstone. This devil was at least the equal of God; not quite so stout, but a little shrewder. And do you know there has not been a patentable improvement made upon that devil for six thousand years? This gentleman in the dug-out believed that God was a tyrant; that he would eternally damn the man who lived in accordance with his highest and grandest ideal. He believed that the earth was flat. He believed in a literal burning, seething hell of fire and sulphur. He had also his idea of politics; and his doctrine was, might makes right. And it will take thousands of years be­ fore the world will reverse this doctrine, and believingly say, “Right makes might.” All I ask is the same privilege to improve upon that gentleman’s theology as upon his musical instrument; the same right to improve upon his politics as upon his dug-out. That is all. I ask for the -human soul the same liberty in every direction. That is the only crime I have committed. I say, let us think. Let each one express his thought. Let us become investi­ gators, not followers, not cringers and crawlers. If there is in heaven an Infinite Being, he never will be satisfied with the worship of cowards and hypocrites. Honest unbelief, honest infidelity, honest atheism, will be a perfume in heaven when pious hypocrisy, no �14 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD matter how religious it may be outwardly, will be a stench. 1 his is my doctrine : Give every other human being every right you claim for yourself. Keep your mind open to the influences of nature. Receive new thoughts with hospitality. Let us advance. The religionist of to-day wants the ship of his soul to lie at the wharf of orthodoxy and rot in the sun. He delights to hear the sails of old opinions flap against the masts of old creeds. He loves to see the joints and the sides open and gape in the sun, and it is a kind of bliss for him to repeat again and again : “ Do not disturb my opinions. Do not unsettle my mind; I have it all made up, and I want no infidelity. Let me go backward rather than forward.” As far as I am concerned, I wish to be out on the high seas. I wish to take my chances with wind, and wave, and star. And I had rather go down in the glory and grandeur of the storm than to rot in any orthodox harbour whatever. After all, we are improving from age to age. The most orthodox people in this conntry two hundred years ago would have been burned for the crime of heresy. The ministers who denounce me for expressing my thought would have been in the Inquisition themselves. Where once burned and blazed the bivouac fires of the army of progress now glare the altars of the Church. The religionists of our time are occupying about the same ground occupied by heretics and infidels of one hundred years ago. The Church has advanced in spite, as it were, of itself. It has followed the army of pro­ gress protesting and denouncing, and had to keep with­ in protesting and denouncing distance. If the Church had not made great progress, I could not express my thoughts. Man, however, has advanced just exactly in the pro­ portion with which he has mingled his thoughts with his labour. The sailor, without control of the wind and wave, knowing nothing or very little of the mysterious �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 15 currents and pulses of the sea, is superstitious. So also is the agriculturist, whose prosperity depends upon something he cannot control. But the mechanic, when a wheel refuses to turn, never thinks of dropping on his knees and asking the assistance of some divine power. He knows there is a reason. He knows that something is too large or too small; that there is spmething wrong with his machine; and he goes to work, and he makes it larger or smaller, here or there, until the wheel will turn. Now, just in proportion as man gets away from being, as it were, the slave of his surroundings, the serf of the elements—of the heat, the frost, the snow, and the lightning—just to the extent that he has gotten control of his own destiny, just to the extent that he has triumphed over the obstacles of nature, he has ad­ vanced physically and intellectually. As man develops he places a greater value upon his own rights. Liberty becomes a grander and diviner thing. As he values his own rights, he begins to value the rights of others. And when all men give to all others all the rights they claim for themselves, this world will be civilised. A few years ago the people were afraid to question the king, afraid to question the priest, afraid to investi­ gate a creed, afraid to deny a book, afraid to denounce a dogma, afraid to reason, afraid to think. Before wealth they bowed to the very earth, and in the presence of titles they became abject. All this is slowly but surely changing. We no longer bow to men simply because they are rich. Our fathers worshipped the golden calf. The worst you can say of an American now is, he worships the gold of the calf. Even the calf is beginning to see this distinction. It no longer satisfies the ambition of a great man to be king or emperor. The last Napoleon was not satis­ fied with being the Emperor of the French. He was not satisfied with having a circlet of gold about his head. He wanted some evidence that he had something of value within his head. So he wrote the life of Julius Caesar, that he might become a member of the French �16 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD Academy. The emperors, the kings, the popes, no longer tower above their fellows. Compare King William with the philosopher Haeckel. The king is one of the anointed by the most high, as they claim_ one upon whose head has been poured the divine petrol­ eum of authority. Compare this king with Haeckel, who towers an intellectual colossus above the crowned mediocrity. The world is beginning to pay homage to intellect, to genius, to heart. We have advanced. We have reaped the benefit of every sublime and heroic self-sacrifice, of every divine and brave act; and we should endeavour to hand the torch to the next generation, having added a little to the intensity and glory of the flame. When I think of how much this world has suffered; when I think of how long our fathers were slaves, of how they cringed and crawled at the foot of the throne, and in the dust of the altar, of how they abased them­ selves, of how abjectly they stood in the presence of superstition robed and crowned, I am amazed. This world has not been fit for a man to live in fifty years. It was not until the year 1808 that Great Britain abolished the slave trade. Up to that time her judges, sitting upon the bench in the name of justice— her priests, occupying her pulpits in the name of universal love, owned stock in the slave ships, and luxuriated upon the profits of piracy and murder. It was not until the same year that the United States of America abolished the slave trade between this land other countries, but carefully preserved it as between the States. It was not until the 28th day of August, 1833, that Great Britain abolished human slavery in her colonies; and it was not until the 1st day of January, 1863, that Abraham Lincoln, sustained by the sublime and heroic North, rendered our flag pure as the sky in which it floats. Abraham Lincoln was, in my judgment, in many re­ spects the grandest man ever President of the United �LIBERTY OF MAN. WOMAN, AND CHILD 17 States. Upon his monument these words should be written : “ Here sleeps the only man in the history of the world who, having been clothed with almost absolute* power, never abused it except upon the side of mercy.” Think how long we clung to the institution of human slavery, how long lashes upon the naked back were a legal tender for labour performed. Think of it. The pulpit of this country deliberately and willingly, for a hundred years, turned the cross of Christ into a whip­ ping post. With every drop of my blood I hate and execrate eyery form of tyranny, every form of slavery. I hate dictation. I love liberty. What do I mean by liberty? By physical liberty I mean the right to do anything which does not inter­ fere with the happiness of another. By intellectual liberty I mean the right to think right and the right to think wrong. Thought is the means by which we endeavour to arrive at truth. If we know the truth already, we need not think. All that can be required is honesty of purpose. You ask my opinion about any­ thing ; I examine it honestly, and when my mind is made up, what should I tell you? Should I tell you my real thought? What should I do? There is a book put in my hands. I am told this is the Koran; it was written by inspiration. I read it, and when I get through, suppose that I think in my heart and in my brain that it is utterly untrue, and you then ask me, What do you think? Now, admitting that I live in Turkey, and have no chance to get any office unless I am on the side of the Koran, what should I say? Should I make a clean breast, and say that upon my honour I do not believe it? What would you think then of my fellow-citizens if they said: “That man is dangerous; he is dishonest”? Suppose I read the book called the Bible, and when I get through make up my mind that it was written by men. A minister asks me, “Did you read the Bible?” I answer that I did. “Do you think it A3 �18 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD divinely inspired ? ” What should I reply ? Should 1 say to myself, “ If I deny the inspiration of the Scrip­ tures, the people will never clothe me with power ” ? What ought 1 to answer? Ought I not to say like a man : “ 1 have read it; I do not believe it ” ? Should I not give the real transcript of my mind ? Or should I turn hypocrite and pretend what I do not feel, and hate myself forever after for being a cringing coward. For my part, I would rather a man would tell me what he honestly thinks. I would rather he would preserve his manhood. I had a thousand times rather be a manly unbeliever than an unmanly believer. And if there is a judgment day, a time when all will stand before some supreme being, I believe I will stand higher, and stand a better chance of getting my case decided in my favour, than any man sneaking through life pre­ tending to believe what he does not. I have made up my mind to say my say. I shall do it kindly, distinctly; but I am going to do it. I know there are thousands of men who substantially agree with me, but who are not in a condition to express their thoughts. They are poor; they are in business; and they know that, should they tell their honest thought, persons will refuse to patronise them—to trade with them; they wish to get bread for their little children; they wish to take care of their wives; they wish to have homes and the comforts of life. Every such per­ son is a certificate of the meanness of the community in which he resides. And yet I do not blame these people for not expressing their thought. I say to them : “ Keep your ideas to yourselves; feed and clothe the ones you love; I will do your talking for you. The Church cannot touch, cannot crush, cannot starve, cannot stop or stay me; I will express your thoughts.” As an excuse for tyranny, as a justification of slavery, the Church has taught that man is totally depraved. Of the truth of that doctrine the Church has furnished the only evidence there is. The truth is, we are both good and bad. The worst are capable of some good �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 19 deeds, and the best are capable of bad. The lowest can rise, and the highest may fall. That mankind can be divided into two great classes, sinners and saints, is an utter falsehood. In times of great disaster— called, it may be, by the despairing voices of women— men, denounced by the Church as totally depraved, rush to death as to a festival. By such men deeds are done so filled with self-sacrifice and generous daring that millions pay to them the tribute not only of admira­ tion, but of tears. Above all creeds, above all religions, after all, is that divine thing—humanity; and now and then in shipwreck on the wide, wild sea, or ’mid the rocks and breakers of some ciuel shore, or where the serpents of flame writhe and hiss, some glorious heart, some chivalric soul, does a deed that glitters like a star, and gives the lie to all the dogmas of superstition. All these frightful doctrines have been used to degrade and to enslave mankind. Away, forever away with the creeds and books and forms and laws and religions that take from the soul liberty and reason. Down with the idea that thought is dangerous ! Perish the infamous doctrine that man can have property in man. Let us resent with indigna­ tion every effort to put a chain upon our minds. If there is no God, certainly we should not bow and cringe and crawl. If there is a God, there should be no slaves. LIBERTY OF WOMAN. Women have been the slaves of slaves; and in my judgment it took rflillions of ages for woman to come from the condition of abject slavery up to the institu­ tion of marriage. Let me say right here that I regard marriage as the holiest institution among men. With­ out the fireside there is no human advancement; with­ out the family relation there is no life worth living. Every good government is made up of good families. �20 , LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD The unit of good government is the family, and any­ thing that tends to destroy the family is perfectly devilish and infamous. I believe in marriage, and 1 hold in utter contempt the opinions of those long-haired men and short-haired women who denounce the institu­ tion of marriage. The grandest ambition that any man can possibly have is to so live and so improve himself in heart and brain as to be worthy of the love of some splendid woman; and the grandest ambition of any girl is to make herself worthy of the love and adoration of some magnificent man. That is my idea. There is no suc­ cess in life without love and marriage. You had better be the emperor of one loving and tender heart, and she the empress of yours, than be king of the world. The man who has really* won the love of one good woman in this world, I do not care if he dies in the ditch, a beggar, his life has been a success. I say it took millions of years to come from the condition of abject slavery up to the condition of marriage. Ladies, the ornaments you wear upon your persons to-night are but the souvenirs of your mothers’ bondage. The chains around your necks, and the bracelets clasped upon your white arms by the thrilled hand of love, have been changed by the wand of civilisa­ tion from iron to shining glittering gold. But nearly every religion has accounted for all the devilment in this world by the crime of woman. What a gallant thing that is ! And if it is true, I had rather live with the woman I love in a world full of trouble than to live in heaven with nobody but men. I read in a book—and I will say now that I cannot give the exact language, as my memory does not retain the words, but I can give the substance—I read in a book that the Supreme Being concluded to make a world and one man ; that he took some nothing and made a world and one man, and put this man in a garden. In a little while he noticed that the man got lonesome; that he wandered around as if he were wait­ �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 21 ing for a train. There was nothing to interest him; no news; no papers; no politics; no policy; and, as the devil had not yet made his appearance, there was no chance for reconciliation; not even for civil service reform. Well, he wandered about the garden in this condition, until finally the Supreme Being made up his mind to make him a companion. Having used up all the nothing he originally took in making the world and one man, he had to take a part of the man to start a woman with. So he caused a sleep to fall on this man—now understand me, 1 do not say this story is true. After the sleep fell upon this man, the Supreme Being took a rib, or, as the French would call it, a cutfet, out of this man, and from that he made a woman. And, considering the amount of raw material used, I look upon it as the most successful job ever performed. Well, after he got the woman done, she was brought to the man, not to see how she liked him, but to see how he liked her. He liked her, and they started housekeeping; and they were told of certain things they might do, and of one thing they could not do—and, of course, they did it. I would have done it in fifteen minutes, and I know it. There wouldn’t have been an apple on that tree half an hour from date, and the limbs would have been full of clubs. And then they were turned out of the park, and extra policemen were put on to keep them from getting back. Devilment commenced. The mumps, and the measles, and the whooping-cough, and the scarlet fever Started in their race for man. They began to have the toothache, roses began to have thorns, snakes began to have poisoned teeth, and people began to divide about religion and politics, and the world has been full of trouble from that day to this. Nearly all of the religions of this world account for the existence of evil by such a story as that! I read in another book what appeared to be an account of the same transaction. It was written about four �22 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD thousand years before the other. All commentators agree that the one that was written last was the original, and that the one that was written first was copied from the one that was written last. But I would advise you all not to allow your creed to be disturbed by a little matter of four or five thousand years. In this other story Brahma made up his mind to make the world and a man and woman. He made the world, and he made the man and then the woman, and put them on the island of Ceylon. According to the ac­ count, it was the most beautiful island of which man can conceive. Such birds, such songs, such flowers, and such verdure ! And the branches of the trees were so arranged that when the wind swept through them every tree was a thousand ^Eolian harps. Brahma, when he put them there, said : “ Let them have a period of courtship, for it is my desire and will that true love should for ever precede marriage.” When I read that, it was so much more beautiful and lofty than the other that I said to myself : “ If either one of these stories ever turns out to be true, I hope it will be this one.” Then they had their courtship, with the nightingale singing, and the stars shining, and the flowers bloom­ ing, and they fell in love. Imagine that courtship! No prospective fathers or mothers-in-law; no prySng and gossiping neighbours; nobody to say: “Young man, how do you expect to support her? ” Nothing of that kind. They were married by the Supreme Brahma, and he said to them : “ Remain here; you must never leave this island.” Well, after a little while, the man— and his name was Adami, and the woman’s name was Heva—said to Heva : “I believe I’ll look about a little.” He went to the northern extremity of the island, where there was a little narrow neck of land connecting it with the mainland; and the devil, who is always play­ ing pranks with us, produced a mirage, and when he looked over to the mainland such hills and vales, such dells and dales, such mountains crowned with snow, �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 23 such cataracts clad in bows of glory did he see there, that he went back and told Heva: “The country over there is a thousand times better than this; let us migrate.” She, like every other woman that ever lived, said : “ Let well enough alone; we have all we want; let us stay here.” But he said: “No, let us go ”; so she followed him, and when they came to this narrow neck of land he took her on his back like a gentleman, and carried her over. But the moment they got over they heard a crash, and, looking back, discovered that this narrow neck of land had fallen into the sea. The mirage had disappeared, and there was naught but rocks and sand ; and then the Supreme Brahma cursed them both to the lowest hell. Then it was that the man spoke—and I have liked him ever since for it: “Curse me, but curse not her; it was not her fault, it was mine.” That is the kind of man to start a world with. The Supreme Brahma said : “ I will save her, b.ut not thee.” And then she spoke out of her fulness of love, out of a heart in which there was love enough to make all her daughters |ich in holy affection, and said : “ If thou wilt not spare him, spare neither me; I do not wish to live without him; I love him.” Then the Supreme Brahma said—and I have liked him ever since I read it: “I will spare you both and watch over you and your children forever.” Honour bright, is not that the better and grander story ? And from that same book I want to show you what ideas some of these miserable heathen had—the heathen we are trying to convert. We send missionaries over yonder to convert heathen there, and we send soldiers out on the plains to kill heathen here. If we can con­ vert the heathen, why not convert those nearest home? Why not convert those we can get at? Why not con­ vert those who have the immense advantage of the example of the average pioneer? But to show you the men we are trying to convert: In this book it says : �24 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD “ Man is strength, woman is beauty; man is courage, woman is love. > When the one man loves the one woman and the one woman loves the one man, the very angels leave heaven and come and sit in that house and sing for joy.” They are the men we are converting. Think of it! I will tell you, when I read these things, I say that love is not of any country; nobility does not belong exclusively to any race, and through all the ages there have been a few great and tender souls blossoming in love and pity. In my judgment, the woman is the equal of the man. She has all the rights I have and one more, and that is the right to be protected. That is my doctrine. You are married; try and make the woman you love happy. Whoever marries simply for himself will make a mis­ take ; but whoever loves a woman so well that he says, “ I will make her happy,” makes no mistake. And so with the woman who says, “ I will make him happy.” There is only one way to be happy, and that is to make somebody else so, and you cannot be happy by going cross lots; you have got to go thg regular turnpike road. If there is any man I detest, it is the man who thinks he is the head of a family—the man who thinks he is “boss”! The fellow in the dug-out used that word “ boss ”; that was one of his favourite expressions. Imagine a young man and a young woman courting, walking out in the moonlight, and the nightingale sing­ ing a song of pain and love, as though the thorn touched her heart—imagine them stopping there in the moon­ light and starlight and song, and saying, “Now, here, let us settle who is ‘ boss ! ’ ” I tell you it is an in­ famous word and an infamous feeling—I abhor a man who is “boss,” who is going to govern in his family, and when he speaks orders all the rest to be still, as some mighty idea is about to be launched from his mouth. Do you know, I dislike this man unspeakably? I hate above all things a cross man. What right has �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 25 he to murder the sunshine of a day? What right has he to assassinate the joy of life? When you go home you ought to go like a ray of light—so that it will, even in the night, burst out of the doors and windows and illuminate the darkness. Some men think their mighty brains have been in a turmoil; they have been thinking about who will be aiderman from the fifth ward; they have been thinking about politics; great and mighty questions have been engaging their minds; they have bought calico at five cents or six, and want to sell it for seven. Think of the intellectual strain that must have been upon that man, and when he gets home everybody else in the house must look out for his comfort. A woman who has only taken care of five or six children, and one or two of them sick, has been nursing them and singing to them, and trying to make one yard of cloth do the work of two, she, of course, is fresh and fine and ready to wait upon this gentleman—the head of the family—the boss ! Do you know another thing? I despise a stingy man. I do not see how it is possible for a man to die worth fifty million dollars, or ten million of dollars, in a city full of want, when he meets almost every day the withered hand of beggary and the white lips of famine. How a man can withstand all that, and hold in the clutch of his greed twenty or thirty million of dollars, is past my comprehension. I do not see how he can do it. I should not think he could do it any more than he could keep a pile of lumber on the beach where hundreds and thousands of men were drowning in the sea. Do you know that I have known men who would trust their wives with their hearts and their honour, but not with their pocket-book; not with a dollar. When I see a man of that kind, I always think he knows which of these articles is the most valuable. Think of making your wife a beggar ! Think of her having to ask you every day for a dollar, or for two dollars or fifty cents! “What did you do with that dollar �26 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD I gave you last week ? ” Think of having a wife that is afraid of you ! What kind of children do you expect to have with a beggar and a coward for their mother? Oh, I tell you if you have but a dollar in the world, and you have got to spend it, spend it like a king; spend it as though it were a dry leaf and you the owner of unbounded forests ! That is the way to spend it! I had rather be a beggar and spend my last dollar like a king than be a king and spend my money like a beggar ! If it has got to go, let it go ! Get the best you can for your family—try to look as well as you can yourself. When you used to go courting, how elegantly you looked! Ah, vour eye was bright, your step was light, and you looked like a prince. Do you know that it is insufferable egotism in you to suppose a woman is going to love you always looking as slovenly as you can ! Think of it! Any good woman on earth will be true to you forever when you do your level best. Some people tell me, “Your doctrine about loving, and wives, and all that, is splendid for the rich, but it won’t do for the poor.” I tell you to-night there is more love in the homes of the poor than in the palaces of the rich. The meanest hut with love in it is a palace fit for the gods, and a palace without love is a den only fit for wild beasts. That is my doctrine ! You cannot be so poor that you cannot help somebody. Good nature is the cheapest commodity in the world; and love is the only thing that will pay ten per cent, to borrower and lender both. Do not tell me that you have got to be rich ! We have a false standard of greatness in the United States. We think here that a man must be great, that he must be notori­ ous ; that he must be extremely wealthy, or that his name must be upon the putrid lips of rumour. It is all a mistake. It is not necessary to be rich, or to be great, or to be powerful, to be happy. The happy man is the successful man. Happiness is the legal tender of the soul. �LIBERTY OF MAN. WOMAN, AND CHILD 27 Joy is wealth. A little while ago 1 stood by the grave of the old Napoleon—a magnificent tomb of gilt and gold, fit almost for a dead deity—and gazed upon the sarcopha­ gus of rare and nameless marble where rest at last the • ashes of that restless man. I leaned over the balustrade and thought about the career of the greatest soldier of the modern world. I saw him walking upon the banks of the Seine, contemplating suicide. I saw him at Toulon—I saw him putting down the mob in the streets of Paris—I saw him at the head of the army of Italy—I saw him crossing the bridge of Lodi with the tri-colour in his hand—I saw him in Egypt in the shadows of the pyramids—I saw him conquer the Alps and mingle the eagles of France with the eagles of the crags. I saw him at Marengo—at Ulm and Austerlitz. I saw him in Russia, where the infantry of the snow and the cavalry of the wild blast scattered his legions like winter’s withered leaves. I saw him at Leipsic in de­ feat and disaster—driven by a million bayonets back upon Paris—clutched like a wild beast—banished to Elba. I saw him escape and retake an empire by the force of his genius. I saw him upon the frightful field of Waterloo, where chance and fate combined to wreck the fortunes of their former king. And I saw him at St. Helena, with his hands crossed behind him, gazing out upon the sad and solemn sea. I thought of the orphans and widows he had made— of the tears that had been shed for his glory, and of the only woman who ever loved him, pushed from his heart by the cold hand of ambition. And I said I would rather have been a French peasant and worn wooden shoes. I would rather have lived in a hut with a vine growing over the door, and the grapes growing purple in the kisses of the autumn sun. I would rather have been that poor peasant with my loving wife by my side, knitting as the day died out of the sky—with my children upon iny knees and their arms about me �2k LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD —1 would rather have been that man and gone down to the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust than to have been that imperial impersonation of force and murder known as “Napoleon the Great.” ft is not necessary to be great to be happy; it is not necessary to be rich to be just and generous and to have a heart filled with divine affection. No matter whether you are rich or poor, treat your wife as though she were a splendid flower, and she will fill your life with perfume and with joy. And do you know, it is a splendid thing to think that the woman you really love will never grow old to you. Through the wrinkles of time, through the mask of years, if you really love her, you will always see the face you loved and won. And a woman who really loves a man does not see that he grows eld ; he is not decrepit to her ; he does not tremble; he is not old ; she always sees the same gallant gentleman who won her hand and heart. 1 like to think of it in that way; I like to think that love is eternal. And to love in that way and then go down the hill of life together, and as you go down hear, perhaps, the laughter of grandchildren, while the birds of joy and love sing once more in the leafless branches in the tree of age. 1 believe in the fireside. I believe in the democracy of home. I believe in the republicanism of the family. J believe in liberty, equality, and love. THE LIBERTY OF CHILDREN. If women have been slaves, what shall I say of children—of the little children in alleys and sub-cellars; the little children who turn pale when they hear their father’s footsteps; the little children who run away when they only hear their names called by the lips of a mother ; little children—the children of poverty, the children of crime, the children of brutality, wherever they are—flotsam and ietsam upon the wild, mad sea of life? My heart goes out to them, one and all. �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 29 I tell you the children have the same rights that we have, and we ought to treat them as though they were human beings. They should be reared with love, with kindness, with tenderness, and not with brutality. That » is my idea of children. When your little child tells a lie, do not rush at him as though the world were about to go into bankruptcy. Be honest with him. A tyrant father will have liars for his children; do you know that? A lie is born of tyranny upon the one hand and weakness upon the other, and when you rush at a poor little boy with a club in your hand, of course he lies. I thank thee, Mother Nature, that thou hast put ingenuity enough in the brain of a child, when attacked by a brutal parent, to throw up a little breastwork in the shape of a lie. When one of your children tells a lie, be honest with him; tell him that you have told hundreds of them yourself. Tell him it is not the best way; that you have tried it. Tell him, as the man did in Maine when his boy left home: “John, honesty is the best policy; I have tried both.” Be honest with him. Suppose a man as much larger than you as you are larger than a :hild five years old should come at you with a liberty pole in his hand, and in a voice of thunder shout, “Who broke that plate? ” There is not a solitary one of you who would not swear you never saw it, or that it was cracked when you got it. Why not be honest with these children? Just imagine a man who deals in stocks whipping his boy for putting false rumours afloat! Think of a lawyer beating his own flesh and blood for evadi-ng the truth when he makes half of his own living that way ! Think of a minister punishing his child for not telling all he thinks ! Just think of it ! When your child commits a wrong, take it in your arms; let it feel your heart beat against its heart; let the child know that you really and truly and sincerely love it. Yet some Christians, good Christians, when a child commits a fault, drive it from the door and say . �3° LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD “Never do you darken this house again.” Think of that! And then these same people will get down on their knees and ask God to take care of the child they have driven from home. I will never ask God to take care of my children unless I am doing my level best in that same direction. But I will tell you what I say to my children : “ Go where you will; commit what crime you may; fall to what depth of degradation you may; you can never commit any crime that will shut my door, my arms, or my heart to you. As long as I live you shall have one sincere friend.” Do you know that I have seen some people who acted as though they thought that when the Saviour said, “ Suffer little children to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven,” he had a raw-hide under his mantle, and made that remark simply to get the children within striking distance? 1 do not believe in the government of the lash. If any one of you ever expects to whip your children again, I want you to have a photograph taken of your­ self when you are in the act, with your face red with vulgar anger, and the face of the little child, with eyes swimming in tears and the little chin dimpled with fear, like a piece of water struck by a sudden cold wind. Have the picture taken. If that little child should die^ I cannot think of a sweeter way to spend an autumn afternoon than to go out to the cemetery, when the maples are clad in tender gold, and little scarlet runners are coming, like poems of regret, from the sad heart of the earth—and sit down upon the grave, and look at that photograph, and think of the flesh, now dust, that you beat. I tell you it is wrong; it is not the way to raise children. Make your home happy. Be honest with them. Divide fairly with them in every­ thing. Give them a little liberty and love, and you cannot drive them out of your house. They will want to stay there. Make home pleasant. Let them play any game �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 31 they wish. Do not be so foolish as to say : “ You may roll balls on the ground, but you must not roll them on a green cloth. You may knock them with a mallet, but you must not push them with a cue. You may play with little pieces of paper which have * authors ’ written on them, but you must not have ‘cards.’” Think of it! “You may go to a minstrel show where people blacken themselves and imitate humanity below them, but you must not go to a theatre and see the characters created by immortal genius put upon the stage.” Why? Well, I cannot think of any reason in the world except “ minstrel ” is a word of two syllables, and “theatre ” has three. Let children have some daylight at home if you want to keep them there, and do not commence at the cradle and shout “Don’t!” “Don’t!” “Stop!” That is nearly all that is said to a child from the cradle until he is twenty-one years old, and when he comes of age other people begin saying “Don’t! ” And the Church says “Don’t!” and the party he belongs to says “Don’t! ” I despise that way of going through this world. Let us have liberty—just a little. Call me infidel, call me atheist, call me what you will, I intend so to treat my children that they can come to my grave and truth­ fully say: “ He who sleeps here never gave us a moment of pain. From his lips, now dust, never came to us an unkind word.” People justify all kinds of tyranny towards children upon the ground that they are totally depraved. At the bottom of ages of cruelty lies this infamous doctrine of total depravity. Religion contemplates a child as a living crime—heir to an infinite curse—doomed to eternal fire. In the olden time they thought some days were too good for a child to enjoy himself. When I was a boy Sunday was considered altogether too holy to be happy in. Sunday used to commence then when the sun went down on Saturday night. When the sun fell below the �32 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD horizon on Saturday evening there was a darkness fell upon the house ten thousand times deeper than that of night. Nobody said a pleasant word; nobody laughed; nobody smiled; the child that looked the sickest was regarded as the most pious. That night you could not even crack hickory nuts. If you were caught chewing gum, it was only another evidence of the total depravity of the human heart. It was an' exceedingly solemn night. Dyspepsia was in the very air you breathed. Everybody looked sad and mournful. I have noticed all my life that many people think they have religion when they are troubled with dyspepsia. If there could be found an absolute specific for that disease, it would be the hardest blow the Church has ever received. On Sunday morning the solemnity had simply increased. Then we went to church. The minister was in a pulpit about twenty feet high, with a little sounding-board above him, and he commenced at “firstly,” and went on and on and on to about “twentythirdly.” Then he made a few remarks by way of application; and then took a general view of the subject, and in about two hours reached the last chapter in Revelation. In those days, no matter how cold the weather was, there was no fire in the church. It was thought to be a kind of sin to be comfortable while you were thanking God. The first church that ever had a stove in it in New England divided on that account. So the first church in which they sang by note was torn in fragments. After the sermon we had an intermission. Then came the catechism with the chief end of man. We went through with that. We sat in a row with our feet coming within about six inches of the floor. The minister asked us if we knew that we all deserved to go to hell, and we all answered “Yes.” Then we were asked if we would be willing to go to hell if it was God’s will, and every little liar shouted “Yes.” Then the same sermon was preached once more, commencing �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 33 at the other end and going back. After that we started for home, sad and solemn—overpowered with the wisdom displayed in the scheme of the Atonement. When we got home, if we had been good boys, and the weather was warm, sometimes they would take us out; to the graveyard to cheer us up a little. It did cheer me. When I looked at the sunken tombs and the leaning stones, and read the half-effaced inscriptions through the moss of silence and forgetfulness, it was a great comfort. The reflection came to my mind that the observance of the Sabbath could not last always. Sometimes they would sing that beautiful hymn in which occur these cheerful lines:— “ Where congregations ne’er break up, And Sabbaths never end.” These lines, I think, prejudiced me a little against even heaven. Then we had good books that we read on Sundays by way of keeping us happy and contented. There were Milner’s History of the Waldenses, Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted, Yahn’s Archaeology of the Jevos, and Jenkyn’s On the Atonement. I used to read Jenkyn’s On the Atonement. I have often thought that an atonement would have to be exceedingly broad in its provisions to cover the case of a man who would write a book like that for a boy. But at last the Sunday wore away, and the moment the sun went down we were free. Between three and four o’clock we would go out to see how the sun was coming on. Sometimes it seemed to me that it was stopping from pure meanness. But finally it went down. It had to. And when the last rim of light sank below the horizon, off would go our caps, and we would give three cheers for liberty once more. Sabbaths used to be prisons. Every Sunday was a Bastile. Every Christian was a kind of turnkey, and every child was a prisoner—a convict. In that dungeon a smile was a crime. �34 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD It was thought wrong for a child to laugh upon this holy day. Think of that! A little child would go out into the garden, and there would be a tree laden with blossoms, and the little fellow would lean against it, and there would be a bird on one of the boughs, singing and swinging, and thinking about four little speckled eggs, warmed by the breast of its mate—singing and swinging, and the music in happy waves rippling out of its tiny throat, and the flowers blossoming, the air filled with perfume and the great white clouds floating in the sky, and the little boy would lean up against that tree and think about hell and the worm that never dies. I have heard them preach, when I sat in the pew and my feet did not touch the floor, about the final home of the unconverted. In order to impress upon the children the length of time they would probably stay if they settled in that country, the preacher would frequently give us the following illustration : “ Suppose that once in a billion years a bird should come from some far distant planet, and carry off in its little bill a grain of sand, a time would finally come when the last atom composing this earth would be carried away; and when this last atom was taken, it would not even be sun up in hell.” Think of such an infamous doctrine being taught to children ! The laugh •of a child will make the holiest day more sacred still. Strike with hand of fire, O weird musician, thy harp strung with Apollo’s golden hair; fill the vast cathedral aisles with symphonies sweet and dim, deft toucher of the organ keys; blow, bugler, blow, until thy silver notes do touch and kiss the moonlit waves, and charm the lovers wandering ’mid the vine-clad hills. But know, your sweetest strains are discords all compared with childhood’s happy laugh—the laugh that fills the eyes with light and every heart with joy. O rippling river of laughter, thou art the blessed boundary line between the beasts and men; and every wayward wave of thine doth drown some fretful fiend �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 35 of care. O Laughter, rose-lipped daughter of Joy, there are dimples enough in thy cheeks to catch and hold and glorify all the tears of grief. And yet the minds of children have been polluted by this infamous doctrine of eternal punishment. I denounce it to-day as a doctrine the infamy of which no language is sufficient to express. Where did that doctrine of eternal punishment for men and women and children come from? It came from the low and beastly skull of that wretch in the dug-out. Where did he get it? It was a souvenir from the animals. The doctrine of eternal punishment was born in the glittering eyes of snakes—snakes that hung in fearful coils watching for their prey. It was born of the howl and bark and growl of wild beasts. It was born of the grin of hyenas and of the depraved chatter.of unclean baboons. I despise it with every drop of my blood. Tell me there is a God in the serene heavens that will damn his children for the expression of an honest belief ! More men have died in their sins, judged by your orthodox creeds, than there are leaves on all the forests in the wide world ten thousand times over. Tell me these men are in hell; that these men are in torment; that these children are in eternal pain, and that they are to be punished forever and forever ! I denounce this doctrine as the most infamous of lies. When the great ship containing the hopes and aspirations of* the world, when the great ship freighted with mankind goes down in the night of death, chaos, and disaster, I am willing to go down with the ship. I will not be guilty of the ineffable meanness of paddling away in some orthodox canoe. I will go down with the ship, with those who love me, and with those whom I have loved. If there is a God who will damn his children forever, I would rather go to hell than go to heaven and keep the society of such an infamous tyrant. I make my choice now. I despise that doctrine. It has covered the cheeks of this world with tears. It has polluted the hearts of children, and poisoned the �36 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD imaginations of men. It has been a constant pain, a perpetual terror to every good man and woman and child. It has filled the good with horror and with fear; but it has had no effect upon the infamous and base. It has wrung the hearts of the tender; it has furrowed the cheeks of the good. This doctrine never should be preached again. What right have you, sir, Mr. Clergy­ man, you, minister of the Gospel, to stand at the portals of the tomb, at the vestibule of eternity, and fill the future with horror and with fear? I do not believe this doctrine; neither do you. If you did, you could not sleep one moment. Any man who believes it, and has within his breast a decent, throbbing heart, will go insane. A man who believes that doctrine and does not go insane has the heart of a snake and the conscience of a hyena. Jonathan Edwards, the dear old soul, who, if his doctrine is true, is now in heaven rubbing his holy hands with glee as he hears the cries of the damned, preached this doctrine; and he said : “ Can the believing husband in heaven be happy with his unbelieving wife in hell? Can the believing father in heaven be happy with his unbelieving children in hell? Can the loving wife in heaven be happy with her unbelieving husband ip hell?” And he replies: “I tell you, yea. Such will be their sense of justice that it will increase rather than diminish their bliss.” There is no wild beast in the jungles of Africa whose reputation would not be tar­ nished by the expression of such a doctrine. These doctrines have been taught in the name of religion, in the name of universal forgiveness, in the name of infinite love and charity. Do not, I pray you, soil the minds of your children with this dogma. Let them read for themselves; let them think for them­ selves. Do not treat your children like orthodox posts to be set in a row. Treat them like trees that need light and sun and air. Be fair and honest with them; give them a chance. Recollect that their rights are equal �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 37 to yours. Do not have it in your mind that you must govern them; that they must obey. Throw away for­ ever the idea of master and slave. In old times they used to make the children go to bed when they were not sieepy, and get up when they were sleepy. I say let them go to bed when they are sleepy, and get up when they are not sleepy. But you say, this doctrine will do for the rich, but not for the poor. Well, if the poor have to waken their children early in the morning, it is as easy co wake them with a kiss as with a blow. Give your children freedom; let them preserve their individuality. Let your children eat what they desire, and commence at the end of a dinner if they like. That is their business, and not yours. They know what they wish to eat. If they are given their liberty from the first, they know what they want better than any doctor in the world can prescribe. Do you know that all the improvement that has ever been made in the practice of medicine has been made by the recklessness of patients and not by the doctors? For thousands and thousands ot years the doctors would not let a man suffering from fever have a drop of water. Water they looked upon as poison. Bui every now and then some man got reck­ less and said, “I had rather die than not to slack my thirst.” Then he would drink two or three quarts of water and get well. And when the doctor was told of what the patient had done, he expressed great surprise that he was still alive, and complimented his constitu­ tion upon being able to bear such a frightful strain. The reckless men, however, kept on drinking the water, and persisted in getting well. And finally the doctors said : “ In a fever, water is the very .best thing you can take.” So, I have more confidence in the voice of Nature about such things than I have in the conclusions of the medical schools. Let your children have freedom, and they will fall into your ways; they will do substantially as you do; but if you try to make them, there is some magnificent, �38 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD * splendid thing in the human heart that refuses to be driven. And do you know that it is the luckiest thing wavpeVWhaa,PPenetf7 ,histworid that People are thal way ? What would have become of the people five hundred years ago if they had followed strictly the d T ,°t u‘he doctors? The5' would all have been nfath M u0U1 Vthe people have becn if at any age o thee? >,? kh3d fO"°”ed implicitl’’ tbe direction of the Church? They would all have been idiots. It is a splendid thing that there is always some grand man who will not mind, and who will think for himself. believe in allowing the children to think for them­ selves. I believe in the democracy of the family. If in this world there is anything splendid, it is a home where all are equals. You will remember that only a few years ago parents would tell their children to “let their victuals^stop their mouths. They used to eat as though it were a religious V!ry solemn thing. Life should not be treated as a solemn matter.• I like to see the children .. ---- — uL und hear ea.ch One teIHn£ of the wonderful things he has seen or heard, I like to hear the clatter of knives and forks and <spoons mingling with their happy voices. I had rather hear it °than any opera that was ever put upon the boards. Let the children Let the children have liberty. Be honest and fair with them; be just be tender, and they will make you rich in love and joy. ’ Men are oaks, women are vines, and children are Howers. The human race has been guilty of almost countless crimes; but I have some excuse for mankind. This world, after all, is not very well adapted to raising good people. In the first place, nearly all of it is water. It is much better adapted to fish culture than to the production of folks. Of that portion which is land not one-eighth has suitable soil and climate to produce great men and women. You cannot raise men and women of genius without the proper soil and climate, �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 39 any more than you can raise corn and wheat upon the ice fields of the Arctic sea. You must have the necessary conditions and surroundings. Man is a product; you must have the soil and food. The obstacles presented by nature must not be so grfeat that man cannot, by reasonable industry and courage, overcome them. There is upon this world only a narrow belt of land, circling zig-zag the globe, upon which you can produce men and women of talent. In the southern hemisphere the real climate that man needs falls mostly upon the sea, and the result is that the southern half of our world has never produced a -man or woman of great genius. In the far north there is no genius—it is too cold. In the far south there is no genius—it is too warm. There must be winter, and there must be summer. In a country where man needs no coverlet but a cloud, revolution is his normal con­ dition. Winter is the mother of industry and prudence. Above all, it is the mother of the family relation. Winter holds in its icy arms the husband and wife and the sweet children. If upon this earth we ever have a glimpse of heaven, it is when we pass a home in winter, at night, and through the windows, the curtain drawn aside, we see the family about the pleasant hearth; the old lady knitting; the cat playing with the yarn; the children wishing they had as many dolls or dollars or knives, or somethings, as there are sparks going out to join the roaring blast; the father reading and smoking, and the clouds rising like incense from the altar of domestic joy. I never passed such a house without feeling that I had received a benediction. Civilisation, liberty, justice, charity, intellectual advancement, are all flowers that blossom in the drifted snow. I do not know that I can better illustrate the great truth that only part of the world is adapted to the production of great men and women than by calling your attention to the difference between vegetation in valleys and upon mountains. In the valley you find t �4« LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD the oak and elm tossing their branches defiantly to the storm, and as you advance up the mountain side the hemlock, the pine, the birch, the spruce, the fir, and finally you come to little dwarfed trees, that look like other trees seen through a telescope reversed—every limb twisted as though in pain—getting a scanty sub­ sistence from the miserly crevices of the rocks. You go on and on until at last the highest crag is freckled with a kind of moss, and vegetation ends. You might as well try to raise oaks and elms where the mosses grow as to raise great men and great women where their surroundings are unfavourable. You must have the proper climate and soil. A few years ago we were talking about the annexa­ tion of Santo Domingo to this country. I was in Washington at the time. I was opposed to it. I was told that it was a most delicious climate; that the soil produced everything. But I said : “ We do not want it; it is not the right kind of country in which to raise American citizens. Such a climate would debauch us. You might go there with five thousand Congregational preachers, five thousand ruling elders, five thousand professors in colleges, five thousand of the solid men of Boston and their wives; settle them all in Santo Domingo, and you will see the second generation riding upon a mule, bareback, no shoes, a grape-vine bridle, hair sticking out at the top of their sombreros, with a rooster under each arm, going to a cock fight on Sunday.” Such is the influence of climate. Science, however, is gradually widening the area within which men of genius can be produced. We are conquering the north with houses, clothing, food, and fuel. We are in many ways overcoming the heat of the south. If we attend to this world instead of. another, we may in time cover the land with men and women of genius. I have still another excuse. I believe that man came up from the lower animals. I do not say this as a fact. I simply say I believe it to be a fact. Upon �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 4’ that question I stand about eight to seven, which, for all practical purposes, is very near a certainty. When I first heard of that doctrine I did not like it. My heart was filled with sympathy for those people who have nothing to be proud of except ancestors. . I thought how terrible this will be upon the nobility of the Old World. Think of their being forced to trace their ancestry back to the Duke Orang Outang, or to the Princess Chimpanzee. After thinking it all oyer, I came to the conclusion that I liked that doctrine. I became convinced in spite of myself. I read about rudimentary bones and muscles. I was told that every­ body had rudimentary muscles extending from the ear into the cheek. I asked: “What are they?” I was told: “ They are the remains of muscles, that they became rudimentary from lack of use; they went into bankruptcy. They are the muscles with which your ancestors used to flap their ears.” I do not now so much wonder that we once had them as that we have outgrown them. After all, I had rather belong to a race that started from the skull-less vertebrates in the dim Laurentian seas, vertebrates wiggling without knowing why they wiggled, swimming without knowing where they were going, but that in some way began to develop, and began to get a little higher and a little higher in the scale of existence; that came up by degrees through millions of ages through all the animal world, through all that ^rawls, and swims, and floats, and climbs, and walks, and finally produced the gentleman in the dug­ out; and then from this man, getting a little grander, and each one below calling/ every one above him a heretic, calling every one who had made a little advance an infidel or an atheist—for in the history of this world the man who is ahead has always been called a heretic —I would rather come from a race that started from that skull-less vertebrate, and came up and up and up, and finally produced Shakespeare, the man who found the human intellect dwelling in a hut, touched it with the �42 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD wand of his genius, and it became a palace domed and pinnacled; Shakespeare, who harvested all the fields of dramatic thought, and from whose day to this there have been only gleaners of straw and chaff—I would rather belong to that race that commenced a skull-less vertebrate and produced Shakespeare, a race that has before it an infinite future, with the angel of progress leaning from the far horizon, beckoning men forward, upward, and onward for ever—I had rather belong to such a race, commencing there, producing this, and with that hope, than to have sprung from a perfect pair upon which the Lord has lost money every moment from that day to this. CONCLUSION. I have given you my honest thought. Surely investi­ gation is better than unthinking faith. Surely reason is a better guide than fear. This world should be controlled by the living, not by the dead. The grave is not a throne, and a corpse is not a king. Man should not try to live on ashes. The theologians dead knew no more than the theologians now living. More than .this cannot be said. About this world little is known—about another world, nothing. Our fathers were intellectual serfs, and their fathers were slaves. The makers of our creeds were ignorant and brutal. Every dogma that we have has upon it the mark of whip, the rust of chain, and the ashes of faggot. . Superstition is the child of slavery. Freethought will give us truth. When all have the right to think and to express their thoughts, every brain will give to all the best it has. The world will then be filled with intellectual wealth. As long as men and women are afraid of the Church, as long as a minister inspires fear, as long as people �LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD 43 reverence a thing simply because they do not under­ stand it, as long as it is respectable to lose your selfrespect, as long as the Church has power, as long as mankind worship a book, just so long will the world be filled with intellectual paupers and vagrants, covered with the soiled and faded rags of superstition. As long as woman regards the Bible as the charter of her rights, she will be the slave of man. The Bible was not written by a woman. Within its lids there is nothing but humiliation and shame for her. She is regarded as the property of man. She is made to ask forgiveness for becoming a mothqf. She is as much below her husband as her husband is below Christ. She is not allowed to speak. The Gospel is too pure to be spoken by her polluted lips. Woman should learn in silence. In the Bible will be found no description of a civilised home. The free mother, surrounded by free and loving children, adored by a free man, her husband, was unknown to the inspired writers of the Bible. They did not believe in the democracy of home—in the republicanism of the fireside. These inspired gentlemen knew nothing of the rights of children. They were the advocates of brute force— the disciples of the lash. They knew nothing of human rights. Their doctrines have brutalised the homes of millions, and filled the eyes of infancy with tears. There has never been upon the earth a generation of free men and women. It is not yet time to write a creed. Wait until the chains are broken—until dun­ geons are not regarded as temples. Wait until solemnity is not mistaken for wisdom—until mental cowardice ceases to be known as reverence. Wait until the living are considered the equals of the dead—until the cradle takes precedence of the coffin. Wait until what we know can be spoken without regard to what 'Others may believe. Wait until teachers take the place of preachers—until followers become investigators. Wait until the world is free before you write a creed. / �44 LIBERTY OF MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD In this creed there will be but one word—Liberty. Oh, Liberty, float not for ever in the far horizon— remain not for ever in the dream of the enthusiast, the philanthropist, and poet, but come and make thy home among the children of men ! I know not what discoveries, what inventions, what thoughts, may leap from the brain of the world. I know not what garments of glory may be woven by the years to come. I cannot dream of the victories to be won upon the fields of thought; but I do know that, coming from the infinite sea of the future, there will never touch this “ bank and shoal of time ” a richer gift, a rarer blessing, than liberty for man, for woman, and for child. The Literary Guide is published on the first of each month, price 3d., by post 4d. Annual subscription : 4s. post paid. The contributors comprise the leading writers in the Rationalist Movement, including Mr. Joseph McCabe, Mrs. H. Bradlaugh Bonner, Mr. F. J. Gould, Mr. Adam Gowans Whyte, Mr. Charles T. Gorham, and “ Mimnermus.” Specimen copy post free. Complete Catalogue on receipt of card. Address : Watts & Co., 17 Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, London, E.C.4. PRINTED DY WATTS AND CO., JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.4. U. II �I History of Science Series. Each 160 pp., with Illustrations; cloth, 2s. net, by post 2s. The 13 vols. post free td any inland address for 27s. 4<cL ASTRONOMY. By Professor GEORGE FORBES, M.A., F.R.S., M.Inst.C.E. CHEMISTRY. In two vols. bound in one vol. Vol. I.: 2000 B.c. to 1850 A.D. Vol. II.: 1850 to Date. Price 4s. net. 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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 Liberty of man, woman, and child Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899] Description An account of the resource Place of publication: London Collation: 44, [4] p. ; 19 cm. Series title: Pamphlets for the Millions Series number: No. 6 Notes: Published for the Rationalist Press Association. Publisher's series list on unnumbered pages at the end. No. 46f in Stein checklist but with different date. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Watts & Co. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1914 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G1063 N369 Subject The topic of the resource Human rights 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 (Liberty of man, woman, and child), 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 Liberty NSS https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/274f5b23af2d6a8aaaab266a9feb63e1.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=V3e%7ERHYZq1zcFLkwdUsSm8l5JgMBPXwLiyPfIxCf38EP5PA6UPj0sMaEvKV4daA8wQQct8WqEov08WN67PcYbpARkHvRrGnr82yklmz27Q%7EU2BHC3O7nlsRLGzWdApB1F7oHbLNNCUPvcxZMcRQ0kIRlJgZI7aNarWPH3RGxWeEB4eCpxMQrSjDxKjKeFXrPBLZbiGG0YAZzCZspUhxs8EQCd8GM9Ha5TT8KnlYgSvbzPIQasiK52fetLJ6myloghSMauihdX-Ya2dCArAoGHNJjb3AbTQrZnZqaFvRZuPLn8lRc0-0BPx-JJZHtxl2EEnFUIP2iltpPiVHu3xPmyQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM f71b7ff985122d5288f78d5d30f9dfb3 PDF Text Text To the Young Men’s Literary and Social Union of the City of Indianapolis, this Lecture is most RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. Gentlemen : Accept the best I know and the best I can give you. Endeavor to hasten the time when there shall be a dominion of reason engender­ ing a just and powerful new public life in the minds and actions of our nation. * ��On the source of all civilization and the means of PRESERVING OUR CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. A survey of the history of nations shows to every clear­ sighted searcher after truth, that mankind is generally pro­ gressing to a better state as to physical, moral and intellect­ ual improvement. Although generations are constantly coming and disappear­ ing, we observe, nevertheless, that all the seeds of culture and enlightenment which have been cast by individuals before hundreds and thousands of years into the wide furrows of time, have, through all change, not been lost, but ripen to charming blossoms and yield finally delicious fruits. As the stars rise and set in the firmament, and even the remotest and smallest one does not appear there in vain, but is shedding its mild and twinkling light, just so is the smallest intellectual power never lost, but has been, and is, ir­ radiating the whole human race by its salutary beams, until the sun of knowledge will rise and shine in full glory to the later generations. Men make not only gigantic progress in arts and sciences, but also in morals, and therefore become generally better, more civilized and judicious. Prejudice, superstition, fanaticism, intolerance and mania of persecution vanish daily more and more, and nearly every­ where speak the laws loudly and energetically of equality, of the civil rights of all men, of people’s sovereignty, and antiquated political principles are changed, altered or abolished by de­ grees according to the spirit of the times. Slavery and vassalage have not only been abolished ne everywhere in civilized Europe, but also in our beloved Union, the model of all republics, they are torn up by the roots by a majority of the people with unprecedented vigor and sacri­ fices. �4 We ask now who and what was it that produced such a high state of human culture in the United States ? Who and what is it, that is yet unremittingly promoting the same? Was and is it the Republican Party, by laborious exertions and continued efforts of its great statesmen and distinguished orators ? Yes. What then is the source of civilization gen­ erally? And we receive upon these questions a double answer. Some maintain, that the practical philosophy, namely: 1. The common ethics as the doctrines of the value, end and aim of human actions generally. 2. As moral philosophy (pre -cepts of virtue and manners) by application of the common ethics to the internal spiritual life of man; and 3. Politics as application of the common ethics to the external social rela tions as well as the theoretical philosophy, namely: 1. The common metaphysics of manners or the common doctrine of the duties of man; 2. The metaphysical doctrine of virtue; and 3. The metaphysical politics or jurisprudence being the sinew of life of all improvements, and ennobling of the nations, and others assert that Christianity is the main-spring of all civilization of mankind. In regard to the public and secret human evils and crimes, •civil and personal miseries, infirmities and failings, and es­ pecially all the hinderances of beneficial progress and im­ provement of culture, there is a conflicting opinion between the panegyrists of Christianity and the admirers and retainers of philosophy. One party is laying them to the charge of the other, and treat its subject disdainfully and contemptuously, ■nay, very often also with violent passion, and both refer us to historical facts. The Christian theologians, the reverend preachers, decry philosophy, or human wisdom, as they please to term it, in their works as well as from their pulpits, and 'proclaim to,all the world, that it is the source where all the errors and faults came from and are still coming, by which the community is and has been always deluged everywhere. It can not be imagined, they say, any frivolity or indiscre­ tion which has not been represented once by a philosopher. The philosophy is, as the French thinker Bayle confessed in the 17th century, an escharotic powder, consuming the putrid flesh as long as there is any of it, but afterwards it cor­ rodes sound flesh, marrow and bones. The philosophers maintain, on the contrary, that as long as there are positive religions, we hear of fanatics, wonders, wars, impostors and deceived people. It is true, that there are also penitents, visionaries and �5 hypocrites in China and Turkey as well as in Europe and America ; but there is no religion in existence upon the whole face of the earth, where such a spirit of intolerance is prevail­ ing as in that religion confessed and taught by Christian priests. Early in the first centuries when the Christians had risen to dominion and power, they refused the Jews and Heathen all kinds of human feelings with an unparalleled hard-heartedness and a shocking ferocity and did not grant them justice or tol­ eration. The severity of the rage of persecution of the Christian Emperors, Lords and Bishops grew fiercer from year to year and from century to century. In all the cities of the great Roman Empire, the heathen temples were closed by force, and all the public property of the heathen was confiscated in order to enrich the Christian churches. They stoned, murdered and plundered a great many nonchristians, and thought to serve God by this crying sin. They did not teach, dispute and fight with words and ex­ pressions, but with Auto Da Fee, poniards, tortures and dun­ geons. A religion that produced such effects, a religion which excited so much hatred and intolerance, and stimulated bloody perse­ cutions against all persons entertaining different opinions or which authorized to rob and plunder property belonging to others has surely not contributed to promote civilization and culture, but to a very great demoralization. And indeed since Christianity has been an established re­ ligion in the Roman Empire, all the beautiful and bright virtues of antiquity, by which it has been victorious in three continents, became weaker and weaker and expired finally al­ together, ;ind degeneracy and immorality were coming on originated by very obliging priests of the alone-saving faith who had always had in store heavenly remissions of Chris­ tian sins and vices and a purification from Christian guilt. If we study history, says the philosopher, with an unbi­ assed mind, and lay aside the Christian spectacles to see the ancient facts, we must confess, that Rome, once crowned with glory and the ruler of the earth, fell dangerously sick during the time of several Christian emperors and died finally of the effects of Christianity. They endeavored to establish christendom by force and by the edge of the sword. Yes, the spirit of Christian intolerance has been growing in such a degree, that it engendered even among the differ­ �6 ent Christian sects the most formidable religious wars with all heinous crimes. From 772-803 the emperor Charles, the Great, persecuted the Saxons furiously. He drove them by thousands' into the rivers in order to be baptized. 4500 prisoners refusing to become Christians, he ordered to be slaughtered at once, and forced their commander, Wittekind, to be baptized and to embrace Christianity. In the 11th century all the Christians who were considered as heretics, were burnt alive as Manichees, and a great many Jews were either converted by force or cruelly murdered. In the 12th century Count Emich, of Lciningen, and Arch­ Bishop Ruthard, of Mainz committed horrible massacres among the Jews on the Rhine ; because some Monks pre­ tended to have found upon the grave of Jesus a letter from heaven in which the conversion of Jews was demanded in de­ finite terms. In the 13th century Pope Inocence the III., and Gregor IX. founded the formidable inquisition, the court of condem­ nation of intellectual freedom, and the Franciscans, Domini­ cans, the hounds of the Lord, or Jacobins and the Carme­ lites became the terror of the free thinking Christians and of the Jews. The great German poet, Haller, remarks with a just indignation : “Cruel tyrant, cursed rage of fanatics, Glowing always wild against heretics, Thou didst not rise out of Cerberus foam "Which vents in hell’s solitary gloom, No ! Thou art born of the sainted breast, And thy parent is priest’s boiling chest. Speaking but of love with pious care, And yet showing fury everywhere. Ere a Pope a sovereign became And a man assumed God’s holy name, All who did not go the priesthood's path, "Were made victims of their fiendish wrath. Who had drowned with blood the ground of Toulouse? " The poet alludes here to the atrocious actions of the inqui­ sition established at Toulouse 1229, which ordered all heretics to be buried alive. 1484 an Inquisition was introduced in Spain which, up to the year 1808, offered up to God 343,000 innocent human creatures as sacrifices, by which this pretended pious institu­ tion tortured and murdered the bravest men. And besides these cruelties generally committed, how �7 shocking was the fatal'destiny of millions of poor Jews in the Christian empires! A lamb among seventy wolves, as Jewish Bards bitterly lament in their elegies. The Jews, who have been commanded in the Pentateuch, (Lev. xix: 34,) to love the stranger like themselves, without any distinction of nation or creed, and have never flinched from their duty; the Jews who watched with scrupulous care and anxiety ovei’ the most holy human records, and their only crime was the belief in a primitive cause, namely in one God, were hated, despised, plundered and murdered cruelly everywhere. Instead of pitying such a noble people, which were spread over the whole world, and having compassion on them, sup­ porting the weak and protecting them against violence, rob­ bery and spoliation, they preferred to treat them with inhu­ man and unjust severity, and to oppress them with heavy, ex­ orbitant taxes. The only relief they offered them was either to take the cross or to die shamefully. And, indeed, there has been no public or natural calamity which has not been attributed to the unfortunate Jews. Thus, for instance, maintained the Pope 1569, that on ac­ count of the Jews an earthquake happened in Ferarra in Ita­ ly, although the Duke well remarked, that he can hardly be­ lieve it; because 12 Christian Churches fell into ruins at that time, and not one Jewish Synagogue. I could speak volumes on this subject, how the Jews have been wilfully misrepresented, nicknamed and disgraced by the clergy, to disseminate and to nourish a hatred against them among their Christian brethren, and to raise persecution against this unhappy but meritorious and innocent people. I will, however, says the philosopher, restrict myself to the only fact how Christians have treated their own brethren in faith. 1572 thirty thousand Protestants, or Hugenots, so called as a nickname, because they were only allowed to hold Divine services at night, like a certain specter Hugo, were cruelly massacred in all the provinces of France, and this action was considered as a work of Christian piety. This terrible slaughter lasted 30 days. It is generally known under the name Bartholomew-massa­ cre, for which the Pope, the Holy Father of the Catholics proclaimed a year of jubilee. 1618-48 raged, in the name of Christianity, the 30 years’ �war, and a fiendish carnage was committed in a great many empires. And if we look into the history of England we find, that even there have been offered up a great many hu­ man sacrifices on the Christian altar. There were either the Catholics or the Roundheads, or the Presbyterians or Puritans, etc., etc., who, as soon as they had the power, persecuted cruelly all who differed with them in religious opinions, treated them with severity and suppressed them. Should or can all this be called Christian civilization? Yes, when the pious Spanish Christians came as strangers hither to America, they murdered forty millions of men, wo­ men and children, who had not given them any offence or harm, drove away the others, and took in possession their land, houses, and all their property. Indeed! not humanity, enlightenment, culture and admin­ istration of justice, but blind fanaticism followed everywhere the footsteps of Christianity. It is impossible, says the philosopher, that Christianity can or could ever favor the progress of mankind ; because it teach­ es explicitly, as the Reverend Theologians maintain, that rea­ son is a weak, blind, corrupted and seducing leader, and that we shall take our understanding into custody of the faith, as it reads in the 1st Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians x: 5, “ Casting down imagination, etc., and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Hence Christianity teaches, that we shall not inquire about the most important human affairs reasonably, but shall believe without any investigation. It enjoins a passive credulity and puts reason to sleep. Nay! it banishes the spirit out of the province of reality and puts shackles upon good sense, the only leaders of men to reach a higher perfection. It is like a circle which can never progress. It extinguishes the sun in the empire of ideas, and there­ fore it has been and is only the author of spiritual sight. Now it is a decided fact, that our religious, political and iiterary horizon is enlarging more and more, and that our views, experience and knowledge have greatly increased, and grow still to an extent which the illustrious age of the Greeks and Romans could not imagine. The question is obtruding therefore upon the mind of every close observer of humanity—Who and what has effected this gigantic progress ? A great many would certainly exclaim, it is Christianity �§ that produced this progressive state of human affairs, what­ ever the philosophers may gainsay it; because only in such empires, where the majority of the citizens are Christians, civ­ ilization and culture are going onward and upward. But here I have to remark, that it is an erroneous conclu­ sion : hoc propter hoc, namely, if we infer from the acciden­ tal coinciding of two events, that one is the cause of the othei*. I will illustrate and prove this now by the following exam­ ple : Suppose it is raining and my table is standing near the window, and I would draw a conclusion ; as my table is stand­ ing near the window, therefore it is raining out of doors to­ day. Every reasonable man would admit, that this is a false in­ ference, because the two appearances depend on different causes and are not connected at all. It is just the same case with Christianity and civilization. Both met accidentally together; but the origin, growth and? blossom of civilization we do not owe to Christianity, but to* other causes. To convince ourselves from this fact, we shall endeavor to observe closely the course which civilization has taken since the remotest time until now. If we gaze upon the colossal ruins which we find in Theban in Egypt, that has been destroyed 4,000 years ago, we must make the conclusion, that civilization was highly advanced in Egypt at that time. For we perceive, that the use of sculpture, of the art of printing, of the fine enamel works, of glass and precious met­ als which have been made there by the Egyptians, was in such a degree of perfection, that it is proved beyond doubt art and science had then attained a remarkable development. And so it is reported in the ancient literature, that thou­ sands of years ago, before Christianity was thought of, as­ tronomy, physics, hydraulics, chemistry and mathematics flour­ ished in Egypt, and the philosophers studied everything that was useful, considering the study of man and nature as the highest prosperity. We find, furthermore, in the records of the past, that peo­ ple flocked hither from all quarters in order to be instructed in Egyptian schools. Thus Herodotus, the father of history, tells us, that the Greeks borrowed a great portion of their arts and sciences from the Egyptians. Under the expression Egpptians, however, is not only meant the heathen, but is also included the Egypt- ian Jews. �10 Although a great many are inclined to consider now a days the Jewish monuments of knowledge as obsolete, others as containing dangerous errors, shaking the prevailing estab­ lishments in the empire of reason in their very foundations, and finally others as self-complacent pride, they are neverthe­ less such productions which the great philosophers, Pytha­ goras, Plato and Aristotle considered as the most pre­ cious treasures of wisdom and fountain-head of knowledge, and did not hesitate to draw much from their sources. The historical report about the intimate intercourse of the ■Greek sages with the Jewish philosophers is not a fiction of proud Rabbis as some, perhaps, may suppose, but is very old and is stated by heathen and Christian authors. Thus relates Eusebius (praep. Evang, ix : c. 3.) Kleanthus, a disciple of Aristotle informs us, that Aristotle had an ac­ quaintance with a Jew in Palestine -who was educated in the Egyptian school, with whom he conversed about philo­ sophical subjects, and confessed, that he learned more from the Jew than the Jew could have learned from him. Even so remarks the very reliable ancient historian, Philo, that the learned Jews in Alexandria have shown to the hea­ then, without restraint and in a clear manner, the foolishness, groundlessness, perversity and immorality of their heathen rites and doctrines. All those heathen who aspired for truth and morality paid homage to the Jewish religious principles. Aye, even Princes of Greek Macedonian origin, became true adherents of Judaism. Hence, it must be admitted by every lover of truth, that the Egyptian Jews had a great share in promoting the civilization of nations. Thus acknowledges also Numenius of Apamen, that the great philosopher, Plato has been nothing else but an Athe­ nian speaking Moses. It is therefore obviously proved by all this, that the schools of the Alexanderian Jews gained a very great reputation, and that there must have been among them many original think­ ers, so that Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle were considered as their disciples. Egypt has consequently been the seat of learning and cul­ ture, where all the ancient literati have learned arts and sei­ fences that reached us through the middle ages. Thales who was born at Milet, 640 b. c. e., established first in his fatherland the knowledge which he acquired in the schools of Egyptian priests. Pythagoras who was born 534 b. the c. e., initiated himself like Thales into the mysteries of �II Egypt in order to transplant scientific researches of this coun­ try to his native land, and has given by that means another direction to the studies, having employed their method of ex­ perience. He and his disciples .had already very correct ideas of the parallax, the general arrangements concerning the different parts of our solar system and of the place occupied by the earth. They maintain that the earth revolves around the sun, that the comets have their periodical revolutions, and that the stars are even as many suns around which other stars are moving. A truism which has been attacked until the time of Galileis. A hundred years later, namely, 434 b. the c. e. appeared Plato. He was already a philosopher when twenty years of age and acknowledged after having heard Socrates, a primitive general cause as a supreme being, describing it in Timaeus as the father of the universe, and maintained like his great teacher, Socrates, that the human soul is immortal, and that mankind will merely gain its destiny upon earth by a true philosophy. These heathen philosophers laid down fundamental maxims, as Christianity did, and could not teach them better in later times. I pass now over in silence all other philosophical systems ■of the Greeks and Romans, and will only mention some facts that the heathen made constantly progress in the civilizing arts and sciences. In a memorable poem entitled, “De natura rerum,” com­ posed by Lucretius, a cotemporary of Cicero, (106 b. c. e.) we find the very correct idea that the fall of heavy bodies is not alike respecting all bodies, a minute description of the flash of lightning, etc., etc. In Seneca are observations given about the magnifying which glass globes produce by refraction and concave mir­ rors by reflection and even some other ones about the colors of the rainbow, forming themselves by prisms and about the decrease of heat in the highest regions of atmosphere. Pie speaks of different colors of the stars and maintains, that the comets have a regular course, and that the earth­ quakes are engendered through .the fire in the centre of the terrestial globe. Plinius (23 after the c. e.) gives us some views in his natural �history about the formation of electricity by friction and about different electric appearances. The ancient literati seem, according to Plinius, to have oc­ cupied themselves with conducting the lightning. He says in reference to Tullus Hostilius : (Plin. lib. ii: c. 53.) “ Quod scilicet fulminis evocationem imitatum parum rite Tullum Hostilium ietum fulmine.” That is, in the same moment, when he tried to carry down the lightning in the same manner as Numa, (716 b. the c. e.) but unskillfully was Tullus killed by the lightning. We find also in Lucan, a Roman poet, (38 b. the c. e.) in reference to the same subject a very remarkable passage: “* «- -» ® Aruns dispersos fulminis ignes, Colligit, et terra moesto cum murmure condit.” (Lucan Phans. i, 606.) That is, “It is said of Aruns, who was very experienced in the motions of the flash of lightning, that he collected the fire scattered in the air, and buried it in the earth.” Probably these ideas occasioned Benjamin Franklin to dis­ cover the conduction of lightning. Even so have passed over to the Greeks and Romans the chemical arts which the Egyptians exercised with the most happy results. For the Egyptians were very skillful in the art of dying stuffs, in the manipulation of metals, in the cleaning of soda or natron, and extracting the kali of the ashes. Next to them the Phoenicians have had a very extensive knowledge in the arts which depend on chemistry. They were expert in the use of copper, gold, silver, lead, tin and iron. They understoood how to win these metals of their ore, to alloy them and to produce different metallic mixtures, for in­ stance, litharge, vitriol, etc., etc. Thus was mankind flourishing more and more, and became always richer in spirit, inventions, discoveries and all kinds of human culture. But as soon as Christianity began spreading over the Roman Empire, all knowledge, arts and sciences died away, and the development of civilization was retarded and checked. For all colleges and acadamies, where the sciences were taught by non-christians were closed by force, and instead of studying the subjects, they commenced wrangling and quarrel­ ing about mere expressions and words, and all sunk into bar­ barity and extreme darkness. Such was the state of affairs �13 •until the 8th century, when Leo, the Isaurian, this furious iconoclast threatened with banishment the last remnants of sciences and arts. His cruelty was so great that he let burn at night twelve clergymen, who were his ecclesiastical counsellors, but did not participate in his abhorrence against images. Everything seemed consequently to contribute to the des­ truction of sciences, and all the exertions of human spirit from the whole antiquity in. Egypt, Asia, Greece and Italy would have been lost altogether from civilization if a great many books had not escaped the banishment on account of having been partly preserved in monastries and partly by the Arabians, who by their intercourse with the Jews and Greeks, became acquainted with scientific knowledge, and interested themselves indefatigably for culture, philosophy, medicin and natural history, and preserved thus the original works of the Greeks and Romans. They established universities in Asia, Africa and Europe, especially in Cordova in Spain, where the most eminent Greek works have been translated and studied, and promoted the sciences generally, so that their seats of learning have also been frequented by Christians. During that time when they restricted themselves in the Christian states to the cloisters, where the most renowned Bishops condemned the study of the ancients and did no­ thing else, but compose biographies of saints, collected le­ gends, draw up a register of heretics, wrote excommuni­ cations and anathemas. Yes, during that time it was judged in Christian courts, not according to wise and just laws, but by ordeals or so-called God’s judgments? and, for in­ stance, if the suspected person could plunge the bare arm to the elbow in boiling water without being hurt, or could walk barefoot and blindfolded over nine red hot plowshares laid lengthwise of unequal distances and escaped unhurt, or could conquer in duel, or could swallow the sanctified morsel without bursting, or could stay with stretched arms in the form of a cross the longest time, was argued innocent, be­ cause this was an evidence that God let such persons conquer. During the time, I say, when all the^e went on in the Chris­ tian Empire, the study of sciences, arts and literature, and the endeavors for the civilization of nations were to be found among the Mohammedans. Though Charles, the Great, from 768-814, had established schools which were superintended by men whom he called from England and Ireland, and where the study of rhetoric, �14 dialectis and astronomy were pursuod with great ardor, ail those schools were nearly closed during the reign of his suc­ cessors immediately after him, namely, under Ludwig, the pi­ ous, and Charles, the bald, and Europe was plunged in dark­ ness until the 13th century. In the 13th century appeared Roger Baco, a Franciscan Professor at Oxford, with the surname “ Magnus, ” and who was also called “ Doctor admirabilis, ” the wonderful teacher. It came into his mind, probably occasioned by the study of Pythagoras, to consult nature through experiments, and to shake off the yoke of scholastic authority. This was, However, an unprecedented innovation, and caused him severe persecutions. Iln was sentenced by a Franciscan General to an imprison­ ment for life and to live on bread and water ; because of hav­ ing tried to destroy prejudices with which his age was filled up. He was afterwards released with a proviso, that he should not meddle any more with physics. Hence, it was Christianity which threw all sorts of ob­ stacles in the way of civilization, checked, suppressed and choked it altogether in the 14th century. Only from the time jn the 15th century when a revival of the original class­ ical works took place and the old system of the Greek, Ori­ entals and the so-called Philosophy of Moses were looked for. Especially as the example given by Copernicus, Kepler, Galilei Toricelly and others in natural philosophy was crown­ ed with the most happy results, the minds were stirred up for imitating in philosophy generally, civilization commenced its course with renewed vigor. The positive religion was then from day to day much less considered as a source or standard of philosophical knowledge, and the exclusive right of giving the last decision on all sub­ jects in question was geneially adjudged to reason. Although the inquisition condemned, in the year 1515, the system of Copernicus, who revived the idea of Pythagoras, that the earth revolves on its axis, and declared such an idea as false, philosophic, absurd and heretical, Galilei defended nev­ ertheless the Capernican system in the year 1616. He was forced, indeed, in his 69th year of age, to abjure this system before the Court in Rome in the following man­ ner : I abjure, condemn and curse the error of the motion of the earth, but in spite of that, he taught, that the earth moves on its axis. He was afterwards arrested, as it was expected, and sen­ tenced to an imprisonment for life. �15 A violent struggle of reason with the mechanism of usages took place everywhere, and the opposition to the superior criticism of the positive religion which it arrogated over rea­ son, became stronger more and more. The spirit itself wrestled with old established customs in order to give continually new life and stir in the march of in­ tellect, and to render great services to truth, beauty and jus­ tice. Hail to those unterrified philosophers who were not afraid of suffering persecution, and risked even their lives and liberty in order to build the truth on unshakable pillars, and to trace qut the way to the coming generations which shall be taken to find out new truisms, and to promote civilization. Jf now the Asiatics and a great many other nations are benumbed in the midst of their cultivation, it is not on ac­ count of not having embraced Christianity, but of being un­ der the tyrannical dominion of ancient customs. Thus, for instance, a philosophy was and is prevailing among the Arabs now exactly as it was in vogue among the Christian nations in the middle ages, when positive religion was the center and rule of all reasonings, demanding an un­ conditional blind faith, and checking all progress and devel­ opment. Hence it follows, that only since the revival of the Platonic philosophy in Italy, from whence it spread extensively abroad, out of which came the pure systems of better wisdom, ancient civilization and culture have also been revived, and are con­ stantly promoted and developed. The bold searcher after truth ventured to run the risk of being burned alive or tortured by the so-called holy inquisi­ tion, and threw light with the torch of truth upon the works of darkness in all its relations and bearings. The great salutary principle of religious liberty and free­ dom of conscience which they laid down and pleaded with a convincing force, conquered finally, and a mild, social bond entwines itself by degrees around nations, trying to come always nearer together in order to unite for common purposes. It is true, that the maturity of reason in the present time, is thriving very slowly; but the surer, it seems to me, will the high aim be gained. For it is merely founded on intellectual power, freedom of conscience, natural rights, high talents for the arts, and a true morality. If now this high spiritual position of humanity shall be preserved for the later generations, it is obviously necessary �1« that they do not waste thousands and millions of dollars for Christian Mission and Tract Societies, but rather to establish Universities in this country also, as they are flourishing in Europe, where they proved always as the best center of all scientific knowledge and progressive enlightenment. For Universities, emancipated from hierarchical power and from the influence of every religious party or sect, are, as they were, the locomotives of hiiman spirits, leading them with the rapidity of lightning onward and upward. It is high time to make the public aware of the indispensihle necessity of such institutions; because every close obser­ ver of our public affairs will surely, with great sorrow, ascer­ tain that the priests of different denominations endeavor, like the polypes with their tenticles, to catch every opportunity to meddle with politics, and nestle, wherever it is possible, their illiberal, absurd and antiquated ideas. The Universities would be the most powerful armies to pro­ ject us .against the clerical drawbacks and corruption, and would also be the formidable monitors on the stormy ocean of life to secure us our free institutions. Yes, a free University in every State of the Union, would De like a shining sun enlightening all the classes of people, and promoting the welfare and prosperity of all nations as well as of every individual in particular, without any distinc­ tion. ... Such institutions only will be the means by which a reli­ gion, founded on incontestible reasonable arguments, will be established for all mankind, diffusing brotherly love towards all nations, virtue and justice more -and more, so that every ’barbarity and war and war-hoop will disappear for ever. They will bring on the time which the prophets have fore­ seen, and the poets have dreamed, that nation against nation *will never wage war any more, and nowhere shall force reign -supreme, but only strict justice shall decide all and every­ thing. Ilappy they who can promote such a great work crowned with blessings. But thrice happy will be those who shall live then to see, when the history of all nations will not be filled with bloody military exploits, nor with the victories of diplo­ matic contrivances, but with the general happy achievements of the gigantic progress of civilization and culture of [all mankind. � 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 Lecture on the source of all civilization and the means of preserving our civil and religious liberty Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kalisch, Isidor Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [Indianapolis] Collation: 16 p. ; 22 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Delivered to the Young Men's Literary and Social Union of the City of Indianapolis. Inscription on front page: Presented to Rev. Moncure D. Conway by the author. Author's name and date of publication from KVK. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available [Indianapolis Journal Co. printers] 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 G5374 Subject The topic of the resource Freedom of religion Human rights 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 (Lecture on the source of all civilization and the means of preserving our civil and religious liberty), 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 Civil Liberties Civilisation Conway Tracts Freedom of Religion https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/25778/archive/files/1e26e749a979dc55164c766decef6e36.pdf?Expires=1777507200&Signature=hspmmgY1sngw2QWxoyP0ORF22Mv1P9LAR%7E%7EX8N%7EP%7Et9U8REGioxuDVAPFJ1o5qKaJKoR1algdwGFn3aa4OdSsnq0JkcMltbkNx-Mj3If9qlX0rYqHcp2LFIF9AxUlaA7RCZTBmCmKh-zOQjfeHWjSwDstlPh9E5uJttY4DauPCW94gM3l3Cly89sIImBPq-F%7EUWHkOOkfeMPzByUJMDaPUHPx6RKfCusj4R0xBEgyVjUw9rkBYWGittg3Njg1qWJFCjGQuDMNzszBhW5vw9B3cxUt5LTSDZYPj0RtTZ6HUVu33lpXauiX6IaEs5%7EO5HO3y9mTO2vQGSLUatoioLWJw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 418579096bbf242233c45cefb24a960c PDF Text Text Disbanding of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. The writer, who knew Mokeintimately and well for years, once told the story of his life and services, of his magnani­ mity, generosity, integrity, and courage, to the celebrated historian, Mr. Motley, and challenged him to refer to his equal in any age or ’'history; he could not do it. Moketa-va-ta is without a peer, the true hero, the true man ; he sleeps by the side of his ever faithful and devot­ ed wife, Vo-ish-ta, in his bloody shroud, on the crimson banks of the Wichata. tion. ta-va-ta “ And thou wert slain. Whoever dared to trace His name upon the order for thy death Will wear the sting until his latest breath, And bind the curse of Cain upon his*ace.” Betrayed, assassinated, and muti­ lated by our troops, in a massacre of unparalleled atrocity and treachery, applauded by the commanding gene­ rals of the army as a glorious victory. 81 “ Moke-ta-va-ta, thy wrongs shall be redressed, Thy viewless form fills all the vernal air; Nor earth’s fair bosom, nor the spring more fair, Can stay the footsteps of a race oppressed. Their name is legion, and from mountain slope And distant plain their fearless forms appear, All conquering and all potent, without fear They come with our proud nation now to cope. And if the rivers shall run red with blood, And if the plain be strewn with mangled forms, And cities burned amid the battles' storms, Ours is the blame—not thine, thou great and good. Thy name shall live a watchword for all time— A herald and a beacon-light to all On whom the tyrant and the despot fall, Making thy death a heritage sublime. If of this noble line thou wert the last, And stood on the extremest ocean verge, Thy eloquence would all thy people urge, And in one deadly conflict they would cast Their gauntlet in our shameful, flaming face, And then, without a thought of praise or blame. Would perish to’avenge thy noble name, And prove that thou wert of a kingly race. A sound of war is on the western wind ; The sun, with fiery flame, sweeps down the sky; Athwart his breast the crimson shadows fly, Of fearless forms no fetters e’er can bind. Down through the golden gateway they have The mighty scions of a nation come In sweeping circles from their shining home. With weapons from the battle-plains of Gc u. DISBANDING OF THE PENNSYLVANIA ANTI-SLAVERY . SOCIETY. BY JOHN K. WILDMAN. After the consummation of that act in the progress of liberty which banished political restrictions on ac­ count of color, there seemed to be nothing left for the anti-slavery so­ cieties to do but disband. This be­ came a willing service, grateful to every member. They had witnessed the fulfillment of the pledge made to the colored people of the nation, and saw that the grand purpose of the anti-slavery movement was thereby accomplished. All that was essenVol. i.—6 tial in the aim and scope of the con­ stitutions of their societies had be­ come absorbed in that of the United States. It was therefore fitting that they should meet together and ex­ change congratulations and fare­ wells. The final meeting of the national society was followed by that of its auxiliary of Pennsylvania, which oc­ curred on the 5th of May, just a third of a century from the date of its organization. Rare indeed was the �82 Disbanding of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. interest on this occasion, which was enjoyed by the fraternal multitude with a zest and enthusiasm peculiar to such an unwonted event. The circumstances could not fail to kindle among many of those present, if not all, a glow of mingled emotions, an alliance of gratulation and regret. They could rejoice with profound fervor over the brilliant fact that al­ most dazzles the imagination, grand­ ly conspicuous on the latest page of our history; but their joy becomes tinged and tempered with sadness as they remember that it is the last time that the society will summon them together, seeming equivalent to the dissolution of cherished memo­ ries and associations. To some among that small number still living, who actively participated at the in­ ception of the movement, the events of to-day must give rise to feelings of . serene satisfaction. To live to see successive triumphs of justice and freedom, and to witness at last the crowning stroke that grafted their paramount objects into the su­ preme law of the land, is a privilege that must awaken irresistibly the deepest gratitude and gladness. ’ But this experience was not realized by all the early coworkers in the re­ form. Whittier, who was present at the formation of the society, in his letter, read at the meeting, wrote thus con­ cerning the reunion : “ So many of the founders of this society have fallen by our side contending for the unpopular truths of freedom, without the priceless privilege which we en­ joy of beholding with our living eyes what they only saw with those of faith, that this reunion for the last time can not but bring with it some- thing of regret and mournful recol­ lections to temper the joy of victory. Let us, however, believe that these dear and true ones are yet with us in the eternal fellowship of the spirit, ‘ Our brethren of all worlds, for, soul with soul Communes in this vast business, and not one Gazes down idly.’ ” Other letters that were read, re* ceived from Charles Sumner, John C. Fremont, George W. Juj lian, Robert Collyer, William D. Kelley, and John W. Forney, con­ tributed their measure of interest. It was an interesting and remark­ able fact that the initial meetings of the three principal anti-slavery socie­ ties of tl^is country—the New-Eng­ land, the American, and the Pennsyl­ vania—were all represented at this commemorative meeting of the latter. Of those twelve men who participat­ ed in the formation of the New-Eng­ land Society, in January, 1832, which was parent of all the others, but one person was present. This was Ben­ jamin C. Bacon, who also attended at the organization of the Pennsyl­ vania Society. A paper of marked interest prepared by him, detailing his personal reminiscences of thirty­ eight years ago, was read on this oc­ casion. Three persons were present who assisted in organizing the Ame­ rican Society, namely, Lucretia Mott, ^Robert Purvis, and Dr. Bartholomew Fussell. The last two signed the “ Declaration of Sen­ timents” issued by the association 1 but the light of to-day concerning the immunities of women had not dawned even upon the liberal minds of that period, and a woman’s signa­ ture to the document would have been an unusual toleration. . It was not due to the absence of sympathy �Disbanding of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. or willingness that Lucretia Mott Eid not append her name. Robert Purvis, who has been president of the society since the death of James Mott, presided over this meeting to disband. Those who were present that went to Harrisburg in January, 1837, to take part in the organization of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, were Charles C. Burleigh, Edward M. Davis, Benjamin C. Bacon, William B. Thomas, Elijah F. Pennypacker, John P. Bowers, and Eli Dillin. William B. Tho­ mas was one of the secretaries of that meeting. The only colored man among the number was John P. Bowers, who narrated incidents of the trip showing the prejudice against color then existing, and which mani­ fested itself in supercilious and vio­ lent ways. The name of another may here be mentioned, one who has done faith­ ful and courageous service in behalf of the slave, now an. old man totter­ ing beyond the eightieth mile-stone of life—John Needles, of Baltimore, who left his home to attend this final meeting. It seemed like a dream to hear him relate that he purchased the type for Benjamin Lundy’s Genius of Universal Emancipation some time before Garrison appear­ ed upon the scene as its joint editor. Two objects of peculiar and re­ markable interest, one of them of rare value, were exhibited to the au­ dience. These were well calculated to quicken into fresh life recollec­ tions of thrilling emotions, one of stirring delight and the other of woe. One of these, in the possession .of Edward M. Davis, was the “ origi­ nal ” of the original Proclamation of Emancipation, in the handwriting 83 of John C. Fremont. How vivid seems the memory of the day when the light of that heroic act broke upon the nation ! Robert Purvis declared that Fremont was the ori­ ginal emancipator. The other object alluded to, which is now in the pos­ session of William Still, was an old walnut chest, large, heavy, and rude, in which a slave girl escaped from bondage. Who Gould look upon such an uncouth and perilous “ liberator” as this without a shud­ der and a pang ? How it suggested the horrors of slavery, the precious value of liberty, and the hazards that were voluntarily risked to flee from one to gain the other ! Kindred reflections were elicited by the paper read by William Still, which possessed a painful interest. It was the story of Henry Box Brown, and. a number of others who contrived to escape from the hated thralldom, cheerfully accepting the severest hardships and bidding de­ fiance to death itself. The mourn­ ful tales thus unfolded were like the thrilling fantasies of romance, but more harrowing because of their reality. On this occasion the speakers were numerous. The fertility of re­ source was adequate for a rich abun­ dance and variety of eloquence. There was wide scope and multiform experiences from which to gather materials, and to the audience it was an opportunity of entertainment and instruction. Prominent among those who spoke was Charles C. Bur­ leigh, who has devoted a life to the work for which the society has exist­ ed, and whose earnest and powerful advocacy of the great truths of free­ dom and right, amid all the vicissi- �84 Disbanding of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. tudes of the strugg le, bravely en-tributary to present entertainment, countering its worst features of oblo­ furnishing a rich store of treasured quy, insult, and violence, has placed events. The incidents related were his among the names of those cher­ manifold, and suggestive of the table ished ones upon whom we bestow of contents of an important unwritten our highest encomiums. He has history. There was a luxuriant of­ been faithful from beginning to end, fering of reminiscences, either serious and has labored with a zeal and per­ or diverting, which portrayed the severance worthy of a cause so temper and aspects of the tragic grand. This may likewise be said period, and reviving a long list of of others who spoke at the meeting, gloomy and harassing experiences. as well as of many more whose The revered names of many of those voices in public never were heard, who have passed away were men­ but who gave the movement their tioned with kindly remembrance, best support and dutiful help. whose labors in the good cause were Mr. Burleigh’s evening speech given at times of urgent need. Some was a masterpiece of glowing elo­ of these did not live to witness the quence. It comprehended a concise red tide of rebellion sweep over the statement of the conflict between land, while others lived just long freedom and slavery through its suc­ enough to behold the breaking of cessive phases, and gave a philoso­ that better day which heralded the phic analysis of the movement from birth of a regenerated nation. The the beginning down to the time retrospect was a solemn one. It when the great wrong which over­ placed in glaring relief the great shadowed the land received its change that has been wrought with death-blow. Others spoke with force such marvelous quickness, and the and impressiveness, and among the contrast between the old and new ’ number were Lucretia Mott, Ro­ redoubled the joy and gratitude felt bert Purvis, Aaron M. Powell, to-day. Frances E. W. Harper, Edward The admirable series of resolutions M. Davis, and Mary Grew, repre­ that were presented in the beginning senting an honored and unbroken were not finally acted upon until a record of anti-slavery service. All late hour at night. These were pre­ ■<of these, except Aaron M. Powell pared and read by Mary Grew. and Mrs. Harper, have long been Let the impressive words from her associated in the Pennsylvania Anti­ lips at the parting moment, the last Slavery Society, cooperating as mem­ that were uttered before the society bers of its executive committee. disbanded, find a record here : Of the various speeches it may be “The vote with which we shall said, glancing at them with a general respond to these resolutions will be view, that they teemed with an afflu­ as the farewell spoken by travelers ence of personal recollections. There who have journeyed together over were admonitions in regard to the one pathway from sunrise to evening, work yet before us, the duties that be­ sharing its difficulties and dangers, long to the hour; but chiefly thought and parting at its goal. Friends, turned to the past, which became our work is done, and there remains �The Radical Club—Boston. for us only to look into one another’s faces for the last time as members of an anti-slavery society, to clasp hands once more in mutual congra­ tulation and benediction, and to ren­ der up to God the trust received from him, and go our ways to other work.” Its mission fulfilled, the society has passed into history. Those who were its members are admonished that the work is not yet complete. Among the letters read at the meet­ ing was one from Charles Sumner, 85 in which these words occur: “ But all is not yet done. The country must be lifted in deed and life to the level of the great truth it has now adopted as the supreme law of the land. In this cause it is an honor and a delight to labor, and I assure you that I shall persevere to the end.” Emulating this noble example, and inspired by a kindred purpose, let each aid in what remains to be accomplished. THE RADICAL CLUB, BOSTON. The April meeting of the Club was held at Dr. Bartol’s, and a pour­ ing rain seemed not to diminish the customary good attendance. The essay, by Mrs. Ednah D. Cheney, was on the development and' organization of religious ideas. Referring to the beginnings of things in the material world, she spoke of the germ and the cell, the foundation of all vegetable growth and the commencement of all animal life. Whence, she asked, comes this germ power—this life, enabling the new structure to appropriate to it­ self whatever around is fitted to its inward nature ? The materialist can not answer this question. He has to stop short in the chain of cause and effect, and refer this power to a source which he may name but can not understand. The spiritual think­ er answers that it is the power of the divinity within us. It is the consciousness of this inheritance of divinity which gives us our innate faith in immortality. The idea of a divine heritage is expressed in all the mythologies, and, however false in fact, is true as a symbol. Thus the typical man is the direct child of God. In all genuine organizations,' whether of church, state, or commu­ nity, there must be a central root running down to the divine source, and there must also be a circum­ ference, limited by circumstances, and absolutely requiring from time to time to be broken up to give place to new life. And it is not in the centre but in the circumference that creeds and nations differ so widely. In the deepest spiritual communion, Jew and Greek, Christian and Mo­ hammedan, alike draw near to the divine centre, and meet there. Every human soul has access to God, and affinity with him. It is individual peculiarities which make sects differ so widely. � 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 Disbanding of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wildman, John K. Description An account of the resource Place of publication: [Chicago] Collation: 81-85 p. ; 24 cm. Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From The Standard, Vol. 1, no. 2., June 1870. Printed in double columns. 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 [1870] Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context G5443 Subject The topic of the resource Slavery Human rights 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 (Disbanding of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society), 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 Anti-Slavery Movements Conway Tracts Slavery United States of America