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CIVIL & RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
WITH SOME HINTS TAKEN FROM
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
BY ANNIE BESANT,
(Second Edition).
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
28, Stonecutter Street, E.C,
PBICE THREEPENCE.
�LONDON
FEINTED BY ANNIE BESANT AND CHARLES BP.ADLAUGHZ
28, STONECUTTER STREET, E. C.
�g
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
« O Liberty ! how many crimes are committed in thy
name1” So exclaimed Madame Roland, one of the most
heroic and most beautiful spirits of the great French Revo
lution, when above her glittered the keen knife of the
guillotine, and below her glared the fierce faces of the
maddened crowd, who were howling for her death. But
Madame Roland, even as she spoke, bowed her fair head
to the statue of Liberty which—pure, serene, majestic—
rose beside the scaffold, and stood white and undefiled in
the sunlight, while the mob seethed and tossed round its
base. Madame Roland bent her brow before Liberty, even
as the sad complaint passed her lips; for well that noblehearted woman knew that the guillotine, by which she was
to die, had not been raised in a night with the broken
chains of Liberty, but had been slowly building up, during
long centuries of tyranny, out of the mouldering skeletons
<of the thousands of victims of despotism and misrule. The
taunt has been re-echoed ever since, and lovers of repression
have changed its words and its meaning, and they have said
what noble Madame Roland would never have said: “ O
Liberty, how many crimes are committed by thee, and
because of thee 1” They have never said, they have never
cared to ask, how many crimes have been committed against
Liberty in the past; how many crimes are daily committed
against her in the England which we boast as free. They
have never said, they have never cared to ask, whether th©
excesses which have, alas ! disgraced revolutions, whether
the bloodshed which has ofttimes stained crimson-red the
fair, white, banner of Liberty, are not the natural and the
necessary fruits, not of the freedom which is won, bu'c of
the tyranny which is crushed. Society keeps a number of
its members uneducated and degraded; it houses them
worse than brutes; it pays them so little that, if a man
would not starve, he must toil all day, without time for
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CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
relaxation or for self-culture; it withdraws from them all
softening influences ; it shuts them out from all intellectual
amusements; it leaves them no pleasures except the purely
animal ones ; it bars against them the gates of the museums
and the art galleries, and opens to them only the doors of
the beer-shop and the gin-palace; it sneers at their folly,
but never seeks to teach them wisdom; it disdains their
“ lowness,” but never tries to help them to be higher; and then,
when suddenly the masses of the people rise, maddened by
long oppression, intoxicated with a freedom for which they
are not prepared, arrogant with the newly-won consciousness
of their resistless strength, then Society, which has kept them
brutal, is appalled at their brutality; Society, which has
kept them degraded, shrieks out at the inevitable results of
that degradation. I have often heard wealthy men and
women talk about the discontent and the restlessness of the
poor; I have heard them prattle about the necessity of
“keeping the people down;” I have heard polite and
refined sneers at the folly and the tiresome enthusiasm of
the political agitator, and half-jesting wishes that “the whole
tribe of agitators ” would become extinct. And as I have
listened, and have seen the luxury around the speakers; as
I have noted the smooth current of their lives, and marked
the irritation displayed at some petty mischance which for a
moment ruffled its even flow; as I have seen all this, and then
remembered the miserable homes that I have known, the
squalor and the hideous poverty, the hunger and the pain,
I have thought to myself that if I could take the speakers,
and could plunge them down into the life which the despised
“ masses ” live, that the braver-hearted of them would turn
into turbulent demagogues, while the weaker-spirited would
sink down into hopeless drunkenness and pauperism. These
rich ones do not mean to be cruel when they sneer at the
complaints of the poor, and they are unconscious of the
misery which underlies and gives force to the agitation
which disturbs their serenity; they do not understand how
the subjects which seem to them so dry are thrilling with
living interest to the poor who listen to the “ demagogue,”
or how 'his keenest thrusts are pointed in the smithy of
human pain. They are only thoughtless, only careless,
only indifferent; and meanwhile the smothered murmuring
going on around them, and grim Want and Pain and
Despair are the phantom forms which are undermining their
palaces; and “ they eat, they drink, they marry, and are
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5
given in marriage,” heedless of the gathering river which is
beginning to overflow its banks, and which, if it be not
drained off in time, will “ sweep them all away.” If they
knew their best friends, they would bless the popular
leaders, who are striving to win social and political reforms,
and so to avert a revolution.
The French Revolution is so often flung, by ignorant
people, in the teeth of those who are endeavouring to extend
and to consolidate the reign of Freedom, that it can
scarcely be deemed out of place to linger for a moment
on the threshold of the subject, in order to draw from past
experience the lesson, that bloodshed and civil war do not
spring from wise and large measures of reform, but from the
hopelessness of winning relief except by force, from over
taxation, from unjust social inequality, from the’grinding of
poverty, from the despair and from the misery of the people.
It shows extremest folly to decline to study the causes of
great catastrophes, to reject the experience won by the
misfortunes and by the mistakes of others, and to refuse to
profit by the lessons of the past.
Of course I do not mean to say, and I should be very
sorry to persuade any one to think, that our state to-day in
England is as bad as that from which France was only
delivered through the frightful agony of the Revolution.
But we have in England, as we shall see as we go on, many
of the abuses left of that feudal system which the Revolution
destroyed for ever in France. The feudal system was spread
all over Europe in the Middle Ages, those Dark Ages when
all sense of equal justice and of liberty was dead. It con
centrated all power in the hands of the few; it took no
account of the masses of the people; it handed over the
poor, bound hand and foot, to the power of the feudal
superior, and it cultivated that haughty spirit of disdainful
contempt for labour, which is still, unfortunately, only too
widely spread throughout our middle and upper classes in
England. This system gradually lost its harsher features
among ourselves ; but in France it endured up to the time
of the Revolution; and in this system, added to the fearful
weight of taxation under which the people were absolutely
crushed and starved to death, lies the secret of the blood
shed of the Revolution.
Therefore, before passing on to the parallel between our
state and that of ante-revolutionary France, I would fain put
into the mouths of our friends an answer to those who say
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that the excesses of the French Revolution are the necessary
outcome of free thought in religion and of free action in
politics. It is perfectly true that the determination to
shake off a cruel and unjust yoke was implanted in the
bosoms of the French people by the writings of those who
are commonly called the Encyclopaedists. These men were
Freethinkers; some of them—as Holbach and Diderot—
might fairly be called Atheists ; some were nothing of the
kind. These men taught the French people to think; they
nurtured in their breasts a spirit of self-reliance; they roused
a spirit of defiance. These /men rang the tocsin which
awoke France, and so far it is true that Freethought pro
duced the Revolution, and so far Freethought may well be
proud of her work. But not to Freethought, not to Liberty,
must be ascribed the excesses which stained a revolution
that was in its beginning, that might have been throughout,
so purely glorious. For do you know what French Feudal
ism was ? Do you know what those terrible rights were,
which have branded so deeply into the French peasant’s
heart the hatred of the old nobility, that even to the present
day he will hiss out between clenched teeth the word
“ aristocrat,” with a passionate hatred which one hundred
years of freedom have not ’quenched ?
In the reign of Louis XIV. there was a Count, the Comte
de Charolois, who used to shoot down, for his amusement,
the peasants who had climbed into trees,-and the tilers who
were mending roofs. The chasse aux paysans, as it was
pleasantly termed, the “ hunt of peasants,” was remembered
by an old man who was in Paris during the Revolution as
one of the amusements of the nobility in his youth. True,
these acts were but the acts of a few; but they were done,
and the people dared not strike back Then there was
another right, a right which outraged ’ all humanity, and
which gave to the lord the first claim to the serf’s bride.
The terrible story in Charles Dickens’s “Tale of Two
Cities ” is no fiction, except in details, if we may judge from
some of the chronicles of the time. (Dufaure gives many
interesting details on French feudalism.) Then they might
harness the serfs, like cattle, to their carts; they might keep
them awake all night beating the trenches round their
castles, lest noble slumbers should be disturbed by the
croaking of the frogs. When any one throws in*lhe Radical’s
teeth the excesses of the French Revolution, let the Radical
answer him back with these rights, and ask if it is to be
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'wondered at that men struck hard, when the outrages and
the oppressions of centuries were revenged in a few wild
months ? Marvel not at the short madness that broke out
at. last; marvel rather at the cowardice which bore in
■silence for so long.
I pass from these hideous rights of feudalism to its milder
■features, as they existed in France before the Revolution,
and as they exist among us to-day in England. The laws
by which land is held and transmitted, the rights of the
first-born son, the laying-on of taxation by those who do
not represent the tax-payer, a standing army in which birth
helps promotion, the Game Laws—all these are relics of
■feudalism, relics which need to be swept away. It is on
the existence of these that I ground my plea for wider
freedom ; it is on these that I rely to prove that Civil and
Religious Liberty are still very imperfect among ourselves.
In France, before the revolution, people in general, king,
queen, lords, clergy, thought that things were going on very
■nicely, and very comfortably. True, keener-sighted men
saw in the misery of the masses the threatened ruin of the
throne. True, even Royalty itself, in the haggard faces
and gaunt forms that pressed cheering round its carriages,
■read traces of grinding poverty, of insufficient food. True,
some faint rumour even reached the court, amid its luxury,
that the houses of the people were not all they should be,
nay, that many of them were wretched huts, not fit for cattle.
But what of that ? There was no open rebellion; there
was no open disloyalty. What disloyalty there was, was
confined to the lower orders, and showed itself by a fancy
of the people to gather into Republican clubs, and other
such societies, where loyalty to the Crown was not the lesson
which they learned from the speakers’ lips. But such dis
loyalty could of course be crushed out at any moment, and
the court went gaily on its way, careless of the low, dull
growling in the distance which told of the coming storm.
We, in England, to-day, are quite at ease. True, some of
our labourers are paid starvation-wages of ios., iis., 12s.,
a week, but again I ask, what of that? Has not Mr. Fraser
Grove, late M.P., told the South Wiltshire farmers that they
had a right to reduce the labourer’s wage to ns. a week, if
he could livp upon it; and, if he did not like it, he could
take his labour to other markets ? Why should the labourer
complain, so long as he is allowed to live? Then the houses
of our people are scarcely all that they should be. I have
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been into some so-called homes, composed of two smalF
rooms, in one of which father and mother, boys and girls
growing up into manhood and womanhood, were obliged
to sleep in the one room, even in the one bed. I have seen
a room in which slept four generations, the great-grandfather
and his wife, the grandmother (unmarried), the mother (un
married), and the little child of the latter, and in addition to
these relatives, the room also afforded sleeping accommoda
tion to three men lodgers. Yet people talk about the “im
morality of the agricultural poor,” as though people could
be anything except immoral, when the lads and lasses have.
to grow up without any possibility of being even decent,
much less with any possibility of retaining the smallest
shred of natural modesty. The only marvel is how, among
our poor, there do grow up now and then fair and pure
blossoms, worthy of the most carefully-guarded homes. But
avery short time since there were worse hovels even than those
I have mentioned. Down at Woolwich there were “homes”
composed of one small room, 12 feet by 12, and 8J feet
high in the middle of the sloping roof, and the huts were
built of bad brick, the damp of which sweated slowly
through the whitewash, and the floor was made of beaten
earth, lower in level than the ground outside, and in front
of the fire they kept a plank all day baking warm and dry,
in order that at night they might put it into the bed, tokeep the sleeper next the wall from being wet through by
the drippings as he slept. And in other such huts as* these
four families lived together, with no partition put up between
them, save such poor rags as some lingering feeling of de
cency might lead them to hang up for themselves—and
these huts, these miserable huts, were the property of
Government, and in them were housed her Majesty’s married
soldiers, housed in such abodes as her Majesty would not
allow her cattle to occupy near Windsor or near
Balmoral. Yet among us there is no open rebellion; there
is no open disloyalty. Among us, too, what disloyalty there
is, is chiefly confined to the lower orders, and that, as every
one knows, can be snuffed out at a moment’s notice.
Among us, it also shows itself in that fancy of the people to
gather into Republican clubs and other such societies,
where loyalty to the Crown is not the lesson most enforced
by the speakers. The quiet, slow alienation of the people
from the Throne is going on unobserved ; a people who
are loyal to a monarchy will not form themselves into Repub
�CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
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lican Clubs; yet our rulers never dream that the people'are
•discontented, and. that these clubs are signs of the times.
They fancy that the agitation is only the work of the few,
and that there is no widely-spread disaffection behind the
Republican teachers; only the leaders of popular move
ments know the vast force which they can wield in case
of need, but the Government will never listen to these men,
any more than in France they would listen to Mirabeau,
until it was too late. Yet do sensible people think that a
• soUjpd and a healthy society can rest upon the misery of the
masses? and do our rulers think that palaces stand firm
when they are built up upon such hovels-as those which I
have described? It appears they do ; for our Queen
and our Princes seem to believe in the lip-loyalty of
the crowds which cheer them when they make us happy
by driving through our streets, loyalty that springs
from the thougl^essness of custom, and not from true
and manly reverence for real worth. For I would not
be thought to ' disparage the sentiment of loyalty; I
hold it to be one of the fairest blossoms' which flower
•on the emotional side of the nature of man. Loyalty
to principle, loyalty to a great cause, loyalty to some true
leader, crowned king of men by reason of his virtue, of his
» genius, of his strength—such loyalty as this it is no shame
■for a freeman to yield, such loyalty as this has, in all ages
of the world, inspired men to the noblest self-devotion,
nerved men to the most heroic self-sacrifice. But just as
•only those things which are valuable in themselves are
-thought worthy of imitation in baser metal, so is this
irue,golden loyalty imitated by the pinchbeck loyalty, which
shouts in our streets. For what true loyalty is possible from
us towards the House of Brunswick ? Loyalty to virtue ?
as enshrined in a Prince of Wales ? loyalty to liberality,
and to delicacy of sentiment ? as exemplified by a Duke of
Edinburgh ? loyalty to any great cause, whose success in
this generation is bound up with the life oi any member of
our Royal House ? «The very questions send a ripple of
, laughter through any assemblage of Englishmen, and they
•Sare beginning to feel, at last, that true loyalty can only be
paid to some man who stands head and shoulders above
his fellows, and not to some poor dwarf, whom we can only
see over the heads of the crowd, because he stands on the
artificial elevation of a throne.
The court in France was very extravagant: it spent
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^34,000,000 in eight years, while the people were starving;our princes do not spend so much ; they dare not; but that,
the spirit is the same is clearly seen when a wealthy queen
sends to Parliament to dower her sons and her daughters r.
when the scions of a family so rich as are the Brunswicks,
become beggars to the nation, and pensioners on the pockets
of the poor. However, courts are expensive things, and if.
we want them we must be content to pay for them. Now,
in France, the nobles, the clergy, the great landed proprie
tors, paid next to nothing: the heavy burden of taxation
fell upon the poor. But the poor had not much money1
which they could pay out to the State, and it is not easy toempty already empty pockets with any satisfactory results
so, in France, they hit upon the ingenious system called
indirect taxation; they imposed taxes upon the necessaries
of life; they squeezed money out of the food which the
people were obliged to buy. Also, those^who imposed the
taxes were not those who paid them : tney laid on heavy
burdens, which they themselves did not touch with one of
their fingers. We, in England, also think that it conducesto the cheerful paying of taxes that they should be laid
chiefly upon those who have no voice wherewith to com
plain of their incidence in Parliament. If you want to
knock a man down, it is very wise to choose a dumb man,
who cannot raise a cry for help. A large portion of the
working, classes, and all women, have no votes in the election
of members of Parliament, and have therefore no voice in
the imposition of the taxes which they are, nevertheless,
obliged to pay. It is a long time since Pitt told us
that “ taxation without representation is robberyit is a
yet longer time since John Hampden taught us how toresist the payment of an unjust tax, and yet we are still
such cravens, or else so indifferent, that we pay millions a
year in taxation, without determining that we will have a.
voice in the control of our own income. We are crushed
under a heavy and a yearly increasing national expenditure,
partly because of our extravagant administration, partly
because the burden falls unequally, weighing on the poor
more than upon the rich, and wholly because we have not
brotherhood enough to combine together, nor manhood
enough to say that these things shall not be. Our system
of taxation is radically vicious in principle, because it must
of necessity fall unequally. Those who impose the burdens
know perfectly well that it is impossible for the poor to
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refuse to pay indirect taxes, however onerous those taxes
may be : they must buy the necessary articles of food,
whether those articles be taxed or no; a refusal to pay is
impracticable, and no combination to abstain from buying is
possible, because the things taxed are the necessaries of life.
Yet as long as indirect taxation is permitted—and the major
part of our annual revenue is drawn from Customs and from
Excise—so long must taxation crush the poor, while it falls
lightly on the rich.
On this point I direct your attention to the following ex
tract* taken from the Liverpool Financial Reformer, and
quoted by Mr. Charles Watts in his “ Government and the
People —
“ A recent writer in the Liverpool Financial Reformer,
divided the community into three divisions—first, the aristo
cratic, represented by those who have an annual income of
^1,000 and upwards ; the middle classes were represented by
those who had incofties from ^ioo to /’i,ooo; and the artisan
or working classes were those who were supposed to have in
comes under ,£ioo per year. He then assessed their incomes
respectively at ^£208,385,000 ; ^£174,579,000; and ^149,745,000.
Towards the taxation, each division paid as follows. The
aristocratic portion contributed ff ,500,000, the middle classes
^19,513,453, and the working classes ^£32,861,474. The writer
remarks : ‘ The burden of the revenue, as it is here shown to
fall on the different classes, may not be fractionally accurate,
either on the one side or the other, for that is an impossibility
in the case, but it is sufficiently so to afford a fair representation
in reference to those classes on whom the burden chiefly falls.
Passing over the middle classes, who thus probably contribute
about their share, the result in regard to the upper and lower
classes stands thus :—Amount which should be paid to the
reveime by the higher classes (that is, the classes above
^1,000 a year), ^£23,437,688 ; amount which they do pay,
,£8,500,000; leaving a difference of ^£14.937,688, so that
the higher classes are paying nearly ^£15,000,000 less than their
fair share of taxation. Amount which should be paid by the
working classes (or those having incomes below ^£100),
^16,846,312 ; amount which they do pay, ,£32,861.474 ;
making a difference of ^16,015,162; so that the working
classes are paying about ,£16,000.000 more than their fair
share. In other words, the respective average rates paid upon
the assessable income of the two classes are—by the higher
classes, iod. per pound ; the working classes, 4s. 4d. That
is to say, the working classes are paying at a rate five times
more heavily than the wealthy classes.5 55
The whole system of laying taxes on the necessaries of life
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CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTV.
is radically vicious in principle; to tax the necessaries of
life is to sap the strength and to shorten the life of those
men and those women on whose strength and whose life
the prosperity of the country depends; it is to enfeeble the
growing generation; it is to make the children pale and
stunted; it is, in fact, to undermine the constitution of the
wealth-producers. To tax food is to tax life itself, instead
of taxing incomes; it is a financial system which is, at once,
cruel and suicidal. As a matter of fact, taxes taken off
food have not decreased the revenue, and when this policy
of taxing food shall have become a thing of the past, then
a healthier and more strongly-framed nation will bear with
ease all the necessary burdens of the State. Indirect taxa
tion is also bad, because it implies a number of small taxes
(some of which are scarcely worth the cost of collecting),
and thus necessitates the employment of a numerous staff
of officials, whereas one large direct tax would be more
easily gathered in.
It is also bad, because, with indirect taxation, it is
almost impossible for a man to know what he really
does pay towards the support of the State. It is right and
just that every citizen in a free country should consciously
contribute to the maintenance of the Government which he
has himself placed over him; but when he knows exactly
what he is paying, he will probably think it worth while to
examine into the national expenditure, and to insist on a
wise economy in the public service. I do not mean the
kind of economy which is so relished by Governments, the
economy which dismisses skilled workmen, whose work is
needed, while it retains sinecures for personages in high
places; but I mean that just and wise economy which gives
good pay for honest work, but which refuses to pay dukes,
earls, even princes, for doing nothing, This great problem
of fair and equal taxation ought to be thoroughly studied
and thought over by every citizen ; few infringements on
equal liberty are so fraught with harm and misery as arc
those which pass almost unnoticed under the head of
■* collection of the revenue few reforms are so urgently
needed as a reform of our financial system, and a fair adjust
ment of the burdens of taxation.
In France they had Game Laws. If the season were
cold the farmers might not mow their hay at the proper
time, lest the birds should lack cover; they might not hoe
the com, lest they should break the partridge eggs; the
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birds fed off the crops, and they might not shoot or trap
them; if they transgressed the Game Laws they were sent
to the galleys; herds of wild boarand red deer roamed over the
■country, and the farmers and the peasants were forbidden to
interfere with them. Englishmen! who call yourselves free,
do you imagine that these relics of barbarism, swept away
by the French Revolution in one memorable night, are
nothing but archaeological curiosities, archaic remains, fossil
ised memorials of a long-past tyranny ? On the contrary,
pur Game Laws in England are as harsh as those I have
cited to you, and the worst facts I am going to relate you
have no parallel in the history of France. These cases are
so shameful that they ought to have raised a shout of exe
cration through the land ; they have been covered up, and
hushed up, as far as possible, and I have taken them from a
Parliamentary Blue-book; and I have taken them thence
• myself, because I would not quote at second-hand deeds so
■disgraceful, that had.I not read them in the dry pages of a
Parliamentary Commission I should have fancied that they
had been either carelessly or purposely exaggerated in order
to point a tirade against the rich. I allude to the deerforests of Scotland.
But before dealing with these it is interesting to note
the curious points of similarity between our Game Laws
and those of the French. In France, they were some
times forbidden to mow the hay because of the cover
it yielded to the birds : in England, you will sometimes find
a clause inserted in the lease of a farm, binding the farmer
to reap with the sickle instead of with the sbythe, that is, to
reap with an instrument that does not cut the corn-stalks off
close to the ground, so that cover may be left for'the birds ;
thus the farmers’ profits are decreased by the amount of
straw which is left to rot in the ground for the landlord’s
amusement. In France, the game might not be touched
even if the crops were damaged;’ in England, the hares may
ruin a young plantation, and the farmer may not snare or
shoot them. In France, those who transgressed the Game
Laws were sent to the galleys; in England, we send them
to prison with hard labour, and we actually pay for the
manufacture of 10,000 criminals every year, in order that
our Princes of Wales and our landed proprietors may make
it the business of their lives “ to shoot poultry.” In France,
.. the herds of wild boar and red deer might not be molested;
in England we manage these things better; we have, un
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CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
fortunately, no wild boar, but we-clear our farmers and our
peasants out of the way in order that we may be sure that
our deer are not interfered with. As the son of a Highland
proprietor said, when planning a new deer-forest: “ the first
thing to do, you know, is to clear out the people.” The first
thing to do is to clear out the people I Yes ! clear out the
people : the people, who have lived on the land for years,,
and who have learned to love it as though they had been
born landowners ; the people who have tilled and cultivated
it, making it laugh out into cornfields which have fed hun
dreds of the poor ; the people, who have wrought on it, and
toiled with plough and spade; turn out the people and
make way for the animals; level the homes of the people
and make a hunting ground for the rich. “ It is no deerforest if the farmers are all there,” said a witness before the
Commission; and so you see the farmers must go, for of
course it is necessary that we should have deer-forests. No
less than forty families, owning seven thousand sheep,
seven thousand goats, and two hundred head of cattle,
were turned out from their homes in the time of the
present Marquis of Huntly’s grandfather, their houses were
pulled down, and their land was planted with fir-trees ;
some of the leases were bought up; in cases where they
had expired the people were bidden go. And thus it comes
to pass, according to the evidence of one witness—a witness
whom members of the Commission tried hard to browbeat,
but whose evidence they utterly failed to shake—thus it
comes to pass that “ you see in, the deer-forests the ruins,
of numerous hamlets, with the grass growing over them.”
A pathetic picture of homes laid desolate, of the fair course
of peaceful lives roughly broken into; of helpless and
oppressed people, of selfish and greedy wealth. “ From
Glentanar, thirty miles from Aberdeen, you can walk in
forests until you come to the Atlantic.” And this evil is
growing rapidly; in 1812 there were only five deer-forests
in Scotland: in 1873 there were seventy. In 1870,
1,320,000 acres of land were forest; in 1S73, there were
2,000,000 acres thus rendered useless. Under these cir
cumstances, it is scarcely to be wondered at that the popu
lation is decreasing; the population of Argyleshire in 1831
was 103,330 ; in 1871, forty years later, when it ought to
have largely increased, it had, on the contrary, decreased to
755635 > in Inverness it was 94,983 ; during the same time?
it has gone down to 87,480.
�CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
15-
But this is not all. While some farmers and peasants are
“ cleared out ” altogether, those who are allowed to remain
suffer much from the depredations of the deer and other
game. In Aberdeenshire alone no less than 291 farmers
complained of the enormous damage that was done to their
crops by the deer. The deer-forest is not generally fenced
in ; and as deer are very partial to turnips, it naturally follows
that the herds come out of the forest and feed off the
farmers’ crops. One proprietor graciously states that he
does his best to keep the deer away from the farms, but—
judging by the complaints of the farmers—these laudable
efforts scarcely appear to be crowned with the success
that they deserve. Not only, however, do the deer stray
out of the forests, but the farmers’ sheep stray in, and as
sheep are not game he is not permitted to follow them to
fetch them out. When such evidence as this comes out,
and we know the pressure that is put upon tenants by their
landlords, and the danger they run by giving offence to their
powerful masters, we can judge how much more remains
behind of which we know nothing. And, in the name of'
common justice; what is all this for? Why should a farmer
be compelled to keep his landlord’s game for him ? Why
should the farmer’s crops suffer to amuse a man who does
nothing except inherit land ? This wide-spread loss, these
desolated homes, these ruined lives, what mighty national
benefit have these miseries bought for England ? They all,
occur in order that a few rich men may occasionally—whenother pleasures pall on the jaded taste, and ennui becomes
insupportable—have the novel excitement of shooting at
a stag. Verily we have a right to boast of our freedom
when thousands of citizens suffer for the sake of the amuse
ment of the few.
• But these deer-forests do not only injure the unfortunatepeople who are turned out to make room for the deer, and
the farmers who lose the full profit of their labour; to turn
cultivable land into deer-forests is to decrease the food-suffly of
the country.. Some people say that only worthless land isused for this purpose; but this is not true, for pasture-ground
has been turned into forests. In one place, 800 head of'
cattle and 500 sheep were fed upon one quarter of the land
which now supports 750 red deer. That is to say, that 1,300.
animals good for food were nourished by the land which is.
now devoted to the maintenance of 187^ useless deer.
Judge then of the decrease of the food supply of the country
�1.6
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
which is implied in the fact that one-tenth part of Scotland
is now moor and forest. A baillie of Aberdeen calculates
the loss to the country at no less than 20 millions of pounds
of meat annually. In England things are not so bad; but
in England, also, the cultivation of the land wasted in game
preserving would increase to an almost incalculable extent
the food supply of the country. There is the vast estate of
Chillingworth, kept for a few wild cattle, in order that a
Prince of Wales may now and then drive about it, and from
the safe eminence of a cart may have the pleasure of shoot
ing at a bull. But at this point the question of the Game Laws
melts insensibly into that of the Land Laws, for under a
just system of Land Tenure such deeds as these would be
impossible; then, men could not, for their own selfish
amusement, turn sheep-walks into forests, and farms into
moors.
With our great and increasing population it is abso
lutely necessary that all cultivable land should be under
cultivation. To hold uncultivated, land which is capable of
producing bread and meat is a crime against the State. It
is well known to be one of the points of the “ extreme ”
Radical programme that it should be rendered penal to hold
large quantities of cultivable land uncultivated. Then,
instead of sending the cream of our peasantry abroad, to seek
in foreign countries the land which is fenced in from them
at home; instead of driving them to seek from the stranger
the work which is denied to them in the country of their
birth; we should keep Englishmen in England to make
England strong and rich, and give land to the labour which
is starving for work, and labour to the land which is barren
for the lack of it. “ Land to labour, and labour to land ”
ought to be our battle-cry, and should be the motto engraven
on our shield.
But it is impossible to throw land open to labour so long
as the laws render its transmission from seller to buyer so
expensive and so cumbersome a proceeding. It is impossible
also to effect any radical improvement so long as the land
is tied up in the hands of the few fortunate individuals who
are now permitted to monopolise it. Half the land of
England, and four-fifths of the land of Scotland, is owned by
360 families. These few own the land which ought to be
'■devoted to the good of the nation. Land, like air, and like
-all other natural gifts, cannot rightly be held as private
.property. The only property which can justly be claimed
�CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. '
17
in land is the improvement wrought in the soil. When a
man has put labour or money into the land he farms, then
he has a right to the advantages which accrue from his toil
and from his invested capital. But this principle is the very
contrary of that which is embodied in our Land Laws. The
great landowners do nothing for the land they own; they
spend nothing on the soil which maintains them in such
luxury. It is the farmers and the labourers who have a
right to life-tenancy in the soil, or, more exactly, to a
tenancy, lasting as long as they continue to improve
it. The farmer, whose money is put. into the land—
the labourer, whose strength enriches the soil—these are
the men who ought to be the landowners of England. As
it is, the farmer takes a farm; he invests capital in it; he
rises early to superintend his labourers ; the land rewards
him with her riches, she gives him fuller crops and fatter
cattle, and then the landlord steps in, and raises the rent,
and thus absolutely punishes the farmer for his energy and
his thrift. The idle man stands by with his hands in his
pockets, and then claims a share of the profits which accrue
from the busy man’s labour. Meanwhile the labourer—he
whose strong arms have guided the plough, and wielded the
spade, he who has made the harvest and tended the cattle
—what do our just Land Laws give to him ? They give
him a wretched home, a pittance sufficient—generally at
least—to “ keep body and soul together,” parish pay when
he is ill, the workhouse in his old age, and he sleeps at last
in a pauper’s grave. O ! just and beneficent English Law I
To the idle man, the lion’s share of the profits; to the
man who does much, a small share; to the man who
does most of all, just enough to enable him to work for
his masters. But if this gross injustice be pointed out, if
we protest against this crying evil, and declare that these
crimes shall cease in England, then these landowners arise
and complain that we are tampering with the “sacred rights
of property.” Sacred rights of property ! But what of the
more sacred rights of human life ? The life of the poor is
more holy than the property of the rich, and famished men
and women, more worthy of care than the acres of the
nobleman. If these vast estates are fenced in from us by
parchment fences, so that we cannot throw them open to
labour, so that we cannot make the desert places golden
with corn, and rich with sheep and oxen; if these vast
estates are fenced in from us by parchment fences, then I
�is
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
say that the plough must go through the parchment, in order
that the people may have bread.
The maintenance of a standing army, in which birth helps
promotion, is another blot upon our shield. A Duke of
■Cambridge, General Commanding-in-Chief, and Colonel of
four regiments, who holds these offices by virtue of his “ hi^h”
-birth, and in spite of the most palpable incapacity, is°an
absurdity which ought not to be tolerated in a country
which pretends to be free. A Prince of Wales, who has
never seen war, made a Field-Marshal; a Duke of Edinburgh,
•created a Post-Captain; such appointments as these are a
disgrace to the country, and a bitter satire on our army and
■our navy. Carpet-soldiers are useless in time of war, and
they are a burden in time of peace; and to squander
England’s money on such officers as these, simply because
they chance to be born Princes, is a distinct breach of equal
Civil Liberty.
The need of Electoral Reform is well-known to all students
•of politics. No country is free in which all adult citizens
have not a voice in the government. A representation
which is based upon a property qualification is radically
vicious in principle. But not only is our civil liberty
cramped by the fact that the majority of citizens are not
represented at all, but even the poor representation we have
is unequally and unjustly distributed. In one place 136
men return a member to Parliament; in another, 18,000
fail t(jreturn their candidate. In Parliament no members
represent 83,000 voters. The next no represent 1,080,000.
A group of 70,000 voters return 4 members ; another group
■of 70,000 return 80. In one instance, 30,000 voters out
weigh 546,000 in Parliament by a majority of 9. Hence
it follows that a minority of electors rule England, and,
however desirable it may be that minorities should be re
presented, it is surely not desirable that they should rule.
Our present system throws overwhelming power into the
hands of the titled and landowning classes, who, by means
of small and manageable boroughs, are able to outvote the
masses of the people congregated in the large towns. As long
as this is the case, as long as every citizen does not possess
a vote, as long as the few can, by means of unequal dis
tribution of electoral power, control the actions of the
many, so long England is not free, and civil liberty is not
won.
To strike at the House of Lords is to strike at a dying
�CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
19
institution; but dying men sometimes live long, and dying
institutions may last for centuries if only they are nursed
and tended with sufficient care. A. House in the election
-of whose members the people have no voice ; a House
whose members are born into it, instead of winning their
way into it by service to the State ; a House which is built
upon cradles and not upon merit; a House whose delibe
rations may be shared in by fools or by knaves, provided
only that the brow be coronetted—such a House is a dis
grace to a free country, and an outrage on popular liberty.
As might be expected from its constitution, this House
of Lords has ever stood in the path of every needed reform,
until it has been struck out of the way by hidden menace
or by stern command. Is there any abuse whose days are
numbered? be sure it will be defended in the House of
Lords. Is there a monopoly which needs to be abolished?
be sure it will be championed in the House of Lords. Is
there any popular liberty asked for ? be sure it will
be refused in the House of Lords.
Is there any
fetter struck from off the limbs of progress ? be sure that
some cunning smith will be found to weld the fragments
together again, under the name of an amendment, in the
House of Lords. The only use of the thing is, that
it may act as a political barometer by which to prognosticate
the coming weather; that which the House of Lords blesses
is most certainly doomed, while whatever it frowns upon is
-crowned for a speedy triumph. It has not even the merit
of courage, this craven assemblage of toy-players at legisla
tion ; however boldly it roars out its “ No,” a frown from
the House of Commons makes it tremble and yield; like a
reed, it stands upright enough in the calm weather; like a
reed, it bows before the storm-wind of a popular cry. As a
-question of practical politics, the House of'Lords should be
struck at almost rather than the Crown, because the whole
principle of aristocracy is embodied in that House, the
whole fatal notion that the accident of birth gives the right
to rule. Our puppet kings and queens are less directly
injurious to the commonwealth than is this titled House.
The gilded figure-head injures the State-vessel less than the
presence of hands on her tiller-ropes which know naught of
navigation. And with the fall of the House of Lords must
crash down the throne, which is but the ornament upon its
roof, the completion of its elevation; so that when the toy
house has fallen at the breath of the people’s lips, and we
�20
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
can see over the near prospect which it now hides from our
gaze, we shall surely see, with the light of the morning on
her face, with her golden head shining in the sun-rays, with
the day-star on her brow, and the white garments of peace
upon her limbs, with her sceptre wreathed in olive-branches,
and her feet shod with plenty, that fair and glorious
Republic for which we have yearned and toiled sb long.
Having seen the chief blots upon our Civil Liberty, let us
turn our attention to the defects in our religious freedom.
And here I plead, neither as Freethinker nor as Secularist,
but simply as a citizen of a mighty State, and member of a
community which pretends to be free. For every shade of
Nonconformity I plead, from the Roman Catholic to the
Atheist, for all whose consciences do not fit into the mould
provided by the Establishment, and whose thought refuses to
be fettered by the bands of a State religion. I crave for every
man, whatever be his creed, that his freedom of conscience be
held sacred. I ask for every man, whatever be his belief, that he
shall not suffer, in civil matters,for his faith orfor his want offaith.
I demand for every man, whatever be his opinions, that he
shall be able to speak out with honest frankness the results
of honest thought, without forfeiting his rights as citizen,
without destroying his social position, and without troubling
his domestic peace. We have not to-day, in England, the
scourge and the rack, the gibbet and the stake, by which
men’s bodies are tortured to ' improve their souls, but
we have the scourge of calumny and the rack of severed
friendship, we have the gibbet of public scorn, and the stake
of a ruined home, by which we compel conformity to
dogma, and teach men to be hypocrites that they may eat a
piece of bread. The spirit is the same, though the form of
the torture be changed; and many a saddened life,and many
a wrecked hope, bear testimony to the fact that religious
liberty is still but a name, and freedom of thought is still a '
crime. Public opinion, and social feeling, we can but strive
to influence and to improve; what I would lay stress upon
here, is the existence of a certain institution, and of certain
laws,’ which foster this one-sided feeling, and which are a
direct infringement of the rights of the individual conscience.
First and foremost, overshadowing the land by her gigantic
monopoly, is the Church as by law established. This body
—one sect among many sects—is given by law many privi
leges -which are not accorded to any other religious deno
mination. Her ministers are the State-officers of religion;
�CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
21
her highest dignitaries legislate for the whole Empire ;
national graveyards are the property of her clergy; and the
best parts of national buildings are owned by her rectors.
■So long as the State was Christian and orthodox, so long
might the Establishment of the State-religion be defensible,
but the moment that the Church ceased to be co-extensive
with the nation, that same moment did her Establishment
become an injustice to that portion of the nation which did
not conform to her creed. Every liberty won by the Non
conformist has been a blow struck at the reasonableness of
the Establishment. ' She is nothing now but a palpable
anachronism. Jews, Roman Catholics, even “Infidels”
(provided only that they veil their Infidelity), may sit in
the House of Parliament. They may alter the Church’s
articles, they may define her doctrines, they may change
her creed; she is only the mere creature of the State,
bought by lands and privileges to serve in a gilded slavery.
The truth or the untruth of her doctrines is nothing
to the point. I protest in principle against the establish
ment by the State of any form of religious, or of anti-religious,
belief. The State is no judge in such matters; let every
man follow his own conscience, and worship at what shrine
his reason bids him, and let no man be injured because he
differs from his neighbour’s creed. The Church Establish
ment is an insult to every Roman Catholic, to every Protes
tant dissenter, to every Freethinker, in the Empire. The
national property usurped by the Establishment might
lighten the national burdens, were it otherwise applied, so
that, indirectly, everynon-Churchman is taxed for the support
of a creed in which he does not believe, and for the main
tenance of ministrations by which he does not profit. The
Church must be destroyed, as an Establishment, before
religious equality can be anything more than an empty name.
There are laws upon the Statute Book which grievously
outrage the rights of conscience, and which subject an
“ apostate ”—that is, a person who has been educated in, or
who has professed Christianity, and has subsequently
renounced it—to loss of all civil rights, provided that the
law be put in force against him. The right of excommunica
tion, lodged in the Church, is, I think, a perfectly fair right,
provided that it carry with it no civil penalties whatsoever.
The Church, like any other club, ought to be able to exclude
an objectionable member, but she ought not to be able to call
in the arm of the law to impose non-spiritual penalties. But
�“2
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
*
the apostate loses all civil rights. The law, as laid down
is as follows : “ Enacted by statute 9 and 10, William III ’
cap 32, that if any person educated in, or having made profes’sion of, the Christian religion, shall by writing, printing,
teaching, or advised speaking, assert or maintain there are
more Gods than one, or shall deny the Christian religion to
be true [this Act adds to these offences, that of “denying any
one of the. persons in the Trinity to be God,” but it was
repealed quoad hoc, by 53 George III., c. 60] or the Holy
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be of divine
authority, he shall upon the first offence be rendered in
capable to hold any ecclesiastical, civil, or military office, or
employment, and for the second, be rendered incapable of
bringing any action, or to be guardian, executor, legatee, or
grantee, and shall suffer three years’ imprisonment without
bail. To give room, however, for repentance, if within
four months after the first conviction, the delinquent will, in
open court, publicly renounce his error, he is discharged
for that once from all disabilities.” Some will say that this
law is never put in force j true, public opinion would not
allow of its general enforcement, but it is turned against
those who are poor and weak, while it lets the strong go
free. Besides, it hangs over every sceptic’s head like the
sword of Damocles, and it serves as a threat and menace in
the hand of every cruel and bigoted Churchman, who wants to
■extract any concession from an unbeliever. No law that can
be enforced is obsolete; it may lie dormant fora time, but it
is a sabre, which can at any moment be drawn from the
sheath j the “ obsolete ” law about the Sabbath closed the
Brighton Aquarium, and Rosherville Gardens, and is found
to be quite easy of enforcementj though people would have
laughed, a short time since, at the idea of anyone grumbling at
its presence on the Statute Book. Poor, harmless, half-witted,
Thomas Pooley, in 1857, found the Blasphemy Laws by no
means “a dead letter” in the mouth of Lord Justice Cole
ridge. And there are plenty of other cases of injustice
which have taken, and do take place under these laws, which
might be quoted were it worth while to fill up space with
them, and but little is needed to fan the smouldering fire of
bigotry into a flame, and to put the laws generally in force
once more. . Already threats are heard, murmurs of the old
wicked spirit of persecution, and it behoves us to see to it
that these swords be broken, so that bigots may be unable to
wield them again among us.
,
�CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
23
I do not, as I have said, protest now against these laws as
a Secularist; I challenge them only as unjust disabilities im
posed on men’s consciences, and I appeal to all lovers of liberty
to agitate against them, because they impose civil disabilities
on some forms of religious opinion. And to you, O Chris
tians 1 I would say : fight Freethought, if you will; oppose
Atheism, if you deem it false and injurious to humanity:
strike at us with all your strength on the religious platform ;
it is your right, nay, it is even your duty; but do not seek to
answer our questions by blows from the statute book, nor to
check our search after truth by the arm of the law. I im
peach these laws against “ infidels,” at the bar of public,
opinion, as an infraction of the just liberty of the individual,
as an insult to the dignity of the citizen, as an outrage on
the sacred rights of conscience.
I do not pretend, in the short pages of such a paper
as this, to have done more than to sketch, very briefly
and very imperfectly, the chief defects of our civil and
religious liberty. I have only laid before you a rough draft
of a programme of Reform. Each blot on English liberty
which I have pointed to might well form the sole subject of
an essay ; but I have hoped that, by thus gathering up into
one some few of the many injustices under which we suffer,
I might, perchance, lend definiteness to the aspirations after
Liberty which swell in the breasts of many, and might point,
out to the attacking army some of the most assailable points
of the fortress of bigotry and caste-prejudice, which the
soldiers of Freedom are vowed to assail. I have taken, as
it were, a bird’s-eye view of the battle-ground of the near
future, of that battle-ground on which soon will clash
together the army which fights under the banner of privileges,
and the army which marches under the standard of Liberty.
The issue of that conflict is not doubtful, for Liberty is
immortal and eternal, and her triumph is sure, however it
may be delayed. The beautiful goddess before whom we
bow is ever young with a youth which cannot fade, and
radiant with a glory which nought can dim. Hers is the
promise of the future; hers the fair days that shall dawn
hereafter on a liberated earth; and hers is also the triumph
of to-morrow, if only we, who adore her, if only we can be
true to ourselves and to each other. But they who love her
must work for her, as well as worship her, for labour is the
only prayer to Liberty, and devotion the only praise. To
her we must consecrate our brain-power and our influence
�24
CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
among our fellows ; to her we must sacrifice our time, and,,
if need be, our comfort and our happiness; to her we must,
devote our efforts, and to her the fruits of our toil. And
at last, in the fair, bright future—at last, in the glad to
morrow—amid the shouts of a liberated nation, and the joy
of men and women who see their children free, we shall see
the shining goddess descending from afar, where we have
worshipped her so long, to be the sunshine and the glory of
every British home. And then, O men and women of
England, then, when you have once clasped the knees of
Liberty, and rested your tired brows on her gentle breast,
then cherish and guard her evermore, as you cherish the
bride you have won to your arms, as you guard the wife
whose love is the glory of your manhood, and whose smile
is the sunshine of your home.
Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh, 28, Stone
cutter Street, London, E.C.
�
Dublin Core
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & 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>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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Civil & religious liberty : with some hints taken from the French Revolution; a lecture
Description
An account of the resource
Edition: 2nd ed.
Place of publication: London
Collation: 24 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Creator
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Besant, Annie Wood [1847-1933]
Publisher
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Freethought Publishing Company
Date
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[n.d.]
Identifier
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N062
Subject
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Freedom of religion
Rights
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<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 (Civil & religious liberty : with some hints taken from the French Revolution; a lecture), 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
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Civil Rights
Freedom of Religion
French Revolution
Liberty
NSS
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LIBERTY, EQUALITY,
FRATERNITY.
BY
ANNIE
be s a n t.
THIRD EDITION.
'• ’A
t-
*
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
28, Stonecutter Street, F C.
PRICE ONE PENNY
�LONDON;
PRINTED BT ANNIE BESANT AND CHARLES BRADLAUGH,
28, STONECUTTER STREET, E.C.
�LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY.
Freedom, Justice, Brotherhood : such, in other words,
is the legend which is inscribed on the Republican banner,
which is the motto on the Republican shield. With these
words gleaming on her brow, Republican France fought and
conquered; with this war-cry ringing from her lips, Repub
lican France unsheathed the sword which struck at the
tyrants+of the people, and at “the priests of an evil faith.”
Alas ! that France, maddened by oppression, and by most
cruel outrage, blinded with furious hate and passionate
indignation, conscious that she was strong enough to defy
her gaolers, allowed herself to be betrayed by the emissaries
of monarchs, and permitted some of her citizens to be bribed
by English coin, until the golden letters were tarnished with
blood, and their brightness shone lurid through a mist of
terror. And yet France—glorious in spite of her madness
and of the despair of her anguished fear—France clung fast
to the grandest thought ever struck out of the human soul:
men are free; men are equal; men are brothers. The
shame of the Revolution we fling back on her tyrants ; on
the kings who had made France their playground, and had
rioted while the people were starving; on the nobles who,
evil courtiers, fluttered round an evil monarch, and wrung
from the peasants’ food the money for their feasting, and
took from the poor man’s home its brightest ornaments, the
honour of his wife, and the purity of his daughter ; on the
Church, whose priests were corrupt, and whose Bishops were
the worst of a bad court, foul with the double foulness of a
hypocrisy which knelt to God in order the better to rob
Man. On these be the disgrace of the Reign of Terror,
of the massacres of September. These men had taught the
people that Liberty meant the power to grasp at everything
which gratified the whim of the moment; that Equality
meant that, when possible, those above should be dragged
down to a lower level; that Fraternity meant that brother
should slay the brother and betray the sister. Little wonder
�4
LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY.
that the evil seed bore evil fruit, and that Republican France
did not shake off at once the ingrained habits of France
Monarchical. Yet at the worst she did not torture her
victims, as the Monarchy had tortured Damiens; or commit
them to long-drawn agony, as the Monarchy did with its
Irttres de cachet; the massacres of September were scarce so
bloody as the massacre of St. Bartholomew, or the guillotine
so devouring as the dragonnades of Louis. True, the
B epublic shed the blood of nobles, while the Monarchy
shed only the blood of the people ; there is the secret of the execrations that arise against the Revolution, and of the
hatred which blackens it and defames. In spite of her
faults and her errors, the Republic held fast to the thought
embodied in her motto ; she was based on principles that
were pure and strong; her creed was noble, even though
muttered by lips that were red with blood. And to-iday we
repeat it, we Republicans, enthusiasts, dreamers, as men
call us, we proclaim that the words are true, that the thought
is perfect; we own as the ideal we worship, “ Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity.”
It is well, however, that we should attach to each word of
our motto a clear and distinct meaning, so that we may
never be led away into making an indefensible statement,
or be betrayed into a foolish and untenable position. What
is Liberty ? Not, as some seem to fancy, the power to
impose upon others a political constitution of which they do
not approve, or a form of Government which they do not
desire. Not the fact that our own opinion is uppermost, and
our own ideas triumphant. Not the discovery that we have
grown strong enough to bend the wills of others to our will,
and to make the world as we would wish to see it. Liberty
means that every individual is left perfectly free to follow
his own will, to pursue his own objects in his own fashion,
with no limit whatsoever imposed upon him by others ; this
complete freedom being bounded only by the equally com
plete freedom of every one of his neighbours. Nothing less
than this is liberty; nothing more than this is possible. This
liberty is the birthright of every man and of every woman.
The right to life comes with the fact o. birth; and life
implies something more than mere existence ; it implies the
right to exercise every physical and every mental faculty, to
grow, to develop, to become perfect. No one has a right
to maim another’s body; all admit this ; and yet men claim
a right to maim the faculties of another, to break his mental
�LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY.
5
-arms, and to stunt his mental growth. No man can exercise
his faculties to the fullest extent unless he has complete
freedom to do so ; but no man has a greater right to com
plete freedom than his fellow; and, therefore, we are
■driven to the conclusion that every individual has a right to
complete freedom of action, but that he has no right to infringe
on the complete freedom of any one else. Liberty, then,
implies the right to live the fullest and happiest life of which
the individual is capable by the constitution with which he
is born into the world ; it implies the right to property, to
■all which the individual has acquired for himself by his own
skill and his own power, provided that, in acquiring it, he
has not trespassed on his neighbours either by force or by
fraud; it implies the right to make what contracts or arrange
ments he pleases with other individuals, provided, again, that
the contract contains nothing which trenches on the rights
of other parties. The free man is king of himself, but he is
ruler of none other; self-respecting, he must respect the
rights of others; jealous of his own liberty, he must be
equally jealous of the liberty of every one else; stern
defender of his own dignity, he must equally sternly repress
any personal inclination, or any inclination of the many, to
injure the same dignity which is in each individual alike.
There is no picture of a nation possible to imagine which
is sublimer than this: a nation of men and women, each
free to develop into that beautiful variety which is one of the
marvels and the glories of Nature, each a law to himself,
•each the defender of the liberty of each, strong and digni
fied as only free citizens can be, with the strength which
grows from self-confidence and from confidence in others,
with the dignity which is born of the knowledge that he who
lives on the highest level he can reach, deserves the respect
of his own heart, and wins the respect of all who surround
him.
Equality is a word which is used as carelessly and as lightly
as Liberty, and with as little thought of its only possible
meaning. Equal in natural endowments, equal in possibili
ties of achievement, equal in physical and in mental strength,
equal in moral virility, men are not; in this sense they are
not born equal, in this sense they never can be equal; this
■equality is nowhere found in Nature, for throughout her
mighty realms there is an endless variety, a marvellous
interweaving of higher and lower elements, but never a
dead level of equality, wherein none is afore or after other,
�6
LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY.
none is greater or less than another. As a simple matter
of fact, does any one pretend that men can be born equal
in power and in possibilities? Take the children of
drunken and unhealthy parents, born with enfeebled nerves,
with stunted limbs, with dwarfed brain and diseased blood ;
take the child of hardy, sound, and temperate parents, with
strong round limbs, and well-strung muscles, and all the
bright vitality of young new life thrilling and bounding
within him ; are the two babes born equal ? Could they
be equal under any possible system of government? Let
them be born, if you will, where waves the flag of a true
Republic, and let no factitious superiority raise the one
over the other; let each have a fair chance, and let neither
be unjustly weighted; but Nature, before birth, has handi
capped the one, and there is no equality between them. It
may be pleaded that where equality was recognised and taught,
there drunkenness and criminality would have fewer victims,
and that then our poor little ones, foredoomed to misery and
vice, would be one of the horrors of the past, no longer tobe found in England. Take it that so it would be, as to a
great extent it would be, although no glory of governmental
purity and nobility can raise men without the will of men to
raise themselves; take it so, because the ideal Republic
is not possible until the men and women who are the Re
public have grown into true manhood and true womanhood,
and have left behind the weaknesses of childhood; yet,
even then, no absolute equality will be found ; some brains
will be larger than others, and some bodies stronger than
others ; never will man be as the work of a craftsman,
turned out by the dozen from the same mould. What, then,
does Equality mean, when we place it in our Trinity of
Hope and of Love? Is it only an empty word without
meaning, with the false jingle of which we seek to deceive,
babbling a falsehood which can never be a truth ? Not
so; Equality has a meaning which makes it worthy of its
high place, mid-way between the Freedom and the Brother
hood of Man. Equality is Justice; absolute Justice to all
alike; Justice which denies to none the right which is his;
Justice which gives to none a right which is not his. Equality
means that in rights, all men are equal; that before the law,
all men are equal; that in law-given opportunities, all men
are equal; that in advantages bestowed, all men are equal.
It means that in life’s race none shall start in artificial
advance of another; that, although strength, and agility,.
�LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY.
7
and endurance must tell in the race itself, yet the racers
shall be placed equal at the starting-post; that the supe
riority must be in the runner, and not gained by an advan
tage in the position from which he begins the race. Equality
implies also that men shall really be born more equal than
they are at present, because from our present inequalities,
from our swollen wealth on the one side and from our
ghastly poverty on the other, we actually labour to increase
the slighter inequalities which Nature would produce, and
we literally breed an inferior race with which to fill our
workhouses and our gaols. Where equality of right is
recognised, we shall gradually decrease inequalities of
Nature, and we shall raise the race itself to a higher level,
until, in the march upwards, until, in the developments of
a more glorious Humanity, the poorest and the lowest in
those happier times will be the superiors of the noblest and
the proudest of our heroes of to-day.
There remains Fraternity : Fraternity, without which no
Liberty is possible, except the fierce liberty of the beast of
prey, living alone and in enmity with all; Fraternity, with
out which no Equality can exist, unless it be an equality of
barbarism, where each lives by himself and through himself,
and owes nought to his fellow. For Fraternity none need
plead in theory, although we trample it under our feet in
our daily practice; all acknowledge the beauty of brotherly
love, and all would gladly extend its sway; many are care
less of Liberty, and few seek for Equality, but all would
raise an altar to Fraternity, where the smiling goddess might
sit, garlanded in flowers, with the child Love in her arms,
with the moon Peace at her feet, and clothed with the sun
of Joy. And brotherhood may be cultured among us, yet
more easily than Freedom and Justice ; it is the hand which
shall pluck the others, it is the magic wand which shall
create them. Fraternity binds us together, each to each ;
fraternity is the strong cord which shall give to one the
power of the whole. Liberty and Equality can only be
won by combined effort, and combination is only possible as
brotherhood is recognised and felt. This principle can be
acted upon and spread by each of us : in our homes, in
our lives, we can show its beauty ; by the genial word and
the helpful act; by the mere cordial clasp of the hand, which
recognises the brotherhood of the labourer as reverently as
fliat of the noble ; by the steady refusal to deny the right of
e lowest and most degraded, and the constant readiness
�8
liberty, equality, fraternity.
to own the brotherhood and sisterhood of those whom theworld makes outcasts ; by crushing down jealousy and by
following true greatness loyally; by working hand-in-hand
with others to further every noble cause; by joyful self
sacrifice for the common good, and glad free labour for thebenefit of all, we may so spread the principle of Fraternity
in our ranks that, by the force of unity among us, we may
stand all-powerful for attack, and may wrest Liberty from
the grasp of oppressors, and erect the statue of Equality on
the ruins of privilege and favouritism. Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity: it is our motto, our cry, our badge. As the
Christian wears the cross, and the Mahommedan is known
by the crescent, so might Republicans be known by this
symbol of their creed ; engraven on the ring, on the locket,
on the ornament, it might speak with silent eloquence of
the hope which we struggle to realise, of the faith in which
we work, of the aspirations by which we live; and, dead,
it might hallow our tombs, as the sacred ideal to which we
strove to conform our lives, and as the promise of the dawn
of a gladder to-morrow, which shall be won for those who
come after us by our labour or by our deaths.
�
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & 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>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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Liberty, equality, fraternity
Description
An account of the resource
Edition: 3rd ed.
Place of publication: London
Collation: 8 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Creator
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Besant, Annie Wood [1847-1933]
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Freethought Publishing Company
Date
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[188-?]
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N068
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Republicanism
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Text
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English
Equality
Liberty
NSS
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ZSZ 1 & W o|?
LIBERTY AND MORALITY:
3. ^isrnixrsf
GIVEN AT
SOUTH PLACE'CHAPEL, FINSBURY.
BY
MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A.
Notice.—The proceeds of this Pamphlet will be given by Mr. Conway
to a Testimonial to Mr. Truelove, if such shall be offered, on his
release from prison.
LONDON:
FREETHOUGHT PUBLISHING COMPANY,
28, Stonecutter Street, E.C.
1878.
PRICE THREEPENCE.
�LONDON Z
PRINTED BY ANNIE BESANT AND CHARLES BRADLAUGH,
28, STONECUTTER STREET, E.C.
�LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
Among the most painful phenomena of nature are those of
recurrence in things evil. From the earliest period, man’s
courage has been daunted by the perception that though it
might conquer an evil thing, that thing was pretty sure to
return. Darkness vanished before the dawn, but it returned;
the storm-cloud cleared away, but it came again; the sickly
season might pass, but went its rounds again under its dog
star ; fevers were only intermittent; the cancer was eradi
cated only to reappear; the tyrant might be slain, tyranny
remained. Such phenomena underlie all those ancient
fables which led man up to the conception of Fate—the
doctrine of despair. Hercules might kill any one head of
the nine-headed hydra, but two heads grew in its place; and
when he had burned away all the other heads, one was
immortal, and he could only bury it; but its venomous
breath came up and gave life to venomous creatures after its
kind. Science has, to a large extent, released the European
man from this paralysing notion of fatality in things evil.
Some of the old hydras it has slain altogether. It has
trampled out leprosy, and the black death, and some other
ancient plagues, and civilisation has cleared some regions of
the wolf, the bear, and the worst serpents.
But there are other regions among us—in us—where the
phenomena of evil recurrence are still present and powerful,
and where some bow before them with a feeling of despair.
There are social hydras whose heads seem to be immortal.
Tyranny is a monster that never dies. It has passed into a
proverb that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; and
that is because the spirit of oppression is never destroyed,
and, on its part, is sleeplessly vigilant. Behold here to-day
this great people, whose passion for liberty is recorded in
splendid pages of history, whose resolution to build on these
islands a commonwealth of justice and freedom is written on
every acre of its soil in their heart’s blood, and in royal
blood too; and yet after all those sacrifices and heroic
�4
LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
martyrdoms, the scratch of one man’s pen can run through
the achievements of centuries, and turn the arm of England
to a bulwark of barbarism.
The cause of such recurrences is not far to seek. The
fatality is not in the evil thing, but in some strange popular
hallucination like that which Hercules had about the ninth
hydra head. Instead of killing that, he hid it under a
stone; and, in the same way, whenever in history the AngloSaxon has vanquished a wrong, he has always spared one of
its heads. He hides it away; he calls it obsolete ; but, after
lying still for a long time, up it starts again at the call of
some ambitious partisan, all through this curious disinclina
tion to eradicate a wrong utterly and leave no germ of it
behind. The chief art of reform is to be radical. No un
repealed statute is ever obsolete. The head of every wrong
lives still while its principle is spared, and though it seem
antiquated one day, it may be a “spirited policy” the next.
The evil that is vanquished, but not slain-—only hid—has
not only power of recurrence, but of self-multiplication.
Where one head fell, behold two, or perhaps more. The
resuscitation of irresponsible power anywhere is accom
panied by a corresponding revival of old oppressions gene
rally. Vernacular Press Laws in India, Turkish alliances,
and attacks on free printing at home, have all one neck. If
anyone had told me ten years ago that I should some day
have to defend freedom of thought and of the press in this
metropolis of civil liberty, I should have been as much sur
prised as if he had predicted that we should all be hunting
wolves out of Epping Forest. I should have said to him,
“ Why, John Milton settled all that over two hundred years
ago. Do you mean to say that the time can come again
when a man can personally suffer for his honest thought and
its honest publication ? ”
Such a prophet ten years ago might, indeed, have reminded
us of how often the oppression of intellectual liberty had
recurred since Milton’s time ; of how long Richard Carlile
and his sister lay in Dorchester Gaol for selling Paine’s
works; but he would have been rash, indeed, had he pre
dicted that we should live to assemble in our free societies,
hard by a prison in which an innocent Freethinker lan
guishes, and beside a court which robs a mother of her child
because of her metaphysics.
But now, let me say, such a prophet would have been only
half-right. Though oppression of thought has returned, it
�LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
5
has had to put on such a disguise, that it cannot be universally
recognised. It is, I believe, true that it would be impossible
at this day to punish a man for his opinions in any such
open way as Richard Carlile and Holyoake were punished.*
I will not say such oppression will never return, for as our
Prime Minister once said, the impossible is always coming to
pass; but, at any rate, no attack on free thought or free
printing, open and above-board, could now be made without
very serious and general resistance. This recent oppression
has, if you will allow me the expression, sneaked back; it has
subtly complicated itself with the moral feeling of the com
munity ; it has hid its horns under a white cowl rf purity
it has masked itself as a defender of virtue and suppressor of
vice. By so doing oppression of thought confesses that it
cannot otherwise succeed even in seizing here and there an
exceptional victim.
In the English breast there is but one sentiment higher
than that of liberty—the moral sentiment. Nearer to man
than his nation is his family, and dearer even than the free
dom of his tongue is the purity of his home. As the moral
sentiment when educated makes a nation’s greatness, when
ignorant it becomes a nation’s weakness. All history has
shown that when oppression has been foiled on every other
side, its last resort is to alarm the moral sentiment of the
masses, to confuse their common sense with black spectres of
immorality. In that fear, that confusion, selfish power has
often found a community’s vulnerable heel, and there planted
its fang. We can see through such masks in the past; we
can recognise in many massacres which pretended to defend
virtue the concealed hand of vice; but, alas, the lessons of
history are not yet wisdom for the people, and the old
device may still, it seems, be tried with success. I hardly
need remind you that the recent cases in which Freethought
has been judicially punished were complicated with moral
questions. The priest watched for that opportunity. For
years the mother had promulgated her religious heresies; it
was only when a moral heresy was ascribed to her that his
blow could be struck without recoiling upon himself from
every heart in England that knows what is manly towards
woman, and what is due to a mother. For years, Edward
Truelove, as honest a man as any in England, had openly
sold the books which sent men to prison in the last genera
tion ; it was a book unrelated to the old struggle for free
printing, a book apparently involving moral questions, which
�6
LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
was adroitly used to confuse the public mind and veil this
last stab at the heart of personal liberty.
These things could not have occurred were it not that the
public mind is at sea so far as the precise relation between
liberty and morality is concerned.
The absence from
popular discussions of any clear principle by which liberty
is distinguishable from licentiousness, constitutes a new and
startling danger. For liberty of thought involves liberty of
speech, of printing, and of moral action. Liberty is no
more sacred when it criticises the creed of the community
than when itcriticises moral institutions. Freedom of thought
were an empty name if it did not carry with it the freedom
that brings thought to bear upon the social laws and customs
founded on past and fettered thought. “ Unproductive thought
is no thought at all.” The intellect is man’s instrument for
conforming society and the world to reason and right; and
to restrain its free play among the moral and social super
stitions of mankind were like folding a living seed in
wrappings of a mummy.
Many crimes, it is said, have been committed in the name
of liberty; yes, but never one by the reality of liberty.
Many crimes have been committed in the name of religion,
I but they were none the less irreligious. The very common
mental confusion which regards things evil as only good
pressed too far, is continually shown in the common phrase
about “ liberty degenerating into licence.” That is taking
the name of liberty in vain. You cannot press a good
r principle too far.Liberty cannot degenerate into licentiousI ness; not any more than a diamond can degenerate into
J. glass. Liberty can only be ascribed to a man as member of
society, and means his right to seek happiness, to develop his
nature, to do his duty, all to the best of his ability—in fact,
his right to be a man—without hindrance from others or
from the community, to whose well-being he is loyal. By its
very essence, therefore, liberty can never mean the destruc
tion of others’ liberty, the sway of brute force, or selfish
defiance of the public welfare. You may call that reckless
ness, if you please, or licentiousness, or anarchy, but it has
no relation whatever to human liberty; liberty never runs
to that kind of seed, but, on the contrary, finds in such the
tares and briars that choke its growth.
But how, it may be asked, are we to distinguish the wheat
from the tares ? how discriminate the licentiousness to be
punished from the liberty that is essential ?
I
�LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
7
In the cases that concern freedom of thought and of
printing, the Courts have recently given their answer to the
question—an answer which, I affirm, cannot be maintained,
and which could not be equally applied in any community
without bringing on revolution. A man publishes and sells
a certain book. Somebody dislikes the sentiments of that
book, and believes the perusal of such sentiments would
corrupt the community. He asks the judge to restrain his
neighbour from circulating that book. The judge calls about
him a jury, and asks them if they think the book will tend
to deprave public morals. They say, Yes. Then the judge
orders the book to be suppressed, and the seller of it to be
punished. From first to last, the whole procedure is specu
lative. It is not shown that any injury has been done; it is
not shown, or even suggested, that any evil was intended;
it is a decision based upon the powers of imagination, at best;
more correctly, perhaps, upon capacities for panic.
Such a decision reverses the chief aim of all real law, '
which is to protect the weak from the strong, to protect the !
individual from the brute-force .of majorities It changes
the jury from defenders of rights to inquisitors of opinion. 1
The judges of Athens put Socrates to death on the ground
that his opinions tended to corrupt the youth of that city. The
High Court of Jerusalem sentenced Jesus to death on similar
grounds. Practical Pilate asked, “ What evil hathhe done ?”
—but he got no answer. Jesus had done no evil; he had
only advanced opinions which the majority considered sub
versive of the moral foundations of society. And, in short, i
there is no persecution, no oppression of conscience, no
massacre in history which may not be justified on the prin- i
ciple that you may punish a man for the evils which may be
imaginatively and prospectively attributed to the influence of
his opinions. Nay, all contemporary discussion of vital I
problems, all new ideas, are thus placed at the mercy of
nervous apprehensions. It is very probable that you might
take the first twelve men you happen to meet on the street,
and find that, put on oath, they would .affirm their belief that
the opinions of Dr. Martineau, of the Jewish Rabbins, of
our own chapel, must tend to deprave public morals. Such
doctrines, they would say, by taking away hell, remove the
restraints of fear from human passions, and by denying
authority of the Bible, tend to destroy the influence of the
clergy, of Christianity, and the ten commandments. The
.same arguments which imprisoned Edward Truelove would
�8
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LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
imprison any liberal thinker, if his jury happened to be
orthodox, and the same authority which suppresses one
honestly-written book would suppress another if it happened
to be distasteful to a jury.
It makes no difference that one book deals roughly with
moral conventionalities, while another attacks such as are
theological. That may make a great deal of difference to
.our tastes and sentiments, but none at all as to the principle
of justice. Every idea must have its influence on morals ;
whether that influence will be good or evil, cannot be deter
mined by any foresight, least of all by the prejudices of those
who do not hold that idea, who hate it, and have not impar
tially studied its bearings. Many of the best books in the
world have been pronounced immoral and wicked in their
time, and after it; and if the .average commonplace of any
period, as represented by judges that know only precedents,
and jurors instructed by them, be allowed to suppress all
thoughts and works that do not merely repeat the prevailing
notions, all inquiry is at an end, all progress paralysed.
. What defence, then, has -society against obscene books ?
it may be asked. Are we to allow men under plea of liberty
of the press to send forth a stream of pollution into our
homes, and corrupt the people ?
I answer, No. Every person who is guilty of such an
offence should be punished. Many such have been punished
and nobody has raised any protest, because they really were
guilty. They have never defended their publications. But
you must show a man to be guilty before you can safely
punish him. The verdict of a jury is not infalliable even
then; but we need not quarrel about that: it is the best
means we can have of discovering guilt. The cases would
be very rare where a jury would unanimously affirm wicked
ness in a man whose life has been upright. Where, for in
stance, is the jury willing to swear that they believe Edward
Truelove to be a wicked, corrupt, and malicious man, who for
base and selfish ends has aimed to deprave society and
injure his neighbours ? No such jury could be empannelled'.
in England. In the trial of Mr. Bradlaugh and Mrs. Besant,.
the jury were careful to assert the innocence of the accused,,
and the rectitude of their purpose in publishing the book
they condemned. The judge then compelled them to bring
in a verdict of “ G-uilty; ” forced them to pronounce guilty
persons they had just declared innocent on oath !
Suppose the charge had been one of murder, and the jury
�LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
&
had brought in a verdict, that though the prisoner had killed
a man, it was in the effort to do that man a service, what
would have been said had a judge compelled them to find
that prisoner guilty of murdering the man he was trying to
benefit ? Or suppose, instead of an obscene libel, it had been
a personal libel; suppose a man charged with printing a
libel on another, and the jury declared that the matter printed
was not meant to injure, that it was without malice, put forth
in good faith and purely for the public good, would it be
possible for any judge to turn that into a verdict of guilty—
even if the plaintiff were injured—and to punish a public
benefactor as if he were a criminal ?
There are ordinary civil cases—cases of damages, where
the law rightly ignores the question of intent; but it is not
so in criminal cases. There, character is involved; there
punishment implies guilt; and it is unjust where there is no
guilt. Malice aforethought makes murder; and a guilty
mind must equally characterise every blow aimed at social
virtue. Where the law is violated, the law is compelled to
assume such guilt, because it does not know more than the
appearance; but when innocence is proved—when it is
admitted—it is criminal to act on the technical and dis
proved assumption. Such has been the grievous wrong done
by the recent decisions—criminal intent being arbitrarily
excluded from consideration in each case, when it was the
essence of each case.
So much for the persons involved. But let us recur to
the books indicted. They may not be to your taste or mine ;
they may be contrary to our moral views; that is not th equestion. Have those who believe such views true and i
beneficial to society the right to advocate and advance them !
openly? Has society any right to suppress them by force
because they are unwelcome to the majority ? Once let it be
admitted that the publication is in good faith, meant for the
public good, entirely free from corrupt motive, and it cannot
be suppressed without violation of the fundamental princi
ples of liberty. This would appear at once if such suppres
sion were equitably applied to all works which are liable to
the charge of offending the conventional moral sentiment.
Goethe, being once in Kiel, was invited to attend a meeting
called by some clergymen, for the suppression of obscene
literature. He attended, and proposed that they should begin
with the Bible. That ended the conference, and it was
never heard of again. And that will end all these attempts
�10
LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
to suppress books called immoral by prurient imaginations,
just so soon as the same measure is meted out to Freethinkers
and Bible Societies. Edward Truelove is in gaol, but justice
sees Solomon by his side and those who circulate Solomon ;
and St. Paul also, and Shakespeare, Bocaccio, Montaigne,
Dean Swift, Smollett, Goethe, and many other great men,
who were not afraid to write of the facts of nature; nay,
many naturalists and physiologists of our time and
country would be there with him to-day if equal justice
were done.. There is no difference between the plain speech
in many classic works and in those which have been lately
condemned as immoral, and no difference is alleged between
the motives with which they are all published. The book
may be very able in one case, very poor in another, but the
principles of freedom and right protect them equally. To
contend that a book which is decent for the rich becomes
indecent when priced within reach of the poor, is a mere
insult to the people; it is on a par with the religion which
regards subscribers visiting the Zoological Gardens on
Sunday as pious people, whereas sixpence would make them
Sabbath-breakers.
Unless this nation is prepared to assume that all religious
truth has been attained, it must allow free criticism of popular
opinions, even though the majority say such criticisms destroy
millions of souls. Unless the nation assumes that it has
I reached the supreme social and moral perfection it must
■ allow free criticism of social and moral customs; and if such
1 freedom be accepted as right, all ita results must be accepted.
If the honest Malthusian can be thrown into prison for cor
rupting morals, the honest heretic may be thrown there for
destroying souls. In every branch of inquiry errors will
arise : that is incidental to the search for truth. But Milton
uttered the mature verdict of mankind when he said:
1 “ Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play
upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously,
by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let
her and falsehood grapple. Who ever knew Truth put to the
worse in a free and open encounter ? Her confuting is the
1 best and surest suppressing.”
Nay, confutation by Truth is the only suppression of error.
Persecution only fans it into strength by mingling with its
smoke the glow of martyrdom. In the present cases, several
poor pamphlets have been drawn out of their obscurity and
scattered broadcast through the land; and any man of com-
�LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
11
mon-sense must have known that such would have been the
result of attempting their suppression.
What, then, are we to infer concerning those who have
instituted these recent proceedings ? Are we to suppose they
have not the common-sense to know that they would in
crease enormously the circulation of the opinions they pro
fess to abhor ?
I am sorry to say that, for one, I can not come to so
charitable a theory—not even after the blundering ignorance
shown by their rigidly righteous lawyers. I can not believe
that this is any bond fide effort to suppress immorality.
There are too many signs about it which compel to the
sorrowful conclusion that there has grown up among us
a Society, whose original aim may ha’ve been to suppress
vice, but which has now fallen under control of persons
with other aims. It would appear that to these the circula
tion of many thousands of a book they call vicious is of
little importance compared with making a sensation, and
parading their own spotlessness before the public; and
beyond this, it is to be feared that a still baser influence has
been at work to degrade this association of (originally, no
doubt) well-meaning, though weak-minded people. There is
money in it. A good deal of patronage and wealth has gone
to it in the past, and its agents are highly paid ; and if this
stream of money and patronage is to continue to flow and
gladden the host of agents, they must keep up a show of
activity. They must always be attitudinising as purifiers of
society. If the nests of crime and vice are trampled out,
and the funds begin to fall low, they must try and make
their subscribers think there are nests where there are none ;
and, knowing well how unpopular Freethinkers are, how few
friends they have in high places, they found among them a
book which repeated the details of ordinary physiological
and medical books—a book whose pages, with all their faults,
are nowhere of biblical impurity. It must have brought
their secretaries, and their lawyers, and their secret-service
agents, a golden Pactolus from orthodox purses to thus
prove that the society might do injury to Freethinkers under
cover of attacking immorality. The old privilege of the
orthodox to imprison their opponents—the privilege so loved,
but lost—must seem about to come back again, when it has
been decided that facts familiar in the libraries of medicine
and science cannot be printed by Freethinkers in a form
accessible to the people without imprisonment. They know
I
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,
�12
LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
that many of these Freethinkers value their freedom highly
enough to go to gaol for it, and they are, no doubt, hoping
for more victims and a flourishing business with plenty of
vice to suppress.
For that organisation, which, in its degradation, reveals
that most miserable social gangrene, selfishness and hypocrisy
affecting the sentiments of virtue and philanthropy, I, forone, feel only loathing. But there is nothing new and
nothing very formidable in that kind of thing, and it
reaches its level at last.
Lucifer began, mythologically, as a heavenly detective.
He was the lawyer retained by the gods for the suppression
of vice; and, from long engaging in that business, he
came to love it. When he had nobody to accuse, he was
in distress, and went about accusing innocent people. So he
was called the Accuser. And then he fell lower still, and
went about tempting people to sin, in order that he might
prosecute them ; and then he was called Satan. That was
the course of the first Vice Society, and the end of its
attorney.But while we may smile at these traders in corruption, the
degree to which they have been able to infect the Bench,
and through it large numbers of the least thoughtful people,
supplies grave cause for alarm. There are some ugly chap
ters in English history connected with attempts to suppress
conviction, to throttle its expression under pretence of its
being wicked or immoral. But we are so far away from
those eras, that many hardly remember their lesson ; which is
a pity, for such lessons are costly, and, if forgotten, can
sometimes only be recovered at a heavier cost. The lesson
taught by every effort to repress honest and public discussion
of any subject whatever is, that all such efforts are revolu
tionary. Every honest man in prison is tenfold more
dangerous than fire burning near fire-damp. The majesty of
law is defiled when the innocent are punished deliberately
with the guilty. Edward Truelove, in prisou, has exchanged
places with his judges, and his sentence on them, for their
most immoral judgment, will be affirmed when their decisions
have become byewords of judicial prejudice and folly.
They who menace man’s freedom of thought and speech
are tampering with something more powerful than gun
powder. They who suppress by force even an erroneous book
honestly meant for human welfare, are justifying all the
crimes ever committed against human intelligence ; they are
�LIBERTY AND MORALITY.
13
laying again the trains that have always ended in revolu
tion ; and, right as it is to suppress books notoriously meant
for corruption, and punish the vile who through them
seek selfish ends at cost of the public good, even that is a
task requiring the utmost care and wisdom. Better that
many base men and many bad books escape, than that one
honest woman be robbed of her child by violence calling
itself law, or one honest man suffer the felon’s chain from
the very hand provided for protection of honesty.
�14
READINGS
From Milton’s Areopagitica.
This is not the liberty which we can hope, that no grievance ever
should arise in the Commonwealth: that let no man in this world ex
pect ; but when complaints are freely heard, deeply considered, and
speedily reformed, then is the utmost bound of civil liberty obtained
that wise men look for.
Martin V., by his will, not only prohibited, but was the first that
excommunicated the reading of heretical works; for about that time
Wickliffe and Husse, growing terrible, were they who first drove the
papal court to a stricter policy of prohibiting. Which course Leo X.
and his successors followed, until the Council of Trent and the Spanish:
Inquisition, engendering together, brought forth or perfected these
catalogues and expurging indexes, that rake through the entrails of
many a good old author, with a violation worse than any could be offered
to his tomb.
Nor did they stay in matters heretical, but any subject that was not
to their palate, they either condemned in a prohibition or had it
straight into the new purgatory of an index. To fill up the measure of
encroachment, their last invention was to ordain that no book, pam
phlet, or paper should be printed (as if St. Peter had bequeathed them
the keys of the Press as well as of Paradise) unless it were approved
and licensed under the hands of two or three gluttonous friars...........
“ To the pure all things are pure; ” not only meats and drinks, but all
kinds of knowledge, whether of good or evil; the knowledge cannot
defile, nor consequently the books, if the will and conscience be not
defiled. For books are as meats and viands are, some of good, some of
evil substance; and yet God in that unapocryphal vision said without
exception, “ Rise, Peter, slay and eat;” leaving the choice to each
man’s discretion. Wholesome meats to a vitiated stomach differ little^
or nothing from unwholesome; and best books, to a naughty mind, are
not unapplicable to occasions of evil.
As, therofore, the state of man now is, what wisdom can there be tochoose, what continence to forbear, without the knowledge of evil?
... I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue unexercised and
unbreathed, that never sallies out and seeks her adversary, but slinks
out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not with
out dust and heat. Our sage and serious poet Spenser (whom I dare
be known to think a better teacher than Scotus or Aquinas), describing
true temperance under the person of Guion, brings him in with his
palmer through the Cave of Mammon and the Bower of Earthly Bliss,,
that he might see and know, and yet abstain............ They are not
skilful considerers of human things who imagine to remove sin by
�removing the matter of sin-; for, besides that it is a huge heap,
increasing under the very act of diminishing, though some part of it
may for a time be withdrawn from some persons, it cannot from all, in
such a universal thing as books are; and when this is done, yet the sin
remains entire. Though ye take from a covetous man all his treasure, 1
he has yet one jewel left, ye cannot bereave him of his covetousness. I
Banish all objects of lust, shut up all youth into the severest discipline^
that can be exercised in any hermitage, ye cannot make them chaste
that come not thither so; such great care and wisdom is required to theright managing of this point. Suppose we could expel sin by this
means; look how much we thus expel of sin, so much we expel of
■ virtue, for the matter of them both is the same; remove that, and you
remove them both alike. It would be better done, to learn that the law
must needs be frivolous which goes to restrain things uncertainly yet
equally working to good and evil. And were I the chooser, a dram of
well-doing should be preferred before many times as much the forcible
hindrance of evil-doing.
He who thinks we are to pitch our tent here, and have obtained the
utmost prospect of reformation which the mortal glass wherein we con
template can show us, till we come to beatific vision, that man by this
very opinion declares that he is yet far short of truth..............The
light which we have gained was given us not to be ever staring on, but
by it to discover onward things more remote from our knowledge. . . .
Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself
like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks : me
thinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, and kindling
her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam ; purging and unsealing
her long-abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance, while
the whole noise of Jrmor.Qus and flocking birds, with those also that love
the twilight, flutter about, amazed at—what she means............... The
temple of Janus, with his two controversial faces, might now not unsignificantly be set open............ Let Truth and Falsehood grapple; who
ever knew truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter ?
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & 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>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Liberty and morality: a discourse given at South Place Chapel, Finsbury.
Creator
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Conway, Moncure Daniel [1832-1907.]
Description
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 15 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Annotations in pencil. Printed by Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh. "Notice: The proceeds of this Pamphlet will be given by Mr Conway to a Testimonial to Mr. Truelove, if such shall be offered, on his release from prison'. [Title page]. The last two pages carry an extract from Milton's Areopagitica.
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Freethought Publishing Company
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1878
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G4860
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Ethics
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<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 and morality: a discourse given at South Place Chapel, Finsbury.), 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>
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Text
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English
Evil
Liberty
Morality
-
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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The Political Status of Women. A Plea for Women’s Rights.
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Civil and Religious Liberty, with some Hints taken from
the French Revolution. Sixth Thousand
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The Transvaal
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England, India, and Afghanistan, and The Story of Afghan
istan, bound together in limp cloth ...
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The Story of Afghanistan
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Force no Remedy. An analysis of the Coercion Act (Ire
land) 1882
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Coercion in Ireland and its Results
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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 ...
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London: Freethought Publishing Company, 63, Fleet Street, E.C.
�
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The liberty of man, woman, and child
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Ingersoll, Robert Green [1833-1899]
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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.
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1883
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Human rights
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Human Rights
Liberty
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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 .
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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Victorian Blogging
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Liberty of man, woman, and child
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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.
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Watts & Co.
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1914
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Human rights
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Liberty
NSS
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Text
No. 13.—R. P. A. CHEAP REPRINTS.
A Renowned Work
53
Ol® LIBERTY
BY
T<JOHN STUART MILL
- (PHOTOGRAPHET
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With. Biographical Sketch
WATTS & Co.,
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/Vo. 1.—SECOND EDITION READY.
W
Jesus Christ:
HIS APOSTLES AND DISCIPLES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.
By COUNT CAMILLE DE RENESSE.
W
Of this work 100,000 copies have been sold in France and
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HAECKEL’S CRITICS ANSWERED.
*•-W '
By JOSEPH McCABE,
LATE VERY REV. FATHER ANTONY, O.S.F.
(Translator of Haeckel’s “Riddle of the Universe,” author of “Twelve
Years in a Monastery,” “Modern Rationalism,” etc.)
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�CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Introductory
9
CHAPTER II.
Of the Liberty of Thought
and
Discussion
19
CHAPTER III.
Of Individuality, as one of the Elements of Well-being
46
CHAPTER IV.
Of
the Limits to the
Individual -
Authority of Society over the
- .
60
CHAPTER V.
Applications
74
A
�ON LIBERTY
BY
JOHN STUART MILL
[issued for
the rationalist press association, limited]
WATTS & CO.,
17, JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.
1903
�The grand, leading principle, towards which every argument
unfolded in these pages directly converges, is the absolute and
essential importance of human development in its richest diversity.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt : Sphere and Duties of Government.
�JOHN STUART MILL
John Stuart Mill, philosopher, politi house of Jeremy Bentham; had contributed
cal economist, and reformer—described by to the Traveller • and had written to the
Mr. Gladstone as “the saint of Rationalism” Morning Chronicle letters of protest against
—was born in London on May 20th, 1806. the savage prosecutions for blasphemy
He died at Avignon on May Sth, 1873. which raged so fiercely round the heroic
The sixty-seven years of his life were filled figure of Richard Carlile during the stormy
with strenuous intellectual labour, and with years of reaction which followed Waterloo.
loyal and devoted service to the causes of Professor Bain tells us that when, in 1822,
goodness, humanity, and truth. If it may Mill visited Cambridge, “his immense con
be truly said that to labour is to worship, versational power ” made a deep impression
these were the shrines at which Mill on the undergraduates, notwithstanding
worshipped with a fervour that could not their familiarity with the copious verbal
be surpassed by the devotee of any super resources of Macaulay and Austin.
Mill soon stepped into the wider literary
natural religion.
Under the stern tuition of his father, and philosophical arena in which he was
James Mill—himself an acute thinker, and destined to render so much valuable
a distinguished ■writer—John Stuart Mill service. In 1824 he became a frequent
began to study Greek when he was three contributor to the new Westminster
years old, passed on to Latin in his eighth Review, and acquired considerable reputa
year, and, at the age of twelve, commenced tion as a powerful advocate of the philo
an elaborate course of study in political sophical Radicalism which was associated
economy, logic, and metaphysics. In 1823 with the names of Bentham and Jameshe entered the India House as junior clerk Mill. But it is worthy of note that he had1
in the Examiner’s office, and it is not sur not been converted by his father’s system
prising to find that, at this period, he was of education into a mere intellectual
described as “ a disquisitive youth ” by the machine, or reduced to an empty echo of
Examiner, Thomas Love Peacock, the his father’s thought. Throughout life he
poet and novelist. His intellectual attain was distinguished by extreme candour and
ments were immense. He had read widely honesty of intellect; he was always anxious
on many subjects in Greek, English, Latin, to accord to others the independence and
and French, and was already a logician, a liberty of thought and speech which hemetaphysician, and a political and social claimed for himself; and there was no
reformer. His practical achievements were thinker more ready to admit and to adopt
also remarkable for his years, and seemed whatever might be sound in the argument
to foreshadow an illustrious career. He of an opponent. It was this openness and
had formed a Utilitarian Society at the freedom of mind which led him to widen
�6
JOHN STUART MILL
the somewhat narrow grooves of Benthamic
thought, and, on certain questions, to take
up an attitude with which the original Utili
tarians could have no sympathy.
In 1826 Mill entered on a period of
mental crisis which lasted for two or three
years. Asking himself whether, supposing
all his objects in life were realised, it would
be a great joy and happiness to him, “ an
irrepressible self-consciousness distinctly
answered, ‘No.’” At this his heart sank
within him; “ the end had ceased to charm,
and how could there ever again be any
interest in the means ? I seemed to have
nothing left to live for.” Mill tells us that at
this time he was “ in a dull state of nerves,”
and we agree with Professor Bain that the
crisis was mainly due to physical causes
and to the overworking of the brain. Mr.
W. L. Courtney, in his Life ofJohn Stuart
Mill, describes this period of melancholy
as “ the shipwreck of Rationalism,” but
that is clearly a misstatement. The feeling
that there is nothing worth living for is not
uncommon among young people of a
thoughtful type; it has no necessary
connection either with Rationalism or with
■Christianity ; and Mill’s depression would
not have been removed if he could have
believed that the end of man was to glorify
God and enjoy him for ever. Time, new
and congenial companionships, and the
poetry of Wordsworth and Shelley, formed
the healing influences under which Mill’s
despair slowly passed away, never to return.
This crisis over, he gradually settled
down to the serious work of his life. He
had made rapid progress in the India
House, his salary rising from £30 per
annum, in 1823, to £600 per annum, in
1828; and in 1856 he was appointed
Examiner, with a salary of £2,000 a year.
This post he held until the end of 1858,
when the East India Company was extin
guished by the British Government, and
Mill was superannuated on a pension of
£1,500 per annum. His official duties left
him ample time for his cherished literary
and philosophical pursuits. His industry
was very great. He remarks that his
writings from 1832 to 1834, even if the
newspaper articles were left out, would
make a large volume. For several years,
from 1834 onward, his intellectual energies
were mainly concentrated on his System of
Logic, which was published in 1843, and
ultimately ran through eight editions. No
student of philosophy can afford to neglect
this masterly work. Acute, lucid, and
profound, it has been used as a text-book
at the Universities, and it would be difficult
to overrate its value as a philosophical
presentation of the principles underlying
modern scientific investigation.
The Logic was followed, in 1848, by
Principles of Political Economy, which is,
perhaps, the most interesting and sugges
tive book in the English language on this
great topic. Taking as its foundation
some of the main propositions of Ricardo
and Malthus, Mill adds the ripe results of
his own varied and extensive reading,
thinking, and observation, and applies the
principles of the science in a practical
manner to existing social conditions.
With his introduction to Mrs. John
Taylor in 1831 there had commenced the
most remarkable and most valued friend
ship of his life. Twenty years afterwards,
on the death of her husband, she became
Mill’s wife, and the perfect happiness of
this ideal union remained unbroken until
her death at Avignon in 1858. No one
doubts that the relations which existed
between Mill and Mrs. Taylor during her
first husband’s lifetime were of a purely
platonic character; and it is equally impos
sible to doubt that, while she exerted great
�JOHN STUART MILL
7
influence over Mill, his extravagant lauda member for Westminster, and, although
tions of her genius rested on a very slender scarcely fitted to shine as an orator, he
basis of fact. She appears to have been achieved considerable success by speeches
a woman of considerable ability and of on Reform, on the Cattle Plague Bill, on
a highly sympathetic temperament, and
Irish questions, and on other subjects.
it is probable that Mill, being powerfully He was defeated at the general election of
attracted by her sympathy, was led to take an 1868 by Mr. W. H. Smith (who afterwards
exaggerated view of her talents. He tells us became Conservative leader of the House
that the article on “The Enfranchisement of Commons), and retired, not unwillingly,
of Women ” which appeared in the West- into private life at Avignon. In 1867 he
minster Review for July, 1851, and is published his Subjection of Women, which
reprinted in his Dissertations and Discus is an amplification of the article on “ The
sions, Vol. II., was mainly her production ; Enfranchisement of Women” referred to
and we are able to gather from this essay above. It is a powerful plea for the
that, although possessed of great talent, equality of the sexes, urging that there
she was not the extraordinary genius so should be “ no power or privilege on the
loudly proclaimed by Mill.
one side nor disability on the other.” The
Meanwhile, through all the joys and Autobiography was completed, and the
vicissitudes of private life—personal illness, third of his posthumous Essays on Religion
marriage, bereavement—the current of was written, between the years 1868 and
Mill’s public work flowed steadily onward.
1873The essay On Liberty, which, he tells us,
Mill was educated by his father as a
was the joint production of himself and Rationalist, and he remained a Rationalist
his wife, was published in 1859, after her to the end of his life. As he himself wrote,
death. Charles Kingsley, who read it he was one who had “ not thrown off
through at a sitting, declared that “it made religious belief, but never had it: I grew
him a clearer-headed, braver-minded man up in a negative state with regard to it.”
on the spot.” Between the years 1858 and On the subject of religion, both the Mills
1865 Mill also published several important held opinions which are now included
political and philosophical works, including under the term Agnosticism. But, though
Representative Government, essays on a Rationalist, John Mill, we read, had a
Utilitarianism, and An Examination of favourite text: “ Work while it is day, for
Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy. All the night cometh when no man can work ”;
these books possess permanent value, and and when, shortly before his death, he was
will repay close and careful study. During told that the end was near, he calmly said,
the American Civil War Mill’s sympathies “ My work is done.” Yes, his work was
and interest were strongly enlisted in favour done, and may we not say with truth of
of the North, and, by articles contributed this “saint of Rationalism” that his “works
in 1862 to Fraser's Magazine and the do follow ” him ? He has joined
Westminster Review, he did something to
“ The choir invisible
stem the tide of feeling which ran so
Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence.”
strongly in England on the side of the
Confederate States.
W. B. Columbine.
In 1865 he entered Parliament as
�DEDICATION
To the beloved and deplored memory of her who was the inspirer,
and in part the author, of all that is best in my writings—the friend
and wife whose exalted sense of truth and right was my strongest
incitement, and whose approbation was my chief reward—I dedicate
this volume.
Like all that I have written for many years, it belongs
as much to her as to me; but the work as it stands has had, in a
very insufficient degree, the inestimable advantage of her revision;
some of the most important portions having been reserved for a
more careful re-examination, which they are now never destined to
receive.
Were I but capable of interpreting to the world one half
the great thoughts and noble feelings which are buried in her grave,
I should be the medium of a greater benefit to it than is ever likely
to arise from anything that I can write, unprompted and unassisted
by her all but unrivalled wisdom.
�ON LIBERTY
Chapter I.
INTRODUCTORY
The subject of this Essay is not the socalled Liberty of the Will, so unfortu
nately opposed to the misnamed doctrine
of Philosophical Necessity ; but Civil or
Social Liberty : the nature and limits of
the power which can be legitimately
exercised by society over the individual.
A question seldom stated, and hardly
ever discussed, in general terms, but
which profoundly influences the prac
tical controversies of the age by its latent
presence, and is likely soon to make
itself recognised as the vital question of
the future. It is so far from being new
that, in a certain sense, it has divided
mankind almost from the remotest ages;
but in the stage of progress into which
the more civilised portions of the species
have now entered it presents itself under
new conditions, and requires a different
and more fundamental treatment.
The struggle between Liberty and
Authority is the most conspicuous
feature in the portions of history with
which we are earliest familiar, particu
larly in that of Greece, Rome, and
England. But in old times this contest
was between subjects, or some classes of
subjects, and the Government. By
liberty was meant protection against the
tyranny of the political rulers. The
rulers were conceived (except in some of
the popular Governments of Greece) as
in a necessarily antagonistic position to
the people whom they ruled. They con
sisted of a governing One, or a govern
ing tribe or caste, who derived their
authority from inheritance or conquest,
who, at all events, did not hold it at the
pleasure of the governed, and whose
supremacy men did not venture, perhaps
did not desire, to contest, whatever pre
cautions might be taken against its
oppressive exercise. Their power was
regarded as necessary, but also as highly
dangerous—as a weapon which they
would attempt to use against their sub
jects, no less than against external
enemies. To prevent .the weaker mem
bers of the community from being preyed
upon by innumerable vultures, it was
needful that there should be an animal
of prey stronger than the rest commis
sioned to keep them down. But as the
•king of the vultures •would be no less
bent upon preying on the flock than any
of the minor harpies, it was indispen
sable to be in a perpetual attitude of
defence against his beak and claws. The
aim, therefore, of patriots was to set
limits to the power which the ruler
should be suffered to exercise over the
community; and this limitation was what
they meant by liberty. It was attempted
�IO
ON LIBERTY
in two ways. First, by obtaining a re
cognition of certain immunities, called
political liberties or rights, which it was
to be regarded as a breach of duty in the
ruler to infringe, and which, if he did
infringe, specific resistance, or general
rebellion, was held to be justifiable. A
second, and generally a later, expedient
was the establishment of constitutional
checks, by which the consent of the
community, or of a body of some sort, sup
posed to represent its interests, was made
a necessary condition to some of the more
important acts of the governing power.
To the first of these modes of limitation
the ruling power, in most European
countries, was compelled, more or less, to
submit. It was not so with the second;
and, to attain this—or, when already in
some degree possessed, to attain it more
completely — became everywhere the
principal object of the lovers of liberty.
And so long as mankind were content to
combat one enemy by another, and to
be ruled by a master, on condition of
being guaranteed more or less effica
ciously against his tyranny, they did not
carry their aspirations beyond this point.
A time, however, came, in the progress
of human affairs, when men ceased to
think it a necessity of nature that their
governors should be an independent
power, opposed in interest to themselves.
It appeared to them much better that
the various magistrates of the State should
be their tenants or delegates, revocable
at their pleasure. In that way alone, it
seemed, could they have complete security
that the powers of government would
never be abused to their disadvantage.
By degrees this new demand for elective
and temporary rulers became the promi
nent object of the exertions of the
popular party, wherever any such party
existed; and superseded, to a con
siderable extent, the previous efforts to
limit the power of rulers. As the struggle
proceeded for making the ruling power
emanate from the periodical choice of
the ruled, some persons began to think
that too much importance had been
attached to the limitation of the power
itself.
That (it might seem) was a
resource against rulers whose interests
were habitually opposed to those of the
people. What was now wanted was,
that the rulers should be identified with
the people; that their interest and will
should be the interest and will of the
nation. The nation did not need to be
protected against its own will. There
was no fear of its tyrannising over itself.
Let the rulers be effectually responsible
to it, promptly removable by it, and it
could afford to trust them with power
of which it could itself dictate the use
to be made. The power was but the
nation’s own power, concentrated, and
in a form convenient for exercise. This
mode of thought, or rather perhaps of
feeling, was common among the last
generation of European liberalism, in
the Continental section of which it still
apparently predominates. Those who
admit any limit to what a Government
may do, except in the case of such
Governments as they think ought not to
exist, stand out as brilliant exceptions
among the political thinkers of the Con
tinent. A similar tone of sentiment
might by this time have been prevalent
in our own country if the circumstances
which for a time encouraged it had con
tinued unaltered.
But in political and philosophical
theories, as well as in persons, success
discloses faults and infirmities which
failure might have concealed from obser
vation. The notion, that the people
have no need to limit their power over
�INTRODUCTOR Y
themselves, might seem axiomatic, when
popular government was a thing only
dreamed about, or read of as having
existed at some distant period of the
past. Neither was that notion neces
sarily disturbed by such temporary aber
rations as those of the French Revolu
tion, the worst of which were the work
of an usurping few, and which, in any
case, belonged, not to the permanent
working of popular institutions, but to a
sudden and convulsive outbreak against
monarchical and aristocratic despotism.
In time, however, a democratic republic
came to occupy a large portion of the
earth’s surface, and made itself felt as
one of the most powerful members of
the community of nations; and elective
and responsible government became sub
ject to the observations and criticisms
which wait upon a great existing fact.
It was now’ perceived that such phrases
as “self-government” and “the power
of the people over themselves ” do not
express the true state of the case. The
“ people ” who exercise the pow’er are
not always the same people with those
over whom it is exercised; and the “ selfgovernment ” spoken of is not the
government of each by himself, but of
each by all the rest. The will of the
people, moreover, practically means the
will of the most numerous or the most
active part of the people ; the majority,
or those who succeed in making them
selves accepted as the majority: the
people, consequently, may desire to
oppress a part of their number, and
precautions are as much needed against
this as against any other abuse of power.
The limitation, therefore, of the power of
government over individuals loses none
of its importance w’hen the holders of
pow'er are regularly accountable to the
community—that is, to the strongest party |
ii
therein. This view of things, recom
mending itself equally to the intelligence
of thinkers and to the inclination of
those important classes in European
society to whose real or supposed inte
rests democracy is adverse, has had no
difficulty in establishing itself; and in
political speculations “ the tyranny of the
majority ” is now generally included
among the evils against which society
requires to be on its guard.
Like other tyrannies, the tyranny of
the majority was at first, and is still
vulgarly, held in dread, chiefly as operat
ing through the acts of the public autho
rities. But reflecting persons perceived
that when society is itself the tyrant—society collectively, over the separate
individuals who compose it—its means
of tyrannising are not restricted to the
acts which it may do by the hands of its
political functionaries. Society can and
does execute its own mandates: and if it
issues wrong mandates instead of right,
or any mandates at all in things with
which it ought not to meddle, it practises a
social tyranny more formidable than many
kinds of political oppression, since, though
not usually upheld by such extreme penal
ties, it leaves fewer means of escape,
penetrating much more deeply into the
details of life, and enslaving the soul
itself. Protection, therefore, against the
tyranny of the magistrate is not enough :
there needs protection also against the
tyranny of the prevailing opinion and
feeling; against the tendency of society
to impose, by other means than civil/
penalties, its own ideas and practices as
rules of conduct on those who dissent
from them ; to fetter the development,
and, if possible, prevent the formation,
of any individuality not in harmony with
its ways, and compels all characters to
fashion themselves upon the model of its
�12
ON LIBERTY
own. There is a limit to the legitimate
interference of collective opinion with
individual independence : and to find
that limit, and maintain it against en
croachment, is as indispensable to a
good condition of human affairs as pro
tection against political despotism.
But, though this proposition is not
likely to be contested in general terms,
the practical question, where to place the
limit—how to make the fitting adjust
ment between individual independence
and social control—is a subject on which
nearly everything remains to be done.
All that makes existence valuable to any
one depends on the enforcement of
restraints upon the actions of other
people. Some rules of conduct, there
fore, must be imposed, by law in the
first place, and by opinion on many
things which are not fit subjects for the
operation of law. What these rules
should be is the principal question in
human affairs; but if we except a few of
the most obvious cases, it is one of those
which least progress has been made in
resolving. No two ages, and scarcely
any two countries, have decided it alike;
and the decision of one age or country
is a wonder to another. Yet the people
of any given age and country no more
suspect any difficulty in it than if it were
a subject on which mankind had always
been agreed. The rules which obtain
among themselves appear to them selfevident and self-justifying. This all but
universal illusion is one of the examples
of the magical influence of custom,
which is not only, as the proverb says, a
second nature, but is continually mis
taken for the first. The effect of custom,
in preventing any misgiving respecting
the rules of conduct which mankind
impose on one another, is all the more
complete because the subject is one on
which it is not generally considered
necessary that reasons should be given,
either by one person to others, or by
each to himself. People are accustomed
to believe, and have been encouraged in
the belief by some who aspire to the
character of philosophers, that their
feelings on subjects of this nature are
better than reasons, and render reasons
unnecessary.
The practical principle
which guides them to their opinions on
the regulation of human conduct is the
feeling in each person’s mind that every
body should be required to act as he,
and those with whom he sympathises,
would like them to act. No one, indeed,
acknowledges to himself that his stan
dard of judgment is his own liking; but
an opinion on a point of conduct not
supported by reasons can only count as
one person’s preference; and if the
reasons, when given, are a mere appeal
to a similar preference felt by other
people, it is still only many people’s
liking instead of one. To an ordinary
man, however, his own preference, thus
supported, is not only a perfectly satis
factory reason, but the only one he
generally has for any of his notions of
morality, taste, or propriety which are
not expressly written in his religious
creed; and his chief guide in the inter
pretation even of that. Men’s opinions,
accordingly, on what is laudable or
blameable are affected by all the multi
farious causes which influence their
wishes in regard to the conduct of
others, and which are as numerous as
those which determine their wishes on
any other subject.
Sometimes their
reason—at other times their prejudices
or superstitions : often their social affec
tions, not seldom their anti-social ones,
their envy or jealousy, their arrogance or
contemptuousness: but most commonly,
�INTRODUCTORY
their desires or fears for themselves—
their legitimate or illegitimate self-inte
rest. Wherever there is an ascendant
class, a large portion of the morality of
the country emanates from its class
interests, and its feelings of class supe
riority. The morality between Spartans
and Helots, between planters and
negroes, between princes and subjects,
between nobles and roturiers, between
men and women, has been for the most
part the creation of these class interests
and feelings; and the sentiments thus
generated react in turn upon the moral
feelings of the members of the ascendant
class in their relations among themselves.
Where, on the other hand, a class, for
merly ascendant, has lost its ascendancy,
or where its ascendancy is unpopular, the
prevailing moral sentiments frequently
bear the impress of an impatient dislike
of superiority. Another grand deter
mining principle of the rules of conduct,
both in act and forbearance, which have
been enforced by law or opinion has
been the servility of mankind towards
the supposed preferences or aversions of
their temporal masters or of their gods.
This servility, though essentially selfish,
is not hypocrisy : it gives rise to perfectly
genuine sentiments of abhorrence; it
made men burn magicians and heretics.
Among so many baser influences, the
general and obvious interests of society
have of course had a share, and a large
one, in the direction of the moral senti
ments: less, however, as a matter of
reason, and on their own account, than
as a consequence of the sympathies and
antipathies which grew out of them; and
sympathies and antipathies which had
little or nothing to do with the interests
of society have made themselves felt in
the establishment of moralities with
quite as great force.
13
The likings and dislikings of society,
or of some powerful portion of it, are
thus the main thing which has practi
cally determined the rules laid down for
general observance, under the penalties
of law or opinion. And, in general, those
who have been in advance of society in
thought and feeling have left this con
dition of things unassailed in principle,
however they may have come into con
flict with it in some of its details. They
have occupied themselves rather in inquir
ing what things society ought to like or
dislike than in questioning whether its
likings or dislikings should be a law
to individuals. They preferred endea
vouring to alter the feelings of mankind
on the particular points on which they
were themselves heretical, rather than
make common cause in defence of free
dom, with heretics generally. The only
case in which the higher ground has been
taken on principle and maintained with
consistency, by any but an individual
here and there, is that of religious belief:
a case instructive in many ways, and
not least so as forming a most striking
instance of the fallibility of what is called
the moral sense; for the odium theologicum, in a sincere bigot, is one of the
most unequivocal cases of moral feeling.
Those who first broke the yoke of what
called itself the Universal Church were,
in general, as little willing to permit
difference of religious opinion as that
Church itself. But when the heat of the
conflict was over, without giving a com
plete victory to any party, and each Church
or sect was reduced to limit its hopes
to retaining possession of the ground
it already occupied; minorities, seeing
that they had no chance of becoming
majorities, were under the necessity of
pleading to those whom they could not
convert, for permission to differ. It is
�U
ON LIBERTY
accordingly on this battle field, almost
solely, that the rights of the individual
against society have been asserted on
broad grounds of principle, and the
claim of society to exercise authority
over dissentients openly controverted.
The great writers to whom the world
owes what religious liberty it possesses
have mostly asserted freedom of con
science as an indefeasible right, and
denied absolutely that a human being is
accountable to others for his religious
belief. Yet so natural to mankind is
intolerance in whatever they really care
about that religious freedom has hardly
anywhere been practically realised, except
where religious indifference, which dis
likes to have its peace disturbed by
theological quarrels, has added its weight
to the scale. In the minds of almost all
religious persons, even in the most tole
rant countries, the duty of toleration is
admitted with tacit reserves. One person
will bear with dissent in matters of
Church government, but not of dogma;
another can tolerate everybody, short of
a Papist or an Unitarian ; another, every
one who believes in revealed religion; a
few extend their charity a little further,
but stop at the belief in a God and in a
future state. Wherever the sentiment of
the majority is still genuine and intense,
it is found to have abated little of its
claim to be obeyed.
In England, from the peculiar circum
stances of our political history, though
the yoke of opinion is perhaps heavier,
that of law is lighter, than in most other
countries of Europe; and there is con
siderable jealousy of direct interference,
by the legislative or the executive power,
with private conduct; not so much from
any just regard for the independence of
the individual, as from the still subsisting
habit of looking on the Government as
representing an opposite interest to the
public. The majority have not yet
learnt to feel the power of the Govern
ment their power, or its opinions their
opinions. When they do so, individual
liberty will probably be as much exposed
to invasion from the Government as it
already is from public opinion. But, as
yet, there is a considerable amount of
feeling ready to be called forth against
any attempt of the law to control indi
viduals in things in which they have not
hitherto been accustomed to be con
trolled by it; and this with very little
discrimination as to whether the matter
is, or is not, within the legitimate sphere
of legal control; insomuch that the
feeling, highly salutary on the whole, is
perhaps quite as often misplaced as well
grounded in the particular instances of
its application. There is, in fact, no
recognised principle by which the pro
priety or impropriety of Government inter
ference is customarily tested. People
decide according to their personal pre
ferences. Some, whenever they see any
good to be done, or evil to be remedied,
would willingly instigate the Government
to undertake the business ; while others
prefer to bear almost any amount of
social evil rather than add one to the
departments of human interests amenable
to governmental control. And men
range themselves on one or the other
side in any particular case, according to
this general direction of their sentiments ;
or according to the degree of interest
which they feel in the particular thing
which it is proposed that the Govern
ment should do; or according to the
belief they entertain that the Government
would or would not do it in the manner
they prefer; but very rarely on account
of any opinion to which they consistently
adhere, as to what things are fit to be
�INTRODUCTORY
done by a Government. And it seems
to me that, in consequence of this
absence of rule or principle, one side is
at present as often wrong as the other:
the interference of Government is, with
about equal frequency, improperly in
voked and improperly condemned.
The object of this Essay is to assert
one very simple principle, as entitled to
govern absolutely the dealings of society
with the individual in the way of com
pulsion and control, whether the means
used be physical force in the form of
legal penalties, or the moral coercion of
public opinion. The principle is, that
the sole end for which mankind are
warranted, individually or collectively,
in interfering with the liberty of action
of any of their number is self-protec
tion. That the only purpose for which
power can be rightfully exercised over
any member of a civilised community,
against his will, is to prevent harm to
others. His own good, either physical
or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.
He cannot rightfully be compelled to do
or forbear because it will be better for
him to do so, because it will make him
happier, because, in the opinions of
others, to do so would be wise, or even
right. These are good reasons for
remonstrating with him, or reasoning
with him, or pursuing him, or entreating
him, but not for compelling him, or
visiting him with an evil in case he do
otherwise. To justify that, the conduct
from which it is desired to deter him must
be calculated to produce evil to some one
else. The only part of the conduct of
any one, for which he is amenable to
society, is that which concerns others.
In the part which merely concerns him
self his independence is, of right, abso
lute. Over himself, over his own body
and mind, the individual is sovereign.
15
It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to say
that this doctrine is meant to apply
only to human beings in the maturity of
their faculties. We are not speaking of
children, or of young persons below the
age which the law may fix as that of
manhood or womanhood. Those who
are still in a state to require being taken
care of by others must be protected
against their own actions as well as
against external injury. For the same
reason, we may leave out of considera
tion those backward states of society in
which the race itself may be considered
as in its nonage. The early difficulties
in the way of spontaneous progress are
so great that there is seldom any choice
of means for overcoming them; and a
ruler full of the spirit of improvement is
warranted in the use of any expedients
that will attain an end perhaps other
wise unattainable. Despotism is a legiti
mate mode of government in dealing with
barbarians, provided the end be their
improvement, and the means justified by
actually effecting that end. Liberty, as
a principle, has no application to any
state of things anterior to the time when
mankind have become capable of being
improved by free and equal discussion.
Until then there is nothing for them
but implicit obedience to an Akbar or a
Charlemagne, if they are so fortunate as
to find one. But as soon as mankind
have attained the capacity of being
guided to their own improvement by
conviction or persuasion (a period long
since reached in all nations with whom
we need here concern ourselves), com
pulsion, either in the direct form or in
that of pains and penalties for noncompliance, is no longer admissible as
a means to their own good, and justifi
able only for the security of others.
It is proper to state that I forego any
�i6
ON LIBERTY
advantage which could be derived to my
argument from the idea of abstract right,
as a thing independent of utility. I
regard utility as the ultimate appeal on
all ethical questions; but it must be
utility in the largest sense, grounded on
the permanent interests of a man as a
progressive being. Those interests, I
contend, authorise the subjection of
individual spontaneity to external control
only in respect to those actions of each
which concern the interest of other
people. If any one does an act hurtful
to others, there is a frima facie case for
punishing him, by law, or, where legal
penalities are not safely applicable, by
general disapprobation. There are also
many positive acts for the benefit of
others which he may rightfully be com
pelled to perform—such as to give
evidence in a court of justice; to bear
his fair share in the common defence,
or in any other joint work necessary to
the interest of the society of which he
enjoys the protection; and to perform
certain acts of individual beneficence,
such as saving a fellow-creature’s life, or
interposing to protect the defenceless
against ill-usage—things which, whenever
it is obviously a man’s duty to do, he
may rightfully be made responsible to
society for not doing. A person may
cause evil to others not only by his
actions, but by his inaction; and in either
case he is justly accountable to them for
the injury. The latter case, it is true,
requires a much more cautious exercise
of compulsion than the former.
To
make any one answerable for doing evil
to others is the rule; to make him
answerable for not preventing evil is,
comparatively speaking, the exception.
Yet there are many cases clear enough
and grave enough to justify that excep
tion. In all things which regard the
external relations of the individual he is
jure amenable to those whose inte
rests are concerned, and, if need be, to
society as their protector. There are
often good reasons for not holding him
to the responsibility; but these reasons
must arise from the special expediences
of the case: either because it is a kind
of case in which he is on the whole
likely to act better when left to his own
discretion than when controlled in any
way in which society have it in their
power to control him, or because the
attempt to exercise control would pro
duce other evils greater than those
which it would prevent. When such
reasons as these preclude the enforce
ment of responsibility, the conscience of
the agent himself should step into the
vacant judgment-seat, and protect those
interests of others which have no ex
ternal protection, judging himself all
the more rigidly because the case does
not admit of his being made accountable
to the judgment of his fellow-creatures.
But there is a sphere of action in
which society, as distinguished from the
individual, has, if any, only an indirect
interest—comprehending all that portion
of a person’s life and conduct which
affects only himself, or, if it also affects
others, only with their free, voluntary,
and undeceived consent and participa
tion. When I say only himself, I mean
directly, and in the first instance, for
whatever’ affects himself may affect
others through himself; and the objec
tion which may be grounded on this con
tingency will receive consideration in the
sequel. This, then, is the appropriate
region of human liberty. It comprises,
first, the inward domain of conscious
ness : demanding liberty of conscience,
in the most comprehensive sense ; liberty
of thought and feeling ; absolute freedom
�INTRODUCTORY
of opinion and sentiment on all subjects,
practical or speculative, scientific, moral,
or theological. The liberty of expressing
and publishing opinions may seem to
fall under a different principle, since it
belongs to that part of the conduct of an
individual which concerns other people;
but, being almost of as much importance
as the liberty of thought itself, and resting
in great part on the same reasons, is
practically inseparable from it. Secondly,
the principle requires liberty of tastes
and pursuits; of framing the plan of our
life to suit our own character; of doing
as we like, subject to such consequences
as may follow—without impediment from
our fellow-creatures so long as what we
do does not harm them, even though
they should think our conduct foolish,
perverse, or wrong. Thirdly, from this
liberty of each individual follows the
liberty, within the same limits, of com
bination among individuals ; freedom to
unite, for any purpose not involving harm
to others, the persons combining being
supposed to be of full age, and not forced
or deceived.
No society in which these liberties
are not, on the whole, respected is free,
whatever may be its form of government;
and none is completely free in which
they do not exist absolute and unqualified.
The only freedom which deserves the
name is that of pursuing our own good
in our own way, so long as we do not
attempt to deprive others of theirs, or
impede their efforts to obtain it. Each
is the proper guardian of his own health,
whether bodily or mental and spiritual.
Mankind are greater gainers by suffering
each other to live as seems good to them
selves than by compelling each to live
as seems good to the rest.
Though this doctrine is anything but
new, and, to some persons, may have the
17
air of a truism, there is no doctrine which
stands more directly opposed to the
general tendency of existing opinion and
practice. Society has expended fully as
much effort in the attempt (according to
its lights) to compel people to conform
to its notions of personal as of social
excellence. The ancient commonwealths
thought themselves entitled to practise,
and the ancient philosophers counte
nanced, the regulation of every part of
private conduct by public authority, on
the ground that the State had a deep
interest in the whole bodily and mental
discipline of every one of its citizens—a
mode of thinking which may have been
admissible in small Republics surrounded
by powerful enemies, in constant peril
of being subverted by foreign attack or
internal commotion, and to which even
a short interval of relaxed energy and
self-command might so easily be fatal,
that they could not afford to wait for the
salutary permanent effects of freedom.
In the modern world the greater size of
political communities, and, above all, the
separation between spiritual and temporal
authority (which placed the direction of
men’s consciences in other hands than
those which controlled their worldly
affairs), prevented so great an interference
by law in the details of private life; but
the engines of moral repression have
been wielded more strenuously against
divergence from the reigning opinion in
self-regarding than even in social matters;
religion, the most powerful of the elements
which have entered into the formation of
moral feeling, having almost always been
governed either by the ambition of a
hierarchy, seeking control over every
department of human conduct, or by the
spirit of Puritanism. And some of those
modern reformers who have placed them
selves in strongest opposition to the
c
�i8
ON LIBERTY
religions of the past have been noway
behind either Churches or sects in their
assertion of the right of spiritual domina
tion : M. Comte, in particular, whose
social system, as unfolded in his Systeme
de Politique Positive, aims at establishing
(though by moral more than by legal
appliances) a despotism of society over
the individual surpassing anything con
templated in the political ideal of the
most rigid disciplinarian among the
ancient philosophers.
Apart from the peculiar tenets of in
dividual thinkers, there is also in the
world at large an increasing inclination
to stretch unduly the powers of society
over the individual, both by the force of
opinion and even by that of legislation ;
and as the tendency of all the changes
taking place in the world is to strengthen
society and diminish the power of the
individual, this encroachment is not one
of the evils which tend spontaneously to
disappear, but, on the contrary, to grow
more and more formidable. The dis
position of mankind, whether as rulers
or as fellow-citizens, to impose their own
opinions and inclinations as a rule of
conduct on others, is so energetically
supported by some of the best and by
some of the worst feelings incident to
human nature that it is hardly ever kept
under restraint by anything but want of
power; and as the power is not declin
ing, but growing, unless a strong barrier
of moral conviction can be raised against
the mischief, we must expect, in the
present circumstances of the world, to
see it increase.
It will be convenient for the argument
if, instead of at once entering upon the
general thesis, we confine ouselves, in the
first instance, to a single branch of it, on
which the principle here stated is, if not
fully, yet to a certain point, recognised by
the current opinions. This one branch is
the Liberty of Thought, from which it is
impossible to separate the cognate liberty
of speaking and of writing. Although
these liberties, to some considerable
amount, form part of the political morality
of all countries which profess religious
toleration and free institutions, the
grounds, both philosophical and practical,
on which they rest are perhaps not so
familiar to the general mind, nor so
thoroughly appreciated by many, even of
the leaders of opinion, as might have
been expected. Those grounds, when
rightly understood, are of much wider
application than to only one division of
the subject, and a thorough consideration
of this part of the question will be found
the best introduction to the remainder.
Those to whom nothing which I am about
to say will be new may, therefore, I hope,
excuse me if, on a subject which for now
three centuries has been so often dis
cussed, I venture on one discussion more.
�1
OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
Chapter II.
OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
The time, it is to be hoped, is gone by
when any defence would be necessary of
the “ liberty of the press ” as one of
the securities against corrupt or tyrannical
government. No argument, we may
suppose, can now be needed against
permitting a legislature or an executive,
not identified in interest with the people,
to prescribe opinions to them, and deter
mine what doctrines or what arguments
they shall be allowed to hear. This
aspect of the question, besides, has been
so often and so triumphantly enforced
by preceding writers that it needs not
be especially insisted on in this place.
Though the law of England, on the
subject of the press, is as servile to this
day as it was in the time of the Tudors,
there is little danger of it being actually
put in force against political discussion,
except during some temporary panic,
when fear of insurrection drives ministers
and judges from their propriety / and,
j
1 These words had scarcely been written when,
as if to give them an emphatic contradiction,
occurred the Government Press Prosecutions of
1858. That ill-judged interference with the
liberty of public discussion has not, however,
induced me to alter a single word in the text,
nor has it at all weakened my conviction that,
moments of panic excepted, the era of pains and
penalties for political discussion has, in our own
country, passed away. For, in the first place,
the prosecutions were not persisted in ; and, in
the second, they were never, properly speaking,
political prosecutions. The offence charged was
not that of criticising institutions, or the acts or
persons of rulers, but of circulating what was
deemed an immoral doctrine, the lawfulness of
Tyrannicide.
If the arguments of the present chapter are of
speaking generally, it is not, in constitu
tional countries, to be apprehended that
the Government, whether completely
responsible to the people or not, will
often attempt to control the expression
of opinion, except when in doing so it
makes itself the organ of the general
intolerance of the public.
Let us
suppose, therefore, that the Government
is entirely at one with the people, and
never thinks of exerting any power of
coercion unless in agreement with what
it conceives to be their voice. But
I deny the right of the people to exercise
such coercion, either by themselves or
by their Government. The power itself
any validity, there ought to exist the fullest
liberty of professing and discussing, as a matter
of ethical conviction, any doctrine, however
immoral it may be considered. It would, there
fore, be irrelevant and out of place to examine
here whether the doctrine of Tyrannicide
deserves that title. I shall content myself with
saying that the subject has been at all times one
of the open questions of morals ; that the act
of a private citizen in striking down a criminal
who, by raising himself above the law, has
placed himself beyond the reach of legal punish
ment or control, has been accounted by whole
nations, and by some of the best and wisest of
men, not a crime, but an act of exalted virtue ;
and that, right or wrong, it is not of the nature of
assassination, but of civil war. As such, I hold
that the instigation to it, in a specific case, may
be a proper subject of punishment, but only if
an overt act has followed, and at least a probable
connection can be established between the act
and the instignation. Even then it is not a
foreign Government, but the very Government
assailed, which alone, in the exercise of selfdefence, can legitimately punish attacks directed
against its own existence.
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ON LIBERTY
is illegitimate. The best Government has
no more title to it than the worst. It
is as noxious, or more noxious, when
exerted in accordance with public opinion
than when in opposition to it. If all
mankind minus one were of one opinion,
and only one person were of the contrary
opinion, mankind would be no more
justified in silencing that one person
than he, if he had the power, would be
justified in silencing mankind. Were an
opinion a personal possession of no
value except to the owner; if to be
obstructed in the enjoyment of it were
simply a private injury, it would make
some difference whether the injury was
inflicted only on a few persons or on
many. But the peculiar evil of silencing
the expression of an opinion is that it is
robbing the human race ; posterity as
well as the existing generation; those
who dissent from the opinion, still more
than those who hold it. If the opinion
is right, they are deprived of the oppor
tunity of exchanging error for truth; if
wrong, they lose, what is almost as great
a benefit, the clearer perception and
livelier impression of truth, produced by
its collision with error.
It is necessary to consider separately
these two hypotheses, each of which has
a distinct branch of the argument corre
sponding to it. We can never be sure
that the opinion we are endeavouring to
stifle is a false opinion; and if we were
sure, stifling it would be an evil still.
First, the opinion which it is attempted
to suppress by authority may possibly be
true. Those who desire to suppress it
of course deny its truth ; but they are
not infallible. They have no authority
to decide the question for all mankind,
and exclude every other person from the
means of judging. To refuse a hearing
to an opinion because they are sure that
it is false is to assume that their certainty
is the same thing" as absolute certainty.
All silencing of discussion is an assump
tion of infallibility. Its condemnation may
be allowed to rest on this common argu
ment, not the worse for being common.
Unfortunately for the good sense of
mankind, the fact of their fallibility is far
from carrying the weight in their practical
judgment which is always allowed to
it in theory; for, w’hile every one well
knows himself to be fallible, few think it
necessary to take any precautions against
their own fallibility, or admit the suppo
sition that any opinion of which they
feel very certain may be one of the
examples of the error to which they
acknowledge themselves to be liable.
Absolute princes, or others who are
accustomed to unlimited deference,
usually feel this complete confidence in
their own opinions on nearly all subjects.
People more happily situated, who some
times hear their opinions disputed, and
are not wholly unused to be set right
when they are wrong, place the same
unbounded reliance only on such of
their opinions as are shared by all who
surround them, or to whom they habitu
ally defer ; for in proportion to a man’s
want of confidence in his own solitary
judgment does he usually repose, with
implicit trust, on the infallibility of “ the
world ” in general. And the world, to
each individual, means the part of it with
which he comes in contact—his party,
his sect, his church, his class of society :
the man may be called, by comparison,
almost liberal and large-minded to whom
it means anything so comprehensive as
his own country or his own age. Nor is
his faith in this collective authority at all
shaken by his being aware that other
ages, countries, sects, churches, classes,
�OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
and parties have thought, and even now
think, the exact reverse. He devolves
upon his own world the responsibility of
being in the right against the dissentient
worlds of other people; and it never
troubles him that mere accident has
decided which of these numerous worlds
is the object of his reliance, and that the
same causes which make him a Church
man in London would have made him
a Buddhist or a Confucian in Pekin. Yet
it is as evident in itself as any amount
of argument can make it that ages are
no more infallible than individuals—every
age having held many opinions which
subsequent ages have deemed not only
false but absurd; and it is as certain that
many opinions, now general, will be
rejected by future ages as it is that many,
once general, are rejected by the present.
The objection likely to be made to
this argument would probably take some
such form as the following. There is no
greater asstfmption of infallibility in for
bidding the propagation of error than in
any other thing which is done by public
authority on its own judgment and respon
sibility. Judgment is given to men that
they may use it. Because it may be used
erroneously, are men to be told that they
ought not to use it at all ? To prohibit
what they think pernicious is not claiming
exemption from error, but fulfilling the
duty incumbent on them, although fal
lible, of acting on their conscientious
conviction. If we were never to act on
our opinions because those opinions
may be wrong, we should leave all our
interests uncared for and all our duties
unperformed. An objection which applies
to all conduct can be no valid objection
to any conduct in particular. It is the
duty ot Governments, and of individuals,
to form the truest opinions they can ; to
form them carefully, and never impose
21
them upon others unless they are quite
sure of being right. But when they are
sure (such reasoners may say), it is
not conscientiousness, but cowardice, to
shrink from acting on their opinions, and
allow doctrines which they honestly think
dangerous to the welfare of mankind,
either in this life or in another, to be scat
tered abroad without restraint, because
other people, in less enlightened times,
have persecuted opinions now believed
to be true. Let us take care, it may be
said, not to make the same mistake ; but
Governments and nations have made
mistakes in other things which are not
denied to be fit subjects for the exercise
of authority: they have laid on bad
taxes, made unjust wars. Ought we,
therefore, to lay on no taxes, and, under
whatever provocation, make no wars?
Men and Governments must act to the
best of their ability. There is no such
thing as absolute certainty, but there is
assurance sufficient for the purposes of
human life. We may, and must, assume
our opinion to be true for the guidance
of our own conduct; and it is assuming
no more when we forbid bad men to
pervert society by the propagation of
opinions which we regard as false and
pernicious.
I answer, that it is assuming very much
more. There is the greatest difference
between presuming an opinion to be true,
because, with every opportunity for con
testing it, it has not been refuted, and
assuming its truth for the purpose of
not permitting its refutation. Complete
liberty of contradicting and disproving
our opinion is the very condition which
justifies us in assuming its truth for
purposes of action; and on no other
terms can a being with human faculties
have any rational assurance of beinz
right.
�22
ON LIBERT Y
When we consider either the history so ? Because he has kept his mind open
of opinion or the ordinary conduct of to criticism of his opinions and conduct.
human life, to what is it to be ascribed Because it has been his practice to listen
that the one and the other are no worse to all that could be said against him ;
than they are? Not certainly to the to profit by as much of it as was just,
inherent force of the human under and expound to himself, and upon occa
standing ; for, on any matter not self- sion to others, the fallacy of what was
evident, there are ninety-nine persons fallacious. Because he has felt that the
totally incapable of judging of it for one only way in which a human being can
who is capable; and the capacity of the make some approach to knowing the
hundredth person is only comparative; whole of a subject is by hearing what
for the majority of the eminent men of can be said about it by persons of every
every past generation held many opinions variety of opinion, and studying all modes
now known to be erroneous, and did or in which it can be looked at by every
approved numerous things which no one character of mind. No wise man ever
will now justify. Why is it, then, that acquired his wisdom in any mode but
there is on the whole a preponderance this, nor is it in the nature of human
among mankind of rational opinions and intellect to become wise in any other
rational conduct ? If there really is this manner. The steady habit of correcting
preponderance — which there must be and completing his own opinion by col
unless human affairs are, and have always lating it with those of others, so far from
been, in an almost desperate state—it is causing doubt and hesitation in carrying
owing to a quality of the human mind, it into practice, is the only stable founda
the source of everything respectable in tion for a just reliance on it; for, being
man either as an intellectual or as a cognisant of all that can, at least obviously,
moral being—namely, that his errors are be said against him, and having taken
corrigible. He is capable of rectifying his up his position against all gainsay er s—
knowing that he has sought for objections
mistakes by discussion and experience.
and difficulties, instead of avoiding them,
Not by experience alone. There must
be discussion, to show how experience and has shut out no light which can be
is to be interpreted. Wrong opinions thrown upon the subject from any quarter
and practices gradually yield to fact and —he has a right to think his judgment
argument; but facts and arguments, to better than that of any person, or any
produce any effect on the mind, must be multitude, who have not gone through a
brought before it. Very dew facts are similar process.
It is not too much to require that
able to tell their own story without
comments to bring out their meaning. what the wisest ot mankind, those who
The whole strength and value, then, of are best entitled to trust their own judg
human judgment, depending on the one ment, find necessary to warrant their
property, that it can be set right when it relying on it, should be submitted to by
is wrong, reliance can be placed on it only that miscellaneous collection of a few
when the means of setting it right are kept wise and many foolish individuals, called
constantly at hand. In the case of any the public. The most intolerant of
person whose judgment is really deserv Churches, the Roman Catholic Church,
ing of confidence, how has it become even at the canonisation of a saint, admits,
�OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
and listens patiently to, a “devil’s advo
cate.” The holiest of men, it appears,
cannot be admitted to posthumous
honours until all that the devil could say
against him is known and weighed. If
even the Newtonian philosophy were not
permitted to be questioned, mankind
could not feel as complete assurance of
its truth as they now do. The beliefs
which we have most warrant for have
no safeguard to rest on, but a standing
invitation to the whole world to prove
them unfounded. If the challenge is
not accepted, or is accepted and the
attempt fails, we are far enough from
certainty still; but we have done the
best that the existing state of human
reason admits of; we have neglected
nothing that could give the truth a
chance of reaching us; if the lists are
kept open, we may hope that, if there be
a better truth, it will be found when the
human mind is capable of receiving it;
and in the meantime we may rely on
having attained such approach to truth
as is possible in our own day. This is
the amount of certainty attainable by a
fallible being, and this the sole way of
attaining it.
Strange it is that men should admit
the validity of the arguments for free
discussion, but object to their being
“pushed to an extreme”; not seeing
that, unless the reasons are good for an
extreme case, they are not good for any
case. Strange that they should imagine
that they are not assuming infallibility
when they acknowledge that there should
be free discussion on all subjects which
can possibly be doubtful, but think that
some particular principle or doctrine
should be forbidden to be questioned
because it is so certain; that is, because
they are certain that it is certain. To
call any proposition certain while there
23
is anyone who would deny its certainty
if permitted, but who is not permitted,
is to assume that we ourselves and those
who agree with us are the judges of
certainty, and judges without hearing the
other side.
In the present age—which has been
described as “ destitute of faith, but
terrified at scepticism ”—in which people
feel sure, not so much that their opinions
are true, as that they should not know
what to do without them—the claims of
an opinion to be protected from public
attack are rested not so much on its
truth as on its importance to society.
There are, it is alleged, certain beliefs,
so useful, not to say indispensable, to
well-being that it is as much the duty of
Governments to uphold those beliefs as
to protect any other of the interests of
society. In a case of such necessity,
and so directly in the line of their duty,
something less than infallibility may, it
is maintained, warrant, and even bind,
Governments to act on their own opinion,
confirmed by the general opinion of man
kind. It is also often argued, and still
oftener thought, that none but bad men
would desire to weaken these salutary
beliefs; and there can be nothing wrong,
it is thought, in restraining bad men, and
prohibiting what only such men would
wish to practise. This mode of thinking
makes the justification of restraints on
discussion not a question of the truth of
doctrines, but of their usefulness, and
flatters itself by that means to escape the
responsibility of claiming to be an infal
lible judge of opinions. But those who
thus satisfy themselves do not perceive
that the assumption of infallibility is
merely shifted from one point to another.
The usefulness of an opinion is itself
matter of opinion : as disputable, as open
to discussion, and requiring discussion as
�24
ON LIBERTY
much as the opinion itself. There is fix down the discussion to a concrete
the same need of an infallible judge of case; and I choose, by preference, the
opinions to decide an opinion to be cases which are least favourable to me—
noxious as to decide it to be false, unless in which the argument against freedom
the opinion condemned has full oppor of opinion, both on the score of truth
tunity of defending itself. And it will and on that of utility, is considered the
not do to say that the heretic may be strongest. Let the opinions impugned
allowed to maintain the utility or harm be the belief in a God and in a future
lessness of his opinion, though forbidden state, or any of the commonly received
to maintain its truth. The truth of an doctrines of morality. To fight the
opinion is part of its utility. If we would battle on such ground gives a great
know whether or not it is desirable that advantage to an unfair antagonist; since
a proposition should be believed, is it he will be sure to say (and many who
possible to exclude the consideration of have no desire to be unfair will say it
whether or not it is true ? In the opinion, internally), Are these the doctrines which
not of bad men, but of the best men, no you do not deem sufficiently certain to be
belief which is contrary to truth can be taken under the protection of law ? Is
really useful; and can you prevent such the belief in a God one of the opinions
men from urging that plea when they to feel sure of which you hold to be
are charged with culpability for denying assuming infallibility? But I must be
some doctrine which they are told is permitted to observe that it is not the
useful, but which they believe to be false? feeling sure of a doctrine (be it what it
Those who are on the side of received may) which I call an assumption of
opinions never fail to take all possible infallibility. It is the undertaking to
advantage of this plea: you do not find decide that question for others, without
them handling the question of utility as allowing them to hear what can be said
if it could be completely abstracted from on the contrary side. And I denounce
that of truth ; on the contrary, it is, above and reprobate this pretension not the
all, because their doctrine is “ the truth ” less if put forth on the side of my most
that the knowledge or the belief of it is solemn convictions. However positive
held to be so indispensable. There can anyone’s persuasion may be, not only of
be no fair discussion of the question of the falsity, but of the pernicious conse
usefulness when an argument so vital quences— not only of the pernicious
may be employed on one side but not consequences, but (to adopt expressions
on the other. And, in point of fact, when which I altogether condemn) the immo
law or public feeling do not permit the rality and impiety of an opinion; yet if,
truth of an opinion to be disputed, they in pursuance of that private judgment,
are just as little tolerant of a denial of its though backed by the public judgment
usefulness. The utmost they allow is an of his country or his cotemporaries, he
extenuation of its absolute necessity, or prevents the opinion from being heard
in its defence, he assumes infallibility.
of the positive guilt of rejecting it.
In order more fully to illustrate the And so far from the assumption being
mischief of denying a hearing to opinions less objectionable or less dangerous
because we, in our own judgment, have because the opinion is called immoral or
condemned them, it will be desirable to I impious, this is the case of all others in
�OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
which it is most fatal. These are exactly
the occasions on which the men of one
generation commit those dreadful mis
takes which excite the astonishment and
horror of posterity. It is among such
that we find the instances memorable in
history when the arm of the law has
been employed to root out the best men
and the noblest doctrines—with deplor
able success as to the men, though some
of the doctrines have survived to be (as
if in mockery) invoked in defence of.
similar conduct towards those who dissent
from them, or from their 'received inter
pretation.
Mankind can hardly be too often re
minded that there was once a man
named Socrates, between whom and the
legal authorities and public opinion of
his time there took place a memorable
collision. Born in an age and country
abounding in individual greatness, this
man has been handed down to us by
those who best knew both him and the
age as the most virtuous man in it;
while we know him as the head and
prototype of all subsequent teachers of
virtue, the source equally of the lofty
inspiration of Plato and the judicious
utilitarianism of Aristotle, “ i maestri di
color che sanno” the two headsprings of
ethical as of all other philosophy. This
acknowledged master of all the eminent
thinkers who have since lived—whose
fame, still growing after more than two
thousand years, all but outweighs the
whole remainder of the names which
make his native city illustrious—was put
to death by his countrymen, after a
judicial conviction, for impiety and im
morality. Impiety, in denying the gods
recognised by the State; indeed, his
accuser asserted (see the Apologia) that
he believed in no gods at all. Im
morality, in being, by his doctrines and
25
instructions, a “corrupter of youth.”
Of these charges the tribunal, there is
every ground for believing, honestly found
him guilty, and condemned the man who
probably of all then born had deserved
best of mankind to be put to death as a
criminal.
To pass from this to the only other
instance of judicial iniquity, the mention
of which, after the condemnation of
Socrates, would not be an anti-climax—
the event which took place on Calvary
rather more than eighteen hundred years
ago. The man who left on the memory
of those who witnessed his life and con
versation such an impression of his moral
grandeur that eighteen subsequent cen
turies have done homage to him as the
Almighty in person was ignominiously
put to death, as what ? Asa blasphemer.
Men did not merely mistake their bene
factor ; they mistook him for the exact
contrary of what he was, and treated him
as that prodigy of impiety, which they
themselves are now held to be, for their
treatment of him. The feelings with
which mankind now regard these lament
able transactions, especially the later of
the two, render them extremely unjust
in their judgment of the unhappy actors.
These were, to all appearance, not bad
men—not worse than men commonly
are, but rather the contrary; men who
possessed in a full, or somewhat more
than a full, measure the religious, moral,
and patriotic feelings of their time and
people : the very kind of men who, in
all times, our own included, have every
chance of passing through life blameless
and respected. The high-priest who rent
his garments when the words were pro
nounced, which, according to all the
ideas of his country, constituted the
blackest guilt, was in all probability quite
as sincere in his horror and indignation
�26
ON LIBERTY
as the generality of respectable and pious
men now are in the religious and moral
sentiments they profess; and most of
those who now shudder at his conduct,
if they had lived in his time, and been
born Jews, would have acted precisely as
he did. Orthodox Christians who are
tempted to think that those who stoned
to death the first martyrs must have
been worse men than they themselves are
ought to remember that one of those
persecutors was Saint Paul.
Let us add one more example, the
most striking of all, if the impressiveness
of an error is measured by the wisdom
and virtue of him who falls into it. If
ever anyone, possessed of power, had
grounds for thinking himself the best
and most enlightened among his con
temporaries, it was the Emperor Marcus
Aurelius. Absolute monarch of the
whole civilised world, he preserved
through life not only the most un
blemished justice, but, what was less to
be expected from his Stoical breeding,
the tenderest heart. The few failings
which are attributed to him were all on
the side of indulgence; while his writings,
the highest ethical product of the ancient
mind, differ scarcely perceptibly, if they
differ at all, from the most characteristic
teachings of Christ. This man, a better
Christian in all but the dogmatic sense
of the word than almost any of the
ostensibly Christian sovereigns who have
since reigned, persecuted Christianity.
Placed at the summit of all the previous
attainments of humanity, with an open,
unfettered intellect, and a character
which led him of himself to embody in
his moral writings the Christian ideal,
he yet failed to see that Christianity was
to be a good and not an evil to the
world, with his duties to which he was
so deeply penetrated. Existing society
he knew to be in a deplorable state.
But such as it was, he saw, or thought
he saw, that it was held together, and
prevented from being worse, by belief
and reverence of the received divinities.
As a ruler of mankind, he deemed it his
duty not to suffer society to fall in pieces;
and saw not how, if its existing ties were
removed, any others could be formed
which could again knit it together. The
new religion openly aimed at dissolving
these ties: unless, therefore, it was his
duty to adopt that religion, it seemed to
be his duty to put it down. Inasmuch,
then, as the theology of Christianity did
not appear to him true or of divine origin;
inasmuch as this strange history of a cru
cified God was not credible to him, and a
system which purported to rest entirely
upon a foundation to him so wholly
unbelievable could not be foreseen by
him to be that renovating agency which,
after all abatements, it has in fact proved
to be; the gentlest and most amiable of
philosophers and rulers, under a solemn
sense of duty, authorised the persecution
of Christianity. To my mind, this is one
of the most tragical facts in all history.
It is a bitter thought how different a
thing the Christianity of the world might
have been if the Christian faith had been
adopted as the religion of the empire
under the auspices of Marcus Aurelius
instead of those of Constantine. But it
would be equally unjust to him, and false
to truth, to deny that no one plea which
can be urged for punishing anti-Christian
teaching was wanting to Marcus Aurelius
for punishing, as he did, the propaga
tion of Christianity. No Christian more
firmly believes that Atheism is false, and
tends to the dissolution of society, than
Marcus Aurelius believed the same things
of Christianity—he who, of all men then
living, might have been thought the most
�OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
capable of appreciating it. Unless any
one who approves of punishment for the
promulgation of opinions flatters himself
that he is a wiser and better man than
Marcus Aurelius—more deeply versed in
the wisdom of his time, more elevated
in his intellect above it; more earnest
in his search for truth, or more singleminded in his devotion to it when found—
let him abstain from that assumption of
the joint infallibility of himself and the
multitude which the great Antoninus
made with so unfortunate a result.
Aware of the impossibility of defend
ing the use of punishment for restraining
irreligious opinions, by any argument
which will not justify Marcus Antoninus,
the enemies of religious freedom, w’hen
hard pressed, occasionally accept this
consequence, and say, with Dr. Johnson,
that the persecutors of Christianity were
in the right; that persecution is an
ordeal through which truth ought to pass,
and always passes successfully, legal
penalties being, in the end, powerless
against truth, though sometimes bene
ficially effective against mischievous
errors. This is a form of the argument for
religious intolerance sufficiently remark
able not to be passed without notice.
A theory which maintains that truth
may justifiably be persecuted because
persecution cannot possibly do it any
harm cannot be charged with being
intentionally hostile to the reception of
new truths; but we cannot commend
the generosity of its dealing with the
persons to whom mankind are indebted
for them. To discover to the world
something which deeply concerns it, and
of which it was previously ignorant; to
prove to it that it had been mistaken on
some vital point of temporal or spiritual
interest, is as important a service as a
human being can render to his fellow
27
creatures, and in certain cases, as in
those of the early Christians and of the
Reformers, those who think with Dr.
Johnson believe it to have been the most
precious gift which could be bestowed
on mankind. That the authors of such
splendid benefits should be requited by
martyrdom ; that their reward should be
to be dealt with as the vilest of criminals,
is not, upon this theory, a deplorable
error and misfortune, for which humanity
should mourn in sackcloth and ashes,
but the normal and justifiable state of
things. The propounder of a new truth,
according to this doctrine, should stand,
as stood, in the legislation of the Locrians,
the proposer of a new law, with a halter
round his neck, to be instantly tightened
if the public assembly did not, on hearing
his reasons, then and there adopt his pro
position. People who defend this mode of
treating benefactors cannot be supposed
to set much value on the benefit; and I
believe this view of the subject is mostly
confined to the sort of persons who think
that new truths may have been desirable
once, but that we have had enough of
them now.
But, indeed, the dictum that truth
always triumphs over persecution is one
of those pleasant falsehoods which men
repeat after one another till they pass
into commonplaces, but which all expe
rience refutes. History teems with in
stances of truth put down by persecution.
If not suppressed for ever, it may be
thrown back for centuries. To speak
only of religious opinions : the Refor
mation broke out at least twenty times
before Luther, and was put down.
Arnold of Brescia was put down. Fra
Dolcino was put down. Savonarola was
put down. The Albigeois wrere put
down. The Vaudois w’ere put down.
The Lollards were put down.
The
�28
ON LIBERTY
Hussites were put down. Even after the
era of Luther, wherever persecution was
persisted in it was successful. In Spain,
Italy, Flanders, the Austrian empire,
Protestantism was rooted out; and, most
likely, would have been so in England
had Queen Mary lived, or Queen
Elizabeth died. Persecution has always
succeeded, save where the heretics were
too strong a party to be effectually per
secuted.
No reasonable person can
doubt that Christianity might have
been extirpated in the Roman Empire.
It spread, and became predominant,
because the persecutions were only occa
sional, lasting but a short time, and
separated by long intervals of almost
undisturbed propagandism. It is a piece
of idle sentimentality that truth, merely
as truth, has any inherent power denied
to error, of prevailing against the dungeon
and the stake. Men are not more zealous
for truth than they often are for error,
and a sufficient application of legal or
even of social penalties will generally
succeed in stopping the propagation of
either. The real advantage which truth
has consists in this, that when an opinion
is true it may be extinguished once,
twice, or many times, but in the course
of ages there will generally be found
persons to rediscover it, until some one
of its reappearances falls on a time when
from favourable circumstances it escapes
persecution until it has made such head
as to withstand all subsequent attempts
to suppress it.
It will be said that we do not now
put to death the introducers of new
opinions; we are not like our fathers,
who slew the prophets : we even build
sepulchres to them. It is true we no
longer put heretics to death; and the
amount of penal infliction which modern
feeling would probably tolerate, even
against the most obnoxious opinions, is
not sufficient to extirpate them. But let
us not flatter ourselves that we are yet
free from the stain even of legal persecu
tion. Penalties for opinion, or at least
for its expression, still exist by law; and
their enforcement is not, even in these
times, so unexampled as to make, it at
all incredible that they may some day be
revived in full force. In the year 1857,
at the summer assizes of the county of
Cornwall, an unfortunate man,1 said to
be of unexceptionable conduct in all
relations of life, was sentenced to twentyone months’ imprisonment for uttering
and writing on a gate some offensive
words concerning Christianity. Within
a month of the same time, at the Old
Bailey, two persons, on two separate
occasions,2 were rejected as jurymen,
and one of them grossly insulted by the
judge and by one of the counsel, because
they honestly declared that they had
no theological belief; and a third, a
foreigner,3 for the same reason, was
denied justice against a thief. This
refusal of redress took place in virtue of
the legal doctrine that no person can be
allowed to give evidence in a court of
justice who does not profess belief in a
God (any god is sufficient) and in a
future state; which is equivalent to
declaring such persons to be outlaws,
excluded from the protection of the
tribunals; who may not only be robbed
or assaulted with impunity, if no one but
themselves, or persons of similar opinions,
be present, but anyone else may be
1 Thomas Pooley, Bodmin Assizes, July 31st,
1857. In December following he received a
free pardon from the Crown.
2 George Jacob Holyoake, August 17th, 1857;
Edward Truelove, July, 1857.
3 Baron de Gleichen, Marlborough Street
Police Court, August 4th, 1857.
�OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
robbed or assaulted with impunity, if the
proof of the fact depends on their evi
dence. The assumption on which this
is grounded is that the oath is worthless
of a person who does not believe in a
future state, a proposition which betokens
much ignorance of history in those who
assent to it (since it is historically true
that a large proportion of infidels in all
ages have been persons of distinguished
integrity and honour), and would be
maintained by no one who had the
smallest conception how many of the
persons in greatest repute with the world,
both for virtues and attainments, are well
known, at least to their intimates, to
be unbelievers. The rule, besides, is
suicidal, and cuts away its own founda
tion. Under pretence that Atheists must
be liars, it admits the testimony of all
Atheists who are willing to lie, and rejects
only those who brave the obloquy of
publicly confessing a detested creed
rather than affirm a falsehood. A rule
thus self-convicted of absurdity, so far as
regards its professed purpose, can be
kept in force only as a badge of hatred,
a relic of persecution—a persecution,
too, having the peculiarity that the
qualification for undergoing it is the
being cleaily proved not to deserve it.
The rule and the theory it implies are
hardly less insulting to believers than to
infidels. For if he who does not believe
in a future state necessarily lies, it
follows that they who do believe are only
prevented from lying, if prevented they
are, by the fear of hell. We will not do
the authors and abettors of the rule the
injury of supposing that the conception
which they have formed of Christian
virtue is drawn from their own conscious
ness.
These, indeed, are but rags and rem
nants of persecution, and may be thought
29
to be not so much an indication of the
wish to persecute as an example of that
very frequent infirmity of English minds
which makes them take a preposterous
pleasure in the assertion of a bad prin
ciple when they are no longer bad enough
to desire to carry it really into practice.
But, unhappily, there is no security in the
state of the public mind that the suspen
sion of worse forms of legal persecution,
which has lasted for about the space of a
generation, will continue. In this age the
quiet surface of routine is as often ruffled
by attempts to resuscitate past evils as
to introduce new benefits. What is
boasted of at the present time as the
revival of religion is always, in narrow
and uncultivated minds, at least as much
the revival of bigotry ; and where there
is the strong permanent leaven of intole
rance in the feelings of a people, which
at all times abides in the middle classes
of this country, it needs but little to
provoke them into actively persecuting
those whom they have never ceased to
think proper objects of persecution.1
1 Ample warning maybe drawn from the large
infusion of the passions of a persecutor, which
mingled with the general display of the worst
parts of our national character on the occasion
of the Sepoy insurrection. The ravings of
fanatics or charlatans from the pulpit may be
unworthy of notice ; but the heads of the
Evangelical party have announced as their
principle for the government of Hindoos and
Mohammedans, that no schools be supported by
public money in which the Bible is not taught,
and, by necessary consequence, that no public
employment be given to any but real or pretended
Christians. An Under-Secretary of State, in a
speech delivered to his constituents on November
12th, 1857, is reported to have said : “Tolera
tion of their faith” (the faith of a hundred
millions of British subjects), “ the superstition
which they called religion, by the British
Government, had had the effect of retarding the
■ ascendancy of the British name, and preventing
�3°
ON LIBERTY
For it is this—it is the opinions men
entertain, and the feelings they cherish,
respecting those who disown the beliefs
they deem important, which makes this
country not a place of mental freedom.
For a long time past, the chief mischief of
the legal penalties is that they strengthen
the social stigma. It is that stigma
which is really effective, and so effective
is it that the profession of opinions
which are under the ban of society is
much less common in England than is,
in many other countries, the avowal of
those which incur risk of judicial punish
ment. In respect to all persons but
those whose pecuniary circumstances
make them independent of the goodwill
of other people, opinion on this subject
is as efficacious as law; men might as
well be imprisoned as excluded from the
means of earning their bread. Those
whose bread is already secured, and who
desire no favours from men in power, or
from bodies of men, or from the public,
have nothing to fear from the open
avowal of any opinions, but to be illthought of and ill-spoken of, and this
it ought not to require a very heroic
mould to enable them to bear. There
the salutary growth of Christianity.......Tolera
tion was the great corner-stone of the religious
liberties of this country ; but do not let them
abuse that precious word ‘toleration.’ As he
understood it, it meant the complete liberty to
all, freedom of worship, among Christians who
worshipped upon the same foundation. It meant
toleration of all sects and denominations of Chris
tians who believed in the one mediation.'1' I
’
desire to call attention to the fact, that a man
who has been deemed fit to fill a high office in
the government of this country under a Liberal
Ministry maintains the doctrine that all who do
not believe in the divinity of Christ are beyond
the pale of toleration. Who, after this imbecile
display, can indulge the illusion that religious
persecution has passed away, never to return ?
is no room for any appeal ad misericordiam in behalf of such persons. But
though we do not now inflict so much
evil on those who think differently from
us as it was formerly our custom to do,
it may be that we do ourselves as much
evil as ever by our treatment of them.
Socrates was put to death, but the
Socratic philosophy rose like the sun in
heaven, and spread its illumination over
the whole intellectual firmament. Chris
tians were cast to the lions, but the
Christian Church grew up a stately and
spreading tree, overtopping the older
and less vigorous growths, and stifling
them by its shade. Our merely social
intolerance kills no one, roots out no
opinions, but induces men to disguise
them, or to abstain from any active effort
for their diffusion. With us heretical
opinions do not perceptibly gain, or
even lose ground in each decade or
generation; they never blaze out far and
wide, but continue to smoulder in the
narrow circles of thinking and studious
persons among whom they originate,
without ever lighting up the general
affairs of mankind with either a true or
deceptive light. And thus is kept up a
state of things very satisfactory to some
minds, because, without the unpleasant
process of fining or imprisoning anybody,
it maintains all prevailing opinions out
wardly undisturbed, while it does not
absolutely interdict the exercise of reason
by dissentients afflicted with the malady
of thought. A convenient plan for
having peace in the intellectual world,
and keeping all things going on therein
very much as they do already. But the
price paid for this sort of intellectual
pacification is the sacrifice of the entire
moral courage of the human mind. A
state of things in which a large portion
of the most active and inquiring intellects
�OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
find it advisable to keep the general
principles and grounds of their convic
tions within their own breasts, and
attempt, in what they address to the
public, to fit as much as they can of
their own conclusions to premises which
they have internally renounced, cannot
send forth the open, fearless characters,
and logical, consistent intellects, who
once adorned the thinking world. The
sort of men who can be looked for under
it are either mere conformers to common
place or time-servers for truth, whose
arguments on all great subjects are meant
for their hearers, and are not those which
have convinced themselves. Those who
avoid this alternative do so by narrow
ing their thoughts and interest to things
which can be spoken of without venturing
within the region of principles—that is,
to small practical matters, which would
come right of themselves, if but the
minds of mankind were strengthened
and enlarged, and which will never be
made effectually right until then ; while
that which would strengthen and enlarge
men’s minds, free and daring speculation
on the highest subjects, is abandoned.
Those in whose eyes this reticence on
the part of heretics is no evil should
consider, in the first place, that in conse
quence of it there is never any fair and
thorough discussion of heretical opinions;
and that such of them as could not stand
such a discussion, though they may be
prevented from spreading, do not disap
pear. But it is not the minds of heretics
that are deteriorated most by the ban
placed on all inquiry which does not
end in the orthodox conclusions. The
greatest harm done is to those who are
not heretics, and whose whole mental
development is cramped, and their reason
cowed, by the fear of heresy. Who can
compute what the world loses in the
3i
multitude of promising intellects com
bined with timid characters, who dare
not follow out any bold, vigorous, inde
pendent train of thought, lest it should
land them in something which would
admit of being considered irreligious or
immoral? Among them we may occa
sionally see some man of deep conscien
tiousness and subtle and refined under
standing, who spends a life in sophisti
cating with an intellect which he cannot
silence, and exhausts the resources of
ingenuity in attempting to reconcile the
promptings of his conscience and reason
with orthodoxy, which yet he does not
perhaps to the end succeed in doing.
No one can be a great thinker who does
not recognise that as a thinker it is his
first duty to follow his intellect to what
ever conclusions it may lead. Truth
gains more even by the errors of one
who, with due study and preparation,
thinks for himself than by the true
opinions of those who only hold them
because they do not suffer themselves to
think. Not that it is solely or chiefly
to form great thinkers that freedom of
thinking is required. On the contrary, it
is as much and even more indispensable
to enable average human beings to attain
the mental stature which they are capable
of. There have been, and may again be,
great individual thinkers in a general
atmosphere of mental slavery. But there
never has been, nor ever will be, in
that atmosphere an intellectually active
people. Where any people has made a
temporary approach to such a character,
it has been because the dread of hetero
dox speculation was for a time suspended.
Where there is a tacit convention that
principles are not to be disputed; where
the discussion of the greatest questions
which can occupy humanity is considered
to be closed, we cannot hope to find that
�32
ON LIBERTY
generally high scale of mental activity
which has made some periods of history
so remarkable. Never when controversy
avoided the subjects which are large and
important enough to kindle enthusiasm
was the mind of a people stirred up from
its foundations and the impulse given
which raised even persons of the most
ordinary intellect to something of the
dignity of thinking beings. Of such we
have had an example in the condition
of Europe during the times immediately
following the Reformation; another,
though limited to the continent and to
a more cultivated class, in the specula
tive movement of the latter half of the
eighteenth century; and a third, of still
briefer duration, in the intellectual fermen
tation of Germany during the Goethian
and Fichtean period. These periods
differed widely in the particular opinions
which they developed; but were alike
in this, that during all three the yoke of
authority was broken. In each an old
mental despotism had been thrown off,
and no new one had yet taken its place.
The impulse given at these three periods
has made Europe what it now is. Every
single improvement which has taken
place either in the human mind or in
institutions may be traced distinctly to
one or other of them. Appearances have
for some time indicated that all three
impulses are well-nigh spent; and we
can expect no fresh start until we again
assert our mental freedom.
Let us now pass to the second division
of the argument, and, dismissing the
supposition that any of the received
opinions may be false, let us assume
them to be true, and examine into the
worth of the manner in which they are
likely to be held when their truth is not
freely and openly canvassed. However
unwillingly a person who has a strong
opinion may admit the possibility that
his opinion may be false, he ought to be
moved by the consideration that, however
true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently,
and fearlessly discussed, it will be held
as a dead dogma, not a living truth.
There is a class of persons (happily
not quite so numerous as formerly) who
think it enough if a person assents undoubtingly to what they think true,
though he has no knowledge whatever
of the grounds of the opinion, and could
not make a tenable defence of it against
the most superficial objections. Such
persons, if they can once get their creed
taught from authority, naturally think
that no good, and some harm, comes
of its being allowed to be questioned.
Where their influence prevails, they make
it nearly impossible for the received
opinion to be rejected wisely and con
siderately, though it may still be rejected
rashly and ignorantly; for to shut out
discussion entirely is seldom possible,
and, when it once gets in, beliefs not
grounded on conviction are apt to give
way before the slightest semblance of an
argument. Waving, however, this possi
bility—assuming that the true opinion
abides in the mind, but abides as a
prejudice, a belief independent of, and
proof against, argument—this is- not the
way in which truth ought to be held by
a rational being. This is not knowing
the truth. Truth, thus held, is but one
superstition the more, accidentally cling
ing to the words which enunciate a truth.
If the intellect and judgment of man
kind ought to be cultivated, a thing which
Protestants at least do not deny, on what
can these faculties be more appropriately
exercised by anyone than on the things
which concern him so much that it is
considered necessary for him to hold
opinions on them? If the cultivation
�OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
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of the understanding consists in one
thing more than in another, it is surely
in learning the grounds of one’s own
opinions. Whatever people believe, on
subjects on which it is of the first impor
tance to believe rightly, they ought to
be able to defend against at least the
common objections. But someone may
say: “ Let them be taught the grounds
of their opinions. It does not follow
that opinions must be merely parroted
because they are never heard contro
verted. Persons who learn geometry
do not simply commit the theorems to
memory, but understand and learn like
wise the demonstrations; and it would
be absurd to say that they remain
ignorant of the grounds of geometrical
truths because they never hear anyone
deny and attempt to disprove them.”
Undoubtedly ; and such teaching suffices
on a subject like mathematics, where
there is nothing at all to be said on
the wrong side of the question. The
peculiarity of the evidence of mathe
matical truths is that all the argument
is on one side. There are no objections,
and no answers to objections. But on
every subject on which difference of
opinion is possible the truth depends
on a balance to be struck between two
sets of conflicting reasons. Even in
natural philosophy there is always some
other explanation possible of the same
facts; some geocentric theory instead of
heliocentric, some phlogiston instead of
oxygen; and it has to be shown why
that other theory cannot be the true one;
and until this is shown, and until we
know how it is shown, we do not under
stand the grounds of our opinion. But
when we turn to subjects infinitely more
complicated, to morals, religion, politics,
social relations, and the business of life,
three-fourths of the arguments for every
33
disputed opinion consist in dispelling
the appearances which favour some
opinion different from it. The greatest
orator save one of antiquity has left it
on record that he always studied his
adversary’s case with as great, if not still
greater, intensity than even his own.
What Cicero practised as the means of
forensic success requires to be imitated
by all who study any subject, in order to
arrive at the truth. He who knows only
his own side of the case knows little of
that. His reasons may be good, and no
one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the
reasons on the opposite side, if he does
not so much as know what they are, he
has no ground for preferring either
opinion. The rational position for him
would be suspension of judgment; and,
unless he contents himself with that, he
is either led by authority, or adopts, like
the generality of the world, the side to
which he feels most inclination. Nor
is it enough that he should hear the
arguments of adversaries from his own
teachers presented as they state them,
and accompanied by what they offer as
refutations. That is not the way to do
justice to the arguments or bring them
into real contact with his own mind.
He must be able to hear them from
persons who actually believe them, who
defend them in earnest, and do their
very utmost for them. He must know
them in their most plausible and persua
sive form; he must feel the whole force
of the difficulty which the true view of
the subject has to encounter and dispose
of; else he will never really possess him
self of the portion of truth which meets
and removes that difficulty. Ninety-nine
in a hundred of what are called educated
men are in this condition—even of those
who can argue fluently for their opinions.
�34
ON LIBERTY
Their conclusion may be true, but it
might be false for anything they know;
they have never thrown themselves into
the mental position of those who think
differently from them, and considered
what such persons may have to say ; and
consequently they do not, in any proper
sense of the word, know the doctrine
which they themselves profess. They
do not know those parts of it which
explain and justify the remainder; the
considerations which show that a fact
which seemingly conflicts with another
is reconcilable with it, or that, of two
apparently strong reasons, one and not
the other ought to be preferred. All
that part of the truth which turns the
scale, and decides the judgment of a
completely informed mind, they are
strangers to; nor is it ever really known
but to those who have attended equally
and impartially to both sides, and en
deavoured to see the reasons of both in
the strongest light. So essential is this
discipline to a real understanding of
moral and human subjects that, if oppo
nents of all important truths do not exist,
it is indispensable to imagine them, and
supply them with the strongest arguments
which the most skilful devil’s advocate
can conjure up.
To abate the force of these considera
tions, an enemy of free discussion may
be supposed to say that there is no
necessity for mankind in general to know
and understand all that can be said
against or for their opinions by philoso
phers and theologians. That it is not
needful for common men to be able to
expose all the misstatements or fallacies
of an ingenious opponent. That it is
enough if there is always somebody
capable of answering them, so that
nothing likely to mislead uninstructed
persons remains unrefuted. That simple
minds, having been taught the obvious
grounds of the truths inculcated on them,
may trust to authority for the rest, and,
being aware that they have neither know
ledge nor talent to resolve every difficulty
which can be raised, may repose in the
assurance that all those which have been
raised have been or can be answered by
those who are specially trained to the
task.
Conceding to this view of the subject
the utmost that can be claimed for it by
those most easily satisfied with the
amount of understanding of truth which
ought to accompany the belief of it—
even so, the argument for free discussion
is no way weakened. For even this
doctrine acknowledges that mankind
ought to have a rational assurance that
all objections have been satisfactorily
answered; and how are they to be
answered if that which requires to be
answered is not spoken ? or how can the
answer be known to be satisfactory if
the objectors have no opportunity of
showing that it is unsatisfactory ? If not
the public, at least the philosophers and
theologians who are to resolve the diffi
culties, must make themselves familiar
with those difficulties in their most
puzzling form; and this cannot be accom
plished unless they are freely stated, and
placed in the most advantageous light
which they admit of. The Catholic
Church has its own way of dealing with
this embarrassing problem. It makes a
broad separation between those who can
be permitted to receive its doctrines on
conviction and those who must accept
them on trust. Neither, indeed, are
allowed any choice as to what they will
accept; but the clergy, such at least as
can be fully confided in, may admissibly
and meritoriously make themselves ac
quainted with the arguments of opponents,
�OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
in order to answer them, and may, there
fore, read heretical books—the laity, not
unless by special permission, hard to be
obtained. This discipline recognises a
knowledge of the enemy’s case as bene
ficial to the teachers, but finds means,
consistent with this, of denying it to the
rest of the world; thus giving to the
elite more mental culture, though not
more mental freedom, than it allows to
the mass. By this device it succeeds in
obtaining the kind of mental superiority
which its purposes require ; for, though
culture without freedom never made a
large and liberal mind, it can make a
clever nisi prius advocate of a cause.
But in countries professing Protestantism
this resource is denied; since Protestants
hold, at least in theory, that the respon
sibility for the choice of a religion must
be borne by each for himself, and cannot
be thrown off upon teachers. Besides,
in the present state of the world it is
practically impossible that writings which
are read by the instructed can be kept
from the uninstructed. If the teachers
of mankind are to be cognisant of all
they ought to know, everything must be
free to be written and published without
restraint.
If, however, the mischievous operation
of the absence of free discussion, when
the received opinions are true, were
confined to leaving men ignorant of the
grounds of those opinions, it might be
thought that this, if an intellectual, is no
moral evil, and does not affect the worth
of the opinions regarded in their influence
on the character. The fact, however, is
that not only the grounds of the opinion
are forgotten in the absence of discussion,
but too often the meaning of the opinion
itself. The words which convey it cease
to suggest ideas, or suggest only a small
portion of those they were originally
35
employed to communicate. Instead of
a vivid conception and a living belief,
there remain only a few phrases retained
by rote ; or, if any part, the shell and
husk only of the meaning is retained,
the finer essence being lost. The great,
chapter in human history which this fact
occupies and fills cannot be too earnestly
studied and meditated on.
It is illustrated in the experience of
almost all ethical doctrines and religious
creeds. They are all full of meaning and
vitality to those who originate them, and
to the direct disciples of the originators.
Their meaning continues to be felt in
undiminished strength, and is perhaps
brought out into even fuller conscious
ness, so long as the struggle lasts to give
the doctrine or creed an ascendancy over
other creeds. At last it either prevails
and becomes the general opinion, or its
progress stops : it keeps possession of
the ground it has gained, but ceases to
spread further. When either of these
results has become apparent, controversy
on the subject flags, and gradually dies
away. The doctrine has taken its place,
if not as a received opinion, as one of
the admitted sects or divisions of opinion;
those who hold it have generally inherited
not adopted it; and conversion from one
of these doctrines to another, being now
an exceptional fact, occupies little place
in the thoughts of their professors.
Instead of being, as at first, constantly
on the alert either to defend themselves
against the world or to bring the world
over to them, they have subsided into
acquiescence, and neither listen when they
can help it to arguments against their
creed nor trouble dissentients (if there
be such) with arguments in its favour.
From this time may usually be dated the
decline in the living power of the doctrine.
We often hear the teachers of all creeds
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lamenting the difficulty of keeping up in
To what an extent doctrines intrinsi
the minds of believers a lively apprehen cally fitted to make the deepest impres
sion of the truth which they nominally sion upon the mind may remain in it as
recognise, so that it may penetrate the dead beliefs, without being ever realised
feelings and acquire a real mastery over in the imagination, the feeling, or the
the conduct. No such difficulty is com understanding, is exemplified by the
plained of while the creed is still fighting manner in which the majority of believers
for its existence; even the weaker com hold the doctrines of Christianity. By
batants then know and feel what they are Christianity I here mean what is accoun
fighting for, and the difference between it ted such by all Churches and sects—the
and other doctrines; and in that period maxims and precepts contained in the
of every creed’s existence not a few New Testament. These are considered
persons may be found who have realised sacred, and accepted as laws, by all pro
its fundamental principles in all the forms fessing Christians. Yet it is scarcely too
of thought, have weighed and considered much to say that not one Christian in a;
them in all their important bearings, and thousand guides or tests his individual
have experienced the full effect on the conduct by reference to those laws. The
character which belief in that creed standard to which he does refer it is the
ought to produce in a mind thoroughly custom of his nation, his class, or his
imbued with it. But when it has come religious profession. He has thus, on
to be an hereditary creed, and to be the one hand, a collection of ethical
received passively, not actively—when maxims which he believes to have been
the mind is no longer compelled, in the vouchsafed to him by infallible wisdom
same degree as at first, to exercise its as rules for his government; and, on the
vital powers on the questions which its other, a set of every-day judgments and
belief presents to it, there is a progressive practices which go a certain length with
tendency to forget all of the belief except some of those maxims, not so great a
the formularies, or to give it a dull and length with others, stand in direct oppo
torpid assent, as if accepting it on trust sition to some, and are, on the whole, a
dispensed with the necessity of realising compromise between the Christian creed
it in consciousness, or testing it by per and the interests and suggestions of
sonal experience, until it almost ceases worldly life. To the first of these stan
to connect itself at all with the inner life dards he gives his homage; to the other
of the human being. Then are seen the his real allegiance. All Christians believe ’
cases, so frequent in this age of the world that the blessed are the poor and humble
as almost to form the majority, in which and those who are ill-used by the world;
the creed remains, as it were, outside the that it is easier for a camel to pass
mind, incrusting and petrifying it against through the eye of a needle than for a
all other influences addressed to the rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven;
higher parts of our nature; manifesting that they should judge not, lest they be
its power by not suffering any fresh and judged; that they should swear not at
living conviction to get in, but itself doing all; that they should love their neighbour
nothing for the mind or heart, except as themselves; that if one take their cloak,
standing sentinel over them to keep them they should give him their coat also; that
they should take no thought for the
vacant.
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37
morrow; that, if they would be perfect, owing that Christianity now makes so
they should sell all that they have and little progress in extending its domain,
give it to the poor. They are not insincere and, after eighteen centuries, is still nearly
when they say that they believe these confined to Europeans and the descen
things. They do believe them, as people dants of Europeans. Even with the
believe what they have always heard strictly religious, who are much in earnest
lauded and never discussed. But, in the about their doctrines, and attach a greater
sense of that living belief which regulates amount of meaning to many of them
conduct, they believe these doctrines just than people in general, it commonly
up to the point to which it is usual to happens that the part which is thus
act upon them. The doctrines in their comparatively active in their minds is
integrity are serviceable to pelt adversaries that which was made by Calvin, or Knox,
with ", and it is understood that they are or some such person much nearer in
to be put forward (when possible) as the character to themselves. The sayings
reasons for whatever people do that they of Christ co-exist passively in their minds,
think laudable. But anyone who re producing hardly any effect beyond what
minded them that the maxims require is caused by mere listening to words soan affinity of things which they never amiable and bland. There are many
even think of doing, would gain nothing reasons, doubtless, why doctrines which
but to be classed among those very un- | are the badge of a sect retain more of
popular characters who affect to be better their vitality than those common to all
than other people. The doctrines have recognised sects, and why more pains
no hold on ordinary believers—are not are taken by teachers to keep their
a power in their minds. They have an meaning alive ; but one reason certainly
habitual respect for the sound of them, is that the peculiar doctrines are more
but no feeling which spreads from the questioned, and have to be oftener de
words to the things signified, and forces fended against gainsayers. Both teachers
the mind to take them in, and make and learners go to sleep at their post as
them conform to the formula. Whenever soon as there is no enemy in the field.
The same thing holds true, generally
conduct is concerned, they look round
for Mr. A and B to direct them how far speaking, of all traditional doctrines—
those of prudence and knowledge of life
to go in obeying Christ
Now, we may be well assured that the as well as of morals or religion. All lan
case was not thus, but far otherwise, with guages and literatures are full of general
the early Christians. Had it been thus, observations on life, both as to what it is;
Christianity never would have expanded and how to conduct oneself in it—obser
from an obscure sect of the despised vations which everybody knows, which
Hebrews into the religion of the Roman everybody repeats, or hears with acquies
Empire. When their enemies said, “ See cence, which are received as truisms,
how these Christians love one another ” yet of which most people first truly learn
(a remark not likely to be made by any the meaning when experience, generally
body now), they assuredly had a much of a painful kind, has made it a reality
livelier feeling of the meaning of their to them. How often, when smarting
creed than they have ever had since. under some unforeseen misfortune or
And to this cause, probably, it is chiefly disappointment, does a person call to
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mind some proverb or common saying,
familiar to him all his life, the meaning
of which, if he had ever before felt it as
he does now, would have saved him from
the calamity. There are, indeed, reasons
for this other than the absence of discus
sion : there are many truths of which the
full meaning cannot be realised until
personal experience has brought it home.
But much more of the meaning even of
these would have been understood, and
what was understood would have been
far more deeply impressed on the mind,
if the man had been accustomed to hear
it argued pro and con. by people who did
understand it. The fatal tendency of
mankind to leave off thinking about a
thing when it is no longer doubtful is
the cause of half their errors. A co
temporary author has well spoken of “the
deep slumber of a decided opinion.”
But what! (it may be asked) Is the
absence of unanimity an indispensable
condition of true knowledge ? Is it
necessary that some part of mankind
should persist in error to enable any to
realise the truth? Does a belief cease to
be real and vital as soon as it is generally
received — and is a proposition never
thoroughly understood and felt unless
some doubt of it remains ? As soon as
mankind have unanimously accepted a
truth, does the truth perish within them?
The highest aim and best result of im
proved intelligence, it has hitherto been
thought, is to unite mankind more and
more in the acknowledgment of all im
portant truths; and does the intelligence
only last as long as it has not achieved
Its object? Do the fruits of conquest
perish by the very completeness of the
victory ?
I affirm no such thing. As mankind
improve the number of doctrines which
are no longer disputed or doubted will
be constantly on the increase; and the
well-being of mankind may almost be
measured by the number and gravity of
the truths which have reached the point
of being uncontested. The cessation,
on one question after another, of serious
controversy is one of the necessary inci
dents of the consolidation of opinion—-a
consolidation as salutary in the case of
true opinions as it is dangerous and
noxious when the opinions are erroneous.
But though this gradual narrowing of the
bounds of diversity of opinion is neces
sary in both senses of the term, being at
once inevitable and indispensable, we are
not therefore obliged to conclude that
all its consequences must be beneficial.
The loss of so important an aid to the
intelligent and living apprehension of a
truth as is afforded by the necessity of
explaining it to, or defending it against,
opponents, though not sufficient to out
weigh, is no trifling drawback from, the
benefitofits universal recognition. Where
this advantage can no longer be had, I
confess I should like to see the teachers
of mankind endeavouring to provide a
substitute for it—some contrivance for
making the difficulties of the question as
present to the learner’s consciousness as
if they were pressed upon him by a dis
sentient champion, eager for his conver
sion.
But, instead of seeking contrivances
for this purpose, they have lost those
they formerly had. The Socratic dia
lectics, so magnificently exemplified in
the dialogues of Plato, were a contrivance
of this description. They were essentially
a negative discussion of the great ques
tions of philosophy and life, directed with
consummate skill to the purpose of con
vincing anyone who had merely adopted
the commonplaces of received opinion,
that he did not understand the subject
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—that he as yet attached no definite I
meaning to the doctrines he professed;
in order that, becoming aware of his igno
rance, he might be put in the way to
obtain a stable belief, resting on a clear
apprehension both of the meaning of
doctrines and of their evidence. The
school disputations of the Middle Ages
had a somewhat similar object. They
were intended to make sure that the pupil
understood his own opinion, and (by
necessary correlation) the opinion opposed
to it, and could enforce the grounds of
the one and confute those of the other.
These last-mentioned contests had indeed
the incurable defect that the premises
appealed to were taken from authority,
not from reason; and, as a discipline to
the mind, they were in every respect
inferior to the powerful dialectics which
formed the intellects of the “ Socratici
viri”; but the modern mind owes far
more to both than it is generally willing
to admit, and the present modes of
education contain nothing which in the
smallest degree supplies the place either
of the one or of the other. A person who
derives all his instruction from teachers
or books, even if he escape the besetting
temptation of contenting himself with
cram, is under no compulsion to hear
both sides; accordingly, it is far from a
frequent accomplishment, even among
thinkers, to know both sides; and the
weakest part of what everybody says in
defence of his opinion is what he intends
as a reply to antagonists. It is the fashion
of the present time to disparage negative
logic—that which points out weaknesses
in theory or errors in practice, without
establishing positive truths. Such nega
tive criticism would, indeed, be poor
enough as an ultimate result; but, as a
means to attaining any positive know
ledge or conviction worthy the name, it
39
cannot be valued too highly; and until
people are again systematically trained
to it there will be few great thinkers,
and a low general average of intellect, in
any but the mathematical and physical
departments of speculation. On any
other subject no one’s opinions deserve
the name of knowledge, except so far as
he has either had forced upon him by
others, or gone through of himself, the
same mental process which would have
been required of him in carrying on an
active controversy with opponents. That,
therefore, which, when absent, it is so
indispensable, but so difficult, to create,
how worse than absurd it is to forego
when spontaneously offering itself! If
there are any persons who contest a
received opinion, or who will do so if law
or opinion will let them, let us thank
them for it, open our minds to listen to
them, and rejoice that there is someone
to do for us what we otherwise ought, if
we have any regard for either the certainty
or the vitality of our convictions, to do
with much greater labour for ourselves.
It still remains to speak of one of the
principal causes which make diversity of
opinion advantageous, and will continue
to do so until mankind shall have entered
a stage of intellectual advancement which
at present seems at an incalculable dis
tance. We have hitherto considered
only two possibilities: that the received
opinion may be false, and some other
opinion, consequently, true; or that, the
received opinion being true, a conflict
with the opposite error is essential to a
clear apprehension and deep feeling of
its truth. But there is a commoner case
than either of these : when the conflicting
doctrines, instead of being one true and
the other false, share the truth between
them, and the nonconforming opinion
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ON LIBERTY
is needed to supply the remainder of the
truth, of which the received doctrine
embodies only a part. Popular opinions,
on subjects not palpable to sense, are
often true, but seldom or never the whole
truth. They are a part of the truth—
sometimes a greater, sometimes a smaller
part, but exaggerated, distorted, and dis
joined from the truths by which they
ought to be accompanied and limited.
Heretical opinions, on the other hand,
are generally some of these suppressed
and neglected truths, bursting the bonds
which kept them down, and either seek
ing reconciliation with the truth contained
in the common opinion, or fronting it as
enemies, and setting themselves up, with
similar exclusiveness, as the whole truth.
The latter case is hitherto the most
frequent, as, in the human mind, one
sidedness has always been the rule and
many-sidedness the exception. Hence,
even in revolutions of opinion, one part
of the truth usually sets while the other
rises. Even progress, ’ which ought to
superadd, for the most part only substi
tutes, one partial and incomplete truth
for another; improvement consisting
chiefly in this, that the new fragment of
truth is more wanted, more adapted to
the needs of the time, than that which
it displaces. Such being the partial
character of prevailing opinions, even
when resting on a true foundation, every
opinion which embodies somewhat of
the portion of truth which the common
opinion omits ought to be considered
precious, with whatever amount of error
and confusion that truth may be blended.
No sober judge of human affairs will feel
bound to be indignant because those who
force on our notice truths which we should
otherwise have overlooked, overlook some
of those which we see. Rather, he will
think that, so long as popular truth is
one-sided, it is more desirable than
otherwise that unpopular truth should
have one-sided assertors too; such
being usually the most energetic and
the most likely to compel reluctant
attention to the fragment of wisdom
which they proclaim as if it were the
whole.
Thus in the eighteenth century, when
nearly all the instructed, and all those of
the uninstructed who were led by them,
were lost in admiration of what is called
civilisation, and of the marvels of modern
science, literature, and philosophy, and,
while greatly overrating the amount of
unlikeness between the men of modern
and those of ancient times, indulged the
belief that the whole of the difference was
in their own favour—with what a salutary
shock did the paradoxes of Rousseau
explode like bombshells in the midst,
dislocating the compact mass of one
sided opinion, and forcing its elements
to recombine in a better form and
with additional ingredients. Not that the
current opinions were on the whole farther
from the truth than Rousseau’s were; on
the contrary, they were nearer to it: they
contained more of positive truth, and
very much less of error. Nevertheless,
there lay in Rousseau’s doctrine, and has
floated down the stream of opinion along
with it, a considerable amount of exactly
those truths which the popular opinion
wanted; and these are the deposit which
was left behind when the flood subsided.
The superior worth of simplicity of life,
the enervating and demoralising effect of
the trammels and hypocrisies of artificial
society, are ideas which have never been
entirely absent from cultivated minds
since Rousseau wrote; and they will in
time produce their due effect, though at
present needing to be asserted as much
as ever, and to be asserted by deeds,
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for words on this subject have nearly
exhausted their power.
In politics, again, it is almost a com
monplace, that a party of order or stability,
and a party of progress or reform, are both
necessary elements of a healthy state of
political life ; until the one or the other
shall have so enlarged its mental grasp
as to be a party equally of order and of
progress, knowing and distinguishing what
is fit to be preserved from what ought to
be swept away. Each of these modes
of thinking derives its utility from the
deficiencies of the other; but it is in a
great measure the opposition of the other
that keeps each within the limits of reason
and sanity. Unless opinions favourable
to democracy and to aristocracy, to
property and to equality, to co-operation
and to competition, to luxury and to
abstinence, to sociality and individuality,
to liberty and discipline, and all the other
standing antagonisms of practical life, are
expressed with equal freedom, and en
forced and defended with equal talent
and energy, there is no chance of both
elements obtaining their due : one scale
is sure to go up and the other down.
Truth, in the great practical concerns of
life, is so much a question of the recon
ciling and combining of opposites that
very few have minds sufficiently capacious
and impartial to make the adjustment
with an approach to correctness, and it
has to be made by the rough process of
a struggle between combatants fighting
under hostile banners. On any of the
great open questions just enumerated, if
either of the two opinions has a better
claim than the other, not merely to be
tolerated, but to be encouraged and
countenanced, it is the one which happens
at the particular time and place to be in a
minority. That is the opinion which, for
the time being, represents the neglected
41
interests, the side of human well-being
which is in danger of obtaining less than
its share. I am aware that there is not,
in this country, any intolerance of differ
ences of opinion on most of these topics.
They are adduced to show, by admitted
and multiplied examples, the universality
of the fact that only through diversity
of opinion is there, in the existing state
of human intellect, a chance of fair play
to all sides of the truth. When there are
persons to be found who form an excep
tion to the apparent unanimity of the
world on any subject, even if the world
is in the right, it is always probable that
dissentients have something worth hear
ing to say for themselves, and that truth
would lose something by their silence.
It may be objected, “ But some received
principles, especially on the highest and
most vital subjects, are more than half
truths. The Christian morality, for
instance, is the whole truth on that
subject, and if anyone teaches a morality
which varies from it, he is wholly in error.”
As this is of all cases the most important
in practice, none can be fitter to test the
general maxim. But before pronouncing
what Christian morality is or is not, it
would be desirable to decide what is
meant by Christian morality. If it means
the morality of the New Testament, I
wonder that anyone who derives his
knowledge of this from the book itself
can suppose that it was announced, or
intended, as a complete doctrine of
morals. The Gospel always refers to a
pre-existing morality, and confines its
precepts to the particulars in which that
morality was to be corrected, or super
seded by a wider and higher; expressing
itself, moreover, in terms most general,
often impossible to be interpreted literally,
and possessing rather the impressiveness
of poetry or eloquence than the precision
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of legislation. To extract from it a body
of ethical doctrine has never been possible
without eking it out from the Old Testa
ment—that is, from a system elaborate
indeed, but in many respects barbarous,
and intended only for a barbarous people.
St. Paul, a declared enemy to this Judaical
mode of interpreting the doctrine and
filling up the scheme of his Master,
equally assumes a pre-existing morality—
namely, that of the Greeks and Romans;
and his advice to Christians is in a great
measure a system of accommodation to
that; even to the extent of giving an
apparent sanction to slavery. What is
called Christian, but should rather be
termed theological, morality was not the
work of Christ or the Apostles, but is of
much later origin, having been gradually
built up by the Catholic Church of the
first five centuries, and, though not
implicitly adopted by moderns and Pro
testants, has been much less modified
by them than might have been expected.
For the most part, indeed, they have
contented themselves with cutting off the
additions which had been made to it in
the Middle Ages, each sect supplying
the place by fresh additions, adapted to
its own character and tendencies. That
mankind owe a great debt to this morality,
and to its early teachers,, I should be the
last person to deny; but I do not scruple
to say of it that it is, in many important
points, incomplete and one-sided, and
that unless ideas and feelings, not
sanctioned by it, had contributed to the
formation of European life and character,
human affairs would have been in a
worse condition than they now are.
Christian morality (so called) has all the
characters of a reaction; it is, in great
part, a protest against Paganism. Its
ideal is negative rather than positive ;
passive rather than active; Innocence
----------------- :------ r ;
rather than Nobleness ; Abstinence trom
Evil rather than energetic Pursuit of
Good; in its precepts (as has been well
said) “thou shalt not” predominates
over “ thou shalt.” In its horror
of sensuality, it made an idol of asceticism, which has been gradually compro
mised away into one of legality. It
holds out the hope of heaven and the
threat of hell, as the appointed and ap
propriate motives to a virtuous life; in
this falling far below the best of the
ancients, and doing what lies in it to give
to human morality an essentially selfish
character, by disconnecting each man’s
feelings of duty from the interests of his
fellow-creatures, except so far as a selfinterested inducement is offered to him
for consulting them. It is essentially a
doctrine of passive obedience; it incul
cates submission to all authorities found
established; who indeed are not to be
actively obeyed when they command
what religion forbids, but who are not to
be resisted, far less rebelled against, for
any amount of wrong to ourselves. And
while, in the morality of the best Pagan
nations, duty to the State holds even a
disproportionate place, infringing on the
just liberty of the individual, in purely
Christian ethics that ground department
of duty is scarcely noticed or acknow
ledged. It is in the Koran, not the New
Testament, that we read the maxim—•
“ A ruler who appoints any man to an
office when there is in his dominions
another man better qualified for it, sins
against God and against the State.”
What little recognition the idea of obli
gation to the public obtains in modern
morality is derived from Greek and
Roman sources, not from Christian; as
even in the morality of private life what
ever exists of magnanimity, highmindedness, personal dignity, even the sense of
!
■
j
1
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honour, is derived from the purely human,
not the religious, part of our education,
and never could have grown out of a
standard of ethics in which the only
worth, professedly recognised, is that of
obedience.
I am as far as anyone from pretending
that these defects are necessarily inherent
in the Christian ethics, in every manner
in which it can be conceived, or that the
many requisites of a complete moral
doctrine which it does not contain do
not admit of being reconciled with it.
Far less would I insinuate this of the
doctrines and precepts of Christ himself.
I believe that the sayings of Christ are
all that I can see any evidence of their
having been intended to be; that they
are irreconcilable with nothing which a
comprehensive morality requires; that
everything which is excellent in ethics
may be brought within them with no
greater violence to their language than
has been done to it by all who have
attempted to deduce from them any
practical system of conduct whatever.
But it is quite consistent with this to
believe that they contain, and were
meant to contain, only a part of the
truth; that many essential elements of the
highest morality are among the things
which are not provided for, nor intended
to be provided for, in the recorded
deliverances of the Founder of Chris
tianity, and which have been entirely
thrown aside in the system of ethics
erected on the basis of those deliverances
by the Christian Church.
And this
being so, I think it a great error to
persist in attempting to find in the Chris
tian doctrine that complete rule for our
guidance which its author intended it to
sanction and enforce, but only partially
to provide. I believe, too, that this
narrow theory is becoming a grave prac
43
tical evil, detracting greatly from the
moral training and instruction which so
many well-meaning persons are now at
length exerting themselves to promote.
I much fear that by attempting to form
the mind and feelings on an exclusively
religious type, and discarding those secu
lar standards (as for want of a better
name they may be called) which hereto
fore co-existed with and supplemented
the Christian ethics, receiving some of
its spirit, and infusing into it some of
theirs, there will result, and is even now
resulting, a low, abject, servile type of
character, which, submit itself as it may
to what it deems the Supreme Will, is
incapable of rising to or sympathising in>
the conception of Supreme Goodness.
I believe that other ethics than any
which can be evolved from exclusively
Christian sources must exist side by
side with Christian ethics to produce the
moral regeneration of mankind; and that
the Christian system is no exception to
the rule, that in an imperfect state of
the human mind the interests of truth
require a diversity of opinions. It is not
necessary that, in ceasing to ignore the
moral truths not contained in Chris
tianity, men should ignore any of those
which it does contain. Such prejudice,
or oversight, when it occurs, is altogether
an evil; but it it is one from which we
cannot hope to be always exempt, and
must be regarded as the price paid for
an inestimable good. The exclusive pre
tension made by a part of the truth to be
the whole must and ought to be pro
tested against; and if a reactionary im
pulse should make the protesters unjust
in their turn, this one-sidedness, like the
other, may be lamented, but must be
tolerated. If Christians would teach
infidels to be just to Christianity, they
should themselves be just to infidelity.
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It can do truth no service to blink the
fact, known to all who have the most
ordinary acquaintance with literary history,
that a large portion of the noblest and
most valuable moral teaching has been
the work, not only of men who did not
know, but of men who knew and rejected,
the Christian faith.
I do not pretend that the most un
limited use of the freedom of enunciating
all possible opinions would put an end
to the evils of religious or philosophical
sectarianism. Every truth which men of
narrow capacity are in earnest about is
•sure to be asserted, inculcated, and in
many ways even acted on, as if no other
truth existed in the world, or at all
events none that could limit or qualify
the first. I acknowledge that the ten
dency of all opinions to become sectarian
?is not cured by the freest discussion,
but is often heightened and exacerbated
thereby; the truth which ought to have
been, but was not, seen being rejected
all the more violently because proclaimed
by persons regarded as opponents. But
it is not on the impassioned partisan, it
is on the calmer and more disinterested
bystander, that this collision of opinions
works its salutary effect. Not the violent
conflict between parts of the truth, but
the quiet suppression of half of it, is the
formidable evil; there is always hope
when people are forced to listen to both
sides; it is when they attend only to one
that errors harden into prejudices, and
truth itself ceases to have the effect of
truth by being exaggerated into false
hood. And since there are few mental
attributes more rare than that judicial
faculty which can sit in intelligent judg
ment between two sides of a question, of
which only one is represented by an
advocate before it, truth has no chance
but in proportion as every side of it,
every opinion which embodies any frac
tion of the truth, not only finds advo
cates, but is so advocated as to be
listened to.
We have now recognised the necessity
to the mental well-being of mankind (on
which all their other well-being depends)
of freedom of opinion, and freedom of
the expression of opinion, on four distinct
grounds, which we will now briefly re
capitulate.
First, if any opinion is compelled to
silence, that opinion may, for aught we
can certainly know, be true. To deny
this is to assume our own infallibility.
Secondly, though the silenced opinion
be an error, it may, and very commonly
does, contain a portion of truth ; and
since the general or prevailing opinion
on any subject is rarely or never the
whole truth, it is only by the collision of
adverse opinions that the remainder of
the truth has any chance of being
supplied.
Thirdly, even if the received opinion
be not only true, but the whole truth,
unless it is suffered to be, and actually
is, vigorously and earnestly contested, it
will, by most of those who receive it, be
held in the manner of a prejudice, with
little comprehension or feeling of its
rational grounds. And not only this,
but, fourthly, the meaning of the doctrine
itself, will be in danger of being lost, or
enfeebled, and deprived of its vital effect
on the character and conduct: the
dogma becoming a mere formal pro
fession, inefficacious for good, but
cumbering the ground, and preventing
the growth of any real and heartfelt
conviction, from reason or personal
experience.
Before quitting the subject of freedom
of opinion, it is fit to take some notice
of those who say that the free expression
�OF THE LIBERTY OF THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
cf all opinions should be permitted, on
condition that the manner be temperate,
and do not pass the bounds of fair dis
cussion. Much might be said on the
impossibility of fixing where these sup
posed bounds are to be placed; for if
the test be offence to those whose
opinions are attacked, I think experience
testifies that this offence is given when
ever the attack is telling and powerful,
and that every opponent who pushes
them hard, and whom they find it difficult
to answer, appears to them, if he shows
any strong feeling on the subject, an
intemperate opponent. But this, though
an important consideration in a practical
point of view, merges in a more funda
mental objection.
Undoubtedly the
manner of asserting an opinion, even
though it be a true one, may be very
objectionable, and may justly incur
severe censure.
But the principal
offences of the kind are such as it is
mostly impossible, unless by accidental
self-betrayal, to bring home to con
viction. The gravest of them is, to
argue sophistically, to suppress facts or
arguments, to misstate the elements
of the case, or misrepresent the oppo
site opinion.
But all this, even to
the most aggravated degree, is so con
tinually done in perfect good faith by
persons who are not considered, and in
many other respects may not deserve
to be considered, ignorant or incom
petent, that it is rarely possible, on
adequate grounds, conscientiously to
stamp the misrepresentation as morally
culpable ; and still less could law pre-;
sume to interfere with this kind of con
troversial misconduct. With regard to
what is commonly meant by intemperate
discussion—namely, invective, sarcasm,
personality, and the like—the denuncia
tion of these weapons would deserve
45
more sympathy if it were ever proposed
to interdict them equally to both sides ;
but it is only desired to restrain the
employment of them against the pre
vailing opinion; against the unprevailing
they may not only be used without
general disapproval, but will be likely to
obtain for him who uses them the praise
of honest zeal and righteous indignation.
Yet whatever mischief arises from their
use is greatest when they are employed
against the comparatively defenceless;
and whatever unfair advantage can be
derived by any opinion from this mode
of asserting it accrues almost exclu
sively to received opinions. The worst
offence of this kind which can be com
mitted by a polemic is to stigmatise
those who hold the contrary opinion as
bad and immoral men. To calumny of
this sort those who hold any unpopular
opinion are peculiarly exposed, because
they are in general few and uninfluential,
and nobody but themselves feels much
interested in seeing justice done them ;
but this weapon is, from the nature of
the case, denied to those who attack a
prevailing opinion; they can neither use
it with safety to themselves, nor, if they
could, would it do anything but recoil on
their own cause. In general, opinions
contrary to those commonly received
can only obtain a hearing by studied
moderation of language, and the most
cautious avoidance of unnecessary
offence, from which they hardly ever
deviate even in a slight degree without
losing ground; while unmeasured vitu
peration employed on the side of the
prevailing opinion really does deter
people from professing contrary opinions,
and from listening to those who profess
them. For the interest, therefore, of
truth and justice, it is far more imporI tant to restrain this employment of
�46
ON LIBERTY
vituperative language than the other;
and, for example, if it were necessary to
choose, there would be much more need
to discourage offensive attacks on infi
delity than on religion. It is, however,
obvious that law and authority have no
business with restraining either, while
opinion ought, in every instance, to de
termine its verdict by the circumstances
of the individual case; condemning
every one, on which ever side of the argu
ment he places himself, in whose mode
of advocacy either want of candour, or
malignity, bigotry, or intolerance of feel
ing, manifest themselves ; but not infer
ring these vices from the side which a
person takes, though it be the contrary
side of the question to our own: and
giving merited honour to every one,
whatever opinion he may hold, who has
calmness to see and honesty to state
what his opponents and their opinions
really are, exaggerating nothing to their
discredit, keeping nothing back which
tells, or can be supposed to tell, in their
favour. This is the real morality of
public discussion : and if often violated,
I am happy to think that there are
many controversialists who to a great
extent observe it, and a still greater
number who conscientiously strive to
wards it.
Chapter III.
OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS
OF WELL-BEING
Such being the reasons which make it
imperative that human beings should be
free to form opinions, and to express
their opinions without reserve; and such
the baneful consequences to the intel
lectual, and through that to the moral,
nature of man, unless this liberty is either
conceded, or asserted in spite of prohibi
tion; let us next examine whether the
same reasons do not require that men
should be free to act upon their opinions
—to carry these out in their lives, with
out hindrance, either physical or moral,
from their fellow men, so long as it is at
their own risk and peril. This last pro
viso is, of course, indispensable. No one
pretends that actions should be as free
as opinions. On the contrary, even
opinions lose their immunity when the
circumstances in which they are ex
pressed are such as to constitute their
expression a positive instigation to some
mischievous act. An opinion that corn
dealers are starvers of the poor, or that
private property is robbery, ought to
be unmolested when simply circulated
through the press, but may justly incur
punishment when delivered orally to an
excited mob assembled before the house
of a corn-dealer, or when handed about
among the same mob in the form of a pla
card. Acts, of whatever kind, which, with
out justifiable cause, do harm to others,
may be, and in the more important cases
absolutely require to be, controlled by
the unfavourable sentiments, and, when
�OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF WELL-BEING 47
needful, by the active interference of the indifference of persons in general to
mankind. The liberty of the individual the end itself. If it were felt that the
must be thus far limited; he must not free development of individuality is one of
make himself a nuisance to other people. the leading essentials of well-being; that
But if he refrains from molesting others it is not only a co-ordinate element with
in what concerns them, and merely acts all that is designated by the terms civili
according to his own inclination and judg sation, instruction, education, culture,
ment in things which concern himself, the but is itself a necessary part and con
same reasons which show that opinion dition of all those things; there would
should be free prove also that he should be no danger that liberty should be
be allowed, without molestation, to carry undervalued, and the adjustment of the
his opinions into practice at his own boundaries between it and social control
cost. That mankind are not infallible; would present no extraordinary difficulty.
But the evil is that individual spontaneity
that their truths, for the most part,
are only half-truths; that unity of is hardly recognised by the common
opinion, unless resulting from the modes of thinking, as having any intrinsic
fullest and freest comparison of op worth, or deserving any regard on its
posite opinions, is not desirable, and own account. The majority, being satis
fied with the ways of mankind as they
diversity not an evil, but a good
until mankind are much more capable now are (for it is they who make them
than at present of recognising all sides what they are), cannot comprehend why
of the truth, are principles applicable to those ways should not be good enough
men’s modes of action, not less than to for everybody: and what is more, spon
their opinions. As it is useful that while taneity forms no part of the ideal of the
mankind are imperfect there should be majority of moral and social reformers,
different opinions, so it is that there but is rather looked on with jealousy,
should be different experiments of living ; as a troublesome and perhaps rebellious
that free scope should be given to varieties obstruction to the general acceptance
of character, short of injury to others; of what these reformers, in their own
and that the worth of different modes of judgment, think would be best for man
life should be proved practically, when kind. Few persons, out of Germany,
anyone thinks fit to try them. It is even comprehend the meaning of the
desirable, in short, that in things which doctrine which Wilhelm von Humboldt,
do not primarily concern others, indi so eminent both as a savant and as a
politician, made the text of a treatise—
viduality should assert itself. Where,
that “ the end of man, or that which is
not the person’s own character, but the
traditions or customs of other people, prescribed by the eternal or immutable
are the rule of conduct, there is wanting dictates of reason, and not suggested by
one of the principal ingredients of human vague and transient desires, is the highest
happiness, and quite the chief ingredient and most harmonious development of
his powers to a complete and consistent
of individual and social progress.
that, therefore, the object
In maintaining this principle, the whole
greatest difficulty to be encountered “ towards which every human being
does not lie in the appreciation of means must ceaselessly direct his efforts, and on
towards an acknowledged end, but in which especially those who design to
�48
ON LIBERTY
influence their fellow-men must ever
keep their eyes, is the individuality of
power and development”; that for this
there are two requisites, “freedom, and
variety of situations”; and that from the
union of these arise “ individual vigour
and manifold diversity,” which combine
themselves in “ originality.”1
Little, however, as people are accus
tomed to a doctrine like that of Von
Humboldt, and surprising as it may
be to them to find so high a value
attached to individuality, the question,
one must nevertheless think, can only
be one of degree. No one’s idea of
excellence in conduct is that people
should do absolutely nothing but copy
one another. No one would assert that
people ought not to put into their mode
of life, and into the conduct of their
concerns, any impress whatever of their
own judgment, or of their own individual
character. On the other hand, it would
be absurd to pretend that people ought
to live as if nothing whatever had been
known in the world before they came
into it; as if experience had as yet
done nothing towards showing that
one mode of existence, or of conduct,
is preferable to another.
Nobody
denies that people should be so
taught and trained in youth as to
know and benefit by the ascertained
results of human experience. But it
is the privilege and proper condition of
a human being, arrived at the maturity
of his faculties, to use and interpret
experience in his own way. It is for
him to find out what part of recorded
experience is properly applicable to his
own circumstances and character. The
traditions and customs of other people
1 The Sphere and Duties of Government, from
the German of Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt,
np. II-13.
are, to a certain extent, evidence of what
their experience has taught them; pre
sumptive evidence, and as such, have
a claim to his deference: but, in the
first place, their experience may be too
narrow; or they may not have inter
preted it rightly. Secondly, their inter
pretation of experience may be correct,
but unsuitable to him. Customs are
made for customary circumstances and
customary characters ; and his circum
stances or his character may be un
customary. Thirdly, though the customs
be both good as customs, and suitable
to him, yet to conform to custom merely
as custom does not educate or develop
in him any of the qualities which are the
distinctive endowment of a human being.
The human faculties of perception,
judgment, discriminative feeling, mental
activity, and even moral preference, are
exercised only in making a choice. He
who does anything because it is the
custom makes no choice. He gains no
practice either in discerning or in desir
ing what is best. The mental and moral,
like the muscular powers, are improved
only by being used. The faculties are
called into no exercise by doing a thing
merely because others do it, no more
than by believing a thing only because
others believe it. If the grounds of an
opinion are not conclusive to the person’s
own reason, his reason cannot be
strengthened, but is likely to be
weakened, by his adopting it; and if the
inducements to an act are not such as
are consentaneous to his own feelings
and character (where affection, or the
rights of others, are not concerned), it is
so much done towards rendering his
feelings and character inert and torpid,
instead of active and energetic.
He who lets the world, or his own
portion of it, choose his plan of life for
�OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF WELL-BEING 49
him has no need of any other faculty
than the ape-like one of imitation. He
who chooses his plan for himself employs
all his faculties. He must use observa
tion to see, reasoning and judgment to
foresee, activity to gather materials for
decision, discrimination to decide, and,
when he has decided, firmness and self
control to hold to his deliberate decision.
And these qualities he requires and
exercises exactly in proportion as the
part of his conduct which he determines
according to his own judgment and
feelings is a large one. It is possible
that he might be guided in some good
path, and kept out of harm’s way, without
any of these things. But what will be
his comparative worth as a human being ?
It really is of importance, not only what
men do, but also what manner of men
they are that do it. Among the works
of man which human life is rightly
employed in perfecting and beautifying,
the first in importance surely is man
himself. Supposing it were possible to
get houses built, corn grown, battles
fought, causes tried, and even churches
erected and prayers said, by machinery
—by automatons in human form—it
would be a considerable loss to exchange
for these automatons even the men and
women who at present inhabit the more
civilised parts of the world, and who
assuredly are but starved specimens of
what nature can and will produce.
Human nature is not a machine to be
built after a model, and set to do exactly
the work prescribed for it, but a tree,
which requires to grow and develop itself
on all sides, according to the tendency
of the inward forces which make it a
living thing.
It will probably be conceded that it is
desirable people should exercise their
understandings, and that an intelligent
following of custom, or even occasionally
an intelligent deviation from custom, is
better than a blind and simply mechanical
adhesion to it. To a certain extent it is
admitted that our understanding should
be our own; but there is not the same
willingness to admit that our desires and
impulses should be our own likewise ; or
that to possess impulses of our own, and
of any strength, is anything but a peril
and a snare. Yet desires and impulses
are as much a part of a perfect human
being as beliefs and restraints; and
strong impulses are only perilous when
not properly balanced ; when one set of
aims and inclinations is developed into
strength, while others, which ought to
co-exist with them, remain weak and
inactive. It is not because men’s desires
are strong that they act ill; it is because
their consciences are weak. There is
no natural connection between strong
impulse and a weak conscience. The
natural connection is the other way. To
say that one person’s desires and feelings
are stronger and more various than those
of another is merely to say that he has
more of the raw material of human
nature, and is therefore capable, perhaps
of more evil, but certainly of more good.
Strong impulses are but another name
for energy. Energy may be turned to
bad uses ; but more good may always
be made of an energetic nature than of
an indolent and impassive one. Those
who have most natural feeling are always
those whose cultivated feelings may be
made the strongest. The same strong
susceptibilities which make the personal
impulses vivid and powerful are also the
source from whence are generated the
most passionate love of virtue and the
sternest self-control. It is through the
cultivation of these that society both
does its duty and protects its interests:
E
�5°
ON LIBERTY
not by rejecting the stuff of which heroes
are made, because it knows not how to
make them. A person whose desires
and impulses are his own—are the
expressions of his own nature, as it has
been developed and modified by his
own culture—is said to have a character.
One whose desires and impulses are not
his own has no character, no more than
a steam-engine has a character. If, in
addition to being his own, his impulses
are strong, and are under the government
of a strong will, he has an energetic char
acter. Whoever thinks that individu
ality of desires and impulses should not
be encouraged to unfold itself must
maintain that society has no need of
strong natures—is not the better for
containing many persons who have much
character—and that a high general
average of energy is not desirable.
In some early states of society these
forces might be, and were, too much
ahead of the power which society then
possessed of disciplining and controlling
them. There has been a time when the
element of spontaneity and individuality
was in excess, and the social principle
had a hard struggle with it. The diffi
culty then was, to induce men of strong
bodies or minds to pay obedience to any
rules which required them to control
their impulses. To overcome this diffi
culty, law and discipline, like the Popes
struggling against the Emperors, asserted
a power over the whole man, claiming to
control all his life in order to control his
character—which society had not found
any other sufficient means of binding.
But society has now fairly got the better
of individuality; and the danger which
threatens human nature is not the ex
cess, but the deficiency, of personal
impulses and preferences. Things are
vastly changed, since the passions of
those who were strong by station or by
personal endowment were in a state of
habitual rebellion against laws and ordi
nances, and required to be rigorously
chained up to enable the persons within
their reach to enjoy any particle of secu
rity. In our times, from the highest
class of society down to the lowest,
every one lives as under the eye of a
hostile and dreaded censorship. Not only
in what concerns others, but in what con
cerns only themselves, the individual or
the family do not ask themselves—What
do I prefer ? or, What would suit my
character and disposition? or, What would
allow the best and highest in me to have
fair play, and enable it to grow and
thrive ? They ask themselves—What is
suitable to my position ? What is usually
done by persons of my station and
pecuniary circumstances? or (worse still),
What is usually done by persons of a
station and circumstances superior to
mine ? I do not mean that they choose
what is customary in preference to what
suits their own inclination. It does not
occur to them to have any inclination,
except for what is customary. Thus the
mind itself is bowed to the yoke; even
in what people do for pleasure confor
mity is the first thing thought of; they
like in crowds; they exercise choice
only among things commonly done;
peculiarity of taste, eccentricity of con
duct, are shunned equally with crimes;
until, by dint of not following their own
nature, they have no nature to follow ;
their human capacities are withered and
starved; they become incapable of any
strong wishes or native pleasures, and are
generally without either opinions or
feelings of home growth, or properly
their own. Now, is this, or is it
not, the desirable condition of human
nature?
�OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF WELL-BEING 51
It is so, on the Calvinistic theory. consistent with that faith to believe that
According to that, the one great offence this Being gave all human faculties that
of man is self-will. All the good of they might be cultivated and unfolded,
not rooted out and consumed, and that
which humanity is capable is comprised
in obedience. You have no choice; he takes delight in every nearer approach
thus you must do, and no otherwise; made by his creatures to the ideal con
“ whatever is not a duty is a sin.” ception embodied in them, every increase
in any of their capabilities of comprehen
Human nature being radically corrupt,
there is no redemption for any one until sion, of action, or of enjoyment. There
human nature is killed within him. To is a different type of human excellence
one holding this theory of life, crushing from the Calvinistic : a conception of
out any of the human faculties, capaci humanity as having its nature bestowed
on it for other purposes than merely to
ties, and susceptibilities is no evil; man
needs no capacity but that of surrender be abnegated. “Pagan self-assertion”
ing himself to the will of God ; and if is one of the elements of human worth,
he uses any of his faculties for any other as well as “Christian self-denial.”1 There
purpose but to do that supposed will is a Greek ideal of self-development,
more effectually, he is better without which the Platonic and Christian ideal
them. This is the theory of Calvinism; of self-government blends with, but does
and it is held, in a mitigated form, by not supersede. It may be better to be a
many who do not consider themselves John Knox than an Alcibiades, but it is
Calvinists; the mitigation consisting in better to be a Pericles than either; nor
giving a less ascetic interpretation to the would a Pericles, if we had one in these
alleged will of God; asserting it to be days, be without anything good which
his will that mankind should gratify belonged to John Knox.
It is not by wearing down into uni
some of their inclinations; of course, not
in the manner they themselves prefer, formity all that is individual in them
but in the way of obedience—that is, in selves, but by cultivating it, and calling
a way prescribed to them by authority; it forth, within the limits imposed by the
and, therefore, by the necessary condition rights and interests of others, that human
beings become a noble and beautiful
of the case, the same for all.
In some such insidious form there is object of contemplation; and as the
at present a strong tendency to this works partake the character of those
narrow theory of life, and to the who do them, by the same process human
pinched and hidebound type of human life also becomes rich, diversified, and
character which it patronises. Many animating, furnishing more abundant
persons, no doubt, sincerely think that aliment to high thoughts and elevating
human beings thus cramped and dwarfed feelings, and strengthening the tie which
are as their Maker designed them to be; binds every individual to the race, by
just as many have thought that trees are making the race infinitely better worth
a much finer thing when clipped into belonging to. In proportion to the
pollards, or cut out into figures of animals, development of his individuality, each
than as nature made them. But if it be person becomes more valuable to
any part of religion to believe that man
was made by a good Being, it is more
1 Sterling’s Essays.
�52
ON LIBERTY
himself, and is therefore capable of it is only the cultivation of individ
being more valuable to others. There uality which produces, or can produce,
is a greater fulness of life about his own well-developed human beings, I might
existence, and when there is more life in here close the argument: for what more
the units there is more in the mass which or better can be said of any condition of
is composed of them. As much com human affairs than that it brings human
pression as is necessary to prevent the beings themselves nearer to the best
stronger specimens of human nature thing they can be ? Or what worse can
from encroaching on the rights of others be said of any obstruction to good than
cannot be dispensed with; but for this that it prevents this ? Doubtless, how
there is ample compensation even in the ever, these considerations will not suffice
point of view of human development. to convince those who most need con
The means of development which the vincing; and it is necessary further to
individual loses by being prevented show that these developed human beings
from gratifying his inclinations to the are of some use to the undeveloped—
injury of others are chiefly obtained at to point out to those who do not desire
the expense of the development of other liberty, and would not avail themselves
people. And even to himself there is a of it, that they may be in some intelli
full equivalent in the better development gible manner rewarded for allowing other
of the social part of his nature, rendered people to make use of it without
possible by the restraint put upon the hindrance.
selfish part. To be held to rigid rules
In the first place, then, I would
of justice for the sake of others developes ■suggest that they might possibly learn
the feelings and capacities which have something from them. It will not be
the good of others for their object. But denied by anybody that originality is
to be restrained in things not affecting a valuable element in human affairs.
their good, by their mere displeasure, There is always need of persons not
developes nothing valuable, except such only to discover new truths, and point
force of character as may unfold itself in out when what were once truths are
resisting the restraint. If acquiesced in, true no longer, but also to commence
it dulls and blunts the whole nature. new practices, and set the example of
To give any fair play to the nature of more enlightened conduct, and better
each, it is essential that different persons taste and sense in human life. This
should be allowed to lead different lives. cannot well be gainsaid by anybody
In proportion as this latitude has been who does not believe that the world has
exercised in any age, has that age been already attained perfection in all its
noteworthy to posterity. Even despotism ways and practices. It is true that this
does not produce its worst effects, so long benefit is not capable of being rendered
as individuality exists under it; and by everybody alike: there are but few
whatever crushes individuality is despot persons, in comparison with the whole
ism, by whatever name it may be called, of mankind, whose experiments, if
and whether it professes to be enforcing adopted by others, would be likely to
the will of God or the injunctions of men. be any improvement on established
Having said that individuality is the practice. But these few are the salt of
same thing with development, and that the earth; without them human life
�OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF WELL-BEING 53
would become a stagnant pool. Not
only is it they who introduce good things
which did not before exist; it is they who
keep the life in those which already exist.
If there were nothing new to be done,
would human intellect cease to be
necessary ? Would it be a reason why
those wrho do the old things should
forget wrhy they are done, and do them
like cattle, not like human beings?
There is only too great a tendency in
the best beliefs and practices to
degenerate into the mechanical; and
unless there were a succession of persons
whose ever-recurring originality prevents
the grounds of those beliefs and prac
tices from becoming merely traditional,
such dead matter would not resist the
smallest shock from anything really alive,
and there wrould be no reason why
civilisation should not die out, as in the
Byzantine Empire. Persons of genius,
it is true, are, and are always likely to
be, a small minority; but, in order to
have them, it is necessary to preserve
the soil in which they grow. Genius
can only breathe freely in an atmosphere
of freedom. Persons of genius are, ex
vi termini, more individual than any
other people—less capable, consequently,
of fitting themselves, without hurtful
compression, into any of the small
number of moulds which society pro
vides in order to save its members the
trouble of forming their own character.
If from timidity they consent to be
forced into one of these moulds, and to
let all that part of themselves which
cannot expand under the pressure remain
unexpanded, society will be little the
better for their genius. If they are of
a strong character, and break their
fetters, they become a mark for the
society which has not succeeded in
reducing them to commonplace, to point
out with solemn warning as “wild,”
“erratic,” and the like; much as if one
should complain of the Niagara river
for not flowing smoothly between its
banks like a Dutch canal.
I insist thus emphatically on the
importance of genius, and the necessity
of allowing it to unfold itself freely both
in thought and in practice, being well
aware that no one will deny the position
in theory, but knowing also that almost
everyone, in reality, is totally indifferent
to it. People think genius a fine thing
if it enables a man to write an exciting
poem, or paint a picture. But, in its
true sense, that of originality in thought
and action, though no one says that it is
not a thing to be admired, nearly all, at
heart, think that they can do very well
without it. Unhappily this is too natural
to be wrondered at. Originality is the
one thing which unoriginal minds cannot
feel the use of. They cannot see what
it is to do for them : how should they ?
If they could see what it would do for
them, it would not be originality. The
first service which originality has to
render them is that of opening their
eyes ; which, being once fully done, they
would have a chance of being themselves
original. Meanwhile, recollecting that
nothing wras ever yet done which some
one was not the first to do, and that all
good things which exist are the fruits of
originality, let them be modest enough
to believe that there is something still
left for it to accomplish, and assure
themselves that they are more in need
of originality the less they are conscious
of the want.
In sober truth, whatever homage may
be professed, or even paid, to real or
supposed mental superiority, the general
tendency of things throughout the world
is to render mediocrity the ascendant
�54
ON LIBERTY
power among mankind. In ancient
history, in the Middle Ages, and in a
diminishing degree through the long
transition from feudality to the present
time, the individual was a power in him
self; and if he had either great talents
or a high social position, he was a con
siderable power. At present individuals
are lost in the crowd. In politics it is
almost a triviality to say that public
opinion now rules the world. The only
power deserving the name is that of
masses, and of governments while they
make themselves the organ of the
tendencies and instincts of masses. This
is as true in the moral and social rela
tions of private life as in public tran
sactions. Those whose opinions go by
the name of public opinion are not
always the same sort of public; in
America they are the whole white
population; in England, chiefly the
middle class. But they are always a
mass—that is to say, collective medi
ocrity. And, what is a still greater
novelty, the mass do not now take their
opinions from dignitaries in Church or
State, from ostensible leaders, or from
books. Their thinking is done for
them by men much like themselves,
addressing them or speaking in their
name, on the spur of the moment,
through the newspapers. I am not com
plaining of all this. I do not assert
that anything better is compatible, as
a general rule, with the present low
state of the human mind. But that
does not hinder the government of
mediocrity from being mediocre govern
ment. No government by a democracy
or a numerous aristocracy, either in
its political acts or in the opinions,
qualities, and tone of mind which it
fosters, ever did or could rise above
mediocrity, except in so far as the
sovereign Many have let themselves be
guided (which, in their best times, they
always have done) by the counsels and
influence of a more highly gifted and
instructed One or Few. The initiation
of all wise or noble things comes, and
must come, from individuals; generally
at first from some one individual.
The honour and glory of the average
man is that he is capable of following
that initiative; that he can respond
internally to wise and noble things, and
be led to them with his eyes open.
I am not countenancing the sort of
“ hero-worship ” which applauds the
strong man of genius for forcibly seizing
on the government of the world and
making it do his bidding in spite of
itself. All he can claim is freedom to
point out the way. The power of com
pelling others into it is not only incon
sistent with the freedom and develop
ment of all the rest, but corrupting to
the strong man himself. It does seem,
however, that when the opinions of
masses of merely average men are
everywhere become or becoming the
dominant power, the counterpoise and
corrective to that tendency would be
the more and more pronounced indi
viduality of those who stand on the
higher eminences of thought. It is in
these circumstances most especially that
exceptional individuals, instead of being
deterred, should be encouraged in
acting differently from the mass. In
other times there was no advantage in
their doing so, unless they acted not
only differently, but better. In this
age the mere example of non-con
formity, the mere refusal to bend the
knee to custom, is itself a service.
Precisely because a tyranny of opinion
is such as to make eccentricity a
reproach, it is desirable, in order
�OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF WELL-BEING 55
to break through that tyranny, that one model. But different persons also
people should be eccentric. Eccentricity require different conditions for their
has always abounded when and where spiritual development, and can no more
strength of character has abounded ; and exist healthily in the same moral than
the amount of eccentricity in a society all the variety of plants can in the same
has generally been proportional to the physical, atmosphere and climate. The
amount of genius, mental vigour, and same things which are helps to one
moral courage it contained. That so person towards the cultivation of his
few now dare to be eccentric marks the higher nature are hindrances to another.
The same mode of life is a healthy
chief danger of the time.
I have said that it is important to give excitement to one, keeping all his faculties
the freest scope possible to uncustomary of action and enjoyment in their best
things, in order that it may in time order, while to another it is a distracting
appear which of these are fit to be con burthen, which suspends or crushes all
verted into customs. But independence internal life. Such are the differences
of action and disregard of custom are among human beings in their sources of
not solely deserving of encouragement pleasure, their susceptibilities of pain,
for the chance they afford that better and the operation on them of different
modes of action, and customs more physical and moral agencies, that, unless
worthy of general adoption, may be there is a corresponding diversity in their
struck out; nor is it only persons of modes of life, they neither obtain their
decided mental superiority who have a fair share of happiness nor grow up to
just claim to carry on their lives in their the mental, moral, and aesthetic stature
own way. There is no reason that all of which their nature is capable. Why,
human existence should be constructed then, should tolerance, as far as the
on some one or some small number of public sentiment is concerned, extend
patterns. If a person possesses any only to tastes and modes of life which
tolerable amount of common sense and extort acquiescence by the multitude of
experience, his own mode of laying out their adherents ? Nowhere (except in
his existence is the best, not because it some monastic institutions) is diversity
is the best in itself, but because it is of taste entirely unrecognised; a person
his own mode. Human beings are not may, without blame, either like or dislike
like sheep; and even sheep are not rowing, or smoking, or music, or athletic
undistinguishably alike. A man cannot exercises, or chess, or cards, or study,
get a coat or a pair of boots to fit him because both those who like each of these
unless they are either made to his things and those who dislike them are
measure or he has a whole warehouseful too numerous to be put down. But the
to choose from; and is it easier to fit man, and still more the woman, who can
him with a life than with a coat, or are be accused either of doing “ what nobody
human beings more like one another in does,” or of not doing “ what everybody
their whole physical and spiritual con does,” is the subject of as much depre
formation than in the shape of their feet? ciatory remark as if he or she had com
If it were only that people have diver mitted some grave moral delinquency.
sities of taste, that is reason enough for Persons require to possess a title, or
not attempting to shape them all after some other badge of rank, or of the
�56
ON LIBERTY
consideration of people of rank, to be able
to indulge somewhat in the luxury of
doing as they like without detriment to
their estimation. To indulge somewhat,
I repeat; for whoever allow themselves
much of that indulgence incur the risk
of something worse than disparaging
speeches—they are in peril of a com
mission de lunatico, and of having their
property taken from them and given to
their relations.1
There is one characteristic of the
present direction of public opinion,
1 There is something both contemptible and
frightful in the sort of evidence on which, of late
years, any person can be judicially declared unfit
for the management of his affairs ; and after his
death his disposal of his property can be set
aside, if there is enough of it to pay the expenses
of litigation—which are charged on the property
itself. All the minute details of his daily life
are pried into, and whatever is found which,
seen through the medium of the perceiving and
describing faculties of the lowest of the low,
bears an appearance unlike absolute common
place, is laid before the jury as evidence of
insanity, and often with success; the jurors
being little, if at all, less vulgar and ignorant
than the witnesses; while the judges, with that
extraordinary want of knowledge of human
nature and life which continually astonishes us
in English lawyers, often help to mislead them.
These trials speak volumes as to the state of
feeling and opinion among the vulgar with regard
to human liberty. So far from setting any value
on individuality—so far from respecting the right
of each individual to act, in things indifferent, as
seems good to his own judgment and inclinations,
judges and juries cannot even conceive that a
person in a state of sanity can desire such
freedom. In former days, when it was proposed
to burn atheists, charitable people used to suggest
putting them in a madhouse instead : it would
be nothing surprising nowadays were we to see
this done, and the doers applauding themselves,
because, instead of persecuting for religion, they
had adopted so humane and Christian a mode
of treating these unfortunates, not without a
silent satisfaction at their having thereby obtained
their deserts.
peculiarly calculated to make it intole
rant of any marked demonstration of
individuality. The general average of
mankind are not only moderate in in
tellect, but also moderate in inclina
tions : they have no tastes or wishes
strong enough to incline them to do
anything unusual, and they consequently
do not understand those who have,
and class all such with the wild and
intemperate whom they are accustomed
to look down upon. Now, in addition
to this fact, which is general, we have
only to suppose that a strong move
ment has set in towards the improve
ment of morals, and it is evident what
we have to expect. In these days such
a movement has set in; much has
actually been effected in the way of
increased regularity of conduct, and
discouragement of excesses; and there
is a philanthropic spirit abroad, for
the exercise of wrhich there is no
more inviting field than the moral and
prudential improvement of our fellow
creatures.
These tendencies of the
times cause the public to be more dis
posed than at most former periods to
prescribe general rules of conduct, and
endeavour to make every one conform
to the approved standard. And that
standard, express or tacit, is to desire
nothing strongly. Its ideal of character
is to be without any marked character ;
to maim by compression, like a Chinese
lady’s foot, every part of human nature
which stands out prominently, and tends
to make the person markedly dissimilar
in outline to commonplace humanity.
As is usually the case with ideals
which exclude one-half of what is de
sirable, the present standard of appro
bation produces only an inferior imita
tion of the other half. Instead of great
energies guided by vigorous reason, and
�of Individuality, as one of the elements of well-being y
strong feelings strongly controlled by a
conscientious will, its result is weak feel
ings and weak energies, which therefore
can be kept in outward conformity to
rule without any strength either of will
or of reason. Already energetic char
acters on any large scale are becoming
merely traditional. There is now scarcely
any outlet for energy in this country
except business. The energy expended
in this may still be regarded as consider
able. What little is left from that
employment is expended on some hobby ;
which may be a useful, even a philan
thropic hobby, but is always some one
thing, and generally a thing of small
dimensions. The greatness of England
is now all collective : individually small,
we only appear capable of anything
great by our habit of combining; and
with this our moral and religious philan
thropists are perfectly contented. But
it was men of another stamp than this
that made England what it has been;
and men of another stamp will be needed
to prevent its decline.
The despotism of custom is every
where the standing hindrance to human
advancement, being in unceasing an
tagonism to that disposition to aim at
something better than customary, which
is called, according to circumstances,
the spirit of liberty, or that of progress
or improvement. The spirit of improve
ment is not always a spirit of liberty,
for it may aim at forcing improvements
on an unwilling people; and the spirit of
liberty, insofar as it resists such attempts,
may ally itself locally and temporarily
with the opponents of improvement;
but the only unfailing and permanent
source of improvement is liberty, since
by it there are as many possible indepen
dent centres of improvement as there are
individuals. The progressive principle,
however, in either shape, whether as the
love of liberty or of improvement, is
antagonistic to the sway of Custom,
involving at least emancipation from
that yoke; and the contest between the
two constitutes the chief interest of the
history of mankind. The greater part of
the world has, properly speaking, no
history, because the despotism of Custom
is complete. This is the case over the
whole East. Custom is there, in all
things, the final appeal; justice and right
mean conformity to custom; the argu
ment of custom no one, unless some
tyrant intoxicated with power, thinks of
resisting. And we see the result. Those
nations must once have had originality ;
they did not start out of the ground
populous, lettered, and versed in many of
the arts of life; they made themselves
all this, and were then the greatest and
most powerful nations of the world.
What are they now ? The subjects or
dependents of tribes whose forefathers
wandered in the forests when theirs had
magnificent palacesand gorgeous temples,
but over whom custom exercised only a
divided rule with liberty and progress.
A people, it appears, may be progressive
for a certain length of time, and then
stop: when does it stop? When it
ceases to possess individuality. If a
similar change should befall the nations
of Europe, it will not be in exactly the
same shape: the despotism of custom
with which these nations are threatened
is not precisely stationariness. It pro
scribes singularity, but it does not
preclude change, provided all change
together. We have discarded the fixed
costumes of our forefathers: everyone
must still dress like other people, but the
fashion may change once or twice a year.
We thus take care that, when there is a
change, it shall be for change’s sake, and
�58
ON LIBERTY
not from any idea of beauty or con
venience; for the same idea of beauty
or convenience would not strike all the
world at the same moment, and be
simultaneously thrown aside by all at
another moment. But we are progressive
as well as changeable : we continually
make new inventions in mechanical
things, and keep them until they are
again superseded by better; we are eager
for improvement in politics, in education,
even in morals, though in this last our
idea of improvement chiefly consists in
persuading or forcing other people to be
as good as ourselves. It is not progress
that we object to ; on the contrary, we
flatter ourselves that we are the most
progressive people who ever lived. It
is individuality that we war against:
we should think we had done wonders
if we had made ourselves all alike;
forgetting that the unlikeness of one
person to another is generally the first
thing which draws the attention of
either to the imperfection of his own
type, and the superiority of another, or
the possibility, by combining the ad
vantages of both, of producing some
thing better than either. We have a
warning example in China—a nation
of much talent, and, in some respects,
even wisdom, owing to the rare good
fortune of having been provided at an
early period with a particularly good
set of customs, the work, in some
measure, of men to whom even the most
enlightened European must accord,
under certain limitations, the title of sages
and philosophers. They are remark
able, too, in the excellence of their
apparatus for impressing, as far as pos
sible, the best wisdom they possess
upon every mind in the community,
and securing that those who have ap
propriated most of it shall occupy the
posts of honour and power. Surely the
people who did this have discovered
the secret of human progressiveness,
and must have kept themselves steadily
at the head of the movement of the
world. On the contrary, they have
become stationary—have remained so
for thousands of years ; and if they are
ever to be farther improved, it must be
by foreigners. They have succeeded
beyond all hope in what English philan
thropists are so industriously working at
—in making a people all alike, all
governing their thoughts and conduct by
the same maxims and rules; and these
are the fruits. The modern regime of
public opinion is, in an unorganised
form, what the Chinese educational and
political systems are in an organised; and
unless individuality shall be able success
fully to assert itself against this yoke,
Europe, notwithstanding its noble ante
cedents and its professed Christianity,
will tend to become another China.
What is it that has hitherto preserved
Europe from this lot ? What has made
the European family of nations an im
proving, instead of a stationary, portion
of mankind ? Not any superior excellence
in them, which, when it exists, exists as
the effect, not as the cause; but their
remarkable diversity of character and
culture. Individuals, classes, nations,
have been extremely unlike one another;
they have struck out a great variety of
paths, each leading to something valu
able ; and although at every period
those who travelled in different paths
have been intolerant of one another,
and each would have thought it an ex
cellent thing if all the rest could have
been compelled to travel his road, their
attempts to thwart each other’s develop
ment have rarely had any permanent
success, and each has in time endured
�OF INDIVIDUALITY, AS ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF WELL-BEING 59
to receive the good which the others
have offered. Europe is, in my judg
ment, wholly indebted to this plurality
of paths for its progressive and manysided 'development.
But it already
begins to possess this benefit in a con
siderably less degree. It is decidedly
advancing towards the Chinese ideal of
making all people alike. M. de Toc
queville, in his last important work,
remarks how much more the French
men of the present day resemble one
another than did those even of the last
generation. The same remark might be
made of Englishmen in a far greater
degree. In a passage already quoted from
Wilhelm von Humboldt, he points out
two things as necessary conditions of
human development, because necessary
to render people unlike one another;
namely, freedom, and variety of situa
tions. The second of these two con
ditions is in this country every day
diminishing. The circumstances which
surround different classes and indivi
duals, and shape their characters, are
daily becoming more assimilated. For
merly, different ranks, different neigh
bourhoods, different trades and pro
fessions, lived in what might be called
different worlds; at present, to a great
degree in the same. Comparatively
speaking, they now read the same
things, listen to the same things, see
the same things, go to the same places,
have their hopes and fears directed
to the same objects, have the same
rights and liberties, and the same means
of asserting them. Great as are the
differences of position which remain,
they are nothing to those which have
ceased. And the assimilation is still
proceeding. All the political changes
of the age promote it, since they all
tend to raise the low and to lower
the high. Every extension of educa
tion promotes it, because education
brings people under common influences,
and gives them access to the general
stock of facts and sentiments. Improve
ment in the means of communication
promotes it, by bringing the inhabitants
of distant places into personal contact,
and keeping up a rapid flow of changes
of residence between one place and
another. The increase of commerce and
manufactures promotes it, by diffusing
more widely the advantages of easy
circumstances, and opening all objects
of ambition, even the highest, to general
competition, whereby the desire of rising
becomes no longer the character of a
particular class, but of all classes. A
more powerful agency than even all these,
in bringing about a general similarity
among mankind, is the complete estab
lishment, in this and other free coun
tries, of the ascendancy of public opinion
in the State. As the various social
eminences which enabled persons en
trenched on them to disregard the
opinion of the multitude gradually be
come levelled; as the very idea of
resisting the will of the public, when it
is positively known that they have a will,
disappears more and more from the
minds of practical politicians; there
ceases to be any social support for non
conformity—any substantive power in
society, which, itself opposed to the ascen
dancy of numbers, is interested in taking
under its protection opinions and tenden
cies at variance with those of the public.
The combination of all these causes
forms so great a mass of influences
hostile to individuality that it is not
easy to see how it can stand its ground.
It will do so with increasing difficulty,
unless the intelligent part of the public
can be made to feel its value—to see
�6o
ON LIBERTY
that it is good there should be differences,
even though not for the better; even
though, as it may appear to them, some
should be for the worse. If the claims
of individuality are ever to be asserted,
the time is now, while much is still
wanting to complete the enforced assimi
lation. It is only in the earlier stages
that any stand can be successfully made
against the encroachment. The demand
that all other people shall resemble our
selves grows by what it feeds on. If
resistance waits till life is reduced nearly
to one uniform type, all deviations from
that type will come to be considered
impious, immoral, even monstrous and
contrary to nature. Mankind speedily
become unable to conceive diversity,
when they have been for some time
unaccustomed to see it.
Chapter IV.
OF THE LIMITS TO THE AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY
OVER THE INDIVIDUAL
What, then, is the rightful limit to the
sovereignty of the individual over him
self? Where does the authority of
society begin ? How much of human
life should be assigned to individuality,
and how much to society ?
Each will receive its proper shape, if
each has that which more particularly
concerns it. To individuality should
belong the part of life in which it is
chiefly the individual that is interested;
to society, the part which chiefly interests
society.
Though society is not founded on a
contract, and though no good purpose is
answered by inventing a contract in order
to deduce social obligations from it, every
one who receives the protection of society
owes a return for the benefit, and the
fact of living in society renders it
indispensable that each should be bound
to observe a certain line of conduct towards
the rest. This conduct consists, first, in I
not injuring the interests of one another;
or rather certain interests, which, either
by express legal provision or by tacit
understanding, ought to be considered
as rights; and secondly, in each person’s
bearing his share (to be fixed on some
equitable principle) of the labours and
sacrifices incurred for defending the
society or its members from injury and
molestation. These conditions society
is justified in enforcing, at all costs to
those who endeavour to withhold fulfil
ment. Nor is this all that society may
do. The acts of an individual may be
hurtful to others, or wanting in due con
sideration for their welfare, without going
to the length of violating any of their
constituted rights. The offender may
then be justly punished by opinion,
though not by law. As soon as any part
of a person’s conduct affects prejudicially
the interests of others, society has jurisdiction over it, and the question whether
�OF LIMITS TO AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL 61
the general welfare will or will not be
promoted by interfering with it becomes
open to discussion. But there is no
room for entertaining any such question
when a person’s conduct affects the
interests of no persons besides himself,
or needs not affect them unless they like
(all the persons concerned being of full
age and the ordinary amount of under
standing). In all such cases there should
be perfect freedom, legal and social, to
do the action and stand the conse
quences.
It would be a great misunderstanding
of this doctrine to suppose that it is one
of selfish indifference, which pretends
that human beings have no business
with each other’s conduct in life, and
that they should not concern themselves
about the well-doing or well-being of one
another, unless their own interest is
involved. Instead of any diminution,
there is need of a great increase of
disinterested exertion to promote the
good of others. But disinterested bene
volence can find other instruments to
persuade people to their good than
whips and scourges, either of the literal
or the metaphorical sort. I am the last
person to undervalue the self-regarding
virtues; they are only second in impor
tance, if even second, to the social. It
is equally the business of education to
cultivate both. But even education
works by conviction and persuasion as
well as by compulsion, and it is by the
former only that, when the period of
education is passed, the self-regarding
virtues should be inculcated. Human
beings owe to each other help to dis
tinguish the better from the worse, and
encouragement to choose the former
and avoid the latter. They should be for
ever stimulating each other to increased
exercise of their higher faculties, and
increased direction of their feelings and
aims towards wise instead of foolish,
elevating instead of degrading, objects
and contemplations. But neither one
person, nor any number of persons, is
warranted in saying to another human
creature of ripe years that he shall not
do with his life for his own benefit what
he chooses to do with it. He is the
person most interested in his own well
being : the interest which any other
person, except in cases of strong personal
attachment, can have in it, is trifling,
compared with that which he himself
has; the interest which society has in
him individually (except as to his conduct
to others) is fractional, and altogether
indirect: while with respect to his own
feelings and circumstances, the most
ordinary man or woman has means of
knowledge immeasurably surpassing those
that can be possessed by anyone else.
The interference of society to overrule
his judgment and purposes in what only
regards himself must be grounded on
general presumptions; which may be
altogether wrong, and, even if right, are
as likely as not to be misapplied to indi
vidual cases, by persons no better
acquainted with the circumstances of
such cases than those are who look at
them merely from without. In this
department, therefore, of human affairs
individuality has its proper field of
action. In the conduct of human
beings towards one another it is neces
sary that general rules should for the
most part be observed, in order that
people may know what they have to
expect; but in each person’s own con
cerns his individual spontaneity is
entitled to free exercise. Considera
tions to aid his judgment, exhortations
to strengthen his will, may be offered to
him, even obtruded on him, by others;
�62
ON LIBERTY
but he himself is the final judge. All
errors which he is likely to commit
against advice and warning are far
outweighed by the evil of allowing
others to constrain him to what they
deem his good.
I do not mean that the feelings with
which a person is regarded by others
ought not to be in any way affected
by his self-regarding qualities or defi
ciencies. This is neither possible nor
desirable. If he is eminent in any of
the qualities which conduce to his own
good, he is, so far, a proper object of
admiration. He is so much the nearer
to the ideal perfection of human nature.
If he is grossly deficient in those qualities,
a sentiment the opposite of admiration
will follow. There is a degree of folly,
and a degree of what may be called
(though the phrase is not unobjection
able) lowness or depravation of taste,
which, though it cannot justify doing
harm to the person who manifests it,
renders him necessarily and properly a
subject of distaste, or, in extreme cases,
even of contempt: a person could not
have the opposite qualities in due
strength without entertaining these
feelings. Though doing no wrong to
anyone, a person may so act as to
compel us to judge him, and feel to him,
as a fool, or as a being of an inferior
order: and since this judgment and
feeling are a fact which he would prefer
to avoid, it is doing him a service to
warn him of it beforehand, as of any
other disagreeable consequence to which
he exposes himself. It would be well,
indeed, if this good office were much
more freely rendered than the common
notions of politeness at present permit,
and if one person could honestly point
out to another that he thinks him in fault,
without being considered unmannerly
or presuming. We have a right also, in
various ways, to act upon our unfavour
able opinion of anyone, not to the
oppression of his individuality, but in
the exercise of ours. We are not bound,
for example, to seek his society: we have
a right to avoid it (though not to parade
the avoidance), for we have a right to
choose the society most acceptable to us.
We have a right, and it may be our duty,
to caution others against him, if we think
his example or conversation likely to
have a pernicious effect on those with
whom he associates. We may give others
a preference over him in optional good
offices, except those which tend to his
improvement. In these various modes
a person may suffer very severe penalties
at the hands of others, for faults which
directly concern only himself; but he
suffers these penalties only insofar as they
are the natural, and, as it were, the
spontaneous, consequences of the faults
themselves, not because they are
purposely inflicted on him for the sake
of punishment. A person who shows
rashness, obstinacy, self-conceit—who
cannot live within moderate means—
who cannot, restrain himself from hurtful
indulgences — who pursues animal
pleasures at the expense of those of
feeling and intellect—must expect to be
lowered in the opinion of others, and to
have a less share of their favourable
sentiments; but of this he has no right
to complain, unless he has merited their
favour by special excellence in his social
relations, and has thus established a title
to their good offices, which is not
affected by his demerits towards himself.
What I contend for is that the incon
veniences which are strictly inseparable
from the unfavourable judgment of others
are the only ones to which a person
should ever be subjected for that portion
�OF LIMITS TO AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL 63
of his conduct and character which
concerns his own good, but which does
not affect the interests of others in their
relations with him. Acts injurious to
others require a totally different treat
ment. Encroachment on their rights;
infliction on them of any loss or damage
not justified by his own rights; falsehood
or duplicity in dealing with them; unfair
or ungenerous use of advantages over
them: even selfish abstinence from
defending them against injury—these
are fit objects of moral reprobation,
and, in grave cases, of moral retribution
and punishment. And not only these
acts, but the dispositions which lead to
them, are properly immoral, and fit
subjects of disapprobation, which may
rise to abhorrence. Cruelty of dis
position ; malice and ill-nature; that
most anti-social and odious of all
passions, envy; dissimulation and in
sincerity; irascibility on insufficient cause,
and resentment disproportioned to the
provocation; the love of domineering
over others; the desire to engross more
than one’s share of advantages (the
TrXeove^ta of the Greeks); the pride
which derives gratification from the
abasement of others; the egotism which
thinks self and its concerns more impor
tant than everything else, and decides all
doubtful questions in its own favour—
these are moral vices, and constitute a
bad and odious moral character : unlike
the self-regarding faults previously men
tioned, which are not properly immorali
ties, and, to whatever pitch they may be
carried, do not constitute wickedness.
They may be proofs of any amount of
folly, or want of personal dignity and
self-respect; but they are only a subject
of moral reprobation when they involve
a breach of duty to others, for whose
sake the individual is bound to have care
for himself. What are called duties to
ourselves are not socially obligatory,
unless circumstances render them at
the same time duties to others. The
term duty to oneself, when it means
anything more than prudence, means
self-respect or self-development; and
for none of these is anyone accountable
to his fellow-creatures, because for none
of them is it for the good of mankind
that he be held accountable to them.
The distinction between the loss of
consideration which a person may
rightly incur by defect of prudence or
of personal dignity, and the reproba
tion which is due to him for an offence
against the rights of others, is not a
merely nominal distinction. It makes
a vast difference both in our feelings
and in our conduct towards him, whether
he displeases us in things in which we
think we have a right to control him or
in things in which we know that we have
not. If he displeases us, we may express
our distaste, and we may stand aloof
from a person as well as from a thing
that displeases us; but we shall not,
therefore, feel called on to make his life
uncomfortable. We shall reflect that he
already bears, or will bear, the whole
penalty of his error; if he spoils his life
by mismanagement, we shall not, for
that reason, desire to spoil it still further :
instead of wishing to punish him, we
shall rather endeavour to alleviate his
punishment, by showing him how he
may avoid or cure the evils his conduct
tends to bring upon him. He may be
to us an object of pity, perhaps of
dislike, but not of anger or resentment;
we shall not treat him like an enemy of
society: the worst we shall think our
selves justified in doing is leaving him to
himself, if we do not interfere benevo
lently by showing interest or concern for
a
�64
ON LIBERTY
him. It is far otherwise if he has in
fringed the rules necessary for the
protection of his fellow-creatures, in
dividually or collectively.
The evil
consequences of his acts do not then fall
on himself, but on others; and society,
as the protector of all its members, must
retaliate on him; must inflict pain on
him for the express purpose of punish
ment, and must take care that it be
sufficiently severe. In the one case, he
is an offender at our bar, and we are
called on not only to sit in judgment on
him, but, in one shape or another, to
execute our own sentence; in the other
case, it is not our part to inflict any
suffering on him, except what may inci
dentally follow from our using the same
liberty in the regulation of our own
affairs which we allow to him in his.
The distinction here pointed out
between the part of a person’s life which
concerns only himself and that which
concerns others many persons will
refuse to admit. How (it may be asked)
can any part of the conduct of a member
of society be a matter of indifference to
the other members? No person is an
entirely isolated being; it is impossible
for a person to do anything seriously
or permanently hurtful to himself, with
out mischief reaching at least to his near
connections, and often far beyond them.
If he injures his property, he does harm
to those who directly or indirectly
derived support from it, and usually
diminishes, by a greater or less amount,
the general resources of the community.
If he deteriorates his bodily or mental
faculties, he not only brings evil upon all
who depended on him for any portion
of their happiness, but disqualifies him
self for rendering the services which he
owes to his fellow-creatures generally;
perhaps becomes a burthen on their
affection or benevolence; and, if such Iddff
conduct were very frequent, hardly any Lrir
offence that is committed would detract'fiori
more from the general sum of good. |.b’w
Finally, if by his vices or follies a person Lhcra
does no direct harm to others, he is,
nevertheless (it may be said), injurious ;>ire
by his example—and ought to be com ■■mi
pelled to control himself, for the sake of . to'■:Lthose whom the sight or knowledge of ‘Id?
his conduct might corrupt or mislead.
And even (it will be added) if the
consequences of misconduct could be
confined to the vicious or thoughtless
individual, ought society to abandon to
their own guidance those who are mani
festly unfit for it ? If protection against
themselves is confessedly due to children
and persons under age, is not society
equally bound to afford it to persons of
mature years who are equally incapable
of self-government? If gambling, or
drunkenness, or incontinence, or idle
ness, or uncleanliness, are as injurious
to happiness, and as great a hindrance
to improvement, as many or most of the
acts prohibited by law, why (it may be
asked) should not law, so far as is con
sistent with practicability and social
convenience, endeavour to repress these
also? And as a supplement to the
unavoidable imperfections of law, ought
b
not opinion at least to organise a
powerful police against these vices, and
visit rigidly with social penalties those
who are known to practise them ? There
is no question here (it may be said) about
restricting individuality, or impeding the
trial of new and original experiments in
living. The only things it is sought to
prevent are things which have been tried
and condemned from the beginning of
the world until now; things which experi
ence has shown not to be useful or
suitable to any person’s individuality.
�OF LIMITS TO AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL 65
There must be some length of time and
amount of experience after which a
moral or prudential truth may be
regarded as established; and it is merely
desired to prevent generation after
generation from falling over the same
precipice which has been fatal to their
predecessors.
I fully admit that the mischief which
a person does to himself may seriously
affect, both through their sympathies
and their interests, those nearly con
nected with him, and, in a minor degree,
society at large. When, by conduct of
this sort, a person is led to violate a
distinct and assignable obligation to
any other person or persons, the case
is taken out of the self-regarding class,
and becomes amenable to moral disap
probation in the proper sense of the
term. If, for example, a man, through
intemperance or extravagance, becomes
unable to pay his debts, or, having
undertaken the moral responsibility of a
family, becomes from the same cause
incapable of supporting or educating
them, he is deservedly reprobated, and
might be justly punished; but it is for
the breach of duty to his family or
creditors, not for the extravagance. If
the resources which ought to have been
devoted to them had been diverted
from them for the most prudent invest
ment, the moral culpability would have
been the same. George Barnwell
murdered his uncle to get money for
his mistress; but if he had done it to
set himself up in business, he would
equally have been hanged. Again, in
the frequent case of a man who causes
grief to his family by addiction to bad
habits, he deserves reproach for his
unkindness or ingratitude; but so he
may for cultivating habits not in them
selves vicious, if they are painful to
those with whom he passes his life, or
who from personal ties are dependent
on him for their comfort. Whoever fails
in the consideration generally due to the
interests and feelings of others, not
being compelled by some more impera
tive duty, or justified by allowable self
preference, is a subject of moral disap
probation for that failure, but not for the
cause of it, nor for the errors, merely
personal to himself, which may have
remotely led to it. In like manner,
when a person disables himself, by
conduct purely self-regarding, from the
performance of some definite duty
incumbent on him to the public, he is
guilty of a social offence. No person
ought to be punished simply for being
drunk; but a soldier or a policeman
should be punished for being drunk on
duty. Whenever, in short, there is a
definite damage, or a definite risk of
damage, either to an individual or to
the public, the case is taken out of the
province of liberty, and placed in that
of morality or law.
But with regard to the merely con
tingent, or, as it may be called, con
structive injury which a person causes
to society, by conduct which neither
violates any specific duty to the public
nor occasions perceptible hurt to any
assignable individual except himself,
the inconvenience is one which society
can afford to bear, for the sake of the
greater good of human freedom. If
grown persons are to be punished for
not taking proper care of themselves, I
would rather it were for their own sake,
than under pretence of preventing them
from impairing their capacity of render
ing to society benefits which society does
not pretend it has a right to exact. But
I cannot consent to argue the point as if
society had no means of bringing its
F
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ON LIBERTY
weaker members up to its ordinary
standard of rational conduct, except
waiting till they do something irrational,
and then punishing them, legally or
morally, for it. Society has had absolute
power over them during all the early
portion of their existence: it has had the
whole period of childhood and nonage
in which to try whether it could make
them capable of rational conduct in life.
The existing generation is master both of
the training and the entire circumstances
of the generation to come; it cannot
indeed make them perfectly wise and
good, because it is itself so lamentably
deficient in goodness and wisdom; and
its best efforts are not always, in individual
cases, its most successful ones; but it is
perfectly well able to make the rising
generation, as a whole, as good as, and a
little better than, itself. If society lets
any considerable number of its members
grow up mere children, incapable of
being acted on by rational consideration
of distant motives, society has itself to
blame for the consequences. Armed
not only with all the powers of education,
but with the ascendancy which the
authority of a received opinion always
exercises over the minds who are least
fitted to judge for themselves; and aided
by the natural penalties which cannot be
prevented from falling on those who incur
the distaste or the contempt of those who
know them ; let not society pretend that
it needs, besides all this, the power to
issue commands and enforce obedience
in the personal concerns of individuals,
in which, on all principles of justice and
policy, the decision Qught to rest with
those who are to abide the consequences.
Nor is there anything which tends more
to discredit and frustrate the better means
of influencing conduct than a resort to
the worse. If there be among those
whom it is attempted to coerce into
prudence or temperance any of the
material of which vigorous and inde
pendent characters are made, they will
infallibly rebel against the yoke. No
such person will ever feel that others
have a right to control him in his con
cerns, such as they have to prevent him
from injuring them in theirs; and it
easily comes to be considered a mark
of spirit and courage to fly in the face
of such usurped authority, and do with
ostentation the exact opposite of what it
enjoins; as in the fashion of grossness
which succeeded, in the time of Charles
II., to the fanatical moral intolerance of
the Puritans. With respect to what is
said of the necessity of protecting society
from the bad example set to others by
the vicious or the self-indulgent, it is
true that bad example may have a perni
cious effect, especially the example of
doing wrong to others with impunity to
the wrong-doer. But we are now speak
ing of conduct which, while it does no
wrong to others, is supposed to do great
harm to the agent himself; and I do
not see how those who believe this can
think otherwise than that the example,
on the whole, must be more salutary
than hurtful, since, if it displays the mis
conduct, it displays also the painful or
degrading consequences which, if the
conduct is justly censured, must be sup
posed to be in all or most cases attendant
on it.
But the strongest of all the arguments
against the interference of the public
with purely personal conduct is that,
when it does interfere, the odds are that
it interferes wrongly, and in the wrong
place. On questions of social morality, of
duty to others, the opinion of the public
—that is, of an overruling majority—•
though often wrong, is likely to be still
�OF LIMITS TO AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL
oftener right; because on such questions
they are only required to judge of their
own interests ; of the manner in which
some mode of conduct, if allowed to be
practised, would affect themselves. But
the opinion of a similar majority, imposed
as a law on the minority, on questions of
self-regarding conduct, is quite as likely
to be wrong as right; for in these cases
public opinion means, at the best, some
people’s opinion of what is good or bad
for other people ; while very often it does
not even mean that; the public, with the
most perfect indifference, passing over
the pleasure or convenience of those
whose conduct they censure, and con
sidering only their own preference.
There are many who consider as an
injury to themselves any conduct which
they have a distaste for, and resent it as
an outrage to their feelings; as a religious
bigot, when charged with disregarding
the religious feelings of others, has been
known to retort that they disregard his
feelings, by persisting in their abominable
worship or creed. But there is no parity
between the feeling of a person for his
own opinion and the feeling of another
who is offended at his holding it; no
more than between the desire of a thief
to take a purse and the desire of the
right owner to keep it. And a person’s
taste is as much his own peculiar concern
as his opinion or his purse. It is easy
for anyone to imagine an ideal public,
which leaves the freedom and choice of
individuals in all uncertain matters
undisturbed, and only requires them to
abstain from modes of conduct which
universal experience has condemned.
But where has there been seen a public
which set any such limit to its censorship?
or when does the public trouble itself
about universal experience ? In its inter
ferences with personal conduct it is
67
seldom thinking of anything but the
enormity of acting or feeling differently
from itself; and this standard of judg
ment, thinly disguised, is held up to
mankind as the dictate of religion and
philosophy by nine-tenths of all moralists
and speculative writers. These teach
that things are right because they are
right; because we feel them to be so.
They tell us to search in our own minds
and hearts for laws of conduct binding
on ourselves and on all others. What
can the poor public do but apply these
instructions, and make their own personal
feelings of good and evil, if they are
tolerably unanimous in them, obligatory
on all the world ?
The evil here pointed out is not one
which exists only in theory; and it may,
perhaps, be expected that I should
specify the instances in which the public
of this age and country improperly
invests its own preferences with the
character of moral laws. I am not
writing an essay on the aberrations of
existing moral feeling. That is too
weighty a subject to be discussed paren
thetically, and by way of illustration.
Yet examples are necessary, to show that
the principle I maintain is of serious and
practical moment, and that I am not
endeavouring to erect a barrier against
imaginary evils. And it is not difficult
to show, by abundant instances, that to
extend the bounds of what may be called
moral police, until it encroaches on the
most unquestionably legitimate liberty
of the individual, is one of the most
universal of all human propensities.
As a first instance, consider the anti
pathies which men cherish on no better
grounds than that persons whose religious
opinions are different from theirs do not
practise their religious observances,
especially their religious abstinences. To
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ON LIBERTY
cite a rather trivial example, nothing in the
creed or practice of Christians does more
to envenom the hatred of Mohamme
dans against them than the fact of their
eating pork. There are few acts which
Christians and Europeans regard with
more unaffected disgust than Mussulmans
regard this particular mode of satisfying
hunger. It is, in the first place, an
offence against their religion; but this
circumstance by no means explains
either the degree or the kind of their
repugnance; for wine also is forbidden
by their religion, and to partake of it
is by all Mussulmans accounted wrong,
but not disgusting. Their aversion to
the flesh of the “ unclean beast ” is, on
the contrary, of that peculiar character
resembling an instinctive antipathy which
the idea of uncleanness, when once it
thoroughly sinks into the feelings, seems
always to excite even in those whose
personal habits are anything but scrupu
lously cleanly, and of which the senti
ment of religious impurity, so intense in
the Hindoos, is a remarkable example.
Suppose, now, that in a people of whom
the majority were Mussulmans, that
majority should insist upon not per
mitting pork to be eaten within the
limits of the country. This would be
nothing new in Mohammedan countries.1
Would it be a legitimate exercise of the
moral authority of public opinion? and
if not, why not ? The practice is really
1 The case of the Bombay Parsees is a curious
instance in point. When this industrious and
enterprising tribe, the descendants of the Persian
fire-worshippers, flying from their native country
before the Caliphs, arrived in Western India,
they were admitted to toleration by the Hindoo
sovereigns, on condition of not eating beef.
When those regions afterwards fell under the
dominion of Mohammedan conquerors, the Parsees
obtained from them a continuance of indulgence,
on condition of refraining from pork. What was
revolting to such a public. They also
sincerely think that it is forbidden and
abhorred by the Deity. Neither could
the prohibition be censured as religious
persecution. It might be religious in its
origin ; but it would not be persecution
for religion, since nobody’s religion makes
it a duty to eat pork. The only tenable
ground of condemnation would be that
with the personal tastes and self-regarding
concerns of individuals the public has
no business to interfere.
To come somewhat nearer home : the
majority of Spaniards consider it a gross
impiety, offensive in the highest degree
to the Supreme Being, to worship him
in any other manner than the Roman
Catholic; and no other public worship
is lawful on Spanish soil. The people of
all Southern Europe look upon a married
clergy as not only irreligious, but un
chaste, indecent, gross, disgusting. What
do Protestants think of these perfectly
sincere feelings, and of the attempt to
enforce them against non-Catholics ?
Yet, if mankind are justified in inter
fering with each other’s liberty in things
which do not concern the interests of
others, on what principle is it possible
consistently to exclude these cases? or
who can blame people for desiring to
suppress what they regard as a scandal
in the sight of God and man? No
stronger case can be shown for prohibit
ing anything which is regarded as a
personal immorality than is made out
for suppressing these practices in the
eyes of those who regard them as im
pieties ; and unless we are willing to
at first obedience to authority became a second
nature, and the Parsees to this day abstain both
from beef and pork. Though not required by
their religion, the double abstinence has had
time to grow into a custom of their tribe—and
custom in the East is a religion.
�OF LIMITS TO AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL Gg
adopt the logic of persecutors, and to say
that we may persecute others because we
are right, and that they must not persecute
us because they are wrong, we must
beware of admitting a principle of which
we should resent as a gross injustice the
application to ourselves.
The preceding instances may be ob
jected to, although unreasonably, as
drawn from contingencies impossible
among us : opinion, in this country, not
being likely to enforce abstinence from
meats, or to interfere with people for
worshipping, and for either marrying or
not marrying, according to their creed or
inclination. The next example, however,
shall be taken from an interference with
liberty which we have by no means
passed all danger of. Wherever the
Puritans have been sufficiently powerful,
as in New England, and in Great Britain
at the time of the Commonwealth, they
have endeavoured, with considerable
success, to put down all public, and
nearly all private, amusements: especially
music, dancing, public games, or other
assemblages for purposes of diversion,
and the theatre. There are still in this
country large bodies of persons by whose
notions of morality and religion these
recreations are condemned; and those
persons belonging chiefly to the middle
class, who are the ascendant power in
the present social and political condition
of the kingdom, it is by no means im
possible that persons of these sentiments
may at some time or other command a
majority in Parliament. How will the
remaining portion of the community like
to have the amusements that shall be
permitted to them regulated by the reli
gious and moral sentiments of the stricter
Calvinists and Methodists? Would they
not, with considerable peremptoriness,
desire these intrusively pious members of
society to mind their own business ?
This is precisely what should be said to
every Government and every public who
have the pretension that no person shall
enjoy any pleasure which they think
wrong. But if the principle of the pre
tension be admitted, no one can reason
ably object to its being acted on in the
sense of the majority, or other prepon
derating power in the country; and all
persons must be ready to conform to the
idea of a Christian commonwealth, as
understood by the early settlers in New
England, if a religious profession similar
to theirs should ever succeed in regaining
its lost ground, as religions supposed to be
declining have so often been known to do.
To imagine another contingency, per
haps more likely to be realised than the
one last mentioned. There is confessedly
a strong tendency in the modern world
towards a democratic constitution of
society, accompanied or not by popular
political institutions. It is affirmed that
in the country where this tendency ismost completely realised—where both
society and the Government are most
democratic—the United States—the feel
ing of the majority, to whom any appear
ance of a more showy or costly style of
living than they can hope to rival is dis
agreeable, operates as a tolerably effectual
sumptuary law, and that in many parts
of the Union it is really difficult for a
person possessing a very large income
to find any mode of spending it which
will not incur popular disapprobation.
Though such statements as these are
doubtless much exaggerated as a repre
sentation of existing facts, the state of
things they describe is not only a con
ceivable and possible, but a probable,
result of democratic feeling, combined
with the notion that the public has a
right to a veto on the manner in which
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ON LIBERTY
individuals shall spend their incomes.
We have only further to suppose a con
siderable diffusion of Socialist opinions,
and it may become infamous in the eyes
of the majority to possess more property
than some very small amount, or any
income not earned by manual labour.
Opinions similar in principle to these
already prevail widely among the artisan
class, and weigh oppressively on those
who are amenable to the opinion chiefly
of that class—namely, its own members.
It is known that the bad workmen, who
form the majority of the operatives in
many branches of industry, are decidedly
of opinion that bad workmen ought to
receive the same wages as good, and that
no one ought to be allowed, through
piecework or otherwise, to earn by supe
rior skill or industry more than others
■ can without it. And they employ a
moral police which occasionally becomes
. a physical one, to deter skilful workmen
from receiving, and employers from
giving, a larger remuneration for a more
useful service. If the public have any
jurisdiction over private concerns, I
cannot see that these people are in fault,
or that any individual’s particular public
can be blamed for asserting the same
authority over his individual conduct
which the general public asserts over
people in general.
But, without dwelling upon suppositi
tious cases, there are, in our own day,
gross usurpations upon the liberty of
private life actually practised, and still
greater ones threatened with some expec
tation of success, and opinions pro
pounded which assert an unlimited right
in the public not only to prohibit by law
everything which it thinks wrong, but, in
order to get at what it thinks wrong, to
prohibit a number of things which it
admits to be innocent.
Under the name of preventing in
temperance, the people of one English
colony, and of nearly half the United
States, have been interdicted by law from
making any use whatever of fermented
drinks, except for medical purposes : for
prohibition of their sale is in fact, as it is
intended to be, prohibition of their use.
And though the impracticability of
executing the law has caused its repeal
in several of the States which had
adopted it, including the one from which
it derives its name, an attempt has not
withstanding been commenced, and is
prosecuted with considerable zeal by
many of the professed philanthropists, to
agitate for a similar law in this country.
The association, or “Alliance” as it
terms itself, which has been formed for
this purpose, has acquired some notoriety
through the publicity given to a corres
pondence between its secretary and one
of the very few English public men who
hold that a politician’s opinions ought to
be founded on principles. Lord Stanley’s
share in this correspondence is cal
culated to strengthen the hopes already
built on him by those who know how
rare such qualities as are manifested in
some of his public appearances un
happily are among those who figure in
political life. The organ of the Alliance,
who would “ deeply deplore the recog
nition of any principle which could be
wrested to justify bigotry and persecu
tion,” undertakes to point out the “broad
and impassable barrier ” which divides
such principles from those of the associa
tion. “All matters relating to thought,
opinion, conscience, appear to me,” he
says, “to be without the sphere of legis
lation ; all pertaining to social act, habit,
relation, subject only to a discretionary
power vested in the State itself, and not
in the individual, to be within it.” No
�OF LIMITS TO AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL 71
mention is made of a third class, different
from either of these—viz., acts and habits
which are not social, but individual;
although it is to this class, surely, that
the act of drinking fermented liquors
belongs.
Selling fermented liquors,
however, is trading, and trading is a
social act. But the infringement com
plained of is not on the liberty of the
seller, but on that of the buyer and
consumer; since the State might just
as well forbid him to drink wine as
purposely make it impossible for him
to obtain it. The secretary, however,
says : “ I claim, as a citizen, a right to
legislate whenever my social rights are
invaded by the social act of another.”
And now for the definition of these
“ social rights.” “ If anything invades
my social rights, certainly the traffic
in strong drink does. It destroys my
primary right of security, by constantly
creating and stimulating social disorder.
It invades my right of equality, by
deriving a profit from the creation of a
misery I am taxed to support. It
impedes my right to free moral and
intellectual development, by surrounding
my path with dangers, and by weakening
and demoralising society, from which I
have a right to claim mutual aid and
intercourse.” A theory of ‘‘ social rights ”
the like of which probably never before
found its way into distinct language:
being nothing short of this—that it is
the absolute social right of every indi
vidual that every other individual shall
act in every respect exactly as he ought;
that, whosoever fails thereof in the
smallest particular, violates my social
right, and entitles me to demand from
the legislature the removal of the griev
ance. So monstrous a principle is far
more dangerous than any single inter
ference with liberty; there is no violation
of liberty which it would not justify ;
it acknowledges no right to any freedom
whatever, except perhaps to that of
holding opinions in secret, without ever
disclosing them: for, the moment an
opinion which I consider noxious passes
anyone’s lips, it invades all the “social
rights ” attributed to me by the Alliance.
The doctrine ascribes to all mankind a
vested interest in each other’s moral,
intellectual, and even physical perfection,
to be defined by each claimant according
to his own standard.
Another important example of ille
gitimate interference with the rightful
liberty of the individual, not simply
threatened, but long since carried into
triumphant effect, is Sabbatarian legisla
tion. Without doubt, abstinence on
one day in the week, so far as the
exigencies of life permit, from the usual
daily occupation, though in no respect
religiously binding on any except Jews,
is a highly beneficial custom. And
inasmuch as this custom cannot be ob
served without a general consent to that
effect among the industrious classes,
therefore, in so far as some persons by
working may impose the same neces
sity on others, it may be allowable and
right that the law should guarantee to
each the observance by others of the
custom, by suspending the greater opera
tions of industry on a particular day.
But this justification, grounded on the
direct interest which others have in each
individual’s observance of the practice,
does not apply to the self-chosen occupa
tions in which a person may think fit to
employ his leisure; nor does it hold good
in the smallest degree for legal restric
tions on amusements. It is true that the
amusement of some is the day’s work of
others; but the pleasure, not to say the
useful recreation, of many is worth the
�72
ON LIBERTY
labour of a few, provided the occupa
tion is freely chosen and can be freely
resigned. The operatives are perfectly
right in thinking that, if all worked on
Sunday, seven days’ work would have to
be given for six days’ wages; but so long
as the great mass of employments are
suspended, the small number who for the
enjoyment of others must still work obtain
a proportional increase of earnings; and
they are not obliged to follow those
occupations if they prefer leisure to
emolument.
If a further remedy is
sought, it might be found in the estab
lishment by custom of a holiday on
some other day of the week for those
particular classes of persons. The only
ground, therefore, on which restrictions
on Sunday amusements can be defended
must be that they are religiously wrong—
a motive of legislation which can never be
too earnestly protested against. Deorum
injuria Diis cura. It remains to be
proved that society or any of its officers
holds a commission from on high to
avenge any supposed offence to Omni
potence which is not also a wrong to
our fellow-creatures. The notion that it
is one man’s duty that another should
be religious was the foundation of all
the religious persecutions ever perpe
trated, and, if admitted, would fully
justify them. Though the feeling which
breaks out in the repeated attempts to
stop railway travelling on Sunday, in the
resistance to the opening of museums,
and the like, has not the cruelty of the
old persecutors, the state of mind indi
cated by it is fundamentally the same.
It is a determination not to tolerate
others in doing what is permitted by
their religion, because it is not permitted
by the persecutor’s religion. It is a
belief that God not only abominates
the act of the misbeliever, but will
not hold us guiltless if we leave him
unmolested.
I cannot refrain from adding to these
examples of the little account commonly
made of human liberty the language of
downright persecution which breaks out
from the press of this country whenever
it feels called on to notice the remarkable
phenomenon of Mormonism. Much
might be said on the unexpected and
instructive fact that an alleged new
revelation, and a religion founded on it,
the product of palpable imposture, not
even supported by the prestige of extra
ordinary qualities in its founder, is be
lieved by hundreds of thousands, and has
been made the foundation of a society,
in the age of newspapers, railways, and
the electric telegraph. What here con
cerns us is that this religion, like other
and better religions, has its martyrs; that
its prophet and founder was for his
teaching put to death by a mob; that
others of its adherents lost their lives by
the same lawless violence; that they
were forcibly expelled in a body from
the country in which they first grew up ;
while, now that they have been chased
into a solitary recess in the midst of a
desert, many in this country openly
declare that it would be right (only that
it is not convenient) to send an expedi
tion against them, and compel them by
force to conform to the opinions of other
people. The article of the Mormonite
doctrine which is the chief provocative
to the antipathy which thus breaks
through the ordinary restraints of reli
gious tolerance is its sanction of poly
gamy; which, though permitted to
Mohammedans, and Hindoos, and
Chinese, seems to excite unquenchable
animosity when practised by persons
who speak English, and profess to be
a kind of Christians. No one has a
�OF LIMITS TO AUTHORITY OF SOCIETY OVER THE INDIVIDUAL 73
deeper disapprobation than I have of
this Mormon institution; both for other
reasons and because, far-from being in
any way countenanced by the principle
of liberty, it is a direct infraction of
that principle, being a mere riveting
of the chains of one half of the com
munity, and an emancipation of the
other from reciprocity of obligation
towards them. Still, it must be
remembered that this relation is as
much voluntary on the part of the
women concerned in it, and who may be
deemed the sufferers by it, as is the
case with any other form of the marriage
institution; and, however surprising this
fact may appear, it has its explanation
in the common ideas and customs of
the world, which, teaching women to
think marriage the one thing needful,
make it intelligible that many a woman
should prefer being one of several wives
to not being a wife at all. Other
countries are not asked to recognise
such unions, or release any portion of
their inhabitants from their own laws
on the score of Mormonite opinions.
But when the dissentients have con
ceded to the hostile sentiments of others
far more than could justly be demanded ;
when they have left the countries to
which their doctrines were unacceptable,
and established themselves in a remote
corner of the earth which they have
been the first to render habitable to
human beings; it is difficult to see on
what principles but those of tyranny
they can be prevented from living
there under what laws they please,
provided they commit no aggression
on other nations, and allow perfect
freedom of departure to those who are
dissatisfied with their ways. A recent
writer, in some respects of considerable
merit, proposes (to use his own words)
not a crusade, but a civilisade, against
this polygamous community, to put an
end to what seems to him a retrograde
step in civilisation. It also appears so
to me, but I am not aware that any
community has a right to force another
to be civilised. So long as the sufferers
by the bad law do not invoke assistance
from other communities, I cannot admit
that persons entirely unconnected with
them ought to step in and require that
a condition of things with which all who
are directly interested appear to be satis
fied should be put an end to because it
is a scandal to persons some thousands
of miles distant, who have no part or
concern in it. Let them send mission
aries, if they please, to preach against it;
and let them, by any fair means (of
which silencing the teachers is not one),
oppose the progress of similar doctrines
among their own people. If civilisation
has got the better of barbarism when
barbarism had the world to itself, it is
too much to profess to be afraid lest
barbarism, after having been fairly got
under, should revive and conquer civili
sation. A civilisation that can thus
succumb to its vanquished enemy must
first have become so degenerate that
neither its appointed priests and teachers
nor anybody else has the capacity, or
will take the trouble, to stand up for it.
If this be so, the sooner such a civilisa
tion receives notice to quit the better.
It can only go on from bad to worse,
until destroyed and regenerated (like
the Western Empire) by energetic bar
barians.
�74
ON LIBERTY
Chapter V.
APPLICATIONS
The principles asserted in these pages
must be more generally admitted as the
basis for discussion of details, before a
consistent application of them to all the
various departments of government and
morals can be attempted with any pros
pect of advantage. The few observations
I propose to make on questions of detail
are designed to illustrate the principles,
rather than to follow them out to their
consequences. I offer, not so much
applications, as specimens of application;
which may serve to bring into greater
clearness the meaning and limits of the
two maxims which together form the
entire doctrine of this Essay, and to
assist the judgment in holding the
balance between them, in the cases
where it appears doubtful which of them
is applicable to the case.
The maxims are, first, that the indi
vidual is not accountable to society for
his actions, in so far as these concern
the interests of no person but himself.
Advice, instruction, persuasion, and
avoidance by other people, if thought
necessary by them for their own good,
are the only measures by which society
can justifiably express its dislike or dis
approbation of his conduct. Secondly,
that, for such actions as are prejudicial to
the interests of others, the individual is
accountable, and may be subjected either
to social or to legal punishment, if society
is of opinion that the one or the other is
requisite for its protection.
In the first place, it must by no means
be supposed, because damage, or proba
bility of damage, to the interests of others
can alone justify the interference of
society, that therefore it always does
justify such interference. In many cases
an individual, in pursuing a legitimate
object, necessarily, and therefore legiti
mately, causes pain or loss to others, or
intercepts a good which they had a
reasonable hope of obtaining. Such oppo
sitions of interest between individuals
often arise from bad social institutions,
but are unavoidable while those institu
tions last; and some would be unavoid
able under any institutions. Whoever
succeeds in an overcrowded profession,
or in a competitive examination; whoever
is preferred to another in any contest for
an object which both desire, reaps benefit
from the loss of others, from their wasted
exertion and their disappointment. But
it is, by common admission, better for the
general interest of mankind that persons
should pursue their objects undeterred
by this sort of consequences. In other
words, society admits no right, either
legal or moral, in the disappointed com
petitors, to immunity from this kind of
suffering; and feels called on to interfere
only when means of success have been
employed which it is contrary to the
general interest to permit—namely, fraud
or treachery, and force.
Again, trade is a social act. Whoever
undertakes to sell any description of
goods to the public does what affects
the interest of other persons, and of
society in general; and thus his conduct,
in principle, comes within the jurisdiction
�APPLICATIONS
of society : accordingly, it was once held
to be the duty of governments, in all cases
which were considered of importance, to
fix prices and regulate the processes of
manufacture. But it is now recognised,
though not till after a long struggle, that
both the cheapness and the good quality
of commodities are most effectually pro
vided for by leaving the producers and
sellers perfectly free, under the sole check
of equal freedom to the buyers for sup
plying themselves elsewhere. This is the
so-called doctrine of Free Trade, which
rests on grounds different from, though
equally solid with, the principle of indi
vidual liberty asserted in this Essay.
Restrictions on trade, or on production
for purposes of trade, are indeed re
straints ; and all restraint, qua restraint,
is an evil: but the restraints in question
affect only that part of conduct which
society is competent to restrain, and are
wrong solely because they do not really
produce the results which it is desired to,
produce by them. As the principle of
individual liberty is not involved in the
doctrine of Free Trade, so neither is it in
most of the questions which arise respect
ing the limits of that doctrine; as, for
example, what amount of public control
is admissible for the prevention of fraud
by adulteration; how far sanitary pre
cautions, or arrangements to protect
workpeople employed in dangerous occu
pations, should be enforced on employers.
Such questions involve considerations of
liberty, only in so far as leaving people to
themselves is always better, caterisparibus,
than controlling them; but that they
may be legitimately controlled for these
ends is in principle undeniable. On the
other hand, there are questions relating
to interference with trade which are
essentially questions of liberty ; such as
the Maine Law, already touched upon ;
75
the prohibition of the importation of
opium into China; the restriction of the
sale of poisons ; all cases, in short, where
the object of the interference is to make
it impossible or difficult to obtain a
particular commodity. These interfer
ences are objectionable, not as infringe
ments on the liberty of the producer or
seller, but on that of the buyer.
One of these examples, that of the
sale of poisons, opens a new question;
the proper limits of what may be called
the functions of police ; how far liberty
may legitimately be invaded for the
prevention of crime, or of accident. It
is one of the undisputed functions of
government to take precautions against
crime before it has been committed, as
well as to detect and punish it afterwards.
The preventive function of government,.
however, is far more liable to be abused,
to the prejudice of liberty, than the
punitory function; for there is hardly
any part of the legitimate freedom of
action of a human being which would
not admit of being represented, and
fairly too, as increasing the facilities
for some form or other of delinquency.
Nevertheless, if a public authority, or
even a private person, sees anyone
evidently preparing to commit a crime,
they are not bound to look on inactive
until the crime is committed, but may
interfere to prevent it. If poisons were
never bought or used for any purpose
except the commission of murder, it would
be right to prohibit their manufacture and
sale. They may, however, be wanted
not only for innocent but for useful
purposes, and restrictions cannot be
imposed in the one case without operat
ing in the other. Again, it is a proper
office of public authority to guard against
accidents. If either a public officer or
any one else saw a person attempting to
�76
ON LIBERTY
cross a bridge which had been ascertained
to be unsafe, and there were no time to
warn him of his danger, they might seize
him and turn him back, without any real
infringement of his liberty; for liberty
consists in doing what one desires, and
he does not desire to fall into the river.
Nevertheless, when there is not a cer
tainty, but only a danger of mischief, no
one but the person himself can judge of
the sufficiency of the motive which may
prompt him to incur the risk: in this
case, therefore (unless he is a child, or
delirious, or in some state of excitement
or absorption incompatible with the full
use of the reflecting faculty), he ought,
.1 conceive, to be only warned of the
danger, not forcibly prevented from
exposing himself to it. Similar con
siderations, applied to such a question
as the sale of poisons, may enable us to
decide which among the possible modes
of regulation are or are not contrary to
principle. Such a precaution, for ex
ample, as that of labelling the drug with
some word expressive of its dangerous
character may be enforced without
violation of liberty: the buyer cannot
wish not to know that the thing he
possesses has poisonous qualities. But
to require in all cases the certificate of
a medical practitioner would make it
sometimes impossible, always expensive,
to obtain the article for legitimate uses.
The only mode apparent to me, in which
difficulties may be thrown in the way
of crime committed through this means,
without any infringement, worth taking
into account, upon the liberty of those
who desire the poisonous substance for
other purposes, consists in providing
what, in the apt language of Bentham,
is called “preappointed evidence.” This
provision is familiar to every one in
the case of contracts. It is usual and i
right that the law, when a contract is
entered into, should require, as the con
dition of its enforcing performance, that
certain formalities should be observed,
such as signatures, attestation of wit
nesses, and the like, in order that in case
of subsequent dispute there may be evi
dence to prove that the contract was really
entered into, and that there was nothing
in the circumstances to render it legally
invalid : the effect being to throw great
obstacles in the way of fictitious con
tracts, or contracts made in circumstances
which, if known, would destroy their
validity. Precautions of a similar nature
might be enforced in the sale of articles
adapted to be instruments of crime. The
seller, for example, might be required to
enter in a register the exact time of the
transaction, the name and address of the
buyer, the precise quality and quantity
sold; to ask the purpose for which it
was wanted, and record the answer he
received. When there was no medical
prescription, the presence of some third
persoh might be required, to bring home
the fact to the purchaser, in case there
should afterwards be reason to believe
that the article had been applied to
criminal purposes. Such regulations
would in general be no material impedi
ment to obtaining the article, but a very
considerable one to making an improper
use of it without detection.
The right inherent in society, to ward
off crimes against itself by antecedent
precautions, suggests the obvious limita
tions to the maxim, that purely self
regarding misconduct cannot properly
be meddled with in the way of preven
tion or punishment. Drunkenness, for
example, in ordinary cases is not a fit
subject for legislative interference; but I
should deem it perfectly legitimate that
a person who had once been convicted
�APPLICA PIONS
of any act of violence to others under
the influence of drink should be placed
under a special legal restriction, personal
to himself; that, if he were afterwards
found drunk, he should be liable to a
penalty, and that, if when in that state he
committed another offence, the punish
ment to which he would be liable for
that other offence should be increased in
severity. The making himself drunk, in
a person whom drunkenness excites to
do harm to others, is a crime against
others. So, again, idleness, except in a
person receiving support from the public,
or except when it constitutes a breach
of contract, cannot without tyranny be
made a subject of legal punishment; but
if, either from idleness or from any other
avoidable cause, a man fails to perform
his legal duties to others, as, for instance,
to support his children, it is no tyranny
to force him to fulfil that obligation by
compulsory labour if no other means are
available.
Again, there are many acts which,
being directly injurious only to the agents
themselves, ought not to be legally inter
dicted, but which, if done publicly, are a
violation of good manners, and, coming
thus within the category of . offences
against others, may rightly be prohibited.
Of this kind are offences against decency;
on which it is unnecessary to dwell, the
rather as they are only connected
indirectly with our subject, the objection
to publicity being equally strong in the
case of many actions not in themselves
condemnable, nor supposed to be so.
There is another question to which an
answer must be found, consistent with
the principles which have been laid down.
In cases of personal conduct supposed
to be blameable, but which respect for
liberty precludes society from preventing
or punishing, because the evil directly '
77
resulting falls wholly on the agent; what
the agent is free to do, ought other
persons to be equally free to counsel or
instigate ? This question is not free
from difficulty. The case of a person
who solicits another to do an act is not
strictly a case of self-regarding conduct.
To give advice or offer inducements to
anyone is a social act, and may, therefore,
like actions in general which affect others,
be supposed amenable to social control.
But a little reflection corrects the first
impression, by showing that, if the case
is not strictly within the definition of
individual liberty, yet the reasons on
which the principle of individual liberty
is grounded are applicable to it. If
people must be allowed, in whatever
concerns only themselves, to act as
seems best to themselves, at their own
peril, they must equally be free to con
sult with one another about what is fit
to be so done; to exchange opinions,
and give and receive suggestions. What
ever it is permitted to do, it must be
permitted to advise to do. The question
is doubtful only when the instigator
derives a personal benefit from his
advice; when he makes it his occupation,
for subsistence or pecuniary gain, to
promote what society and the State con
sider to be an evil. Then, indeed, a
new element of complication is intro
duced ; namely, the existence of classes
of persons with an interest opposed to
what is considered as the public weal,
and whose mode of living is grounded
on the counteraction of it. Ought this
to be interfered with, or not ? Fornica
tion, for example, must be tolerated, and
so must gambling; but should a person
be free to be a pimp, or to keep a
gambling-house ? The case is one of
those which lie on the exact boundary
line between two principles, and it is not
�78
ON LIBERTY
at once apparent to which of the two it
properly belongs. There are arguments
on both sides. On the side of toleration
it may be said that the fact of following
anything as an occupation, and living or
profiting by the practice of it, cannot
make that criminal which would other
wise be admissible; that the act should
•either be consistently permitted or con
sistently prohibited; that, if the principles
■which we have hitherto defended are
true, society has no business, as society,
to decide anything to be wrong which
concerns only the individual; that it
cannot go beyond dissuasion, and that
one person should be as free to persuade
as another to dissuade. In opposition
to this it may be contended that, although
the public, or the State, are not warranted
in authoritatively deciding, for purposes
of repression or punishment, that such
•or such conduct affecting only the in
terests of the individual is good or bad,
they are fully justified in assuming, if
they regard it as bad, that its being so
or not is at least a disputable question :
That, this being supposed, they cannot
be acting wrongly in endeavouring to
exclude the influence of solicitations
which are not disinterested, of instigators
who cannot possibly be impartial—who
have a direct personal interest on one
side, and that side the one which
the State believes to be wrong, and
who confessedly promote it for personal
objects only. There can surely, it may
be urged, be nothing lost, no sacrifice of
good, by so ordering matters that persons
shall make their election, either wisely
or foolishly, on their own prompting, as
free as possible from the arts of persons
who stimulate their inclinations for inte
rested purposes of their own. Thus (it
may be said), though the statutes respect
ing unlawful games are utterly indefen
sible—though all persons should be free
to gamble in their own or each other’s
houses, or in any place of meeting
established by their own subscriptions,
and open only to the members and their
visitors — yet public gambling-houses
should not be permitted. It is true that
the prohibition is never effectual, and
that, whatever amount of tyrannical
power may be given to the police,
gambling-houses can always be main
tained under other pretences ; but they
may be compelled to conduct their
operations with a certain degree of
secrecy and mystery, so that nobody
knows anything about them but those
who seek them; and more than this
society ought not to aim at. There is
considerable force in these arguments.
I will not venture to decide whether
they are sufficient to justify the moral
anomaly of punishing the accessory,
when the principal is (and must be)
allowed to go free; of fining or imprison
ing the procurer, but not the fornicator
—the gambling-house keeper, but not
the gambler. Still less ought the
common operations of buying and selling
to be interfered with on analogous
grounds. Almost every article which is
bought and sold may be used in excess,
and the sellers have a pecuniary interest
in encouraging that excess ; but no argu
ment can be founded on this, in favour,
for instance, of the Maine Law ; because
the class of dealers in strong drinks,
though interested in their abuse, are
indispensably required for the sake of
their legitimate use. The interest, how
ever, of these dealers in promoting
intemperance is a real evil, and justifies
the State in imposing restrictions and
requiring guarantees which, but for that
justification, would be infringements of
legitimate liberty.
�APPLICA TIONS
A further question is, whether the
State, while it permits, should neverthe
less indirectly discourage conduct which
it deems contrary to the best interests of
the agent; whether, for example, it
should take measures to render the
means of drunkenness more costly, or
add to the difficulty of procuring them
by limiting the number of the places of
sale. On this, as on most other practical
questions, many distinctions require to
be made. To tax stimulants for the sole
purpose of making them more difficult
to be obtained is a measure differing
only in degree from their entire prohi
bition, and would be justifiable only if
that were justifiable. Every increase of
cost is a prohibition to those whose
means do not come up to the augmented
price; and to those who do, it is a
penalty laid on them for gratifying a
particular taste. Their choice of plea
sures, and their mode of expending their
income, after satisfying their legal and
moral obligations to the State and to
individuals, are their own concern, and
must rest with their own judgment.
These considerations may seem at first
sight to condemn the selection of
stimulants as special subjects of taxation
for purposes of revenue. But it must
be remembered that taxation for fiscal
purposes is absolutely inevitable; that
in most countries it is necessary that a
considerable part of. that taxation should
be indirect; that the State, therefore,
cannot help imposing penalties, which
to some persons may be prohibitory, on
the use of some articles of consumption.
It is hence the duty of the State to con
sider, in the imposition of taxes, what
commodities the consumers can best
spare; and, b fortiori, to select in
preference those of which it deems the
use, beyond a very moderate quantity,
79
to be positively injurious. Taxation,
therefore, of stimulants, up to the point
which produces the largest amount of
revenue (supposing that the State needs
all the revenue which it yields), is not
only admissible, but to be approved of.
The question of making the sale of
these commodities a more or less exclusive
privilege must be answered differently
according to the purposes to which the
restriction is intended to be subservient.
All places of public resort require the
restraint of a police, and places of this
kind peculiarly, because offences against
society are especially apt to originate
there. It is, therefore, fit to confine the
power of selling these commodities (at
least, for consumption on the spot) to
persons of known or vouched-for respect
ability of conduct; to make such regula
tions respecting hours of opening and
closing as may be requisite for public
surveillance, and to withdraw the licence
if breaches of the peace repeatedly take
place through the connivance or inca
pacity of the keeper of the house, or if
it becomes a rendezvous for concocting
and preparing offences against the law.
Any further restriction I do not conceive
to be, in principle, justifiable. The
limitation in number, for instance, of
beer and spirit houses, for the express
purpose of rendering them more difficult
of access, and diminishing the occasions
of temptation, not only exposes all to an
inconvenience because there are some
by whom the facility would be abused,
but is suited only to a state of society in
which the labouring classes are avowedly
treated as children or savages, and placed
under an education of restraint, to fit
them for future admission to the privi
leges of freedom. This is not the
principle on which the labouring classes
are professedly governed in any free
�8o
ON LIBERTY
country; and no person who sets due
value on freedom will give his adhesion
to their being so governed, unless after
all efforts have been exhausted to educate
them for freedom and govern them as
freemen, and it has been definitively
proved that they can only be governed
as children. The bare statement of the
alternative shows the absurdity of sup
posing that such efforts have been made
in each case which needs be considered
here. It is only because the institutions
of this country are a mass of inconsis
tencies that things find admittance into
our practice which belong to the system
of despotic, or what is called paternal,
government, while the general freedom
of our institutions precludes the exercise
of the amount of control necessary to
render the restraint of any real efficacy
as a moral education.
It was pointed out in an early part of
this Essay that the liberty of the indi
vidual, in things wherein the individual
is alone concerned, implies a correspond
ing liberty in any number of individuals
to regulate by mutual agreement such
things as regard them jointly, and regard
no persons but themselves. This ques
tion permits no difficulty, so long as the
will of all the persons implicated remains
unaltered; but, since that will may
change, it is often necessary, even in
things in which they alone are concerned,
that they should enter into engagements
with one another; and, when they do, it
is fit, as a general rule, that those engage
ments should be kept. Yet, in the laws,
probably of every country, this general
rule has some exceptions. Not only
persons are not held to engagements
which violate the rights of third parties,
but it is sometimes considered a sufficient
reason for releasing them from an engage
ment that it is injurious to themselves.
In this and most other civilised countries,
for example, an engagement by which a
person should sell himself, or allow him
self to be sold, as a slave, would be null
and void—neither enforced by law nor
by opinion. The ground for thus limit
ing his power of voluntarily disposing of
his own lot in life is apparent, and is
very clearly seen in this extreme case.
The reason for not interfering, unless for
the sake of others, with a person’s volun
tary acts is consideration for his liberty.
His voluntary choice is evidence that
what he so chooses is desirable, or at the
least endurable, to him, and his good is
on the whole best provided for by allow
ing him to take his own means of pur
suing it. But by selling himself for a
slave he abdicates his liberty; he fore
goes any future use of it beyond that
single act. He therefore defeats, in his
own case, the very purpose which is the
justification of allowing him to dispose
of himself. He is no longer free, but is
thenceforth in a position which has no
longer the presumption in its favour
that would be afforded by his voluntarily
remaining in it. The principle of free
dom cannot require that he should be
free not to be free. It is not freedom
to be allowed to alienate his freedom.
These reasons, the force of which is so
conspicuous in this peculiar case, are
evidently of far wider application; yet a
limit is everywhere set to them by the
necessities of life, which continually
require, not indeed that we should resign
our freedom, but that wye should consent
to this and the other limitation of it.
The principle, how’ever, which demands
uncontrolled freedom of action in all
that concerns only the agents themselves,
requires that those who have become
bound to one another, in things which
concern no third party, should be able
�APPLICATIONS
to release one another from the engage
ment ; and even without such voluntary
release there are, perhaps, no contracts
or engagements, except those that relate
to money or money’s worth, of which
one can venture to say that there ought
to be no liberty whatever of retractation.
Baron Wilhelm von Humboldt, in the
excellent essay from which I have already
quoted, states it as his conviction that
engagements which involve personal re
lations or services should never be
legally binding beyond a limited duration
of time; and that the most important of
these engagements, marriage, having the
peculiarity that its objects are frustrated
unless the feelings of both the parties
are in harmony with it, should require
nothing more than the declared will of
either party to dissolve it. This subject
is too important and too complicated to
be discussed in a parenthesis, and I touch
on it only so far as is necessary for pur
poses of illustration. If the conciseness
and generality of Baron Humboldt’s dis
sertation had not obliged him, in this
instance, to content himself with enun
ciating his conclusion without discussing
the premises, he would doubtless have
recognised that the question cannot be
decided on grounds so simple as those
to which he confines himself. When a
person, either by express promise or by
conduct, has encouraged another to rely
upon his continuing to act in a certain way
—to build expectations and calculations,
and stake any part of his plan of life upon
that supposition—a new series of moral
obligations arises on his part towards
that person, which may possibly be over
ruled, but cannot be ignored. And
again, if the relation between two con
tracting parties has been followed by
consequences to others ; if it has placed
third parties in any peculiar position, or,
81
as in the case of marriage, has even
called third parties into existence, obli
gations arise on the part of both the
contracting parties towards those third
persons, the fulfilment of which, or at
all events the mode of fulfilment, must
be greatly affected by the continuance
or disruption of the relation between
the original parties to the contract. It
does not follow, nor can I admit, that
these obligations extend to requiring the
fulfilment of the contract at all costs
to the happiness of the reluctant party;
but they are a necessary element in the
question; and even if, as Von Humboldt
maintains, they ought to make no dif
ference in the legal freedom of the
parties to release themselves from the
engagement (and I also hold that they
ought not to make much difference),
they necessarily make a great difference
in the moral freedom. A person is
bound to take all these circumstances
I into account before resolving on a step
which may affect such important inte
rests of others; and if he does not allow
proper weight to those interests, he is
morally responsible for the wrong. I
have made these obvious remarks for
the better illustration of the general
principle of liberty, and not because
they are at all needed on the particular
question, which, on the contrary, is
usually discussed as if the interest of
children was everything, and that of
grown persons nothing.
I have already observed that, owing to
the absence of any recognised general
principles, liberty is often granted where
it should be withheld, as well as withheld
where it should be granted ; and one of
the cases in which, in the modern Euro
pean world, the sentiment of liberty is
the strongest, is a case where, in my view,
it is altogether misplaced. A person
G
�82
ON LIBERTY
should be free to do as he likes in his
own concerns; but he ought not to be
free to do as he likes in acting for
another, under the pretext that the affairs
of the other are his own affairs. The
State, while it respects the liberty of each
in what specially regards^imself, is bound
to maintain a vigilant control over his
exercise of any power which it allows him
to possess over others. This obligation
is almost entirely disregarded in the case
of the family relations—a case, in its
direct influence on human happiness,
more important than all others taken
together. The almost despotic power of
husbands over wives needs not be
enlarged upon here, because nothing
more is needed for the complete removal
of the evil than that wives should have
the same rights, and should receive the
protection of the law in the same manner,
as all other persons; and because, on this
subject, the defenders of established in
justice do not avail themselves of the
plea of liberty, but stand forth openly as
the champions of power. It is in the
case of children that misapplied notions
of liberty are a real obstacle to the fulfil
ment by the State of its duties. One
would almost think that a man’s children
were supposed to be literally, and not
metaphorically, a part of himself, so
jealous is opinion of the smallest inter
ference of law with his absolute and
exclusive controlover them—morejealous
than of almost any interference with his
own freedom of action : so much less do
the generality of mankind value liberty
than power. Consider, for example, the
case of education. Is it not almost a
self-evident axiom that the State should
require and compel the education, up to
a certain standard, of every human being
who is born its citizen? Yet who is
there that is not afraid to recognise
and assert this truth ? Hardly anyone,
indeed, will deny that it is one of the
most sacred duties of the parents (or, as
law and usage now stand, the father),
after summoning a human being into the
world, to give to that being an education
fitting him to perform his part well in life
towards others and towards himself. But
while this is unanimously declared to be
the father’s duty, scarcely anybody, in
this country, will bear to hear of obliging
him to perform it. Instead of his being
required to make any exertion or sacri
fice for securing education to his child, it
is left to his choice to accept it or not
when it is provided gratis 1 It still
remains unrecognised that to bring a
child into existence without a fair pros
pect of being able, not only to provide
food for its body, but instruction and
training for its mind, is a moral crime,
both against the unfortunate offspring
and against society; and that, if the
parent does not fulfil this obligation, the
State ought to see it fulfilled, at the
charge, as far as possible, of the parent.
Were the duty of enforcing universal
education once admitted, there would be
an end to the difficulties about what the
State should teach, and how it should
teach, which now convert the subject
into a mere battle-field for sects and
parties, causing the time and labour
which should have been spent in educat
ing to be wasted in quarrelling about
education. If the Government would
make up its mind to require for every
child a good education, it might save
itself the trouble of providing one. It
might leave to parents to obtain the
education where and how they pleased,
and content itself with helping to pay
the school fees of the poorer classes of
children, and defraying the entire school
expenses of those who have no one else
�APPLICA TIONS
to pay for them. The objections which
arc urged with reason against State edu
cation do not apply to the enforcement
of education by the State, but to the
State’s taking upon itself to direct that
education: which is a totally different
thing. That the whole or any large part
of the education of the people should be
in State hands I go as far as any one in
deprecating. All that has been said of
the importance of individuality of cha
racter, and diversity in opinions and
modes of conduct, involves, as of the
same unspeakable importance, diversity
of education. A general State education
is a mere contrivance for moulding people
to be exactly like one another; and as
the mould in which it casts them is 'that
which pleases the predominant power
in the Government, whether this be a
monarch, a priesthood, an aristocracy,
or the majority of the existing generation:
in proportion as it is efficient and success
ful, it establishes a despotism over the
mind, leading by natural tendency to
one over the body. An education estab
lished and controlled by the State should
only exist, if it exist at all, as one among
many competing experiments, carried on
for the purpose of example and stimulus,
to keep the others up to a certain
standard of excellence. Unless, indeed,
when society in general is in so backward
a state that it could not or would not
provide for itself any proper institutions
of education, unless the Government
undertook the task: then, indeed, the
Government may, as the less of two great
evils, take upon itself the business of
schools and universities, as it may that
of joint-stock companies, when private
enterprise, in a shape fitted for under
taking great works of industry, does not
exist in the country. But in general, if
the country contains a sufficient number
83
of persons qualified to provide education
under Government auspices, the same
persons would be able and willing to
give an equally good education on the
voluntary principle, under the assurance
of remuneration afforded by a law render
ing education compulsory, combined
with State aid to those unable to defray
the expense.
The instrument for enforcing the law
could be no other than public examina
tions, extending to all children, and begin
ning at an early age. An age might be
fixed at which every child must be exa
mined, to ascertain if he (or she) is able to
read. If a child proves unable, the father,
unless he has some sufficient ground of
excuse, might be subjected to a moderate
fine, to be worked out, if necessary, by
his labour, and the child might be put
to school at his expense. Once in every
year the examination should be renewed,
with a gradually extending range of
subjects, so as to make the universal
acquisition, and, what is more, retention, of
a certain minimum of general knowledge
virtually compulsory. Beyond that mini
mum there should be voluntary examina
tions on all subjects, at which all who
come up to a certain standard of pro
ficiency might claim a certificate. To
prevent the State from exercising, through
these arrangements, animproper influence
over opinion, the knowledge required
for passing an examination (beyond the
merely instrumental parts of knowledge,
such as languages and their use) should,
even in the higher classes of examina
tions, be confined to facts and positive
science exclusively. The examinations
on religion, politics, or other disputed
topics should not turn on the truth or
falsehood of opinions, but on the matter
of fact that such and such an opinion is
held, on such grounds, by such authors,
�84
ON LIBERTY
or schools, or Churches. Under this
system the rising generation would be
no worse off in regard to all disputed
truths than they are at present; they
would be brought up either Churchmen
or Dissenters, as they now are, the State
merely taking care that they should be
instructed Churchmen or instructed.
Dissenters. There would be nothing to
hinder them from being taught religion,
if their parents chose, at the same
schools where they were taught other
things. All attempts by the State to
bias the conclusions of its citizens on
disputed subjects are evil; but it may
very properly offer to ascertain and certify
that a person possesses the knowledge,
requisite to make his conclusions, on
any given subject worth attending to.
A student of philosophy would be the
better for being able to stand an exami
nation both in Locke and in Kant,
whichever of the two he takes up with,
or even if with neither; and there is no
reasonable objection to examining an
Atheist in the evidences of Christianity,
provided he is not required to profess
a belief in them. The examinations,
however, in the higher branches of
knowledge should, I conceive, be entirely
voluntary.
It would be giving too
dangerous a power to Governments were
they allowed to exclude any one from
professions, even from the profession of
teacher, for alleged deficiency of qualifi
cations ; and I think, with Wilhelm von
Humboldt, that degrees, or other public
certificates of scientific or professional
acquirements, should be given to all
who present themselves for examination,
and stand the test; but that such certifi
cates should confer no advantage over
competitors, other than the weight which
may be attached to their testimony by
public opinion.
It is not in the matter of education
only that misplaced notions of liberty
prevent moral obligations on the part of
parents from being recognised, and legal
obligations from being imposed, where
there are the strongest grounds for the
former always, and in many cases for the
latter also. The fact itself, of causing
the existence of a human being, is one
of the most responsible actions in the
range of human life. To undertake this
responsibility—to bestow a life which
may be either a curse or a blessing—
unless the being on whom it is to be
bestowed will have at least the ordinary
chances of a desirable existence, is a
crime against that being. And in a
country either over-peopled, or threatened
with being so, to produce children,
beyond a very small number, with the
effect of reducing the reward of labour
by their competition, is a serious offence
against all who live by the remuneration
of their labour. The laws which, in
many countries on the Continent, forbid
marriage unless the parties can show
that they have the means of support
ing a family do not exceed the legiti
mate powers of the State; and whether
such laws be expedient or not (a ques
tion mainly dependent on local circum
stances and feelings), they are not ob
jectionable as violations of liberty. Such
laws are interferences of the State to
prohibit a mischievous act—an act in
jurious to others, which ought to be
a subject of reprobation and social
stigma, even when it is not deemed expe
dient to superadd legal punishment. Yet
the current ideas of liberty, which bend
so easily to real infringements of the
freedom of the individual in things which
concern only himself, would repel the
attempt to put any restraint upon his
inclinations when the consequence of
�APPLICA TIONS
their indulgence is a life or lives of
wretchedness and depravity to the off
spring, with manifold evils to those suffi
ciently within reach to be in any way
affected by their actions. When we
compare the strange respect of mankind
for liberty with their strange want of
respect for it, we might imagine that a man
had an indispensable right to do harm to
others, and no right at all to please him
self without giving pain to any one.
I have reserved for the last place a
large class of questions respecting the
limits of Government interference, which,
though closely connected with the subject
of this Essay, do not, in strictness, belong
to it. These are cases in which the
reasons against interference do not turn
upon the principle of liberty: the question
is not about restraining the actions of
individuals, but about helping them : it
is asked whether the Government should
do, or cause to be done, something for
their benefit, instead of leaving it to be
done by themselves, individually or in
voluntary combination.
The objections to Government inter
ference, when it is not such as to involve
infringement of liberty, may be of three
kinds.
The first is, when the thing to be done
is likely to be better done by individuals
than by the Government. Speaking
generally, there is no one so fit to conduct
any business, or to determine how or by
whom it shall be conducted, as those
who are personally interested in it. This
principle condemns the interferences,
once so common, of the Legislature, or
the officers of Government, with the
ordinary processes of industry. But this
part of the subject has been sufficiently
enlarged upon by political economists,
and is not particularly related to the
principles of this Essay.
85
The second objection is more nearly
allied to our subject. In many cases,
though individuals may not do the par
ticular thing so well, on the average, as
the officers of Government, it is neverthe
less desirable that it should be done by
them, rather than by the Government, as
a means to their own mental education
—a mode of strengthening their active
faculties, exercising their judgment, and
giving them a familiar knowledge of the
subjects with which they are thus left to
deal. This is a principal, though not the
sole, recommendation of jury trial (in
cases not political); of free and popular
local and municipal institutions ; of the
conduct of industrial and philanthropic
enterprises by voluntary associations.
These are not questions of liberty, and
are connected with that subject only by
remote tendencies ; but they are ques
tions of development. It belongs to a
different occasion from the present to
dwell on these things as parts of national
education; as being, in truth, the peculiar
training of a citizen, the practical part
of the political education of a free
people, taking them out of the narrow
circle of personal and family selfishness,
and accustoming them to the compre
hension of joint interests, the manage
ment of joint concerns—habituating
them to act from public or semi-public
motives, and guide their conduct by aims
which unite instead of isolating them
from one another. Without these habits
and powers, a free constitution can
neither be worked nor preserved ; as is
exemplified by the too often transitory
nature of political freedom in countries
where it does not rest upon a sufficient
basis of local liberties. The manage
ment of purely local business by the
localities, and of the great enterprises of
industry by the union of those who
�86
ON LIBERTY
voluntarily supply the pecuniary means,
is further recommended by all the advan
tages which have been set forth in this
Essay as belonging to individuality of
development and diversity of modes of
action. Government operations tend to
be everywhere alike. With individuals
and voluntary associations, on the con
trary, there are varied experiments, and
endless diversity of experience. What
the State can usefully do is to make itself
a central depository, and active circulator
and diffuser, of the experience resulting
from many trials. Its business is to
enable each experimentalist to benefit
by the experiments of others, instead of
tolerating no experiments but its own.
The third and most cogent reason for
restricting the interference of Govern
ment is the great evil of adding unneces
sarily to its power. Every function super
added to those already exercised by the
Government causes its influence over
hopes and fears to be more widely
diffused, and converts, more and more,
the active and ambitious part of the
public into hangers-on of the Govern
ment, or of some party which aims at
becoming the Government. If the roads,
the railways, the banks, the insurance
offices, the great joint-stock companies,
the universities, and the public charities,
wrere all of them branches of the Govern
ment ; if, in addition, the municipal
corporations and local boards, with all
that now devolves on them, became
departments of the central administra
tion; if the employes of all these different
enterprises were appointed and paid by
the Government, and looked to the
Government for every rise in life; not
all the freedom of the press and popular
constitution of the Legislature would
make this or any other country free other
wise than in name. And the evil would
be greater the more efficiently and scien
tifically the administrative machinery
was constructed—the more skilful the
arrangements for obtaining the best
qualified hands and heads with which to
work it. In England it has of late been
proposed that all the members of the
civil service of government should be
selected by competitive examination, to
obtain for those employments the most
intelligent and instructed persons pro
curable ; and much has been said and
written for and against this proposal.
One of the arguments most insisted on
by its opponents is that the occupation
of a permanent official servant of the
State does not hold out sufficient pros
pects of emolument and importance to
attract the highest talents, which will
always be able to find a more inviting
career in the professions, or in the service
of companies and other public bodies.
One would not have been surprised if
this argument had been used by the
friends of the proposition, as an answer
to its principal difficulty. Coming from
the opponents, it is strange enough. What
is urged as an objection is the safetyvalve of the proposed system. If, indeed,
all the high talent of the country could
be drawn into the service of the Govern
ment, a proposal tending to bring about
that result might well inspire uneasiness.
If every part of the business of society
which required organised concert, or
large and comprehensive views, were in
the hands of the Government, and if
Government offices were universally filled
by the ablest men, all the enlarged
culture and practised intelligence in the
country, except the purely speculative,
would be concentrated in a numerous
bureaucracy, to whom alone the rest of
the community would look for all things :
the multitude for direction and dictation
�APPLICA TIONS
in all they had to do; the able and aspir
ing for personal advancement. To be
admitted into the ranks of this bureau
cracy, and, when admitted, to rise therein,
would be the sole objects of ambition.
Under this regime, not only is the outside
public ill-qualified, for want of practical
experience, to criticise or check the mode
of operation of the bureaucracy, but even
if the accidents of despotic or the natural
working of popular institutions occasion
ally raise to the summit a ruler or rulers
of reforming inclinations, no reform can
be effected which is contrary to the
interest of the bureaucracy. Such is
the melancholy condition of the Russian
Empire, as shown in the accounts of those
who have had sufficient opportunity of
observation. The Czar himself is power
less against the bureaucratic body; he
can send any one of them to Siberia,
but he cannot govern without them, or
against their will. On every decree of
his they have a tacit veto, by merely
refraining from carrying it into effect.
In countries of more advanced civilisa
tion and of a more insurrectionary spirit,
the public, accustomed to expect every
thing to be done for them by the State,
or at least to do nothing for themselves
without asking from the State not only
leave to do it, but even how it is to be
done, naturally hold the State respon
sible for all evil which befalls them, and
when the evil exceeds their amount of
patience, they rise against the Govern
ment, and make what is called a revolu
tion ; whereupon somebody else, with or
without legitimate authority from the
nation, vaults into the seat, issues his
orders to the bureaucracy, and every
thing goes on much as it did before, the
bureaucracy being unchanged, and no
body else being capable of taking their
place.
87
A very different spectacle is exhibited
among a people accustomed to transact
their own business. In France, a large
part of the people having been engaged
in military service, many of whom have
held at least the rank of non-commis
sioned officers, there are in every popular
insurrection several persons competent
to take the lead, and improvise some
tolerable plan of action. What the
French are in military affairs, the
Americans are in every kind of civil
business : let them be left without a
Government, every body of Americans
is able to improvise one, and to carry on
that or any other public business with a
sufficient amount of intelligence, order,
and decision. This is what every free
people ought to be ; and a people capable
of this is certain to be free ; it will never
let itself be enslaved by any man or body
of men because these are able to seize
and pull the reins of the central adminis
tration. No bureaucracy can hope to
make such a people as this do or undergo
anything that they do not like. But
where everything is done through the
bureaucracy, nothing to which the bureau
cracy is really adverse can be done at all.
The constitution of such countries is
an organisation of the experience and
practical ability of the nation into a
disciplined body for the purpose of
governing the rest; and the more perfect
that organisation is in itself, the more
successful in drawing to itself and
educating for itself the persons of greatest
capacity from all ranks of the community,
the more complete is the bondage of all,
the members of the bureaucracy included.
For the governors areas much the slaves
of their organisation and discipline as
the governed are of the governors. A
Chinese mandarin is as much the tool
and creature of a despotism as the
�ON LIBERTY
humblest cultivator.
An individual
Jesuit is to the utmost degree of abase
ment the slave of his order, though the
order itself exists for the collective power
and importance of its members.
It is not, also, to be forgotten that
the absorption of all the principal ability
of the country into the governing body
is fatal, sooner or later, to the mental
activity and progressiveness of the body
itself. Banded together as they are—
working a system which, like all systems,
necessarily proceeds in a great measure
by fixed rules—the official body are
under the constant temptation of sinking
into indolent routine, or, if they now and
then desert the mill-horse round, of
rushing into some half-examined crudity
which has struck the fancy of some lead
ing member of the corps : and the sole
check to these closely-allied, though
seemingly opposite, tendencies, the only
stimulus which can keep the ability of
the body itself up to a high standard, is
liability to the watchful criticism of equal
ability outside the body. It is indis
pensable, therefore, that the means should
exist, independently of the Government,
of forming such ability, and furnishing
it with the opportunities and experience
necessary for a correct judgment of great
practical affairs. If we would possess
permanently a skilful and efficient body
of functionaries—above all, a body able
to originate and willing to adopt im
provements ; if we would not have our
bureaucracy degenerate into a pedantocracy, this body must not engross all
the occupation’s which form and cultivate
the faculties required for the government
of mankind.
To determine the point at which evils,
so formidable to human freedom and
advancement, begin, or rather at which
they begin to predominate over the
benefits attending the collective applica
tion of the force of society, under its
recognised chiefs, for the removal of the
obstacles which stand in the way of its
well-being; to secure as much of the
advantages of centralised power and
intelligence as can be had without turn
ing into governmental channels too great
a proportion of the general activity—is
one of the most difficult and complicated
questions in the art of government. It
is, in a great measure, a question of
detail, in which many and various con
siderations must be kept in view, and no
absolute rule can be laid down. But I
believe that the practical principle in
which safety resides, the ideal to be kept
in view, the standard by which to test
all arrangements intended for overcoming
the difficulty, may be conveyed in these
words: the greatest dissemination of
power consistent with efficiency; but
the greatest possible centralisation of
information, and diffusion of it from the
centre. Thus, in municipal administra
tion, there would be, as in the New
England States, a very minute division
among separate officers, chosen by the
localities, of all business which is not
better left to the persons directly inte
rested ; but, besides this, there would be,
in each department of local affairs, a
central superintendence, forming a
branch of the general government. The
organ of this superintendence would
concentrate, as in a focus, the variety ot
information and experience derived from
the conduct of that branch of public
business in all the localities, from every
thing analogous which is done in foreign
countries, and from the general principles
of political science. This central organ
should have a right to know all that is
done, and its special duty should be
that of making the knowledge acquired
�APPLICA TIONS
in one place available for others.
Emancipated from the petty prejudices
and narrow views of a locality by its
elevated position and comprehensive
sphere of observation, its advice would
naturally carry much authority; but its
actual power, as a permanent institution,
should, I conceive, be limited to com
pelling the local officers to obey the laws
laid down for their guidance. In all
things not provided for by general rules
those officers should be left to their own
judgment, under responsibility to their
constituents. For the violation of rules
they should be responsible to law, and
the rules themselves should be laid down
by the Legislature; the central admin
istrative authority only watching over
their execution, and, if they were not
properly carried into effect, appealing,
according to the nature of the case, to
the tribunals to enforce the law, or to
the constituencies to dismiss the func
tionaries who had not executed it
according to its spirit. Such, in its
general conception, is the central super
intendence which the Poor Law Board
is intended to exercise over the admin
istrators of the Poor Rate throughout
the country. Whatever powers the
Board exercises beyond this limit were
right and necessary in that peculiar
case, for the cure of rooted habits of
maladministration in matters deeply
affecting not the localities merely, but
the whole community; since no locality
has a moral right to make itself, by
mismanagement, a nest of pauperism,
necessarily overflowing into other loca
lities, and impairing the moral and
physical condition of the whole labour
ing community. The powers of ad
89
ministrative coercion and subordinate
legislation possessed by the Poor Law
Board (but which, owing to the state of
opinion on the subject, are very scantily
exercised by them), though perfectly
justifiable in a case of first-rate national
interest, would be wholly out of place in
the superintendence of interests purely
local. But a central organ of informa
tion and instruction for all the localities
would be equally valuable in all depart
ments of administration. A Government
cannot have too much of the kind of
activity which does not impede, but aids
and stimulates, individual exertion and
development. The mischief begins when,
instead of calling forth the activity and
powers of individuals and bodies, it
substitutes its own activity for theirs;
when, instead of informing, advising, and,
upon occasion, denouncing, it makes
them work in fetters, or bids them stand
aside and does their work instead of them.
The worth of a State, in the long run, is
the worth of the individuals composing
it; and a State which postpones the
interests of their mental expansion and
elevation, to a little more of administrative
skill, or of that semblance of it which
practice gives, in the details of business ;
a State which dwarfs its men, in order
that they may be more docile instru
ments in its hands even for beneficial
purposes—will find that with small men
no great thing can reallybe accomplished ;
and that the perfection of machinery to
which it has sacrificed everything will in
the end avail it nothing, for want of the
vital power which, in order that the
machine might work more smoothly, it
has preferred to banish.
�The next R. P. A. Cheap Reprint will be
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THE STORY OF CREATION.
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THE AGNOSTIC ANNUAL for 1904.
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poem), by Henry Allsopp ; The Philosophy of the Human Mind, by Charles Watts; Can Man Know
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The Labour Movement and Christian Orthodoxy, by F. J. Gould.
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THE MARTYRDOM OF MAN.
By WINWOOD READE.
A very fine work, being a concise history of the world, written from a Rationalistic point of view,
and in a graphic and picturesque style.
London : Watts & Co., 17, Johnson’s Court, Fleet Street, E.C.
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Association
(Limited).
[Founded 1899.
Chairman—GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE.
Honorary Associates:
Sir Leslie Stephen
Edward Clodd
Leonard Huxley
John M. Robertson
Prof. Ernst Haeckel
W. C. Coupland, D.Sc., M.A.
W. R. Washington Sullivan
Stanton Coit, Ph.D.
Prof. Ed. A. Westermarck
Paul Carus, Ph.D.
F. J. Gould
Major-Gen. J. G. R. Forlong
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Primary Aims.
The chief objects of the Association
are the encouragement and dissemination
of literature based upon science and
critical research, and tending at once
to the liberation of human reason from
mere tradition and to its proper exercise
on the growing material of knowledge.
Truth is infinitely great, and great is
that part of truth which has already been
brought to light; but, in order that truth
may prevail in the world at large, it
needs that the ignorant shall be taught,
that the apathetic shall be aroused,
that myths shall be analysed, sophisms
exposed, and irrational dogmas refuted.
It is not enough that new truths be
revealed in study or laboratory and dis
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journals. Truth, so far as it bears on
the life and aspirations of mankind or
on the universe to which common expe
rience introduces us, belongs to all
men. Those whose education has been
neglected, and those who have been
educated under a false system which
affords no connected view of natural
knowledge, have been robbed of their
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A Definition of Rationalism.
Those who join the Association do
not thereby subscribe to any definite
creed, positive or negative. There is
breadth enough in Rationalism for all
views which do not contradict the ascer
tained truths of science. At the same
time, something more is to be understood
by Rationalism than a mere rationalistic
spirit or tendency. Rationalism repu
diates irrational authority. It takes
actual human experience to be the
material, and trained human intelligence
to be the builder, of the growing edifice
of truth. It challenges the believers
in miraculous revelation to produce evi
dence for their belief. It demands by
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race, and its moral influence, despite all
the efforts of ecclesiastical bodies, has
only sufficed to affect the lives of the
few.
It is often assumed that those who
relinquish the ancient religious beliefs
leave themselves without motives or
incentives to resist temptation and to
lead good and upright lives. But,
Rationalism may be defined as the whenever this appears to be the case,
mental attitude which unreservedly the blame is to be laid (i) on the religions
accepts the supremacy of reason and themselves, which have held out illusory
aims at establishing a system ofi philo and largely ineffectual bribes of superna
sophy and ethics verifiable by experience tural reward, or threats of supernatural
and independent ofall arbitrary assump retribution, and ignored the powerful
tions or authority.
reasons for morality which lie in man’s
It is to be observed that most Pro social nature and needs; (2) on the
testants are rationalists in their attitude individual doubters, who are not suffi
towards contemporary or recent instances ciently earnest in their search for truth
of alleged miracle and inspiration. They to make a serious study of the natural
are rationalists in their attitude towards and human grounds of moral law. The
the sacred literatures of Buddhists, Brah mental realisation of these grounds must
mans, Parsees, and Mohammedans, and tend towards the practical realisation of
towards the distinctive teachings of the the good life, although acquired habits
Church of Rome. As regards the narra of character cannot be suddenly trans
tive and theology contained in the Bible, formed by changes of opinion. While
however, they are not rationalists, but the R. P. A. has not at present any
at best compromisers between traditional organisation to take the place of the
reverence and scientific inquiry. Thus, older religious churches (such as the
while what has been called “ the spirit Positivist and Ethical Societies possess),
of rationalism ” is rife, the attempt to it is hoped that a tacit fellowship will
raise rationalism into a consistent rule grow up among its widely scattered
of the intellectual life is by no means members, tending to promote the ulti
popular. This, however, is the task mate unity of the various sections of
liberal thinkers. W'herever there is true
which the R. P. A. seeks to accomplish.
devotion to human well-being, and
proper regard for the happiness of all
Rationalism and Morality.
sentient creatures, there is true religion,
In making direct mention of ethics in or (if exception be taken to that word)
the foregoing definition of Rationalism, something better than religion; and,
it is desired to accentuate the fact that whatever our views of the constitution
the philosophy of Rationalism cannot of the universe may be, Nature remains,
fail to have bearings on human conduct for those who follow the paths of reason
which will be far more beneficent in the and science, a supreme source of interest,
long run than those of traditional theo wonder, and inspiration.
logy. Granting that supernaturalism
has had its place in the evolution of a Conditions of Membership.
rational code of morals, it has, neverthe
The Rationalist Press Association, Ltd.,
less, formed the husk rather than the
kernel of moral advancement. In many is “ a Company Limited by Guarantee,
respects it has been detrimental to the and not having a Capital divided into
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what right certain people seek to impose
theological or other dogmas upon man
kind. Thus, after careful consideration,
aided by the advice of several wellknown thinkers, the following definition
of Rationalism has been adopted and
embodied in the Memorandum of Assotion of the R. P. A. :—
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Mr. Balfour’s Apologetics Critically
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BUCHNER, Professor LUDWIG.
Last Words on Materialism,
and
Kindred Subjects.
Translated by Joseph McCabe. With Por
trait of the Author and Biographical Sketch
by his brother, Professor Alex Buchner.
(Uniform with Professor Haeckel’s Riddle
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GORIIAM, CHARLES T.
BITHELL, RICHARD, B.Sc., Ph.D.
Agnostic Problems.
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A Handbook of Scientific Agnosticism.
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Ethics of the Great Religions.
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From the
scriptures of each of these faiths he culls
the finer preceptsand reflections, connecting
them with explanatory sections and critical
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GORHAM, CHARLES T.
The Ethics of the Great French
Rationalists.
is., by post is. 2d.
This little work comprises brief biogra
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Montaigne, Rousseau, Voltaire, Michelet,
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Religion and Ethics.
GOULD, F. J.
Concise History of Religion.
3 vols. Vol. I., 2s. 6d.; Vol. II., 3s. 6d.;
Vol. III., 5s.
The First Volume treats of the super
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and delineates the characteristics of the
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Egypt, Arabia, Chaldtea, Syria, India,
Japan, Persia, the Kelts, Greeks, and
Romans. The Second Volume takes to
pieces the whole of the Old Testament
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various parts. The last chapter describes
the Religious Environment of Early Chris
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growth of the Christian movement, the lives
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The Agnostic Island.
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Audacious as the experiment may seem to some, it will, in all likelihood, be perfectly successful.
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special lines—the collation of all the documentary evidence for and against the claim of the Christian
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and the latest documentary discoveries....... The book, in short, is a marvel of mere comm ercia
value, the production of which does honour to the printers no less than to the publishing Associa
tion. Cheapness and good form cannot be carried further in combination.”
—J. M. Robertson, in “The Literary Guide.
Half morocco, gilt edges, 10s. net, by post 10s. 6d.
“ The boldest, the brightest, the most varied and informing of any work of the kind
extant.”—G. J. HOLYOAKE (in Preface to British edition).
8o large pages, with wrapper, price 6d., by post 8d.
A New Catechism.
By M. M. MANGASARIAN.
With Prefatory Note by George Jaeob Holyoake.
This work has already attained wide popularity in America, several editions having been disposed
of in a remarkably short space of time. The author is an ex-Presbyterian pastor, who is now
the lecturer of the Independent Religious Society of Chicago, and addresses each Sunday
an audience of over two thousand people. The present edition of the book has been
specially revised and prepared for the English public, and, in order to ensure a large
circulation, is being issued in good style at the very low price of sixpence. In
America the published price, in cloth, is 75c. (three shillings), in paper
50c. (two shillings).
AGENTS FOR THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION, LIMITED :
WATTS & CO., 17, JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C.
�PRISON
TYNDALL
(A SEL
I;
;TION.
MSS DARWIN.
THE ORIG»>4 OF SPECIE^.
EMERSOr
ADDRESSES AND ESS/-X.
SELF
With Introduction by Dr. STANTON COIT
8cl.; Nos. 1 to 12 post fr*ar
d112 may be had in cloth, Is. each
post paid, 10s.
4TION. LIMITED :
STREET, EiC.
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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 & 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
On liberty
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Mill, John Stuart [1806-1873]
Columbine, William Brailsford
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 89. [7] p. : ill. (front. port.) ; 22 cm.
Series title: R.P.A. Cheap Reprints
Series number: No. 18
Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Includes biographical sketch of Mill. Printed in double columns. Issued for the Rationalist Press Association, Limited. Publisher's advertisements on unnumbered pages at the end, and continued inside and on back cover. 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
1903
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA883
RA1822
N486
Subject
The topic of the resource
Philosophy
Utilitarianism
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 (On 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
Liberty
NSS