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NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
SALADIN
THE LITTLE
AN EXPOSURE.
BY
T. EVAN JACOB, B.A.
PBICE
TWOPSKCE.
/
äkmbxrn :
ROBERT FORDER,
28
STONECUTTER
1887.
STREET, E. C.
�LONDON :
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY R. EORDER,
AT 28 STONECUTTER STREET, E.C.
�6 303©
^57|
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
SALADIN’S MOTIVES EXPOSED.
UNION concentrates force and thus becomes strength.
As in physical matters so in social and political struggles,
he who promotes union paves the way of victory.
Down yonder mountain slope those dozen babbling
rills skipped and danced for ages : they tripped their
way to the sea with sweet music, but without much
practical benefit to man. The great engineer perceives
in them a source of power ; he unites them ; factories
are built on the spot; families obtain food ; the strag
gling village grows into a town. The music of the rills
has lost none of its sweetness, because it is accom
panied by the merry prattle of childhood ■ their inde
pendence is gone, but on their grave bloom the lovliest
of flowers, domestic peace, domestic plenty, domestic
happiness.
Union is useful in all things. All parties in Church
and State recognise its value. To those who advocate
unpopular opinions, who endeavor to expel error and
restore truth, who struggle to disperse the mists of pre
judice and the clouds of bigotry, union is the very
breath of life. With it we may do something, without
it we are like one of those independent rills, wasting on
rocky ears “ the majesty of our prose and the thunder
of our poetry,” as we tread our weary way to our long
home. We worked hard, early and late ; and is this
our reward? Ah! laurels wreathe the victor’s brow.
There is no prize for unsuccessful merit. Wouldst
thou be useful in thy day and generation ? Sink thy
petty independence, fall in like a loyal soldier, and
fight to the bitter end.
�4
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
A. great responsibility attaches to those who would,
destroy any union that has been formed for good pur
poses. They disable others without adding to their
own strength ; they clog my carriage wheel, but increase
not the velocity of their own waggon. Some there are
in our day who think they can redress the grievances
of their country by destroying the implements, and
mutilating the cattle of their neighbors, as there are
those. who endeavor to spread secular principles by
pointing out to the enemy some imagined weakness in
secular armor. The dastardly crime of the former is
great, but insignificant as compared with the dastardly
devilry of the latter, just as one weed less in the field
of thought is more than ample compensation for a
county run wild, and one flower more in the garden of
truth outweighs a million times the decrease of exports
and fall of revenue.
Secularism is unpopular enough. Secularists are
the Ishmaels of the age. Our hands are against all pre
judices and all prejudices are against us. The force
of prejudice is. strong; the hosts of prejudice are
many. If our little band is to make any headway at
all against the foe, it is our bounden duty to unite.
The union is ready. It is the work of brave men and
women who have devoted themselves to the cause. It
is known by the title “ The National Secular Society.”
Whatever this society may have left undone, it has, at
least, erected a platform from which to attack bigotry,
built halls dedicated to the cause of Freethought, and
enlisted under its banner many gallant soldiers, who
might otherwise be wasting their energies and exhaust
ing their strength in hopeless struggle against over
whelming odds. This society it is that has made active
and public Freethought propaganda possible in England
—a very gratifying and satisfactory result, mainly due,
as no honorable man would deny, to the eloquence
and, above all, to the indomitable energy of its Presi
dent. All Secularists and Freethinkers ought to support
this society, if only to show their Christian opponents
that it is possible to unite in brotherly love without
being hammered into shape by blind faith on the anvil
of terror.
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
5
But this is not to be. The Freethought party must,
it seems, go through the ordeal of schisms and heresies
The heretic, in this instance, is one Mr. W. Stewart
Ross, an enterprising publisher and bookseller of i arringdon Street, but better known, perhaps, as editor of
the Secular Review under the nom de plume of
i( Saladin." This gentleman has during the last two
years written against this society. His opposition is
not that of a philosopher combating error ; that oppo
sition would have been welcome. There is malice in
his every word, resentment and petty pique. Such,
criticism can do no good, can be acceptable to none but
the enemies of Secular progress. He who plays into,
the hands of the enemy, but weakens the cause he
pretends to champion. I am not objecting to criticism.
As a Freethinker I freely grant to others what I claim
for myself. Freedom to think presupposes freedom to
speak : without the latter the former would be sheer
mockery. Saladin has given himself, plenty of rem.
I do not propose to copy his diction or imitate his style.
There is no need in the nineteenth century to don the
controversial armor of the dark ages. Vitriolic epithets,
do not strengthen a proposition ; all they do is to act
as a label to the intellectual contents of the individual
who uses them. Between Saladin and me there will,
be no occasion to use them, as the facts are emphatic
^■What then, are the motives of Saladin’s opposition
to the National Secular Society? What the raison
d'etre of the heresy which he is at so much pains to
christen with his name? I must remind the reader
that Saladin professes to be a Secularist, a Freethinker,
an Agnostic, etc. His motives should be exceptionally
pure In attacking us, a Christian would be allowed
more latitude than an Agnostic. To the former every
thing is fair, for we are his sworn enemies, lhe latter
should kindly point out our errors and suggest correc
tions for he is our friend. Enemies indulge in lies
and slander, whereas it is a friend’s holy office to tell
thNowJSaladin calls all the members of the National
Secular Society Dirtites, Cat-and-ladleites, Know!-
�6
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
tonites, Malthusians, and other complimentary expres
sions of similar odor, in the coining of which he enjoys
an unenviable notoriety. Whenever I read abusive
insulting expressions, I generally conclude that the
writer has no case and no confidence. These puerile
word-toys are unworthy of a grown-up man. Dirtites
indeed ! It were idle to expect sober criticism from
such an unbridled tongue. But to go on. The National
Secular Society teaches Materialism, Socialism and
Malthusianism. These doctrines Saladin hates and
detests: they are worse than the Incarnation, the
Resurrection and the Atonement. Nay, suppress these
horrid opinions, and Saladin would consent to let the
Cross stand add the fire of hell burn for ever. This
is the odious trinity of his abomination—Materialism,
Socialism and Malthusianism ; and the National Secular
Society promulgates these vile doctrines—vile Society !
•Does it ? Let us see. In this Society’s Almanac for
.lbo7, p. 34, I think that the Principles and Objects of
the Society are :
Secularism teaches that conduct should be based on reason
and knowledge. It knows nothing of divine guidance or
intei lei ence : it excludes supernatural hopes and fears; it
regards happiness as man’s proper aim, and utility as his
moral guide.
“ Secularism affirms that Progress is only possible through
Liberty, which is at once a right and a duty; and therefore
seeks to remove every barrier to the fullest equal freedom of
thought, action, and speech.
Secularism declares that theology is condemned by reason
as superstitious and by experience as mischievous, and assails
it as the historic enemy of progress.
“ Secularism accordingly seeks to dispel superstition; to
spread education; to disestablish religion; to rationalise
morality; to promote peace; to dignify labor; to extend
material well-being; and to realise the self-government of
the people.”
Not a word do we find here about Malthusianism,
Socialism, or Materialism, but rather a platform on
which every honest Freethinker could stand, a flag
under which all unselfish Secularists could fight. If
Saladin has no reason more valid to offer for his oppo
sition, he stands condemned out of his own month,
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
7
Saladin has other reasons. The President of the
National Secular Society is a Malthusian ; but he is
also editor of a Freethought paper, and in that capacity
he reviewed a book entitled Elements of Social
Science, and expressed his opinion that the book
was honest and useful. It should also be stated that
this review was written nearly thirty years ago.
Why may not the President be a Malthusian, or
anything else if he likes, so long as he is a loyal and
sincere Secularist ? It is only as a Freethinker that his
opinions must not clash with the published principles
of the Society over which he presides. On other ques
tions, more or less intimately connected with Secu
larism, he, like every other member, has a right to use
his private judgment. Indeed, I always thought that
the right of private judgment, on all matters whatso
ever, was the essence of Freethought—that it recognised
the government of reason, and not the impostures of
faith or the despotism of any individual. But another
School of Freethought has arisen in our midst: the
fundamental article of its creed has been stolen from
the putrefying rags of the Galilean. “ Believe or be
damned,” was the old watchword. “ You are free to
think but, as I do,” is the badge of this heresy, the
chief priest of which is Saladin, who discards the
mantle of freedom, for the Nessus-robe of intolerance.
Oh 1 Saladin, fie, fie, fie, for shame! A tiger loves his
tribe and protects his kind ; but you, a Freethinker,
strike your brother Freethinkers and, on the stage of
life, for the sake of a little rascal gold, play a traitor’s
part. Freethought has come to this. What a deplorable
falling off!
So with regard to the recommendation of the Ele
ments of Social Science, the President has a perfect
right to recommend the book, if he thinks it a book
worthy of being read. Verily it is a memorable book.
Its contents cannot be the rubbish that Saladin and his
school pretend they are. It has already in England
reached its twenty-fifth edition. It is translated into
ten modern languages, practically all the languages
of the Continent. The French translation has reached
its third edition, the Italian its fourth edition, the
�8
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
German its sixth edition—a proof that this book finds
most readers where education is most spread and cul
ture most general. Scholarly Germany rises up in
judgment against Saladin. Mr. G. J. Holyoake recom
mended the book. It is called “ a blessing to the
human race ” by Ernest Jones, a name that will, I ven
ture to predict, be fondly remembered in England,
even when that of Saladin is forgotten. Some of the
most eminent organs of the medical profession, both in
this country and abroad, are lavish in praise of the
treatise. Surely in the face of this cloud of witnesses
it behoves Saladin, I will not say, to reconsider his
opinion, but to be more tolerant towards those who
form a different estimate of that remarkable book to
his own. I make this suggestion for Saladin’s good,
not to purchase his vote and favor for the Elements.
That book has found a place in the literature of Europe,
whence Saladin’s sordid criticism and blatant incom
petence will no more dislodge it, than will a barking
cur snatch from the sky the pale autumn moon.
An index expurgatorius drawn up by a Freethinker!
Nettles on rose bushes ; poison from the grape ; the
night of error from the sun of light. The Farringdon
School of Freethought usurps the functions of the Holy
Office. No Freethinker of that school must read a
book that bears not the imprimatur of Saladin. Retro
gression not progress is the order of the day. The
legitimate corallary of suppressing books is to destroy
men. When a man’s right to think, read, and write is
taken away, the next step is the deprivation of his right
to live. The next role for Saladin is that of Torquemada
or Bonner. Luckily for him Smithfield is near. I
blush for Freethought when I see it draped in the
bloody robes of the Inquisition. I am seeking the
motives of Saladin’s opposition to the organised Freethought of our day. I have examined those which he
publishes with commendable regularity in his journal
week after week. But they are pretences, shams—all
gas. The views of the President of the National Secular
Society on certain questions outside the platform of that
society cannot be the cause of Saladin’s inextinguish
able hatred. There are hundreds and thousands of
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
9
members of this society who are not Malthusians. I
am a member of this society, but I am not a Malthusian,
not yet, at all events. When, on the other hand, he
calls, in sweeping condemnation, all the members of
this society Dirtites, because they advocate socialistic
and Malthusian principles, he knows that he is telling
an untruth and playing the hypocrite. Even if they
did, and if Malthusian principles were dirty, it does
not lie with Saladin to call them by that name. Sala
din knows that, none better, in his heart of hearts. I
must refresh his memory, for he seems to be burdened
with unaccountable forgetfulness. To call the National
Secular Society Socialistic and Malthusian is an unpar
donable misrepresentation, to put it in the mildest
possible way. In the Secular Review for 1884, Saladin
offers “ to proclaim himself a liar,” if certain charges
were proved against him. I shall give him an oppor
tunity of displaying his honor and love of truth before
I have done with him.
In an ancient historian, I find that individuals have
two sets of motives—one for the public, which is a pre
tence, the other for themselves, which is real and
genuine. The publicly stated motives of Saladin’s
opposition I have demonstrated to be untrue, and un
worthy a Freethinker, even if they were true : these
evidently, are the pretended set. Would a man who
deals in pretences, who puts forward reasons, for his
conduct, which he knows to be false, would that man
be called truthful ? I must seek for Saladin’s motives
elsewhere. In prosecuting my search, I shall have to
lift many a veil which I would fain leave untouched.
But Saladin’s cant, hypocrisy, and misrepresentation
compel me to do my duty, and I will do it with care,
but without malice ; with truth, but without vindic
tiveness.
In the year 1884, Saladin became sole proprietor of
the Secular Reviezv, having bought it of Mr. Charles
Watts, whom he previously assisted in editing that
journal. Then he had an opportunity to examine the
financial condition of his investment. That examina
tion was not one to make him jubilant. The paper
was running into debt. A large percentage of the sub
�10
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
scribers were bogus subscribers. This state of things
was very distasteful to Saladin’s Scottish shrewdness.
If it were possible for him to worship a god, that God
would be money. An admirer of Saladin’s goes so far
as to say that the editor of the Secular Review cares
nothing for Freethought, except in so far as it brings
grist to the mill. The written statement of this gen
tleman is quoted in extenso in the Secular Revieiv
without a shadow of an editorial note to repudiate such
base, sordid motives. Weary and disheartening must
those weeks and months of deficit have been to Saladin.
There he was laboring like a giant without being able
to earn literary salt. Week after week, he was turning
out of his intellectual workshop, leaders and essays and
rhyme that shook the great white throne, carried dis
may throughout the length and breadth of heaven,
and made the hierarchies of earth totter to their base,
but the inhabitants of England, thankless crew, would
not buy the Secular Revieiv, would not support and
encourage the greatest writer of the nineteenth century.
His efforts were Titanic, his remuneration considerably
less than zero. Were it not for the honor of his name,
and the glory of his dear Scotland, he would have
washed his hands of English Freethinkers and locked up
the Agnostic Restaurant in which he figured as caterer,
carver, and customer, without a rival or companion.
The game was not worth a rushlight and the Free
thinkers of England were unworthy of him. If the
Secular Revieiv was to pay, it must seek buyers outside
English Freethought. Saladin’s shrewdness soon saw
this.
How to extend the market of the Secular Review
became henceforth the subject which engrossed Sala
din’s thoughts. An accident helped him, as unexpected
as it was gratifying. Within a hundred miles of the
Cotswolds lives (and long may he live !) a venerable
and munificent gentleman, who is nothing . if. not
original. He conceived the bold scheme of building a
Secular school, and has had the courage to carry it out.
Now, under the roof of this noble-minded man lives a
noble-minded lady, whom to see is to esteem, who has
devoted herself absolutely to the cause of Freethought.
�SALADIN THE LITTLE,
11
This lady was commissioned by the daring reformer to
put herself in communication with some of the leaders
of the party, with a view to start the school, he him
self not wishing to figure publicly or prominently
in the administration of the institution, for he is a
benefactor of the unobtrusive, unassuming kind, whose
delight it is to do good, and who find their great reward
in the happiness of others, not in the nauseous eulogy of
flatterers. The lady obeyed. She had been for years
a reader of the Secular Review. She entertained, and
still entertains, a high opinion of Mr. Charles Watts,
while she regards with special esteem that gentleman’s
gifted wife. Mr. Watts’s connection with the Secular
Review had, she was at the time aware, been severed,
but she was loyal to the organ which she had been so
long in the habit of reading. She went to hunt up the
present editor of that journal. She paid him a visit.
That visit changed the course of Saladin’s boat, and
explains the otherwise unaccountable metamorphosis
of the man. After the first intoxication of success was
over, he reviewed his position and prospects in the
light of the great honor he had received. The first
Secular School in England had been made over to him
by deed of gift. Was not that something to be proud
of ? Who said that Saladin’s services to Freethought
were not recognised ? Behold a proof to the contrary
—a very tangible proof too in the shape of a substantial
building and a respectable plot of ground, together
with many other delights and enjoyments that the
world wots not of. Modesty is not a foible of Saladin’s.
The world ought to know how nobly he has been paid
for his “ pencraft.” The world shall know it. A
golden image is set up in Farringdon Street to com
memorate the event, while Saladin and his/satellites in
the Secular Revieiv crow the song of triumph, the
strutting pæan of petty pride, cock-a-doodle-doo ! cocka-doodle-doo ! cock-a-doodle doo ! That visit did it for
Saladin—fed his vanity.
He could now claim recognition at the hands of
English Freethinkers. Was it not he who was selected
to be the proud trustee of this splendid bequest, an
Agnostic school whence all gods were banished except
�12
SaLADIN the little.
Saladin ? But alas lie has never made it known that
his co-trustee was a Christian. Did this trouble him ?
Not in the least. And what has been the result to
Freethought of the possession of this school ? How
many boys has it educated into Agnosticism ? Has it
ever been full ? Never, notwithstanding assertions to
the contrary. In the current issue of the Secular
Review is an advertisement “that there are a few
vacancies for Young Gentlemen as boarders. And
what has been the cost ? In the course of the. lunacy
inquiry, the other day, on poor Mr. Bullock, it came
out that he paid into the London and Westminster
Bank, on June 28, 1884, the sum of £900 to the account
of Saladin and his Christian co-trustee. This was for
three years expenses ; but in September, 1885, another
£300 was applied for and eventually obtained. For
the manner in which Saladin obtained two other sums
of ¿£600 each as loans, and two cheques for ¿£8,000 and
and £5,000 as gifts, from Mr. Bullock, see Gloucester
Chronicle of Dec. 11, 1886. It was time to assert
this claim. The object of his fond dreams was within
his reach. But there was a leader in the field whom
the party did not at all desire to abandon. What of
that? Would not Christian England rejoice at any
attacks made on this man, whom she hated for his
ability, and detested for his influence ? She would not
too nicely examine the source of the attacks, or the
motives of the aggressor, so but the attacks be violent.
Saladin will oblige Christian England. He launches on
the unnatural crusade against the veteran Freethinker,
he a raw recruit of thirty-five weeks’ standing, against
him a trained warrior, grey with the burden of thirtyfive years of meritorious service. Ye gods, what a
spectacle for the world ! One Lilliput shooting needle
arrows at Captain Gulliver! That visit spoiled Saladin
—puffed him with presumption
*
And the Secular Review, can it not be made to pay
now ? Is there no means of converting the deficit into
* Even the alleged insult of the Building Society is now admitted to
be deserved. There was some foundation for it after all, as is admitted,
in self-righteous indignation, by Saladin in the ¡Secular Review foi
Nov. 7, 188G. Why did not Saladin admit this before?
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
13
a surplus ? What is the good of prestige, of renown
and unrivalled genius if, in this free England of the
nineteenth century, all these advantages and gifts
cannot make a paper pay ? Saladin will make a good
bid for success by smashing gods, if smashing gods
will yield a revenue ; if not, by smashing anything.
God-breaking, after Saladin’s fashion, was not profit
able : the people of England were too obtuse to grasp
the meaning of this celestial genius, whose writings
carried terror to Paradise but created no sensation on
this planet. He will attack the National Secular Society,
which has never wronged him ; he will throw as much
mud as he can on thè President of that Society, in the
fond hope that some of’ it may stick ? Not at all, that
for his mud-throwing he may earn a penny and keep
the mud-mill going. Of course, in attacking the Pre
sident of the National Secular Society, Saladin is still
attacking a god. In the National Reformer, Nov. 21,
1875, p. 327, Saladin writes thus :
“ And Theists, if you’ll have a god,
Hail one where Bradlaugh stands.”
And
“ Assail us as we rank around
The hero of our choice.”*
His success in attacking this god is measured
by the good old golden standard, far more decisive
than the thunder of his declamation and the light
ning flashes of his wit, against the gods of Sinai
and Calvary. The Secular Review is floated ; Christian
purses contribute to repair its timbers and patch its
storm-rent sails. The Christian Evidence Society is
one of its largest purchasers, and its lecturers and
emissaries take good care that it is well advertised.
Without breaking entirely with his Agnosticism he
must, however, humor and indulge this generous
Society. The articles which they so freely circulate are
vile personalities, contemptible slanders, blatant vitu* It is only fair to state that this Saladinesque rhodomontade was
inserted in the National Reformer by Saladin’s then friend Mr. C
Watts, during Mr. Bradlaugh’s absence in America.
�14
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
peration and splendid indignation. Just the field in
n • Saladin has no rival, and long may the field be
all his own ! So, in order to keep his customers,
Saladin has to attend the literary market as a sandwichman, hawking his wares. He carries two boards ; on
the front one is written : “ ‘ A Terrible Attack on the
irtites . ‘The Death Agony of the National Secular
Society ! All by Saladin. Price twopence. Only
twopence for a work of art.” On the other board this
legend is inscribed : “ ‘ Sarai’s Petticoat on Sale !’ ‘ A
k
°J-JeSU-n *n
Vomit!’ Two withering satires
by Saladin. Price twopence ; only twopence. Worth
a guinea each.” He has to wear a reversible coat, the
one side Calvary cloth, the other Agnostic tweed. A
disgrace, this, that to an honorable man is worse than
literary death ; but Saladin recks it not. Has he not
increased the circulation of the Secular Review ? The
journal, which two or three years ago was all but dead,
now circulates “ from the rosy cradle of the dawn to
the western chambers of the sun.” That visit wrecked
Saladin : it made him a lover of filthy lucre.
Such is the. Farringdon school of Freethought of
which Saladin is the apostle and hierophant in chief.
It was founded by Envy and Jealousy ; it is supported
by Slander and Personalities ; it is administered by
sordid meanness and unblushing Hypocrisy. Sham,
Pretence, Humbug and Cant are the leading professors.
The secretary is crass Ignorance.
SALADIN’S QUALIFICATIONS TO LEAD
EXAMINED.
What are Saladin s qualifications to lead ? I have
asked a most impious question. Who can be igno
rant of Saladin’s claims ? Are they not much better
known than Paul’s and more universally acknowledged
than Churchill’s ? Are they not printed every week in
the Secular Review, a journal that circulates “ from the
rosy,cradle of the dawn to the western chambers of the
sun ” ? Are they not vouched for by independent ad
mirers, whose number is legion, and whose testimony
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
15
may be represented by X, or better still by 0 ?
too, true, alas! Yet I would fain catalogue his titles
for the sake of any stray ignoramus to whom the
Secular Revieiv may be a sealed book.
Saladin is a man of imposing birth, the greatest
writer since the death of Homer, a profound metaphy
sician, a stirring poet, a consummate scholar. Saladin
is a gentleman sans peur et sans reproche; a man who
lives for a cause, not self ; truthful and truth-loving as
Epaminondas ; a man of spotless honor, the preacher of
a lofty morality. Such is Saladin as painted by his
friends and admirers. Beautiful picture ! I must ex
amine it more closely.
txt-j-k •+
Oh! fame is a soothing balm for all sores, with it
for a blanket one could lie easy and contented on a bed
of thorns. How happy must Saladin be with this com
panion ! Biographies of him have issued from the
press ; then came reviews of the life story, followed in
turn by correspondence on the reviews, so that Prince
Bismarck is not “in it” with him. No wonder, for
the chancellor of “ blood and iron ” is only the son of
a poor German nobleman, while Saladin, through the
yielding virtue of two of his female ancestors, claims
descent from the most royal of Scotland s kings and the
most gifted of Scotland’s bards. I do not blame or
*
reproach these dear old souls. Their blacksliding is a
proof that they were daughters of Eve. The tempta
tion was terrible, but, (rest the turf lightly on their
immortal breasts!) great was their reward, for out of
their weakness sprung Saladin, in whom there is no
guile, who knows not sin.
Saladin wields a powerful pen. His prose is racy
and vigorous, but with a tendency to be prolix. In
some of his verses there is the verve and go of genuine
poetry, though he writes too often in blood. His judg
ment is sadly at fault, as his idea of literary art is very
confused. Insult is not wit; farcical vulgarity is not
humor ; vituperation is not satire ; personalities are not
the essence of sarcasm. In Saladin’s writings these
terms are considered synonymous.
See Life of Saladin, by Hithersay and Ernest.
�16
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
He may be a great metaphysician, but I do not re
member having read many of his writings in that line.
Since I have been a reader of the Secular Review,
Saladin has confined himself, for the most part, to
theology and historical criticism. One thing, however,
strikes me as being remarkable. Saladin professes to
be an Agnostic. Agnostics maintain that there are
certain questions to which the only legitimate answer
man can give is, “I do not know.” The origin of the
world is such a question, and yet Saladin affirms that
*
the base of the universe is psychic not somatic. This
may be a profound ontological fact, but it is not
Agnosticism. At all events, metaphysicians, dealing
as they do with general propositions, are not dis
tinguished for accuracy in details. Miniature is their
abhorrence : hence they are, generally speaking, failures
as scholars. This metaphysical turn of mind may ex
plain the villainous state of Saladin’s scholarship. I
am aware that to question his scholarship will, in some
quarters, be deemed as absurd as to deny the rotundity
of the earth, or as blasphemous as to rob Jesus of his
divinity.
What is scholarship ? Precision, elegance, accuracy.
Saladin lacks these qualities and is accordingly, not
entitled to the name of scholar. He is very strong on
one point—spelling: so are the pupils in our Board
Schools. An error in spelling he detects at once, and
makes no allowance for slips of pen, hasty writing or
anything whatever. Now to spell correctly is good,
and desirable, but it is sheer memory. A bad speller
might write excellent sentiments. Correct spelling is
not, necessarily, a mark of scholarship. But even here
Saladin fails. Even in Orthography he is at sea. In
recent numbers of the Secular Review, under the head
ings “At Random” and “Editorial Notes” I have
seen these gross blunders—freizes for friezes ; Belgiae
for Belgae ; Germanies for G-ermani; scaribaeus for
scarabiBus, Sephor for Sepher ; Tishreden for Tischreden.
But enough of this. It is below criticism, but as it is
the height of Saladin’s scholarship, I am compelled to
descend to his level and learn the art of sinking.
See Secular Review, June 28, 1884.
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
J7
The editor of the Secular Review professes to bevery strong on languages- Has he not had an
Academic education ? French, German, Latin, Greek
and Hebrew, he has them on his finger’s ends. As
specimens of his knowledge of French we have savans..
But unfortunately there is no such word in that
language. Chacun a son gout, is a favorite quotation
of Saladin’s ; a scholar would write gout. He speaks of
the possibility of Jesus standing to Joseph in the re
lation of filles héritières. I have read a little about
Jesus, and have had him presented to me in different
lights, but to Saladin belongs the credit of making him
a girl. He wishes a correspondent to hold his tongue,
he conveys the polite hint in French, tachez vous
which means, “ to defile.” Saladin would be a guide
in French of questionable value.
In the limited portion of the Secular Review which
I have examined for the purpose of this paper, Saladin
has, as far as I am aware, only once shown his acquaint
ance with German. He refers to Luther’s Table Talk?
*
under its German title of course, and calls it Tishreden
for Tischreden. His first German coin is a counter
feit.
In Greek, his scholarship is likewise of the super
ficial and slovenly kind, crude as a child’s first pic
torial attempts. He writes mra gpofirj instead of -n-âcra
ypa^g. Quoting the famous oracle in Herodotus, he
makes it untranslateable by introducing the word
Sia^as, which is not only nonsense but not Greek
even.f
His Latin quotations are more numerous and, natu
rally, the crop of blunders is in this field more luxuriant..
* The reader will please observe that I have only read the itali
cised quotations in the Secular Review. Had I made a more thorough
investigation of it, I could fill a large pamphlet with the editor’s mis
takes and blunders. In fact I have never read an article of Saladin’s
without detecting in it gross errors, if he dares to push out, ever
so little, from the shallows of declamation. Even Saladin is safe
on that plank—the refuge of sciolism.
f He talks in one number of his journal thus: “The positive
ovTos of no law of nature is known.” What is orros ? This sen
tence is philosophy, or rather was intended to be such, but ovtoç'
knocked it into nonsense.
�18
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
He has discovered a new plural for Calebs, which he
spells Coelebses instead of Coelebes. He quotes from
Augustine this sentence: “ Quid est enim pejor, mors
animae quam libertas erroris.” Now, elegant classical
Latinity is not a strong point of this saint; but
assuredly he knew the elementary laws of the Latin
language—how, for instance, and to what extent the
adjective agrees with the noun. He could not but be
aware that words are used to convey to others his mean
ing.. In the same quotation the great Augustine is made
to violate the rules of accidence, syntax and sense. But
Augustine could never write such arrant nonsense. It
is to the pen of the scholarly Saladin that the world is
indebted for this linguistic puzzle, and the world will
estimate the Latinity of the editor of the Secular
Review at its market value—considerably less than
nothing. The man who palms such impostures on the
people, and complacently regards them as the offspring
of a ripe and mature scholarship, ought to sail to Anticyra. He, more than once, in his journal puts to the
*
discredit of Wetstein the following barbarism—“tota
haec oratio ex formulis Habraeorum consinnata est.”
In Latin is no word consinnata. Wetstein was a
scholar, and it is a cause of pain to see his works thus
defiled. Saladin more than once quotes from a certain
“ Henricus Seynensis.” There is no such name in the
catalogues of the British Museum. There is no word
in the Atlases I have consulted from which could be
formed the appellative Seynensis. There was a Hen
ricus de Senesis, and he might be called SenensisA
* See Secular Review, March 22, 1884, and Oct. 23, 1886. Saladin’s
scholarship has not improved during this period. Apparently he
does not cut new ground in his reading, the bulk of many “ At
Randoms” which, as they issue in 1886, held Civilisation spell
bound, having appeared a couple of years before. The Book of God,
which threatens to exceed the Bible in length and depth, may be
patched together from the Secular Review of 1884. Saladin moves
like a planet in a certain orbit, save when he quotes foreign or
dead languages: then he is most erratic.
t Mrs. A. R. Wilkie “ shares,” we are told, “ with the editor of the
Secular Review much of the perferidwm Scotorum.” Whatever is perferidum ? What does it mean ? What can be the meaning of this
conundrum ? I should like to know what it is that Mrs, A. R. Wilkie
shares with Saladin. Not scholarship, I hope.
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
In Hebrew he commits wild vagaries.
19
Inspiration
is said to be the work of
ro . I don’t think there
is in the Hebrew language a word HO- What Saladin
intended to write was J .
Q
*
I am able to correct his
blunder here because he has been kind enough to state
to his readers in intelligible English what he managed
to conceal in his, but nobody else’s, Hebrew. In the
same number of the journal he transcribes two speci
mens of Semitic printing : one he calls Chaldean, the
letters being curved and rounded ; the other is named
real Hebrew, in which the characters are rectangular.
He wants his readers “ to form some idea of the wide
difference ” between the two specimens.
*
There is no
real difference : the letters are the same, the manner
of writing being different. He wants his readers to
believe that the second specimen is later than the first.
This is absurd. It requires more skill to make round
and curved strokes than to make straight lines. The
shape of the characters or the manner of writing, is
the chief criterion in deciding the age of manuscripts.
Saladin is ignorant of this fact, having spent too much
of his time in spelling. At the foot of the same page
he gives a word-for-word translation of Gen. i., 1, from
the Hebrew. This translation shows that Saladin has
no knowledge whatever of the language. The word
eth he renders by them, as though it was a demonstra
tive pronoun, qualifying gods. It is nothing of the
kind. In itself eth has no meaning. It only shows
that the word to which it is attached is not in the
nominative case. Therefore the word here cannot be
taken with gods, because gods is the nominative case.
No scholar before Saladin took it in that way.
This is the man that poses before the world as the
scholar par excellence of English Freethought. I may
be told that the knowledge of languages is not essential
to a public teacher. I quite agree. I am of opinion
that no good or useful purpose is served by lugging
* Why did not Saladin print the same passage in the two styles ?
Why select Deut. iv., 1,2, to represent Specimen No. 1, but Gen. i., 1,
to represent No. 2? See Secular Review, March 6, 1886.
�20
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
quotations from foreign and dead languages into jour
nals which are to be read by the people, of whom
ninety-nine per cent, know nothing about those lan
guages. If, however, they are made, then, for the
honor of Freethought, let them be accurate. Saladin’s
quotations do not reflect much credit on his readers or
himself. The intelligence of the former must be very
low to be satisfied with such rubbish, and Saladin must
know this, otherwise he would never have dared to
insult them with words that never were used, and sen
tences without a meaning. Of the languages he so
often quotes, Saladin knows nothing or next to nothing.
He cannot translate easy passages from them into Eng
lish, not even with the aid of a grammar and a dic
tionary. As to .Hebrew he cannot read it. But he was
taught these things at a celebrated university. Then
he is no credit to his teachers. Education seems to
have had on Saladin the same effect as inspiration had
on the writers of Israel: it leads him from, not to,
truth.
Let us leave language and try other fields. He does
not know the names of the two sects of Islam ; at least
he calls, one of them Shites. I have already pointed
out his ignorance on the evolution of writing. It was
Saladin that wrote the following gem:—“ The two
angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal to two
right angles.” This language is very unscientific, as the
geometry is outrageous. A boy in the sixth standard
at a Board School would smart for this blunder. So it
matters not into what fields of knowledge Saladin may
go, one companion always follows, never deserts, his
great patron—that faithful attendant of Saladin is ig
*
norance.
.A ludicrous instance of Saladin’s literary knowledge and historical
attainments, or want of them, is furnished by him in the A R. of
Jan. 15, 1887. In answer to a correspondent and with a view to adver
tise his patch-work book he speaks of only four copies of the Bordeaux
New Testament being known to exist in England. After stating where
three of these are he says “ the fourth is in the possession of the Duke
of Sussex. It is to the latter copy that God and his Book is indebted.”
Is it a fact then that Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, is still in
the flesh, and is it a fiction that he was buried at Kensal Green in 1843
at the age of 70? Or is the matter explainable on the ground that
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
21
I admire the scholar and his impersonal existence,
■who hates error as he hates poison, to whom truth is
the very bread of life, who carries his honors meekly
’ and unostentatiously, who entertains a special affection
for two classes of men, those who excel.him m know
ledge, and those who detect errors in his works. Oh.
how I admire the scholar. But Saladin is not a scholar.
He decks him in tawdry tinsel to catch the ears of the
mob ; he has not the gold of scholarship, but the dross
of pedantry ; he wears arms which he cannot use ; He
never was in the temple of knowledge—what he.knows
of the service he picked up from the conversations ot
the wise. He dons the plumes of the bird of knowledge,
but under them are the feathers of the crow. Let him
return to his rookery. In the name of all that is
sacred, let him prostitute no longer the scholar s holy
name, no longer degrade the holy cause of breeSaladin lives for the cause not self. Does he ?. This
would cover a multitude of sins. In my opinion, it
would sponge away every blemish. He has been re
solving plans of great pith, to be carried out m the
West of England, when a certain auspicious event hap
pened. There was a house to buy, lands to cultivate,
and money to be made. Are commerce and convey
ancing, Freethought? Is this the cause for . which
Saladin lives ? He would have nothing to do with the
Secular School unless he had absolute control of the
money. If there was any objection on this point, at
head-quarters, he would require a salary for doing
secretarial work. If the salary offered were satisfactory,
he would accept it, if not, he would sever his con
nection with the institution. What about the cause
for which he lives ? It is to be hoped that, he will re
consider his decision, for if Saladin leaves, it, the school
will soon die out, and this would be a serious blow to
Freethought, the cause for which he lives. The
generous founder of the School will, I have no doubt,
humor Saladin’s seeming selfishness, and secure his
' Saladin stole the whole of the paragraph from a controversial journal
of fifty years ago when the Radical Duke was living ? O Saladin,
Saladin
�22
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
powerful aid, to carry on the school, by Hiving him
absolute control of the endowment fund. Some of
the money will, of course, be spent in buying- a
mansion, close to the school which will be very
will be° VvST Wiih c
Seaside ^pensel
will be avoided and Saladin rendered stronger
and stronger to battle for the cause-stronger aid
stronger m pocket. Some of the money will be required
grapes t0 send t0 “arket
Is this Freethought ? Perhaps not. But it will be the
means of securing Saladin’s co-operation. Is this then
the cause for which Saladin lives? Aye, and the
only cause he has ever lived for. Does not living for
thevX
,he/ois^ ? dt does- And heroes, are
they not few and far between ? They are. But there
are millions of heroes who live for their cause after
S^Limanner
KSaladin- This is the measure of
' He UVeS &r the °aU8e’ and
Saladin zs a gentleman, a man of truth. He calls
his opponents, some of whom are as good as he,
irtites and Squirtites. All clergymen and mini
sters, many of whom are men of culture and in
tegrity, he names Beetles and Holy Wastrels The
manners of a gentleman are not these. Saladin must
ave picked up his ideas of a gentleman from a social
Yahoo the head master of which was a Thug or a
In his journal for July 3, 1886, Saladin says that
Peter Agate is not a Christian, while in October 31,
lobb, weare told that the same gentleman had found
Jesus Which is true ? The founder of the Secular
School handed it over to Saladin by a deed of gift
because, it is written, he was an admirer of “At
. andom.
That is not true. A correspondent is
informed that the school is full. At the time of
writing that statement was not true, never has been
. he fact is, the school will not fill—the cause of
which is obvious ; and many are the dodges to which
anS Zf1S P+lagrn?£«AAS written before the bubble burst on Dec. 7th,
stand
£13’°00 WaS °rdered t0 be Siven UP- Bnt I let it
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
23
Saladin resorts in order to have a large number of boys
on the books—the motive for which is manifest. In
various numbers of his journal he declares that he
attacks a certain society because of its principles. In
engaging a gentleman, once upon a time to fill a post
of which he is the patron, Saladin informed that
gentleman what salary was paid to his predecessor.
But he didn’t tell the truth, committing that sin tor
which Ananias suffered death. And yet Saladin is.a
man of truth and he can permit himself to write of his
own “ sterling sincerity and inviolable honesty. It is
easy to write oneself a saint.
.
Saladin is a man of honor. One of his contributors
thanks him for a suggestive word. Saladin accepts the
compliment, though the credit, whatever it is, of com
ing that word was not his. All that comes into Sala
din’s net is fish. He wanted a translation of some
Latin extracts that appeared in his journal. Unable to
do it himself, he applied to a friend who had the trouble
of doing the work, while Saladin pocketed the money,
for he sold the translation for a guinea, nor offered a
penny of it to the translator. Saladin falls fo.u o
nearly every one whom he comes in contact with, if
that person dare differ from the editor of the Secular
Review. Mr. Charles Watts, Dr. Lewins, and Lara have
all been scourged by him. Lara is, at one time, his
second self, and highly honored. Lara deserved the
honor, for he was, without doubt, by far the ablest
writer on the journal. But in Oct. 1885 Saladin throws
him overboard, and, coward-like, stabs him as. he falls.
In a recent issue, Lara is again praised to the skies. Men
of honor are consistent. But Saladin s honor is a very
Proteus. Mr. Bradlaugh is generally regarded as a man
of ability. Opponents recognise his intellectual power.
The Lord Chief Justice of England—no mean judge—
has paid many a tribute to his eloquence .and know
ledge. Saladin himself some years ago hailed him as
a hero and a God. But now he goes back on his formei
convictions and, out of malice ■which, he has been long
and tenderly nursing, he vilifies this gentleman in
*
* Saladin did not quarrel with Mr. Bradlaugh as he states, because
the latter had insulted him. I have often heard Saladin declare that
�24
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
language that would have discredited a bargee and
been considered improper in the purlieus of Seven
Dials. And yet Saladin is an honorable man. It
dishonor mteresting to know . Saladin’s definition of
?.es^ sPe°imen °f his honor is this. He attacks
e National Secular Society week after week, in that
beautiful language of elegant filth of which he is a
b.e<^use that Society is Malthusian, Socialis
tic and Materialistic ? I have proved that it is not so.
Because the President of that Society is Mr. C. Brad
laugh, his god and hero in 1875 ? That’s it. To remove
refer t0
Aug. M, 1886, where you will find the real reason of
Saladin s animosity and rancor stated by himself in a
moment of impetuous forgetfulness. After stating that
he fancied he had been insulted by Mr. Bradlaugh ;
that if he were wrong he would be glad to have his
error pointed out to him ; that he is a man of forgiving
disposition; that he had been for a long time expecting
an apology ; Saladin ruefully declares that no apologv
was made, and then adds, sighing from the bottom of
his wounded heart: “ Am I too insignificant a person
to apologise to, however much my feelings may be
wounded.
That long-expected apology never came.
Saladin was thought an insignificant person. Hine
' illce lacrimce. This man, the soul of honor, and
essence of truth, attacks a certain Society, not because
he has any quarrel with that Society, but because the
President of the same considers him an insignificant
person. He grossly slanders thousands of honest people
who never wronged him, because the President of the
National Secular Society answers his buffoonery with
sueuce He calumniates a whole party to feed fat the
grudge he bears to the leader of that party, because that
leader holds him to be insignificant, who can “ with
his pen and ever-increasing influence of his journal
make the strongest man in Europe wince.” And Saladin
is a man of honor, a gentleman sans peur et sans
reproche. .
,
he had been long-watching for an opportunity to attack the “ god ”
of his earlier years. Such people do not watch in vain.
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
25
Then, in that number of his journal from which I
quoted above, he holds out a promise that if an apology
(of course, Saladin calls it amende honorable) be made
to him, he will sheathe his sword and help to build up
the breaches in the ramparts of Freethought, breaches
that are entirely due to his rancorous spleen and in
ordinate vanity. Impudent cynicism never penned a
more audacious proposal. Week after week, month by
month, and year after year, Saladin has been most
shamefully attacking a certain society which, on his
own showing, never wronged him, and which, to my
knowledge, is morally and intellectually his superior.
Now he promises that, if the President of this Society
will be kind enough to notice him, and gracious enough
to remove the stigma of insignificance from him, he
will bury the hatchet. Mr. Bradlaugh is perfectly at
liberty, and is certain, to act as he thinks fit. But what
amends does Saladin propose to make to the innocent
Society he has so foully calumniated ? There are
words and deeds which an apology cannot blot from
the memory. For Saladin’s insults there is no amende.
Take a plebiscite of the National Secular Society : the
verdict would be—“ Leave Saladin alone in his insult
ing insignificance. Let us have no commerce with the
man. His insolence is colossal, exceeded only by his
ignorance.” This is the code of honor which is
•observed by Saladin, the apostle of a pure cult, the
priest of a spotless Freethought. May English Freethought never adopt this horrid code, written by the
pen of malice, with the ink of petulance, on the paper
of dirty insignificance.
Saladin is the preacher of lofty morality. Is he ?
And does he act up to the height of his doctrine ?
That is the test of moral excellence. It is possible to
have three kinds of moral teachers. There are those
who tell others to do what they themselves neither
practise nor believe—the loaf-disciples and hypocrites
and blood-sucking parasites of creeds and creedless
societies ; their name is legion. Next we have those
splendid souls, who by word and deed do all they can
to lift humanity from the misery of its environment,
without for a moment forgetting that they are frail;
�26
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
that they fall far short of the high standard they haveintroduced into the world ; that it is easier “ to show
twenty what were good to be done than be one of the
twenty to follow their own instruction that, in a
word, they are men. In this class are to be placed the
greatest reformers of the world, humanity’s very gods,,
from Jean Jacques Rousseau to Sakya Muni. The pen
of the former trembled, his heart rebelled, as he
reflected on the vast distance between the ideal and
the actual. Honor him for an honest man—a very
rose-plant indeed. Buddha, “ the best friend of man,”
requested his apostles, the “ army of beggars,” to per
form one miracle and one only—to confess their sins
before the people. A miracle ! aye, a million times
more stupendous than the raising of the dead to life.
To tell the truth is a trite advice, but oh ! how few
take it and carry it out in life! The third class of
moral teachers is made up of those who practise what
they preach. This class had never a representativeuntil these latter days. Even now there is in it but
one man—Saladin. Hail him, Freethinkers of the
universe. He is purer than Francis of Assizi, holier
than Gautama, more sinless than Jesus.
There never has been such a champion of conjugal'
purity as Saladin. To him marriage is an inviolable
contract. The keeping of this contract often entails
unhappiness, begets troubles and quarrels, sometimes
ends in suicide or murder, or both. “ Never mind,” says
Saladin, “ nothing can justify a breach of this con
tract.” Admirable this. Glendower can call spirits
from the vasty deep. Will they come ? is Hotspur’s
pertinent query. Does Saladin honorably perform his
part of this inviolable contract ? Does not his pen,
like Rousseau’s, tremble when he preaches his ideal
evangel ? Rebels not his heart now and then ? Rises
not his memory against him, to point out the places
and fix the dates of his backsliding ? Oh! Saladin,
oh ! Saladin, you are shod with hypocrisy and mantled
in catchpenny cant. It pains me to expose your faults
—for you are a Freethinker. I waited long to see if
you would descend from your lip morality, and appear
as a man among your fellow men. In vain. You con
�SALADIN THE LITTLE.
27
tinue to shoot your envenomed arrows from your castle
of humbug. You spare nobody to gratify your spleen
and rancor : in the interests of truth I must refresh
you memory.
I know how you propagate the cause of Freethought—
by attacking your comrades. I should like to know how
you observe the marriage contract. Have you the
courage of Buddha, as you have more than his holi
ness ? Dare you tell the world how you keep the
inviolable contract ? I care not to enter more fully
into this matter, nor would I now touch on it, but
for your inexplicable hypocrisy. I am not given to
pick out the faults and slips of any man or woman.
Scandal-mongering is not in my line. I kpow that
you are a man and must have your weaknesses.
Pray remember this fact. Do not throw the mantle
of dissimulation over your humanity. Do not say
that you are above hawking your genius for filthy
lucre while, at the same time, you write elegies over
the death of your child and trade on a father’s
sacred grief at a penny per copy. Confess that you
are a man. If you cannot rise to this heroic level,
at least cease to throw dirt on people who are as
pure and sinful as yourself.
Such is the real Saladin that aspires to lead the Free
thinkers of England. He has immortalised himself
as the founder of a heresy on original foundations.
The heretics of the past revolted, from love of truth,
he rebels from vanity. He proclaims the purity of his
motives, because nobody else would or could. He
claims to be a scholar, much in the same way as an
inflated bladder claims to be full of matter. He
parades his tastes and gentlemanly manners : if he
speak true, there is only one gentleman in the world,
and that makes one too many. He is a man of honor
and calumniates a party from jealousy of the President
of that party. He is a man of truth, and tells lies
because people will persist in considering him small.
He lives for a cause, and that cause is self. He is the
one sinless progeny of eternity, but his holiness resides
in his tongue and pen, not in his life and conduct. He
prostitutes a great historic name. Saladin was a syno
�28
SALADIN THE LITTLE.
nym of heroic valor and loyal chivalry, until Mr. Stewart
Ross assumed it. Whosoever will raise such a man to
the place of leader, let him by all means. If there be
anybody desirous of rallying round such an intellectual
and moral composite, let him by all means. But English
Freethinkers, ye who criticise principles and not per
sons, shun him like poison. His teaching will spoil
you. Ye who seek truth and are not ashamed of your
humanity, avoid this man, before he contaminates your
better nature and converts you into automatic com
pounds of vanity and hypocrisy like unto himself.
Any party, save English Freethought, is welcome to
such a leader.
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Marriage as it Was, as it Is, and as it Should
Be. Cloth _
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_
-10
My Path to Atheism. Cloth
.40
Boots of Christianity ; or, The Christian Religion
Before Christ
.
„
-06
The Law of Population
.
*-06
God’s Views on Marriage ---02
Is the Bible Indictable ? _
0 2
What is the Use of Prayer ?
0 1
The Myth of the Besurrection 0 1
Fruits of Christianity
0 2
Free Trade v. Fair Trade -06
graph. Cloth
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.
Disestablish the Church.
BRADLAUGH, CHARLES
Genesis : Its Authorship and Authenticity.
Cloth
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_
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-50
Impeachment of House of Brunswick Perpetual Pensions Jesus, Shelley and Malthus. An Essay on the
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Population Question
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1
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1 0
0
2
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2
Plea for Atheism
0 3
Is There a God ?
.
0 1
Who was Jesus Christ? 0 1
What did Jesus Teach? -01
A Few Words about the Devil ?
o i.
Were Adam and Eve our First Parents?
0 1
Lives of Jacob, Jonah, Moses and Abraham.
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0 1
0 2
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Mind Considered as a Bodily Function
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Each
Life of David The Atonement
Twelve Apostles
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BRADLAUGH, MISS
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BUCHNER, PROFESSOR LUDWIG, M.D.
TWind in Animals.
Cloth
-
Translated by Annie Besant.
-50
The Influence of Heredity on Free Will
0 2
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COOPER, ROBERT
The Holy Scriptures Analysed -
-
-06
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DRYSDALE, C. R., M.D.
The Population Question -
-
1 0
DEBATES
Christianity or Secularism : Which is True ?
Four Nights, between Mr. G. W. Foote and the Rev.
Dr. McCann. Paper covers, Is. Cloth
-16
The Jesus of the Gospels. Two Nights, between
Mrs. A. Besant and the Rev. A. Hatchard 1 0
0. Bradlaugh and Rev. Dr. Baylee, Mr. Thomas
Cooper and Rev. A. G. Harrison, 6d. each ; and with
the Rev. W. M. Westerby, on “ Has Man a Soul ?” Is.
FOOTE, G. W.
Prisoner for Blasphemy.
Being a Full History of
the Author’s Prosecution, Trials and Imprisonment
for Blasphemy. Cheap edition, Is. 6d. Cloth
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Was Jesus Insane ?
Bible Romances. Each
Bible Heroes. Each Infidel Death-Beds -
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2
6
0 1
0 1
-01
0 6
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Cloth
-10
List of Freethinkers dealt with : Lords Amberley,
Byron and Bolingbroke, Bruno, Buckle, Carlile,
Clifford, Collins, Condorcet, Cooper, Danton, Diderot,
“ George Eliot,” Frederick the Great, Gambetta,
Gendre, Gibbon, Goethe, Hetherington, Hobbes, A.
Holyoake, Hugo, Hume, Littré, Miss Martineau,
Mill, Mirabeau, Owen, Paine, Shelley, Spinoza,
Strauss, Toland, Vanini, Volney, Voltaire, Watson,
Watts and Woolston.
The Shadow of the Sword
-
-
-
0 2
FOOTE, G. W., & W. P. BALL
A Bible Handbook for Freethinkers and In
quiring Christians. Part I., Bible Contradictions ;
Part II., Bible Absurdities. Each -
0 4
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FOOTE, G. W., & J. M. WHEELER
The Jewish Life of Christ.
Being the Sepher
Toldoth .Teshu. Translated from the Hebrew. Edited
with an Historical Preface and Voluminous Notes.’
Cloth
-
IQ
FORDER, R.
There was War in Heaven (Rev. xii., 7) -
-
o 1
Illustrated with 80 Wood
Engravings. Translated by Dr. E. B. Aveling. Cloth
6 0
HAECKAL, PROF. ERNST
The Pedigree of Man.
HOLYOAKE, G. J.
Logic of Death
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0 1
HOWELL, MISS CONSTANCE
Biography of Jesus Christ; The After Life of
the Apostles ; History of the Jews. Written for
young Freethinkers. Each, Paper Covers, Is. Cloth
1 6
HUME, D.
Essay on Miracles.
By J. M. Wheeler
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With Introduction and Notes
.
.
-
0 3
INGERSOLL, COL. ROBERT
Mistakes of Moses. Paper Covers
1 0
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_
-16
Lectures. One Penny each Real Blasphemy, Myth
and Miracle, Live Topics, Social Salvation, Take a
Road of Your Own, Divine Vivisection or Hell, The
Christian Religion, The Ghosts (Parts I. and II.),
Thomas Paine, Is all Religion Inspired ? (Parts I.
and II.), Mistakes of Moses, Saviors of the World,
What Must I do to be Saved ? (Parts I. and n.),
Spirit of the Age, Intellectual Development (Parts
I. and II.), Which Way ? The Oath Question, The
Great Mistake, and Do I Blaspheme ?
Lectures. Twopence each .-—Hereafter, Religion of
The Future, Breaking the Fetters, Farm Life in
America, Difficulties of Belief, and Prose Poems.
Cloth
TAYLOR, REV. ROBERT, B.A.
.
-
3 6
For this latter work the author was sentenced to
two years’ imprisonment and a heavy fine for Blas
phemy.
2 0
The Diegesis
The Devil’s Pulpit. Two vols.
-
Printed and Published by R. Forder, 28 Stonecutter Street, London.
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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
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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
Saladin the little : an exposure
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jacob, T. Evan
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 28, 4 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Part of the NSS pamphlet collection. Publisher's list (4 p.) at the end. Subtitle on p.[3]: 'Saladin's motives exposed'. William Stewart Ross was a Scottish writer and publisher. He was a noted secularist thinker, and used the pseudonym "Saladin". Between 1888 and 1906 he was the editor of the Agnostic Journal, successor to the Secular Review.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Robert Forder
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1887
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
N571
Subject
The topic of the resource
Secularism
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 (Saladin the little : an exposure), 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
A language of the resource
English
Free Thought
NSS
Secularism
William Stewart Ross