Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh EditionRobertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Religion
Charles Bradlaugh: a Record of His Life and Work, Volume 2 (of 2): With an Account of his Parliamentary Struggle, Politics and Teachings. Seventh Edition
Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
Bradlaugh, Charles, 1833-1891
matter of principle with Mr Watts, he determined to sever all business
connection with him. He gave his reasons for this course as follows:--
[Footnote 7: The late Mr Grote, however, thought sufficiently of this
pamphlet to preserve it in his own library. He, moreover, presented a
copy to the library of the London University, where it was at the time
of this prosecution.]
"The Knowlton pamphlet is either decent or indecent. If decent,
it ought to be defended; if indecent, it should never have been
published. To judge it indecent, is to condemn, with the most severe
condemnation, James Watson, whom I respected, and Austin Holyoake,
with whom I worked. I hold the work to be defensible, and I deny the
right of any one to interfere with the full and free discussion of
social questions affecting the happiness of the nation. The struggle
for a free press has been one of the marks of the Freethought party
throughout its history, and as long as the Party permits me to hold
its flag, I will never voluntarily lower it. I have no right and no
power to dictate to Mr Watts the course he should pursue, but I have
the right and the duty to refuse to associate my name with a submission
which is utterly repugnant to my nature and inconsistent with my whole
career."
When Mr Watts' case came on for trial he pleaded "guilty," and was
released, on his own recognisances of £500, to come up for judgment
when called upon. It was contended at the trial that it was unlawful to
publish such physiological details as were to be found in Dr Knowlton's
pamphlet, even for a good purpose. Mr Bradlaugh and Mrs Besant (who
had now entered into a formal partnership under the style of "The
Freethought Publishing Company") determined to republish the pamphlet
to test the right of publication.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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