5. "Those thinkers [Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot] taught men to reason; reasoning well leads to acting well; justness in the mind becomes justice in the heart. Those toilers for progress labored usefully.... The French Revolution was their soul. It was their radiant manifestation. It came from them; we find them everywhere in that blest and superb catastrophe, which formed the conclusion of the past and the opening of the future.... The new society, the desire for equality and concession, and that beginning of fraternity which called itself tolerance, reciprocal good-will, the just accord of men and rights, reason recognized as the supreme law, the annihilation of prejudices and fixed opinions, the serenity of souls, the spirit of indulgence and of pardon, harmony, peace--behold what has come from them!"--Victor Hugo, "Oration on Voltaire." Appendix R. "He [Mohammed] promulgated a mass of fables, which he pretended to have received from heaven.... After enjoying for _twenty years_ a power without bounds, and _of which there exists no other example_, he announced publicly, that, if he had committed any act of injustice, he was ready to make reparation. All were silent.... He died; and the enthusiasm which he communicated to his people will be seen to change the face of three-quarters of the globe.... I shall add that the religion of Mohammed is the most simple in its dogmas, the least absurd in its practices, above all others tolerant in its principles."--_Condorcet_. Appendix S. The claim is so often and so boldly made that Infidelity produces crime, and that Christianity, or belief, or faith, makes people good, that the following statistics usually produce a rather chilly sensation in the believer when presented in the midst of an argument based upon the above mentioned claim. I have used it with effect. The person upon whom it is used will never offer that argument to you again. The following statistics were taken from the British Parliamentary reports, made on the instance of Sir John Trelawney, in 1873: ENGLAND AND WALES. Criminals in England and Wales in 1873.................... 146,146 SECTARIAN AND INFIDEL POPULATION OF THE SAME. Church of England............................................... 6,933,935 Dissenters............................................................ 7,235,158 Catholics.............................................................. 1,500,000 Jews.................................................................... 57,000 Infidels................................................................ 7,000,000 RELIGIOUS PERSUASIONS OF CRIMINALS OF THE SAME. Church of England.............................................. 96,097 Catholics.............................................................. 35,581 Dissenters............................................................ 10,648 Jews................................................................... 256