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diff --git a/59480-0.txt b/59480-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64009c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/59480-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2192 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59480 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE MALTHUSIAN HANDBOOK + + Designed to induce Married People to + Limit their Families within their Means. + + + PRICE SIXPENCE. + + LONDON: + W. H. REYNOLDS, NEW CROSS, S.E. + 4th Edition.--1898. + + + + + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +In every civilised State the problem of poverty is one which presses +for solution. In some European countries it has, at times, locally +assumed a critical and menacing form, threatening the very foundations +upon which society is based. Revolutions have sprung from the fact +that people needed food and could not obtain it; and, even in our own +"highly favored" land, honest, industrious men are often driven to +despair because they can neither get work nor food. + +Occasional outbreaks and demonstrations, however, are by no means the +true measure of national poverty. Beneath the glittering surface of +society there lies a seething mass of want and misery. The victims +suffer in silence and make no sign, but their existence constitutes a +permanent danger to the general welfare. Destitution is in numberless +instances the parent of crime and prostitution, with their chain of +disastrous consequences; overcrowding, semi-starvation and squalor are +the fruitful sources of disease which scruples not to travel beyond +its birthplace and to infect the homes of the wealthy. Modern society +may be fitly compared to a magnificent palace reared in a miasmatic +swamp, which fills the air with its death-dealing exhalations. No +cunning artifices of builders or engineers can afford protection in +such a case. In like manner, society cannot hope to escape from the +influences which make for corruption and ultimate dissolution whilst +it suffers poverty to remain in its midst. + +It is, indeed, unnecessary to insist upon the evils and the national +dangers arising from poverty; for they are admitted upon all hands. The +problem is: How can poverty be abolished? Upon this vital point +opinions differ widely. The evil is so complex and many-sided that +observers are apt to be misled by a partial view of the symptoms. For +example, a total abstainer, concentrating his attention upon instances +in which poverty has been brought about by excessive indulgence in +alcoholic liquors, urges that drink is the "cause of poverty." The +Socialist asks "Why are the many poor?" and answers that the remedy +consists in the nationalisation of land and the instruments of +production, the abolition of competition, etc. Others attribute +the existence of poverty to idleness or to want of thrift amongst +the workers. In no case, however, is the alleged cause equal to the +palpable effect; and it is necessary to extend the enquiry in another +direction if we are to discover the cause which, above and beyond all +others, produces the want and misery that everybody desires to remove. + +The purpose of this little work is, first, to show that an excessive +increase of population is the source from which these evils arise. In +the second place, the means by which population may be kept under +control will be explained, for it is useless to warn people of a +danger if they are kept in ignorance of the means by which it may +be avoided. Above all, it is to the poor that this knowledge must be +conveyed, for, as we shall show in the following pages, the indigent +class multiplies far more rapidly than the well-to-do, and it is upon +themselves that the consequent misery necessarily falls. + +Experience teaches that almost all the ills which afflict mankind can +be obviated by a careful study of nature and by conduct based upon +due observance of natural laws. In the darkness of ignorance men +must stumble into many pitfalls; but in the clear light of reason +and knowledge they can discern the path which leads to freedom and +happiness. + + + + + + + + +THE MALTHUSIAN HANDBOOK. + + +CHAPTER I. + +MALTHUS AND THE LAW OF POPULATION. + + +If it be desired to discover a remedy for an admitted evil, the first +step must necessarily be to ascertain its cause. All schemes for +the mitigation of the effects of poverty must in the long run end in +failure, no matter how ambitious may be the undertakings of those who +engage in this futile work. The captain of a sinking vessel does not +confine his attention to the pumps, he seeks without delay to stop +the inrush of water. And in dealing with the question of poverty it +is essential that its root-cause be discovered before any hope of +arriving at a solution of the problem can reasonably be entertained. + +An enquiry into the facts of nature will show that all forms of +vegetable and animal life are capable of reproducing themselves +in almost boundless profusion. Darwin, in his work on The Origin +of Species, points this out with the greatest clearness. He says: +"There is no exception to the rule that every organic being naturally +increases at so high a rate that, if not destroyed, the earth would +soon be covered with the progeny of a single pair. Even slow-breeding +man has doubled in twenty-five years; and at this rate, in a few +thousand years, there would literally not be standing-room for his +progeny. Linnæus has calculated that if an annual plant produced +only two seeds--and there is no plant so unproductive as this--and +their seedlings next year produced two, and so on, then, in twenty +years there would be a million plants." After giving the example of +the slow-breeding elephant, he continues: "Still more striking is +the evidence from our domestic animals of many kinds which have run +wild in many parts of the world; if the statements of the rate of +increase of slow-breeding cattle and horses in South America, and +latterly in Australia, had not been well authenticated, they would +have been incredible. So it is with plants: cases could be given of +introduced plants which have become common throughout whole islands in +less than ten years. Several of the plants, such as the cardoon and +a tall thistle, now most numerous over the wild plains of La Plata, +clothing square leagues of surface almost to the exclusion of all other +plants, have been introduced from Europe; and there are plants which +now range in India, as I hear from Dr. Falconer, from Cape Comorin +to the Himalayas, which have been imported from America since its +discovery. In such cases, and endless instances could be given, no +one supposes that the fertility of these animals or plants has been +suddenly and temporarily increased in any sensible degree. The obvious +explanation is that the conditions of life have been very favorable, +and that there has consequently been less destruction of the old and +young, and that nearly all the young have been able to breed. In such +cases, the geometrical rate of increase, the result of which never +fails to be surprising, simply explains the extraordinarily rapid +increase and wide diffusion of naturalised productions in their new +homes. In a state of nature, almost every plant produces seed, and +among animals there are very few that do not annually pair. Hence +we may confidently assert that all plants and animals are tending +to increase at a geometrical ratio; that all would most rapidly +stock every station in which they could anyhow exist, and that the +geometrical tendency to increase must be checked by destruction at +some period of life." + +It was the observation of this striking fact in nature which led +an English clergyman, the Rev. Thomas B. Malthus, to study deeply +the question of poverty, and to formulate as "the principle of +population" that which is now almost universally regarded as a law of +nature. Before he published his great work the view was generally +accepted that the wealth of a country was in proportion to its +population; and statesmen frequently attempted to stimulate, by the +distribution of bounties to the parents of excessively large families, +the natural rate of increase. A few far-sighted men, such as the +elder Mirabeau, Quesnay, and Adam Smith, partially perceived the true +doctrine; but it remained for Malthus to examine the question in all +its bearings, and to collect patiently and laboriously an overwhelming +array of facts which established his contention beyond all reasonable +doubt. It will be well here to give some account of this remarkable +man and of the work with which his name is indissolubly associated. + +Thomas Robert Malthus was born at Dorking, Surrey, in 1766. At the +age of thirty-one he became a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, +and shortly afterwards took orders, officiating in a small village +in Surrey. + +In the closing years of the eighteenth century, the minds of men in +England were powerfully influenced by the great social upheaval taking +place in France, and political views in this country were entering +upon a new phase. The rights of man were coming to be regarded as +something more than a phrase, and a generous desire to promote the +welfare of the people was gradually taking the place of selfish +indifference. Condorcet in France, and William Godwin in England, +promulgated the view that the happiness of mankind depended chiefly +upon the justice of political institutions, and that national welfare +could be indefinitely promoted by just government. Daniel Malthus (the +father of Thomas Robert), a man of sanguine and romantic temperament, +warmly espoused the ideas set forth by Godwin, and frequently discussed +the subject with his son. The younger man, however, by no means +shared the paternal enthusiasm, and, following the lines suggested +by Hume, Adam Smith, and other writers, he maintained that vice and +misery were two powerful obstacles to the improvement of society, +and urged, further, that the tendency of mankind to increase more +rapidly than the means of subsistence gave rise to these evils. His +arguments made a deep impression upon the mind of Daniel Malthus, who +requested his son to put them in writing. This was accordingly done, +and in 1798 T. R. Malthus published the first edition of his work: +An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it affects the future +Improvement of Society; with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, +Mr. Condorcet and other Writers. (London: 1798. One volume.) + +This book aroused a lively controversy, the writer's theories and +conclusions being attacked and defended by various writers. The great +interest excited by his essay caused Malthus to enquire still more +deeply into the phenomena of poverty, and he determined to travel +through Europe for the purpose of collecting facts bearing upon the +subject. In 1799 he visited the continent, passing through Denmark, +Sweden, and part of Russia, and, later, Switzerland and Savoy. The +results of his researches furnished overwhelming proof of the accuracy +of his contention; and in 1803 he published a second and much enlarged +edition of his Essay, in two volumes. During the remainder of his +life, Malthus thrice edited new editions of his work, which to this +day remains the greatest monument of his honorable career. He died +on 29th December, 1834. + +It is not intended here to give an exhaustive analysis of Malthus's +Principle of Population. [1] We are concerned only with his theory +of population and the conclusions to which that theory points. "The +principal object of this essay," says the author, "is to examine the +effects of one great cause intimately connected with the very nature +of man, which, though it has been constantly and powerfully operating +since the commencement of society, has been little noticed by the +writers who have treated this subject. The cause to which I allude +is the constant tendency in all animated life to increase beyond the +nourishment prepared for it. + +"Dr. Franklin has observed that there is no bound to the prolific +nature of plants or animals but what is made by their crowding and +interfering with each other's means of subsistence. Were the face of +the earth, he says, vacant of other plants, it might be gradually sowed +and overspread with one kind only--as, for instance, with fennel; +and were it empty of other inhabitants, it might in a few ages be +replenished from one nation only, as, for instance, with Englishmen. + +"This is incontrovertibly true. Through the animal and vegetable +kingdoms Nature has scattered the seeds of life abroad with the +most profuse and liberal hand; but has been comparatively sparing +in the room and the nourishment necessary to rear them. The germs +of existence contained in this earth, if they could freely develop +themselves, would fill millions of worlds in the course of a few +thousand years. Necessity, that imperious, all-pervading law of Nature, +restrains them within the prescribed bounds. The race of plants and +the race of animals shrink under this great restrictive law, and man +cannot by any efforts of reason escape from it. + +"In plants and irrational animals the view of the subject is +simple. They are all impelled by a powerful instinct to the increase +of their species, and this instinct is interrupted by no doubts about +providing for their offspring. Wherever, therefore, there is liberty, +the power of increase is exerted; and the superabundant effects are +repressed afterwards by want of room and nourishment." + +Malthus then adduces evidence of the extremely rapid increase of +population amongst mankind under conditions in which food is abundant +and easily obtainable. He calculates that population, if unchecked, +goes on doubling itself every twenty-five years, or increases in a +geometrical ratio. But he points out that the food supply can by no +means be increased with equal facility. Even if it were possible in +one period of twenty-five years to double the amount produced, there +is no reason to suppose that the operation could be repeated during +the following twenty-five years. As the demand for food increased, +less fruitful soils would be taken into cultivation, and the additions +that could be made to the former average produce would be gradually and +regularly diminishing. Malthus then makes the following calculation: + +"Let us suppose that the yearly additions which might be made to the +former average produce, instead of decreasing, which they certainly +would do, were to remain the same; and that the produce of this island +might be increased every twenty-five years, by a quantity equal to +what it at present produces. The most enthusiastic speculator cannot +suppose a greater increase than this. In a few centuries it would +make every acre in the island like a garden. + +"If this supposition be applied to the whole earth, and if it be +allowed that the subsistence for man, which the earth affords, might +be increased every twenty-five years by a quantity equal to what it +at present produces, this will be supposing a rate of increase much +greater than we can imagine that any possible exertions of mankind +could make it. + +"It may fairly be pronounced, therefore, that considering the +present average state of the earth, the means of subsistence, under +circumstances the most favorable to human industry, could not possibly +be made to increase faster than in an arithmetical ratio. + +"The necessary effects of these two different rates of increase, when +brought together, will be very striking. Let us call the population +of this island 11,000,000 (Mr. Malthus writes in 1806), and suppose +the present produce equal to the easy support of such a number. In +the first twenty-five years the population would be 22,000,000, and +the food being also doubled, the means of subsistence would be equal +to this increase. In the next twenty-five years the population would +be 44,000,000, and the means of subsistence only equal to the support +of 33,000,000. In the next period the population would be 88,000,000, +and the means of subsistence just equal to the support of half that +number. And at the conclusion of the first century, the population +would be 176,000,000, and the means of subsistence only equal to the +support of 55,000,000, leaving a population of 121,000,000 totally +unprovided for." + +Now let us see how this stupendous possible power of increase in the +human race has been kept in check. + +The positive checks (i.e., checks which have operated through the +action of natural laws) to an excessive increase of population +comprehend the premature death of children and adults by disease, +starvation, war and infanticide. Nature has a short and sharp way +of dealing with her superfluous children. Amongst savage tribes the +positive checks alone are brought into operation. The pages of human +history teem with tragic records of famines decimating the unhappy +victims of over-population; of pestilence stalking through the land, +slaying its tens of thousands; of wars devastating countries and +overwhelming the inhabitants in ruin, misery and death. In certain +parts of the world the pangs of hunger have destroyed in men and +women the primal instinct of parental love; and, in the fifth chapter +of his work, Malthus shows how, in the South Sea Islands, where the +possible expansion of population was extremely small, the frightful +expedient of infanticide was largely resorted to by the inhabitants to +check their natural increase. Even then, however, the pressure on the +means of subsistence was so great that food became scarce at certain +seasons of the year, and destructive wars ensued. Captain Vancouver, +visiting Otaheite for the second time in 1791, found that most of the +natives whom he had known fourteen years before had perished in battle. + +In the course of numerous examples of the effects of over-population +upon the condition of the masses in various countries, Malthus gives +a striking example of the appalling misery to which even industrious +laborers were reduced in densely-peopled China. He quotes the words +of a Jesuit missionary, who stated that a Chinaman "will pass whole +days in digging the earth, sometimes up to his knees in water, and +in the evening is happy to eat a little spoonful of rice, and to +drink the insipid water in which it is boiled." This is obviously +an exaggeration, since it would be impossible to maintain life under +such conditions; but it serves to show the deplorable state to which +the workers may be reduced by excessive population. + +It is unnecessary here to follow Malthus through his exhaustive +survey of the condition of nations affected by over-population in +various stages of the world's history. Our purpose is rather to +furnish an indication of the principle than to reproduce in detail +the observations upon which it is based. The most concise formula +in which the theory of Malthus has been expressed is as follows: +"That population has a constant tendency to increase beyond the means +of subsistence." + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE REMEDY: OLD AND NEW. + + +The principle stated at the end of the preceding chapter being assumed, +the question arises: How can the evils caused by the constant tendency +towards over-population be prevented? The method which Mr. Malthus +proposed was the substitution of the prudential (or birth-restricting) +for the positive (or life-destroying) check. He advised late marriage +and celibacy as the most moral means of restraining population. He +urged that men should wait until they were in a position to provide +for a family before undertaking the responsibilities consequent upon +the marriage state. He says: "Our obligation not to marry till we have +a fair prospect of being able to support our children will appear to +deserve the attention of the moralist, if it can be proved that an +attention to these obligations is of more effect in the prevention of +misery than all the other virtues combined; and that if, in violation +of this duty, it was the general custom to follow the first impulse +of nature, and marry at the age of puberty, the universal prevalence +of every known virtue in the greatest conceivable degree would fail of +rescuing society from the most wretched and deplorable state of want, +and all the diseases and famines which usually accompany it." + +This, then, was the prudential check advocated by Malthus; but since +his time it has been perceived that his remedy is in itself the cause +of evils scarcely less terrible than those which it was designed +to remove. Further, it is one which, in the vast majority of cases, +could not possibly be put into practice; for it assumes a power of +mental control over the sexual passion which exists in a comparatively +small number of individuals. + +The physiological evils arising from celibacy, and, in lesser degree, +from prolonged abstention from marriage, are of the most disastrous +nature. Celibacy is necessarily a condition of privation and suffering, +since it involves the deliberate and incessant suppression of the +most powerful instinct of mankind. The pure and elevating joys of +wedded and family life are shut out, and existence is shorn of its +most delightful features. The unselfish pleasure of promoting the +happiness of a loved wife and children is denied to the morbid and +gloomy celibate, doomed to a solitary and cheerless existence. And +even when permanent celibacy is not contemplated, marriage may be +deferred until the bloom and brightness of life are gone for ever, +until delay and disappointment have soured the temper and choked the +fountain of affection. + +Dr. Bertillon, of Paris, has proved conclusively by statistics derived +from France, Holland and Belgium, that married persons, especially +males, live much longer than single ones, and are less liable to become +insane, criminal, or vicious. It has been shown that the married state +reduces the danger of insanity by nearly one-half. With regard to the +effects of celibacy upon individuals, Dr. Holmes Coote is reported +in the Lancet to have said: "No doubt incontinence is a great sin; +but the evils connected with continence are productive of far greater +misery to society. Any person could bear witness to this who has had +experience in the wards of lunatic asylums." + +In addition to the personal ills arising from celibacy, it must be +remembered that late marriage directly encourages prostitution, the +most hideous blot upon our social state. Malthus, indeed, laid great +stress upon the duty of chastity whilst young men were engaged in +accumulating the means to enable them to marry and rear a family later +in life. He might as fitly have preached to the whirlwind, or exhorted +the storm to moderate its violence. The power of restraint is given +to but few men; and, even when that restraint can be exercised, it +is only at the cost of much suffering and physical and moral detriment. + +The later school of thinkers, whilst adopting the principle formulated +by Malthus, propound an infinitely better method of compassing the +end which he had in view. They advocate early marriage and limited +families. It is not necessary that young men and women should sacrifice +the youth and freshness of their lives in order that they may marry +when the evening shadows are lengthening around them. The blessings +of domestic comfort, of intimate companionship and of family love +are opened to them in the noontide of life, when the possibility of +enjoyment is at its highest point. Mrs. Annie Besant says: "To be +in harmony with nature, men and women should be husbands and wives, +fathers and mothers, and until nature evolves a neuter sex celibacy +will ever be a mark of imperfection.... No one who desires society +to be happy and healthy should recommend late marriage as a cure for +the social evils around us. Early marriage is best, both physically +and morally; it guards purity, softens the affections, trains the +heart, and preserves physical health; it teaches thought for others, +gentleness and self-control; it makes men gentler and women braver +from the contact of their differing natures. The children that spring +from such marriages--where not following each other too rapidly--are +more vigorous and healthy than those of middle-aged parents; and in +the ordinary course of nature the parents of such children live long +enough to see them make their start in life, to aid, strengthen, +and counsel them at the beginning of their career." + +Medical science has shown that the size of families is absolutely +under the control of parents, if they will but exercise a reasonable +degree of care and forethought. A young couple may now enter the +marriage-state without misgiving: for the number of their offspring +can be regulated in proportion to their means as surely as they can +determine the amount of their expenditure upon clothing or luxuries. + +Thus the teachings of Malthusianism, combined with the later +development of innocent prudential checks, open up boundless +possibilities for the improvement of social conditions. When the law +of population--a law of nature--is clearly understood, it becomes +possible for man, by the exercise of his reason, to control its +operation, just as he constructs dykes to protect his crops from +floods, or diverts the lightning harmlessly into the ground. + +Let us see, then, how the general adoption of the New-Malthusian +principle of early marriage and limited families would affect the +welfare of individuals and of the nation at large. + +The knowledge of prudential checks immensely increases the +possibility of happiness for every man and woman whose means are +"limited." Marriage ceases to be a hazardous enterprise, which may +bring in its train liabilities terribly out of proportion to the +power of meeting them. The husband is relieved from anxiety lest +his children may increase whilst his ability to provide suitably +for them remains a fixed, or even diminishing, quantity. The wife +need no longer dread the burden of continual child-bearing and the +incessant servitude of domestic drudgery. How much of the drunkenness +that exists amongst the working-class is due to the discomfort of a +crowded and cheerless home! The husband, wearied with his day's toil, +returns to his narrow lodgings to find his wife, harassed and soured +by the petty cares of a large family, sharp in temper and tongue. The +tender romance of courtship is dispelled by the never-ending round +of household slavery, with the constant need of "making both ends +meet," of contriving that every sixpence shall do the work of a +shilling. And over all there hangs the haunting fear that sickness +or loss of employment may disable the bread-winner, and that the +wolf of hunger, ever waiting outside, may show his fangs within +the door. Little cause is there for wonder that in many cases the +sweetheart of happier days becomes a shrew and slattern, or that the +toil-worn husband flies to the ruinous joys of the tap-room in a vain +attempt to escape from the vexations that surround him in his "home." + +And what of the children? They are at once the innocent cause and +the helpless victims of the misery that encompasses them. The wage +that would amply provide for two or three is inadequate for the +proper support of seven or eight, and their little frames suffer from +insufficient nourishment. The overburdened mother cannot bestow upon +so large a flock the loving care and attention that children need for +their proper physical and mental development. Thus they grow up (if +haply they survive), enfeebled in mind and constitution, transmitting +to the next generation their own defects in an aggravated form. + +It is amongst the very poorest of our fellow-creatures that we see +the horrors of over-population in their most heartrending aspect. In +the squalid courts and alleys of our great cities the dismal stream +of child-life is constantly at high-water mark. The parents, ignorant +and hopeless, callous by reason of their daily contact with misery, +"increase and multiply" instinctively, as do the beasts of the +field. Amongst the poor the birth-rate is (broadly speaking) double as +high as that of the richer classes. A few years ago the birth-rate in +wealthy Kensington was 20 per 1,000; in the poor district of Bethnal +Green it was 40 per 1,000. This deplorable state of things is not +peculiar to Great Britain: it prevails, with slight variations as to +details, in all so-called civilised countries. + +But the birth-rate tells only one-half of the piteous tale: it is the +death-rate which completes the measure of human suffering caused by +the insensate increase of population. In the course of his address +to the Association of Sanitary Inspectors in 1888, Sir Edwin Chadwick +stated that amongst the gentry and professional persons the deaths of +children under five years of age in Brighton formed 8·93 per cent. of +the total deaths, while among the wage-earning class they formed +45·44 per cent. He also said that in Brighton the mean (or average) +age at death for wage-earners is 28·8 years; for the rich it is 63 +years. Dr. Playfair has shown that 18 per cent. of the children of +the upper class, 36 per cent. of those of the tradesman class, and +55 per cent. of those of the workmen die before they reach the age +of five years. + +Here we see the painful positive or natural checks to population at +work in our very midst. Death stands with his sword and ruthlessly +strikes out the redundant lives. What pen can picture the frightful +suffering indicated by the figures given above? The mother's pangs +of child-birth: her protracted agony of grief as she watches the +ravages of disease upon the weakly frame of her ill-fed, ill-clothed, +ill-tended babe: the last dread scene when death releases from +its misery the child that should never have been called into +existence! This squalid tragedy is enacted a thousand times; and the +upshot of it all is five hundred little coffins hastily thrust into +the earth. + +And what of those that survive? Here and there one may rise above +his fellows in the struggle for existence; but the vast majority of +those who pass through the valley of the shadow of death emerge into +a laborious and joyless existence. Of the males a section will drift +into pauperism or crime; many of the females will be driven by want +to the shameful traffic of prostitution. The honest and industrious +are doomed to a life of incessant toil and privation; and with their +numerous offspring will begin another cycle of the obscure tragedy. + +In this way, the nation ever renews within itself the elements +of its own weakness and despair. The question of the unemployed is +ultimately a question of over-population; and wages are reduced by the +competition, one against another, of desperate men seeking bread for +their wives and families. Trade Unions and other forms of combination +may partially and temporarily improve the condition of a section of the +workers; but in the long run every advance in comfort is overtaken and +swallowed up by the increase of population stimulated by prosperity. + +Thus, unless the teachings of New-Malthusianism be generally acted +upon, poverty will remain a permanent feature of society; and, as we +have already said, the element of poverty is a constant menace to the +community at large. The strength of a chain is that of its weakest +link. The wealth, luxury, and refinement of society exist upon a frail +tenure if the desperation of the poorest class is suffered to pass +a certain limit. History has shown us the civilisation of centuries +extinguished by hordes of barbarians, driven by hunger from their +sterile lands. In Paris, during times of revolutionary excitement, +the Faubourg St. Antoine pours forth its thousands of gaunt and +tattered spectres to make war upon society. + +Prudence in the matter of population, then, is seen to be the only +way of conserving the most valuable and progressive elements in +human society. In this, as in other countries, the apostles of the +new teaching have been confronted by the prejudices handed down from +previous generations; and in the succeeding chapter we shall trace +the history of the Malthusian movement in England and abroad. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE MALTHUSIAN MOVEMENT IN ENGLAND. + + +For many years after the publication of Mr. Malthus's great essay, +the principle which he had formulated did not pass beyond the region +of more or less academic controversy. The "theory of population" was +denounced from countless pulpits and assailed by the pens of ready +writers; but, being based upon a patient and accurate observation +of the facts of nature, it remained unshaken when the preachers and +critics were forgotten. + +It would be absurd to doubt that so important a contribution to +social science influenced the minds and helped to shape the conduct of +thoughtful men; but it is beyond question that no organised attempt to +popularise and propagate the teachings of Malthus, and to make known +the nature of preventive checks amongst the people of this country, was +undertaken until the year 1877. In the first quarter of the century, +Richard Carlile published a small pamphlet on the subject; but there +is no reason to suppose that its effect was appreciable. Mr. Francis +Place and Mr. Robert Dale Owen in later years wrote essays embodying +practically the modern Malthusian view. + +In 1833, Dr. Charles Knowlton, of Boston (U.S.A.), issued a small work +on the subject of population, entitled The Fruits of Philosophy. For +over forty years the book was sold in England, but its sale was so +small that very few people were even acquainted with its title, and +it remained in its native obscurity until it was dragged into the +light of day by the fortunate folly of persons who imagined that it +was possible to check the spread of moral enlightenment by means of +legal "repression." + +In 1876 a police prosecution was instituted against a man in +Bristol for selling The Fruits of Philosophy, and a conviction was +obtained. In the following year the publisher of the pamphlet was also +indicted and committed for trial; but he was liberated on promising +that he would no longer issue the work. Mr. Charles Bradlaugh and +Mrs. Annie Besant thereupon undertook the task of defending the right +of publication. They reprinted and published the pamphlet, formally +inviting the authorities to prosecute them. "It was for the sake of +free discussion that we published the assailed pamphlet when its +former seller yielded to the pressure put upon him by the police; +it was not so much in defence of this pamphlet, as to make the way +possible for others dealing with the same topic that we risked the +penalty which has fallen upon us." [2] + +The police authorities accepted the challenge, and a prosecution was +immediately commenced. The trial, which lasted four days, took place +in the Court of Queen's Bench, before Lord Chief Justice Cockburn +and a special jury. Sir Hardinge Gifford (then Solicitor-General), +Mr. Douglas Straight and Mr. Mead appeared for the prosecution; +Mr. Bradlaugh and Mrs. Besant appeared in person. + +The indictment charged the defendants with having published and +sold an obscene book, with intent to contaminate and corrupt +public morals. The author of The Fruits of Philosophy advocated +early marriage with limitation of families, and referred in the +course of his work to such preventive checks as were known at that +time. The Solicitor-General, in opening the case, sought to persuade +the jury that Dr. Knowlton speciously used that line of argument as +a disguise and pretext for suggesting illicit intercourse without +risk of pregnancy ensuing. An indignant rebuke from Sir Alexander +Cockburn caused the Solicitor-General to abandon that line of false +suggestion, and to fall back upon the contention that it was illegal +to issue a work containing "a chapter on restriction, not written +in any learned language, but in plain English, in a facile form, +and sold ... at sixpence." He therefore asked the jury to declare +that the book was an "obscene publication." + +The speech of the Solicitor-General and his general conduct of the case +are matters of trivial importance; the notable features of the trial +were the addresses of the two defendants and the summing-up by the Lord +Chief Justice. Mrs. Besant's speech to the jury was a remarkable and +memorable effort. She examined and discussed the population question +in every aspect, contending that, in view of the evils arising from +excessive increase, the advocacy of prudential methods was a sacred +duty to humanity. In the opening passages of her speech she pointed +out, in the most impressive manner, that she pleaded for the welfare +of others: + + + It is not as defendant that I plead to you to-day--not simply + as defending myself do I stand here--but I speak as counsel + for hundreds of the poor, and it is they for whom I defend this + case. My clients are scattered up and down through the length + and breadth of the land; I find them amongst the poor, amongst + whom I have been so much; I find my clients amongst the fathers, + who see their wage ever reducing, and prices ever rising; I + find my clients amongst the mothers worn out with over-frequent + child-bearing, and with two or three little ones around too young + to guard themselves, while they have no time to guard them. It + is enough for a woman at home to have the care, the clothing, + the training of a large family of young children to look to; + but it is a harder task when oftentimes the mother, who should + be at home with her little ones, has to go out and work in the + fields for wage to feed them when her presence is needed in the + house. I find my clients among the little children. Gentlemen, + do you know the fate of so many of these children?--the little + ones half-starved because there is food enough for two but not + enough for twelve; half-clothed because the mother, no matter what + her skill and care, cannot clothe them with the money brought + home by the breadwinner of the family; brought up in ignorance, + and ignorance means pauperism and crime--gentlemen, your happier + circumstances have raised you above this suffering, but on you + also this question presses; for these over-large families mean + also increased poor-rates, which are growing heavier year by + year. These poor are my clients, and if I weary you by length + of speech, as I fear I may, I do so because I must think of them + more even than I think of your time or trouble. + + +With righteous indignation Mrs. Besant repelled the accusation that +The Fruits of Philosophy was an "obscene" publication. She showed +by a quotation from Lord Campbell's Act (upon which the prosecution +was based) that the statutory definition of obscenity could not +possibly be applied to a book containing "dry physiological details +put forward in dry, technical language." She next proceeded to urge +that the right of free discussion upon matters of public welfare was +really attacked by the prosecution: + + + Do you, gentlemen, think for one moment that myself and my + co-defendant are fighting the simple question of the sale or + publication of this sixpenny volume of Dr. Knowlton's? Do you + think that we would have placed ourselves in the position in + which we are at the present moment for the mere profit to be + derived from a sixpenny pamphlet of forty-seven pages? No, it + is nothing of the sort; we have a much larger interest at stake, + and one of vital interest to the public, one which we shall spend + our whole lives in trying to uphold. The question really is one of + the right to public discussion by means of publication, and that + question is bound up in the right to sell this sixpenny pamphlet + which the Solicitor-General despises on account of its price. + + +It would, however, be impossible to give, by extracts of reasonable +length, an adequate idea of the striking and eloquent speech which +Mrs. Besant addressed to the jury in her defence. The whole question +of over-population and its consequences was examined with the greatest +care and completeness. Profoundly convinced of the justice of her +cause, Mrs. Besant pleaded that the teachings of New-Malthusianism, +by making early marriage possible, promoted happiness and morality. She +said: + + + I think, therefore, I may fairly put it that every young man + naturally desires to make a home and enter upon married life + when first he comes out into the world. I do not believe that + any young man sets out with the intention of rushing into fast + life and dissipation, but men are frequently drawn into habits + of that kind because they fear the results that follow from + early marriage. Since I am told that our object is to increase + immorality, and that we only use the word "marriage" to conceal + the foulest designs upon the purity of society, I may say freely + that I hold early marriages to be the very salvation of young men, + and especially of young men in our large cities. I hold the belief + with a depth of conviction which I cannot put to you in words, + that for one man and one woman to help, comfort, and support + one another, which they are by nature adapted to do, is a state + which is to be reached, which is to be perpetuated, by marriage + and in no other way. It is only by companionship, and the union + between a man and a woman, that this is possible. Shut a man out + from the loving influence of home, the golden institutions of + the fireside, his wife's society, and the happiness of becoming + a father, and you induce a life of profligacy. Gentlemen, do not + be deceived. There is no talk in this book of preventing men and + women from becoming parents; all that is sought here is to limit + the number of their family. And we do not aim at that because + we do not love children, but, on the contrary, because we do + love them, and because we wish to prevent them from coming into + the world in greater numbers than there is the means of properly + providing for. Children, I believe, have an influence upon parents + purifying in the highest degree, because they teach the parents + self-restraint, self-denial, thoughtfulness, and tenderness to an + extent that cannot possibly be over-estimated; and it is because + I wish to have it made possible for young men and for young women + to have these influences brought to bear upon them in their youth, + that I advocate the circulation of a book that will put within + their reach the knowledge of how to limit the extent of their + families within their capabilities of providing for them; for + no man can look with pride and happiness upon his home if he has + more children than he can clothe and educate. It is because I wish + them to marry in the springtime of their youth that I ask you by + your verdict in this action to make discussion on these subjects + possible, and that men should not be driven to find a substitute + for true and pure womanhood and wifehood in other directions. If + you render this possible you will make your streets purer and + your families happier than they are at present. + + +Having in the course of a prolonged speech explained and vindicated the +New-Malthusian doctrine from misrepresentations inspired by ignorance, +prejudice, and bigotry, Mrs. Besant concluded her memorable address +in the following words: + + + I fairly put it that unless you honestly believe that my whole + speech to you has been one mass of falsehoods; unless you + believe my intent to be a bad intent; unless you believe I have + been deliberately deceiving you throughout, and stand here before + you in the very worst character a woman could take upon herself, + namely, that of striving to corrupt the morals of the young under + the false pretence of purity here put forward, and unless you think + that, for the after-part of my life, I deserve to pass through it + with the brand upon me that twelve gentlemen, after all patience, + thought not only that the book was a mistake, the opinions wrong, + and the arguments unconvincing, but, in the terrible language + of the indictment, that I am guilty of "wickedly devising and + contriving as much as in me lay to vitiate and corrupt the morals + of youth" as well as of others,--unless, I say, you believe that + that has been my object and purpose, on this indictment, I shall + call upon you, gentlemen, to return a verdict of "Not Guilty," + and to send me home free, believing from my heart and conscience + that I have been guilty only of doing that which I ought to do in + grappling honestly with a matter I consider myself justified in + grappling with--that terrible poverty and misery which is around + us on every hand. Unless you are prepared, gentlemen, to brand + me with malicious meaning, I ask you, as an English woman, for + that justice which it is not impossible to expect at the hands + of Englishmen--I ask you to give me a verdict of "Not Guilty," + and to send me home unstained. + + +Mr. Bradlaugh, in his speech, dealt more fully than his co-defendant +had been able to do with the legal and physiological aspects of +the case. In the clearest fashion he maintained the lawfulness of +disseminating the knowledge of innocent prudential checks: + + + I submit to you, gentlemen of the jury, that it is moral to teach + poor people to marry early, and that this teaching avoids and will + diminish illicit intercourse. I will not weary you with reading + the whole of the report on the "Employment of Women and Children + in Agriculture," from which my co-defendant quoted that terrible + extract from the report of Bishop Fraser. You will there find + that the illicit intercourse which we are charged with trying to + produce is an illicit intercourse which is going on and bringing + with it the birth of the child, and bringing with it the murder of + the child by the mother, because there is the pang of starvation + and misery and shame to contend with. I say that it is amongst the + poor married people that the evils of over-population are chiefly + felt, and that it cannot tend to deprave their morals to teach + them how to intelligently check this over-population.... I submit + that the advocacy of all checks is lawful except such as advocate + the destruction of the foetus after conception or of the child + after birth. I say that the advocacy of every birth-restricting + check is lawful which is not the advocacy of the destruction of + human life in any form after that life has been created. + + +Assuming the legality of such advocacy, it is useless unless conveyed +in plain and simple language: + + + I say that the advocacy of any check amongst the masses to be + useful must of necessity be put in the plainest language and in + the cheapest form, and be widely spread; and I press that upon + you because I understand that the learned Solicitor-General in + his argument put it that one of the faults of this pamphlet was + that it was not obscured in learned language. If we possessed the + facility of expressing ourselves in French, or Italian, or Greek, + or Latin, or Hebrew, or Arabic, what earthly use would that be + to the poor unfortunate wretches whose misery we want to address? + + +After traversing with his accustomed skill and acumen the charges +formulated by the prosecution, Mr. Bradlaugh concluded his address +with a peroration full of passionate eloquence: + + + We want (he said) to make the poor more comfortable; and you + tell us we are immoral. We want to prevent them bringing into + the world little children to suck death, instead of life, at + the breasts of their mother; and you tell us we are immoral. I + should not say that, perhaps, for you, gentlemen, may judge things + differently from myself; but I know the poor. I belong to them. I + was born amongst them. Among them are the early associations of my + life. Such little ability as I possess to-day has come to me in + the hard struggle of life. I have had no University to polish my + tongue; no Alma Mater to give to me any eloquence by which to move + you. I plead here simply for the class to which I belong, and for + the right to tell them what may redeem their poverty and alleviate + their misery. And I ask you to believe in your heart of hearts, + even if you deliver a verdict against us here--I ask you, at least, + to try and believe both for myself and the lady who sits besides + me (I hope it for myself, and I earnestly wish it for her), that + all through we have meant to do right, even if you think that we + have done wrong.... My co-defendant referred, in earnest language, + to the letters which she had received from women, and clergymen, + and others throughout the country. I, too, have received many warm + words of sympathy from those who think that I am right. It is true + many of them may be ignorant people, and therefore may be wrong; + but they have written to encourage me with their kindly sympathy + in my pleading before you. If we are branded with the offence of + circulating an obscene book, many of these poor people will still + think "No." They think such knowledge would prevent misery in + their families, would check hunger in their families, and would + hinder disease in their families. Do you know what poverty means + in a poor man's house? It means that when you are reproaching a + poor and ignorant man with brutality, you forget that he is merely + struggling against that hardship of life which drives all chivalry + and courtesy out of his existence. Do not blame poor men too much + that they are rough and brutal. Think mercifully of a man such as + a brick-maker, who, going home after his day's toil, finds six + or seven little ones crying for bread, and clinging around his + wife for the food which they cannot get. Think you such a scene + as that is not sufficient to make both himself and her hungry and + angry too? Gentlemen, it is for you, in your deliverance of guilty + or not guilty, to say how we are to go from this court--whether, + when we leave this place, if you mark us guilty, his lordship + may feel it to be his duty to sentence us, and put upon us the + brand of a doom such as your verdict may warrant; or whether, by + your verdict of not guilty--which I hope for myself and desire + for my co-defendant--we may go out of this court absolved from + that shame which this indictment has sought to put upon us. + + +We must pass over the evidence given by Dr. Alice Vickery, +Dr. C. R. Drysdale, Mr. Bohn and others for the defence; and refer +briefly to the summing-up of the Lord Chief Justice (Sir Alexander +Cockburn). His lordship dwelt upon "the mischievous character and +effect" of the prosecution, and declared that "a more ill-advised and +more injudicious proceeding" had probably never been brought into a +court of justice. He adverted in terms of severity to the secrecy that +had been maintained as to the real originators of the prosecution. In +discussing the questions involved, his lordship referred to the +theory of Malthus as "a theory which astonished the world, though +it is now accepted as an irrefragable truth, and has since been +adopted by economist after economist. That the evils arising from +over-population," he continued, "are evils which, if they could be +prevented, it would be the first business of human charity to prevent, +there cannot be any doubt. That the evils of population are real, +and not imaginary, no one acquainted with the state of society in +the present day can possibly deny." Upon the question whether or not +the advocacy of prudential checks tended to corrupt public morals, +his lordship said to the jury: "You must decide that with a due +regard and reference to the law, and with an honest and determined +desire to maintain the morals of mankind. But, on the other hand, you +must carefully consider what is due to public discussion, and with +an anxious desire not, from any prejudiced view of this subject, to +stifle what may be a subject of legitimate enquiry." The concluding +passages of the charge to the jury are so significant that they are +here reproduced entire: + + + If you are of opinion that this work of Knowlton's, although well + intended, and although the publication of it by the defendants + may be intended for the benefit of mankind, if you think they + have taken an erroneous view as to the effect of the work, and + that its entire scope is subversive of the morals of society, + if that is your opinion, it is then your bounden duty to find + the defendants liable. But whilst that is the case, it is for + the prosecution to make out the charge they have undertaken to + establish. If you think they have failed--if you think these are + matters which may fairly be discussed--that the proper answer to + them is by refuting them by argument and not by prosecution, the + defendants are entitled to your verdict. Or if you have any doubt + as to the effect of this work you are bound to bring them in not + guilty. I would only say in conclusion, that whatever outrages + decency, whatever tends to corrupt the morals of society, and + especially the morals and purity of women--whatever tends to have + that result is, when published, an offence against the law. But + that offence like every other must be made out. If you think it + is made out, if there is a conviction in your minds that though + they have acted from a desire to do good, yet in your opinion + they have done wrong, they have then brought themselves within + the definition of the statute. + + +Despite the powerful speeches of the defendants and the obviously +sympathetic charge of the judge, the jury were not equal to their +opportunity to make a clear stand for freedom of discussion. They +returned a halting "special" verdict, declaring that the book was +"calculated to deprave public morals," but at the same time they +entirely exonerated the defendants from any corrupt motives in +publishing it. Upon this the judge reluctantly directed the jury to +return a verdict of guilty. + +The remainder of the story is most concisely told in Mrs. Besant's +own words: "Obviously annoyed at the verdict, the Lord Chief Justice +refused to give judgment, and let us go on our own recognisances. When +we came up later for judgment, he urged us to surrender the pamphlet as +the jury had condemned it; said our whole course with regard to it had +been right, but that we ought to yield to the judgment of the jury. We +were obstinate, and I shall never forget the pathetic way in which the +great judge urged us to submit, and how at last when we persisted that +we would continue to sell it till the right to sell it was gained, he +said that he would have let us go free if we would have yielded to the +court, but our persistence compelled him to sentence us. We gave notice +of appeal, promising not to sell till the appeal was decided, and he +let us go on our own recognisances. On appeal we quashed the verdict, +and went free; we recovered all the pamphlets seized, and publicly +sold them; we continued the sale till we received an intimation that +no further prosecution would be attempted against us, and then we +dropped the sale of the pamphlet and never took it up again." [3] + + + +Having given an account of this memorable trial, we proceed to trace +some of its far-reaching effects. In the first place, Dr. Knowlton's +pamphlet gained immediately an enormous circulation. Before the +prosecution the annual sales were very small; within three months from +the time when proceedings were instituted against the publishers, +125,000 copies were sold. But this result, startling as it appears, +was by no means the most important phase of the impetus given to the +public mind upon the question of population by the cause célèbre of +"The Queen versus Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant." During the +trial the newspapers of this country contained lengthy reports of +the proceedings, and the remarkable speeches of the defendants +were thus carried far and wide. Their popular statements of the +Malthusian position, their description of the evils arising from +over-population and the remedies that they proposed were sent +forth into many thousands of homes into which no hint of the truth +would otherwise have penetrated. The press, with its myriad voices, +became, for the time, a mighty organ of New-Malthusian propaganda, +repeating, in tones that echoed round the world, the eloquent words +of two social reformers to whom the miseries of the poor were known, +and who had faced the danger of imprisonment and of social obloquy +in order to proclaim that which they felt to be the only efficient +remedy for poverty. + +Amidst the public excitement caused by this famous trial, The +Malthusian League was called into existence, and has since carried +forward the work of propaganda in an organised and systematic +fashion. It was founded to promote the following objects: + +I. To agitate for the abolition of all penalties on the public +discussion of the Population Question, and to obtain such a statutory +definition as shall render it impossible, in the future, to bring +such discussions within the scope of the common law as a misdemeanor. + +II. To spread among the people, by all practicable means, a knowledge +of the law of population, of its consequences, and of its bearing +upon human conduct and morals. + +Dr. Charles R. Drysdale, M.D., F.R.C.S., Eng., has from the first +been the President of the League, and has devoted himself to the +work of explaining and advocating the New-Malthusian principle. The +list of Vice-Presidents has included the names of the late M. Yves +Guyot, a distinguished French deputé and Minister of State, and of +Mr. J. Bryson, President of the Northumberland Miners' Association. A +reference to its present composition will show the reader that the +efforts of the League to spread enlightened views on the population +question have the approval and sympathy of influential persons in +this and in other countries. [4] + +The work of the League is chiefly carried on by public lectures and +meetings, the dissemination of literature, and letters addressed +to the editors of newspapers. By these means the public mind is +constantly being influenced in the direction of rational views upon +the population question. + +The annual meetings of members and friends of the League have afforded +valuable opportunities of obtaining expressions of opinion upon +the subject of Malthusianism from many influential persons. Letters +expressing hearty approval of the movement have been received from +Mrs. Mona Caird, Lord Derby, Lord Pembroke, the late Lord Bramwell, +Mr. Leonard Courtney, M.P., Mr. W. B. Maclaren, M.P., Professor Bain, +Mr. Arnold White, Mr. G. H. Darwin and others. + +Four years after the formation of the League, a "Medical Branch" +was established for the following purposes: + +I. To aid the Malthusian League in its crusade against poverty and +the accompanying evils by obtaining the co-operation of qualified +medical practitioners, both British and foreign. + +II. To obtain a body of scientific opinion on points of sexual +physiology and pathology involved in the "Population Question," and +which can only be discussed by those possessed of scientific knowledge. + +III. To agitate for a free and open discussion of the Population +Question in all its aspects in the medical press, and thus to obtain +a recognition of the scientific oasis and the absolute necessity +of Neo-Malthusianism. + +It will be seen that the work of this section is of a special and +scientific character. The names of the officers and members (given +in the appendix) will show that the advocacy of prudential checks +to population is sanctioned by a body of physicians of unquestioned +eminence. + +Having given an outline of the permanent organisation of Malthusian +propaganda which grew out of the events of 1877, we proceed to trace +briefly the history of the movement from that period. It is in the main +a story of petty persecutions on the one side, and, upon the other, +of steady persistence in the work of informing the public mind. The +principal obstacle to the progress of the movement, and one which it +is slowly but surely surmounting, is the prejudice born of ignorance +and bigotry. Journalists, statesmen and other leaders of opinion do not +hesitate to avow their adhesion to the principle formulated by Malthus; +but they are, almost without exception, dominated by the fear of +Mrs. Grundy, and shrink from incurring the odium which, they imagine, +would result from a frank recognition of the only logical outcome +of that principle. They join loudly in the chorus on the evils of +over-population; but, as a rule, they will lend no public countenance +to the distinct advocacy of prudential checks. Hence the task of the +pioneers of the movement is rendered excessively difficult; but from +the very inception of the Malthusian League, the work of propaganda has +been carried forward with unfailing devotion and singleness of purpose. + +In its earliest days, the League was called upon to support one of +its most respected members under stress of persecution. In February, +1878, Mr. Edward Truelove was prosecuted and tried before Lord Chief +Justice Cockburn for publishing the Hon. Robert Dale Owen's pamphlet +entitled Moral Physiology, and an essay on Individual, Family, +and National Poverty, by an anonymous author. Mr. W. A. Hunter, in +defending the case, made a most powerful speech in support of the +Malthusian position. The jury were unable to agree upon a verdict, +and the proceedings came to an abortive termination. Three months +later, however, Mr. Truelove was a second time placed upon his trial, +the venue meanwhile being changed from the Court of Queen's Bench +to the Old Bailey. A common jury found no difficulty in returning a +verdict of guilty, and Mr. Truelove (then in his sixty-eighth year) +was sentenced to pay a fine of £50 and to be imprisoned for four +months. A great public meeting was held at St. James's Hall on June +6th, when Mr. Bradlaugh, Mrs. Besant, Dr. Drysdale and other friends +of the movement protested against the action of the authorities in +thus interfering with the right of free discussion, and expressed +their admiration of Mr. Truelove's courage and consistency. + +Mr. Truelove endured the privations of imprisonment with fortitude and +dignity, sustained by the knowledge that his cause was righteous. He +was taken to Coldbath Fields in a prison-van, handcuffed like a +dangerous criminal; compelled to lie on the "plank-bed," and subjected +to all the rigors of gaol discipline. During the first three months +he was allowed no meat; after that time he was permitted to have six +ounces of Australian tinned meat per week. Happily the confinement +and hardships did not prejudicially affect his health. + +On September 12th he was welcomed back to liberty by a large and +enthusiastic gathering of friends at the Hall of Science, London. The +leading members of the Malthusian League were present, and Mr. Moncure +D. Conway, and the Rev. Stewart D. Headlam attended to do honor to +one who had suffered for conscience sake. A purse containing £200 +was presented to Mr. Truelove, together with the following testimonial: + + + To Edward Truelove, on his release from four months' imprisonment + in Coldbath Fields Prison--suffered in defence of the Liberty of + the Press. + + + The undersigned, on behalf of the National Secular Society and + of the Malthusian League, desire to welcome you on your return to + liberty, and to offer you their heartiest thanks for the courage + and endurance you have displayed, in defending the right of free + publication of opinion. + + The battle for the liberty of the press has been steadily waged + ever since the invention of printing, and a long muster-roll of + names might be given of those who, first at the stake, and since in + prison, have in turn paid their share of the penalty-purchase for + the victories already achieved. You have worthily entitled yourself + to an honorable place in this muster-roll, the more so that you + have stood firm in a day when too many temporise and flinch. From + almost every part of England, and from remote districts, as well as + from the great centres of Scotland, many thousands of your fellow + countrymen and countrywomen have pleaded for your release, and from + all parts of the civilised world expressions have been received, + of sympathy with you, and of indignation against your persecutors. + + As some slight mark of our gratitude and affectionate esteem, + and in recognition of the honor with which you have crowned a long + life of unwavering courage, we present you this address, and the + accompanying purse of gold, begging you to accept with them our + sincerest wishes for your future welfare. Signed on behalf of + + + The National Secular Society. + + Chas. Bradlaugh, President. + Robert Forder, Secretary. + + The Malthusian League. + + C. Drysdale, M.D., President. + Annie Besant, Hon. Sec. + + Hall of Science, 12th September, 1878. + + +The case of Mr. Truelove was the last prosecution of importance in +this country for the publication of works dealing with the population +question. The proceedings against Mr. Bradlaugh and Mrs. Besant, +after being quashed in the Court of Appeal upon a writ of error, were +never renewed. Dr. Knowlton's pamphlet, The Fruits of Philosophy, +was withdrawn from circulation, and Mrs. Besant wrote a small book, +The Law of Population: its consequences and its bearing upon human +conduct and morals, to take its place. Of this work nearly 200,000 +copies were circulated in Great Britain; many pirated editions were +published in America and Australia; and it was translated into several +European languages. It formed the basis of a remarkable judgment by +Mr. Justice Windeyer (delivered in the Supreme Court of New South +Wales), to which further reference will presently be made. + +In June, 1887, Dr. H. A. Allbutt, of Leeds, published a sixpenny +pamphlet entitled The Wife's Handbook. The following paragraph, +taken from the introduction to the book, will explain its object: +"To save the lives and preserve the health of thousands of women, to +rescue from death and disease children who may be born, to teach the +young wife how to order her health during the most important period +of her life, to remove from her mind the popular ignorance in which +she may have been reared, and to enable her to learn truths concerning +her duties as wife and mother, I have thought fit to write this little +work." Shortly after its appearance, the spirit of persecution was +again manifested, this time in an obscure and technical aspect. As a +member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Dr. Allbutt +was professionally amenable to the Council of that body; and he +was summoned to appear and show cause why he should not be removed +from the rolls for the offence of writing and publishing The Wife's +Handbook. The matter was warmly taken up by the Malthusian League, and +protests were addressed to the College from all parts of Great Britain +and from France, Germany, Holland, Italy, India and Jamaica. Nothing +more was heard of the affair until November, when Dr. Allbutt received +a notice to appear before the General Medical Council, in London, +to show cause why his name should not be struck off the register. + +On November 23rd the complaint against Dr. Allbutt was considered +by the General Medical Council, a body composed of twenty-seven +physicians. Dr. Allbutt was represented by Mr. Wallace (barrister), +and the "prosecution" was conducted by Mr. Muir Mackenzie, the +legal adviser of the Council. The following were the points which +the Council proceeded to consider: "(1) Was The Wife's Handbook a +fair medical treatise, or was it an indecent advertisement? (2) +Was it practically an injury to the public and an insult to the +profession?" Mr. Wallace, in a very able speech, traversed the +suggestions made by the Council's solicitor, and challenged the right +of an irresponsible body to determine whether any line of advocacy +was "subversive of public morality." If Dr. Allbutt had violated the +law, he was amenable to legal proceedings, and it was not for the +Medical Council to sit in judgment upon him. Mr. Wallace justified +the course that Dr. Allbutt had taken in publishing his work at a +low price in order that it might be placed within the reach of the +poorest classes. He called the attention of the members to a list of +the petitions which had been presented to the Council on the subject +from all parts of Europe. They amounted to over seventy; many of them +came from medical, scientific, and political societies. He assured +the Council that the members of the medical profession were by no +means unanimous in condemning Mr. Allbutt, and it would run against +the feelings of a very considerable minority if they decided adversely +to his client. The book was written with the express object of saving +poor people from the misery, poverty, and starvation which resulted +from the over-production of children; and he asked the Council, in +conclusion, to arrive at a decision which would relieve his client +from the imputation which had been cast upon him, and which would +restore him to his proper position. + +The Council having deliberated in private, the President delivered +the following judgment: + +"In the opinion of the Council, Mr. Allbutt has committed the offence +charged against him, that is to say, of having published and publicly +caused to be sold a work entitled The Wife's Handbook, in London and +elsewhere, at so low a price as to bring the work within the reach of +the youth of both sexes, to the detriment of public morals. Secondly, +the offence is, in the opinion of the Council, 'infamous conduct in +a professional respect.' Thirdly, the Registrar is hereby ordered to +erase the name of Mr. H. A. Allbutt from the Medical Register." + +Thus ended the futile attempt of the General Medical Council to +put a stop to the publication of Malthusian works "at so low a +price." Nobody was a penny the worse for the ponderous proceedings +of this archaic tribunal. Dr. Allbutt has never ceased to practise +legally as a physician; twenty editions of The Wife's Handbook have +been issued and 180,000 copies sold. + +This case aroused much attention in the press. The Pall Mall Gazette +declared that "the decision of the General Medical Council to erase +from its rolls the name of a physician who published 'at a low +price' information as to the best means for preventing the excessive +multiplication of children beyond their parents' means of subsistence +or the possibility of education and control, will before long become +familiar as one of the most glaring illustrations of professional +prejudice and human folly. When such a cool-headed respectable as +Lord Derby feels bound to call attention to the increase of 400,000 +per annum in our population as one of the most pressing problems of +our day, it is really too fatuous for the General Medical Council to +brand as 'infamous' a practitioner who, in a work to which no objection +is taken on the score of impropriety or immorality, supplies to the +poor information already possessed by the rich." + +We have to record but one later attempt to interfere with the free +discussion of the population question in this country. In October, +1891, Mr. H. S. Young, M.A., was summoned to appear at Bow Street +Police Court on a charge of sending through the post a leaflet +entitled Some Reasons for Advocating the Prudential Limitation of +Families. The proceedings were taken under the Post Office Protection +Act. Mr. Besley, in conducting the prosecution, made the remarkable +statement that the only check against immorality in this country was +the fear of pregnancy! Speaking in his own defence, Mr. Young contended +that there was no "obscenity" involved in pointing out to the poor +how they might limit their families. The magistrate (Mr. Lushington) +admitted that the leaflet was written in very careful language, and +not intended to be at all offensive; but still he held that it was +"obscene," convicted Mr. Young, and ordered him to pay a fine of £20 +and costs. The defendant applied to the magistrate to state a case, +as he intended to appeal; but Mr. Lushington refused to do so. + +This prosecution led to the formation of a Free Discussion Committee, +and public meetings were held in various parts of the metropolis, +protesting against the infringement of public freedom by legal +proceedings. Repeated attempts were made by Mr. Young and his advisers +to bring the case before a court of law, but technical difficulties +rendered this practically impossible, and the matter was allowed +to drop. + +Meantime the propaganda of New-Malthusian views is steadily +continued. The pages of The Malthusian, the monthly organ of the +League, bear constant witness to activity which hastes not and rests +not. Whether its energies are to be again stimulated by persecution, +time alone can show. + + + +A brief statement concerning the position of the Malthusian movement +in foreign countries may be usefully added to this chapter. + +Holland.--Several years ago a Dutch Malthusian League was established +by Mr. S. Van Houten (Doctor of Laws, and Deputé), Mr. C. V. Gerritsen, +Dr. C. de Rooy, Dr. Lobry de Bruyn and others. In 1887 the League +numbered amongst its members, in Amsterdam alone, six Doctors +of Medicine, eleven Doctors of Law, and three Professors of the +University. At Amsterdam a dispensary has long been open, where a +lady (Dr. Aletta H. Jacobs) and other medical members attend and +give advice to those seeking practical information upon prudential +checks. Large numbers of poor married women apply at the dispensary +for instruction as to the best methods by which they can restrict +the size of their families. Several pamphlets upon the population +question have been issued by the Dutch Malthusian League. In 1887, +thirty thousand copies of one of its publications had been circulated +in a country with a smaller population than that of London. The most +recent pamphlet on Malthusianism, from the pen of Mr. J. A. Van der +Haven, is entitled The Dark Netherlands, and the way out of it. The +author draws a sad picture of life in some of the poor quarters of +Holland, where, he says, "laughter is seldom heard, and hunger and +early death are constant visitors." There is, however, hope for a +brighter future. Mr. Gerritsen states that in Holland "directors of +large industrial establishments and railway societies make their +workmen acquainted with the means of preventing themselves from +drifting into poverty." + +Germany.--The Malthusian question has frequently been the subject +of discussion in Germany. Dr. Stille, of Hanover, Dr. Hans Ferdy, +Dr. Mensinga, Dr. Zacharias, and other physicians have again and +again called public attention to the importance of the subject; but, +until lately, no combined effort to influence public opinion has been +possible. Mr. Max Hausmeister, of Stuttgart, has at length set on foot +an organisation for the propaganda of New-Malthusian views. On February +12th, 1892, a private meeting was held at Stuttgart "to consider +the advisability of forming a Malthusian Society." This led to the +establishment of the Sozial-Harmonische Verein (Social Harmony Union), +and a monthly journal, Die Sozial Harmonie, was founded "to enlighten +the people of Germany upon social, political and economic questions and +the relation of these to sexual matters." (Subscription: 2·50 marks per +annum.) Germany, with its teeming population of impoverished workers, +affords an enormous field for Malthusian propaganda. + +In Holland and Germany alone, amongst continental countries, has the +Malthusian view found organised expression. France, whilst extremely +prudent in practice, is strongly anti-Malthusian in theory, at least +so far as the governing class is concerned. Drs. Lutaud, Le Blond, +and Rebanté, of Paris, are prominent amongst the adherents of the +New-Malthusian movement in France. + +In India, public attention has lately been called to the population +question by a prosecution instituted by the police authorities +against Messrs. Taraporewalla & Sons, of Bombay, for selling copies +of a pamphlet entitled True Morality; or, the Theory and Practice +of New-Malthusianism, by Mr. J. R. Holmes. The Chief Presidency +Magistrate convicted the defendants and imposed a fine of 201 rupees +(about £12. 10s.). The conviction was not permitted to pass without +public protest. The editor of a Bombay journal wrote: "The battle +has been fought and won in the West, and the subject is more or less +directly treated in the leading reviews, and books and pamphlets +are openly sold in England. Our duty here is clear enough. Are the +Freethinkers in India, whether New-Malthusians or not, to quietly +stand by and see the free discussion of this question denied the +public? We are perfectly aware that although there are many who will +aid in this work, there are few--alas! how few!--who will openly +bear the brunt of the fray. However, there is at least one who will +do it. But will the others stand round and give whatever help they +can, even if silently?" The standard of comfort amongst the teeming +native population of India is deplorably low, the average income +per head in the north-west provinces not exceeding 22 1/2 rupees +(say £1. 8s. 6d.) per year. And yet, forsooth, those who seek to lift +the poor ryots from their abysmal poverty and misery are confronted +with the smug conventionalities of Western Europe, and punished as +distributors of "obscene" literature! + +America has no Malthusian organisation, but there are many sympathisers +with the movement in various parts of the country. Dr. E. B. Foote, +jr., of New York, is a most active and earnest advocate of Malthusian +views, and has written several popular works on the subject. The +customs and postal prohibitions are very stringent as to the admission +and transmission of Malthusian literature and appliances. Some years +ago the late Mr. D. M. Bennett underwent a term of imprisonment at +Auburn for sending through the post a pamphlet by Mr. Heywood on +the marriage question. Just after his arrest Mr. Bennett stated: "My +only object in selling this pamphlet is to vindicate the liberty of +thought, of the press, and of the mails. I have always announced that +I did not approve of it; but as long as Mr. Heywood does, I declare +that he has a right to mail it as part of his right to publish it, +and as a necessary part of the freedom of the press. If this means +that I am to go to prison, to prison let it be." + +From this necessarily slight and incomplete sketch of the position +of the movement abroad it will be seen that the theory of Malthus is +gradually leavening the thought and helping to shape the destinies +of the civilised world. + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A JUDICIAL VINDICATION OF NEW-MALTHUSIANISM. + + +As we have shown in the preceding chapter, repeated attempts have been +made to suppress, by legal process, the advocacy of New-Malthusian +views. Those attempts have failed, as they were bound to fail. By the +strange irony of fate, indeed, one of the most powerful, logical and +convincing vindications of the prudential limitation of families has +proceeded from the judicial bench. The famous judgment delivered by +Mr. Justice Windeyer, Senior Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of New +South Wales, on December 12th, 1888, is so important a contribution +to the discussion of this question that a chapter may profitably be +devoted to a summary of its arguments and conclusions. + +A stipendiary magistrate in New South Wales convicted Mr. W. W. Collins +on a charge of selling an "obscene" book, viz., The Law of Population, +written by Mrs. Annie Besant. Mr. Collins appealed against this +conviction to the Supreme Court, consisting of Chief Justice Darley +and Justices Windeyer and Stephen. The sole question at issue was +whether the work was "obscene"; and upon this the judgment of the +Court (the Chief Justice dissenting) was given that the conviction +should be set aside. + +In delivering judgment, Mr. Justice Windeyer said: + + + A court of law has now to decide for the first time whether it is + lawful to argue in a decent way with earnestness of thought and + sobriety of language the right of married men and women to limit + the number of the children to be begotten by them by such means as + medical science says are possible and not injurious to health. Of + the enormous importance of this question, not only to persons of + limited means in every society and country, but to nations, the + populations of which have a tendency to increase more rapidly + than the means of subsistence, there cannot be the slightest + doubt. Since the days when Malthus first announced his views on + the subject to be misrepresented and vilified, as originators of + new ideas usually are by the ignorant and unthinking, the question + has not only been pressing itself with increased intensity of + force upon thinkers and social reformers dealing with it in + the abstract, but the necessity of practically dealing with the + difficulty of over-population has become a topic publicly discussed + by statesmen and politicians. It is no longer a question whether + it is expedient to prevent the growth of a pauper population, + with all its attendant miseries following upon semi-starvation, + over-crowding, disease, and an enfeebled national stamina of + constitution; but how countries suffering from all these causes + of national decay shall avert national disaster by checking the + production of children, whose lives must be too often a misery + to themselves, a burden to society, and a danger to the State. + + +His lordship pointed out that public opinion has so far advanced +that the abstract necessity of prudential limitation is now generally +admitted. "Statesmen, reviewers, and ecclesiastics join in a common +chorus of exhortation against improvident marriages to the working +classes, and preach to them the necessity of deferring the ceremony +till they have saved the competency necessary to support the truly +British family of ten or twelve children." It is, however, futile +to hope that celibacy and continence will furnish the solution +of the question. The Protestant world has rejected the idea of a +celibate clergy as incompatible with purity and the safety of female +virtue. How, then, can we expect that men and women, "with their moral +nature more or less stunted, huddled together in dens where the bare +conditions of living preclude even elementary ideas of modesty, with +none of the pleasures of life save those enjoyed in common with the +animals--... these victims of a social state, for which the educated +are responsible if they do not use their superior wisdom and knowledge +for its redress, to exercise all the self-control of which the celibate +ecclesiastic is supposed to be incapable"? + +The judge then proceeded to argue that, as the evils of over-population +were almost universally recognised, the duty of making known to +the people the practical method of escaping from them must also +be recognised: + + + Why is the philosopher who describes the nature of the disease from + which we are suffering, who detects the causes which induce it and + the general character of the remedies to be applied, to be regarded + as a sage and a benefactor, but his necessary complement in the + evolution of a great idea, the man who works out in practice the + theories of the abstract thinker, to be denounced as a criminal? It + was only when Jenner ventured to act on the theory which he had + founded upon his observations that he was denounced and vilified + in language which it is now almost impossible to conceive. + + +All history, however, has shown that public opinion advances whilst +the law remains stationary; and martyrs must suffer until the law is +brought into conformity with the public conscience: + + + A certain number of prosecutions under the law, a certain number of + victims to the ignorance or superstition of those who framed it, + a certain number of refusals to convict under a growing sense of + its unwisdom, injustice and barbarity, seem to be in all societies + the stages passed through by laws established for the purpose + of coercing the opinions of mankind before they become obsolete, + if judge-made, or, if statutes, are repealed as inconsistent with + advancing knowledge. + + +With regard to the pamphlet under consideration, the judge pointed +out that it did not come before them as an obscene libel at common +law. The question, therefore, whether the purpose advocated in the book +(i.e., the limitation of families) was inconsistent with the morals of +society, was not relevant. They had only to enquire if the details as +to prudential checks, given in that pamphlet, were inconsistent with +decency. It had been admitted in argument that the greater part of the +work, dealing with the abstract necessity of limiting population, was +not obscene. The only portion against which obscenity was alleged was +the chapter in which the means by which conception could be prevented +were stated, and in which the female sexual organs were described as +far as necessary for the purpose. + +The question was thus raised--What is obscenity? After quoting +the definition of the word which had been adopted in a previous +case, Mr. Justice Windeyer laid down the principle that "it is +the circumstances under which language is published, or acts done, +that determine whether language or conduct is obscene. No natural +function of the body is obscene itself. In the physical constitution +of man, including all his natural instincts, there is nothing unholy +or unclean." But certain natural actions, if performed in public, +would be a gross outrage upon decency. In like manner, language that +might be permissible and necessary if used on certain occasions, +would manifestly be an outrage upon decency if used when occasion +did not warrant it: + + + The question therefore is, when language is objected to as obscene, + whether the occasion upon which it has been used warrants its + use in the manner resorted to. This view of the law, I find, + is taken by the most distinguished writer upon the criminal law + of modern days--that most acute thinker, Sir James Stephen. That + learned judge, in his Digest of the Criminal Law, p. 105 submits + the following as the true view of the law with reference to the + publication of matter that would be obscene if not justified by + the occasion: + + "A person (he says) is justified in exhibiting disgusting objects, + or publishing obscene books, papers, writings, pictures, drawings, + or other representations, if their exhibition or publication is for + the public good, as being necessary or advantageous to religion + of morality, to the administration of justice, the pursuit of + science, literature or art, or other objects of general interest; + but the justification ceases if the publication is made in such + a manner, to such an extent, or under such circumstances, as to + exceed what the public good requires in regard to the particular + matter published." + + +Mr. Justice Windeyer said he accepted this view as the law, and +the question for consideration was whether the chapter detailing +prudential checks made the publication obscene. To determine this, +it was necessary to consider the work as a whole, in order that it +might be ascertained whether the language complained of was warranted +by the occasion: + + + As it cannot be denied that the question propounded for discussion + is of enormous importance, and that it is right to advocate in + the abstract the expediency of checking the advancing tide of + population, it appears to me impossible to contend that language + which tells how this may be done is obscene if it goes no further + than is necessary for this purpose. Having carefully read the + third chapter of the pamphlet, it appears to me to be written in + all decent sobriety of language. I see nothing in its language + which an earnest-minded man or woman of pure life and morals might + not use to one of his or her own sex, if explaining to him or her + what was necessary in order to understand the methods suggested + by which married people could prevent the number of their children + increasing beyond their means of supporting them. There is nothing + which points to the conclusion that any language is used with + the intention of exciting feelings of wantonness and lust; and + it requires but slight acquaintance with the medical profession + to discover that the advice given in this chapter is frequently + given by them to women suffering from over-childbearing, and to + those to whom parturition is dangerous. The information afforded + in the third chapter of the pamphlet, if given by a medical man + to a patient suffering from over-maternity, or if whispered in + matrimonial confidence, or imparted in the privacy existing between + the author and the reader of her pamphlet, is not obscenity; though + the public proclamation of the same information on a placard in + George Street or Piccadilly, so that all who ran might read, + would be an obscenity of the grossest kind, so clearly do the + circumstances of a publication alter its character. If admitted, + as it is, that the information, physiological and otherwise, given + in Chapter III. can be found in medical works of an expensive kind, + it cannot affect the character of the information for obscenity + that it is given in a cheap form. Information cannot be pure, + chaste and legal in morocco at a guinea, but impure, obscene + and indictable in a paper pamphlet at sixpence. The information, + to be of value in a national point of view as a safeguard from + the miseries of over-population and overcrowding, must be given + wholesale to the masses likely to over-breed. The time is past when + knowledge can be kept as the exclusive privilege of any caste or + class. The fact that a book may excite prurient thoughts if used + for that purpose by the low-minded and the young, does not make + it obscene. + + The objection which has been urged, that the means suggested for + the prevention of conception might be availed of by the unmarried + and immoral for the purpose of enabling them safely to indulge in + vice, is simply the application to this subject of the exploded + delusion that knowledge is a dangerous thing.... The time is + surely past when countenance can be given to the argument that + a knowledge of any truth, either in physics or in the domain of + thought, is to be stifled because its abuse might be dangerous to + society. The guardianship of the eunuch and the seclusion of the + harem were not necessary to build up the national character of + English women for chastity; and it is an insult to them to argue + that it is necessary to keep them in ignorance on sexual matters + to maintain it. Ignorance is no more the mother of chastity than + of true religion. + + +Mr. Justice Windeyer then examined the contention that the prudential +limitation of families is "a violation of natural laws and a +frustration of nature's ends": + + + The argument that nature intends every woman to conceive as + often as is possible would, if carried to its logical conclusion, + result in the Indian custom of marrying every female child upon + reaching puberty in order that no opportunity of conception should + be lost. In all other matters of breeding but the all-important one + of the breeding of the human race, the aim of man is to defeat the + effects of nature's laws of reproduction, and to limit the number + and kind of animals produced to the amount required for the use + of man. The forces of nature, blind and ruthless in their effect, + we control and defeat in their operation by all the means that + science places at our command. To protect churches and hospitals + from the operation of nature's laws, we put up conductors to arrest + the inexorable effects of lightning, which would remorselessly + destroy what piety and humanity would protect. The course of + nature is to kill a noble woman, a devoted wife and loving mother, + if her pelvis is too small to admit the delivery of a child with + an abnormally large head. The practice of civilised man, aided by + science, is in such a case of parturition to destroy the infant + and to save the mother. The interference with the course of nature + is direct, the practice in no way natural; but enlightened public + opinion in no way condemns it. But if the pelvis of a woman is so + unusually small that she never can be delivered of a child but at + the peril of her life, where is the immorality in the husband and + wife resorting to any preventive checks that may preserve a life + that is dear and perhaps valuable to the world? It is unreasoning + prejudice alone that starts the objection that such prevention + of all the physical agony involved in a painful and dangerous + delivery and possible loss of life is immoral and unnatural. + + +The case of the Queen versus Bradlaugh and Besant (referred to at +length in the preceding chapter) had been cited as an authority +in support of the contention that The Law of Population was an +obscene book, inasmuch as the pamphlet which was the subject of that +prosecution, and for the publication of which the defendants were +convicted, advocated the adoption of preventive checks. Mr. Justice +Windeyer, however, refused to accept that case as a binding precedent: + + + As I have already pointed out, the case cannot be regarded as + an authority upon that point, as there the question was whether + the pamphlet was an obscene libel. Whether the verdict of the + jury was right in that case is not a matter of law, but of + opinion. Reading the summing-up of Lord Chief Justice Cockburn + with some knowledge of judicial modes of putting criminal cases + to a jury, it appears to me that, though expressing no direct + opinion as to its character, the learned Chief Justice thought + that the book was not an obscene libel, and was cautiously guiding + the jury to that conclusion. By the opinion of a jury coming to + the consideration of so delicate a question of social science as + was submitted to them, probably without any previous acquaintance + with subjects of the kind, I decline to be in any way bound; and + I have no hesitation in saying that, had I been a member of the + jury, I should have acted upon the reasoning of Lord Chief Justice + Cockburn, and acquitted the defendants. Not only does the whole + tenor of his Lordship's summing-up appear to me argumentatively in + favor of the defendants, but, from certain passages, it appears + to me that the inference is clearly to be drawn that he neither + thought the physiological details of the book were obscene, + nor was of opinion that its teaching would promote immorality. + + +Mr. Justice Windeyer quoted several passages from the judgment of Sir +Alexander Cockburn in support of his view that the Lord Chief Justice +did not regard the preventive checks recommended as immoral. How, +he asked, could any reasonable man condemn as immoral the wish of +married people to bring no more children into the world than they can +support, and the adoption of the necessary means to effect that wish? + + + Instead of poor, let a case of consumptive parents be taken, or + of parents one of whom has developed symptoms of insanity. Who + could suppose that any jury would regard any means adopted by + them to prevent the procreation of a number of children, diseased + and rickety, or certain to inherit a taint of insanity, would be + otherwise than natural and right, and the adoption of any means + that medical science could suggest to prevent it not only not + immoral but laudable in the highest degree? If it is not immoral to + do what the pamphlet advocates, it seems to me impossible to argue + that the mere advocacy itself is a penal offence. The question is, + Where does the immorality come in? Wrongs can only be regarded + as such in their relation to others, or as self-regarding. Is + there in the adoption of preventive intercourse any invasion of + the rights of others? Certainly none. The use of the preventive + checks can only be viewed as a possible wrong in the light of a + self-regarding one. How can it be argued with any show of sound + reason that the use of preventive checks (adopted, perhaps, + from the determination not to bring into the world children that + cannot be even fed) can be morally injurious to persons animated + by a sense of duty founded upon the noblest altruism? The world + would have little need of penal statutes if a consideration of + the rights of others actuated the conduct of all mankind. Active + altruism--the distinctive feature of Christian teaching, inculcated + in the precept, "Do unto others as you would men should do unto + you"--can never in its application injuriously react upon the + moral nature of those who seek to put it in force with regard + to any conduct which may affect the happiness of others. The + profound law of ethics, that in trying to do good to others we + unconsciously benefit ourselves, is no less true here than in all + other phases of human conduct. Every thought entertained, every + effort made for the good of others, must elevate the thinker and + the actor. Who will say that the low and vicious parents of East + London's gutter children, brought up amidst all the moral horrors + of over-crowding, half-starved, and stunted in growth, without + elementary notions of decency or morality--who will say that such + parents would not have been morally superior if they could have + seen the wrong they were doing in bringing such offspring into + the world, and had taken measures to prevent it? Who will say + that the future of society would not have an infinitely better + outlook if the breeding of such children were to be prevented by + the conjugal prudence of parents in resorting to the use of such + means as would prevent their procreation? It is idle to preach to + the masse, the necessity of deferred marriage and of a celibate + life during the heyday of passion. To attempt to stifle the cry of + human nature uttered in the voice of its most powerful instinct, + is indeed to fly in the face of nature. Like all attempts to + regulate conduct by ignoring the facts of human nature, it must + signally fail. Prostitution with all its horrors is the outcome + of enforced unnatural celibacy. To use and not abuse, to direct + and control in its operation any God-given faculty, is the true + aim of man, the true object of all morality. + + +In concluding this memorable judgment, Mr. Justice Windeyer declared +that he would not seek to evade the responsibility of deciding the +matter submitted to him by shielding himself behind the decisions +of other judges whose unreasoned opinions were of no weight against +unrefuted arguments: + + + So strong is the dread of the world's censure upon this topic, + that few have courage openly to express their views upon it; and + its nature is such that it is only among thinkers who discuss all + subjects, or amongst intimate acquaintances, that community of + thought upon this question is discovered. But let anyone inquire + amongst those who have sufficient education and ability to think + for themselves, and who do not idly float, slaves to the current of + conventional opinion, and he will discover that numbers of men and + women of purest lives, of noblest aspirations, pious, cultivated, + and refined, see no moral wrong in teaching the ignorant that it + is wrong to bring into the world children to whom they cannot do + justice, and who think it folly to stop short in telling them + simply and plainly how to prevent it. A more robust view of + morals teaches that it is puerile to ignore human passions and + human physiology. A clearer perception of truth and the safety of + trusting to it, teaches that in law as in religion it is useless + trying to limit the knowledge of mankind by any inquisitorial + attempts to place upon a judicial index expurgatorius works written + with an earnest purpose, and commending themselves to thinkers of + well-balanced minds. I will be no party to any such attempt. I do + not believe that it was ever meant that the Obscene Publication Act + should apply to cases of this kind, but only to the publication + of such matter as all good men would regard as lewd and filthy, + to lewd and bawdy novels, pictures and exhibitions evidently + published and given for lucre's sake. It could never have been + intended to stifle the expression of thought by the earnest-minded + on a subject of transcendent national importance like the present; + and I will not strain it for that purpose. As pointed out by Lord + Chief Justice Cockburn in the case of the Queen versus Bradlaugh + and Besant, all prosecutions of this kind should be regarded as + mischievous, even by those who disapprove of the opinions sought + to be stifled, inasmuch as they only tend more widely to diffuse + the teaching objected to. To those on the other hand who desire + its promulgation, it must be matter of congratulation that this, + like all attempted persecutions of thinkers, will defeats its + own object, and that truth, like a torch, "the more it's shook + it shines." + + As it seems to me that this book is neither obscene in its + language, nor by its teaching incites people to obscenity, I am + of opinion that the prohibition should go. + + +Mr. Justice Stephen concurred in the judgment given, and the conviction +of Mr. W. W. Collins was therefore set aside. + +We may fittingly conclude this chapter by reproducing from The +Malthusian a note in which the writer briefly describes the character +of Mr. Justice Windeyer: + +"In early life I met Mr. Windeyer at his house at Tomago, on the Hunter +River. His father, then dead, had been quite a notable man in the +colony, as an able, intrepid, popular and high-minded politician; and +young Windeyer seemed to be his father's son--frank, open, unaffected, +and with a fine gentlemanly bearing. Since then, his career has quite +fulfilled its early promise; and, for you, as a warm advocate of +New-Malthusianism, the strength of support and encouragement lies, +I think, very much in the fact that Justice Windeyer is not only a +man of great legal ability but of high moral character." + + + + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PRUDENTIAL CHECKS. + + +If the validity of the Malthusian position be admitted, there is no +logical escape from the conclusion that the knowledge of innocent +means by which families may be limited should be conveyed to the +people. Yet, with characteristic inconsistency, the public advocacy +of Malthusianism in the abstract is regarded with approval, whilst +the practical application of the principle is met with the parrot-cry +of "obscenity," and menaced with penal infliction. In the Windeyer +judgment it will be noted that the proceedings against Mr. Collins +were based not upon those portions of Mrs. Besant's pamphlet in which +the subject was philosophically discussed, but upon the passages +in which the preventive checks were described. An eminent English +statesman, Mr. John Morley, has insisted in a public speech upon the +"vital importance" of the population question, and, he added, "I +wish that we did not shirk it so much." A popular English clergyman, +the Rev. H. R. Haweis, has declared in a popular weekly newspaper that +the most important remedy for poverty is "to control the family growth, +according to the family means of support." But when the social reformer +passes from vague precept to direct instruction, he is confronted by +an anomalous law which threatens him as a foe to public morality. + +The tragical element in this otherwise ridiculous inconsistency lies +in the fact that the knowledge of prudential checks is denied to +the very class which most urgently needs such information. It is the +poor alone who suffer acutely from the effects of over-population: +it is they who feel the actual sting of want when the small wage +is distributed over a large family-area. For the well-to-do there +is no mystery concerning prudential checks. The family doctor will +whisper discreetly into the ear of the wealthy matron whose quiver +is sufficiently filled. Expensive medical works containing full +instructions are at the command of those who can afford to buy +them. Why should the poor be kept in ignorance upon a matter of +supreme importance to them? + +Upon the subject of prudential checks the medical profession as a +body has afforded little or no assistance. Here, as in many other +matters, "doctors differ"; and no steps have as yet been taken to +ascertain, by scientific investigation, the best method of preventing +conception. The checks now to be described are of two kinds--first, +those in which success depends upon self-control; and, second, those +in which mechanical appliances are used. + + + + +I. + +The practice of withdrawal immediately before the act of coition +is completed obtains very extensively in France. This, the most +ancient of known methods, is referred to in the Bible (Genesis +xxxviii. 8-9). The efficacy of the check depends, of course, entirely +upon the self-control of the husband, and failure is therefore +always possible. It may be mentioned that this plan has sometimes +been objected to on the ground of supposed injury to health; but no +evidence has been adduced in support of the objection. On the other +hand, Dr. C. R. Drysdale has ascertained by personal enquiry that 100 +members of the medical profession in Paris "had only 174 children in +all their married lives, or not two as an average.... The question +of the effect produced upon the health of the parents by the use of +the physical check of Genesis xxxviii. was discussed at the meeting +of the International Medical Congress at Amsterdam in 1879; and two +medical men of great distinction--MM. Lutaud and Leblanc--asserted +distinctly that these practices of family physical prudence in France +were in no way productive of ill-health to either conjoint. And, +as they were universally made use of by the medical men of Paris in +limiting their own families, it was very unlikely that such damage +to health as had been spoken of would not have been noted and clearly +described long ago if it existed in nature." + +Abstinence from intercourse during a certain period is said to be an +effectual method of avoiding conception. This, however, rests upon the +assumption that a female is more likely to conceive immediately before +or after "menstruation" (the monthly flow). If connection do not take +place within five days before, or eight days after, menstruation, +the probability of pregnancy is supposed to be diminished. + + + + +II. + +Of the various appliances which have been devised for the prevention of +conception, the simplest and most effectual is the "sheath" (commonly +known as the "French Letter"). This an envelope of skin or very thin +rubber, and is used by the husband. It completely covers the male +organ, and, being closed at the extremity, prevents the semen from +being discharged into the vagina. It is obvious that, if the sheath +remain intact, it is impossible for conception to take place. The +only danger to be guarded against is the breaking or perforation of +the sheath, which should in all cases be carefully examined before +use. The material may be tested by stretching it gently over the inside +of the thumb, when the smallest fracture can be detected. If sheaths +of good quality (not necessarily expensive) be used, and reasonable +care taken to avoid accidental breakage, this check is CERTAIN. + +The Enema Syringe is an instrument frequently employed for preventive +purposes. A solution (composed of a teaspoonful of alum dissolved in +a pint of cold or tepid water) is injected by the female immediately +after connection. The vertical and reverse syringe is more likely to +act efficiently than the ordinary enema. + +A very simple and inexpensive method is the use of a small piece of +fine sponge, soaked in warm water, and placed in such a position as +to cover the mouth of the womb. The chances of failure are diminished +by saturating the sponge with a solution of quinine. + +Pessaries of various kinds are sometimes used to prevent +conception. The simple pessary (of which there are several +modifications) is a small dome-shaped appliance, made of thin rubber, +and constructed to fit closely round the neck of the womb. If carefully +adjusted and retained in position, the pessary may be relied upon. + +Of late years a new form of pessary has been introduced and is stated +to have been used with marked success. It consists of a small cone +of cacao-butter, charged with quinine. The pessary is inserted a few +minutes before connection takes place; the quinine, being liberated +by the dissolution of the fatty substance, destroys the vitality of +the seminal fluid. + + + + + + + + +THE MALTHUSIAN LEAGUE. + +(Founded in 1877.) + + +President: + +C. R. DRYSDALE, M.D., M.R.C.P. Lond., F.R.C.S. Eng. + + +Vice-Presidents: + +Señor Aldecoa, Director of Government Charities, Madrid. + +Mr. G. Anderson, C.E. + +M. Yves Guyot, Deputé, Rue de Seine, Paris. + +Mr. Gerritsen, Amsterdam, Holland. + +Mr. S. Van Houten, Deputé, The Hague. + +Mr. P. Murugesa Mudaliar, Madras. + +Mr. T. Parris. + +Dr. Stille, Hanover. + +Dr. Giovanni Tari, Naples. + +Dr. Alice Vickeby. + + +Hon. Secretary: + +Mr. W. H. Reynolds, New Cross, London, S.E. + + + + +RULES. + + +I.--Name. + +That this Society be called "The Malthusian League." + + +II.--Objects. + +That the objects of this Society be: + +1. To agitate for the abolition of all penalties on the public +discussion of the Population Question, and to obtain such a statutory +definition as shall render it impossible, in the future, to bring +such discussions within the scope of the common law as a misdemeanor. + +2. To spread among the people, by all practicable means, a knowledge +of the law of population, of its consequences, and of its bearing +upon human conduct and morals. + + +III.--Principles. + +1. "That population has a constant tendency to increase beyond the +means of subsistence." + +2. That the checks which counteract this tendency are resolvable into +positive or life-destroying, and prudential or birth-restricting. + +3. That the positive or life-destroying checks comprehend the +premature death of children and adults by disease, starvation, war +and infanticide. + +4. That the prudential or birth-restricting check consists in the +limitation of offspring by abstention from marriage, or by prudence +after marriage. + +5. That prolonged abstention from marriage--as advocated by Malthus--is +productive of many diseases and of much sexual vice; early marriage, +on the contrary, tends to ensure sexual purity, domestic comfort, +social happiness, and individual health; but it is a grave social +offence for men and women to bring into the world more children than +they can adequately house, feed, clothe and educate. + +6. That over-population is the most fruitful source of pauperism, +ignorance, crime and disease. + +7. That the full and open discussion of the Population Question is +a matter of vital moment to society, and such discussion should be +absolutely unfettered by fear of legal penalties. + + +IV.--Executive. + +1. That the officers of the League consist of a president, +vice-presidents, council, treasurer, secretaries, solicitor and +auditors. + +2. That the government of the League be vested in a council, consisting +of a president, vice-presidents, and secretary (by virtue of their +respective offices), of twenty members who shall be elected annually +at a general meeting, and of a duly-appointed representative from +each branch of the League which may hereafter be formed. + +3. That the council have power to appoint a treasurer and secretaries +from amongst its own members; to elect a president, vice-presidents, +and solicitor, subject to the approval of the next general meeting; +to fill up vacancies in its own ranks, and to make the necessary +bye-laws for carrying out these laws and for the general management +of the League. + +4. That all candidates for election as officers shall be nominated +one month before the annual general meeting, and that such nomination +shall be publicly announced, the form and manner to be determined by +the council. + + +V.--Membership. + +That the conditions of membership be an annual subscription of one +shilling, which shall be taken to imply adhesion to the rules of +the League; or an annual subscription of two shillings, which shall +entitle the subscriber to receive the Malthusian. To constitute life +membership, a single payment of one guinea. + + +VI.--General Meetings. + +1. That a general meeting be held once a year, at such place and time +as the council shall determine, at which meeting the presentation of +the report and balance sheet and the election of officers shall take +precedence of all other business. + +2. That, on the receipt of a requisition signed by not less than +twenty-five members, a special general meeting be, within one month, +called by the council. No other business but that set forth on the +notice calling the meeting shall be taken into consideration. + +3. That the voting at all meetings be taken by show of hands, except +when a poll is demanded, when the voting shall be taken by ballot. + + +VII.--Expulsion. + +That the council have power to expel any member, but the member so +expelled shall have a right of appeal to the annual general meeting, +or to a special general meeting called for that purpose. + + +VIII.--Alteration of Rules. + +That no alteration be made in these rules, except at an annual general +meeting, by the vote of two-thirds of those present, two months' +notice of the proposed alteration having been given to the council. + + + + + + + + +OVER-POPULATION; a Lecture delivered for the Sunday Lecture Society, +under the title "The Law of Population: its Meaning and Menace." By +John M. Robertson. Post free, 2 1/2d. + +PLAIN HOME-TALK, by Edward B. Foote, M.D. (U.S.A.) embracing Medical +Common Sense. 909 pages, with 200 illustrations. + + + Contents: The cause, Prevention, and Cure of Disease--The Food + we Eat--The Liquids we Drink--The Atmosphere we Live in--The + Clothes we Wear--Bad Habits of Children and Youth--Bad Habits of + Manhood and of Womanhood--Sexual Starvation--How to have Healthy + Babies--Private Words to Men--Impotency--History of Marriage, etc. + + + The book is carefully and thoughtfully written in plain language, + easily understood, and with the object of making its readers + better parents and better citizens through the knowledge obtained + of themselves and their duty to others. No parent should be + without this book. Useful for every-day reference. Post free, + six shillings. + + +DR. FOOTE'S HANDBOOK OF HEALTH, comprising information of the utmost +importance to all who wish to enjoy life. 128 pages, post free, 1/1. + +THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF T. R. MALTHUS. By C. R. Drysdale, M.D. 120 +pages, with portrait of Malthus. Should be read by every student of +social problems. Post free, 8d. + +THE POPULATION QUESTION. By Dr. C. R. Drysdale. A careful and complete +statement of the Neo-Malthusian position. 100 pp., stout wrapper; +post free 8d. + +THE OVER-GROWTH OF POPULATION, AND ITS REMEDY. An Address to men only, +delivered at Lambeth Baths on Tuesday, January 15th, 1889, by William +Lant Carpenter, B.A., B.Sc. Post free, 2d. + +EARLY MARRIAGE AND LATE PARENTAGE. The only Solution of the Social +Problem. By Oxoniensis. Post free, 2 1/2d. + +THE CAUSE OF POVERTY. A paper read at the National Liberal Club, +by Dr. C. R. Drysdale. Post free 2d. + +POVERTY: Its Cause and Cure. By M. G. H. Post free, 2d. + + + + + + + + +NOTES + + +[1] This has already been admirably done in two pamphlets by +Dr. C. R. Drysdale, President of the Malthusian League: (1) The Life +and Writings of Malthus; (2) The Population Question. + +[2] Preface to Special Report of Trial. + +[3] Lucifer, July, 1891. + +[4] See Appendix. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Malthusian Handbook, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59480 *** |