THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL ON FREETHOUGHT,

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 351, 22 February 1879, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL ON FREETHOUGHT,

The Dunsaiu Herald supplies the following report of the Attorney-General's speeches at the meeting in that city on Sunday night, when Mr. Bright, known as "the Freethought lecturer," took his , farewell, and Mr. Stout presided :— I The Attorney-General said— Ladies and gentlemen : It is not necessary for me on . this occasion to introduce Mr. Bright to a - Dunedin audience. I take the chair, | however, as I had the honor to take the I chair at the first Freethought lecture that 1 Mr. Bright delivered in Dunedin, and I > believe this will be the last at auy rate ' that he will deliver for some time to come. J I have, after the lecture, to perform 1 another function, which I will do after 6 you have listened to the lecture. I will r now only say this — that I consider it the I duty of everyone to desire to see the free I expression of opinion in our midst, aud to 1 let our friends and neighbors know the : views we believe in, and on that account 1 I take the chair. I will not take up your. 4 time at present, however, further than 1 simply to introduce Mr. Bright to you. T He will deliver a lecture to you this > evening on " Evolution. " (Applause.) 1 Mr. Bright then delivered a lengthy 3 lecture on "Evolution." He said the * great body of scientific men regarded revoJ lution as an established fact, the illustra1 tion of which would be the great scientific " work of the future. } The Attorney-General said — Ladies and gentlemen : When presiding at the fare- \ well tea meeting to Mr. Bright, I then said that some of his friends intended to ' make a presentation to him. I appear J here to-night to perform that duty at 1 their request ; and Mr. Bright, I have to [ say to you that even now some of the subscription lists have not been returned, but 1 the amount up to the present that has J been collected is the sum of £91 12s. * (Applause.) In making this presentation, 1 I may, moreover, state that we ought to 1 recognise the difficult position in which a j Freethought lecturer is placed. Anyone L who will venture to address the people on ¦ religious or on philosophical subjects, 1 untramelled by creeds, must always expect 1 to meet with some amount of persecution. 1 Thia is the experience in all times and in ¦• all countries of the world. History tells us that when Christianity began the early '' Christians were subjected to a very ter1 rible persecution. They were accused of teaching doctrines that tended to immorality, and tended to subvert the whole social and political system of the world, 1 and nations then who were not Christians 1 believed they were doing God service by , having them put to death. And I have no doubt that if we could get any of them 1 in Dunedin to tell us their reasons for persecuting the early Christians, they 1 would tell us that the early Christians 1 shocked their sense of propriety, and they, therefore, had a right to persecute them. 1 However, every new view that has been taken up in scientific circles has always 1 been opposed. From Galileo to the ; thought involved in your last able and eloquent lecture to-night — from Galileo's* time to Darwin's time, those in opposition 1 flill us they are doing God's service by \ sneering and persecuting any scientific man who promulgates any new theory or any new thought of God's work. The Freethought lectures have been received very well in Danedin. I think we ought to strive to Bhow to those who would ! defend persecution that they are in the dark, ana that the view that should be taken of them is that of pity. The lion, gentleman referred to the desirability of carefully leading a blind man instead of blaming him for not walking straight. He concluded by presenting to, Mr. Bright the puree of money, and a poem written by one who had been in the habit of attending the Freethought lectures.

Superfluous Information. — He- was a countryman, and he walked along our busy thoroughfares and read a sign over the door of a manufacturing establishment, "Cast Iron Sinks." It made him mad. He said that any fool ought to know that. — Camden Post. Temptation Extraordinary. — To si£[n the pledge, and afterwards to be presented with a bottle of rich old port, is one of those dreadful things which will occasionally happen. People talk about suffering, but they don't know anything about it.