THE FRUITS OF PHILOSOPHY.

Inangahua Times, Volume IV, Issue 64, 5 September 1877, Page 2

THE FRUITS OF PHILOSOPHY.

tug b;: ad faugh aho be^.v: cas". (to:.D'\\ T cot;i:.:sro DS.vr'Jiit^Rtr jieiiald) Manyye I'^1 '^ a^o a c n ' loin Dr JTnowllon, ■an imer'i-un. \v:-o'e, , under tbe title "F.vrts of Philcso^y," a smnU bo. k in wh'ch lie Pi'OundeJ sonn v.-> -y ol>jectiomb'e I', iitusi.iiv'aiou- to t'e f ;ow:;i of popu';a.!..>n. In f do year 1876 a tradesman in a small way oi' business in i'fis ci.uniiT" was cjiiricteil of o'usrcie publislriiig in rrspoet of Ills mile of t ICinwl.oi'i ffck, In t!:& o:i : I_\" pa "i of t've present year ~Mv Cli. rle<s Bi'ai]lfur, r h, vie noto-ious fj-oo-tbought ncTrccal". and Mrs I?e.*:ii'.t h's frieiul. iviio (--.lils tl;o Nation-il 7'«". -me , gave notice :o ti:e aullio ! 'Jties of : lie Ci'y of Lon 'on t!nt tlv<y I iten'lerl to rppub'ijiJi (lie " Fl'ai's of Philosophy" ia a cioa|i form which would brine; it within rej> h of. tI)Q very poor. A f-rtr months acjo, whon a six, enny p'.Ktibn w:is !-i pi t at a'?cl ready for sale, Mr U;'acHau£h and Mrs Bo&aut g-nve further notice that, if the city authorities would send poii.cenrn to sucig ,ji plnce at such an Lour, Ilieir public s:\le of ibe "Fiuifs" could be witnessed. Iho challenge- tbu3 ilKorrn down wa3 promptly accepted ; and in the couvs* of a few weeks Mr Bradlauj;b and Mrs Pesant were duly committed for trial on the charge of publishing au obscene libel with iuten: to corrupt tire public Diorals. * Ona evenins; the Eclio posters announced in httge letters the arrest of Mr Bradlau«h. Tho papers of tlje following morning, stated the nature of. the charge against bim, and the litle of the work in question. Two days later, and the city in certain parts was thronged' with ragged fellows selling the "Fruits of Philosophy,'' and scores of well-dressed fellows buying it. By-and-bye.the reports of the preliminary hearings, before the magistrates gave greater- publicity to Ihe title and character of the woi'k, and it became known that a lady* the wjfe of a clergyman, was associated with Mr Bradlaugh in the criminal publication' (if it wore, criminal) ; and that she was prepared to defend it through .thick and thin on grounds of humanity and of public policy. The work thus foisted upon public notice soon became the topic of ., very general conversation wherever the absence of ladies made such a subject admissible. The effect was that in a couple of, t months or so more than 100,000 copies were sold. Before the prosecution the annual sale of 30, or 40 years had not exceeded about 700' copies. While the trial was pending more copies were sold in two months than would li,iivo been disposed of at the old rate in 14D years. " When at length the prisoners came to bo tried, and although the SolicitorGeneral and other distinguished- advocates were against them, they had the courage to conduct their own defence ; and when Mrs Bessnt spoko for nearly two days in opening the defence, and it became known that her speech had been one of the fiuesfc p : eces of eloquent pleading ever heard- in an English Court of Law, public interest becauie wrought to a very lnjjh pitch. The Lord Chief Justice, who tried the case, wns quick to admit that thebo»ajit?es of-llio pr'unmi's could hardy be questioned ; and the Solicitor-General himsolf, when the time came for him to sum vu 4 >,

was bo much aTiaid of the effect which Mrs Beasant'a earnest pleading might havo produced on Hie miuds of the jury, that he tried lo disarm their sympathies by acknowledging (hat tie criminal intention of the prisone s had been only technically criminal, nnd tiiat he could not briug the moral charge against them of baviug aimed at anything but what they considered to bo for ilie public good. ■ In the '• Fruits " themselves were read by scores of thousands, in consequence of the pending trial, the reports of the trial, in which lons extracts from the "' Fruits '' were quoted, and the scope and aim of the book were expatiated upon, aud defended with a dazzling display of lear >iug and of logical acumen, were sold by hundreds of thousands in the daily papers, aud read by millions. Well might the Chief Justice say that the prosecution which so brought into notice an obscure publication was lamentably ill-advised. As might have been expected, a confection was obtained. It was in vain that Mrs Bessmt had painted in colors of blood and fire all the horrors, moral as well as physical, which result from over-crowding and under-feeding where, in thickly peopled countries, the growth of population is not artificially checked. It was in vaiu that Mr Bradlaugh showed that the facts expounded in the " Fruits of Philosophy '' had been published for years in scores of medical aud scientific works of admitted respectability. The jury uirned their John-Bu!l's-eye laatern of common sense upon the matter, aud determined that the truths, however scientific and salutary they might be in the service of doctors, and of men and women who could afford (o give their half-guineas for the medical works containing them, were not tru r liß to be uttered on the housetops, or sold for^sixpenee a numbe: to servaat girls and paniry boys, and the miscel* lyneous unmarried poor. Accordingly, they gave a verdict that the book was calculated to deprave publio morals ; but that the prisouero had published it without uny corrupt intention. The Lord Chief Jnulii'e th^reapoTi directed that a vovdict of guilty shouVi h> entered, and judgment was defer /ed til! after fie hearing of a technical o'.jec.i'vj to tlie fo;-ui of 6he indictment. Defore the technical objection could be heard a Sunday came, and was taken advantage of by Mr Ei-adlaugli s:>d Mrs Besant (who we:'e out on bail) f<>r tl:e dclivf-y (f addresses to some ]200 ov MO3 persons in luo city in support oPthe nracticL-s advocated in the book which had just; been condemned ; aud at that mooting the lnok itself wai ngain openly solQ by the!" n:s '.oritv. Tho result of such a, JeS.mcc of the law w.-s of course disastrous "When the terhnic.il ol'jec'ion liad b;en overruled on the foi'o<vin; Thursday the Chef Jhs; ico, in pronouncing judsj* ment, said that lw inlcnded to release «.he' p.isouei's on t!-eir own recognizances to come up for judgment when ca ; led u;»on, but that as they had defuvl t!ie law by selling the boov si:ice it had been cop.« demned. they must be both imprisoned ior six months aud p.iy a fine of £20) apiece, and enter into their on recognizances for £500 to be of good 'behaviou: 1 foi- two years.