The provinces were far more strongly against war than was the capital, and in them we held many large and enthusiastic meetings in favor of peace.  At Huddersfield the great Drill Hall was crammed for a lecture by me against war, and throughout Yorkshire and Lancashire scarcely a voice was ever raised in crowded meetings in defence of the Beaconsfieldian policy.  A leaflet of mine, entitled “Rushing into War”, was reprinted in various parts of the country, and was circulated in tens of thousands, and each Freethought leader worked with tongue and pen, on platform and in press, to turn the public feeling against war.  The Freethought party may well take credit to itself for having been first in the field against the Tory policy, and for having successfully begun the work later carried on by Mr. Gladstone in his Midlothian campaign.  They did more than any other party in the country to create that force of public opinion which overthrew the Tory Government in 1880.

XVII.

The year 1878 was a dark one for me; it saw me deprived of my little daughter, despite the deed of separation by which the custody of the child had been assigned to me.  The first notice that an application was to be made to the High Court of Chancery to deprive me of this custody reached me in January, 1878, while the decision on the Knowlton case was still pending, but the petition was not filed till April.  The time was ill-chosen; Mabel had caught scarlet fever at a day-school she was attending, and for some days was dangerously ill.  The fact of her illness was communicated to her father, and while the child was lying ill in bed, and I had cancelled all engagements so that I might not leave her side, I received a copy of the petition to deprive me of her custody.  This document alleged as grounds for taking away the child: 

“The said Annie Besant is, by addresses, lectures, and writings, endeavoring to propagate the principles of Atheism, and has published a book intituled:  ‘The Gospel of Atheism’.  She has also associated herself with an infidel lecturer and author, named Charles Bradlaugh, in giving lectures and in publishing books and pamphlets, whereby the truth of the Christian religion is impeached, and disbelief in all religion is inculcated.

“The said Annie Besant has also, in conjunction with the said Charles Bradlaugh, published an indecent and obscene pamphlet called ’The Fruits of Philosophy’.

“The said pamphlet has recently been the subject of legal proceedings, in the course of which the said Annie Besant publicly justified its contents and publication, and stated, or inferred, that in her belief it would be right to teach young children the physiological facts contained in the said pamphlet. [This was a deliberate falsehood:  I had never stated or inferred anything of the kind.] The said Annie Besant has also edited and published a pamphlet intituled ’The Law of Population; its consequences, and its bearing upon human conduct and morals’, to which book or pamphlet your petitioners crave leave to refer.”