APOLOGY FOR THE BELFAST ADDRESS 



1874 



THE world has been frequently informed of late that 

 I have raised up against myself a host of enemies ; 

 and considering, with few exceptions, the deliver- 

 ances of the Press, and more particularly of the religious 

 Press, I am forced to admit that the statement is only too 

 true. I derive some comfort, nevertheless, from the re- 

 flection of Diogenes, transmitted to us by Plutarch, that 

 "he who would be saved must have good friends or vio- 

 lent enemies; and that he is best off who possesses both." 

 This "best" condition, I have reason to believe, is mine. 

 Reflecting on the fraction I have read of recent remon- 

 strances, appeals, menaces, and judgments covering not 

 only the world that now is, but that which is to come I 

 have noticed with mournful interest how trivially men 

 seem to be influenced by what they call their religion, 

 and how potently by that "nature' 7 which it is the alleged 

 province of religion to eradicate or subdue. From fair 

 and manly argument, from the tenderest and holiest sym- 

 pathy on the part of those who desire my eternal good, I 

 pass by many gradations, through deliberate unfairness, to 

 a spirit of bitterness, which desires with a fervor inex- 

 pressible in words my eternal ill. Now, were religion the 

 potent factor, we might expect a homogeneous utterance 

 from those professing a common creed, while, if human 



(215) 



