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. 

 Keflecting 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" 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 



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