rial, and under these circumstances any pretence
of ignorance of the contents of the book was transparently inaccurate.
Mr. Watts' surrender, of course, upset all the arrangements we had agreed
on; Mr. Bradlaugh and myself were prepared to stand by him in battle, but
not in surrender. I at once returned to the Secretary of the Plymouth
Branch the money collected for defence, not for capitulation, and Mr.
Bradlaugh published the following brief statement in the _National
Reformer_ for January 21st:

"PROSECUTION OF Mr. CHARLES WATTS.--Mr. Charles Watts, as most of our
readers will have already learned, has been committed for trial at the
Central Criminal Court for February 5th, for misdemeanor, for publication
of a work on the population question, entitled "Fruits of Philosophy", by
Charles Knowlton, M.D. This book has been openly published in England and
America for more than thirty years. It was sold in England by James
Watson, who always bore the highest repute. On James Watson's retirement
from business it was sold by Holyoake & Co., at Fleet Street House, and
was afterwards sold by Mr. Austin Holyoake until the time of his death;
and a separate edition was, up till last week, still sold by Mr. Brooks,
of 282, Strand, W.C. When Mr. James Watson died, Mr. Charles Watts bought
from James Watson's widow a large quantity of stereotype plates,
including this work. If this book is to be condemned as obscene, so also
in my opinion must be many published by Messrs. W.H. Smith & Son, and
other publishers, against whose respectability no imputation has been
made. Such books as Darwin's 'Origin of Species' and 'Descent of Man'
must immediately be branded as obscene, while no medical work must be
permitted publication; and all theological works, like those of Dulaure,
Inman, etc., dealing with ancient creeds, must at once be suppressed. The
bulk of the publications of the society for the repeal of the Contagious
Diseases Acts, together with its monthly organ, the _Shield_, would be
equally liable. The issue of the greater part of classic authors, and of
Lempriere, Shakspere, Sterne, Fielding, Richardson, Rabelais, etc., must
be stopped: while the Bible--containing obscene passages omitted from the
lectionary--must no longer be permitted circulation. All these contain
obscenity which is either inserted to amuse or to instruct, and the
medical work now assailed deals with physiological points purely to
instruct, and to increase the