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