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<center>THE TRUTH SEEKER.<br>D. M. BENNETT, Editor.</center>
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<center>PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT $3.00 PER YEAR.</center>
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''The largest and cheapest Radical Journal published in Europe or America, containing seven hundred square inches more reading matter than any other journal of its kind.''
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<center>NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1882.</center>
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  | title = Unnecessary Disturbance.
  | title = Unnecessary Disturbance.
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  | author signed =
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  | source title = Truth Seeker, The
  | source title = Truth Seeker, The
  | source details = New York, Saturday, November18,1882; editorial introduction, enclosed John Storer Cobb letter dated Boston November5, and editorial Reply; masthead editor not assigned as personal byline
  | source details = New York, Saturday, November18,1882; includes a letter signed John Storer Cobb, Boston, November5,1882, and the editorial reply
  | publication date = 1882-11-18
  | publication date = 1882-11-18
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{{Style P-Title|Unnecessary Disturbance.}}
We publish the following, not because of any marked courtesy or argument which it evinces, but to giv even those a chance to be heard who seem neither to fully comprehend us, nor to be able to express themselvs in a gentlemanly manner. It seems to take all sorts of people to make up the world, and this writer is simply a specimen of one of the sorts.
 
{{Style P-Quote|1={{Style S-Small capitals|To the Editor of}} The Truth Seeker, ''Sir'': It is with considerable surprise, and, I must say, pain also, that I hav read your reply to Mrs. Heywood’s announcement of her husband’s recent arrest. You will probably say that in the position which you now assume there is n{{Style S-HPB SB. Restored|ot a}}nything which can reasonably cause surprise, inasmuch as you hav had your “hand in the lion’s mouth” and know full{{Style S-Lost|…}} well how hard the animal can bite. Shuddering even now at the retrospection whenever the fangs of the beast are brought to your notice, you are naturally surprised that another, who has had a similar experience, should be so rash as to risk a second experiment. Having yourself tried to play the hero, and at the same time to evade the consequences; and having, after all your gymnastic efforts, been caught and compelled to accept and endure the legitimate reward of your temerity, you do not, of course, desire a repetition of the proceeding. Judging other men’s motivs, as well as the strength of their convictions and their powers of endurance, by your own, you do not seem capable of rising to the consciousness that there are ''men'' in the world—men who, having struggled and suffered for the establishment of a principle, are still prepared to endure and endure again until that for which they spend their lives has been achieved, or the time for rest has been legitimately earned.
 
Seeing the success with which his methods hav been crowned in your case, it is not a matter for wonder that Anthony Comstock is emboldened to pursue the same course with others. Having discovered and manifested to the world the true nature of the animal, which was concealed by the spurious hide with which you enveloped yourself, it is not surprising that he should imagin himself able to carry to an equally successful issue the same experiment upon another subject. Having heard the whinesome bray which, after the bite, took the place of the simulated roar that preceded it, he is naturally desirous of listening again to the music of a similar transformation. And this is where comes in the pain which your letter causes. It is mournful to see one prove himself so far recreant to the principles which he has, throughout his life, professed to maintain, as to ally himself—in a manner to him the most effectual possible—with the enemy, whose boast and business it is to trample those principles in the dust and persecute their upholders and defenders.
 
Because forsooth ''you'' do not approve of all that Walt Whitman has published, therefore Mr. Heywood would do well to refrain from disseminating his writings! And because Mr. Heywood has done some things which, in ''your'' judgment, had been better left undone, therefore Anthony Comstock is justified in the outrage that he has committed, and no “principle of Liberalism is involved” in the question which is thereby raised! How charming is the logic which Bennett can use when Heywood is under the shadow of the law! How different from that obtained when it was upon Bennett’s own head that the panther’s claw was placed!
 
But you do not even wait for definit premises upon which to erect your logical superstructure. You admit that you do not know the charge upon which Mr. Heywood was arrested. You simply make a guess, and make that the text from which to preach your justification of the dastardly proceeding. Your surmise may be right or wrong, and, for the sake of the argument, I will assume it to be the former, and ask whether, in that case, Mr. Heywood would now be in any better position than he is had he circulated such literature only as commended itself to your taste? Certainly not, except upon the hypothesis that you hav revised your “views” and made them to accord with those of the Comstock association and society in general. This, perhaps, you hav done, and none could blame you for so doing. You hav had incentiv enough, and no one can censure a little fellow for not being bigger than he is. And again I ask, if Mr. Heywood had confined himself to the circulation of that which was “permitted,” and would bring no risk to him, what “principle of Liberalism” could be subserved by it? That would be simply a slavish acceptance of iniquitous legislation and cowardly acquiescence in its decrees.
 
The principle of Liberalism involved in the matter as it now stands is the right of every individual to the free expression of his opinions, and the unrestricted transmission of that expression through the length and breadth of the earth, without regard to the extent to which such opinions may be obnoxious, agreeable, or indifferent. By his conduct Heywood has dared to maintain this principle. That you are unable to comprehend him is not surprising, since you giv the key to the mystery in the remark that “he has not seemed to us a man with a coarse, animal nature.” As kindred natures only can arouse the sympathetic and appreciativ feeling within us, so it is not astonishing that you cannot understand Heywood. We will allow this inability to serve as the mantle of charity with which we will now cover your whole proceeding with regard to this question.
 
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''Boston, Mass.,'' Nov. 5, 1882.
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{{Style P-Signature custom|Faithfully yours,|2=<span style="padding-left:1em;">{{Style S-Small capitals|John Storer Cobb.}}</span>|1 style=plain|2 style=plain|shift=0}}
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{{Style S-Small capitals|Reply.}}—We shall not attempt to notice all the unfair and untruthful insinuations and representations with which the foregoing article abounds, but some of them we will briefly review:
 
1. Mr. Cobb thinks that scarcely any conduct of ours would need to cause surprise, inasmuch as we hav “had our hand in the lion’s mouth and know full well how hard the animal can bite!” He then continues, “Shuddering even now at the retrospection whenever the fangs of the beast are brought to your notice, you are naturally surprised that another, who has had a similar experience, should be so rash as to risk a second experiment.” There is not a particle of justice in these insinuations and innuendoes. We hold that our conduct has been consistent, that we hav not changed our position in the slightest degree, and that the “fangs of the beast” hav not caused us to cower, as we will soon show.
 
2. He further says, “Having yourself tried to play the hero, and at the same time to evade the consequences, and having after all your gymnastic efforts been caught and compelled to accept and endure the legitimate reward of your temerity, you do not of course desire a repetition of the proceeding.” This is simply false and contemptible. We hav not tried to play the hero; we hav not tried to evade the consequences of our conduct, nor hav we indulged in “gymnastic efforts.” What he means by “gymnastic efforts” we cannot say. We hav never suspected that we are a gymnast in any sense of the word. If one who has been imprisoned for bastardy understands what “gymnastic efforts” are, Mr. Cobb ought to know how it is himself.
 
Our experience is briefly told. We were arrested for selling a copy of “Cupid’s Yokes,” which selling was simply done as an act of courtesy to Miss Josephine S. Tilton, Mr. Heywood’s sister-in-law, who at a public meeting had a book table next our own. For this we were arrested, detained many days, held to bail, and submitted to much inconvenience and expense. We felt that we had been outraged in our rights as an American citizen. We felt with thousands of others that though the pamphlet was not written in the best possible taste and style, it was the convictions of an honest man, who had a right to express himself upon the vital subject of the social relations, that every person had a right to read his arguments, and that every person had an undisputed right to sell or own his pamphlet.
 
We announced in our columns that, considering we had a perfect right to sell the pamphlet, we would do so, though a prison was the result. This was while Mr. Heywood was in prison for selling the same pamphlet. If those were “gymnastic efforts,” we were not aware of it. We sold many copies of the pamphlet, were arrested again and sent to prison for thirteen months, and served out our time. If we tried to “play the hero,” we certainly did not “evade the consequences.” Neither hav we changed our position in the matter. We hav sold many of the pamphlets since we left prison, and are selling them to-day. We still claim we possess the right to do so, and if another term in prison is our portion we shall not particularly try to evade “the fangs of the beast.”
 
3. Our correspondent’s fling about our incapability “of rising to the consciousness that there are ''men'' in the world,” we will let pass for what it is worth, with the remark that if he is the measure of what constitutes a ''man'', we decline to rise.
 
4. Here is another brilliant passage: “Seeing the success with which his methods hav been crowned in {{Style S-HPB SB. Continues on|14-91}}


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Truth seeker v.09 n.46 1882-11-18.pdf|page=8|The Truth Seeker, v. 9, No. 46, November 18, 1882, pp. 728-729
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