Heroines of Freethought/Emma Martin
EMMA MARTIN.
I THINK the name of Emma Martin deserves mention in these sketches, although the little I have learned of her life-history has been from the perusal of “Half-hours with Freethinkers”; but her writings show vigor and breadth of mind, while personally she seems to have made a decided impression upon all those with whom she was brought in contact, as a refined and beautiful woman, and deep thinker.
In his sketch of the English Communists, Moncure D, Conway says briefly that “Harmony Hall had, like ‘Brook Farm,’ many interesting women in it. . . . Mrs. Emma Martin was both beautiful and eloquent.”
The writer of the biographical sketch in “Half-hours with Freethinkers” says:
“Mrs. Martin was born at Bristol in 1812. She was brought up under strict religious training. She early evinced fine powers, with all the enthusiasm and emotional nature which frequently culminates in ardent religious feeling, but, fortunately, with a natural receptivity to truth, a spirit of inquiry, a love of mankind, and a horror of inhumanity, which neutralized the ardor of her unthinking affections and her imagination.”
She early showed evidences of genius, and a taste for literature. When only twenty-four, she edited for some time a paper entitled the Bristol Magazine. She was a ready, facile writer, with a fine, discriminating mind. Her attention was early directed to religion, which for a person of her temperament had peculiar attractions, and it was not until several years after her marriage that, having, after careful investigation, found, as she judged, good reason to doubt the dogmas taught by the Church, she declared herself a Freethinker, and an Infidel. She had been an earnest, conscientious Christian, and when she changed her views she was still as earnest and conscientious, and courageously avowed those changed views, openly and decidedly, by both tongue and pen.
Woman's rights and privileges, and her proper place in the society of which she constitutes so important a part, had awakened her attention, and enlisted her sympathies, long before her religious doubts were aroused. She was married young, and her marriage had proved ill-assorted and unhappy. Doubtless her own sufferings and perplexities led to her inquiries and researches into the wrongs of her sex as a class. Finding for herself no redress or mode of escape, under the law, from the tyranny and ill-usage of a brutal husband, she dared to take the law into her own hands, and separated from him; taking upon herself the care and education of her children, to whom she ever proved a faithful and tender mother.
"Our first knowledge of Mrs. Martin," says George Jacob Holyoake, "was as an opponent of Socialism. But as soon as she saw intellectual truth in it she paused in her opposition. Long and serious was the conflict the change in her convictions caused her; but her natural love of truth prevailed, and she came over to the advocacy of that she had so resolutely and ably assailed. And none who ever offered us alliance rendered us greater service, or did it at greater cost. Beautiful in expression, quick in wit, strong in will, eloquent in speech, coherent in conviction, and of a stainless character, she was incomparable among public women. She was one of the few among the early advocates of English Socialism who saw that the combat against religion could not be confined to an attack on forms of faith—to a mere comparison of creeds—and she attached only a secondary importance to the abuses of Christianity, when she saw that the whole was an abuse of history, reason, and morality."
That Mrs. Martin fully understood the import of the bold step she had taken, in thus fearlessly avowing her unpopular but earnest convictions, may be seen from the following part of her reply to a clerical friend who had sent her a religious tract, entitled "The Sinner’s Friend," as an earnest of his interest in her spiritual welfare:
"I have, sir, children whose happiness is dearer to me than my own, for they have, I hope, a longer term of existence before them than I can look for; the possession, therefore, of principles which, if they are false, would be so detrimental to their interests, must have been to me a matter of deep solicitude, not only because they must necessarily share in any odium which attaches to the name of their mother, but also because their education must be erroneous, and eternal happiness be risked by unbelief. Allow me, then, to ask you whether I, who became an Infidel after twelve years of study and practice of Christian principles; after seriously investigating the internal and external evidences of Christianity; after searching, as I have done, into the origin and principles of all religions; after making public profession of my disbelief, having so important a thing at stake as the welfare and happiness of my children—think you, sir, that ‘The Sinner’s Friend’ can over- throw the reasoning of years, or present stronger motives to my mind than those which now sway it? You cannot think so.
"You will now, know that neither declamations, nor promises, nor threats, can have any influence over a mind which has been long regardless of either — a mind which considers one fact as of more value than a thousand brilliant sentences; one proof as more conclusive than a volume of hopes and fears."
Mrs. Martin, in addition to her literary pursuits, found time to qualify herself to become a physician for women; and as she believed in doing everything she undertook in a thorough and efficient manner, she attended, for this purpose, long courses of lectures on subjects pertinent to the health and organization of woman, and studied and practiced for months in hospitals, in order to fit herself properly.
As a lecturer, Mrs, Martin was eloquent, logical, and attractive. While her talent as a writer, though not of the highest order, was yet far above average; her style was readable and interesting, and her powers varied.
She did not live to reach her fortieth year, consumption claiming her as once of its myriad victims, just as she was beginning to develop the full strength of her intellect, and to realize the full value of life, She died in October, 1851, at her home at Finchley Common, consistent in her opinions, and persistent in her views to the last moment of her life; passing away calmly, undismayed by any superstitious fears, conscious of that integrity of soul and clearness of conscience which proves ever an armor of defense in every supreme hour of life. Desirous of life for the sake of her children as much as for her own pleasure, she yet acknowledged and yielded to the power of the inevitable with the submissive grace of a philosopher.
The funeral services were conducted on strictly rationalistic principles, in accordance with her own express desire, her personal friend and admirer, George Jacob Holyoake, making the address, and speaking to the friends present in behalf of the deceased. During that address he paid the following tribute to her character:
"As a worker for human improvement, Mrs. Martin was as indefatigable as efficient. From the time when she published 'The Exiles of Piedmont,' to the issue of her essay on 'God's Gifts, and Men's Duties,' and later still, she wrote with ardor, always manifesting force of personal thought, and, what is more unusual in the writings of women, strength and brevity of expression. Her lectures were always distinguished by the instruction they conveyed, and the earnestness with which they were delivered; and in courage of advocacy and thoroughness of view, no woman, except Frances Wright, is to be compared with her, and only one, Harriet Martineau (greater, indeed, in order of power), resembles Mrs. Martin in largeness and sameness of speculation, and her capacity to treat purely social questions, and those relating to woman. She had an affectionate nature, which astonished those who knew her in private, as much as her resolution astonished those who knew her in public. Indeed, she was the most womanly woman of all the public advocates of Woman's Rights."