Page:Annie Besant, The Law of Population.djvu/53

 himself to the most absolute and rigorous continence?...... Let any one ask himself whether it is more moral, more conscientious, to give birth to children in the midst of privations, or prevent them being born, and let him then reply."

Thus has the effort to obtain social reform gone hand in hand with that for political and religious freedom; the victors in the latter have been the soldiers in the former. Discussion on the Population Question is not yet safe; legal penalty threatens those who advocate the restriction of birth instead of the destruction of life; the same penalty was braved by our leaders in the last generation, and we have only to follow in their steps in order to conquer as they conquered and become sharers of their crown. We work for the redemption of the poor, for the salvation of the wretched; the cause of the people is the sacredest of all causes, and is the one which is the most certain to triumph, however sharp may be the struggle for the victory.

THE END.