Blavatsky cuts down to size a carping critic of heterodoxy

Intellectually, Mr. Foote is on a far lower plane than Mrs. Besant. A noble heart like Mrs. Besant’s listens to no voice, save that of the inner voice of Truth — that of man’s divine nature, to which Mr. Foote is deaf and blind.

Since Mr. Foote dares not ventilate his senseless rage upon Mrs. Besant, he turns round and, like a coward, slanders another woman because he hopes to have nothing to fear from her. A noble example of Freethought, indeed!

He is a poor imitator of all those Dissenters and Sectarians of the unctuously hypocritical type. They, at least, have the merit of original invention, while he only repeats what he hears others say, and even that he must, of necessity, mix up and confuse! His work is that of an accomplished charlatan.

While Mr. Foote regards the ethics of Theosophy as detestable, Theosophists regard the teachings of Materialism as despicable. Materialism, with all its arrogance, can hardly claim possession of the last word of science, its negative views being simply the result of the collective experiences of sceptics in every age. The doctrine of reincarnation, flippantly called metempsychosis, is as old as the world. Our materialistic critic seems quite innocent of the distinction between theoretical and practical altruism but proud to claim kinship with the gorilla.

He is a very brutal but not skilful fencer, and his arguments are as blunt as the fencer’s foils which hit but hurt not.

Mr. Foote shows himself absurdly ignorant of the subjects of his insane attacks. It is, however, Freethought alone that he injures by such language, Theosophy being too invulnerable to be wounded by such poor logic as seems to be at his disposal.

In his philological achievements, Mazzini Wheeler, the other apostle of Freethought, seems unable to recognize one Buddhist name from another, quoting and repeating parrot-like information culled from Schlagintweit and Sarat Chandra.