Statistics of Spiritualism.
By J. H. Waggoner
ANSWER TO BRO. H.—I propose to go beyond the point of your inquiry, and thinking others might be interested in the facts presented, I send this to the REVIEW. 1. It has been currently reported that the number of spiritualists in the United States was 11,000,000, and this calculation, has been attributed to Judge Edmonds, who speaks of it as follows:— “I was careful not only to give myself as the writer, but to state the source of my information, so that if there was any error it might be exposed. Preparatory to the Œcumenical Council the pope desired to learn the religious convictions of Christendom; and the Catholic hierarchy of this country took pains to obtain it through its numerous priesthood; and the result of inquiry was what I obtained and gave to the world; so that it was not our statement of our strength, but that of our adversaries, and they have never contradicted or in any way questioned it. “Within the last two or three months there has been at Baltimore a convocation of the Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops of this country. One of the most interesting subjects for their consideration was the statistical religious condition of our people. Each diocese brought its information; and the result was, that while Romanism and Protestantism combined numbered from eight to nine millions, with some forty-five thousand preachers, spiritualism numbered between ten and eleven millions, with fifty thousand mediums. “Recollect, now, that this estimate comes, not from us, but from our opponents; is not the product of our imaginations, but the result of the severe scrutiny of those who have no sympathy with us. I confess, however, that I believe it to be accurate; all my information goes to confirm it; and my error was in estimating the number too low, lest I might be accused of exaggeration.”—Judge Edmonds, in Year-Book of Spiritualism, for 1871. It has always been acknowledged to be a difficult thing to ascertain the number of Spiritualists, because there are many of that belief who have never openly avowed it, and there are such different standpoints from which estimates are made. Warren Chase says:— “But let no person mistake me and suppose that I claim that each medium is a spiritualist. By no means; many of our best test mediums know little or nothing of spiritualism, and some are members of churches, and read or say prayers in their places.”—Gist of Spiritualism, p. 71. If this idea of Warren Chase were made the basis of an estimate, the number would be comparatively small. On the other hand, the “Year Book of Spiritualism for 1871,” edited by J. M. Peebles and Hudson Tuttle, says:— “We class as spiritualists all who believe that their departed friends can and do communicate. They may be members, in good standing, of the Catholic or Protestant churches, receiving as true the dogmas thereby imposed; or they may entertain the extreme ideas of infidelity; if they receive this as true, they are spiritualists.” p. 94. But if an estimate were made on this basis, the number would probably overrun twenty millions. So it must be evident that the estimate given by Judge Edmonds, which they denominate the Catholic estimate, was not made on either of the bases referred to above. I think it must be designed to include all openly professed spiritualists, and no others. And if so, it is probably safe to say that the number of professed spiritualists in the United States, one year ago, was eleven millions. 2. I have been much surprised in my examination of the “Year Book” to learn that spiritualism has spread to such an extent in Europe. There are nearly as many periodicals advocating spiritualism in France as in the United States. The present number, as nearly as I can ascertain, is as follows: United States, 10; France, 7; England, 4; Spain, 2; and 8 others, in various parts of Europe; and one in Australia. Total, 32. An English writer, giving a list of “investigators,” of whom the “Year Book” says they are “distinguished individuals accepting spiritual communion as truth,” enumerates as follows:— “We may number divines, logicians, and teachers in our schools of learning; physicians, and lawyers; men of note in arts, sciences, and literature; statesmen, princes, and emperors. I may mention, in proof of these statements, the names of the late Archbishop Whately, Prof. De Morgan, the late Prof. William Gregory of Edinburgh, the poet laureate and his brother; the poets Longfellow, Sheldon, Chadwick, and Gerald Massey; Thackeray, Ruskin, Mr. and Mrs. William Howitt, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, Catherine Crowe, Mr. and Mrs. Newton Crossland, Lord Lytton, Robert Chambers, Rev. J. G. Wood, the eminent writer on natural history; Baron S. S. Kirkup, Lord Lindsay, Lord Dunraven, Lord Adair, Dr. J. M. Gulley, Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson, Hon. George Thompson, Hon. Robert Dale Owen; Prof. A. R. Wallace, an eminent scientist, Profs. Varley, Crookes, Gunning, Denton, Epes Sargent, Miss Sedgewick; the late painters, Blake and Flaxman; Hiram Powers, the sculptor; the late Sir Charles Napier, Lady Paulet, Lady Eardley, Hon. Mrs. Cowper, Mrs. Milner Gibson, Louis Kossuth, Garibaldi, Mazzini, Victor Hugo, M. Guizot, M. M. Leon and Jules Favre, Lord Lyndhurst, the late Rev. Isaac Taylor, Rev. Dr. Jabez Burns, Dr. Campbell, Dr. Cumming, Capt. Burton, Sir Roderick J. Murchison, Dr. Ashburner, Spencer P. Hall, Elliotson, the Marquis de Merville, Leon Favre, Consul General of France, the Emperor of the French, the Emperor and Grand Dukes of Russia, the late President Lincoln, Judge Edmonds, Judge Lawrence, and others on the bench, W. Lloyd Garrison, Hon. B. F. Wade, Senators Howard, Harris, and other congressmen.” This list is interesting, though by no means embracing all the “great men” who have accepted spiritualism. On spiritualism in Russia, they say: “It pertains almost exclusively to the educated classes. A French Countess wrote to a lady friend in Paris, October last, that nearly all the members of the Imperial family were spiritualists, and that no monarch of Europe received the Davenports with as much enthusiasm as Alexander of the Russias.” Mr. Peebles was American Consul to Trebizond, Turkey in Asia. Of spiritualism he says:— “Reaching Constantinople in October, and securing, as interpreter a dragoman recommended by Mr. Goodnow, our American consul-general, we attended the meetings, public and private, of the dancing and ‘howling’ dervishes, witnessing the strangest and most wonderful spiritual manifestations. . . . There are many spiritualists in Beirut, and some in Damascus, one of which is a foreign consul.” A letter from Smyrna says: “For the present I can only give you the following informations. . . . The believers in spiritualism are not to be counted; they are multitudes,” &c. A letter from Washington City says:— “There are a great many spiritualists among the senators and members of congress. From careful computation based on personal knowledge, there are at least twenty-two out of sixty-seven in the Senate. It may be that the proportion of members of Congress [Representatives?] may be as large, but perhaps not more than fifty out of two hundred and five. . . . Beside the above we have high government officials, and officials of all grades, judges, auditors, commissioners, generals, &c., none of whom would at present thank you for publishing their names, or any person for reporting them.” This last sentence shows how difficult it is to give the true number of spiritualists. There are many in all parts of the country, and in every walk in life, who only wait for some circumstance to call them out. Says Judge Edmonds:— “Several instances have come to my knowledge where the preachers have freely denounced our heresy, yet, after doing so, have been waited upon by their hearers, and have been assured, much to their surprise, that the most of their congregations were believers. . . . Many priests of different denominations have called on me to consult on the subject, avowing their belief, and some of them asking of me whether it was not their duty to abandon their position, and enter upon the task of preaching spiritualism.” Perhaps I have quoted as largely as may be desired by any, but facts of equal interest may be produced at great length.