Our victory in the Court of Queen's Bench was an unmitigated loss to Sir
Henry Tyler and his backers, for it threw upon them the whole costs of
the prosecution. It was also a loss to ourselves; for I have it on the
best authority that, if we had been found guilty, Lord Coleridge would
have made his sentence concurrent with Judge North's, and shifted us
from the criminal to the civil side of the prison, where we should have
enjoyed each other's society, worn our own clothes, eaten our own food,
seen our friends frequently, received and answered letters, and spent
our time in rational occupations. To the Freethought cause, however, our
victory was a pure gain. As I had anticipated, the press gave our new
trial a good deal of attention. The _Daily News_ printed a leading
article on the case, calling on the Home Secretary to remit the rest of
our sentence. The _Times_ published a long and admirable report of my
defence, as well as of Lord Coleridge's summing-up, and predicted
that the trial would be historical, "chiefly because of the remarkable
defence made by one of the defendants." A similar prediction appeared in
the Manchester _Weekly Times_, according to which "the defendant Foote
argued his case with consummate skill." Across the Atlantic, the _New
York World_ said that "Mr. Foote, in particular, delivered a speech
which, for closeness of argument and vividness of presentation, has not
often been equalled." Even the grave and reverend _Westminster Review_
found "after reading what the Lord Chief Justice himself characterises
as Mr. Foote's very striking and able speech, that the editor of the
_Freethinker_ is very far from being the vulgar and uneducated disputant
which the _Spectator_ appears to have supposed him." Other Liberal
papers, like the _Pall Mall Gazette_ and the _Referee_, that had at
first joined in the chorus of execration over the fallen "blasphemer,"
now found that my sentence was "monstrous."
So true is it that nothing succeeds like success! I did not let these
compliments turn my head. My speeches at the Old Bailey were little,
if anything, inferior to the one I made in the Court of Queen's Bench.
There was no change in me, but only in the platform I spoke from. The
great fact to my mind was this, that given an impartial judge, and a
fair trial, it was difficult to convict any Freethinker of "blasphemy"
if he could only defend himself with some courage and address. This fact
shone like a star of hope in the night of my suffering. As I said in
one of my three letters from prison: "For the first time juries have
disagreed, and chances are already slightly against a verdict of Guilty.
Now the jury is the hand by which the enemy grasps us, and when we have
absolutely secured the twelfth man we shall have amputated the _thumb_."
On May 1 the following letter from Admiral Maxse appeared in the _Daily
News_:
"TO THE EDITOR OF THE 'DAILY NEWS.'
SIR,--Foote's brilliant defence last week will probably have
awakened some fastidious critics to their error in having depicted
him as a low and coarse controversialist, while Lord Coleridge's
judgment will have convinced the public that had Lord Coleridge
occupied the place of Justice North, the defendant would have
escaped with a mild penalty. In the meantime, Mr. Foote continues
to undergo what is virtually 'solitary confinement' in a cell,
and is condemned to this punishment for a year. A more wicked
sentence, or a more wicked law, than the one which Mr. Foote
and his companions suffer from, is, in my opinion, impossible
to conceive, that is to say in a country which professes to
enjoy religious liberty. His crime consisted in caricaturing
a grotesque representation of a religion which has certainly
a higher side. People who are truly religious should be obliged
to Mr. Foote, if he managed to shock some people concerning any
feature of religion which is gross and degrading to that religion.
I know something of Mr. Foote, and I am quite certain he would
not say anything to shock a refined interpretation of religion.
Refined Christians are anxious themselves to get rid of the
excrescences of their creed. The question at issue really is
as to whether a coarse picture of religion, and of one religion
only, is to be protected by the State from caricature, and from
caricature alone; because it seems to be granted that an
intellectual absurdity may be intellectually impeached. It is
impossible such a monstrous doctrine as this can stand. It will
pass away, and probably in a few years it will be remembered
with some astonishment; but oppressive and persecuting laws
are only got rid of by the spectacle of an impaled victim.
'By the light of burning heretics Christ's bleeding feet I track.'
The impaled victim is now Mr. Foote. It is a disgrace to England
that his solitary confinement--twenty-three out of the twenty-four
hours are solitary--or indeed, that any punishment whatever is
possible for a man's style in religious controversy; and to a
Liberal it is profoundly humiliating that such a proceeding
takes place under a Liberal Government and without one word of
remonstrance in the House of Commons. Where are the Radicals?--
Yours obediently, FREDK. A. MAXSE.
"April 30th."
Let me take this opportunity of thanking Admiral Maxse for his
courageous generosity on my behalf. Directly he heard of my infamous
sentence he wrote me a brave letter, which the prison rules forbade my
receiving, stating that he would join in any agitation for my release,
or for the repeal of the wretched law under which I was suffering "the
utmost martyrdom which society can at present impose." I have always
regarded Admiral Maxse as one of the purest and noblest of our public
men, and I valued his sympathy even more than his assistance.
Further correspondence appeared in the _Daily News_, and the Liberal
papers called on Sir William Harcourt to intervene. Memorials for our
release flowed in from all parts of the country. One of these deserves
especial mention. The signatures were procured, at great expense of time
and labor, by Dr. E. B. Aveling and an eminent psychologist who desired
to avoid publicity. Among them I find the following names:--
Admiral Maxse George Bullen C. Crompton, Q.C. George Du Maurier Charles
Maclaren, M.P. George Dixon Dr. G. J. Romanes Henry Sidgwick. Dr.
Charlton Bastian Herbert Spencer Dr. Edward Clodd Hon. E. Lyulph
Stanley, M.P. Dr. E. B. Tylor J. Cotter Morison Dr. W. Aldis Wright
Jonathan Hutchinson Dr. Macallister John Collier Dr. E. Bond John Pettie
Dr. J. H. Jackson James Sully Dr. H. Maudsley Leslie Stephen Editor
_Daily News_ Lient.-Col. Osborne Editor _Spectator_ P. A. Taylor, M.P.
Editor _Academy_ Professor Alexander Bain Editor _Manchester Examiner_
Professor Huxley Editor _Liverpool Daily Post_ Professor Tyndall Francis
Galton Professor Knight F. Guthrie, F.R.S. Professor E. S. Beesly
Frederick Harrison Professor H. S. Foxwell G. H. Darwin Professor R.
Adamson Professor G. Croom Robertson Rev. Dr. Fairbairn Professor E. Ray
Lancaster Rev. R. Glover Professor Drummond Rev. J. G. Rogers Professor
T. Rhys Davids Rev. J. Aldis R. H. Moncrieff Rev. Charles Beard Rev. J.
Llewellyn Davies Rev. Dr. Crosskey Rev. Dr. Abbot S. H. Vines Rev. A.
Ainger The Mayor of Birmingham Rev. Stopford A. Brooke
I doubt whether such a memorial, signed by so many illustrious men,
was ever before presented to a Home Secretary for the release of any
prisoners. But it made no impression on Sir William Harcourt, for the
simple reason that the signatories were not politicians, but only men of
genius. As the _Weekly Dispatch_ said, "Sir William Harcourt never does
the right thing when he has a chance of going wrong." The _Echo_
also "regretted" the Home Secretary's decision, while the _Pall Mall
Gazette_, then under the editorship of Mr. John Morley, concluded its
article on the subject by saying, "The fact remains that Mr. Foote is
suffering a scandalously excessive punishment, and that the Home Office
must now share the general condemnation that has hitherto been confined
to the judge."
On July 11 a mass meeting was held in St. James's Hall to protest
against our continued imprisonment. Despite the summer weather, the
huge building was crammed with people, every inch of standing room being
occupied, and thousands turned away from the doors. Letters of sympathy
were sent by Canon Shuttleworth, Admiral Maxse and Mr. P. A. Taylor M.P.
Among the speakers were the Rev. W. Sharman, the Rev. S. D. Headlam, the
Rev. E. M. Geldart, Mr. C. Bradlaugh M.P., Mrs. Annie Besant, Dr. E. B.
Aveling, Mr. Joseph Symes, Mr. Moncure D. Conway and Mr. H. Burrows.
The greatest enthusiasm prevailed, and the resolutions were carried with
only two dissentients.
Still Sir William Harcourt made no sign. At last Mr. Peter Taylor, the
honored member for Leicester, publicly interrogated the Home Secretary
in the House of Commons. Mr. Taylor's question was as follows:
"Mr. P. A. TAYLOR asked the Secretary of State for the Home
Department whether he had received memorials from many
thousands of persons, including clergymen of the Church of
England, Nonconformist ministers, and persons of high literary
and scientific position, asking for a mitigation of the sentences
of George William Foote and William James Ramsey, now imprisoned
in Holloway Gaol on a charge of blasphemy; whether they have
already suffered five months' imprisonment, involving until
lately confinement in their respective cells for twenty-three
hours out of every twenty-four, and now involving twenty-two
hours of such solitary confinement out of each 24; and whether
he will advise the remission of the remainder of their sentences."
Thereupon Sir William Harcourt reared his unblushing front and gave this
answer:
"Sir WILLIAM HARCOURT--The question of my hon. friend is founded
upon misconception of the duties and rights of the Secretary of
State in reference to sentences of the law, which I have often
endeavoured to remove, but apparently with entire want of success.
It is perfectly true that I have received many memorials on this
subject, most of them founded on misconception of the law on
which the sentence rested. This is not a matter I can take into
consideration, either upon my own opinion or upon that of 'clergymen
of the Church of England, Nonconformist ministers, and persons of
high literary and scientific position.' I am bound to assume that
until Parliament alters the law that law is right, and that those
who administer the law administer it rightly. If I took any other
course, outside my opinion--if I had one upon this subject--I should
be interfering with the making and with the administration of the law,
and transferring it from Parliament to the Executive and to a Minister
of the Crown. I am quite sure my hon. friend would not like that
course. It has been said, "Oh, but you can deal with sentences."
(Hear, hear.) Sentences must be dealt with not upon the assumption
that the law was wrong, and that the jury and judge were wrong,
but upon special circumstances applicable to the particular case
which would justify a Minister in recommending to the Crown a
remission of sentence. What are the circumstances? Nobody--I do
not care whether legal persons or belonging to the classes mentioned
in this question--who has not seen the publication can judge of
the matter. I have seen it, and I have no hesitation in saying
that it is in the most strict sense of the word an obscene libel.
It is a scandalous outrage upon public decency. (Opposition cheers.)
That being so, the law has declared that it is punishable by law.
I have no authority to declare that the law shall not be obeyed;
nor do I think that within less than half the period of the punishment
awarded by the Court, if I were to advise the Crown to remit the
sentence, I should be discharging the responsibility which rests
upon me with a sound or sober judgment. (Opposition cheers, and
murmurs below the gangway.)"
The Tory cheers which greeted this malicious reply suffice to condemn
it. Sir William Harcourt has told many lies in his time, but this was
the most brazen of all. He knew we were not prosecuted for obscenity; he
knew there was not a suggestion of indecency in our indictment; and
he had before him the distinct language of the Lord Chief Justice of
England, exonerating us from the slander. Yet he deliberately libelled
us, in a place where his utterances are privileged, in order to
conciliate the Tories and please the bigots. Some of the Radical papers
protested against this wanton misrepresentation, but I am not aware that
a single Christian journal censured the lie which was used to justify
persecution.
Freethinkers have not forgotten Sir William Harcourt, nor have I. Some
day we may be able to punish him for the insult. Meanwhile, I venture to
think that if the member for Derby and the editor of the _Freethinker_
were placed side by side, an unprejudiced stranger would have little
difficulty in deciding which of the two was the more likely to be
bestial.
Poor Mr. Ramsey, not knowing his man, innocently petitioned the Home
Secretary from prison, pointing out that he was tried and imprisoned for
_blasphemy_, asking to be released at once, and offering to supply Sir
William Harcourt with fresh copies of our Christmas Number for a new
trial for _obscenity_. Of course he received no reply.
My counsel, Mr. Cluer, gallantly defended my reputation in the columns
of the _Daily News_, and he was supported by one of the Jury, who wrote
as follows:
"SIR,--From the reference in your short leader on the subject,
it appears that the Home Secretary, in answer to Mr. Taylor,
declined to consent to the release of Messrs. Foote and Ramsey,
on the ground that they had published an obscene libel. On
the late trial before the Lord Chief Justice, certain numbers
of the _Freethinker_, on which the prisoners were being tried,
were charged by the prosecution with being (_inter alia_) blasphemous
and indecent. The judge in the course of his remarks said, the
articles inculpated might be blasphemous, but assuredly they
were not indecent. The opinion of Sir William Harcourt,
consequently, though in harmony with that of the junior counsel
for the prosecution, is altogether opposed to that of Lord Coleridge,
who was the judge in the case."
The _Daily News_ itself put the matter very clearly. "Mr. Foote and
Mr. Ramsey," it said, "were sent to prison by Mr. Justice North for
publishing a blasphemous libel. Sir William Harcourt declines to release
them on the ground that they have published an obscene libel. It is not
usual to keep Englishmen in gaol on the ground that they committed an
offence of which they have not been convicted, and against which they
have had no opportunity of defending themselves." But Sir William
Harcourt thought otherwise, and kept us in prison, acting at once as
prosecutor, witness, jury and judge.
Mr. Gladstone was appealed to, but he "regretted he could do nothing,"
presumably because we were only Englishmen and not Bulgarians. An answer
to this piece of callous hypocrisy came from the London clubs. One
resolution passed by the Combined Radical Clubs of Chelsea, representing
thousands of working men, characterised our continued imprisonment as an
indelible stigma on the Liberal Government.