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rmed by Edwards that he would take no notice of the
communication, but would consign it to the wastepaper basket. In fact,
all the written reply that Edwards did make was of the shortest and
curtest; it consisted merely of these words: "I beg to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter of this morning." After such a letter, my
father put the matter into the hands of his solicitor, who laid it
before counsel for advice, with the result that legal proceedings were
commenced against Mr Edwards for assault and false imprisonment.

A little later at a meeting of the Devonport Town Council the Watch
Committee reported that they had instructed the Town Clerk to take
measures for Mr Edwards' defence, and asked the Council's approval of
what they had done. After considerable discussion twenty-eight persons
voted for the adoption of the report and two against. The names of
those voting were formally taken down, and it is rather curious to find
that at least four members of the Council who voted that the Town of
Devonport should undertake the expense and conduct of the defence of
the Police Superintendent, had sat upon the Bench and decided against
him without troubling my father to go through the whole of his case. In
their capacity as magistrates they were compelled by the evidence to
find him wrong: as Town Councillors they allowed their prejudices full
scope, and voted that the borough of Devonport should find money to
support the Superintendent in his defence of what they themselves had
agreed were wrongful acts.

The case against Mr Superintendent Edwards came on at the Devon Lammas
Assizes at Exeter, before Mr Baron Channell, on Monday, July 29th. The
reports[62] say that

 "the Court was crowded, great interest being excited in the case. Many
 ladies were present, and nearly the whole of the briefless barristers
 on the circuit seemed roused from their ordinary drowsy dulness into
 something like life and activity. The case lasted from ten in the
 forenoon until nine in the evening, and was tried before a special
 jury."

[Footnote 62: _National Reformer_, the _Western Morning News_, and
_Western Daily Mercury_.]

Unfortunately, Mr Bradlaugh made one great and irreparable blunder.
Instead of conducting the case himself, he allowed himself to be
persuaded into briefing counsel, Mr Robert Collier, Q.C., M.P., and
Mr Cole. The nature of this blunder, and its importance before a
special jury in a cathedral city, may be realised by reading a few
words of comment from a hostile leader on the case which appeared in
the _Western Morning News_ for July 31st. This journal, which was
so unfriendly towards my father's cause as to aver that the devout
Christian looked "to the State to keep the Queen's highway free from
Atheist lecturers and infidel propagandists," nevertheless stated in
the most distinct fashion that "the counsel for the plaintiff was far
more anxious to assert his own orthodoxy than his client's rights." And
with this opinion I think most people will agree who read the Counsel's
speech for the defence; not, however, that I intend to give the whole
of Mr Collier's speech, because it is at once too long, and it goes
over ground with which we are already familiar; still, I will quote a
few of his expressions to prove that I am not judging him too hardly.
Almost in the opening words of his speech Mr Collier said: "I am
informed that Mr Bradlaugh desired to deliver a lecture or a sermon--I
hardly know which." This was pure prevarication, as the utmost pains
had been taken to give Mr Collier the whole facts of the case. A little
later he stated:--

 "Mr Bradlaugh belonged to a Society called the 'Secular Society.'
 Now I have never heard of the Society until this, nor did I ever
 hear of 'Iconoclast' before.... I really don't know what their [the
 Secularists'] tenets are, but I believe they are connected in some way
 with the Unitarians."

This assertion was so monstrous that it immediately brought forth a
letter of repudiation from the Rev. Henry Knott, Unitarian Minister of
Plymouth; although, to do this gentleman justice, he said he believed
that the Secularists were themselves "much too honest to wish to
identify themselves with a body of Christians who have frequently
opposed them in fair and open controversy." Mr Collier then wrote
a letter to the Rev. Henry Knott in reply, regretting that he had
misrepresented the Unitarians, and saying further:--

 "As to the 'Secularists,' I had never heard of them until I had
 received the brief in 'Bradlaugh _v._ Edwards.' I have since
 ascertained, however, that they are a considerable sect; so much so,
 that I wonder that I had not heard of them. _I was informed that a
 portion of them was connected with the Unitarians_, and therefore
 supposed that a portion of them acknowledged the Divine origin of
 Christianity; _if I was misinformed_, I am very sorry for it."

The italics are mine; and if Mr Collier meant to imply that he received
this information from his client or his attorney--the only persons
from whom he should have received information bearing on the conduct
of this case--he still further dishonoured himself, because the
utmost candour was shown him in laying the facts before him, and most
assuredly no such statement as that quoted could have been made to him
by sane men who knew the facts.

But to return to Mr Collier's speech. I will give just two more
quotations, and then leave it:--

 "I should be extremely sorry," he said, "if I were understood, as
 the advocate of Mr Bradlaugh or anybody else, as for one moment
 defending any circulation, either by printing or by word of mouth, of
 anything libellous, seditious, or blasphemous.... If Mr Bradlaugh had
 been permitted to preach, and if he had preached anything improper,
 blasphemous, or seditious, I should not have complained of the
 superintendent; on the contrary, I should praise him if he had taken
 the proper measures for bringing him before a court of justice."

 "I will conclude," he further said, "with this remark, that I cannot
 help thinking that if the doctrines of this Secular Society, or any
 other Society, are preached, which you and I and all of us may think
 pernicious, by far the best thing is to let them alone. 'Truth is
 great and will prevail,' and we need not fear that the foundation of
 our religion will be shaken by a thousand Bradlaughs; and I cannot
 think of anything so pernicious and likely to prevent that very object
 we seek to accomplish, and to elevate persons such as these from
 obscurity into fame, as by making them unjustly martyrs. I cannot
 help thinking that the superintendent of the police, although acting
 from the very best motives, was acting with very great haste and
 indiscretion."

If Mr Collier had been briefed by the other side also, he could hardly
have made a more equivocal speech; and it will be easily understood
how much it was likely to prejudice both the judge and jury against a
man whose opinions were so well kn

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