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xisting in
the matter, but that they were selected from among men who had to pay
the costs in the action,[64] and who would have to pay further damages
and costs if in my favour, which a verdict of the jury would have given
me."

[Footnote 64: This refers to the decision of the Devonport Town
Council.]

After a lengthy discussion, in which all the judges took active part,
the Lord Chief Justice said that they would consult "brother Channell"
before they gave their answer.

Judgment was given the following day. The rule was refused, and the
plaintiff insulted. Said Lord Chief Justice Erle--

 "I know not in the least what are the opinions of the plaintiff that
 he was bent upon publishing; all that I am certain of is that there
 are opinions which are most pernicious. There are opinions which are
 in law a crime, and which every man ought--that is, every man of sound
 sense and generally esteemed of sound sense, would generally consider
 to be wrong. I do not know what these opinions are, but there are such
 opinions. If the plaintiff wanted to use his liberty for the purpose
 of disseminating opinions which were in reality of that pernicious
 description, and the defendant prevented him from doing that which
 might be a very pernicious act to those who heard him, and if the
 estimate I have mentioned be the true one, might be a matter he might
 afterwards deeply regret, it might be that the jury thought the act of
 imprisonment of the plaintiff under such circumstances was in reality
 not an injury for which a large money compensation ought to be paid,
 but on the contrary was an act which in its real substantial result
 was beneficial to the plaintiff, and so the nominal wrong would be
 abundantly compensated by the small sum given."[65]

[Footnote 65: Shorthand report.]

The other judges concurred with their leader, Mr Justice Keating
making a yet further addition to the remarkable record of intolerant
utterances in this case.

 "I think," said he, "that questions should be put within a certain
 limit to the witness as to his opinion and belief, and that it is
 right the jury should have an opportunity of judging either from his
 answer or from his refusal to answer--should have an opportunity to
 form their own sentiment of the credibility to be attached to it [the
 evidence]."

This judgment, and even more the bigotry apparent throughout the
judgment, was a great blow to Mr Bradlaugh, and he appealed against
the decision. The appeal came on before the very same four judges
on the following Friday (November 8). In spite of his most eloquent
pleading--in which he was repeatedly interrupted by the Lord Chief
Justice--the rule was refused; the Lord Chief Justice kept religiously
(I use the word advisedly) to his already expressed opinion that a
witness "is by implication discredited by his refusal to answer;" and
that he could see no "intentional violation of right;" he further
clinched the matter by saying that "in the present instance there is
nothing which could induce me to interfere."

These proceedings did their work in helping to form public opinion in
favour of free speech, but they cost my father several hundreds of
pounds, and burdened him with a debt which took long to clear off.

CHAPTER XVIII.

"KILL THE INFIDEL."

In the month of January, 1861, Mr Stephen Bendall was charged by Mr
Nicholas Le Mesurier, a constable of St Peter Port, Guernsey, with
having upon several occasions in the month before distributed printed
papers calculated to bring the Christian religion into contempt and
ridicule. The Court sentenced Mr Bendall to give bail in the sum of £20
not to distribute any such tracts during the space of twelve months,
or in default to be imprisoned for a fortnight. That the sentence took
so lenient a form was doubtless in some measure due to the enlightened
remarks of one of the jurats, a Mr Tupper, who warned his colleagues
that they should be "very careful not to countenance persecution on the
ground of religion, for if we entered upon that course we could not
tell where we should stop." Whether he did not feel himself altogether
strong enough to oppose the prevailing temper of the bench, or from
whatever reason, Mr Tupper did not propose an acquittal, but suggested
the above bail, which the Court after some consultation accepted, with
the alternative of a fortnight's imprisonment. The Queen's Procureur
had asked that Mr Bendall should be imprisoned for a fortnight, "three
days in each week solitary and on bread and water, and afterwards to
give security in the sum of £50 not to distribute any of the tracts
during the next twelve months, or quit the island."

This being the state of affairs in the island of Guernsey as to the
freedom of opinion, and, moreover, as some of the tracts distributed
appear to have been written by Mr Bradlaugh himself, it is not
surprising to find the following notice amongst my father's lecture
engagements in the next issue of the _National Reformer_:--

 "February 26th, 27th, 28th--Guernsey. Specially to settle the
 question, Will the authorities put in force the laws against
 blasphemy?"

An advertisement was sent to the _Guernsey Mail_, but that paper not
only ostentatiously declined to insert it, but thought fit to make
a public declaration of its own virtue. The subject of the proposed
"Infidel lectures" was to be an endeavour to prove that the Bible is
not a revelation from an all-perfect Deity; and this the editor of the
_Guernsey Mail_ chose to construe as the admission of the existence of
a God; and upon this glaringly false premise he built quite a series
of astonishingly childish arguments in proof of the wickedness of Mr
Bradlaugh and Atheists generally. Then, apparently quite satisfied as
to the effect of what he had written, he took it "for granted that, if
the Assembly Rooms are really to be applied to Infidel purposes, no
decent person, rich or poor, old or young, will give his countenance or
notice their intention save to dissuade the unwary from lending an ear."

On the Sunday Mr Bradlaugh was lecturing in Sheffield, but he left for
London by the night train, and arrived at Guernsey on Tuesday morning
about half-past eight. On the pier Mr Bendall was awaiting him with
some anxiety.

"His anxiety," Mr Bradlaugh relates, "was partly occasioned by the
knowledge that some preparations had been made to welcome me with
a royal salute of rotten eggs. One Christian lady, I was credibly
informed, had subscribed for the purpose of providing me with this
savoury donation." In spite, however, of all rumours to the contrary,
"the landing was effected without opposition, and I walked into
Guernsey without even a word. Many eyes were directed towards me,
and greater curiosity could scarcely have been evinced had I been a
red-buttoned mandarin of a tritailed Pasha."[66]

[Footnote 66: _National Reformer_, March 9, 1861.]

My father had already thrown down the gauntlet by the circulation of
a handbill addressed to the P

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