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.
CHAPTER XVI.
A LONG NIGHT.
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