the Messiah, a thing which he himself did deny, which Parliament
had allowed him to deny, and which it is just as much part of
the law that anyone may deny, as it is your right and mine, if
we believe it, to assert."

Clearly then, according to the dictum of the Lord Chief Justice,
it is not a crime to publish anything "to the scandal of the Christian
Religion," although it was alleged against us as such in our Indictment.

The only real point that can be discussed and tested is in the last
clause. I do not refer to the Queen's "crown and dignity," which we
were accused of endangering; for our offence could not possibly be
construed as a political one, and it is hard to perceive how the
Queen's dignity could be imperilled by the act of any person except
herself. What I refer to is the statement that we had provoked a
disturbance of the peace; a more hypocritical pretence than which
was never advanced. I venture to quote here a passage from my address
to the jury on my third trial before Lord Coleridge:--

"A word, gentlemen, about breach of the peace. Mr. Justice
Stephen said well, that no temporal punishment should be inflicted
for blasphemy unless it led to a breach of the peace. I have
no objection to that, provided we are indicted for a breach
of the peace. Very little breach of the peace might make a
good case of blasphemy. A breach of the peace in a case like
this must not be constructive; it must be actual. They might
have put somebody in the witness-box who would have said that
reading the _Freethinker_ had impaired his digestion and disturbed
his sleep. They might have even found somebody who said it
was thrust upon him, and that, he was induced to read it, not