in my defence. I pointed out that there is no law to protect the
"decencies of controversy" in any but religious discussions, and this
exception can only be defended on the ground that Christianity is
true and must not be attacked. But Lord Coleridge holds that it may be
attacked. How then can he ask that it shall only be attacked in polite
language? And if Freethinkers must only strike with kid gloves, why are
Christians allowed to use not only the naked fist, but knuckle-dusters,
bludgeons, and daggers? In the war of ideas, any party which imposes
restraints on others to which it does not subject itself, is guilty
of persecution; and the finest phrases, and the most dexterous special
pleading, cannot alter the fact.

Sir James Stephen holds that the Blasphemy Laws are concerned with the
_matter_ of publications, that "a large part of the most serious
and most important literature of the day is illegal," and that every
book-seller who sells, and everyone who lends to his friend, a copy of
Comte's _Positive Philosophy_, or of Renan's _Vie de Jesus_, commits a
crime punishable with fine and imprisonment. Sir James Stephen dislikes
the law profoundly, but he prefers "stating it in its natural naked
deformity to explaining it away in such a manner as to prolong its
existence and give it an air of plausibility and humanity." To terminate
this mischievous law he has drafted a Bill, which many Liberal
members of Parliament have promised to support, and which will soon be
introduced. Its text is as follows:

"Whereas certain laws now in force and intended for the promotion
of religion are no longer suitable for that purpose and it is
expedient to repeal them,

"Be it enacted as follows:

"1. After the passing of this Act no criminal proceedings
shall be instituted in any Court whatever, against any person
whatever, for Atheism, blasphemy at common law, blasphemous
libel, heresy, or schism, except only criminal proceedings
instituted in Ecclesiastical Courts against clergymen of the
Church of England.

"2. An Act passed in the first year of his late Majesty King
Edward VI., c. 1, intituled 'An Act against such as shall
unreverently speak against the sacrament of the body and blood
of Christ, commonly called the sacrament of the altar, and for
the receiving thereof in both kinds,' and an Act passed in the
9th and 10th year of his late Majesty