eligion and regarded as hardly having civil
rights, and that undoubtedly at that time the doctrines of the
Established religion were part and parcel of the law of the land, Lord
Coleridge observed, as I had done, that "Parliament, which is supreme
and binds us all, has enacted statutes which make that view of the law
no longer applicable." I had also pointed out that there might be a Jew
on the jury. His lordship went further, and remarked that there might be
a Jew on the bench. His words were these:

"Now, so far as I know, a Jew might be Lord Chancellor; most
certainly he might be Master of the Rolls. The great and
illustrious lawyer [Sir George Jessel] whose loss the whole
profession is deploring, and in whom his friends know that they
lost a warm friend and a loyal colleague; he, but for the accident
of taking his office before the Judicature Act came into operation,
might have had to go circuit, might have sat in a criminal court
to try such a case as this, might have been called upon, if
the law really be that 'Christianity is part of the law of the
land' in the sense contended for, to lay it down as law to a jury,
amongst whom might have been Jews,--that it was an offence
against the law, as blasphemy, to deny that Jesus Christ was
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 t