Our victory in the Court of Queen's Bench was an unmitigated loss to Sir Henry Tyler and his backers, for it threw upon them the whole costs of the prosecution. It was also a loss to ourselves; for I have it on the best authority that, if we had been found guilty, Lord Coleridge would have made his sentence concurrent with Judge North's, and shifted us from the criminal to the civil side of the prison, where we should have enjoyed each other's society, worn our own clothes, eaten our own food, seen our friends frequently, received and answered letters, and spent our time in rational occupations. To the Freethought cause, however, our victory was a pure gain. As I had anticipated, the press gave our new trial a good deal of attention. The Daily News printed a leading article on the case, calling on the Home Secretary to remit the rest of our sentence. The Times published a long and admirable report of my defence, as well as of Lord Coleridge's summing-up, and predicted that the trial would be historical, "chiefly because of the remarkable defence made by one of the defendants." A similar prediction appeared in the Manchester Weekly Times, according to which "the defendant Foote argued his case with consummate skill." Across the Atlantic, the New York World said that "Mr. Foote, in particular, delivered a speech which, for closeness of argument and vividness of presentation, has not often been equalled." Even the grave and reverend Westminster Review found "after reading what the Lord Chief Justice himself characterises as Mr. Foote's very striking and able speech, that the editor of the Freethinker is very far from being the vulgar and uneducated disputant which the Spectator appears to have supposed him." Other Liberal papers, like the Pall Mall Gazette and the Referee, that had at first joined in the chorus of execration over the fallen "blasphemer," now found that my sentence was "monstrous." So true is it that nothing succeeds like success! I did not let these compliments turn my head. My speeches at the Old Bailey were little, if anything, inferior to the one I made in the Court of Queen's Bench. There was no change in me, but only in the platform I spoke from. The great fact to my mind was this, that given an impartial judge, and a fair trial, it was difficult to convict any Freethinker of "blasphemy" if he could only defend himself with some courage and address. This fact shone like a star of hope in the night of my suffering. As I said in one of my three letters from prison: "For the first time juries have disagreed, and chances are already slightly against a verdict of Guilty. Now the jury is the hand by which the enemy grasps us, and when we have absolutely secured the twelfth man we shall have amputated the thumb."
On May 1 the following letter from Admiral Maxse appeared in the Daily News:
               "TO THE EDITOR OF THE 'DAILY NEWS.'
 
     SIR,—Foote's brilliant defence last week will probably have
     awakened some fastidious critics to their error in having depicted
     him as a low and coarse controversialist, while Lord Coleridge's
     judgment will have convinced the public that had Lord Coleridge
     occupied the place of Justice North, the defendant would have
     escaped with a mild penalty.  In the meantime, Mr. Foote continues
     to undergo what is virtually 'solitary confinement' in a cell,
     and is condemned to this punishment for a year.  A more wicked
     sentence, or a more wicked law, than the one which Mr. Foote
     and his companions suffer from, is, in my opinion, impossible
     to conceive, that is to say in a country which professes to
     enjoy religious liberty.  His crime consisted in caricaturing
     a grotesque representation of a religion which has certainly
     a higher side.  People who are truly religious should be obliged
     to Mr. Foote, if he managed to shock some people concerning any
     feature of religion which is gross and degrading to that religion.
     I know something of Mr. Foote, and I am quite certain he would
     not say anything to shock a refined interpretation of religion.
     Refined Christians are anxious themselves to get rid of the
     excrescences of their creed.  The question at issue really is
     as to whether a coarse picture of religion, and of one religion
     only, is to be protected by the State from caricature, and from
     caricature alone; because it seems to be granted that an
     intellectual absurdity may be intellectually impeached.  It is
     impossible such a monstrous doctrine as this can stand.  It will
     pass away, and probably in a few years it will be remembered
     with some astonishment; but oppressive and persecuting laws
     are only got rid of by the spectacle of an impaled victim.
     'By the light of burning heretics Christ's bleeding feet I track.'
     The impaled victim is now Mr. Foote.  It is a disgrace to England
     that his solitary confinement—twenty-three out of the twenty-four
     hours are solitary—or indeed, that any punishment whatever is
     possible for a man's style in religious controversy; and to a
     Liberal it is profoundly humiliating that such a proceeding
     takes place under a Liberal Government and without one word of
     remonstrance in the House of Commons.  Where are the Radicals?—
     Yours obediently,                               FREDK. A. MAXSE.
     "April 30th."
Let me take this opportunity of thanking Admiral Maxse for his courageous generosity on my behalf. Directly he heard of my infamous sentence he wrote me a brave letter, which the prison rules forbade my receiving, stating that he would join in any agitation for my release, or for the repeal of the wretched law under which I was suffering "the utmost martyrdom which society can at present impose." I have always regarded Admiral Maxse as one of the purest and noblest of our public men, and I valued his sympathy even more than his assistance.
Further correspondence appeared in the Daily News, and the Liberal papers called on Sir William Harcourt to intervene. Memorials for our release flowed in from all parts of the country. One of these deserves especial mention. The signatures were procured, at great expense of time and labor, by Dr. E. B. Aveling and an eminent psychologist who desired to avoid publicity. Among them I find the following names:—
Admiral Maxse George Bullen C. Crompton, Q.C. George Du Maurier Charles Maclaren, M.P. George Dixon Dr. G. J. Romanes Henry Sidgwick. Dr. Charlton Bastian Herbert Spencer Dr. Edward Clodd Hon. E. Lyulph Stanley, M.P. Dr. E. B. Tylor J. Cotter Morison Dr. W. Aldis Wright Jonathan Hutchinson Dr. Macallister John Collier Dr. E. Bond John Pettie Dr. J. H. Jackson James Sully Dr. H. Maudsley Leslie Stephen Editor Daily News Lient.-Col. Osborne Editor Spectator P. A. Taylor, M.P. Editor Academy Professor Alexander Bain Editor Manchester Examiner Professor Huxley Editor Liverpool Daily Post Professor Tyndall Francis Galton Professor Knight F. Guthrie, F.R.S. Professor E. S. Beesly Frederick Harrison Professor H. S. Foxwell G. H. Darwin Professor R. Adamson Professor G. Croom Robertson Rev. Dr. Fairbairn Professor E. Ray Lancaster Rev. R. Glover Professor Drummond Rev. J. G. Rogers Professor T. Rhys Davids Rev. J. Aldis R. H. Moncrieff Rev. Charles Beard Rev. J. Llewellyn Davies Rev. Dr. Crosskey Rev. Dr. Abbot S. H. Vines Rev. A. Ainger The Mayor of Birmingham Rev. Stopford A. Brooke
I doubt whether such a memorial, signed by so many illustrious men, was ever before presented to a Home Secretary for the release of any prisoners. But it made no impression on Sir William Harcourt, for the simple reason that the signatories were not politicians, but only men of genius. As the Weekly Dispatch said, "Sir William Harcourt never does the right thing when he has a chance of going wrong." The Echo also "regretted" the Home Secretary's decision, while the Pall Mall Gazette, then under the editorship of Mr. John Morley, concluded its article............