A somewhat similar prosecution in America, in which the bookseller, Mr. D.M.  Bennett, sold a book with which he did not agree, and was imprisoned, led to our giving him a warm welcome when, after his release, he visited England.  We entertained him at the Hall of Science at a crowded gathering, and I was deputed as spokesman to present him with a testimonial.  This I did in the following speech, quoted here in order to show the spirit then animating me:—­

“Friends, Mr. Bradlaugh has spoken of the duty that calls us here to-night.  It is pleasant to think that in our work that duty is one to which we are not unaccustomed.  In our army there are more true soldiers than traitors, more that are faithful to the trust of keeping the truth than those who shrink when the hour of danger comes.  And I would ask Mr. Bennett to-night not to measure English feeling towards him by the mere number of those present.  They that are here are representatives of many thousands of our fellow-countrymen.  Glance down this middle table, and you will see that it is not without some right that we claim to welcome you in the name of multitudes of the citizens of England.  There are those who taunt us with want of loyalty, and with the name of infidels.  In what church will they find men and women more loyal to truth and conscience?  The name infidel is not for us so long as we are faithful to the truth we know.  If I speak, as I have done, of national representation in this hall this evening, tell me, you who know those who sit here, who have watched some of them for years, others of them but for a brief time, do I not speak truth?  Take them one by one.  Your President but a little while ago in circumstances similar to those wherein our guest himself was placed, with the true lover’s keenness that recognises the mistress under all disguise, beholding his mistress Liberty in danger, under circumstances that would have blinded less sure eyes, leapt to her rescue.  He risked the ambition of his life rather than be disloyal to liberty.  And next is seated a woman, who, student of a noble profession, thought that liberty had greater claim upon her than even her work.  When we stood in worse peril than even loss of liberty, she risked her own good name for the truth’s sake.  One also is here who, eminent in his own profession, came with the weight of his position and his right to speak, and gave a kindred testimony.  One step further, and you see one who, soldier to liberty, throughout a long and spotless life, when the task was far harder than it is to-day, when there were no greetings, no welcomes, when to serve was to peril name as well as liberty, never flinched from the first until now.  He is crowned with the glory of the jail, that was his for no crime but for claiming the right to publish that wherein the noblest thought is uttered in the bravest words.  And next to him is another who speaks for liberty, who has brought culture, university degree, position in men’s sight, and many friends, and