The summing up by Lord Coleridge was perfect in eloquence, in thought, in feeling.  Nothing more touching could be imagined than the conflict between the real religious feeling, abhorrent of heresy, and the determination to be just, despite all prejudice.  The earnest effort lest the prejudice he felt as a Christian should weigh also in the minds of the jury, and should cause them to pervert justice.  The absolute pleading to them to do what was right and not to admit against the unbeliever what they would not admit in ordinary cases.  Then the protest against prosecution of opinions; the admission of the difficulties in the Hebrew Scriptures, and the pathetic fear lest by persecution “the sacred truths might be struck through the sides of those who are their enemies.”  For intellectual clearness and moral elevation this exquisite piece of eloquence, delivered in a voice of silvery beauty, would be hard to excel, and Lord Coleridge did this piece of service to the religion so dear to his heart, that he showed that a Christian judge could be just and righteous in dealing with a foe of his creed.

There was a time of terrible strain waiting for the verdict, and when at last it came, “Not Guilty,” a sharp clap of applause hailed it, sternly and rightly reproved by the judge.  It was echoed by the country, which almost unanimously condemned the prosecution as an iniquitous attempt on the part of Mr. Bradlaugh’s political enemies to put a stop to his political career.  Thus the Pall Mall Gazette wrote:—­

“Whatever may be the personal or political or religious aversion which is excited by Mr. Bradlaugh, it is impossible for even his bitterest opponents to deny the brilliance of the series of victories which he has won in the law courts.  His acquittal in the blasphemy prosecution of Saturday was but the latest of a number of encounters in which he has succeeded in turning the tables upon his opponents in the most decisive fashion.  The policy of baiting Mr. Bradlaugh which has been persisted in so long, savours so strongly of a petty and malignant species of persecution that it is well that those who indulge in it should be made to smart for their pains.  The wise and weighty words used by the Lord Chief Justice in summing up should be taken seriously to heart:  ’Those persons are to be deprecated who would pervert the law, even with the best intentions, and “do evil that good may come, whose damnation” (says the apostle) “is just."’ Without emulating the severity of the apostle, we may say that it is satisfactory that the promoters of all these prosecutions should be condemned in costs.”