[41] The 4th, 5th, and 6th counts were identical with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, except that they referred to a different issue of the paper.
[42] A few provincial papers condemned the prosecution, and later on the Daily Telegraph announced a possible repeal of the Press Laws, and that in the meantime the Government had resolved not to press the objectionable clauses.
[43] He was at one period quite ill and under Dr Ramskill's care through the overwork and mental worry of this lawsuit.
[44] "Five Dead Men Whom I Knew When Living," by Charles Bradlaugh.
[45] Biography of Charles Bradlaugh, by A. S. Headingley, p. 62.
[46] Page 103.
[47] The Leeds Times, in a very unfriendly notice of the second night's debate at Bradford, said: "Mr Grant had declared there would be such fun, and ... he should exhibit the characters of some notorious infidels such as Paine, Carlile, Southwell, and others down to the last 'mushroom,' 'Iconoclast' himself, and prove from them that infidelity is the fruitful source of immorality and crime. All this he did in his opening half-hour's address, but where could anything like 'fun' be found in it all? ... Mr Grant in foisting such matter upon his audience was shirking the great points of the discussion.... Mr Grant is anything but a calm and dispassionate disputant, and his indulgence in sarcasm even when unprovoked is ill calculated to check a tendency to personalities on the part of opponents, or to lead to the impartial investigation of the truth."
The Bradford Review had a short article on the four nights' discussion, and, speaking of the use of personalities, said: "Here we must say, justice obliges us to say that Mr Grant was the first and by far the greater offender in this direction. The language would not have been tolerated in any society. It was an outrage upon the ordinary proprieties and decencies of life."
The Bradford Advertiser was expressly hostile to Mr Bradlaugh, but in reviewing the four nights' debate also remarked: "We feel bound to concede that 'Iconoclast' acted with a dignity which contrasted very favourably as compared with Mr Grant.... We are glad the course is at an end: we never attended a discussion where so little gentlemanly conduct was exhibited, or so much said that was vile and unworthy, especially from one professing to be a preacher and a practiser of Christ's teachings."
A letter in my possession, written to a friend by one of the audience immediately after the second night, gives a private view of the debate. He writes: "The debate was very hot last night; the excitement was great. Mr Grant's friends were disgusted with his conduct. At one time, when Mr Bradlaugh was speaking, Mr Grant put out his tongue at Mr Bradlaugh, and the audience cried 'Shame' to Mr Grant for his conduct."