The _Freethinker_ was accused of blasphemy, but until Sir William Harcourt gave the cue not even its worst enemies charged it with indecency.

In a later stage of my narrative I shall have to show that the "Liberal" Home Secretary has acted the part of an unscrupulous bigot, utterly regardless of truth, justice and honor.
I thought it my duty to write an open letter to Sir William Harcourt on the subject of his answer to Mr.Freshfield, in which I said--"I tell you that you could not suppress the _Freethinker_ if you tried.

The martyr spirit of Freethought is not dead, and the men who suffered imprisonment for liberty of speech a generation ago have not left degenerate successors.

Should the necessity arise, there are Freethinkers who will not shrink from the same sacrifice for the same cause." The sequel has shown that this was no idle boast.
A few days later the _Freethinker_ was again the subject of a question in the House.

Mr.Redmond, member for New Ross, asked the Home Secretary "whether the Government had power to seize and summarily suppress newspapers which they considered pernicious to public morals; and, if so, why that power was not exercised in the case of the _Freethinker_ and other papers now published and circulated in England." Sir William Harcourt repeated the answer he gave to Mr.Freshfield, and added that it would not be discreet to say whether the Government had power to seize obnoxious publications.
Mr.Redmond's question was a fine piece of impudence.