"I am, yours very faithfully, T. H. Huxley." To this Mr. Stead answered, under date of January 13th, 1891:-- "Dear Professor Huxley,--I thank you for your letter of the 12th inst. I am quite sure you would not wish to do any injustice in this matter. But, instead of publishing any extract from my letter, might I ask you to read the passage as it [310] appears in the verbatim report of the trial which was printed day by day, and used by counsel on both sides, and by the Judge during the case? I had hoped to have got you a copy to-day, but find that I was too late. I shall have it first thing to-morrow morning. You will find that it is quite clear, and conclusively disposes of the alleged admission of untruthfulness. Again thanking you for your courtesy, "I am, yours faithfully, W. T. Stead." Thus it appears that the letter which Mr. Stead wrote to me on the 13th of January does not contain one word of that which he ways it contains, in the statement which appears in the "Times" to-day. Moreover, the letter of mine to which Mr. Stead refers in his first communication to me is not the letter which appeared on the 13th, as he states, but that which you published on December 27th, 1890. Therefore, it is not true that Mr. Stead wrote "at once." On the contrary, he allowed nearly a fortnight to elapse before he addressed me on the 10th of January 1891. Furthermore, Mr. Stead suppresses the fact that, since the 13th of January, he has had in his possession my offer to publish his version of the story; and he leads the reader to suppose that my only answer was that he "had better write to [311] you direct. All the while, Mr. Stead knows perfectly well that I was withheld from making public use of his letter of the 10th by nothing but my scruples about using a document which was marked "private"; and that he did not give me leave to quote his letter of the 10th of January until after he had written that which appeared yesterday. And I add:-- As to the subject-matter of Mr. Stead's letter, the point which he wishes to prove appears to be this--that Mr. Bramwell Booth did not make a false statement, but that he withheld from the officers of justice, pursuing a most serious criminal inquiry, a fact of grave importance, which lay within his own knowledge. And this because he had promised Mr. Stead to keep the fact secret. In short, Mr. Bramwell Booth did not say what was wrong; but he did what was wrong. I will take care to give every weight to the correction. Most people, I think, will consider that one of the "main pillars of my argument," as Mr. Stead is pleased to call them, has become very much strengthened. [312] LEGAL OPINIONS RESPECTING "GENERAL" BOOTH'S ACTS.