for my co-defendant--we may go out of this court absolved from that shame which this indictment has sought to put upon us. We must pass over the evidence given by Dr. Alice Vickery, Dr. C. R. Drysdale, Mr. Bohn and others for the defence; and refer briefly to the summing-up of the Lord Chief Justice (Sir Alexander Cockburn). His lordship dwelt upon "the mischievous character and effect" of the prosecution, and declared that "a more ill-advised and more injudicious proceeding" had probably never been brought into a court of justice. He adverted in terms of severity to the secrecy that had been maintained as to the real originators of the prosecution. In discussing the questions involved, his lordship referred to the theory of Malthus as "a theory which astonished the world, though it is now accepted as an irrefragable truth, and has since been adopted by economist after economist. That the evils arising from over-population," he continued, "are evils which, if they could be prevented, it would be the first business of human charity to prevent, there cannot be any doubt. That the evils of population are real, and not imaginary, no one acquainted with the state of society in the present day can possibly deny." Upon the question whether or not the advocacy of prudential checks tended to corrupt public morals, his lordship said to the jury: "You must decide that with a due regard and reference to the law, and with an honest and determined desire to maintain the morals of mankind. But, on the other hand, you must carefully consider what is due to public discussion, and with an anxious desire not, from any prejudiced view of this subject, to stifle what may be a subject of legitimate enquiry." The concluding passages of the charge to the jury are so significant that they are here reproduced entire: