§ MR. BOTTOMLEY (Hackney, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the pending prosecution of Mr. Harry Boulter upon a charge of blasphemy is being conducted at the expense of the Treasury; 715 and, if so, upon whose authority the proceedings were initiated.
§ MR. GLADSTONEThe proceedings were initiated by the Commissioner of Police with my approval, and the cost will be borne by the Police Fund. The case is sub judice, but I may, I think, go so far as to say that the prosecution is not undertaken in respect to matters of religious belief and opinion, but solely in respect to the decencies of public speech in a public place, and the preservation of the public peace.
§ MR. BOTTOMLEYMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he will also direct his attention to certain writings of the right hon. Gentleman, the Secretary of State for India and other fashionable agnostics—[Cries of "Order."]
§ MR. GLADSTONEI am not aware that those writings are likely to lead to any breach of the peace.