The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-03-15 00:00:00

THE CASE AGAINST BRADLAUGH.

Judgment was de'ivered on Friday by Mr. Justice
Mathew on Mr. Brediaugh. He hae, however, the right
of appeal. Kr. Juitice Mstnew clewed both the
demurrers on which he was called on to decide. The
defendant's demurrer in the cue of Clarke t Bradlangh
was simply an objectien t 3 • piece of bad pleading. Tim
plaintiff's demurrer raised the real isms in the case. end
it Ilse been decided in his favour. The decision time
arrived at is of the higoest constitutional importance.
The issue really raised Was nothing less than the question
whether Mr. Bradlnuits is ent:tled to his seat in the House
of Commons, and though Kr. Justice Mathews judgment
may of course be reversed on appeal, it expresses the
deliberate opinion of a very learned aril experienced
lawyer on the mein question which hat in due form been
raised. If this judgement be upheld, Kr. Bradlaugh .111
iON his seat, and be liable to a penalty of five h..ndred
pounds for each vote which he has given since hie
election. Last April the borough of North staptin chose
aa its representatives Mr. Labsuchere and Mr. Bredlaugh
in place of Mr. Pickering Pulp's, now member for South
Northamptonshire, and Mr. Merewether, President of the
Election Commission for Macclesfield. Mr. Whdlaugh
claimed after his election to make an affirmation in lieu
of the customary oath of allegiance. The Cabinet
Ministers who had been metnliers of the House of
Common, had not then been re-elected, snd Lord Frederick
Cavendish, se the representative of the Government, moved
that the case be ref*, red to a Select Committee, of which
Kr. Walpole was chairmen. The committee, from whack
Major Nolen was unavoidably absent, • as equally divided,
but Kr. Walpole gave his casting vote against Kr. Bred-
laugh's claim. No attempt was male in the House to dim-
tub this finding. but Kr. Bra Baugh thereupon shifted his
ground, and asserted his right to take the oath of allegiance,
u the only alternative to exclusion from Parliament_
• The qiiestion of his right to do so was referred to another
committee, a majority of whom reported against it,
though Sir John Holker voted in the minority. M.
Brallauett was thus left without any means of taking the
seat for which the electors of Northampton had designated
him. Kr. Labouchere's motion in favour of his COlg.lll
was lost, and an amendment by Sir HardingeGifford based
on the findings of the two committees was canted. Tbe.
however, was at once felt to be a position wholly =tenet*.
A duly elected representative was shut out from the
House of Commons, not by the decision of any legal trr
bunal, but by • resolution of the HI sue itself. It woad
have been intolerable to have gone tea ugh • repetition of
Wilkes's case, and to have been under the neoessitr
expunging at le isms, as subversive of the rights of electors.
a resolution passed to vindicate orthodoxy of belief sad
propriety of behaviour. Accirlingly Kr. Gladstone W.'
posed,and the House assented t a muti on general in liaisons
but implicitly asserting Mr. Bradlaugh's right to make an
affirmauon i 'stead of an oath, steoject to the jurisdiction
of the Courts of Law. The concluding words were inserted
out of more abondant cautien or more elaborate prudence.
inasmuch as it is impossible for one a 4114111 Of Parliament
by a resolution to alter the law. Kr. Itractlaugh, however.
who had previously been honed at the Bar in defence 01
his right to take the oath, and (*emitted to the Clock
Tower for pirsisting in asserting it, was now permitted to
nuke an affirmation, and to take his seat. This, however.
only transferred the dispute from one Part of the Palace
of Weitminstar to another. The Parliamentary Oaths Act
of 186 e, which prescribes the ceremonies regulating the
admission of members, gives a right of action to any com-
mon informer against any peer or representative of the
people who has sat and voted without going through tee
formalities' ordained by law. Socha suit was irumedia sly
instituted against Kr. Bradlaugh, nominally al. the
instance of one Clarke, really, as is well known, by the
0 inearvative member for an English county. The state-
ment of claim set out the facts, and demeaded the
penalty. If Kr. Justice Mathews conclusion ha upheld co
appeal, Mr. Braiisuatt's situation will be • serious ow-
An Act of Parliament was neceiseary to enable the Home
Secretary to remit the penalty in a lane action, Ulf of
which belongs to the informer, against Brighton Aquarian,
Company for keeping open on Sundays. It is impossible
to regard as constitutionally satisfactory the position which
this question has now reached. It must ultimately be
settled by legislation. We understand that Kr. Bradlee*
has been advised by a high legal authority. pending Me
result of the appeal in his cue, to absent himself from
the sittings of the House of OninallOnt. Mr. Medlin&
was in the precincts of the Noose of Coalman oa Friday
night, but made no attempt to enter the House.