, 1913-05-31
A FUTILE PLAN AND A BAD PRICE,
DENT.

L..
Some time ago Father Mathew, an Eng
lish Catholic Priest, was accommodated
by the Pope. AS this was the first excon-
munication by the Church of Rome of an
Englishman in 200 years it was surely news.
After leaving the Roman Church DIR. Mathew
became q Bishop of the Old Catholic Church.
The London Times printed the facts and an
exact translation of the Papal bull issued in
the case, in which Mathew was referred
to as a "pseudo-Bishop," Mathew sued the
newspaper for libel on the ground that to
call a man a pseudo Bishop is libelous.
The Judge charged the jury that not only
Mathew but the Archbishop of Canterbury
is a pseudo Bishop in the Pope's eyes,
and that unless the newspaper published the
bull in malice it must be acquitted of libel.
The jury, reluctantly as it seems, found for
the defendant, but "deprecated the publica-
stion in England of the bulls of the Pope Of
'Rome which affect the status Of indiyidu-
ais"
These twelve stolid Britons thus clearly
expressed a surviving British prejudice
which the Socialistic revolt, the turmoil Of
radicalism, the growing dominance of ''new
idens, so-eallea, cannot kill. They edepre-
cate" the publication Of important news. To
suppress and ignore facts and expressions Of
opinion seems to them the sarest way out Of
trouble. In the very spirit Of these typical-
ly English iuTymen the British Government
after dallylng long with the militant %suffra-
gists, now proposes to rid itself of them,
not by furnishing them when they commit
crimes, as other criminals are punished, but
by suppressing their publications. and deny
ing then right Of fEee speech. A more futile
plan could not have been adopted. The
Government has given further proof of its
weakness and added fuel to the suffragists'
fire.
1t is not criminal to write, print, or speak
ones opinions. Undoubtedly some of the
sutfragJsts' utterances have been indictments
to violence and crime, but the Government
would have been wise to ignore such incite-
ments and to punish the crimes adequately.
By suppressing the m%ilitants' weekly paper
and proclaiming that any public announce
ment Of further militant plans to annoy the
Government would be punished by arrest
and Imprisonment, the offenders, who ought
to have been punished for riot and arson,
are made the objects Of public sympathy.
How the London press, or any intelligently
conducted part Of 1t, can approve of snch q
method of dealing with the case is beyond
comprehension. 70 carry out the plan logi-
cnlIy the newspapers should have been COM
mauded not to print the facts Of the sup
preston and arrests, and the various prisoners
should have been privately incarcerated III
some modern Bastile, to remain there, be
vond communication with the outer world
for the remainder of their lives,
Mr.. Asqulth's Government has had the
means of stopping the public annoyances
caused by the violent suffrage women in it's
hands from the first. But it has been weak
and hesitating. Now it adopts methods
which prevailed in the France of Louis XIV,
but will scarcely prevail long in the twenti-
eth century. The suppressed suffragist
newspaper was published and sold on the
streets of London yesterday, and within
twenty-four hours of its suppression the
militants destroyed by fire buildings at Hen
don aud East Mosely, two suburbs OF the
metropolis. In the natural order of events
the women arrested on Wednesday will be
releaSa1 varv shortly - hid