The immediate cause of the parliamentary defeat had been the government's decision to drop the prosecution of communist editor John Ross Campbell under the Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797, for publication of an open letter in Workers' Weekly calling on soldiers to "let it be known that, neither in the class war nor in a military war, will you turn your guns on your fellow workers."
A causa da derrota parlamentaria sería a decisión do goberno de suspender o proceso do editor comunista John Ross Campbell baseándose na Acta de Incitación ó Motín de 1797, pola publicación dunha carta aberta en Workers Weekly, instando os soldados para que "nin na guerra de clases nin nunha guerra militar, tornedes as vosas armas contra os vosos camaradas traballadores".