Sedition and Liberty The Incitement to Disaffection Bill is now
before Standing Committee A of the House of Commons, and much will depend upon what happens to it while it is there. The Oxford meeting held at the end of last week showed that objections to the Bill are shared in the weightiest academic quarters, and not its least remarkable feature was the letter of detailed criticism read from Sir William Houldsworth. Sir William is not only, as need hardly be said, Vinerian Professor and author of a history of English Law, which is one of the monumental classics of our time, but he is a person of decidedly con- servative temperament and opinions. The Government would be well advised to consider all his points with the utmost care. They are not covered by the amendment which Sir Thomas Inskip handed in at the beginning of the week ; which, though a very useful one, was pre- sumably drafted before the Attorney-General had the advantage of reading the Vinerian Professor's opinion. The faults of the measure are all removable and they ought to be removed at this stage.
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