The moment was absurdly chosen for a protest ; but
these invalidations of Reactionary elections only, are extremely oppres- sive. One hardly sees why, if they are justifiable; the majority should not always condemn the minority to a second election,— that is, in fact, to a heavy pecuniary fine. The allegation is always the same, that the priests have interfered and have threatened their parishioners with hell-fire, and is usually at once accurate and nonsensical. The priests have neither concrete bribes to offer nor actual punishments to inflict, and have as much right to say that Republicanism is immoral as Republicans have to say that Monarchism is unpatriotic. Both are employing persuasion, not terrorism ; and both are within their right. If every clergyman's talk about the consequences of opposing the Church is to be re- garded as illegal, three-fourths of all Conservatives in England, and one-half of all Liberals in Wales, would be unseated. As yet the " invalidated " candidates in France, with one exception, have all been re-elected, and, of course, return to the Chamber stronger Reactionaries than ever.
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