There are a certain number of Liberals who seem exceedingly
desirous to get cheap credit for being better patriots than they are Liberals. Sir Herewald Wake, who writes to the Tines to expose the iniquity of the National Liberal Club for prose- cuting a case of intimidation, appears to be one of these. He received, he says, a letter in the following terms :—" Dear Sir,— An indictment will be preferred at the Northampton Assizes to-morrow (Tuesday), by direction of the National Liberal Club, in a case of intimidation at the last election for South North- amptonshire, and the committee would be obliged if you can make it convenient to attend." The latter was signed "C. Fairfax." On this Sir Herewald comments, with magnificent wrath, as follows :—" This request can bear only one construc- tion, and that is, that as a Liberal I shall, on behalf of my party, favour the prosecution and do my best to bring in a true bill. This invitation, regarding it merely as a gross per- sonal insult, I can, happily, afford to disregard. I con- sider, however, that the matter is of serious public import- ance, as showing to what lengths political organisations will go in the endeavour to secure petty partisan advantages." And Sir Herewald added :—" I need not point out that it is by much the same way of going to work that the National League are making the administration of justice a mere farce in Ireland. I wonder how many of the witnesses in this case will have been suborned." But the reply was complete :—" I am not a member of the National Liberal Club, and there is no branch of that club at Banbury. In writing to Sir Herewald Wake I neither stated, nor did I intend to imply, that he would deal with the case otherwise than upon the evidence. My letter was simply a request to him to attend. I intentionally avoided saying one word as to the facts of the case. His criticism is entirely unwarranted." Of course, the words, "National Liberal Club,—Banbary," conveyed not a date, but a heading, and the request made was most reasonable. Prosecu- tions for intimidation are absolutely necessary to enforce the law, and Sir Herewald's imputation of suborned witnesses was a most unfair imputatiop, op Club which.,
the side of purity. we believe, is all on
Previous page
