This Orton delusion may have serious consequences yet. On Easter
Monday a great meeting was called in Hyde Park to protest against the sentence passed upon the Claimant, and after listening to some inflated nonsense from Dr. Kenealy, agreed to resolutions requesting Parliament to order "a searching inquiry into that enor- mous judicial crime," a crime perpetrated " through the crushing partiality of the Judges "—who, we suppose, gave the verdict—and one of whom was depicted on a banner or picture descending to hell. There were from 30,000 to 50,000 labourers present, and it would seem to be certain that they consider the Wapping butcher an ill-used person ; and to be probable, from the meetings held everywhere, that some scores of thousands of Englishmen do really think that three Judges, one of them a Calvinistic Dissenter, and twenty-four jurymen, leagued themselves with the Jesuits to crush a Catholic defendant in the interests of the Catholic priest- hood. Delusions of that kind have been common enough in Eng- land, from the time of Titus Oates downwards, but this one threatens seriously to impair the authority of the tribunals. A little more of this, and we may yet have to escort Judges to court with cavalry. Is it not the dutyof some of the really trusted Liberals to see whether they cannot dissipate this impression ? We trust Dr. Kenealy will keep his word, and bring the whole matter before Parliament, so that the people may at least hear directly from their rulers that they are under a delusion. Whether they would believe the Claimant himself against himself is, however, doubtful.
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