TERMS OF INDICTMENT [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—Attention
has not been sufficiently directed to the style of indictment which has been used in a recent prosecution of a person stated to be engaged in the spread of social unrest. The Times reports that the wording of the indictment against Elias, the leader of the Unemployed Workers' Movement, was that he unlawfully incited certain persons "to cause discontent, dissatisfaction, and ill-will between different classes of His Majesty's subjects and to create public disturbances against the peace."
The use of the words "discontent and dissatisfaction" seems to me a very serious menace to our legitimate civil liberties. I have nothing to say in favour of those who advocate violence as a method of achieving social and economic change, especially when there is such a great opportunity for securing that end by courageous and rational advocacy. But for that very reason we should surely protest against the framing of an indictment which challenges our rights to arouse dissatisfaction against the established order. Ought not some common action to be taken to watch over this question of civil liberty ?—I am, Sir, &c.,
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