The Committee . which the Prime Minister has nominated is certainly
not one unduly biassed in favour of letting Mr. Bradlaugh take the oath. It is to consist of the following nineteen Members :—Mr. Whitbread, Sir John Holker, Mr. Bright, Lord H. Lennox, Mr. Massey, Mr. Staveley Hill, Sir H. Jackson, the Attorney-General, and the Solicitor-General, Sir G. Goldney, Mr. Grantham, Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Watkin Williams, Mr. Walpole, Mr. Hopwood, Mr. Beresford Hope, Major Nolan, Mr. Chaplin, and Mr. Serjeant Simon. Even of the Liberals on this Committee, Mr. Watkin Williams obviously holds that what Mr. Bradlaugh proposed to take was not legally an oath at all, and not therefore a compliance with the statute; while Mr. Hopwood is known to hold that a mere affirmation cannot legally be substituted for the oath. If this Committee report, as is very likely, that under the circumstances it is the duty of the House to refuse to let Mr. Bradlaugh take the oath, he will be kept out of his seat, as Baron Rothschild for- merly was under similnr circumstances, unless both Houses con- sent to pass a short Act altering the statute. And the House of Lords will hardly do this for Mr. Bradlaugh,—unless, indeed, Lord Beaconsfield should be pleased to expedite Mr. Bradlaugh's entry into the House of Commons, as an Admiral might ex- pedite the entry of a fire-pinnace into the heart of the enemy's fleet.
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