A proof of how important it is just now to
maintain popular confidence in the judges instead of weakening it, and of sup- porting them when they give unpopular decisions, is to be found in what took place in Hull on Thursday. The election judges, in the exercise of their duties, felt themselves bound to unseat Sir Seymour King, the Unionist Member who has sat for the Division for twenty-six years, as during his election there had been a breach of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act. The Unionist mob, we refrain from saying "unconsciously, no doubt," considering that the judges were biassed when they held that the distribution of coals and sweets to poor men was a corrupt practice within the Act threw coal at them, and Mr. Justice Ridley was struck by a piece as big as a cricket ball. Mr. Winston Churchill, no doubt, would thoroughly approve of the action of the judges at Hull, but he has had very quick proof that you cannot dis- credit the administration of justice in only one particular, and in regard to one side only, in politics. In truth, what his accusation comes to is that the judges should not be allowed to give unpopular decisions. He forgot that his objection to unpopular decisions is a double-edged weapon.
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