CARSON'S LITERAL TREASON

New Zealand Tablet, 25 September 1919, Page 27

CARSON'S LITERAL TREASON

TREASON,;FELONY ACT QUOTED. The importance of the subject warrants repeated com*ment on the treasonable speech delivered by Sir Edward Carson at Belfast on Twelfth July (says "Circumspice" in the Catholic Herald), and in particular on the legal opinion regarding the question of criminality in that speech given by the English Attorney-General. «In particular, it is worth while putting on the fullest record the utterance of Lord Justice O'Connor at Cork Assizes recently in reference to a case where explosives and bombs had been found in a house in Cork. The Lord Justice said: "I think that some misapprehension exists about matters of this kind, the notion being that they are offences merely against, and punishable under, the Defence of the Realm regulations. This is not so at all. Let me read for .you the words of the Treason Felony Act, 1818. "That Act makes it treason felony —"to compass, imagine, invent, devise, or intend to levy war against his Majesty within any part of the United Kingdom in order, by force or constraint, to compel him to change his measures or counsel, or in order to put any force or constraint upon, or in order to intimidate or overawe both Houses, or cither House, of Parliament.' "The object of the statute and . the effect of it are equally plain to my mind. One of these-objects was to ensure that the will of the people, expressed in a constitutional manner through the Houses of Parliament, should be supreme, and should not be subject to actual force, or threat of force, from any section of the community. To Constitute the offence of treason felony no act of warfare or open rebellion is necessary. The offence is complete if preparations are made for rebellion or warfare, even though the rebellion or warfare never takes place, and is not intended to take place until and unless a certain contingency, which may or may not happen, does happen. "The gist of the offence is this: No man can, by force, or show of force, or threat of force, compel Parliament to do, or abstain from doing, anything whatsoever. If it were otherwise, we should have mob law substituted -for the will of the people expressed through Parliament.

"Therefore it is A B C law that if a i person gathers together or has in his possession, or under his control, arms or ammunition, or has men at his beck f and call with the intent that if Parliament, shall do something not to his liking or abstain from doing something that is to his liking, he "will by means of his men, arms, or munitions resist the will of Parliament, that man ,is guilty of treason felony, the punishment for which is penal servitude for life. It is no answer for him to say that he does not intend to use his men, or arms, or ammunition until and unless a certain contingency happens which may never happen. I trust that nobody in Munster is so misguided as to imagine that if, owing to the termination of the war, or otherwise, the Defence of the Realm regulations cease to have effect, ho can safely collect arms or ammunition with the intent aforesaid, for it is my duty to warn him that if he does so he renders himself subject to the grave penalty I have mentioned." This statement, it will be seen, applies in every letter and comma of its contents to Carson's speech. It is, therefore, quite clear that, apart from war legislation, such as D.0.R.A., and looking only to the statutory law of the country, Carson has been guilty of an act for which other men in Ireland have been imprisoned, while Carson goes free. In other words, it is clear on the statement of the highest legal authority in Ireland that Carson has broken the law and merits prosecution for the breach. The Ministry which tolerated such breach of law and connived at it are equally guilty with Carson in tho legal crime committed by his speech. There will bo no security in tho country until the present Government is cleared out and replaced by a Government which will administer law equally to all law-breakers, without fear or favor. To hasten that day the quickest way is—Vote Labor. = I