Colonel Repington, the military critic, and Mr. Gwynne, the editor,
of the Morning Post, were each fined £100 at Bow Street on Thursday for writing and publishing on February 11th an article on the Versailles Council. The defendants gave notice to appeal. At the time of writing we have not seen a full report of the pro- ceedings, but it would seem that the defendants were convicted not so much on the charge of giving information to the enemy as on that of having disregarded a ruling of the Press Bureau. We need hardly say that it would be absurd to accuse a journal with the high and independent standing of the Morning Post of consciously assisting the enemy, and the editor's chief offence was apparently a tactical blunder in voluntarily submitting the article to the Censor, and then publishing it in an altered form without the Censor's permission. Although it has been stated by Lord Curzon that there was no case for a prosecution of Mr. Lovat Fraser for his attack on the Higher Command several weeks ago in an article which was not submitted to the Censor, we cannot help feeling that to prosecute the Morning Post and to do nothing in regard to the Northcliffe Press, which began this scurrilous campaign, is opposed to all propriety and common-sense.
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