RIOTING AT MEETINGS.
ETO TEN EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—I was sorry to see your tu quoque to Mr. Cavendish Bentinck on the subject of the disturbances at public meetings.. When I was a boy at Winchester, we used to consider a tic quo quo as (in school slang) MU lied, and. I have much the same. feeling still. But in this case it seems to me particularly unjust. The lawless interference with the rights of others is of the essence of the present " Conservative " policy, and why should they not carry out the principle at home, as well as. abroad ? When Lord John Manners thanked Sir Robert Peel and Sir Robert Carden for rioting in the City, he was natural and. consistent ; but we Liberals are the defenders of law and liberty abroad, and we ought to be consistent at home. I do. trust that you, and others who have influence with Liberals,. will try to keep this standard before the party at the coming election. We have a moral issue before us, and we are bound. to fight it by moral means.—I am, Sir, &c., C. E. MAURICE.
[Our correspondent seems to imagine that we justified Liberal_ disturbances by Conservative disturbances. We did nothing of the kind. We said that such disturbances, as a matter of fact, occur on both sides, and are likely to occur when party passions. rise high, while human nature is what it is. But we condemn them as much as our 0=08p:indent—En. Spectator.]
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