§ 28. Mr. TREVELYANasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the imprisonment of Mrs. Skinner for three months and Mrs. Hayes for one month, and the fining of another woman, for the distribution of leaflets demanding that the Government should at once start negotiations to conclude the War; whether the advocacy of peace by negotiation is a crime; and, if not, whether he will take steps to mitigate the sentences imposed on these women?
§ Sir G. CAVEI have seen a report of the evidence in this case. The leaflets in question were being distributed to soldiers, and the evidence appears to ha\e justified the magistrates in holding that they were both intended and likely to prejudice discipline. I see no ground for interfering with the sentences.
§ Mr. TREVELYANIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that one of the principal leaflets that was being distributed in this case was one which contained exclusively quotations from the manifesto, "To the peoples of all countries," by the council to the Workmen s and Soldiers' Delegates of Russia: is it criminal for the people of this country to distribute that?
§ Sir G. CAVEI have not seen all the leaflets, but I have seen some, and certainly those I have seen ought not to be distributed amongst soldiers.