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Show INVOLVES PRIVILEGE OE DEMOHSTYI ATI ON Special '"'able to The Tribune. BBUSSELLS, Jan. 20. The Antwerp Ant-werp criminal court ha been living a curious case, involving the whole prin eiplc of political street demonstration. demonstra-tion. Last spriug. the then prime mill i8ter of Belgium, M. Auusto Schol-laert. Schol-laert. was cheered at a banquet given in his honor in Autwerp; but, afterwards, after-wards, proceeding on foot to the railway rail-way station to return to Brussels, be was violently hooted and hissed by a crowd that disapproved a school bill intended to cive over public teaching to tbe church and limuks. He deeply resented the demonstration aud caused one of its ringleaders, M, Jaspers, a local journalist, to be arrested and prosecuted. During the recent proceedings couu-sel couu-sel for the defense called as witnesses two deputies. M. Vandervelde and Paul HymanSi and the famous advocate advo-cate and eX-senator. M. Edmund ricard, who expressed tbe opinion that hootitto- of ;J public man, although showing a luclc of -ood taste, was perfectly per-fectly legal, and that punishing it aa a private assault would be unconstitutional, unconstitu-tional, inasmuch as such hostile demonstrations dem-onstrations are not meant hs a per sonal offense, but merely as a protest against, a cerlain policy. Mh Franco, deputy for Antwerp, furthermore fur-thermore contended that the punishment punish-ment of his client would deal a deathblow death-blow to tbe free expression of public opinion, which, in toe present case, had been justified by the action uf tbe king of the Belgians, who had refllBed to Sanction the introduction of M Scholluert's bill and caused him to re-sign, re-sign, The public prosecutor, on the other hand, contended that outsido parliament, parlia-ment, the premier is a private person, entitled to move about unnoticed, and unmolested, and that besides universal suffrage, uncontemplated at the time the constitution was framed, has giveu every man a means of efficient deni-OOst deni-OOst ration, which has suppressed the necessity and justification of street shout i uy. Such a conflict of world-wide prm ciplea being at stake, Tim court 'g award its awaited with the greatest interest. |