lawful, such as to bring about a riot or to
work oppression to others or an injury to the public.

The right of election, however, is much older in England. We find
statutes concerning the right of free election, that is, of allowing
electors to vote without interference or control, as early as 1275. It
is for this reason that almost from the origin of the House of Commons
it has been unlawful, or at least uncustomary, for peers of the realm
to even speak pending elections to the House of Commons. That House
also vindicated its right to judge of elections against Elizabeth, and
the principle that it alone shall be the judge remains in full force
in the United States, though in modern times in England given to the
courts. There is no constitutional principle in England as to the
right of suffrage, which in early times was shared in by all free men,
or at least landholders. It was in 1429 limited to the forty shillings
freeholders, which law has been relaxed by degrees ever since.
Our early constitutions recognized both property and educational
limitations; these were all done away with at one time, except in
Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the former retaining an educational,
the latter a property, qualification. They have now been abolished in
those States, but taken up in the South, for the purpose, of course,
of disfranchising the negro vote.

The serious modern instance of interference with free election is that
of the Federal government with State elections in the South during
the thirty years following the war. While such interference was never
quite held unconstitutional, it was strongly felt to be so; and has
therefore disappeared from practical politics. The principle of free
election, therefore, remains again unquestioned, and is, indeed,
strengthened by considerable legislation aimed at the influencing
of votes by employers, etc. Many States, for instance, require that
Election Day shall be a holiday, or, at least, that all employers of
labor shall give part of the day, one or two hours at least, for the
employees to vote; and a number of States have statutes aimed at
the coercion of their vote by any promise of giving or withholding
employment, or otherwise, and the giving their pay to them in
envelopes upon which any political matter is printed. Bribery is
nearly always made criminal and cause of permanent disfranchisement
and disability to hold office, both to the person giving or receiving
the bribe, but