The example of Spain is reinforced by an English precedent, where may
be seen in the light of analogy the true rule of conduct. By a statute
of the last century, all soldiers quartered at the place of an election
for members of Parliament were removed, at least one day before the
election, to the distance of two miles or more;[16] and though this
statute has been modified latterly, the principle is preserved. No
soldier within two miles of a place of election is allowed to go out of
the barracks or quarters in which he is stationed, unless to mount or
relieve guard or to vote.[17] This safeguard of elections is vindicated
by the great commentator, Sir William Blackstone, when he says, “It
is essential to the very being of Parliament that elections should be
_absolutely free_; therefore all undue influences upon the electors
are illegal and strongly prohibited.”[18] In accordance with this
principle, as early as 1794, a committee of the other House of Congress
reported against the seat of a Representative partly on the ground that
United States troops were quartered near the place of election and were
marched in a body several times round the court-house.[19] And now that
an election is to occur in Dominica, where National Independence is the
question, nothing is clearer than that it should be, in the language of
Blackstone, “absolutely free,” and to this end all naval force should
be withdrawn at least until the “election” is determined.