The House of Commons had on Tuesday one of its
periodical fits of morality. Azeem jah, heir to the late Nawab of the Carnatic, thinks he has a right to a fifth of the revenues of that province. As of all bodies the House of Commons knows least about his elaims he has appealed to it, and, before the discussion, great numbers of petitions were presented in his favour, generally from metropolitan districts. Horton not being supposed to know much about the Carnatic there was an inquiry, and it turned out that Azeem Jah's agent paid one Mr. Mitchell a penny a signature for these petitions. He paid other people, Mr. George Potter, the Union leader, among them, and signatures were obtained anyhow, —were, the committee imply, very often forged. The House on con- sideration was of opinion that there should be further inquiry before committing Mr. Mitchell to Newgate, but it knows all the while that petitions are got up every day' by means scarcely better than forgery. Hundreds sign documents they have never read. The persona who ought to be reprimanded are the members who bother the House with documents about which they know and care as little as the clerks who read out their titles, and shove them under the table.
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