In the House of Lords on Monday, the Duke of
Northumber- land put a very pertinent question to the Government when he asked whether the people who had hawked about promises of honours had done so with the authority of the Government. The Duke said that he had in his possession letters offering honours in return for donations to party funds. Lord Crawford denied that such action had been sanctioned by the Government. The Duke of Northumberland expressed his opinion that the Government could not possibly have lent themselves to such a shameless traffic. We imagine that the Duke of Northumberland cannot be mistaken as to the facts. The process has probably been that somebody has offered honours to rich men in exchange for money, and when the proposals were accepted the honours were given though the Prime Minister knew nothing of the money transactions and was perhaps careful not to ask.
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