Mr. Gladstone moved on Monday for a Select Committee "
to inquire into the state of the law affecting such persons as have been reported guilty of corrupt practices " as are members of the House of Commons, and to recommend what proceedings, if any, should be taken against them. The legal difficulty arises from the fact that the law while disqualifying members found guilty of bribery from sitting for a certain term of years in Parliament, is apparently meant to apply only to such members as have had full opportunities of being heard in their own defence ; and it is doubtful whether any man who has simply been beard before the Commissioners, and not heard by counsel, nor allowed to cross- examine the witnesses who depose to his corrupt acts, has been " heard " in the sense of the Act. Mr. Lowther moved as an amendment that the Committee should inquire into the working of the Corrupt Practices' Act, and particularly attacked the Bridgwater commission. He also stated that the law was per- fectly clear, which, as neither the Attorney-General, nor the Solicitor-General, nor the Lord Chancellor thinks it all clear indicated an amount of self-confidence in Mr. Lowther worthy of a better cause. Eventually, however, he withdrew his amend- ment, and the Committee was appointed.
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