After so unsatisfactory a statement as Lord Murray's, the House
of Lords would have stultified itself, as the joint guardian of the public honour and of public probity, if it had not taken action. The fact that the House of Commons failed so lamentably in this respect, and lowered the standard of public life by refusing to find anything to censure in the action of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sir Rufus Isaacs, made it imperative indeed that the Lords should not evade their duty. After a day's delay for deliberation, Lord Lansdowne on Thursday adopted the motion already intro- duced by Lord Ampthill, and moved—
"that a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into certain charges and allegations made in the public Press againsta Member of this House—namely, Lord Murray of Elibank—and into all • matters relating thereto; and that the said Committee be 'authorized to hear counsel and to examine witnesses on oath ; and that the evidence taken from time to time before the mid Committee be printed for the use of Members of the House."
