The House of Commons is apparently not very sincere in
its :zeal about bribery. Colonel Taylor moved on Thursday for the issue of a new- writ for Bridgwater in the place of Mr. Westropp (Conservative), unseated for bribery, and a little discussion arose ns to the appointment of a Commission to inquire into the cor- rupt practices of the place, as the Election Committee had re- ported that corrupt practices "extensively prevailed" in Bridg- water. The motion for the new writ was, however, carried by a vast majority-123 to 12. It is to be hoped, for the sake of Bridgwater, where,—whenever corrupt practices do not exten- sively prevail,—there is a good majority of Liberals, that neither the Carlton Club nor any other moneyed power may provide -funds to obtain a second Conservative victory like Mr. Westropp's. The Liberal candidate, Mr. Walter Bagehot, is n man of great ability, which he has shown in many very wise and some very humorous essays on men and measures. As a financier, too, he would have real weight with the House. His victory appears to be pretty certain, if his antagonist at Bridgwater is as eager to advance the cause of public purity as Sir R. K.nightley and Viscount Cranborne. Otherwise, we sup- pose, there will be a new petition, a new unseating, and then perhaps a commission.
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