14 FEBRUARY 1914, Page 3

We do not think " disgraceful " is too strong

a word to describe this corrupt, half-veiled promise of a bribe. In some Continental countries a promise of State grants for public works is a regular method of corrupting the constituencies. We have been practically free from this form of corruption in Great Britain, but we are certainly falling from a high estate to a low one when a member of the Government can go down to a constituency and offer a bribe which the candidate himself had enough sense of decency to repudiate. The trail of the Marconi affair lies everywhere. The standard of public honour has been lowered, and the last people who are in a position to recall the country to honourable practices are members of the Government,