On Thursday the House of Commons, by a majority of
2 (192 votes to 190), rejected the Motion for the issue of a writ in the case of the borough of Worcester, where the Member chosen at the General Election was unseated on petition. The Government, as the Attorney-General explained in the debate, did not intend to oppose the Motion, as they considered that the area of corruption was comparatively limited. They held that in a constituency consisting of eight thousand electors not more than one-sixteenth, or five hundred, con- stituted the corrupt element. It would be hard, the Govern- ment considered, to disfranchise the whole constituency for the sins of the five hundred. On the whole, we cannot regret the decision of the House of Commons. It is well, when- ever possible, to mark in the strongest way the national detestation of electoral corruption.
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