Mr. Disraeli's great triumph was, however, on Tuesday. lie made
early in the evening the concession that the Bill should last only for three years, and later reaped the benefit of his perfectly safe moderation. Mr. Powell resisted Clause 45, which enacts that a candidate found guilty of consenting to bribery shall be disqualified for sitting in Parliament for seven years. Mr. Powell argued that the penalty was excessive, "sending a man forth into the world deprived of all that made life worth having," and that a citizen ought uot to be deprived of his civil rights at the pleasure of a judge sitting without a jury. lie was supported by Mr. Lowe, who declared the penalty was " worse to some persons than transportation far life," and dilated on the danger to which the nation might be exposed by the absence of a statesman of the first rank, it might be of a man absolutely necessary to the country. The House, however, carried the clause by the tremen- dous majority of 197 to 26, and the House was right. The clause will not only directly prevent bribery, but indirecl, by enabling any member of the slightest distinction to plead that he dare not run such a risk. As to Mr. Gladstone or other necessary man being caught by the law, necessary men have no need to bribe ; and admitting an extreme case, a conviction obtained by perjury, the prerogative of pardon is not barred, and on an address front the House would, of course, be exercised.
