On the same evening Sir Richard Cross moved the Criminal
Law Amendment Bill into Committee in a very short speech, which was rather too rhetorical in tone, assuming, as it did, that legislation, however just and stern, could do much to protect the purity of our homes. This, indeed, no sort of legislation can effect, though it may do here and there some- thing to punish the miscreants who do not respect the purity of our homes. Mr. Hopwood, who has honourably distinguished himself in former sessions by drafting and passing through the House the last Act which was passed to protect children, moved an amendment deprecating legislation in a hurry, and declaring that an inquiry ought to be held before legislating. He pointed out the tendency of this Bill to lead to charges of extortion, and referred to the case of a clergyman who has quite recently been discharged from prison by order of the Home Secretary, after being found guilty of a charge brought against him by two children of the ages of eight and eleven, who, since his imprison- ment, have been shown to have perjured themselves. Such false charges, Mr. Hopwood insisted, would be rendered much easier under this Bill, and on that account he wished for delay and inquiry. Sir William Harcourt, however, showed in reply that this measure had been in preparation for three years, that it was by no means a measure got up in haste to meet the agita- tion which the Pall Mall had fostered, and that the sooner it was passed, the better. Subsequently the House went into Committee without a division, and two of the clauses of the Bill were agreed to.
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