The Government suffered a funny little defeat on Saturday in
a very thin House of little over eighty. The Attorney-General moved for a Commission to inquire into the Judges' allegation that corrupt practices extensively prevail at Wigan. Mr. Cross, the Radical Member for Bolton, asked the House to disagree with the motion, on the ground that the last election took place tinder exceptional circumstances, when a very great number of men were on strike, and were therefore particularly exposed to temptation, and that it was not fair to expose the town to an expensive inquiry, spreading over twenty-five years, on the strength of a mere Judges' report on a particular election, which was not fairly representative of the ordinary elections in the place. Sir Hardinge Gifford denied that there was any authoritative precedent for issuing a Commission, without instituting previously further inquiry into the corrupt prac- tices of the place, and on a division the Government were defeated by a majority of six,-43 votes against 37,—amidst much laughter and cheering. Mr. Caine asked what, in this -" dreadful crisis," the Government proposed to do, but "pale despair and cold tranquillity" were the only answer.
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