The debate on the Corrupt Practices Bill has been going
on all the week, and it is pretty clear that while the Bill will pass,. its most stringent provisions will be modified in committee. They go far beyond opinion, and in inflicting penalties for acts done by agents, who may have been ordered not to do them, far beyond strict justice. " Qui facit per ilium facit per se," is good law, but it is also good law that an agent who goes beyond his instructions does it at his own peril. The Bill, however, can be made in committee into a good Bill; and the debate, both on Tuesday and Thursday, showed two hopeful features. One was a distinct increase in the reluctance of Members to deny that bribery is properly a criminal offence, and the other was an almost universal acceptance of the principle of a statutory maximum for expenditure. One Member, Mr. Schreiber, objected that with a maximum a Member would never be popular enough to be free in saying strong things ; but he was promptly put down by Mr. O'Donnell, who retorted that he said strong things enough in Dungarvan, and spent only £25.
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