The Ballot debate went on again on Thursday, but was
only remarkable for the exhibition of suspiciousness by Mr. Fawcett and his friends, who evidently imagine that the Government want to pass the Ballot Bill without the Corrupt Practices' Bill, which ought to accompany it. The suggestion is groundless, as the Bill by itself would only be thrown out in the Lords, and Mr. Forster at once acceded to a suggestion that the Bills should go into Committee together, and though this proved impossible, a subse- quent suggestion by Mr. Gladstone that the clauses against per- sonation and for striking off corrupt voters should be introduced into the Bill was accepted by Mr. Disraeli. The Government is, we imagine, greatly hampered by the preoccupation of the Attorney-General, who with the " claimant's " tattoo-marks on his mind cannot be expected to attend to such trifles as Bills securing purity of election or Treaties with America. That great abuse must come to an end somehow, even if we have to pay the Law Officers as much as a popular trapezist could earn.
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