The body of the late Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland
(the Right Hon. George Patton) was found in the Almond river on the afternoon of yesterday week, being drawn up by a creeper which had caught hold of the right hand. There was a deep gash across the throat, and it became too evident that the Lord Justice Clerk had com- mitted suicide, —in distress of mind concerning his impending examination before the Bridgewater Commission, which, unless he could have cleared himself absolutely, would have been the more painful, that he had only lately, it is said, sat as judge on a bribery case in Scotland. This suicide is a terrible, and may perhaps prove a not unwholesome, commentary on the flat and common-place jocosities of bribery confessions. If we would only remember that the winks and leers with which we greet the political immoralities of an election contest,—just like the winks and leers with which we greet immoralities of another and even graver kind,—may before long turn to tears and blood in sensitive natures, we should hardly have so many willing to corrupt and to be corrupted as we have. The tragedy of Mr. Patton's end may yet do something to impress the tough consciences of election agents and election victims.
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