On Tuesday, when the debate should have been resumed, Mr.
Howell interrupted it by a motion for adjournment to call atten- tion to a definite matter of urgent public importance,—namely, alleged acts of corruption by the Corporation of London in getting up opposition to Sir William Harcourt's last Government of London Bill,—and he demanded an inquiry into the subject. That the subject was of importance no one will deny ; that it should have been allowed to interrupt the Procedure debate, we should have thought that all public-spirited men would strenu- ously deny ; but Mr. Howell was supported by a very large pro- portion of the Members of the Liberal Party, and in the course of the debate Mr. Gladstone himself rose to support Mr. Howell, though he was evidently a little ashamed of forcing on such a matter to the delay of Procedure. We think we can hear how he would have characterised such a proceeding during the autumn of 1882. Mr. W. H. Smith, however, consented to an investigation of the charge against the London Corporation; and then, at length, the debate on Procedure was resumed in a House beside itself with the:triumph of obstructive tactics.
