It is curious how difficult it sometimes is to get
what are quite clearly matters of fact, not opinion, established and accepted. Interested in some recent remarks on the connexion between garrotting and flogging, I consulted the Encyclo- paedia Britannica on the subject, and there found the cate- gorical statement, " An Act of 1863, imposing the penalty of flogging in addition to penal servitude for this. offence, had the effect of stopping it almost entirely." I believe this to be entirely inaccurate, and I note that the Attorney-General, speaking in the House of Commons on November 29th, referred to " the Act of 1863, introduced by a private member and passed against the advice of the Home Secretary, who described it as panic legislation after the panic had passed. The offence of garrotting had ceased when the Act was passed." It is a matter on which, in view of present contro- versies, inaccuracy is unfortunate.
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