The House of Commons cannot make up its mind whether
it likes bribery or not. The necessity of expense protects the mono- poly of the rich, but then the rich hate spending. A motion, therefore, proposed by Mr. Candlish, that no elector employed by a candidate should have a vote was carried, the House in a paroxysm of virtue even disfranchising agents, who are certainly not usually bribed ; but it declined to abolish the right of paying for conveyance in counties, and rejected by a majority of more than a hundred a proposal to make the hiring of public-houses illegal. So everybody may bribe the publican who will bribe the messengers, but nobody may bribe the messengers direct. Well, decency is worth something, even when it is a little hypocritical, and the virtue of the House is about to be strengthened by a moral tonic. The expenses of the next election will be triple those of the last, and will make even men " acred up to their lips, con- soiled up to their chins," wince.
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