The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-07-14 00:00:00

Vont' Gull Expres.

TUKBDAY, JULY 14, 1888.

NOTES OF THE WEEK.

A few matters of oossiderable interest in them-
selves have owns up for discumion in Parliament
during the past week. Amon; these is the grant of
a pension to Sir Robert Napier and his immediate
heir, al a =pessary sooompsniment of a peerage.
No ono will begrudge the gallant generalllea
pecuniary reward or the honour which his services
bioughi; but, after this, it is to be hoped we shall
have done with the Napierfurort, se our exalta-
tion of him seems likely to degenerate into an undue
=dirtying of a national wooer, won under unusual
difficulties, it is true, but still far from being • great
military victory. Another subject of some little
Interest is the controversy which has taken place
between the Lord. and Commons on the Scotch
borough traischiws,in which their lordshlps,ou Friday
evealng,declined to give way,although theamendinent
had been rejected by • considerable majority in
the. Commons. The matter in dispute is not • very
Genoa, one, but it is sufficient to show that the
Lords are determined to have • will of their own in
this Parliament, if they do not in the next. But
perhaps the most important of all subsidiary matters
(we moan subsidiary to the present piece de reels.
once, the Bribery Bill), ham been the progress made
in regard to the Telegraph' Bill. Beater's Com-
pacy, and all the other opponents of the measure
before the Baled Committee, have now withdrawn
their opposition, and accepted the terms of purchase
offered by the Government. There is, tefore,
every prospect of the bill pasemg this said. ;
though whether it will turn out • benefit for the
press, or introduce a pernicious monopoly, will
depend on the modifications in the provision" of the
=wire made by the Committee. To the general
blio there is little doubt the change will be

The Bribery Bill is being hurriedly Pushed for
weed, but the haste, we fear will mar the character
of the measure. Even sour'of the beneficial chaages
whirl have beea made in committee may not fit in
well with other provisions, And there is not time to
consider what necessary modifications should be made
In order that the meagre may work smoothly.
Otherwise), we are glad ef the deorion which the
House came to last week, and which ahc4:3°Term°"6
has now accepted, to give the jurisdiction in election
petitions to tha judger of the =proms courts. It
has also been rroide,ll that the place of trial shall
no longer be the Hosts of Commons at Westminster,
but the locality where the offence Is alleged to have
been committed ; end this would be a great point
gained if we war put implicit faith in the stability
of snob an arrangement, or in the 1110pliMIC•11041 of the
Lorda Let it not be forgotten that the upper House
dal manta fte ability to veto—a privilege which
recent Emperor shows tile by no means disinclined
to use. We frill euppose, however, that the minor
difficulties see got rid of, and that the Government
measure is earned, are we sure that it contains the
elements of room? The most sanguine of us would
beeitate Mifore answering the question. It is an
experiment, and nothing more. The vice itself will be
untouched; we Mall but hare stew more facilities for
detecting, and inadequately punishing those guilty of
Prortbly before two years have expired, the ques-
tion will come up again for serious coosidesation. Ons
thing may be said —if it is difficult to find • remedy,
there is • strong determination on the part of the
people to find one. The people of the United
Kingdom generally look upon electoral corruption as
a national reproach. Shall it be said that this
kingdom, the nursing mother of free Governments all
over the world, is unable to get rid of this virulent
canker—that she will make no determined efforts to
destroy it ? It is the one thing which ea a nation
we are ashamed of; and when we bear our institutions
praised, or are told that we are looked upon by the
peoples of the continent as a pattern, it is almost
impassible to avoid a blush. It has hitherto been •
favourite idea with us that the enlargement of
constituencies would afford an effectual cheek upon
corrupt practices. With this object, among others,
in view, Parliament has out away small boroughs,
and given the franchise to large and populous plare.
With the example WI Bristol before us, however, it is
sot easy to believe that the remedy in this romper is
perfectly effectual, An opulent perm, determined
to reach the heed of the poll, may, it appears, even
when • constituency comprises thousands, find plenty
of material and means for corruption. Nor can we
Imagine it likely that a local inquiry will obtain more
minute particulars than those elicited by the old- '
fashioned proem of Parliamentary investigation.
What amount of punishment will fall upon the real
offender in this car Will it be heavy enough to
be severely UM If so, it may check bribery, or it
may merely make it more secret, and shut the
mouths of witnesses. We confess it livery difficult
to enforce morality by Act of Parliament; one might
air well, perhaps, attempt to do so at the point of the
bayonet; yet we must make up our minds to see
bribery unchecked until the law can be brought to
bear severely on the real offenders, We throw •
large net for the birds we want to catch, and omit
to notice the holes through which the birds can early
escape. Until the briber and the bribed both get
punished with some degree of severity, we do not see
now the law, either in its prewar sire, or in the
amended form, is really to stop the evil.
When the Church Raise Abolition Bill 0010.11
before the Home of Lords for third reading, the
Bishop of London will move an addition providing
for the cases of ecclesiastical districts mustarded
within the limit' of ancient parishes. While exclud-
ing the inhabitants of such districts from assessment
to rates made in respect of the parish March, the
right rev, prelate would enable them, subject t )
the provisions of the act, to assemble in vestry and
make a rate for the March of the district in which
they reside.

Lord Handsel has at length—we were going to
say volunteered, but let us say—given, under social
preesure, as his solicitors intimate, an explanation
in re Louisa Gould. His lordship has certainly been
ill-advised in withholding this explanatioa to the
present time, and the assertion that he did so only
with the purpose of making it at the trial of Madame
Rachel, if that had come on at the recent eessions
seems very extraordinary; for though they talk of
the Gould can as" arising out of that of Madame
Rachel," it has actually nothing to do with
it ; and they had no right to suppose
that the judge at the Central Criminal
Court would allow Lord Ranelagh to introduoe
extraneous matter into his evidence, or to make a
speech at the trial on an irrelevant subject. Every
judicial functionary might not show himself so COM-
placent even to • lord as Mr. Knox has been. But
linos Lord Ranelagh has thought proper to give an
explanation, we must accept it, quantum valeag ;
though all we can make out by • careful perusal of
the long statement of his solicitors is, that he
denies being indebted to Lonna Gould in the sum of
7s. 6d., while it is not denied, but implicitly
admitted, that a former acquaintance existed
between them. If Lord Ranelaph manly intends
to rodeos the crusades to • difference of account
between him and Louisa Gould, he might have with-
held his explanation altogether; but if he meant to
deny her imputations in too, he has been as badly
*arced ia the attempt to do so, as he was
advised in delaying the oontradiction.