The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-18 00:00:00

LOl SAT URDA Y, JULY 18, 1868.

The Cor►upt Practices Bill was t ►ken at the
morning sitting yesterday. The business was take❑
up at clause forty-six, which provides that an elec-
►ion shall be hell void wherein the candida'e ha:
knowingly employed any ag tut who has been guilty
of bribery within seven years. Mr. lisa.rcuhuLL-
lNGEssEN proposed that the reports of election
committees should be to the same effect, and had a
majority. L.)rd AMBERLEY failed in his attempt
to make the bill still more stringent than it was
by declaring that the candidate should not
sit in Parliament for three years who had
employed corrupt agents, but the Solicitor-
General very truly said that this would not do, be-
cause they would defeat the object of the bill if they
made it too stringent. The noble lord having
pressed the matter to a division, the result was
that he lost by sixty-seven, a result not to b 3 won-
dered at. It is always to be regretted when a mea-
sure of this kind is introduced that so many persons
seek to laud it up, and put their own additions to
it, instead of letting it alone, and giving it the
chance of passing and doing what good it can.
The discussions that took place on this bill were
almost interminable, and at last the Hous3 had to
report progress. There appears, however, no reason
to fear that the bill will not pass, for it seems that
by common consent it is settled to finish it in some
shape or other. Mr. GLADSTONE agreed with Mr.
DISRAELI that it was not so important to include
Ireland and Scotland in the Act, because it has now
taken the form of au experiment, and thus we can-
not say that the House has legislated for one
kingdom only to the exclusion of the others.

The new clauses repecting the judges gave
rise to much discussion. Mr. AYRTON pro-
posed that fourteen days should elapse
before the new judges were appointed aft !r the
whole of the election petitions were presented, but
this was so very unnecessary that it is not surpris-
ing it was negatived without a division. The
clause for increasing the salaries of the three elec-
tion judges by five hundred a year was struck out,
in consequence of the many objections raised to it,
but it does not seem so very preposterous a 3 some
imagine it to be, and as for its being disparaging
to the judges, it was well answered that if
they had extra work imposed on them,
they might well expect extra pay. Mr. LoWE
proposed that the bill should be limited to three
years, and the end of the next Parliamentary ses-
session, which was agreed to. Sir W. HUT'T with-
drew his clause, which put into a statutory form the
resolution against the interference of Peers at elec-
tions, Mr. DrstIAELE and Mr. GLADSTONE concur-
ing in admitting its withdrawal, though on different
grounds. The discussion showed that now circum-
-4,lnc,:s had changed since this resolution had been
passed. As the Peers are taxed, like the rest of
the community, they had a right to vote the same.
Che right hon. geetleman reminie I the House they
would not get a favourable reception for their mea-
sure in the other House if they accepted the clause,
.vhich subjected the peers to fines and imprison -
neut.

Time was against the discussion of tht.
.iuse, for it would very likely have taken them

lays to consider it, and it was very wisely given up.
llr. GRIFFITH endeavoured to pass a clause, de-
claring that the payment of travelling expenses
was bribery, but he failed to obtain the requisite
support, and it was negatived. The bill has been

adjourned until to-day.
The state of Greenwich Hospital was considered