bribe from one side, and the other for a bribe from the opposite party. The huge cost per head of voters polled proves, however, that there are constituencies innumerable, large as well as small, in which bribery and corruption do really prevail, though they may be disguised under inoffensively sounding terms, or are less condemned because the voters are supposed to receive their reward from their own party and not from the other side. A bribe, of course, is none the less a bribe because it is given to strengthen a political conviction and not with the intention of subverting it.

The spoils of elections chiefly go into the pockets of the lawyers, the printers, the publicans and the sinners; where there are no sinners, the other partners divide the spoils between them.

There do exist unfortunately men who are a scandal to representative government, who mean to buy their way into the House (as their only chance of getting in), and who, as long as they can avoid a petition, are reckless as to bribery, corruption, or law-breaking, and to whom a voter (like M.P.'s used to be to Walpole) is but a creature who is sure to have his price. They have effectually over-learnt the proverb bis dat qui cito dat,' for they give both early and often.

One word as to subscriptions. The lavish contributions to local charities and institutions, the distribution of good things to the poor, the 'nursing' of a constituency, are forms of bribery more subtle perhaps than the brutal money or employment transactions which take place during the election, but equally effective. I do not mean for an instant to imply that there is anything wrong or 'subtle' in a member subscribing to a select number of local institutions. He professes to be, and should be, interested in the welfare of the constituency, and if he can, by a judicious expenditure, give an impetus to, or retain the vitality of any useful institution, he is quite within his honourable rights, and may be justly praised for his liberality; while, of course, he also does not lose by his action, this being one of the points, among many others, in which wealth has an advantage over poverty. But, further than this, though it is difficult or imposrible to draw the line, there is a lavishness of expenditure on subscriptions and the like, which is colourable and corrupt because only done with the object of obtaining or retaining a seat. This form of corruption, if judiciously carried out, cannot possibly be made to affect the validity of the election. It may be done foolishly and too openly, and thereby be overdone, and recoil on the head of the benefactor; there have been instances of this, and members have been unseated, and justly so, for the too-evident intention of their charitable distribu

tions.

One would have thought that all careful for purity of election would agree that the abuse of subscriptions was a form of bribery which

should be discouraged; it is therefore the more to be regretted that any one in authority should give to such proceedings the sanction of his respect and pity. It is unfortunate that Mr. Justice Manistywho has in other election petition charges made some excellent remarks, and given some valuable suggestions towards the minimisation of bribery-felt himself called upon at Plymouth, when unseating the Conservative member, not only for bribery, but also for (so ran the petition) 'giving large doles of coals and other gifts with a political object,' to remark, that the petitioners, actuated, as I think and believe, by party spirit, have succeeded in depriving not only the poor and needy of all creeds and denominations, religious and political, in Plymouth, but also the inhabitants at large, of a good friend and generous benefactor, and the majority of the constituency of a representative whom they had elected, and of whom they had good reason to be proud.' It is hard on the petitioners that at the same moment when the judge, by unseating the member, pronounces them to be entirely justified in their action, he should declare that it was an iniquitous proceeding on their part to bring the petition. This by the way; but the unfortunate part was that an election judge should practically declare that, in his opinion, the lavish distribution by the member of gifts and doles to the poor and needy is an action to be proud of, and not a subject for reproach.

12

'To be good to the poor' is a phrase capable of much expansion, and some seats were lost at the late election on both sides because the 'poor' thought that their member had not fed, clothed, and treated them sufficiently, or because they thought that the new man was better aware of his duty in this respect and possessed larger means by which to accomplish it.

The question of how far subscriptions, &c., are given with a corrupt intention, and are corrupting, does not fall within the possibilities of legislative action, but must be left in the hands of the election judges to decide. Let us hope that they are not all of the same way of thinking on the question as their learned brother just quoted.

Public opinion has never been very strongly expressed against bribery and corruption. It is satisfactory, however, to note that lately a change for the better seems to have taken place, and the public appear to be somewhat shocked and scandalised at the recent revelations of election petitions and Royal Commissions. This is a good omen for purity of election; for, though more stringent regulations

12 As may be naturally supposed, in the ensuing election the Conservatives were not slow to take advantage of this extraordinary admission, and the town was placarded with the opinion of the judge that the Liberal party had been only actuated by contemptible party spite in bringing their petition.

It is evident that the reasoning expressed in the judge's remarks is illogical. If Sir E. Bates had been so liberal to the town irrespective of any political feeling or question, the petition would in no way affect his liberality.

can be adopted and enforced against bribery, with very happy results, the sheet anchor of our hope must always be that the public conscience will awake to the fact that bribery and corruption are in themselves wicked and iniquitous, that they are eminently demoralising and debasing, and that their existence destroys to a very large extent the representative character of our form of government. When this time arrives, bribery, instead of being thought a rather good joke, as is now too often the case-this opinion being greatly strengthened by the publicity of the proceedings of the Commissioners-would be considered a disgrace; and if punishment went hand in hand with this disgrace, those tainted by it would soon sink to the level of ordinary malefactors. Once deprived of its artificial halo, and looked upon with proper aversion, bribery would lose its charm, and would be relegated to the hands of the class least cleanly-morally if not physically speaking—and would then be doomed.

We may all have our own Utopian ideas on the question of how best to cause bribery and corruption to cease; but it is useless to propose or discuss any scheme with this object which cannot without infinite difficulty be adopted, or which would be opposed to the feelings of the majority under the existing conditions of life and opinion. I have endeavoured to confine myself to suggestions which I believe to be easily practicable, and which might be adopted without involving any violent changes. They aim at allotting punishment where punishment is due, and at preventing the escape of the criminal. Whether, until public opinion pronounces strongly on the subject, they would be remedies and not merely checks, it is hard to say; but, short of the real remedy-a wholesome and radical change in public feeling-these proposals, if adopted, ought, as I have endeavoured to show, to fulfil their purpose and affect corruption to an appreciable degree.

It may be said that the different decisions and judgments of the election judges are buoys which mark the shoals and quicksands of bribery, and permit of their avoidance by those who sail down the stream. But, if proper laws were passed and enforced, and if more dangerous obstructions were placed in the stream so that the bark striking on them were certain to founder, and not be able to push off again scatheless, then, though it might not prevent all attempts at sailing, the increased difficulties and dangers of navigation would deter many from attempting a risky undertaking.

So inefficient are the existing laws, and so feeble is their enforcement, that purity can hardly be recommended as a specific for victory; it may ease the conscience and save the pocket, but it will hardly gain the seat.

The revelations of the Royal Commissions lately sitting are chiefly remarkable and startling in the conclusion forced upon us, that there

exist numbers of men, and men in high positions-men, too, who would be insulted if they were not designated as honest and honourable, but who have no compunction in buying votes, in tempting others to betray their trust, and in paying them either to lie or to violate their consciences. These disclosures are an eloquent testimony to the frightful apathy of the public conscience at present on the question of Bribery and Corruption.

SYDNEY C. Buxton.

RECENT SCIENCE.

(PROFESSOR HUXLEY has kindly read, and aided the Compilers and the Editor with his advice upon, the following article.)

ALTHOUGH the invention of such instruments as the telephone, the phonograph, and the microphone, has prepared the way for other acoustical marvels, no one will be the less disposed to admire the remarkable instrument which Professor Graham Bell has lately described under the name of the Photophone. This is an instrument for the transmission of articulate sounds to distant stations, not by means of an electric wire or indeed of any material medium, but simply by a beam of light. Wherever a beam of light may be flashed from one point to another, there the photophone can be worked. Such an instrument may evidently become of great value in establishing rapid communication between distant surveying stations, and especially in military signalling, where it promises to displace the heliograph. Possibly the field of utility of the photophone may not be so wide as that of the telephone, but in point of scientific interest there can be no doubt that the new instrument is quite as remarkable as its predecessor. An apparatus of extreme simplicity transmits the spoken words, another of equal simplicity receives them, and between the two instruments there is nothing, save a line of light, to act as a connecting medium. The method by which this extraordinary result has been attained was first disclosed to the scientific world during the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Boston. From Professor Bell's communication to that meeting, it appears that the photophone is the direct outcome of experiments upon the curious action of light in affecting the electric conductivity of selenium.'

Selenium is one of the rarer chemical elements, found only in a comparatively few minerals, which are but sparingly distributed. The substance was discovered in 1817 by the famous Swedish chemist Berzelius. In examining a deposit which had been obtained from some oil of vitriol works at Gripsholm, near Falun, in Sweden, he was perplexed by the presence of a disturbing element which he was unable to identify with any known substance. It presented many points of resemblance to a rare metal-like body which Klaproth, a few

For descriptions of the photophone see the Illustrated Scientific News, Sept. 15; the Scientific American, Sept. 18 and Oct. 2; Supplement No. 246; Engineering, Sept. 17; Nature, Sept. 23, 1880; and American Journal of Science, Oct. 1880, p. 305.