BRIBERY IN THE VICTORIAN LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 361, 26 September 1868, Page 5

BRIBERY IN THE VICTORIAN LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY.

We extract from the entertaining effusions ofthe Peripatetic Philosopher in the Australasian, the following very amusing remarks concerning two Avell known members of the Victorian Parliament, who has been charged with bribery.—" The hopes of the public have been raised to an indecent pitch of expectation by the rumour that Mr Jones was 'going to explain.' A committee has been appointed to inquire into the charges of perjury, bribery, &c., which have been laid against this unhappy martyr. This is really -a very terrible instance of envy, hatred,and malice. MrLangton suggests that the courts are open, and there are deputies. Mr Higinbotham, with his usefnl farsightedness, gives it as his opinion that the persecuted Jones ' can get no adequate redress in a criminal court.' I quite agree with the ex-Attorney-General. Such a result is in the highest degree improbable. By the way, bow furiously the heathen rage together! The immaculate Jones (excuse the apparent misnomer —every man is innocent until he is proved guilty) has been attacked on the subject of his piety) in a Wesleyan sense), and has been accused of blasphemy. The wicked grin like dogs and run about the city, and the heathen come together against this pious man, making mouths at him and ceasing not. Pietv and politics—though so widely different—are frequently mixed up together 'now-a-days; Mr Jones seems to have " gone in " for both simultaneously. What his precise creed is, it seems difficult to fathom ; in default of better, however, I will recommend him Mr. Russell Lowell's —

" I du believein prayer and praise To him that hez the grantin' O'jobs, —in everythin' that pays, But most of all in Cantin'. This doth my cup with marcies fill, This lays all thought o'sin to rest, — I don't believe in princerple; But, oh, I du in interest."

So, I am sure, does Jones. I do not know if Mr Dyte understands the French language, but I should imagine that a gentleman with such vast sources of peculiar and particular information at hand could scarcely help knowing something of that tongue. If he does, he may remember a proverb to the effect that he who excuses himself, accuse* himself. In the general thunder-storm of explanation which has burst in a vain attempt to clear the moral atmosphere of the House (I beg Mr Dyte's pardon —the'Ouse). the honorable member for Ballarat East could not but join. Alas ! his thunder has but succeeded in souring the milk of human kindness, which had begun to flow on his account, and has in no wise done him service. This misguided person fishes up Spargo from the depths, and attempts to throw that unsavoury mor. sel as a sop to the howling Cerberus of public opinion. He says 'My dear friends, it is all a mistake ; of course I received the £350 from the St. Andrew's Mining Company, but it was as a commission agent don't you see ? and not as a Member of Legislature.' I confess that the distinction is a very nice one. Perhaps the next time Mr Dyte ' explains ' he will tell us where the commission agent ends, and the legislator begins. The Dyteian anatomy, it would seem, is twofold.

" Desinet in piscem mulier forraosa superne." He is only legislator as far as his middle, and the other half of him is commission agent."

A Love Termination of a Eail--way Accident. —A late serious collision upon one of our western railways was productive of a casualty which has since resulted fatally. At the moment when the collision took place a gentleman was sitting opposite to a young lady, an utter stranger to him, who was, by the force of the concussion, thrown into his arms. Mr was seriously injured, while the lady escaped scatheless. Both she and her papa, who were in the same carriage, naturally felt interested in the fate of their fellow-traveller, and they made kind and frequent inquiries regarding him. The young man ultimately (to all outward appearance) recovered; hut there was still remaining an internal wound, which not all the medical skill provided by the railway company, regardlea of expense, could heal. He determined at last, pallid and almost desparing, to seek relief in the town where dwelt his fellow-traveller, and was induced to conquer his natural reserve, and make a call. Here his malady manifested itself in a remarkAble manner, for he "proposed " to

the young lady, was accepted, approved of by the papa, and married. The lady-gossips have not even yet ceased to admire this happy close to a really very affecting piece of domestic rommance. — American Paper. GrETTINO ON IN THE "WORLD. There are so many different ways of getting on in the world; it does not always mean making a great deal of money, or being a great mau for people to look up to with wonder. Leaving off a bad habit for the good one is getting on in the world—to be clean and tidy, instead of dirty and disorderly, is getting on —to be careful and saving, instead of thoughtless and wasteful, is getting on —to be active and industrious, instead of idle and lazy, is getting on—to be kind and forbearing, instead of ill-natured and quarrelsome, is getting on —to work as diligently in the master's absence as in his presence, is getting on—in short, when we see any one properly attentive to his duties, persevering through difficulties to gaiu such knowledge as shall be of use to himself and others, offering a good example to his relatives and acquaintances, we may be sure that he is getting on in the world. Money is a very useful article in its way, but it is possible to get on with small means, for it is a mistake to suppose that we must wait for a good deal of money before we can do anything. Perseverance is often better than a full purse. There are more helps towards getting on than is commonly supposed; many people lag behind or miss the way altogether, because they do not see the simple and abundant means which surround them on all sides ; and it so happens that these means are aids which cannot be bought with money. Those who wish to get on the world must have a stock of patience and perseverance, of hopeful confidence, a willingness to learn, and a disposition not easily cast down by difficulties and disappointments.