Mr. Seymour Cocks has summed up a horrid picture of
mutilated M.P.s—one might say, indeed, of mutilated Members with mutilated members. Speaking in the debate on the Address, he declared, " I would rather this right hand of mine were burnt off at the wrist, leaving a blackened and twisted stump, than sign an order to the British Army to fire on the workers of Greece." This, I feel, is un peu exagire. A clean cut (as to which any competent butcher could advise) would .surely suffice. That way, moreover, both contortion and nigrescence would be avoided. And Mr. Cocks would have good precedent. In 1870 Mr. W. E. Forster assested that he would rather cut off his right hand than see the Bible banished from the schools. The Bible was not banished from the schools, so Mr. Forster was all right. And it is improbable that Mr. Cocks will ever be in a position to " sign an order to the British Army," so Mr. Cocks- will be all right.
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