A long while ago, before all the Liberals died, a Liberal introduced
a Bill to prevent Parliament being merely packed with the slaves of
financial interests. For that purpose he established the excellent
democratic principle that the private citizen, as such, might protest
against public corruption. He was called the Common Informer. I
believe the miserable party papers are really reduced to playing on the
degradation of the two words in modern language. Now the word “common”
in “Common Informer” means exactly what it means in “common sense” or
“Book of Common Prayer,” or (above all) in “House of Commons.” It
does not mean anything low or vulgar; any more than they do. The only
difference is that the House of Commons really is low and vulgar; and
the Common Informer isn’t. It is just the same with the word “Informer.”
It does not mean spy or sneak. It means one who gives information. It
means what “journalist” ought to mean. The only difference is that the
Common Informer may be paid if he tells the truth. The common journalist
will be ruined if he does.
Now the quite plain point before the party journalist is this: If
he really means that a corrupt bargain between a Government and a
contractor ought to be judged by public opinion, he must (nowadays) mean
Parliament; that is, the caucus that controls Parliament. And he must
decide between one of two views. Either he means that there can be no
such thing as a corrupt Government. Or he means that it is one of the
characteristic qualities of a corrupt Government to denounce its own
corruption. I laugh; and I leave him his choice.