MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 93 



rights, but those of every other individual in the kingdom, therefore the pro- 

 perty of the individual named would not entirely be unrepresented, but, of 

 course, not so well as if he himself had the right to vote ; yet he would be 

 better off without a vote, both for his own and others' interests, if he were 

 ignorant of the probable effects of giving one. 



" The same arguments I have adduced in opposition to the present system 

 of conferring the vote upon the constituency of the kingdom will also apply 

 to the manner of proving a man's right and capability to sit in the House of 

 Commons, namely, by a property qualification ; and the same remedies I pro- 

 pose to amend the constituency of the kingdom, I also propose to amend the 

 representatives of the kingdom. Through the evils of the present system the 

 most ignorant man who, by dint of unblushing impudence, has gained a seat, 

 is capable, by an ignorant vote, of stifling a measure which might have been 

 productive of the greatest happiness both to himself and the nation at large. 

 But if that man had, before he could have sat in the House of Commons, 

 been obliged to have shown his fitness for that honour, if he had been 

 obliged to have shown that he understood something about the duties of the 

 station he aspired to, then his vote, we have the right to conclude, would 

 have been given with a conviction of its propriety, and an assurance of the 

 probable effects it would produce. 



" Next I consider that it is necessary to, or at least it would greatly ensure 

 the stability of the state ; that an intellectual standard should be the one 

 which should decide fitness for the vote. At present the electors, from not 

 having shown their fitness for it, are (I do not say all) liable, the great ma- 

 jority of them, to be carried away by any daring pretender to politics. That 

 man possessing the greatest talent for wheedling is the most likely to succeed 

 in obtaining their vote, while some more talented but honourable individual, 

 from not possessing this amiable accomplishment, will often find himself 

 ousted by his more time-serving, but ignorant opponent. I do not say that 

 such is the case generally, but that such must be the effects, more or less, of 

 the right of vote, as conferred by the present system. While a state leave a 

 road open, by which men ignorant of the knowledge and principles of legis- 

 lation, and the resources of the empire, can enter and become lawgivers, or, 

 by which other men, ignorant of all these subjects, but in a much greater de- 

 gree, can become the appointers of these lawgivers, that state can never be 

 said to be founded on a lasting basis, but must be continually liable to the 

 injurious effects such a system must be expected to be productive of. 



" But, on the other hand, if we found a state demanding, from those as- 

 piring to the rights above-named, the proof of their capability of performing 

 the duties, attending the possession of them ; then might we reasonably con- 

 clude that that state would increase in strength with years, would possess a 

 representative assembly capable of understanding its interests ; a national 

 constituency worthy their right, and a durability of constitution, combined 

 with an equal distribution of all the blessings that men desire, which no other 

 state could possess unless enjoying the same system." 



The author is evidently one of the working classes. He writes incorrectly, 

 which however, under the circumstances, is not to be wondered at. What 

 we blame him for is that, with his imperfect education and crude notions, he 

 should undertake the task of instructing the legislature as to the best mode 

 of re-modelling the constitution of the country. 



Schloss Hainfeld ; or a Winter in Lower Styria. By CAPTAIN BASIL 

 HALL. Whittaker & Co. 



WE are glad to meet Captain Hall once more in the walks of literature. It 

 is long since we had any thing from his pen other than his occasional contri- 

 butions to periodicals. The sketches of scenes and circumstances, with which 



