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knowledge and powers of thought infinitely varied and diffused ; 

 and to expect that the electoral forms of a rude and illiterate age 

 will gather for the national benefit the fruit of this expanded 

 intelligence, is as reasonable as to suppose that the vast manu- 

 facturing results of to-day could be produced by the primitive 

 loom and the hammer. To succeed in this work it is indispensable 

 that every eleetor should have the widest field of choice and the most 

 extensive sphere for co-operation." Thus Mr Hare. The unfairness 

 of the present system in England has been sufficiently established 

 in the publications of Sir John Lubbock. In 1886, the actual 

 voting strength in the constituencies was — Unionists, 319 ; Home 

 Rulers, 320 ; the actual voting strength in the House of Commons 

 was— Unionists, 394; Home Rulers, 275. The majority, which 

 should have been 29 was 119. Again, in 1895, the Conservative- 

 Unionist majority should have been 72 insead of 152. The in- 

 justice is more glaring where a minority of the electors return a 

 majority of the representatives. This may happen without the 

 aid of the mystical gerrymander. In the Canton Ticino the 

 more numerous party, as a result of its concentration in particular 

 districts, found itself in a minority ir the Representative Chamber. 

 It is a significant circumstance that a Reform was only secured 

 by a Revolution. 



Apart from the general question of fairness, equity of 

 representation means representation of minorities. It would seem 

 almost superfluous to insist upon the importance of this fact. 

 The national welfare dermoids the possibility of sustained conflict. 

 If we would have the wise rule of the strong, we must provide for 

 the sustained opposition of the weak. Should victory put an end 

 to strife the days of good government are numbered. For what 

 can we hope in an age of Democracy, if the tendency of political 

 life is towards the extinction of minorities ? Yet the reality of 

 this tendency must appear indisputable. The organisation of 

 Labour is incomplete, but it will not always remain so. When 

 the transitional stage is past, what can prevent the Labour Vote 

 from carrying the election in every constituency? Yet it would 

 be an unhappy day for the people when education and intelligence 

 were excluded from a just share in the representation of the 

 country ; or when the infinitely varied character of the national 

 life found no correspondence in the National Parliament. No 

 one claims that the minority should rule ; but it must be heard. 

 Ultimately, all questions must be decided accordingto the wisdom 

 of the Parliamentary majority ; but the decision should be 

 made under conditions which ensure an adequate expression to the 

 opinion of the minority. Light is the best policeman within as 

 well as beyond the precincts of our Legislatures. It must 

 never be forgotten thai the dilemma of the future is not whether 

 the few or the many shall rule, but whether the sway of 

 the majority shall be absolute or qualified. 



Equity of representation constitutes but the first of those 

 merits, which a disinterested advocacy nny claim for the Hare 

 System. The judgment of the impartial, as well as the 

 expectations of the sanguine, may well indulge the hope of a 

 deeper and more general interest in the politics of the country . 

 There are few who will question the reality or the extent of the 

 evil of popular indifference, the fatal results which must follow 



