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from voting without reflection, judgment without deliberation, 

 or, worst of all, from that spirit which attempts to justify or 

 excuse a selfish isolation. Does the scheme of Mr Hare hold out 

 a reasonable hope of remedying such evils ? I believe it does. 

 The virtual disfranchisement of the minority in each constituency 

 is a most conspicuous evil of the present system, and one which 

 must too frequently condone the indifference of the elector. When 

 the stronger party is well organised, the disfranchisement of the 

 weaker party acquires a prospect of disagreeable permanency. 

 Under the Hare method of voting, the extinction of the minority 

 ceases. Every elector must have a representative in Parliament. 

 No longer need he console himself with the hope, often faint and 

 illusory, that unfair losses in some constituencies will be compen- 

 sated by unfair gains in others. Such a consideration suggests a 

 fact of great importance. If equity of representation strengthen 

 the interest of the elector where he is weak, must it not affect him 

 where he is strong ? By the zeal of the minority we may judge 

 the energy and often the prudence of the majority. Bat it is not 

 from the stimulus of a constant rivalry alone, that we may venture 

 to predict a new and deeper interest in political questions At a 

 recent election in this colony, two questions excited the interest 

 and divided the allegiance of the electors — Tattersall's and the 

 Income Tax. Electors often refused to vote rather than return 

 a candidate who, thougb^he represented their views on the income 

 tax, regarded with complacency the revenue derived from 

 Tattersall's. This is an evil of the system— not a vice in the voter ; 

 and it is equally common and pernicious. Under the Hare scheme, 

 the electors can plead no such excuse for inaction. The choice is 

 sufficiently liberal to gratify the most fastidious taste. While 

 human nature remains unaltered, there remains a third reason 

 for connecting the proposed method of voting and a deepening of 

 political interest. I allude to the circumstance that the classifica- 

 tion of a Dumber of candidates in an order of merit affords some 

 occasion for the display of a useful vanity. The elaborate 

 discussions which took place in this colony at an election just held 

 under the Hare system, suggest a study no less suggestive to the 

 thoughtful than engaging to the curious. The arguments were 

 not always distinguished by exceptional intelligence or an excep- 

 tional integrity ; but the interest was phenomenal. " Who should 

 be first ? Who second ?": etc. He is no true friend to liberty 

 who does not place a high value upon such discussions. 



Mr Hare claimed for his system that it would lessen the evils, 

 if not remove the causes, of political corruption. The arguments 

 by which this claim is supported are not always convincing ; but 

 they are invariably respectable, and in one case c inclusive, 

 When it is open to no one to effect a sale of his constitueney by 

 turning the scale at an election, the obstacles to bribery 

 must be materially increased. For this reason, as well as for 

 others which have already engaged our attention, one may indulge 

 the hope of a more virtuous legislature. The hope becomes 

 stronger when reflection has weighed those independent|grounds by 

 which it is justified. The unrestricted freedom of choice favors 

 the nomination of intelligence and probity. Parties, anxious to 

 retain or to recover the confidence of the country, must bind the 

 allegiance of their followers by the nomination of theacceptable 



