22 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTI'1UTE. | Vou. aie 
He was present at a meeting in Oxford when the matter was taken up. 
It was universally pronounced chimerical. 
Mr. Douglass, while'aware of many difficulties in the carrying out of a 
system of minority representation was strongly in sympathy with the 
paper to-night. He wished for further information on the subject. 
Mr. Meek urged the advantages of Party Government. With all its 
faults and shortcomings it is after all (taking into consideration the true 
objects of all governments), the best system of government the world 
has had any experience of. Party government is not an invention or 
creation. It is a natural growth, a natural development. ‘Theorists 
may propound theories of government which appear more symmetrical, 
but not having sprung spontaneously from the people, they lack vitality. 
A tree may be constructed which will appear more artistic in form, and 
more beautiful in outline than a living tree, but the one is dead, and the 
other has life. We should not seek to destroy representative party 
government as it now exists, but to improve it, and remove its real 
defects. Wherever we find free institutions, wherever we find political 
liberty, there we find party government in some form. Wherever we 
find despotism, wherever political liberty is suppressed, party government 
does not exist. They have no political parties in Russia or Turkey. 
There is no political life in those countries. Our present methods of 
representatative government are modern, but party government existed 
in the cities of ancient Greece. The moment a city acquired free insti- 
tutions, party government naturally and necessarily came into existence 
As soon as free institutions were done away with, party government 
ceased. The same thing happened in Rome. While Rome retained a 
real republican government, different parties contended with each other 
for the supreme power, and Rome was aggressive, and progressive. 
When imperial military authority became established, party government 
ceased, party strife ceased, and progress and civilization became stagnant. 
Our aim should be to improve, not to destroy. The contention of 
party leaders is not so much energy and talent wasted. Their struggles 
prevent political stagnation. They educate the people. They are the 
life of free institutions. Minorities are not without representation, they 
are represented by the opposition. All parties necessarily and naturally 
consolidate into two, representing the ins and outs. Party government 
and representative government, as we now have them, have many defects 
which can be reformed and corrected. Our senate might be recon- 
structed. Our voters’ lists might be simplified. The limits of the 
constituencies might be settled or adjusted so as to prevent any political 
party from altering them to suit its own purposes. But, the greatest of 
