80 



called so, a 7. franchise would include g'reat num- 

 bers. But if it does, the question I ask is this ; what 

 have the equally drunken blackguards who live in 

 villages done that they should not possess the same 

 privileges. Not that I see any particular advantage 

 that would accrue, only it seems manifestly just ; and 

 if it is just, it must be advantageous ; for a country 

 must suffer for every particle of injustice or wrong* 

 committed in it, however small, utterly unable as we 

 usually are to trace the connection. Cause must 

 have its effect. All injustice and sins against pro- 

 portion are terribly paid for. If a ship is lopsided, 

 she goes to the bottom. If a man's mind is lopsided, 

 he is a fool. If the brain of such a man is active, 

 he may be clever or talented to any degree, but wise 

 he cannot be. And just by so much as he is not 

 wise, he is miserable. So, also, it is, if the mind of 

 a country is lopsidedly represented. As to the dis- 

 tinction between skilled and unskilled labour, it is 

 mere folly. George Stephenson was an unskilled 

 labourer, so was Robert Burns. Besides, there is no 

 such thing as unskilled labour. All kinds of labour 

 require skill. 



Of course I know the reason why large towns are 

 represented whilst villages are not, is that the inhabit- 

 ants of villages from being scattered as they are, 

 cannot combine, and thus put pressure upon the Go- 

 vernment. But what an astounding thing this is to 

 say of a civilized country. 



Voltaire in one of his " Romans" describes an in- 



