26 Proportional Representation. 



should suppose it is not realized in practice, I have to tell him 

 it was realised in the last election of five members for a populous 

 English town — it does not matter what is its name, or whether 

 it is Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, but the minority of 

 voters returned three members out of five. Well, if you give 

 the matter a little consideration you will see that it depends 

 upon the fact that in the districts D and E there is a great con- 

 gestion of the party Y. The balance was heavier for Y in these 

 two districts than for X in the districts of A, B, and C, and if 

 clever people got these districts into their hands, and knew that 

 the party they did not like was strongly congested in one corner, 

 they might cut up the area so as to make that party throw away 

 their power in such a manner that they could not make any 

 practical use of it. 



What happened by a mere accident in this English con- 

 stituency has happened over and over again by design in 

 many of the American States, and has received the special 

 name of jerrymandering. Those astute persons are said to 

 jerrymander who so divide a State that they can carry a 

 majority of the elections, although they have only a minority 

 of the electors. This has been done repeatedly in the United 

 States, and it appears to be done elsewhere, because the last 

 revolution in the canton of Ticino was due to the fact that, 

 although one party of the electors were in power numerically, 

 they never could secure a majority of votes in the Canton or 

 Chamber. Now, this will prove to you that the very first con- 

 dition or requisite of a representative Government — namely, 

 that the balance of the chamber should correspond, in the be- 

 ginning at least, to the balance of the electorate — is not neces- 

 sarily fulfilled by dividing up the area into districts containing 

 equal numbers of electors, in which a member is returned for 

 each district. 



It may also fail in many other ways. In addition to the 

 United States and Ticino I may refer to other illustrations, 

 which may be present in the mind of some of you, where 

 a minority has been entirely effaced, and got nothing whatever 



