Page:Thomas Hare - The Election of Representatives, parliamentary and municipal.djvu/189

 list sufficient to compose an entire representative assembly, he becomes a mediator, rather than a partisan. He becomes less narrow, and more catholic in his opinions and prepossessions. One whom he before looked upon as an opponent, though possibly a distinguished one, he now comes to regard as a valuable auxiliary. In a late contest for the City there were few, if any, that voted against one of the former members, when asked whether in the present dearth of statesmen they really wished to exclude from the House one of the small number deserving of the name, who did not answer that their wish was only to exclude him from the representation of London, and not from Parliament. Under the proposed system his name would have appeared on most of the voting-papers; and the preference of others, if expressed, would have been shown only by the place which it occupied on the voting-papers.

As the extensive capacity of expression, and the interesting nature of the act of voting, comes to be felt, increased attention will be directed to it. Instead of that indifference to political action which prevails so extensively that in large constituencies only about half of the electors now take any part in elections, there is every reason to expect that much time would be given to the details necessary for the preparation of the voting-paper. This result can scarcely be doubted, when we consider the degree in which political subjects form, in this country, topics of thought and conversation. The system attains the object to which M. Guizot points as so desirable, that of placing "L'électeur dans une position telle que son jugement personnel, sa propre volonté, soient non seulement libres, mais provoqués à se produire tels qu'ils sont en effet." The attraction presented to each elector by the power of giving effect in his vote to his especial and cherished opinions and feelings, will, when he comes to appreciate it, animate him with a new spirit of incalculable power. Con-