Page:Thomas Hare - The Election of Representatives, parliamentary and municipal.djvu/224

 to some member of like principle or character who may be chosen by the majorities or minorities of other constituencies.

The state of the Norwich poll, however, is not likely to be folly represented in the above table. Some citizens of Norwich might be natives of other parts of England, or of Scotland, or Ireland, and be influenced by sentiments in favour of candidates connected with such other places, or may have especial predilections overruling any local feeling, and desire to give such a direction to their votes as shall contribute to the return of candidates other than those who have offered themselves to the city of Norwich. Thus, in addition to the votes given for the candidates A to F, as above stated, suppose there are first, or first uncancelled, votes of citizens of Norwich for—

The registrars, having only to acquaint the returning officers of the ultimate result of the appropriation, will, under Clause XXV., inform them which of the candidates G, H, I, K, L, M, have, and which have not, obtained the necessary quota or comparative majority; but whether they have or not been thus successful, the Norwich return will not be affected, for A, B, and F are the successful candidates to whom the greatest number of the Norwich voters have given their primary and effectual support.

The discretion which some of the Norwich voters are thus supposed to have exercised, in setting a higher regard on general, national, intellectual, or social predilections, than on those which are governed simply by locality, cannot be a just subject of complaint by any of their fellow-citizens, for the voters so acting have done nothing which abridges or invades in the smallest degree the political power of the other inha-