Page:Thomas Hare - The Election of Representatives, parliamentary and municipal.djvu/35

Rh require its power to be exercised;—whilst the engine is being made,—it is the engine we want, and not the power.

The conduct of men may be actuated by two different motives, one, the desire to do that which is believed to be right,—the other, the desire to do that which shall be attended with direct success. A parliamentary representative is to be chosen by two or three thousand electors, and opinions and interests are greatly divided;—two questions may present themselves to every elector,—the one,—who is the person best fitted by character and talent to fill an office in the duties of which the interests of the nation, to an incalculable extent, may be involved,—and the other, who will my co-electors be most likely to choose? In other words,—what is right, and what will succeed?

It may be answered, that abstract right, when considered by a prudent man, resolves itself into a question of expediency and practicability,—that it is a case of compromise;—and that, therefore, the second question is that which such a man is justified in asking. It is true that in all political action we must consider what is expedient and practicable. This is the well-known and just defence of party action. Singly, one man can do little, and yet, by combining his efforts with others having similar objects, he may accomplish much. But it is necessary to consider under what conditions an individual is placed when he is called upon to yield up his own opinions of rectitude and prudence. To what extent is the will at liberty? That which is a free concession amongst persons who have associated voluntarily, to pursue the same objects and the same means,—as the partners or shareholders in a company, or the members of a particular society, may be, and more commonly is, entirely different, when the persons collected together are infinitely various in character, disposition and object, and their association is compulsory and not voluntary. In such a case the question ceases to be of the nature of a compromise, and becomes one of mastery. Instead