Page:Thomas Hare - The Election of Representatives, parliamentary and municipal.djvu/74

 monopoly, may not unreasonably hope to find advocates for the free interchange and communication, as well of political action as of political thought, against the far less plausible and more insolent claims of dominant inhabitants of arbitrarily selected and privileged boroughs and districts to a monopoly of the great right of national representation.

The purpose of this work is to show how practically small in form is the change that would suffice to liberate the elector from the bonds that now tie him to the other voters of the borough in which he happens to dwell, whereby his action is absolutely fettered to theirs, however weak, ignorant, or corrupt they may be,—how perfectly such a change would be in accordance with the letter and spirit of our constitution, and how trivial are the arguments against it, when thoroughly weighed. By such means, the unrepresented minority would be reduced to the smallest limits, and include only those impracticable tempers, for whose satisfaction it is neither possible nor desirable to provide.