Page:Thoughts On Parliamentary Reform.djvu/43

38 It is for this reason that no one, either Conservative or Reformer, approves of vote by ballot in Parliament itself. A member of Parliament, however secured against misleading influences from without, would often promote his private interest by voting wrong; and the chief security against this violation of his trust, is the publicity of his vote, and the effect on his mind of the opinion which will be formed of his conduct by other people. Thirty years ago it was still true that in the election of members of Parliament, the main evil to be guarded against was that which the ballot would exclude-—coercion by landlords, employers, and customers. At present, I conceive, a much greater source of evil is the selfishness, or the selfish