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Untitled Article
a public and full investigation . Something more would be required than the recommendation of a junta and the adoption of a cockade . There would be no turning off an old and faithful servant , yet able and willing to serve , merely because he could not spend money . There would be no looking out for unknown men with purses yet more liberal than their opinions . The associated electors would know what they were about . They would act on principle .
It is feared , by some , that this would subject the wealthy classes to the dictation of the multitude . That would depend entirely upon the wealthy classes . There would be an end of their dietating to the multitude ; an event not to be regretted . But unless they stood aloof , in sullen and criminal indifference , from their
fellow citizens , their moral influence would be far greater than it now is . They would , on the supposition of their possessing the requisite mental qualifications , be the loved leaders of the commonalty , instead of its tyrants or corrupters . The subject of bribery has made us digress : we return to that of influence . This has been exercised most unsparingly . Few electors , comparatively , of humble station , have been left to act
upon their own opinions and wishes without molestation . We hear from all quarters of the means which have been employed to act upon tradespeople , workmen , and dependents of every description . We know what distress , what anguish of mind , has been in many cases produced by these proceedings . It is only the circumstance of their commonness that prevents their exciting
the strongest indignation . And there has been abundance , also of ignorant and willing servility . The men who have principles and a preference are overpowered by the herds who have neither , but who go to the poll a 3 they are led or driven . The ballot , and the annihilation of the present system of canvassing , are essential to a fair and free election . Could such associations as we have
suggested to counteract bribery be formed in every town and county , open voting might be preserved . But we know very well that they will not be formed , and that , if they were , they would not be allowed to exist . Our speculation on their application has been confined to the extreme cases of open bribery which have occurred . There they might be tolerated . Generally , they would not . But the ballot is attainable . If there be aught of faith and
honour in public men , its enactment is at hand . A decisive proportion of the candidates returned is pledged to its adoption . In many instances an ' if necessary was smuggled in , but such a case of necessity will be made out as we hope Ministers cannot withstand , and then the demonstration wilt undoubtedly be complete .
It is lamentable that the vanity and violence , the ignorance and cupidity , of those who esteem themselves the better classes of society should entail on us the necessity of a secret exercise of the noblest right of a citizen . But so it is ; and the lowlier must be protected . Too many of those who deprecate the ballot have , by their conduct , ripened the general conviction of the necessity
Untitled Article
The Elections , 45
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1833, page 45, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2606/page/45/
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