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money from a candidate , and more money from his opponent , a * long as the contending parties were fools enough to give it . And > after all , how would they vote ? The game would soon be found both too expensive and too uncertain to persevere in . There would be no connexion between the means employed * and the end desired , wherever the constituency was numerous . Where
it is small , indeed , it might answer to bribe the whole , payment being contingent on the return of the candidate ; but a small constituency , so small as to be manageable in this way , ought not to exist ; it must , on any mode of voting , have a tendency to become a close borough . With open voting , it is the certain prey of the government , or of a neighbouring nobleman , or of a large capitalist ; and with secret voting , it can become no worse *
Although the reviewer affects to concede that secrecy of voting might be obtained , he yet forgets the concession , and continually assumes its impracticability . He thinks that no man , certainly no countryman , could possibly keep his own counsel ; though house and home , bread and bed , depended upon his doing so .
He thinks that men would be found out by their political opinions , as if the very fact of compulsory voting , whether open or secret , did not imply that the tenant ' s opinions were known , and known to be opposed to those of the landlord . Then , as now , the vote is what the landlord wants , not the opinion ; the sole differencfe is , that now he can make sure of it ; then , he could not . He
thinks that half the voters might dislike the Ballot , and ostentatiously proclaim for whom they voted , thereby discovering the secret of the other half ; not seeing that few things could make the whole affair more doubtful , than such an ostentatious proclamation . He thinks that canvassers would learn at the poll-booths the state of the poll every hour , and ' have a note from the pollclerks of who came up during the hour , ' and so * tell pretty
accurately whether promises have been kept or broken . ' To be sure , they might tell pretty accurately , for a pretty contrivance would this be for the prevention of secret voting altogether . There is no real difficulty in ensuring the object if it be honestly aimed at ; it is accomplished now whenever people care about it ; and might be , for the largest constituency , by a few simple arrangements .
In a subsequent part of the article , the whole question , as to the public good , is conceded , supposing the secrecy secured and maintained . By compulsory voting , it is said , ' the public is injured , no doubt ; and by the Ballot this injury i 9 avoided , for the real , though carefullv concealed opinion of the voter is fairl y the realthough carefully concealed opinion of the voter is fairly
, represented . ' We may , therefore , go on to consider with him , whether this be a good purchased too dear ? ' What is the price to be paid for it ? The first item in the account is somewhat formidable . ' The voter ' s whole life must be so adjusted as to deceive the person whose vengeance he has reason to dread . And then we arfe
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The Edinburgh Review and the Ballot 79
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G 3
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1833, page 79, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2608/page/7/
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