protect? What have these unfortunate voters done, that they should be put forward in so prominent a place as the few men whose judgment in the choice of legislators may be more safely trusted than that of the great body of their countrymen? It is a position which is almost certain to expose their wisdom to doubt, and their virtue to danger. In several of these towns, so far as they appear to have any decided opinions, the majority appear favourable to the ballot, as, perhaps, might naturally be expected. All the representatives of those boroughs who are deserving of their high trust, would, no doubt, be elected under a different system. High rank, accompanied by character, talent, industry, and patriotism, is sure to be esteemed and welcomed. People look to an aristocracy of some kind for those whom they are ready to regard as their natural leaders.[1] But it is difficult to see in what respect any particular class or interest in the nation would suffer, if the twelve boroughs above named ceased as such to exist. It would be a curious speculation to take the political history of any of the smaller boroughs, and, following the votes of its representatives for the last half century, to ascertain what distinctive opinions or feelings the action of its electors has been the means of imparting to the legislature.
If it be the object of any party to preserve the small boroughs, either with or without the ballot, for the purpose of securing what they may deem the advantage of reserving some seats which shall be accessible to pecuniary influences, a more honest, and a not less effectual course, would be at once to propose that a certain number of seats should be put up to auction, and that the State should have the benefit of the purchase-money.
It is not, however, any part of the system now proposed, to deprive any of these boroughs of their just weight in the political system of the country. On the contrary, as in the case of the contributory boroughs before referred to, every
- ↑ See Westminster Review, vol. i, n.s., p. 26.
