THE BALLOT.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sin,—In your article on the Pontefract election, you point out certain drawbacks to the vote by Ballot, and you consider that the result, on the whole, will be unsatisfactory to the supporters of the secret vote. In the minds of those who have advocated and pro- moted the measure as a Liberal party move, I can well believe that the contest between Mr. Childers and Lord Pollington will give rise to many uncomfortable reflections. It is manifest that even a moderately consistent and fairly able Conservative candidate would have carried the borough ; but this result will not have been unexpected by many, who, like myself, are ardent supporters of the new system, and who yet are satisfied that the immediate effect of the change must be to give the opponents of the measure and of all reform not only an innings, but, if they are careful and sensible, a long lease of power. Holding this opinion, I have rejoiced to see the Irish Church iniquity got rid of, and the Irish Land question settled, before the brain-power of the House of Commons is transferred to the Opposition benches. To me, how- ever, the question is not one of party, but of supreme necessity ; and I so entirely agree with Mr. Gladstone in placing it before any other legislative change, that I go so far as to hold that to have had even one more general election with household suffrage and open voting would have been a grave misfortune for the country. Open voting had many advantages, as you have clearly and con- clusively proved, but those advantages we forfeited when we abandoned a restricted suffrage in 1867, and transferred power to the householders in the towns, soon to be reinforced by the labourers of the country districts. The transfer was inevit- able, and, on the whole, will do good and work well, mainly because the abolition of the newspaper stamp and the paper
duty preceded the change by several years, and the Press has educated the people ; at the same time, we must not deceive ourselves by fancying that it has educated them into a taste for thoughtful Liberal opinion. What indeed might be the opinion of the individual voter would have mattered little with open voting„ the working-man would not have dared to vote against his class„ or in other words, against the orders of the mob-organisers, now become his recognised party leaders. The shadow of the coming Ballot Bill has sufficed to nip their organisation in the bud, and its immediate effect is visible in the sort of paralysis that has. smitten the great strike in London, and which will disorganise the- strikes all over the kingdom. We should have heard very little- about conciliating non-Union men, if a printed poll-book kept the- names of all who voted against the Union candidate enshrined' for persecution and rattening hereafter. As it is, they cannot be coerced, and therefore must be conciliated, and the strike leaders. knowit.
In exchange for the great benefit of the free individual vote and' of escaping a war of classes, we must, I fear, put up with a strong Conservative Government. The mind of the working-man is. somewhatsluggish ; he does not like the worry of improvements,. which generally mean increased rates; he prefers mild Pakingtonian or Ruskinian socialism, to Fawcett's strong common-sense and' sound political economy ; he is, in fact, essentially Conservative,. and will no doubt elect a Parliament to his taste. Happily, with all his faults, he is brave, bold, and patriotic, and recently in the- American Civil War he selected the right side for his sympathy and support, when our governing classes were led all astray by a. sort of maudlin nonsensical sentimentality. On the whole, I believe he has the instinct of government, and the future of England will, with God's blessing, be safe in his hands.—I am,.
Previous page
