THE FATE OF MINORITIES.
170 THE EDITOR OF THE " SpEcTATon."1 Sie,—As a constant reader of your able paper for the past six years, will you kindly permit me to express my surprise that so astute a controversialist as Sir C. Gavan Duffy should have descended from his argument, to warn yourself, and consequently those that agree with you, of the deluge which will descend upon their heads, and the impotence with which they will strive to keep them above the morbid torrent of overrepresented Democracy. The county in which 1 live is just the one to repudiate such ideas. We have an excellent minority Member ; but to us Liberals he seems always under a cloud,— his solid Liberalism (not Radicalism) does not at present represent us in its true light. But, with the advent of the single seats, the Liberals of Herts will certainly hope to have a Member representing them in a fuller degree. It will be their fault if Mr. Cowper is not returned for the most populous of these divisions; and even if the Tories, by their feudal weight, should gain, say, two out of the four seats, still there would be taken away the minority stigma which I have said seems to hang like a cloud over us. It would be better to lose all the seats than to have that left ; and I make bold to say that is the feeling that should actuate those who wish to have something to fight for, not to be "second or third best," as you aptly put it, but if in a minority, to work so that the majority shall understand your principles and respect them. As to the Spretator sinking beneath its own utterances, I can remember that it gave its cordial assent to the single.Member system long before the present scheme was produced. I am sorry I cannot refer to the exact number, as I always post my copy to some friends in North Wales ; but I am sure that had there been anything to retract, that it would have been done before. As it is, allow me to ask you, Sir, to urge, with the Daily News, the advisability of some change in the Metropolitan scheme. It now stands a confused bungle of parishes and interests ; and you can consistently aid the thoughtful minority (I had written majority) in eliminating the good from the bad, so that in the Metropolis, where the minority-principle is most in danger, we may have a really just and right representation of the people.-1 am, Sir, &c., H. E. HELLER. 3 The Croft, Barnet Common, January 12th.
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