IRISH OVER-REPRESENTATION.
[TO VIZ EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1
Sfn,—We in Ireland are much concerned that an advocacy so responsible as yours is behind the "one vote one value" theory. You properly state in your editorial affix to my letter of last week that if Ireland was under-represented in the last century, that is no reason why she should be over- represented in this; but it is possible that while under-repre- sented then, she is not by any means over-represented now. I forget Mr. Kimber's figures or his constituency,—Wandsworth, I think ; but he asks why hundreds in Mayo should have one representative when thousands • in Essex have but one. It is a question I perpetually hear put, not usually by the most in- telligent people either, when in America. The Senate is the pre- dominant partner in that Legislature. Why should California with a million have two Senators when Pennsylvania with four million has only two? The reply is that Mr. Quay and Mr. Penrose can run into Washington at any moment from Philadelphia, whereas the Senators from California, if they are the class of men valuable to the Senate, not mere attorneys, but men of affairs, cannot possibly be in close attendance at Washington during a Session which lasts from November to August. And of no less weight is it that the great populous Eastern States which tentacle Washington—States such as New York, Penn- sylvania, Indiana, and Ohio—can, with their Press and their powerful lobby organisations, so generate public opinion that Congress is all too frequently " stampeded." And similarly London. Had London no representation at all in Parliament, does any one question that the influence of London at West- minster would still be far greater than the influence of Ireland, her four millions, and her hundred representatives P If I may revert once more to the American Constitution, surely the district of Columbia, that district which contains Washington, was not segregated and its entire population disfranchised, as is the case, without a valid reason. In Ireland, and this is, I have always thought, one of the strongest argu- ments for a Dublin Parliament, there is not the class available which could give any regular attendance to Parliamentary duties at a distance. In England, on the other hand, there is a vast class of this sort, the peers in wealth, leisure, and opportunity of Mr. Chamber- lain or Mr. Balfour, to take the first two names that occur to me. But here in Ireland there is no such class, and so even if there were no line of cleavage between Nationalists and Unionists, it would still be quite impossible to find men able and willing to leave their Irish establishments and spend months in London ; it could not be done. The Members for Surrey, Essex, and Kent can train to their duty and sleep at their country seats ; now that the motor is with us they probably will; but if the Home-rule issue disappeared for ever, still the men of property and responsitility in Ireland could only afford a fitful and a casual attendance so far from home. Do not let us pat back the hands on the clock for Mr. Kimber'a rule of thumb. Is Tasmania with a popu- lation hardly running into six figures to he attracted to West- minster by a programme of " one vote one value " ?—I am, Sir, &c.,
MORETON FEE WEN.
[Mr. Moreton Frewen's argument is ingenious, but, in our opinion, utterly fallacious. To begin with, there are two Senators from each State, great and small, because the States were separate Commonwealths, federated in a Union. The equality in Senatorial power marks the fact that all sovereign States are equal. Therefore the analogy with our House of Commons is entirely misleading. If Mr. Moreton Frewen's contention were sound, the House of Representa- tives, which does in many ways correspond to our House of Commons, should have many Representatives from Nevada' and Montana, and few from New York and Pennsylvania. Again, would Mr. Moreton Frewen propose to give great extra voting power in choosing the President to the spersely populated and distant States ? But our House of Commons, in effect, chooses a President in the shape of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. Why, then, should Galway have ten or twelve times the power in choosing our Executive that Wandsworth has ? Even on the score of legislation we see little force in Mr. Moreton Frewen's argument. The only safe plan for those who adopt a democratic basis for govern- ment, as we do, is to have a just and impartial distribution of electoral power. All the arguments used to defend the unjust over-representation of Ireland were used to defend the rotten boroughs in 1832, and they all failed because they were built on a foundation of paradox.—ED. Spectator.]
Previous page
