Thus, the man who is chosen, even by the
strongest party, represents perhaps the real wishes only of the narrow
margin by which that party outnumbers the other. Any section whose
support is necessary to success possesses a veto on the candidate. Any
section which holds out more obstinately than the rest can compel
all the others to adopt its nominee; and this superior pertinacity
is unhappily more likely to be found among those who are holding out
for their own interest than for that of the public. The choice of
the majority is therefore very likely to be determined by that portion
of the body who are the most timid, the most narrow-minded and
prejudiced, or who cling most tenaciously to the exclusive
class-interest; in which case the electoral rights of the minority,
while useless for the purposes for which votes are given, serve only
for compelling the majority to accept the candidate of the weakest
or worst portion of themselves.
That, while recognising these evils, many should consider them as
the necessary price paid for a free government is in no way
surprising: it was the opinion of all the friends of freedom up to a
recent period. But the habit of passing them over as irremediable
has become so inveterate that many persons seem to have lost the
capacity of looking at them as things which they would be glad to
remedy if they could.
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