The champions of unpopular
doctrines would not put forth their arguments merely in books and
periodicals, read only by their own side; the opposing ranks would
meet face to face and hand to hand, and there would be a fair
comparison of their intellectual strength in the presence of the
country. It would then be found out whether the opinion which
prevailed by counting votes would also prevail if the votes were
weighed as well as counted.
The multitude have often a true instinct for distinguishing an
able man, when he has the means of displaying his ability in a fair
field before them. If such a man fails to obtain at least some portion
of his just weight, it is through institutions or usages which keep
him out of sight. In the old democracies there were no means of
keeping out of sight any able man: the bema was open to him; he needed
nobody's consent to become a public adviser. It is not so in a
representative government; and the best friends of representative
democracy can hardly be without misgivings that the Themistocles or
Demosthenes, whose counsels would have saved the nation, might be
unable during his whole life ever to obtain a seat. But if the
presence in the representative assembly can be insured of even a few
of the first minds in the country, though the remainder consist only
of average minds, the influence of these leading spirits is sure to
make itself sensibly felt in the general deliberations, even though
they be known to be, in many respects, opposed to the tone of
popular opinion and feeling.
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