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In the first case (a method that has been much advocated) it is only a bare majority in each District who are represented. For it must not be supposed that all who vote for a Member are duly represented by him. If a District contains 20,001 Electors, so that 10,001 are enough to return a Member, all additional votes are absolutely wasted: hence only 10,001 Electors in that District are represented in Parliament; the other 10,000, whether they vote for the successful Candidate, or for a rival, or even if there be no contest at all, are unrepresented. This method, then, leaves nearly half the whole body of Electors unrepresented.
The injustice of this method may be illustrated from two points of view. Suppose a bare majority of the Electors to be of one party, and the rest of the opposite party; e.g. let 6–11ths be 'red' and 5–11ths 'blue.' Then, as a matter of abstract justice, about 6–11ths of the House ought to be 'red', and 5–11ths 'blue.' But practically this would have no chance of occurring: if the 'reds' and 'blues' were evenly distributed through the Kingdom, a 'red' would be returned in every District, and the whole House would
