Nothing can be more fallacious, than to found political calculations on arithmetical principles. Sixty or seventy men may be more properly trusted with a given degree of power, than six or seven. But it does not follow, that six or seven hundred would be proportionably a better depositary. And if the supposition is carried on to six or seven thousand, the whole reasoning ought to be reversed. The truth is, that, in all cases, a certain number seems necessary to secure the benefits of free consultation and discussion; to guard against too easy a combination for improper purposes; and to prevent hasty and ill-advised legislation. On the other hand the number ought to be kept within a moderate limit, in order to avoid the confusion, intemperance, and inconvenience of a multitude.[1] It was a famous saying of Cardinal De Retz, that every public assembly, consisting of more than one hundred members, was a mere mob.[2] But surely this is just as incorrect, as it would be to aver, that every one, which consisted of ten members, would be wise.
§ 652. The question then is, and for ever must be, in every nation, a mixed question of sound policy and discretion, with reference to its size, its population, its institutions, its local and physical condition, and all the other circumstances affecting its own interests and convenience. As a present number, sixty-five was sufficient for all the exigencies of the United States; and it was wisest and safest to leave all future questions of increase to be judged of by the future condition and exigencies of the Union. What ground could there be to suppose, that such a number chosen biennially, and responsible to their constituents, would voluntarily betrayPage:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol II).djvu/128
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CONSTITUTION OF THE U. STATES.
[BOOK III.
