the most enlarged field of choice, and the most unfettered means of exercising it.
A method of effecting these objects has been partly stated, and remains to be farther explained. The first condition obviously is, that every elector, when he is called upon to exercise his franchise, should be perfectly informed of the extent of the choice before him. When it becomes his duty to select a representative, he must be told who are willing to accept the trust, that, amongst them, he may choose the man whom he shall deem the fittest to be entrusted. No proposition can be more simple or undeniable than that, properly to exercise a discretion, it is necessary to know what discretion one has to exercise. The names of all persons who may offer themselves for the political service of their country may be collected under a law, of which the following is an outline:—
VII. Upon or at any time after a dissolution of Parliament, until the time appointed for polling at the ensuing election, every person offering himself as representative in Parliament at such election, shall signify the same, in writing, to one of the said Registrars, viz.—if he be a candidate for the representation of any constituency or constituencies in England, to the Registrar in London; and if he be a candidate for the representation of any constituency or constituencies in Scotland, to the Registrar in Edinburgh; and if he be a candidate for the representation of any constituency or constituencies in Ireland, to the Registrar in Dublin; and every candidate shall, in such writing or declaration, state for what constituency or constituencies he offers himself as a candidate; and shall also state whether he holds any, and if any, what office, either under the Crown or in the public service; and he shall also, on the delivery of such declaration, pay to the Rigistrar the sum of [£50]; and the said candidate shall not, by declaring himself a candidate as aforesaid, become therefore liable to bear or pay any further expenses, either general or local, incidental to the election.
The names of all those who may offer themselves for the political service of their country having been thus collected—without, in any measure, interfering with the individual and special efforts which any man may think proper to adopt, for the purpose of communicating with the particular boroughs
