The most important, and the most complicated of these demands, is No. 2. How can we best obtain Equality of Representation and government by the majority? We must bear in mind that the strongest argument against all Parliamentary Reform, is that there is no popular project for the representation of minorities, but we are perfectly ready to accord that, if the system of Government by minorities be abolished, the representation of minorities shall be secured. At present this system is reversed, and the majority of electors in the country represented as a minority in the legislature is out- voted and governed by the over-representation of the minority!
As far as I am aware, no scheme has ever been proposed equal to that of proportional and preferential representation, a scheme identified with the name of Mr. Hare, and which has been, with valuable modifications, embodied in a bill brought forward by Mr. Walter Morrison: the object of the bill is threefold. It is to give facility for the self-grouping of Electors, power to the majority, and representation to the minority. My desire is to obtain representation in proportion to the number of Electors. I claim such representation for the Radicals. Our party is a large one, but it is broken up by limited geographical areas[1] and by the nefarious electoral system. If Mr. Walter Morrison's bill became law, there would be a hundred bonâ fide radicals placed in the House, and this would be at least sufficient to prevent a "count out." The motto of our movement is "Representation in the legislature." We leave to others the barren cry of mere enfranchisement in the constituencies.
The Duty of Reformers,
Before I draw my lecture to a close, let me, however, urge upon all those who desire to advance the welfare of their fellow creatures, for this I take it is the object of every real Reformer,
"One who seeks his own
In all men's good—"
let me urge upon them the necessity of practising some tolerance towards each other. We want a little more self-sacrifice, and a little less self-assertion; we want mutual concession in
- ↑ Probably 200,000 electors in the country would have supported Mr. Mill, had they been able to do so, when this eminent man last stood for Parliament, but a hundred or so of peopel because they lived in Westminster, were sufficient to exclude him from the Legislature.
