The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-06-27
PERSONAL MISREPRESENTATION.

That the will of tho majority should govern
| is q rule accepted almost everywhere, and in
this country has long been deemed the key TO
| tho most satisfactory form of democratic or
representative government, and tho only
principle upon which such government is pos
| sible. few wise mon very early foresaw
| grave objections to this method Of ruc /; but
| as in tho main it worked VOL, no efforts were
made to change it for any other plan. But in
the presidential election of 1850, by the divis-
ion into parties, the successful candidate had
not received majority Of tho votes cnst he
| had only received more votes thnn any one of
! tho other three gentlemen, who were his com
petiors for the presidential Office. The i'm
mediate result of this election, as we oil know,
was n gigantic fratricidal war, tho most unfor-
tunate ever wagcd on this continent. differ
cnt scheme of representation, in which the
wishes Of the majority could have been consti-
tutionnlly contorcd upon one candidate, would,
| in oil human probability, have averted this dire
calamity.
| This subject has received considerable attcn-
lion of late, particularly in England, whore
Mr.. HARE has offered scheme, which would
secure eifectual representation TO every suf-
| fragist. But before wo enter on its e1plann-
tion, We will briefly review the chief objections
that hayo been made 10 our present system by
several leading American writer's, rs also, by
NJ DE ToauEvILLE, JonN STUART MILL, and
other foreign publicsts. These we find clearly
set forth in q late paper on this subject in the
GALAXY. l. Our present system Of electing
| representatives, leads to the separation Of the
whole voting population into two great parties,
compelling forced md unnatural uniformity
| Of view, intensifying partisan conflicts, and
giving undue power to small majoritics.
2 II has led in practice TO tho non-re-
coguition Of the rights of minorites, as we'll rs
TO their misrepresentation in our Legislative
| bodies.
8. II condemns to private lifo the best, wisest,
| md most original minds in tho country, aud
gives nearly oil the prizes of high public sta
tion to available mcdiocrities.
4. II fills our representative halls with pur-
| chasable representatives, who in spite of their
known unworthiness, are kept in official posi-
1 tion by ignorant or indifferent constituencies.
g. II has given birth to the convention, the
caucus, the lobby, the riug--irresponsibl
bodies, unknown to the Constitution, yet oft
! timca far moro powerful in controlling lcgisla-
tion than wise public opinion.
6. II incites to dcmagogism--that is, 10 un-
wise and hurtful adulation of the people, makes
the majority intolcrant and tyrannical and
| compels an unwholesome uniformity of view
! and action at times when debate and opposition
| are needful to form q correct public sentiment.
The practical working Of the system is thus
! happily illustrated: "Voters in this country
may be classified into three partics-say the
Blue, the Green, and tho Yellow The mass Of
voters belong either TO the Blues or Greens,
and not over one in ten to tho Yellows; yet
this last is the ower-confcrring party! The
bulk of stolid and prejudioed people are always
Democrats or Republicans, but 40. also, are the
men of sincere convictions, as we'll as all the
really honest voters but the Yellow, or bal
| anoe-of-power party-a contemplate faction in
point Of numbers, and made up Of the most
questionable voting matorial-nfter all, controls
the action of Conventions, and dictates the
choice Of executive and legislative officers
That is to say, our system gives the controlling
power to the exceptional, purchasable and i'm
pressible minority vote"
Mr.. HAREs plan has been brought into no
ticc by the reform agitation in England, and is
strongly endorsed by Mr.. MILL. A modifoa-
tion Of this plan, under the name of the "cu-
mulative vote," has found its way into Parla-
ment, and is favored by the tory government
II was first proposed by Lord JOHN RUSSELL
in 1864. His proposition was to increase the
number of tubrap. .cornarn cou offF,, ano;aa 1; .
electoral districts entitled to three members
but 10 restrict voters from giving their voices
for more than two Of tho representatives. OF
course under this rule the majority would al
ways have two of the members, and the mi
nority, If large enough, the remaining one.
But this, after all, only recognizes two parties
of tho State, and gives no representation to tho
minor interests aud opinions which exist in
all free governments, apart from the leading
political organizations.
Mr. THoHAs HARE published his plan in
1868; but to Mr.. Null, we believe, belongs the
honor Of bringing il into general notice In
his Representative Government" this scheme
will be found warmly and cogently endorsed
Mr.. MILL proclaims this plan as OF "transccnd-
ent Importance" and sees in Il o cure for the
most palpable evils Of representative institu-
! tions. This plan operates somewhat as follows
If the election is for o member of Congress,
for instance, the voter is to write down the
namos of his candidates In the order Of his
preference. He may put down two, six, ton
or any number Of names, and these will repre-
sent his first, second, third, etc., choice. If
the first fails to get the requisite number of
| votes, perhaps tho second may be more lucky,
| and 30 on. The process of arriving at cor
rect result Is necessarily more complicsto than
our present system, but this is q matter for the
managers or judges Of elections, with which the
individual voter has nothing to do.
Among the advantages which would arise,
from tho adoption Of the Hare scheme, or q
wise adaptation of the cumulative vote in this
country, are the following: /. It would sc.
cure 10 minorities, beyond all peradventure,
| their. true representation in our legislative
bodies. g. It would rerolutioni.e the ire.
sponsible convention system, perhaps do away
with 1t altogether, thus ridding us Of the wire.
pulling, log-rolling and corruption, which the
present system necessarily entails. 8. IL
would do oxav with caucnoas A "a