CHAP. VII. THE PRESIDENT ELECTED BY POPULAR VOTE.

117

would be to ruin him. He would, in the words of one of the first political men in the country, "be hooted out of society." And the authority of Mr. Justice Story confirms this, when he says of the Elector, that the "exercise of an independent judgment would be treated as a political usurpation, dishonourable to the individual, and a fraud upon his constituents."

The President is, therefore, an officer directly elected by the people, and not by a small and picked body. In the words of the learned commentator just quoted, the whole foundation of the system so elaborately constructed has been subverted; but it was impossible to prevent the adoption of the present arrangement. The people were sure to satisfy themselves that the electors would consent to receive instructions, and to take precautions against their breaking faith; nor would it be easy, or perhaps possible, to invent any device which should give the shadow of power to the people, and the substance to the delegates whom they had the unqualified right to appoint.

The mode of electing the Senate has been sufficiently explained. In choosing members for the popular branch of the Legislature the immediate action of the people at the polls is again felt. By the system of apportionment which now prevails, there is one representative to about every hundred thousand persons, and the State is broken

10

10 With regard to certain slight inequalities which this plan is found to produce, Webster remarks, "The apportionment of repre

up into as many districts as it is entitled to return members to Congress, each district returning one member. Thus, the population of the State of New York entitles it to thirty-two representatives, therefore it is divided into thirty-two districts; and when the fact previously mentioned is borne in mind, that the candidate usually resides in his district, and that he is elected only for two years, it will be obvious that the control of the people over their representatives is very great. They are popular or unpopular in an instant. Their votes are carefully watched by the active and never-tiring politicians of their districts, and they are called to account for every error or fault they may commit. The pressure applied to them is constant and not to be eluded. If a member attempts to represent the interests of the nation, unmindful of his constituency, he soon ceases to represent anybody. His first term of office is his last.

The political management and control of every élection is exclusively appropriated by the local managers of the party. In every Congressional district. there sits a committee which selects the candidate whom it is intended to bring before the people. This process is called the party nomination, and the candidate who hoped to be returned independently of that

sentative power can never be precise and perfect. There must always exist some degree of inequality."-Works, iii. 374. The system now practised is perhaps as nearly equal and fair as any other that could be devised.

CHAP. VII. THE NOMINATION OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. 119

nomination, or of the committee, or of the faction, would realize in the end that he had spent a large sum of money merely to assure himself of the invincibility of party organizations. On the other hand, the candidate who secures the regular nomination has all the machinery of his party to aid him." His name is included in the general list of the candidates of his party, and the voter takes it and “votes the whole ticket," as it is called, often without knowing anything of the men for whom he is voting, but resting satisfied with the knowledge that they have received the sanction and recommendation of his leaders. The candidate rarely makes an appeal to the body of his constituency. The committee are his masters, and he must settle every detail, and, to borrow the common phrase, "square his opinions" with them. There is no "nomination day" as in England, the candidate is not compelled to appear before his

11 To appreciate the true character of the nominating convention, it is only necessary to read the following remarks of the Nation,' a paper which was the organ of the party in power at the time the article appeared :-"Moreover, it is not the best portion of the convention which does the real work of selection, but a small minority whose chief qualification for the task is skill in that species of jugglery called 'management.' There is no earthly means of knowing beforehand on whom they will fix as a candidate for any office, as they are governed by considerations of all kinds, most of them very low, of which the public outside can see or learn absolutely nothing. So that the voters never know what species of animals they are expected to swallow until a week or two before the election, and after the announcement of the ticket no qualms or hesitation are allowed. You are expected to open your mouth and shut your eyes." -April 11th, 1867.

constituency after the election, and thus there are no opportunities for those disturbances which sometimes scandalize election proceedings in the United Kingdom. It has already been said that the ballot not only fails to provide any security against corruption, but it does not even insure secrecy of voting, nor is any value attached to it in that respect. Temporary stalls are fitted up near the polling-booths, and there the tickets of the respective parties are publicly distributed to the electors. Every one can see to which booth they go for their tickets, and, although they could easily be obtained before the election, yet the common custom is to take them at the booths which are set up for the purpose of affording this accommodation,-in other words, to throw aside as worthless the boasted contrivance for insuring secrecy.

It is often said by politicians who profess to be anxious to make the English elective system identical with the American, that, as the suffrage is extended, corruption is diminished, because it is not practicable to buy and sell large masses of men. Hence, it is affirmed, there is greater purity of election in the United States than in England. Men there are influenced in the solely by patriotic motives. compensation for their votes. which only wilful or accidental blindness to the working of the elective franchise in the United States can explain. No American would assert that purity

choice of public officers. They scorn to receive These are statements

CHAP. VII.

DEGRADATION OF THE FRANCHISE.

121

of election is common in his country. There are few of them who will not frankly deplore the low and degraded view of the suffrage which the least cultivated—that is to say, the numerous-classes habitually take. No doubt the evil is seen in its greatest magnitude in cities and large towns, but in America it is not pretended that it is exclusively confined to them. It spreads to the rural districts, and it is constantly extending wider and wider. Men often strive to get returned to the Legislatures of their States chiefly for the sake of profit,-that profit which goes into their pockets, and which they derive from bartering their votes. From the first day they take their seats, they are beset with inducements to support private bills which involve large interests, and in which their own interests are not forgotten. The work of making bargains with the members-of paying them so much money for voting in a particular wayhas become an open and a recognised trade. It is not considered dishonourable to take a bribe, and when a man is proved to have taken one he suffers no loss in the public estimation.12 The professional lobbyist is one of the best known men in America. In the choice of Senators for the Federal Congress, the State Legislatures are often guilty of shameful corruption. An eminent American politician13 stated in a letter to which his name was attached, that "corruption, bribery, and fraud," had been freely charged, and he

12 See chapter viii., on "Party Government."

13 Mr. Thaddeus Stevens.