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a single vote. We all know what passes at our English electoral
committees – "Oh, I did know that man – I know his
brother & can get at him – I did him a favor last momth,
& am entitled to ask him for his vote now – I deal
at that man's shop, and will go & ask him for his
vote directly." Not a word of this tending was heard at
the French electoral meeting. No one thought of asking an
acquaintance for his vote, any more than of asking him to
change his religion, or to deliver a verdict in the jury-box, as a
matter of personal favor. The candidate, who was present, was
distinguished only by taking less part in the proceedings than
any elector in the room. Neither he nor they considered the
meeting as one got up for his private benefit, but as intended
for a purely public object. He has since been elected
without soliciting a single vote, & without paying a single farthing
of money.

"The tone of electoral morality was probably higher in France
than it is or even has been in any part of the world, not excepting
the United States of America. In England the feeling of duty in the
exercise of the franchise is utterly unknown: the very best Englishman,
though he might scorn a bribe, votes to oblige his
friend: & an elector's "interest", meaning thereof his power
of soliciting or extorting other votes, is currently requested
at the same time as his vote – a mode of address which
none but the Prefects & the Priests employ in France.
We tough not on the grosser abominations of an English
election, universal as they are, & implicating the large
majority of those who take part in it. But compare
a French elector even with the most decent &
respectable English electors, & you will still find this prodigious
difference – that the Frenchman's vote indicates
a real public feeling, while the Englishman's vote indicates
only the adroitness, the potency, the wealth,
or the position, of those who have canvassed him.
How

Identifier: | JB/109/291/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 109.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	109	Main Headings
Folio number	291	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	Collectanea	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering
Penner		Watermarks
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	35946
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