| <!-- The text on this page is divided into two columns and fully justified. --><head>140 THE EXAMINER.</head>-----<lb/>for so doing. These are my terms, from none of which I can recede.—<lb/><hi rend="underline">Sir Thomas Monro: Life, by Mr. Gleig</hi>.<p>Ballot at Rome.— Cicero remarks, that the grand struggle at Rome,<lb/>under the Republic, was to prevent the will of the majority from taking<lb/>effect "ne plurimum valeant plurimi," de Re P. The venality and<lb/>corruption ,however, which were carried on at the elections, and the<lb/>inefficiency of the <hi rend="underline">Treating Acts</hi> (leges de ambitu) became so apparent, that<lb/>Gabinius Tr. Pl. introduced, A. U. 614, the lex tabellaria, by which the<lb/>elections to the magistracy were to be made by Ballot. By this law each<lb/>elector received a wooden tablet (tabella) covered with wax, upon which<lb/>he wrote the name of the candidate he preferred; at the time of voting he<lb/>passed through a narrow passage (pons) boarded up on each side to<lb/>exclude observation, and placed the tablet in a large box. The box was<lb/>afterwards opened by <hi rend="underline">Examiners</hi> appointed for the purpose, and the number<lb/>of votes for each candidate was pricked off. Hence Horace's<lb/>expression, "omne tulit punctum," to express universal approbation. Voting<lb/>by Ballot became so popular with the electors, enabling them to adopt, as<lb/>Cicero remarks, pro Plancio, "the free exercise of opinion, with an<lb/>undaunted brow," that it was soon extended to the judgments issuing from<lb/>the popular jurisdiction, and to the enactment or rejection of laws. How<lb/>long these laws continued in force does not appear in Adam, Heineccius,<lb/>&c., nor do these writers appear to have been aware that they must have<lb/>been repealed. This clearly appears to have been the case, however,<lb/>from a letter of the younger Pliny, 1. 3, 3p. 20, in which he describes the<lb/>re-enactment of the law of Ballot. It was in the interval between the<lb/>repeal and re-enactment that corruption and bribery again raised their<lb/>heads and called forth the complaint of Petronius—"Venalis populus<lb/>venalis curia partum." In the above quoted letter of Pliny, he remarks<lb/>that although the conduct at elections was such as absolutely to require<lb/>the Ballot, he deplored the necessity, as he feared that great evils would<lb/>flow from its use. In a subsequent letter, 1. 4, 4p. 25, he states that these<lb/>fears had been realized, and the practical evils he describes will no doubt<lb/>amuse the advocates for the theory of Ballot—he complains that many of<lb/>the electors not sufficiently awed by the august majesty of the senate,<lb/>wrote all kinds of jokes and <hi rend="underline">smut</hi> on the tablets—nay, one even wrote the<lb/>names of the canvasser, instead of the candidates. The most interesting<lb/>discussion on the Ballot, however, is to be found in Cicero de Leg.,<lb/>where in laying down the laws for his commonwealth, he declares that the<lb/>votes shall be "optimalibus nota, plebe libera;" and on Atticus contesting<lb/>the point as an aristocrat, hating, as he confesses every popular institution,<lb/>Cicero opens up the argument and concludes, "habeat sane populous tabellam,<lb/>quasi vindicem libertatis"—the people must have the Ballot as <lb/>guarantee for their liberties. Popular elections, therefore, at Rome produced<lb/>exactly the same effect as in England—corruption—acts to prevent bribery<lb/>—corruption unabated—and, as a remedy in each, a unanimous demand<lb/>for the Ballot from the middle ranks. We have noted, in a previous<lb/>number, that both Hume and Harrington insist upon the Ballot as a sine<lb/>quâ non for obtaining virtual representation. Sir Thomas More expresses<lb/>himself with equal clearness upon the subject; and in all governments in<lb/>which the unbiased choice of the electors has been sought, Ballotation has<lb/>ever been in use. The word Ballot (little ball) comes immediately from<lb/>balota, a word "mediæ Latinitatis," an example of which is given in<lb/>Duncange; it may be traced, however, in most of the European languages.<lb/>See Webster.</p> | |
