| <!-- 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been repealed.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, ep. 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, ep. 25, he states that these<lb/>fears had been realised, 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 unbiassed 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/>Ducange; it may be traced, however, in most of the European languages.<lb/>See Webster.</p><p>Aristocratical Sympathies.—What an outcry of commiseration is<lb/>there if a young man of family and fortune ruins himself by a criminal<lb/>course of life, and thereby comes to an ignominious end! And with what<lb/>cold indifference, at the same time, do we witness the same corruption,<lb/>and the same fate, taking hold of hundreds and thousands of our poorer<lb/>and less "well-connected" fellow creatures, who, in the sight of God, are<lb/>quite as valuable as the other.—<hi rend="underline">Biber's Lectures on Christian Education</hi>,<lb/>p. 230.</p><p>Little Ambition of Great Men.—As a philosopher, Davy's claims<lb/>to admiration and respect were allowed in all their latitude; but when<lb/>he sought for the homage due to patrician distinction. they were denied<lb/>with indignation. How strange it is, that those whom nature has placed<lb/>above their fellow men by the god-like gift of genius should seek from<lb/>their inferiors those distinctions which are generally the rewards of fortune.<lb/>When we learn that Congreve, in his interview with Voltaire, prided<lb/>himself upon his fashion rather than upon his wit; that Byron was more vain<lb/>of his heraldry than of his "Pilgrimage of Childe Harold;" that Racine<lb/>pined into an atrophy, because the monarch passed him without a recognition<lb/>in the ante-room of the palace, and that Davy sighed for patrician<lb/>distinction in the chair of Newton, we can only lament the weakness from<lb/>which the choicest spirits of our nature are not exempt. Will philosophers<lb/>never feel, with Walpole, that "a genius transmits more honour y<lb/>blood than he can receive?" Had the blood of forty generations of nobility<lb/>flowed in the veins of Davy, would his name have commanded higher<lb/>homage, or his discoveries have excited greater admiration? But great<lb/>minds have ever had their points of weakness: an inordinate admiration of<lb/>hereditary rank was the cardinal deformity of Davy's character; it was<lb/>the centre from which all his defects radiated, and continually placed him<lb/>in false positions, for the man who rests his claims upon doubtful or ill-<lb/>defined pretensions, from a sense of his insecurity, naturally becomes jealous<lb/>at every apparent inattention, and he is suspicious of the sincerity of that<lb/>respect which he feels may be the fruit of usurpation. If with these circumstances<lb/>we take into consideration the existence of a natural timidity of<lb/>character, which he sought to conquer by efforts that betrayed him into<lb/>awkwardness of manner, and combine with it an irritability of temperament<lb/>which occasionally called up expressions of ill-humour, we at once<lb/>possess a clue by which we may unravel the conduct of our philosopher,<lb/>and the consequences it brought upon himself during his presidency of the<lb/>Royal Society. Nor must we leave out of sight that inattention to certain<lb/>forms, which, amongst those who are incapable of penetrating beyond the<lb/>surface of character, passes for the offensive carelessness of superiority.—<lb/><hi rend="underline">Paris's Life of Sir Humphrey Davy.</hi></p><p>The Rotocracy.—New modes of investing ideas are to the orator<lb/>as new methods of drying meat to the cook. No apology, therefore, is<lb/>necessary in submitting the following passage to our parliamentary speakers,<lb/>as it may prove of great assistance in the approaching deliberations<lb/>of the two houses. It furnishes two expressions, both admirably adapted<lb/>to describe that constitution which has so justly become the envy of the<lb/>world. Those who prefer to denominate a system by an appellation<lb/>consistent with its theoretical construction, will employ the one phrase, while<lb/>those who wish to denote its practical operation may safely adopt the<lb/>other. "The British government, therefore, taking it according to its<lb/>avowed state, is neither absolute monarchy nor limited monarchy, nor<lb/>aristocracy, nor democracy, nor a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and<lb/>democracy, but may be called ptochocracy (the reader will pardon<lb/>a new word) or government of beggars. For a few beggarly boroughs<lb/>do avowedly elect the most important part of the government, the part<lb/>which commands the purse. It is true, this is the only ostensible state of<lb/>things. The British government is <hi rend="underline">really</hi> a juntocracy (I doubt the reader<lb/>will now think I presume upon his good nature), or government by a<lb/>minister and his crew. For the court directs the beggars whom to choose.—</p><pb/>Is this the universally-admired, and universally-envied, British constitution?—<lb/><hi rend="underline">Burgh's Political Disquisitions</hi>, 3 vols. 8vo.: London, 1774.<lb/>Vol. i., pp. 49, 50; book ii. chap. iv.—[<hi rend="underline">Consistently the King has a<lb/>Pension List for Charity to the Ptochocracy</hi>.]<p><!-- The following poem is centered on the column. --><head>THE COSSACK TO HIS HORSE.</head>IMITATED FROM THE FRENCH OF DE BERANGER.</p><p><hi rend="underline">Viens, mon coursier, noble ami du Cosaque, &c.</hi><lb/>Thou steed, the Cossack's noble friend,<lb/>Bound to the trumpet of the North!<lb/>Once more the winds their pinions lend<lb/>To that wild war-note issuing forth—<lb/>Come, cool thy seething flanks again<lb/>In the red streams of rebel Seine!<lb/>Snort, my proud courser! for we go<lb/>To trample Kings and Nations low.</p><p>Thou fret'st not silver with thy foam,<lb/>Gold decks no now thy saddle-bow;<lb/>But where our legions make their home,<lb/>Ours are the treasures of the foe!<lb/>And thou, ere long, shalt find a stall<lb/>In arched dome of royal hall.</p><p>Kings, Prelates, Nobles, fiercely pressed,<lb/>By vassals struggling to be free,<lb/>Have cried, Approach, thou Tartar guest!<lb/>To reign o'er them, we'll crouch to thee—I seize my lance, and cross and crown,<lb/>Before that symbol bow them down.</p><p>A giant phantom met my view,<lb/>With bloodshot eye and regal vest:<lb/>He cried—Myreign begins anew!<lb/>And shook his war-axe o'er the West.<lb/>King of the Huns! our tribes inherit<lb/>Thine ancient realm, thy tameless spirit.</p><p>Beneath the dusty clouds, that fly<lb/>Where'er mine armed heel alights,<lb/>All Europe's pride o'erwhelmed shall lie,<lb/>Her towers and temples, laws and rites:<lb/>For hwere the Cossack's hoof hath gone,<lb/>The desert's peace must reign alone.<lb/>On, my proud courser! for we go<lb/>To trample Kings and Nations low. H</p>-----<p><head>REGISTRATION.</head></p> | |
