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140 THE EXAMINER.-----
for so doing. These are my terms, from none of which I can recede.—
Sir Thomas Monro: Life, by Mr. Gleig.
Ballot at Rome.— Cicero remarks, that the grand struggle at Rome,
under the Republic, was to prevent the will of the majority from taking
effect "ne plurimum valeant plurimi," de Re P. The venality and
corruption, however, which were carried on at the elections, and the
inefficiency of the Treating Acts (leges de ambitu) became so apparent, that
Gabinius Tr. Pl. introduced, A. U. 614, the lex tabellaria, by which the
elections to the magistracy were to be made by Ballot. By this law each
elector received a wooden tablet (tabella) covered with wax, upon which
he wrote the name of the candidate he preferred; at the time of voting he
passed through a narrow passage (pons) boarded up on each side to
exclude observation, and placed the tablet in a large box. The box was
afterwards opened by Examiners appointed for the purpose, and the number
of votes for each candidate was pricked off. Hence Horace's
expression, "omne tulit punctum," to express universal approbation. Voting
by Ballot became so popular with the electors, enabling them to adopt, as
Cicero remarks, pro Plancio, "the free exercise of opinion, with an
undaunted brow," that it was soon extended to the judgments issuing from
the popular jurisdiction, and to the enactment or rejection of laws. How
long these laws continued in force does not appear in Adam, Heineccius,
&c., nor do these writers appear to have been aware that they must have
been repealed. This clearly appears to have been the case, however,
from a letter of the younger Pliny, 1. 3, ep. 20, in which he describes the
re-enactment of the law of Ballot. It was in the interval between the
repeal and re-enactment that corruption and bribery again raised their
heads and called forth the complaint of Petronius—"Venalis populus
venalis curia partum." In the above quoted letter of Pliny, he remarks
that although the conduct at elections was such as absolutely to require
the Ballot, he deplored the necessity, as he feared that great evils would
flow from its use. In a subsequent letter, 1. 4, ep. 25, he states that these
fears had been realised, and the practical evils he describes will no doubt
amuse the advocates for the theory of Ballot—he complains that many of
the electors not sufficiently awed by the august majesty of the senate,
wrote all kinds of jokes and smut on the tablets—nay, one even wrote the
names of the canvasser, instead of the candidates. The most interesting
discussion on the Ballot, however, is to be found in Cicero de Leg.,
where in laying down the laws for his commonwealth, he declares that the
votes shall be "optimalibus nota, plebe libera;" and on Atticus contesting
the point as an aristocrat, hating, as he confesses every popular institution,
Cicero opens up the argument and concludes, "habeat sane populous tabellam,
quasi vindicem libertatis"—the people must have the Ballot as
guarantee for their liberties. Popular elections, therefore, at Rome produced
exactly the same effect as in England—corruption—acts to prevent bribery
—corruption unabated—and, as a remedy in each, a unanimous demand
for the Ballot from the middle ranks. We have noted, in a previous
number, that both Hume and Harrington insist upon the Ballot as a sine
quâ non for obtaining virtual representation. Sir Thomas More expresses
himself with equal clearness upon the subject; and in all governments in
which the unbiassed choice of the electors has been sought, Ballotation has
ever been in use. The word Ballot (little ball) comes immediately from
balota, a word "mediæ Latinitatis," an example of which is given in
Ducange; it may be traced, however, in most of the European languages.
See Webster.
Aristocratical Sympathies.—What an outcry of commiseration is
there if a young man of family and fortune ruins himself by a criminal
course of life, and thereby comes to an ignominious end! And with what
cold indifference, at the same time, do we witness the same corruption,
and the same fate, taking hold of hundreds and thousands of our poorer
and less "well-connected" fellow creatures, who, in the sight of God, are
quite as valuable as the other.—Biber's Lectures on Christian Education,
p. 230.
Little Ambition of Great Men.—As a philosopher, Davy's claims
to admiration and respect were allowed in all their latitude; but when
he sought for the homage due to patrician distinction. they were denied
with indignation. How strange it is, that those whom nature has placed
above their fellow men by the god-like gift of genius should seek from
their inferiors those distinctions which are generally the rewards of fortune.
When we learn that Congreve, in his interview with Voltaire, prided
himself upon his fashion rather than upon his wit; that Byron was more vain
of his heraldry than of his "Pilgrimage of Childe Harold;" that Racine
pined into an atrophy, because the monarch passed him without a recognition
in the ante-room of the palace, and that Davy sighed for patrician
distinction in the chair of Newton, we can only lament the weakness from
which the choicest spirits of our nature are not exempt. Will philosophers
never feel, with Walpole, that "a genius transmits more honour y
blood than he can receive?" Had the blood of forty generations of nobility
flowed in the veins of Davy, would his name have commanded higher
homage, or his discoveries have excited greater admiration? But great
minds have ever had their points of weakness: an inordinate admiration of
hereditary rank was the cardinal deformity of Davy's character; it was
the centre from which all his defects radiated, and continually placed him
in false positions, for the man who rests his claims upon doubtful or ill-
defined pretensions, from a sense of his insecurity, naturally becomes jealous
at every apparent inattention, and he is suspicious of the sincerity of that
respect which he feels may be the fruit of usurpation. If with these circumstances
we take into consideration the existence of a natural timidity of
character, which he sought to conquer by efforts that betrayed him into
awkwardness of manner, and combine with it an irritability of temperament
which occasionally called up expressions of ill-humour, we at once
possess a clue by which we may unravel the conduct of our philosopher,
and the consequences it brought upon himself during his presidency of the
Royal Society. Nor must we leave out of sight that inattention to certain
forms, which, amongst those who are incapable of penetrating beyond the
surface of character, passes for the offensive carelessness of superiority.—
Paris's Life of Sir Humphrey Davy.
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the examiner / sunday, february 27, 1831 / no. 1204 |
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