_ In the other portions of his speech, Mr. Chamberlain,
after defending by many quotations his belief that the Tories were not sincere in their professed liking for the Franchise Bill, —which was denounced by the "most honest" man in the party, Mr. James Lowther—and ridiculing Lord Salisbury's fear of the urban population, inveighed with passion against every idea of representing minorities. He did not confine himself to the three-cornered scheme, or cumulative voting, but roundly declared that minority-voting in every form "obstructs the just right of the majority to rule, secures an over-representation of crochets, misrepresents great principles, tempts the exhibition of personal ambition and vanity, divides the point of progress, and plays into the hands of the party of privilege." For Liberals, "nothing can be more foolish, nothing more suicidal when we are struggling for our lives," than to accept any form of minority representation. Would Mr. Chamberlain like a unanimous House of Commons, which debated nothing at all ? Because, if not, he may as well have a truly representative House, which will debate from the points of view actually entertained by large sections of men. We entirely admit the exceeding difficulty of representing minorities without giving them undue power, either of resistance or of delay; but that the very ideal should be given up we do not admit. The majority might as well silence the minority at once. Every reformer stands alone some time, and with a few for a long while.
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