"ARCADES ADIBO."
[To TH2 EDITOR OF T1112 "SPECTATOR." J SIR,—You lately made a strong protest against the action of the Confederates in endeavouring to exclude Free-trade Unionists from the House of Commons. In the next sentence you boast of the "unexampled triumph" which was given to the Liberal Party at the last Election by the action of a section of the Unionist Party whom you would admit to be numerically weak, and you threaten a possible repetition of the same action. I express no opinion upon either policy. Whatever may be thought of the wisdom of either aide, both are within the existing rules of the game. But both are crucial instances that there is something very far wrong with a system of representation which on the one hand makes it possible that an important section of opinion shall be wholly wiped out, and on the other gives such exaggerated results to the action of a comparatively small minority. The tightening of the over-rigid bonds of party subservience on the one hand, and the extravagant power of small sections of one-idead voters on the other, have alike driven me to the conviction that our only safety from many diverse perils lies in the principle under whose name I sign ElYsell.—I am, Sir, dea.,
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.
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