The Pall Mall Gazette of Monday virtually withdraws what it
did say on the subject of the representation of minorities, and says something very different. What it asserted was that the battle would have to be fought against the principle of repre- senting minorities, and not merely on the anomalies of any particular scheme; and that it would be a test of true Liberalism to repudiate the very attempt, as one certain to result "in strengthening all 'those anti-popular interests which are always too strong by their intrinsic position." What the Pall Mall now says is that it is impossible to hope for an exact mirror of public opinion, and undesirable, in aiming at what is beyond reach, to establish so exact a balance of -political forces that nothing can ever get itself done. That is a very different matter, indeed. We are, however, by no means prepared to admit that the most exact mirror of the public mind which we could attain would result in any such balance. As a rule, public opinion is very clearly in favour of one par- ticular policy or party and against the other, and a House of 'Commons that represented it truly, would. not be in a state of -see-saw at all, but in an attitude of clear and vigorous resolution.
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