Mr. Philip Henry Howardsupported the Petition. Though the prayer of the householders might appear to militate against the interests of those he represented, yet he was sure that the freemen of Carlisle would never wish to stand in the way of the general good. He looked anxiously forward to Reform, because all orders of the State would reap advantages from it; but he looked forward to its being proposed by the Sovereign, for, unless it came from him, it was not likely to be con- 347 ducted to a happy issue. Without a Reform there could be no equality among the Peers, who ought not to interfere with the elections of that House, and without Reform the Commons could not be an integral part of the British empire. He dissented from the petitioners on the subject of Ballot, because that mode of election had often been a cloak to injustice. It was introduced into the elective and judicial proceedings in Greece, and had fostered there intrigue and duplicity. It was known in Rome in the year 614, having been then first introduced, by the Tribune Gabinus, into the leges tabellariœfor the election of Magistrates. Cassius adopted it, of whom Cicero said, that he was fond of following every fashionable whim of the day. Papirius Carbo extended it to legislation, and he was accustomed, says Cicero, to aver "Se ut Popilium condemnaret no-cuisse Reipublicœ." Such was the history of the Ballot in Rome, it begun in turbulence, and was consummated in revenge. Corruption thickened under its influence till Cæsar trampled on the liberties of his country. Gibbon remarked, "that a new method of secret ballot abolished the influence of fear and shame, of honour and interest, and the abuse of freedom accelerated the progress of anarchy and despotism. The Romans had aspired to be equal, and they were levelled by the equality of servitude." He doubted if the Ballot were known to the free States of Italy, or in the free constitution of the Saxon ancestors of our countrymen. In Germany, certainly, the Emperors, and in Poland, the Kings, were long elected by open voting:, and he believed, with the hon. member for South-wark, that the use of the Ballot in America had led to much corruption. He saw much to admire in France, and something to envy, but what he admired and envied was mingled with so much of levity, impiety, and profaneness, that he wished not to borrow even what he admired, for fear of importing what he dreaded. He looked to the improvement of our own institutions to place liberty on a secure basis, and it was not in their spirit to adopt the principle of secret voting. He had confidence in the Administration, and he trusted that they would neither embroil the nation in unnecessary conflicts, nor suffer its honour to be tarnished.
Mr. Warburtonreminded the hon. Member, that the passage he had quoted from Cicero was part of a dialogue, and 348 therefore, perhaps, it did not express the real sentiments of that great man.
§ Sir Charles Wetherellconfirmed the hon. member for Carlisle's (Mr. Howard's) statements, and added, that in Sparta, at first, the Ballot did not exist, and was only introduced when the government became corrupt.
§ Mr. Huntcordially supported the petition, and was sure, whatever the hon. and learned Member might think, that the Ballot was necessary to satisfy the people.
§ Petition to lie on the Table.