SUCH A representative democracy as has now been sketched2, representative of all, and not solely3 of the majority — in which the interests the opinions, the grades of intellect which are outnumbered would nevertheless be heard, and would have a chance of obtaining by weight of character and strength of argument an influence which would not belong to their numerical force — this democracy, which is alone equal, alone impartial4, alone the government of all by all, the only true type of democracy — would be free from the greatest evils of the falsely-called democracies which now prevail, and from which the current idea of democracy is exclusively derived5. But even in this democracy, absolute power, if they chose to exercise it, would rest with the numerical majority; and these would be composed exclusively of a single class, alike in biasses6, prepossessions, and general modes of thinking, and a class, to say no more, not the most highly cultivated. The constitution would therefore still be liable to the characteristic evils of class government: in a far less degree, assuredly, than that exclusive government by a class, which now usurps7 the name of democracy; but still, under no effective restraint, except what might be found in the good sense, moderation, and forbearance of the class itself. If checks of this description are sufficient, the philosophy of constitutional government is but solemn trifling8. All trust in constitutions is grounded on the assurance they may afford, not that the depositaries of power will not, but that they cannot, misemploy it. Democracy is not the ideally best form of government unless this weak side of it can be strengthened; unless it can be so organised that no class, not even the most numerous, shall be able to reduce all but itself to political insignificance9, and direct the course of legislation and administration by its exclusive class interest. The problem is, to find the means of preventing this abuse, without sacrificing the characteristic advantages of popular government.
These twofold requisites10 are not fulfilled by the expedient11 of a limitation of the suffrage, involving the compulsory12 exclusion13 of any portion of the citizens from a voice in the representation. Among the foremost benefits of free government is that education of the intelligence and of the sentiments which is carried down to the very lowest ranks of the people when they are called to take a part in acts which directly affect the great interests of their country. On this topic I have already dwelt so emphatically that I only return to it because there are few who seem to attach to this effect of popular institutions all the importance to which it is entitled. People think it fanciful to expect so much from what seems so slight a cause — to recognise a potent14 instrument of mental improvement in the exercise of political franchises15 by manual labourers. Yet unless substantial mental cultivation17 in the mass of mankind is to be a mere18 vision, this is the road by which it must come. If any one supposes that this road will not bring it, I call to witness the entire contents of M. de Tocqueville's great work; and especially his estimate of the Americans. Almost all travellers are struck by the fact that every American is in some sense both a patriot19, and a person of cultivated intelligence; and M. de Tocqueville has shown how close the connection is between these qualities and their democratic institutions. No such wide diffusion20 of the ideas, tastes, and sentiments of educated minds has ever been seen elsewhere, or even conceived as attainable21.7
7 The following "extract from the Report of the English Commissioner22 to the New York Exhibition," which I quote from Mr. Carey's Principles of Social Science bears striking testimony23 to one part, at least, of the assertion in the text:-
"We have a few great engineers and mechanics, and a large body of clever workmen; but the Americans seem likely to become a whole nation of such people. Already, their rivers swarm24 with steamboats; their valleys are becoming crowded with factories; their towns, surpassing those of every state of Europe, except Belgium, Holland, and England, are the abodes25 of all the skill which now distinguishes a town population; and there is scarcely an art in Europe not carried on in America with equal or greater skill than in Europe, though it has been here cultivated and improved through ages. A whole nation of Franklins, Stephensons, and Watts26 in prospect27, is something wonderful for other nations to contemplate28. In contrast with the comparative inertness29 and ignorance of the bulk of the people of Europe, whatever may be the superiority of a few well-instructed and gifted persons, the America is the circumstance most worthy30 of public attention."
Yet this is nothing to what we might look for in a government equally democratic in its unexclusiveness, but better organised in other important points. For political life is indeed in America a most valuable school, but it is a school from which the ablest teachers are excluded; the first minds in the country being as effectually shut out from the national representation, and from public functions generally, as if they were under a formal disqualification. The Demos, too, being in America the one source of power, all the selfish ambition of the country gravitates towards it, as it does in despotic countries towards the monarch31: the people, like the despot, is pursued with adulation and sycophancy32, and the corrupting33 effects of power fully34 keep pace with its improving and ennobling influences. If, even with this alloy35, democratic institutions produce so marked a superiority of mental development in the lowest class of Americans, compared with the corresponding classes in England and elsewhere, what would it be if the good portion of the influence could be retained without the bad? And this, to a certain extent, may be done; but not by excluding that portion of the people who have fewest intellectual stimuli36 of other kinds from so inestimable an introduction to large, distant, and complicated interests as is afforded by the attention they may be induced to bestow37 on political affairs. It is by political discussion that the manual labourer, whose employment is a routine, and whose way of life brings him in contact with no variety of impressions, circumstances, or ideas, is taught that remote causes, and events which take place far off, have a most sensible effect even on his personal interests; and it is from political discussion, and collective political action, that one whose daily occupations concentrate his interests in a small circle round himself, learns to feel for and with his fellow citizens, and becomes consciously a member of a great community. But political discussions fly over the heads of those who have no votes, and are not endeavouring to acquire them. Their position, in comparison with the electors, is that of the audience in a court of justice, compared with the twelve men in the jury-box. It is not their suffrages38 that are asked, it is not their opinion that is sought to be influenced; the appeals are made, the arguments addressed, to others than them; nothing depends on the decision they may arrive at, and there is no necessity and very little inducement to them to come to any. Whoever, in an otherwise popular government, has no vote, and no prospect of obtaining it, will either be a permanent malcontent39, or will feel as one whom the general affairs of society do not concern; for whom they are to be managed by others; who "has no business with the laws except to obey them," nor with public interests and concerns except as a looker-on. What he will know or care about them from this position may partly be measured by what an average woman of the middle class knows and cares about politics, compared with her husband or brothers.
Independently of all these considerations, it is a personal injustice40 to withhold41 from any one, unless for the prevention of greater evils, the ordinary privilege of having his voice reckoned in the disposal of affairs in which he has the same interest as other people. If he is compelled to pay, if he may be compelled to fight, if he is required implicitly42 to obey, he should be legally entitled to be told what for; to have his consent asked, and his opinion counted at its worth, though not at more than its worth. There ought to be no pariahs43 in a full-grown and civilised nation; no persons disqualified, except through their own default. Every one is degraded, whether aware of it or not, when other people, without consulting him, take upon themselves unlimited44 power to regulate his destiny. And even in a much more improved state than the human mind has ever yet reached, it is not in nature that they who are thus disposed of should meet with as fair play as those who have a voice. Rulers and ruling classes are under a necessity of considering the interests and wishes of those who have the suffrage; but of those who are excluded, it is in their option whether they will do so or not, and, however honestly disposed, they are in general too fully occupied with things which they must attend to, to have much room in their thoughts for anything which they can with impunity45 disregard. No arrangement of the suffrage, therefore, can be permanently46 satisfactory in which any person or class is peremptorily47 excluded; in which the electoral privilege is not open to all persons of full age who desire to obtain it.
There are, however, certain exclusions48, required by positive reasons, which do not conflict with this principle, and which, though an evil in themselves, are only to be got rid of by the cessation of the state of things which requires them. I regard it as wholly inadmissible that any person should participate in the suffrage without being able to read, write, and, I will add, perform the common operations of arithmetic. Justice demands, even when the suffrage does not depend on it, that the means of attaining49 these elementary acquirements should be within the reach of every person, either gratuitously50, or at an expense not exceeding what the poorest who earn their own living can afford. If this were really the case, people would no more think of giving the suffrage to a man who could not read, than of giving it to a child who could not speak; and it would not be society that would exclude him, but his own laziness. When society has not performed its duty, by rendering51 this amount of instruction accessible to all, there is some hardship in the case, but it is a hardship that ought to be borne. If society has neglected to discharge two solemn obligations, the more important and more fundamental of the two must be fulfilled first: universal teaching must precede universal enfranchisement52. No one but those in whom an a priori theory has silenced common sense will maintain that power over others, over the whole community, should be imparted to people who have not acquired the commonest and most essential requisities for taking care of themselves; for pursuing intelligently their own interests, and those of the persons most nearly allied53 to them. This argument, doubtless, might be pressed further, and made to prove much more. It would be eminently54 desirable that other things besides reading, writing, and arithmetic could be made necessary to the suffrage; that some knowledge of the conformation of the earth, its natural and political divisions, the elements of general history, and of the history and institutions of their own country, could be required from all electors. But these kinds of knowledge, however indispensable to an intelligent use of the suffrage, are not, in this country, nor probably anywhere save in the Northern United States, accessible to the whole people; nor does there exist any trustworthy machinery55 for ascertaining56 whether they have been acquired or not. The attempt, at present, would lead to partiality, chicanery57, and every kind of fraud. It is better that the suffrage should be conferred indiscriminately, or even withheld58 indiscriminately, than that it should be given to one and withheld from another at the discretion59 of a public officer. In regard, however, to reading, writing, and calculating, there need be no difficulty. It would be easy to require from every one who presented himself for registry that he should, in the presence of the registrar60, copy a sentence from an English book, and perform a sum in the rule of three; and to secure, by fixed61 rules and complete publicity62, the honest application of so very simple a test. This condition, therefore, should in all cases accompany universal suffrage; and it would, after a few years, exclude none but those who cared so little for the privilege, that their vote, if given, would not in general be an indication of any real political opinion.
It is also important, that the assembly which votes the taxes, either general or local, should be elected exclusively by those who pay something towards the taxes imposed. Those who pay no taxes, disposing by their votes of other people's money, have every motive63 to be lavish64 and none to economise. As far as money matters are concerned, any power of voting possessed65 by them is a violation66 of the fundamental principle of free government; a severance67 of the power of control from the interest in its beneficial exercise. It amounts to allowing them to put their hands into other people's pockets for any purpose which they think fit to call a public one; which in some of the great towns of the United States is known to have produced a scale of local taxation68 onerous69 beyond example, and wholly borne by the wealthier classes. That representation should be co-extensive with taxation, not stopping short of it, but also not going beyond it, is in accordance with the theory of British institutions. But to reconcile this, as a condition annexed70 to the representation, with universality, it is essential, as it is on many other accounts desirable, that taxation, in a visible shape, should descend71 to the poorest class. In this country, and in most others, there is probably no labouring family which does not contribute to the indirect taxes, by the purchase of tea, coffee, sugar, not to mention narcotics72 or stimulants73. But this mode of defraying a share of the public expenses is hardly felt: the payer, unless a person of education and reflection, does not identify his interest with a low scale of public expenditure74 as closely as when money for its support is demanded directly from himself; and even supposing him to do so, he would doubtless take care that, however lavish an expenditure he might, by his vote, assist in imposing75 upon the government, it should not be defrayed by any additional taxes on the articles which he himself consumes. It would be better that a direct tax, in the simple form of a capitation, should be levied76 on every grown person in the community; or that every such person should be admitted an elector on allowing himself to be rated extra ordinem to the assessed taxes; or that a small annual payment, rising and falling with the gross expenditure of the country, should be required from every registered elector; that so everyone might feel that the money which he assisted in voting was partly his own, and that he was interested in keeping down its amount.
However this may be, I regard it as required by first principles, that the receipt of parish relief should be a peremptory77 disqualification for the franchise16. He who cannot by his labour suffice for his own support has no claim to the privilege of helping78 himself to the money of others. By becoming dependent on the remaining members of the community for actual subsistence, he abdicates79 his claim to equal rights with them in other respects. Those to whom he is indebted for the continuance of his very existence may justly claim the exclusive management of those common concerns, to which he now brings nothing, or less than he takes away. As a condition of the franchise, a term should be fixed, say five years previous to the registry, during which the applicant's name has not been on the parish books as a recipient80 of relief. To be an uncertified bankrupt, or to have taken the benefit of the Insolvent81 Act, should disqualify for the franchise until the person has paid his debts, or at least proved that he is not now, and has not for some long period been, dependent on eleemosynary support. Non-payment of taxes, when so long persisted in that it cannot have arisen from inadvertence, should disqualify while it lasts. These exclusions are not in their nature permanent. They exact such conditions only as all are able, or ought to be able, to fulfil if they choose. They leave the suffrage accessible to all who are in the normal condition of a human being: and if any one has to forego it, he either does not care sufficiently82 for it to do for its sake what he is already bound to do, or he is in a general condition of depression and degradation83 in which this slight addition, necessary for security of others, would be unfelt, and on emerging from which, this mark of inferiority would disappear with the rest.
In the long run, therefore (supposing no restrictions84 to exist but those of which we have now treated), we might expect that all, except that (it is to be hoped) progressively diminishing class, the recipients85 of parish relief, would be in possession of votes, so that the suffrage would be, with that slight abatement86, universal. That it should be thus widely expanded is, as we have seen, absolutely necessary to an enlarged and elevated conception of good government. Yet in this state of things, the great majority of voters, in most countries, and emphatically in this, would be manual labourers; and the twofold danger, that of too low a standard of political intelligence, and that of class legislation, would still exist in a very perilous87 degree. It remains88 to be seen whether any means exist by which these evils can be obviated89.
They are capable of being obviated, if men sincerely wish it; not by any artificial contrivance, but by carrying out the natural order of human life, which recommends itself to every one in things in which he has no interest or traditional opinion running counter to it. In all human affairs, every person directly interested, and not under positive tutelage, has an admitted claim to a voice, and when his exercise of it is not inconsistent with the safety of the whole, cannot justly be excluded from it. But though every one ought to have a voice — that every one should have an equal voice is a totally different proposition. When two persons who have a joint90 interest in any business differ in opinion, does justice require that both opinions should be held of exactly equal value? If, with equal virtue91, one is superior to the other in knowledge and intelligence — or if, with equal intelligence, one excels the other in virtue — the opinion, the judgment92, of the higher moral or intellectual being is worth more than that of the inferior: and if the institutions of the country virtually assert that they are of the same value, they assert a thing which is not. One of the two, as the wiser or better man, has a claim to superior weight: the difficulty is in ascertaining which of the two it is; a thing impossible as between individuals, but, taking men in bodies and in numbers, it can be done with a certain approach to accuracy. There would be no pretence93 for applying this doctrine94 to any case which could with reason be considered as one of individual and private right. In an affair which concerns only one of two persons, that one is entitled to follow his own opinion, however much wiser the other may be than himself. But we are speaking of things which equally concern them both; where, if the more ignorant does not yield his share of the matter to the guidance of the wiser man, the wiser man must resign his to that of the more ignorant. Which of these modes of getting over the difficulty is most for the interest of both, and most conformable to the general fitness of things? If it be deemed unjust that either should have to give way, which injustice is greatest? that the better judgment should give way to the worse, or the worse to the better?
Now, national affairs are exactly such a joint concern, with the difference, that no one needs ever be called upon for a complete sacrifice of his own opinion. It can always be taken into the calculation, and counted at a certain figure, a higher figure being assigned to the suffrages of those whose opinion is entitled to greater weight. There is not, in this arrangement, anything necessarily invidious to those to whom it assigns the lower degrees of influence. Entire exclusion from a voice in the common concerns is one thing: the concession95 to others of a more potential voice, on the ground of greater capacity for the management of the joint interests, is another. The two things are not merely different, they are incommensurable. Every one has a right to feel insulted by being made a nobody, and stamped as of no account at all. No one but a fool, and only a fool of a peculiar96 description, feels offended by the acknowledgment that there are others whose opinion, and even whose wish, is entitled to a greater amount of consideration than his. To have no voice in what are partly his own concerns is a thing which nobody willingly submits to; but when what is partly his concern is also partly another's, and he feels the other to understand the subject better than himself, that the other's opinion should be counted for more than his own accords with his expectations, and with the course of things which in all other affairs of life he is accustomed to acquiese in. It is only necessary that this superior influence should be assigned on grounds which he can comprehend, and of which he is able to perceive the justice.
I hasten to say that I consider it entirely97 inadmissible, unless as a temporary makeshift, that the superiority of influence should be conferred in consideration of property. I do not deny that property is a kind of test; education in most countries, though anything but proportional to riches, is on the average better in the richer half of society than in the poorer. But the criterion is so imperfect; accident has so much more to do than merit with enabling men to rise in the world; and it is so impossible for any one, by acquiring any amount of instruction, to make sure of the corresponding rise in station, that this foundation of electoral privilege is always, and will continue to be, supremely99 odious100. To connect plurality of votes with any pecuniary102 qualification would be not only objectionable in itself, but a sure mode of discrediting103 the principle, and making its permanent maintenance impracticable. The Democracy, at least of this country, are not at present jealous of personal superiority, but they are naturally and must justly so of that which is grounded on mere pecuniary circumstances. The only thing which can justify104 reckoning one person's opinion as equivalent to more than one is individual mental superiority; and what is wanted is some approximate means of ascertaining that. If there existed such a thing as a really national education or a trustworthy system of general examination, education might be tested directly. In the absence of these, the nature of a person's occupation is some test. An employer of labour is on the average more intelligent than a labourer; for he must labour with his head, and not solely with his hands. A foreman is generally more intelligent than an ordinary labourer, and a labourer in the skilled trades than in the unskilled. A banker, merchant, or manufacturer is likely to be more intelligent than a tradesman, because he has larger and more complicated interests to manage.
In all these cases it is not the having merely undertaken the superior function, but the successful performance of it, that tests the qualifications; for which reason, as well as to prevent persons from engaging nominally105 in an occupation for the sake of the vote, it would be proper to require that the occupation should have been persevered106 in for some length of time (say three years). Subject to some such condition, two or more votes might be allowed to every person who exercises any of these superior functions. The liberal professions, when really and not nominally practised, imply, of course, a still higher degree of instruction; and wherever a sufficient examination, or any serious conditions of education, are required before entering on a profession, its members could be admitted at once to a plurality of votes. The same rule might be applied107 to graduates of universities; and even to those who bring satisfactory certificates of having passed through the course of study required by any school at which the higher branches of knowledge are taught, under proper securities that the teaching is real, and not a mere pretence. The "local" or "middle class" examination for the degree of Associate, so laudably and public-spiritedly established by the Universities of Oxford108 and Cambridge, and any similar ones which may be instituted by other competent bodies (provided they are fairly open to all comers), afford a ground on which plurality of votes might with great advantage be accorded to those who have passed the test. All these suggestions are open to much discussion in the detail, and to objections which it is of no use to anticipate. The time is not come for giving to such plans a practical shape, nor should I wish to be bound by the particular proposals which I have made. But it is to me evident, that in this direction lies the true ideal of representative government; and that to work towards it, by the best practical contrivances which can be found, is the path of real political improvement.
If it be asked to what length the principle admits of being carried, or how many votes might be accorded to an individual on the ground of superior qualifications, I answer, that this is not in itself very material, provided the distinctions and gradations are not made arbitrarily, but are such as can be understood and accepted by the general conscience and understanding. But it is an absolute condition not to overpass109 the limit prescribed by the fundamental principle laid down in a former chapter as the condition of excellence110 in the constitution of a representative system. The plurality of votes must on no account be carried so far that those who are privileged by it, or the class (if any) to which they mainly belong, shall outweigh111 by means of it all the rest of the community. The distinction in favour of education, right in itself, is further and strongly recommended by its preserving the educated from the class legislation of the uneducated; but it must stop short of enabling them to practise class legislation on their own account. Let me add, that I consider it an absolutely necessary part of the plurality scheme that it be open to the poorest individual in the community to claim its privileges, if he can prove that, in spite of all difficulties and obstacles, he is, in point of intelligence, entitled to them. There ought to be voluntary examinations at which any person whatever might present himself, might prove that he came up to the standard of knowledge and ability laid down as sufficient, and be admitted, in consequence, to the plurality of votes. A privilege which is not refused to any one who can show that he has realised the conditions on which in theory and principle it is dependent would not necessarily be repugnant to any one's sentiment of justice: but it would certainly be so, if, while conferred on general presumptions112 not always infallible, it were denied to direct proof.
Plural101 voting, though practised in vestry elections and those of poor-law guardians113, is so unfamiliar114 in elections to Parliament that it is not likely to be soon or willingly adopted: but as the time will certainly arrive when the only choice will be between this and equal universal suffrage, whoever does not desire the last, cannot too soon begin to reconcile himself to the former. In the meantime, though the suggestion, for the present, may not be a practical one, it will serve to mark what is best in principle, and enable us to judge of the eligibility115 of any indirect means, either existing or capable of being adopted, which may promote in a less perfect manner the same end. A person may have a double vote by other means than that of tendering two votes at the same hustings116; he may have a vote in each of two different constituencies: and though this exceptional privilege at present belongs rather to superiority of means than of intelligence, I would not abolish it where it exists, since until a truer test of education is adopted it would be unwise to dispense117 with even so imperfect a one as is afforded by pecuniary circumstances. Means might be found of giving a further extension to the privilege, which would connect it in a more direct manner with superior education. In any future Reform Bill which lowers greatly the pecuniary conditions of the suffrage, it might be a wise provision to allow all graduates of universities, all persons who have passed creditably through the higher schools, all members of the liberal professions, and perhaps some others, to be registered specifically in those characters, and to give their votes as such in any constituency in which they choose to register; retaining, in addition, their votes as simple citizens in the localities in which they reside.
Until there shall have been devised, and until opinion is willing to accept, some mode of plural voting which may assign to education, as such, the degree of superior influence due to it, and sufficient as a counterpoise to the numerical weight of the least educated class; for so long the benefits of completely universal suffrage cannot be obtained without bringing with them, as it appears to me, a chance of more than equivalent evils. It is possible, indeed (and this is perhaps one of the transitions through which we may have to pass in our progress to a really good representative system), that the barriers which restrict the suffrage might be entirely levelled in some particular constituencies, whose members, consequently, would be returned principally by manual labourers; the existing electoral qualification being maintained elsewhere, or any alteration118 in it being accompanied by such a grouping of the constituencies as to prevent the labouring class from becoming preponderant in Parliament. By such a compromise, the anomalies in the representation would not only be retained, but augmented119: this however is not a conclusive120 objection; for if the country does not choose to pursue the right ends by a regular system directly leading to them, it must be content with an irregular makeshift, as being greatly preferable to a system free from irregularities, but regularly adapted to wrong ends, or in which some ends equally necessary with the others have been left out. It is a far graver objection, that this adjustment is incompatible121 with the intercommunity of local constituencies which Mr. Hare's plan requires; that under it every voter would remain imprisoned122 within the one or more constituencies in which his name is registered, and unless willing to be represented by one of the candidates for those localities, would not be represented at all.
So much importance do I attach to the emancipation123 of those who already have votes, but whose votes are useless, because always outnumbered; so much should I hope from the natural influence of truth and reason, if only secured a hearing and a competent advocacy that I should not despair of the operation even of equal and universal suffrage, if made real by the proportional representation of all minorities, on Mr. Hare's principle. But if the best hopes which can be formed on this subject were certainties, I should still contend for the principle of plural voting. I do not propose the plurality as a thing in itself undesirable124, which, like the exclusion of part of the community from the suffrage, may be temporarily tolerated while necessary to prevent greater evils. I do not look upon equal voting as among the things which are good in themselves, provided they can be guarded against inconveniences. I look upon it as only relatively125 good; less objectionable than inequality of privilege grounded on irrelevant126 or adventitious127 circumstances, but in principle wrong, because recognising a wrong standard, and exercising a bad influence on the voter's mind. It is not useful, but hurtful, that the constitution of the country should declare ignorance to be entitled to as much political power as knowledge. The national institutions should place all things that they are concerned with before the mind of the citizen in the light in which it is for his good that he should regard them: and as it is for his good that he should think that every one is entitled to some influence, but the better and wiser to more than others, it is important that this conviction should be professed128 by the State, and embodied129 in the national institutions. Such things constitute the spirit of the institutions of a country: that portion of their influence which is least regarded by common, and especially by English, thinkers; though the institutions of every country, not under great positive oppression, produce more effect by their spirit than by any of their direct provisions, since by it they shape the national character. The American institutions have imprinted130 strongly on the American mind that any one man (with a white skin) is as good as any other; and it is felt that this false creed131 is nearly connected with some of the more unfavourable points in American character. It is not small mischief132 that the constitution of any country should sanction this creed; for the belief in it, whether express or tacit, is almost as detrimental133 to moral and intellectual excellence any effect which most forms of government can produce.
It may, perhaps, be said, that a constitution which gives equal influence, man for man, to the most and to the least instructed, is nevertheless conducive134 to progress, because the appeals constantly made to the less instructed classes, the exercise given to their mental powers, and the exertions135 which the more instructed are obliged to make for enlightening their judgment and ridding them of errors and prejudices, are powerful stimulants to their advance in intelligence. That this most desirable effect really attends the admission of the less educated classes to some, and even to a large share of power, I admit, and have already strenuously136 maintained. But theory and experience alike prove that a counter current sets in when they are made the possessors of all power. Those who are supreme98 over everything, whether they be One, or Few, or Many, have no longer need of the arms of reason: they can make their mere will prevail; and those who cannot be resisted are usually far too well satisfied with their own opinion to be willing to change them, or listen without impatience137 to any one who tells them that they are in the wrong. The position which gives the strongest stimulus138 to the growth of intelligence is that of rising into power, not that of having achieved it; and of all resting-points, temporary or permanent, in the way to ascendancy139, the one which develops the best and highest qualities is the position of those who are strong enough to make reason prevail, but not strong enough to prevail against reason. This is the position in which, according to the principles we have laid down, the rich and the poor, the much and the little educated, and all the other classes and denominations140 which divide society between them, ought as far as practicable to be placed. And by combining this principle with the otherwise just one of allowing superiority of weight to superiority of mental qualities, a political constitution would realise that kind of relative perfection which is alone compatible with the complicated nature of human affairs.
In the preceding argument for universal, but graduated suffrage, I have taken no account of difference of sex. I consider it to be as entirely irrelevant to political rights as difference in height or in the colour of the hair. All human beings have the same interest in good government; the welfare of all is alike affected141 by it, and they have equal need of a voice in it to secure their share of its benefits. If there be any difference, women require it more than men, since, being physically142 weaker, they are more dependent on law and society for protection. Mankind have long since abandoned the only premises143 which will support the conclusion that women ought not to have votes. No one now holds that women should be in personal servitude, that they should have no thought, wish, or occupation, but to be the domestic drudges144 of husbands, fathers, or brothers. It is allowed to unmarried, and wants but little of being conceded to married women, to hold property, and have pecuniary and business interests, in the same manner as men. It is considered suitable and proper that women should think and write, and be teachers. As soon as these things are admitted, the political disqualification has no principle to rest on. The whole mode of thought of the modern world is with increasing emphasis pronouncing against the claim of society to decide for individuals what they are and are not fit for, and what they shall and shall not be allowed to attempt. If the principles of modern politics and political economy are good for anything, it is for proving that these points can only be rightly judged of by the individuals themselves and that, under complete freedom of choice, wherever there are real diversities of aptitude145, the great number will apply themselves to the things for which they are on the average fittest, and the exceptional course will only be taken by the exceptions. Either the whole tendency of modern social improvements has been wrong, or it ought to be carried out to the total abolition146 of all exclusions and disabilities which close any honest employment to a human being.
But it is not even necessary to maintain so much in order to prove that women should have the suffrage. Were it as right, as it is wrong, that they should be a subordinate class, confined to domestic occupations and subject to domestic authority, they would not the less require the protection of the suffrage to secure them from the abuse of that authority. Men, as well as women, do not need political rights in order that they may govern, but in order that they may not be misgoverned. The majority of the male sex are, and will be all their lives, nothing else than labourers in cornfields or manufactories; but this does not render the suffrage less desirable for them, nor their claim to it less irresistible147, when not likely to make a bad use of it. Nobody pretends to think that woman would make a bad use of the suffrage. The worst that is said is that they would vote as mere dependents, the bidding of their male relations. If it be so, so let it be. If they think for themselves, great good will be done, and if they do not, no harm. It is a benefit to human beings to take off their fetters148, even if they do not desire to walk. It would already be a great improvement in the moral position of women to be no longer declared by law incapable149 of an opinion, and not entitled to a preference, respecting the most important concerns of humanity. There would be some benefit to them individually in having something to bestow which their male relatives cannot exact, and are yet desirous to have. It would also be no small benefit that the husband would necessarily discuss the matter with his wife, and that the vote would not be his exclusive affair, but a joint concern. People do not sufficiently consider how markedly the fact that she is able to have some action on the outward world independently of him raises her dignity and value in a vulgar man's eyes, and makes her the object of a respect which no personal qualities would ever obtain for one whose social existence he can entirely appropriate.
The vote itself, too, would be improved in quality. The man would often be obliged to find honest reasons for his vote, such as might induce a more upright and impartial character to serve with him under the same banner. The wife's influence would often keep him true to his own sincere opinion. Often, indeed, it would be used, not on the side of public principle, but of the personal interest or worldly vanity of the family. But wherever this would be the tendency of the wife's influence, it is exerted to the full already in that bad direction; and with the more certainty, since under the present law and custom she is generally too utter a stranger to politics in any sense in which they involve principle to be able to realise to herself that there is a point of honour in them, and most people have as little sympathy in the point of honour of others, when their own is not placed in the same thing, as they have in the religious feelings of those whose religion differs from theirs. Give the woman a vote, and she comes under the operation of the political point of honour. She learns to look on politics as a thing on which she is allowed to have an opinion, and in which if one has an opinion it ought to be acted upon; she acquires a sense of personal accountability in the matter, and will no longer feel, as she does at present, that whatever amount of bad influence she may exercise, if the man can but be persuaded, all is right, and his responsibility covers all. It is only by being herself encouraged to form an opinion, and obtain an intelligent comprehension of the reasons which ought to prevail with the conscience against the temptations of personal or family interest, that she can ever cease to act as a disturbing force on the political conscience of the man. Her indirect agency can only be prevented from being politically mischievous150 by being exchanged for direct.
I have supposed the right of suffrage to depend, as in a good state of things it would, on personal conditions. Where it depends, as in this and most other countries, on conditions of property, the contradiction is even more flagrant. There something more than ordinarily irrational151 in the fact that when a woman can give all the guarantees required from a male elector, independent circumstances, the position of a householder and head of a family, payment of taxes, or whatever may be the conditions imposed, the very principle and system of a representation based on property is set aside, and an exceptionally personal disqualification is created for the mere purpose of excluding her. When it is added that in the country where this is done a woman now reigns152, and that the most glorious ruler whom that country ever had was a woman, the picture of unreason, and scarcely disguised injustice, is complete. Let us hope that as the work proceeds of pulling down, one after another, the remains of the mouldering153 fabric154 of monopoly and tyranny, this one will not be the last to disappear; that the opinion of Bentham, of Mr. Samuel Bailey, of Mr. Hare, and many other of the most powerful political thinkers of this age and country (not to speak of others), will make its way to all minds not rendered obdurate155 by selfishness or inveterate156 prejudice; and that, before the lapse157 another generation, the accident of sex, no more than the accident of skin, will be deemed a sufficient justification158 for depriving its possessor of the equal protection and just privileges of a citizen.
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suffrage
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| n.投票，选举权，参政权 | |
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sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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biasses
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| 使倾向于（bias的第三人称单数形式） | |
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usurps
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| 篡夺，霸占( usurp的第三人称单数 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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insignificance
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| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
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requisites
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| n.必要的事物( requisite的名词复数 ) | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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franchises
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| n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 ) | |
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franchise
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| n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权 | |
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cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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diffusion
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| n.流布；普及；散漫 | |
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attainable
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| a.可达到的，可获得的 | |
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commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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abodes
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| 住所( abode的名词复数 )； 公寓； （在某地的）暂住； 逗留 | |
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watts
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| （电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 ) | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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inertness
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| n.不活泼，没有生气；惰性；惯量 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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sycophancy
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| n.拍马屁，奉承，谄媚；吮痈舐痔 | |
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corrupting
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的现在分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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alloy
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| n.合金，(金属的)成色 | |
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stimuli
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| n.刺激（物） | |
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bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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suffrages
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| （政治性选举的）选举权，投票权( suffrage的名词复数 ) | |
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malcontent
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| n.不满者，不平者；adj.抱不平的，不满的 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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implicitly
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| adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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pariahs
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| n.被社会遗弃者( pariah的名词复数 )；贱民 | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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exclusions
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| n.不包括的项目：如接受服务项目是由投保以前已患有的疾病或伤害引致的，保险公司有权拒绝支付。；拒绝( exclusion的名词复数 )；排除；被排斥在外的人（或事物）；排外主义 | |
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49
attaining
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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50
gratuitously
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| 平白 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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enfranchisement
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| 选举权 | |
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allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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ascertaining
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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chicanery
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| n.欺诈，欺骗 | |
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withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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registrar
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| n.记录员，登记员；(大学的)注册主任 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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severance
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| n.离职金；切断 | |
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taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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onerous
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| adj.繁重的 | |
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annexed
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| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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narcotics
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| n.麻醉药( narcotic的名词复数 )；毒品；毒 | |
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stimulants
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| n.兴奋剂( stimulant的名词复数 )；含兴奋剂的饮料；刺激物；激励物 | |
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expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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abdicates
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| 放弃（职责、权力等）( abdicate的第三人称单数 )； 退位，逊位 | |
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recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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insolvent
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| adj.破产的，无偿还能力的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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recipients
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| adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器 | |
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abatement
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| n.减(免)税，打折扣，冲销 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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obviated
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| v.避免，消除（贫困、不方便等）( obviate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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98
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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99
supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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101
plural
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| n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的 | |
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102
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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103
discrediting
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| 使不相信( discredit的现在分词 )； 使怀疑； 败坏…的名声； 拒绝相信 | |
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104
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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105
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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106
persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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107
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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108
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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109
overpass
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| n.天桥，立交桥 | |
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110
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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111
outweigh
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| vt.比...更重，...更重要 | |
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112
presumptions
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| n.假定( presumption的名词复数 )；认定；推定；放肆 | |
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113
guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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114
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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115
eligibility
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| n.合格，资格 | |
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116
hustings
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| n.竞选活动 | |
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117
dispense
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| vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施 | |
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118
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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119
Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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incompatible
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| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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122
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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undesirable
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| adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子 | |
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125
relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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126
irrelevant
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| adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的 | |
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adventitious
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| adj.偶然的 | |
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128
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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129
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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imprinted
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| v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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131
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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132
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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detrimental
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| adj.损害的，造成伤害的 | |
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conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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136
strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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137
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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138
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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139
ascendancy
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| n.统治权，支配力量 | |
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140
denominations
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| n.宗派( denomination的名词复数 )；教派；面额；名称 | |
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141
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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142
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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143
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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144
drudges
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| n.做苦工的人，劳碌的人( drudge的名词复数 ) | |
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145
aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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146
abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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147
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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148
fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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149
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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150
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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151
irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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152
reigns
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| n.君主的统治( reign的名词复数 )；君主统治时期；任期；当政期 | |
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153
mouldering
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| v.腐朽( moulder的现在分词 )；腐烂，崩塌 | |
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154
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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155
obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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156
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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157
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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158
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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