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PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
A STUDY IN METHODS OF ELECTION
BY
JOHN H. HUMPHREYS
HON. SECRETARY, PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION SOCIETY
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
THE RT. HON. LORD COURTNEY OF PENWITH
_First Published in 1911_
TO THE MEMORY OF
CATHERINE HELEN SPENCE
OF ADELAIDE
AN UNWEARIED WORKER IN THE CAUSE OF REAL REPRESENTATION
INTRODUCTION
BY LORD COURTNEY OF PENWITH
I believe this book will generally be welcomed as opportune.
Proportional Representation has made very rapid, almost startling
advances in recent years. In one shape or another it has been adopted in
many countries in Northern Europe, and there is a prospect of a most
important extension of this adoption in the reform of the parliamentary
institutions of France. Among ourselves, every political writer and
speaker have got some inkling of the central principle of proportional
representation, and not a few feel, sometimes with reluctance, that it
has come to stay, that it will indeed be worked into our own system when
the inevitable moment arrives for taking up again the reform of the
House of Commons. They know and confess so much among themselves, but
they want to be familiarized with the best machinery for working
proportional representation, and they would not be sorry to have the
arguments for and against its principles once more clearly examined so
that they may be properly equipped for the reception of the coming
change. This little book of Mr. Humphreys is just what they desire. The
author has no doubt about his conclusions, but he goes fairly and with
quite sufficient fulness through the main branches of the controversy
over proportional representation, and he explains the working of an
election under the system we must now regard as the one most likely to
be adopted among us. His qualifications for his work are indeed rare,
and his authority in a corresponding measure high. A convinced adherent
of proportional representation, he stimulated the revival of the Society
established to promote it. He was the chief organizer of the enlarged
illustrative elections we have had at home. He has attended elections in
Belgium and again in Sweden, and when the time came for electing
Senators in the colonies of South Africa, and Municipal Councils in
Johannesburg and Pretoria, the local governments solicited his
assistance in conducting them, and put on record their obligations for
his help. The reader can have no better guide in argument, no more
experienced hand in the explanation of machinery, and if I add that Mr.
Humphreys has done his work with complete mastery of his subject and
with conspicuous clearness of exposition, I need say no more in
recommendation of his book.
It may be objected that the Royal Commission which issued its Report
last spring, did not recommend the incorporation of proportional
representation into our electoral system. This is most true. One member
indeed (Lord Lochee) did not shrink from this conclusion, but his
colleagues were unable to report that a case had been made out for the
adoption "here and now" of proportional representation. Their hesitancy
and the reasons they advanced as justifying it must lead many to a
conclusion opposite to their own. They themselves are indeed emphatic in
pressing the limitation "here and now" as qualifying their verdict. They
wish it to be most distinctly understood that they have no irresistible
objection to proportional representation. They indeed openly confess
that conditions may arise among ourselves at some future time which
would appear to be not necessarily distant, when the balance of
expediency may turn in favour of its adoption. They suggest "that some
need may become felt which can only be satisfied by proportional
representation in some form or another," and I do not think I
misrepresent their attitude in believing that a very small change of
circumstances might suffice to precipitate a reversal of their present
conclusion. All who are familiar with the conduct of political
controversies must recognize the situation thus revealed. Again and
again have proposals of reform been made which the wise could not
recommend for acceptance "here and now." They are seen to be good for
other folk; they fit into the circumstances of other societies; they may
have worked well in climates different from our own; nay, among
ourselves they might be tried in some auxiliary fashion separated from
the great use for which they have been recommended, but we will wait for
the proper moment of their undisguised general acceptance. It is in this
way that political ideas have been propagated, and it would be a mistake
if we were hastily to condemn what are sure and trusty lines of
progress. When the Royal Commissioners, after all their hesitations
about the intrusion of proportional representation even in the thinnest
of wedges into the House of Commons, go on to say that "there would be
much to be said in its favour as a method for the constitution of an
elected Second Chamber," and again, though admitting that this was
beyond their reference, express a pretty transparent wish that it might
be tried in municipal elections, the friends of the principle may well
be content with the line which the tide of opinion has reached. The
concluding words of this branch of the Report are scarcely necessary for
their satisfaction: "We need only add, that should it be decided at any
time to introduce proportional representation here for political
elections the change would be facilitated if experience had been gained
in municipal elections alike by electors and officials."
A few words may be permitted in reference to the line of defence
advanced by the Commissioners against the inroad of proportional
representation. Mr. Humphreys has dealt with this with sufficient
fullness in Chapters X and XI which deal with objections to proportional
representation; and I refer the reader to what he has written on the
general subject. My own comment on the position of the Commissioners
must be short. Briefly stated, their position is that proportional
representation "cannot be recommended in a political election where the
question which party is to govern the country plays a predominant part,"
and, as elsewhere they put it, "a general election is in fact considered
by a large portion of the electorate of this country as practically a
referendum on the question which of two governments shall be returned to
power." The first remark to be made upon this wonderful barrier is that
a general election avowedly cannot be trusted as a true referendum. It
produces a balance of members in favour of one party, though even this
may fail to be realized at no distant future, but the balance of members
may be and has been under our present system in contradiction to the
balance of the electors; or in other words, a referendum would answer
the vital question which party is to govern, in the opposite sense to
the answer given by a general election. This is so frankly admitted in
the Report that it is difficult to understand how the Commissioners can
recommend adherence to a process which they have proved to be a
delusion. Even on the bare question of ascertaining what government the
nation desires to see installed at Westminster, the present method is
found wanting, whilst the reformed plan, by giving us a reproduction in
miniature of the divisions of national opinion, would in the balance of
judgment of the microcosm give us the balance of judgment in the nation.
If a referendum is really wanted, a general election with single-member
constituencies does not give us a secure result, and an election under
proportional representation would ensure it. A different question
obviously disturbs many minds, to wit, the stability of a government
resting on the support of a truly representative assembly. Here again it
may be asked whether our present machinery really satisfies conditions
of stable equilibrium. We know they are wanting, and with the
development of groups among us, they will be found still more wanting.
The groups which emerge under existing processes are uncertain in shape,
in size, and in their combinations, and governments resting upon them
are infirm even when they appear to be strong. It is only when the
groups in the legislature represent in faithful proportion bodies of
convinced adherents returning them as their representatives that such
groups become strong enough to restore parliamentary efficiency and to
combine in the maintenance of a stable administration. It may require a
little exercise of political imagination to realize how the transformed
House of Commons would work, and to many the demonstration will only
come through a new experience to which they will be driven through the
failure of the existing apparatus. Meanwhile it may be suggested to
doubters whether their anxiety respecting the possible working of a
reformed House of Commons is not at bottom a distrust of freedom. They
are afraid of a House of chartered liberties, whereas they would find
the best security for stable and ordered progress in the self-adjustment
of an assembly which would be a nation in miniature.
COURTNEY OF PENWITH
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Current constitutional and electoral problems cannot be solved in the
absence of a satisfactory method of choosing representatives. An attempt
has therefore been made in the present volume to contrast the practical
working of various methods of election; of majority systems as
exemplified in single-member constituencies and in multi-member
constituencies with the block vote; of majority systems modified by the
use of the second ballot or of the transferable vote; of the earlier
forms of minority representation; and, lastly, of modern systems of
proportional representation.
Care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the descriptions of the
electoral systems in use. The memorandum on the use of the single vote
in Japan has been kindly supplied by Mr. Kametaro Hayashida, the Chief
Secretary of the Japanese House of Representatives; the description of
the Belgian system of proportional representation has been revised by
Count Goblet d'Alviella, Secretary of the Belgian Senate; the account of
the Swedish system by Major E. von Heidenstam, of Ronneby; that of the
Finland system by Dr. J.N. Reuter, of Helsingfors; whilst the chapter on
the second ballot and the transferable vote in single-member
constituencies is based upon information furnished by correspondents in
the countries in which these systems are in force. The statistical
analyses of elections in the United Kingdom were prepared by Mr. J.
Booke Corbett, of the Manchester Statistical Society, whose figures were
accepted by the Royal Commission on Electoral Systems as representing
"the truth as correctly as circumstances will permit."
The author is greatly indebted to his colleagues of the Proportional
Representation Society, Mr. J. Fischer Williams and Mr. Alfred J. Gray,
for the cordial assistance rendered by them in the preparation of this
book. Acknowledgments are also due to the editors of the _Times_, the
_Contemporary Review_, and the _Albany Review_, for permission to make
use of contributions to these journals.
J.H.H.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE NATIONAL WILL
The spread of Representative Government--The House of Commons and
sovereign power--The demand for complete sovereignty--Complete
sovereignty demands complete representation--Strengthening the
foundations of the House of Commons--The rise of a new party--The new
political conditions and electoral reform.
CHAPTER II
THE DIRECT RESULTS OF MAJORITY SYSTEMS
The exaggeration of majorities--The disfranchisement of minorities--The
under-representation of majorities--A "game of dice"--The importance of
boundaries--The "gerrymander"--The modern gerrymander--The "block"
vote--The election of the London County Council--The election of
aldermen of the London County Council--The election of Representative
Peers of Scotland--The Australian Senate--London Borough
Councils--Provincial Municipal Councils--Summary.
CHAPTER III
THE INDIRECT RESULTS OF MAJORITY SYSTEMS
False impressions of public opinion--become the basis of legislative
action--Loss of prestige by the House of Commons--Unstable
representation--Weakened personnel--Degradation of party strife--The
"final rally"--Bribery and "nursing"--The organization of victory--Party
exclusiveness--Mechanical debates--Disfranchisement of minorities in
bi-racial countries--Defective representation in municipal
bodies--Wasteful municipal finance--No continuity in administration--The
root of the evil.
CHAPTER IV
THE REPRESENTATION OF MINORITIES
The Limited vote--The Cumulative vote--The Single vote--The need of
minority representation.
CHAPTER V
THE SECOND BALLOT AND THE TRANSFERABLE VOTE IN SINGLE-MEMBER
CONSTITUENCIES
Three-cornered contests--The second ballot--Experience in Germany,
Austria, Belgium, France--The bargainings at second ballots in
France--The "Kuh-Handel" in Germany--The position of a deputy elected at
a second ballot--The Alternative vote--The Alternative or Contingent vote
in Queensland, in West Australia--Mr. Deakin's failure to carry the
Alternative vote--Probable effect of the Alternative vote in
England--The Alternative vote not a solution of the problem of
three-cornered contests.
CHAPTER VI
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
The essential features of a sound electoral method--Constituencies
returning several members--Proportional representation of the
electors--Experience in Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, German States,
France, Holland, Finland, Sweden, Australasia, South Africa, Canada,
Oregon, The United Kingdom--The success of proportional representation
in practice--An election by miners.
CHAPTER VII
THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE
Its present application--An English movement--The system in brief--Large
constituencies--The single vote--The vote made transferable--How votes
are transferred--The quota--A simple case--The transfer of surplus
votes--The elimination of the lowest unelected candidate--The
result--Different methods of transferring surplus votes: The Hare
method--The Hare-Clark method--The Gregory method--The Gove or Dobbs
method--The Model election of 1908--The counting of votes: general
arrangements--The first count--The quota--The transfer of surplus
votes--The elimination of unsuccessful candidates--The fairness of the
result--Improved arrangements in the Transvaal elections--Criticisms of
the single transferable vote--Effect of late preferences--Elimination of
candidates at the bottom of the poll--Quota representation the basis of
the system.
CHAPTER VIII
LIST SYSTEMS OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.
The Belgian electoral system--The Franchise--Compulsory voting--Partial
renewal of Chamber--The presentation of lists--The act of voting--The
allotment of seats to parties--The selection of the successful
candidates--A Belgian election, Ghent, 1908: the poll--The counting of
the votes--The final process--Public opinion favourable to the
system--The relation of the Belgian to other list systems--The different
methods of apportioning seats to lists--Criticism of the d'Hondt
rule--The formation of Cartels--The different methods of selecting
successful candidates--Panachage--The single vote and _case de
tête_--The limited and cumulative vote--Special characteristics of
Swedish and Finnish systems.
CHAPTER IX
A COMPARISON OF LIST SYSTEMS WITH THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE
The influence of previous conditions--Party the basis of representation
in a list system--The freedom of the elector within the
party--Comparative accuracy--Panachage--Applicability to non-political
elections--Bye-elections--Relative simplicity of scrutiny.
CHAPTER X
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION AND PARTY GOVERNMENT
Proportional representation and the two-party system--Burke's view of
party and party discipline--Narrow basis fatal to a large
party--Proportional representation and party discipline--"Free
questions" in Japan--The formation of groups--The formation of an
executive--A check on partisan legislation--Unlike the referendum,
proportional representation will strengthen the House of
Commons--Proportional representation facilitates legislation desired by
the nation--Proportional representation in Standing Committees--Taking
off the Whips--New political conditions.
CHAPTER XI
OBJECTIONS TO PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
The question of practicability--The elector's task--The returning
officer's task--Time required for counting the votes--Fads and sectional
interests--The representation of localities--The member and his
constituents--Objections of party agents--Alleged difficulties in the
organization of elections--Alleged increase of cost--The accuracy of
representation--Summary.
CHAPTER XII
THE KEY TO ELECTORAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
Electoral problems awaiting solution--Simplification of the
franchise--Redistribution--Should be automatic--Secures neither one vote
one value nor true representation--The problem simplified by
proportional representation--The case of Ireland--Three-cornered
contests--Partial adoption of proportional representation not
desirable--Proportional representation and democratic principles
--Constitutional reform--Federal Home Rule--Imperial Federation
--Conclusion.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX I
THE JAPANESE ELECTORAL SYSTEM--THE SINGLE NON-TRANSFERABLE VOTE
Failure of single-member system--Multi-member constituencies: Single
Vote adopted 1900--Equitable results--The new system and party
organization--The position of independents--Public opinion and the new
system.
APPENDIX II
THE SECOND BALLOT: A NOTE ON THE GERMAN GENERAL ELECTIONS OF 1903 AND
1907
The effect of unequal constituencies on representation--The effect of
second ballots--Second ballots and the swing of the pendulum--The second
ballot and the representation of minorities--Summary.
APPENDIX III
THE SWEDISH SYSTEM OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
The former constitution of the two Chambers--The struggle for electoral
reform--The Swedish law of 1909--The Swedish system of proportional
representation--The allotment of seats to parties--The selection of the
successful candidates--Free voters and double candidatures--An election
at Carlskrona--The poll--The allotment of seats to parties--The
selection of the successful candidates--The election of
suppliants--Comparison with Belgian system--The system and party
organization--The great improvement effected by the Swedish system.
APPENDIX IV
THE FINLAND SYSTEM OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
The influence of the Belgian system--Schedules and "compacts" in place
of lists--An election in Nyland--Returning officer's task--The allotment
of seats--Successful candidates in the Nyland election--Equitable
results--Elector's freedom of choice.
APPENDIX V
STATISTICS OF THE GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1885-1910
Explanatory notes--The representation of minorities.
APPENDIX VI
PREFERENTIAL VOTING: THE TRANSFER OF SUPERFLUOUS VOTES
I. The element of chance involved: Its magnitude. II. Method of
eliminating the chance element--Example.
APPENDIX VII
THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE: SCHEDULE TO MUNICIPAL REPRESENTATION BILL,
1910
APPENDIX VIII
THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE: SCHEDULE TO TASMANIAN ELECTORAL ACT, 1907
APPENDIX IX
THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE: REGULATIONS FOR THE ELECTION OF SENATORS
UNDER THE SOUTH AFRICA ACT, 1909
APPENDIX X LIST SYSTEM: BILL PRESENTED TO THE FRENCH CHAMBER OF
DEPUTIES, 1907
APPENDIX XI
LIST SYSTEM: LAW ADOPTED BY THE CANTON OF BÂLE TOWN, 1905
INDEX
"The object of our deliberation is to promote the good purposes for
which elections have been instituted, and to prevent their
inconveniences."
--BURKE
CHAPTER I
THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE NATIONAL WILL
"The virtue, the spirit, the essence of the House of Commons, consists
in its being the express image of the nation."--BURKE.
"It is necessary," said Burke, "to resort to the theory of government
whenever you propose any alteration in the frame of it, whether that
alteration means the revival of some former antiquated and forsaken
constitution or state, or the introduction of some new improvement in
the commonwealth." The following chapters are a plea for an improvement
in our electoral methods, and although the suggested improvement and the
arguments with which it is supported are not new, yet it is desirable,
in the spirit of Burke's declaration, to preface the plea with some
reference to the main feature of our constitution.
_The spread of representative government_.
The outstanding characteristic of the British Constitution, its
fundamental principle, is now, if not fully so in Burke's time, the
government of the nation by its chosen representatives. Indeed, so much
is this the case that, in spite of the continued presence of elements
which are far from representative in character, originating in that
distant past when commoners had little, if any, political influence, the
British Constitution and Representative Government are almost synonymous
terms, and the "mother of parliaments" has given birth to so long a
succession of constitutions of which the cardinal principle is
representative government--the association of the governed with the
government--that we cannot now think of our House of Commons save as the
most complete expression of this principle. Nor, despite the criticisms,
many of them fully deserved, which have been directed against the
working of parliamentary institutions, has the House of Commons ceased
to be taken in other lands as a model to be reproduced in general
outline. New parliaments continue to arise and in the most unexpected
quarters. China is insistently demanding the immediate realisation of
full representative government. Japan has not only assimilated western
learning, but has adopted western representative institutions, and in
copying our electoral machinery has added improvements of her own.
Russia has established a parliament which, although not at present
elected upon a democratic basis, must inevitably act as a powerful check
upon autocracy, and in the process will assuredly seek that increased
authority which comes from a more complete identification with the
people. The Reichstag has demanded the cessation of the personal rule of
the German Emperor, and will not be content until, in the nation's name,
it exercises a more complete control over the nation's affairs.
Parliamentary government was recently established at Constantinople amid
the plaudits of the whole civilized world, and although the new régime
has not fulfilled all the hopes formed of it, yet upon its continuance
depends the maintenance of the improvements already effected in Turkey.
Lord Morley signalized his tenure of office as Secretary of State for
India by reforms that make a great advance in the establishment of
representative institutions. Some of these experiments may be regarded
as premature, but in the case of civilized nations there would appear to
be no going back; for them there is no alternative to democracy, and if
representative institutions have not yielded so far all the results that
were expected of them, progress must be sought in an improvement of
these institutions rather than in a return to earlier conditions. The
only criticism, therefore, of the House of Commons that is of practical
value must deal with those defects which experience has disclosed, and
with those improvements in its organization and composition which are
essential if in the future it is to discharge efficiently and adequately
its primary function of giving effect to the national will.
_The House of Commons and sovereign power._
"The essential property of representative government," says Professor
Dicey, "is to produce coincidence between the wishes of the Sovereign
and the wishes of the subject.... This, which is true in its measure of
all real representative government applies with special truth to the
English House of Commons." [1] This conception of the House of Commons as
the central and predominant factor in the constitution, exercising
sovereign power because it represents the nation which it governs, has
been notably strengthened during the last fifty years. A change having
far-reaching consequences took place in 1861, when the repeal of the
paper duties was effected by a clause in the annual Bill providing for
the necessary reimposition of annual duties, a proceeding which deprived
the Lords of the opportunity of defeating the new proposal other than by
rejecting the whole of the measure of which it formed a part. This
example has since been followed by both the great parties of the State.
Sir William Harcourt embodied extensive changes in the Death Duties in
the Finance Bill of 1894; Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, in 1899, included
proposals for altering the permanent provisions made for the reduction
of the National Debt; Mr. Lloyd George, following these precedents,
included in the Finance Bill of 1909 important new taxes which, prior to
1861, would have been submitted to both Houses in the form of separate
Bills. The House of Commons, however, has not yet attained the position
of full unqualified sovereignty, for, whilst the relations between the
King and the Commons have been harmonised by making the King's Ministry
dependent upon that House, the decisions of the House of Lords are not
yet subject to the same control. The Lords successfully rejected the
Education, Licensing, and Plural Voting Bills, all of which were passed
by the Commons by large majorities during the Parliament of 1906-1909.
Further, it refused its consent to the Finance Bill of 1909 until the
measure had been submitted to the judgment of the country, and by this
action compelled a dissolution of Parliament.[2]
_The demand for complete sovereignty._
These assertions of authority on the part of the House of Lords called
forth from the Commons a fresh demand for complete sovereignty--a demand
based on the ground that the House of Commons expresses the will of the
people, and that the rejection by the hereditary House of measures
desired by the nation's representatives is directly opposed to the true
principles of representative government. In consequence of the rejection
of the Education and Plural Voting Bills of 1906, Sir Henry
Campbell-Bannerman, in June 1907, moved in the House of Commons the
following resolution: "That, in order to give effect to the will of the
people as expressed by their elected representatives, it is necessary
that the power of the other House to alter or reject Bills passed by
this House, should be so restricted by law as to secure that within the
limit of a single Parliament the final decision of the Commons shall
prevail." The first clause of this resolution advances the claim already
referred to--that the House of Commons is the representative and
authoritative expression of the national will--and in support of this
claim Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman quoted the declaration of Burke, that
"the virtue, the spirit, the essence of the House of Commons consists in
its being the express image of the nation." In the Parliament elected in
January 1910, further resolutions were carried by the Commons defining
more precisely the proposed limitation of the legislative power of the
Lords. It was resolved[3] that the House of Lords should be disabled by
law from rejecting or amending a money Bill, and that any Bill other
than a money Bill which had passed the House of Commons in three
successive sessions should become law without the consent of the
House of Lords.
These resolutions were embodied in the Parliament Bill, but the measure
was not proceeded with owing to the death of King Edward, and a
conference between the leaders of the two chief parties met for the
purpose of finding a settlement of the controversy by consent. The
conference failed, and the Government at once took steps to appeal to
the country for a decision in support of its proposals. Meanwhile the
House of Lords, which had already placed on record its opinion that the
possession of a peerage should no longer confer the right to legislate,
carried resolutions outlining a scheme for a new Second Chamber, and
proposing that disputes between the two Houses should be decided by
joint sessions, or, in matters of great gravity, by means of a
Referendum. The result of the appeal to the country (Dec. 1910) was in
favour of the Government. The Parliament Bill was re-introduced, and
this measure, if passed, will mark an important step in the realisation
of the demand of the Commons for complete sovereignty.
_Complete sovereignty demands complete representation._
The Parliament Bill does not, however, contemplate the establishment of
single-chamber Government, and it would appear that complete sovereignty
is only claimed whilst the House of Lords is based upon the hereditary
principle. For the preamble of the Bill declares that "it is intended
to substitute for the House of Lords as it at present exists a Second
Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis," and that
"provision will require hereafter to be made by Parliament in a measure
effecting such substitution for limiting and defining the powers of the
new Second Chamber." But whatever constitutional changes may take place,
the national will must remain the final authority in legislation, and
the ultimate position of the House of Commons in the constitution and in
public esteem will depend upon the confidence with which it can be
regarded as giving expression to that will. It cannot claim to be the
sole authority for legislation without provoking searching inquiries
into the methods of election by which it is brought into being. At a
General Election the citizens are asked to choose representatives who
shall have full power to speak in their name on all questions which may
arise during the lifetime of a Parliament. But, although invariably
there are several important questions before the country awaiting
decision, the elector is usually restricted in his choice to two
candidates, and it is obvious that this limited choice affords him a
most inadequate opportunity of giving expression to his views upon the
questions placed before him. There can be no guarantee that the
decisions of representatives so chosen are always in agreement with the
wishes of those who elected them. Even in the General Election of
December 1910, when every effort was made to concentrate public
attention upon one problem--the relations between the two Houses of
Parliament--the elector in giving his vote had to consider the probable
effect of his choice upon many other questions of first-class
importance--the constitution of a new Second Chamber, Home Rule for
Ireland, the maintenance of Free Trade, the establishment of an Imperial
Preference, Electoral Reform, the reversal or modification of the
Osborne Judgment, Payment of Members, Invalidity Insurance; in respect
of all of which legislative proposals might possibly be submitted to the
new Parliament. Obviously before the House of Commons can be regarded
with complete confidence as the expression of the national will, the
elector must be given a wider and more effective choice in the selection
of a representative.
It is, however, contended by many politicians that the main object of a
General Election is not the creation of a legislature which shall give
expression to the views of electors on public questions. "A General
Election," says the Report of the Royal Commission on Electoral
Systems,[4] "is in fact considered by a large portion of the electorate
as practically a referendum on the question which of two Governments
shall be returned to power." But were this interpretation of a General
Election accepted it would destroy the grounds on which it is claimed
that the decisions of the Commons in respect of legislation shall
prevail "within the limit of a single Parliament." Some means should be
available for controlling the Government in respect of its legislative
proposals, and the history of the Unionist administrations of 1895-1906,
during which the House of Lords failed to exercise any such control,
demonstrated the need of a check upon the action of a House of Commons
elected under present conditions. Mr. John M. Robertson, whose
democratic leanings are not open to the least suspicion, has commented
in this sense upon the lack of confidence in the representative
character of the House of Commons. "Let me remind you," said he, "that
the state of things in which the Progressive party can get in on a tidal
movement of political feeling with a majority of 200, causes deep
misgivings in the minds of many electors.... Those who desire an
effective limitation of the power of the House of Lords and its ultimate
abolition, are bound to offer to the great mass of prudent electors some
measure of electoral reform which will give greater stability to the
results of the polls, and will make the results at a General Election
more in keeping with the actual balance of opinion in the country." [5]
The preamble of the Parliament Bill itself implies that the decisions of
the House of Commons may not always be in accordance with the national
wishes. It foreshadows the creation of a new Second Chamber, and the
only purpose which this chamber can serve is to make good the
deficiencies of the First.
The fact that our electoral methods are so faulty that their results
produce in the minds of many electors deep misgivings as to the
representative character of the House of Commons must materially
undermine the authority of that House. All who desire the final and
complete triumph of representative institutions--a triumph that depends
upon their success in meeting the demands made upon them--all who are
anxious that the House of Commons shall not only maintain, but increase,
the prestige that has hitherto been associated with it, must, in the
face of possible constitutional developments, endeavour to strengthen
its position by making it in fact, as it is in theory, fully
representative of the nation. For Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's
quotation from Burke is double-edged, and may be expressed thus: "the
virtue, the spirit, the essence of the House of Commons departs as soon
as it ceases to be the express image of the nation." Such a House cannot
furnish an adequate basis of support for a Government. For the
Government which issues from it will not command public confidence. The
debates in the House in 1905, before the resignation of Mr. Balfour,
bore testimony to the fact that the strength and power of a Government
which, according to the theory of our constitution, depends upon the
number of its supporters in the House of Commons, in reality rests upon
its reputation with the country. There was quoted more than once with
excellent effect this dictum of Sir William Anson: "Ministers are not
only the servants of the Crown, they represent the public opinion of the
United Kingdom. When they cease to impersonate public opinion they
become a mere group of personages who must stand or fall by the
prudence and success of their actions. They have to deal with disorders
at home or hostile manifestations abroad; they would have to meet these
with the knowledge that they had not the confidence or support of the
country; and their opponents at home and abroad would know this too." [6]
The strength and stability of a democratic Government thus depend upon
its capacity to interpret the will of the country, and the support which
the House of Commons can give is of value only to the extent to which
that House reflects national opinion. The Commons, if it is to maintain
unimpaired its predominant position in the constitution, must make good
its claim to be the representative expression of the national will. The
measures for which it makes itself responsible must have behind them
that irresistible authority, the approval of the electorate. If then our
electoral methods fail to yield a fully representative House, and if, in
consequence, the House cannot satisfactorily fulfil its double function
of affording an adequate basis of support to the Government which
springs from it, and of legislating in accordance with the nation's
wishes, the resultant dissatisfaction and instability must give rise to
a demand for their improvement. The House of Commons must re-establish
itself upon surer foundations.
_Strengthening the foundations of the House of Commons._
Each change in the constitution of the House of Commons--and its
foundations have been strengthened on more than one occasion--has been
preceded by a recognition of its failure to meet in full the
requirements of a representative chamber. Large changes have again and
again been made in consequence of such recognition since the day when
Burke alleged that its virtue lay in its being "the express image of the
nation." At the close of the eighteenth century, when these words were
spoken, it could be alleged with apparent truth that 306 members were
virtually returned by the influence of 160 persons.[7] The
consciousness that such a House could not be the express image of the
nation produced the Reform Bill of 1832, and a further recognition that
a still larger number of the governed must be associated with the
Government, produced the further changes of 1867 and of 1884, embodied
in measures significantly called Acts for the Representation of the
People. These changes, by conferring the franchise upon an ever-widening
circle of citizens, have, from one point of view, rendered the House of
Commons more fully representative of the nation at large. But even
whilst the process of extending the franchise was still in operation, it
was recognized that such extensions were not in themselves sufficient to
create a House of Commons that could claim to be a true expression of
the national will. The test of a true system of representation, laid
down by Mill in _Representative Government_, has never been successfully
challenged. It still remains the last word upon the subject, and, until
the House of Commons satisfies that test with reasonable approximation,
it will always be open to the charge that it is not fully
representative, and that in consequence its decisions lack the necessary
authority. "In a really equal democracy," runs the oft-quoted phrase,
"any and every section would be represented, not disproportionately, but
proportionately. A majority of the electors would always have a majority
of the representatives; but a minority of electors would always have a
minority of the representatives. Man for man, they would be as fully
represented as the majority." [8]
Mill's philosophy finds but little favour in many quarters of political
activity to-day, and the rejection of his philosophy has induced many to
regard his views on representative government as of little value. Even
so staunch an admirer as Lord Morley of Blackburn has underestimated the
importance of Mill's declaration, for, in a recent appreciation of the
philosopher[9] he declared that Mill "was less successful in dealing
with parliamentary machinery than in the infinitely more important task
of moulding and elevating popular character, motives, ideals, and steady
respect for truth, equity and common sense--things that matter a vast
deal more than machinery." Yet Lord Morley, in his attempt to make a
beginning with representative institutions in India, found that
questions of electoral machinery were of the first importance; that
they, indeed, constituted his chief difficulty; and he was compelled in
adjusting the respective claims of Hindus and Muhammadans to have
recourse to Mill's famous principle--the due representation of
minorities. Mill, as subsequent chapters will show, understood what Lord
Morley seems to have insufficiently recognized, that the development or
repression of growth in popular character, motives and ideals, nay, the
successful working of representative institutions themselves, depends in
a very considerable degree upon electoral machinery. Its importance
increases with every fresh assertion of democratic principles, and the
constitutional issues raised during the Parliaments of 1906, 1910, and
1911 must involve a revision of our electoral methods before a complete
solution is attained. The demand on the part of the House of Commons for
complete sovereignty must evoke a counter demand that that House shall
make itself fully representative.
_The rise of a new party._
But the relations which should subsist between the two Houses of
Parliament, whether the upper House is reformed or not, is not the only
question which is giving rise to a closer examination of the foundations
of the House of Commons. To this external difficulty there must be added
the internal, and in the future a more pressing, problem created by the
rise of a new organized party within the House of Commons itself. The
successive extensions of the franchise have given birth to new political
forces which are not content to give expression to their views along the
old channels of the two historic parties, and the growth of the Labour
Party must accelerate the demand for a more satisfactory electoral
method. For a system which fails in many respects to meet the
requirements of two political parties cannot possibly do justice to the
claims of three parties to fair representation in the House of Commons.
It is true that some statesmen regard the rise of a new party with fear
and trembling; they imagine that it forebodes the bankruptcy of
democratic institutions, the success of which, in their judgment, is
necessarily bound up with the maintenance of the two-party system. The
two-party system must indeed be a plant of tender growth if it depends
for existence upon the maintenance of antiquated electoral methods. But
those politicians who deprecate any change on the ground that
single-member constituencies afford the only means by which the
two-party system can be preserved, have failed to explain why this
electoral system has not prevented the growth of Labour parties in
Australia and in England, or why numerous parties and single-member
constituencies go hand in hand both in France and Germany. Single-member
constituencies may distort and falsify the representation of parties,
but they cannot prevent the coming of a new party if that party is the
outcome, the expression, of a new political force.
_The new political conditions and electoral reform._
Why should the rise of a new party cause so much uneasiness? Can
democracy make no use of that increased diffusion of political
intelligence from which springs these new political movements? Mr.
Asquith takes no such pessimistic view. He, least, realises that our
present system is not necessarily the final stage in the development of
representative government. He does not imagine that, whilst we welcome
progress in all things else, we must at all costs adhere to the
electoral methods which have done duty in the past. Speaking at St.
Andrews, 19 February 1906, he declared that: "It was infinitely to the
advantage of the House of Commons, if it was to be a real reflection and
mirror of the national mind, that there should be no strain of opinion
honestly entertained by any substantial body of the King's subjects
which should not find there representation and speech. No student of
political development could have supposed that we should always go along
in the same old groove, one party on one side and another party on the
other side, without the intermediate ground being occupied, as it was in
every other civilized country, by groups and factions having special
ideas and interests of their own. If real and genuine and intelligent
opinion was more split up than it used to be, and if we could not now
classify everybody by the same simple process, we must accept the new
conditions and adapt our machinery to them, our party organization, our
representative system, and the whole scheme and form of our government."
This is not a chance saying, standing by itself, for a fortnight later,
speaking at Morley, Mr. Asquith added: "Let them have a House of Commons
which fully reflected every strain of opinion; that was what made
democratic government in the long run not only safer and more free, but
more stable." Mr. Asquith's statements take cognizance of the fact that
a great divergence between the theoretical and actual composition of the
House of Commons must make for instability, and his pronouncement is an
emphatic reinforcement of the arguments contained in the earlier portion
of this chapter.
On a more important occasion, when replying to an influential deputation
of members of Parliament and others,[10] Mr. Asquith, with all the
responsibility which attaches to the words of a Prime Minister, made
this further statement: "I have said in public before now, and am
therefore only repeating an opinion which I have never ceased to hold,
namely, that there can be no question in the mind of any one familiar
with the actual operation of our constitutional system that it permits,
and I might say that it facilitates--but it certainly permits--a
minority of voters, whether in the country at large or in particular
constituencies, to determine the representation--the relative
representation in the one case of the whole nation, and the actual
representation in the other case of the particular
constituency--sometimes in defiance of the opinions and wishes of the
majority of the electors. The moment you have stated that as a fact
which cannot be disputed, and it cannot be contradicted by any one, you
have pointed out a flaw of a most serious character, and some might say
of an almost fatal character, when your constitutional and Parliamentary
system appears at the bar of judgment upon the issue whether or not it
does from the democratic point of view really carry out the first
principles of representative government. I therefore agree that it is
impossible to defend the rough and ready method which has been hitherto
adopted as a proper or satisfactory explanation of the representative
principle. It is not merely, as more than one speaker has pointed out,
that under our existing system a minority in the country may return a
majority of the House of Commons, but what more frequently happens, and
what I am disposed to agree is equally injurious in its results, is that
you have almost always a great disproportion in the relative size of the
majority and minority in the House of Commons as compared with their
relative size in the constituencies. That is the normal condition of our
House of Commons. I have had experience of some of the inconveniences
which result." In speaking at Burnley in support of the Parliament Bill
during the electoral campaign of December 1910, Mr. Asquith again laid
stress upon the need of making the House of Commons fully
representative. "It is," he said, "an essential and integral feature of
our policy ... that we shall go forward with the task of making the
House of Commons not only the mouthpiece but the mirror of the
national mind."
There can be no doubt that the question of electoral methods must now
occupy a prominent place in all discussions which centre around the
purpose, efficiency and authority of the House of Commons. John Bright,
in addressing the people of Birmingham, on the eve of an election,
exhorted them to "bear in mind that you are going to make a machine
more important than any that is made in the manufactories of Birmingham
... a stupendous machine whose power no man can measure." [11] Can we
afford in the manufacture of such a machine to be content with rough and
ready methods of election? Accuracy and precision are being demanded
with ever-increasing force in all other departments of human activity;
on what grounds then can we in the most delicate of all--that of
government--refuse to recognize their value? The necessity of ensuring
the predominance of the House of Commons in our constitutional system,
the problem created by the rise of the Labour Party, the increased
recognition of the need of reform, cannot but contribute to one result.
The House of Commons will make itself more fully representative by the
adoption of more trustworthy electoral methods, and in so doing will not
only increase its stability and efficiency, but will render its
constitutional position impregnable.
The indispensable preliminaries to any such change are, in the first
place, an analysis of the results, both direct and indirect, of existing
methods and, in the second place, a careful comparison of the
improvements possible. The subsequent chapters will be devoted to both
these aspects of the problem, for in the elucidation of the system most
suited to British conditions, the experience of those countries which,
faced with the necessity for change, have already introduced new methods
into their electoral systems, will be found to be of the highest value.
[Footnote 1: _The Law of the Constitution_, p. 81.]
[Footnote 2: Our constitution is an ever-changing one, and had the
country endorsed the action of the Lords in withholding its assent to
the Finance Bill of 1909, a great blow would have been dealt to the
authority of the House of Commons. The Fabian Society, in its Manifesto
to members, issued on the eve of the election of January 1910, put this
aspect of the case very forcibly: "It may justly be claimed by the
Socialists that they have steadily refused to be misled by idle talk
about what is and what is not constitutional, and have recognized that
the only real constitution is the sum of the powers that are effectively
exercised in the country. If the House of Lords boldly refuses supply
and compels a dissolution, and the country, at the election, supports
the Lords, that support will make the action of the Lords constitutional
in spite of all paper denunciations by the defeated party" (_Fabian
News_, January 1910).
The verdict of the country, as interpreted by the present mode of
election, condemned the action of the Lords by a substantial majority.
Yet the figures in Chap. II. p. 19, show by how small a turnover of
votes that judgment might have been reversed.]
[Footnote 3: 14 April 1910.]
[Footnote 4: Cd. 5163, par. 126.]
[Footnote 5: Manchester Reform Club, 2 February 1909.]
[Footnote 6: _The Law and Custom of the Constitution,_ p. 372.]
[Footnote 7: Ibid., p. 124.]
[Footnote 8: _Representative Government_, Chap. VII.]
[Footnote 9: _The Times_, Literary Supplement, 18 May 1906.]
[Footnote 10: 10 November 1908.]
[Footnote 11: Thomas Hare, _The Election of Representatives_, p. 18]