Let us now turn for a moment to that most witty and amusing writer, Sydney Smith.  In speaking of Mr. Grote’s proposal for the ballot, the author says, “He tells us that the bold cannot be free, and bids us seek for liberty by clothing ourselves in the mask of falsehood, and trampling on the cross of truth;”—­and further on, towards the end of the pamphlet, he quotes an authority that Americans must respect—­“Old John Randolph, the American orator, was asked one day, at a dinner-party in London, whether the ballot prevailed in his State of Virginia?  ’I scarcely believe,’ he said, ’we have such a fool in all Virginia as to mention even the vote by ballot; and I do not hesitate to say that the adoption of the ballot would make any nation a set of scoundrels if it did not find them so.’”—­John Randolph was right; he felt that it was not necessary that a people should be false in order to be free.  Universal hypocrisy would be the consequence of ballot.  We should soon say, on deliberation, what David only asserted in his haste, that “all men are liars."[CC]—­How strangely prophetic the opinion of John Randolph appears, when read by the light of the New York Herald of 1852.

It has always appeared to me that the argument in favour of ballot which is drawn from its use in clubs, if it prove anything at all, is rather against than for it; its value there arises from the fact of the independence of the members, which enables any member if asked by the rejected candidate how he had voted, to decline giving any answer without fear of consequences.  Were he dependent, he must either deny the black-ball he gave, had he so voted, or, confessing the fact, he must suffer for it, and silence would be sure to be construed into a black-ball:  therefore, before ballot could be of any value to a constituency, they must be independent; and if independent, there would be no need of the ballot.  Of course secrecy could be obtained by falsehood.  Moreover, the object of it in a club is to keep out of a select society not only those who are considered absolutely offensive, but many with whom, though you might like to meet them in general society, you do not think it desirable to be on more intimate terms; and even in a club, who will deny that it is often used to gratify private malice, and frequently, when candidates are numerous, are black-balls put in to hasten forward the election of friends?  While freely confessing and deeply regretting the disgraceful jobbery and bribery which an inquiry into our own elections too often reveals, we ought to be thankful for the light of experience which a contemplation of the elective system of the United States affords, warning us as it does that an imprudent lowering of the franchise and a recourse to the secret ballot do but aggravate the evils they were intended to cure.  Before we proceed to lower our franchise, should we not do wisely to try and devise some means for obtaining the votes of those already entitled to vote?  Many an honest and