judgment and opinion I would rather have on almost any mundane question than that of two-thirds of the House of Commons, to say nothing of the local Legislative Assembly—once gravely said to me:—
"I have only voted once since I have been in the colony. I voted for So-and-So; and don't know if God has forgiven me, but I certainly have not forgiven myself."
It may be urged that a political pessimist of this pronounced type, however worthy in all the private relations of life, is not fit to be a citizen of a free State. There may be some truth in this, though I remember Mr. Ruskin, who is not held to be an ignoble or unenlightened Englishman, making a very similar public confession. If, on the other hand, the principle to "poll early, and poll often," be the mark of perfect citizenhood, then I must admit that the Irish Celts attain to a very lofty standard indeed. At the same time, let me point out that under universal suffrage—of which, nevertheless, I have always been an advocate—the cultured and highly individualised type of Mr. Ruskin, and my old colonial friend, which is, in many respects, the salt of the earth, must be "bossed" by party "rings" and vulgar political "wire-pullers," whose one grand
