130
hardly ever a lasting hold on the minds of his constituents. However small
an electoral body may be, the fluctuations of democracy are constantly
changing its aspect; it must, therefore, be courted unceasingly. He is never
sure of his supporters, and, if they forsake him, he is left without a resource;
for his natural position is not sufficiently elevated for him to be easily
known to those not close to him; and, with the complete state of
independence prevailing among the people, he cannot hope that his friends
or the government will send him down to be returned by an electoral body
unacquainted with him. The seeds of his fortune are, therefore, sown in his
own neighborhood; from that nook of earth he must start to raise himself to
the command of a people and to influence the destinies of the world.
Thus it is natural that in democratic countries the members of political
assemblies think more of their constituents than of their party, whilst in
aristocracies they think more of their party than of their constituents.
But what ought to be said to gratify constituents is not always what ought to
be said in order to serve the party to which Representatives profess to
belong. The general interest of a party frequently demands that members
belonging to it should not speak on great questions which they understand
imperfectly; that they should speak but little on those minor questions which
impede the great ones; lastly, and for the most part, that they should not
speak at all. To keep silence is the most useful service that an indifferent
spokesman can render to the commonwealth. Constituents, however, do not
think so. The population of a district sends a representative to take a part in
the government of a country, because they entertain a very lofty notion of
his merits. As men appear greater in proportion to the littleness of the
objects by which they are surrounded, it may be assumed that the opinion
entertained of the delegate will be so much the higher as talents are more
rare among his constituents. It will therefore frequently happen that the less
constituents have to expect from their representative, the more they will
anticipate from him; and, however incompetent he may be, they will not fail
to call upon him for signal exertions, corresponding to the rank they have
conferred upon him.
Independently of his position as a legislator of the State, electors also regard
their Representative as the natural patron of the constituency in the
Legislature; they almost consider him as the proxy of each of his supporters,
and they flatter themselves that he will not be less zealous in defense of their
private interests than of those of the country. Thus electors are well assured
beforehand that the Representative of their choice will be an orator; that he
will speak often if he can, and that in case he is forced to refrain, he will
strive at any rate to compress into his less frequent orations an inquiry into
all the great questions of state, combined with a statement of all the petty
grievances
