History Of Voting By Ballot.

system , the ancient drum-head vote . A conquering horde , if it permits voting at all , is sure to insist on the votes being given under the master ' s eye . But the end of the dark ages came at last ; with the revival of learning and liberty came a new spirit ; and the first weapon which was seized by the emancipated

nations was the free and personal vote . " ¦ It is commonly supposed that the Dutch began it . We know that when that noble and gallant people had shaken off their chains , they proceeded to secure the liberties they had won , by admitting the right of every freeman to take a free and -untrammelled

part in public affairs . Those stout Dutch citizens saw the many advantages offered by free voting in their contests with their Spanish tyrants . They introduced it into their chapters and companies , into their estates circles . The ballot enabled them to learn each other ' s views ; to act promptly , to act in union , to act without fear . This new way of taking opinion vexed their opponents . From the Low Countries a

knowledge of this high political art was carried into the neighbouring states . From Rotterdam it came into England . It was tried in the City ; and it was very much liked . But it met with a great and powerful enemy ; ' and thereby hangs a tale . ' " In the course of that great work on which our energetic Master of the ROIIR is seconded bhis

y learned deputy , Mr . Duffus Hardy—that of reading and sorting all our State papers , so as to give all Englishmen an easy access to the actual records of our national life—Mr . John Bruce has turned up , within the last few days , a couple of papers which let us into the important secret of how and why the

ballot-box was finally brought into use among us . It was not the first time ; but it was the final time . It came to us from Holland in the bad days of Charles the First ; came in the year 1 G 37 ; the year in which Hampden was condemned for not paying ship-money ; the year in which Prynne was branded on the cheek with burning irons ; in which Bastwick and Burton had their ears cut off in Palace Yard . At such a

time there was need for some protection against the inquisitorial and ubiquitous tyranny of the Court and Crown . In those days there was in the city of London an old and prosperous company of traders into foreign parts , known as the Merchant Adventurers of England . The charters of these traders went back to the days of King John and this

; ancient corporation of dealers in wool and wine had factories in many ports , and very great branches in Hamburg , Rotterdam , and Delft . Now these three cities were full of English exiles , for in those bad days England had her bands of expatriated men , as Poland , Italy , and Hungary have had in these days .

In each of these foreign cities an English Puritan church had been set up , and the London merchant who went out to live and trade in them , being a Puritan at home , became a member of one of these churches abroad . Tin ' s fact was a sharp thorn in the side of Laud , whose anger was chiefly fired against

the congregation worshipping at Delft . King and Archbishop looked about them for a man who would worry these exiles without putting the Crown to any expense . And they hit upon their plan . Hanging , unpleasantly , on the skirts of their Court was a man named Edward Misselden , who knew something of City affairs . He had made himself known to Charles

by suggesting schemes for raising money , and to Laud by writing against the Puritan divines . He had sometimes been a chapman , more frequently he had been a spy . This fellow , the King and Laud got the Merchant Adventurers to appoint their deputy at Delft , where he soon repaid his patrons in the way

they most desired ; for he persuaded the merchants to advance a considerable sum of money to Charles , and he sowed the seeds of a thousand quarrels in the little Puritan church . But his zeal outran his power . When the merchants found that the King's friend not only thrust his hands into their pockets , but

meddled with their religious service , they deposed him from his chair , and put a better man into his place . Then came a row . Misselden complained to his patrons . What could they do ? The fellow had his plan : he always had his plan—break up the factory at Delft ; put the agencies under one man ; confine the compauy to a single port—to Rotterdam—as the

nearest to London . It that way , he said , the Puritan exiles would be starved into submission ; and moneys could be more readily got for the King . All this was done . To their grievous loss , the merchants had to break up their homes , to close their magazines ,, and remove their families to Rotterdam . We may all be sure that they did not love the man who had

caused them all this trouble ; and they would not elect him to be their deputy at Rotterdam . Then Misselden came to London , and asked for a place at Court . What place ? " Clerk of the Council , " said the gentleman . But Charles could not persuade his Council to have such a clerk . "Then get me appointed

deputy in Rotterdam . ' But how could this be done when the merchants in Rotterdam refused ? ' Take the election / said the old schemer , ' away from the servants in Holland , and vest it in their masters in England . ' That was a happy thought ; one which exactly hit the fancy of Laud and Charles . In London those Puritan merchants would not dare

to vote against the King . To make things safe , Charles wrote with his own hand to the governor and deputy , in favour of his friend and—creditor : the man for whom he wished to provide a place , though not in his own council chamber . The governor was auxious to oblige his Sovereign ; perhaps anxious to save his ears ; but he was bound to consult the

merchants , and he found that in all the foreign ports his neighbours loudly protested against electing Misselden again . Charles would not receive that answer . His will was law ; and in London , at least , it should be obeyed . He sent word that his friend must be elected . Well , a Court was called , and his friend was

not elected . Enraged at this rebuff in his own capital , tbe King sent for the record , that he might know the names of those daring merchants who had gone against his royal nomination ; but the record , when he got it , told him nothing that he wanted to hear ; for he found that the election had been con ~

ducted by ballot—a new method of taking opinion which these merchants seem to have learned from their friends of Rotterdam . When the King called the governor and deputy , he was told they had not been present in the court , so that these things had been done , and yet there was . no man upon whom the royal rage could fall ; no one whose ears he could slice , whose cheek he could brand ! The baffled King summoned a meeting of his Privy Council at