enjoined by law
are New York and Indiana; and in the former of these I can most
certainly testify, from personal observation, that in many instances, if
not in most, it is a dead letter. I never met a soul who, in talking
about politics, ever thought of concealing his sentiments. I am
therefore forced to the conclusion that secrecy only exists among the
very lowest; and here it may be as well to introduce the opinions of the
Governor of this important State. Mr. Washington Hunt, in his Message of
January 7, 1851, says, "The alarming increase of bribery in our popular
elections demands your serious attention. The preservation of our
liberties depends on the purity of the elective franchise, and its
independent exercise by the citizen, and I trust you will adopt such
measures as shall effectually protect the ballot-box from all corrupting
influences."

If any efforts were made to stay the tide of corruption, the message of
the same Governor the following year will enable you to judge of their
success. In his address on the 6th of January, 1852, this paragraph
occurs: "The increase of corrupt practices in our elections has become a
subject of general and just complaint: it is represented that in some
localities the suffrages of considerable numbers of voters have been
openly purchased with money. We owe it to ourselves and to posterity,
and to the free institutions which we have inherited, to crush this
hateful evil in its infancy, before it attains sufficient growth to
endanger our political system. The honest and independent exercise of
the right of suffrage is a vital principle in the theory of
representative government. It is the only enduring foundation for a
republic. Not only should the law punish every violation of this
principle as a crime against the integrity of the State, but any person
concerned in giving or receiving any pecuniary consideration for a vote
should, upon challenge, be deprived of the privilege of voting. I submit
the subject to your consideration, in the hope that additional remedies
may be prescribed and enforced."--The two foregoing extracts do equal
credit to the head and heart of Governor Hunt; but what a picture do
they portray of the effects of secret voting!

Let us now turn from Governor Hunt, and see what the Press says on the
subject. The _New York Herald_, which if not highly esteemed is at least
widely circulated, thus writes in the month of May, 1852:--"Look at the
proceedings o