its chief supporter in the House of
Commons; and from 1833 to 1839, in spite of the ridicule cast by Sydney
Smith on the "mouse-trap," and on Grote's "dagger-box, in which you stab
the card of your favourite candidate with a dagger,"[1] the minority for
the ballot increased from 106 to 217. In 1838 the ballot was the fourth
point of the People's Charter. In the same year the abolition of the land
qualification introduced rich commercial candidates to the constituencies.
Lord Melbourne's cabinet declared the question open. The cause, upheld by
Macaulay, Ward, Hume (in his resolutions, 1848) and Berkeley, was
strengthened by the report of Lord Hartington's Select Committee [v.03
p.0279] (15th March 1870), to the effect that corruption, treating and
intimidation by priests and landlords took place to a large extent at both
parliamentary and municipal elections in England and Ireland; and that the
ballot, if adopted, would probably not only promote tranquillity at
elections, but protect voters from undue influence, and introduce greater
freedom and purity in voting, provided secrecy was made inviolable except
in cases where a voter was found guilty of bribery, or where an invalid
vote had been given.

Meanwhile in Australia the ballot had been introduced by the Constitution
Act of South Australia (1856), and in other colonies at the same date. In
South Australia (Electoral Act of 1858) the returning-officer put his
initials on the voting-card, which the voter was directed, under pain of
nullity, to fold so that the officer might not see the vote which was
indicated by a cross. In Victoria, under the Electoral Act of 1865, the
officer added to his initials a number corresponding to the voter's number
on the register. In Tasmania the chief peculiarity was that (as in South
Australia) the card was not put directly by the voter into the box, but
handed to the officer, who put it there (this being thought a security
against double-voting or voting with a non-official card, and also against
the voter carrying away his card). In 1869, at Manchester and Stafford in
England, test-ballots were taken on the Australian system as practised in
Victoria--the voting-card containing the names of all the candidates,
printed in different colours (for the benefit of illiterate voters), and
the voter being directed to score out the names of those he did not
support, and then to place the card (covered by an official envelope) in
the box. It was