, in fact,
mistaken; and so the partizan, if he be an intelligent partizan, must be
prepared to rejoice in his party's defeat if by that defeat his country
is the gainer. One can afford to be in a minority, but he cannot afford
to be wrong; if he is in a minority and right, he will some day be in
the majority.

The activities of politics center about the election of candidates to
office, and the official, under our system, represents both the party
to which he belongs and the whole body of his constituency. He has two
temptations to withstand; first, the temptation to substitute his
own judgment for the judgment of his constituents, and second, the
temptation to put his pecuniary interests above the interests of those
for whom he acts. According to the aristocratic idea, the representative
thinks _for_ his constituents; according to the Democratic idea, the
representative thinks _with_ his constituents. A representative has no
right to defeat the wishes of those who elect him, if he knows their
wishes.

But a representative is not liable to knowingly misrepresent his
constituents unless he has pecuniary interests adverse to theirs. This
is the temptation to be resisted--this is the sin to be avoided. The
official who uses his position to secure a pecuniary advantage over the
public is an embezzler of power--and an embezzler of power is as guilty
of moral turpitude as the embezzler of money. There is no better motto
for the public official than that given by Solomon: "A good name is
rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than
silver and gold." There is no better rule for the public official to
follow than this--to do nothing that he would not be willing to have
printed in the newspaper next day.

One who exercises authority conferred upon him by the suffrages of his
fellows ought to be fortified in his integrity by the consciousness of
the fact that a betrayal of his trust is hurtful to the party which
honours him and unjust to the people whom he serves, as well as
injurious to himself. Nothing that he can gain, not even the whole
world, can compensate him for the loss that he suffers in the surrender
of a high ideal of public duty.

In conclusion, let me say that the nation, as well as the individual,
and the party, must be measured by its purpose, its ideals and its
service. "Let him who would be chiefest among you, be the servant of
all," was intended for nations as well as for citizens.