‘At length the Ballot Bill has been passed .... What a long time it has taken to achieve this victory in the cause of justice? .... The great argument against it was that it was un-English. That is, that the English people were so stout and manly that they liked to vote in the faces of their neighbours, and act according to their convictions, careless what any one might say of them.

This argument, however, was only a fancy sketch. There never was a people who required secret voting more than the English .... Scarcely a voter was free to act according to his own wishes; and by terrorism and threats the aristocracy filled the house of Commons with their nominees ...’

‘The system pursued by the wealthy and the powerful was fully as bad. How often have we seen long rows of cars filled with voters coming into the towns during contested elections, and guarded by military and police. The poor voters were treated like serfs, and taken to the poll as if they were beasts of burden, their own wishes and feelings being totally disregarded.’

‘It was really a painful sight to witness at some elections to this and other counties, men of intelligence voting contrary to their convictions, .... They dreaded to give an honest vote, lest they might be expelled from their farms, and sent out wanderers on the world. To preserve the shelter of a roof over their families, they voted for men who assisted in driving three or four millions of our people to foreign lands. They permitted themselves to be driven to the poll like a flock of sheep to a fair, and it was humiliating to the manhood of those looking on, to see them recording their suffrages for a person who would sell them and their country to the highest bidder.’