Mr. David Syme is a censor of a very different type. So far from wishing
to take control from the people, he would give the people absolute
control over everything, and at all times. Seldom has the case against
party government been more powerfully presented than in his work on
"Representative Government in England." But Mr. Syme founds his proposed
remedies on a theory of representation which is based on the literal
meaning of the word. No one has put the delegation theory more clearly
than in the following passage, or gone so far in applying it:--

Representation is a mental act; it is the presentation or
reproduction of the state of mind of another person; and before one
person can represent another person he must first know what the
opinions of that other person are. A representative is a
substitute; he stands in the place of, and acts for, another
person. But one man cannot act for another unless he knows what
that other would do were he acting for himself. In other words, he
requires to know the motives which actuate that other person, or
what influences his motives, namely, his principles and beliefs.
The House of Commons is a representative body, not because every
individual member of it represents the opinions of the whole
nation, but because members in the aggregate represent those
opinions, (p. 170).

This position is diametrically opposed to the principles we have laid
down, for it eliminates entirely the ideas of organization and
leadership. Again, Mr. Syme says:--"If the government is to be carried
on for the benefit of all classes, representatives should be chosen from
all classes. We had class representation in the early parliaments, but
then all classes were fairly represented." We have shown that the