The truth is, that in all
cases a certain number at least seems to be necessary to secure the
benefits of free consultation and discussion, and to guard against too
easy a combination for improper purposes; as, on the other hand, the
number ought at most to be kept within a certain limit, in order to
avoid the confusion and intemperance of a multitude. In all very
numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails
to wrest the sceptre from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a
Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.
It is necessary also to recollect here the observations which were
applied to the case of biennial elections. For the same reason that the
limited powers of the Congress, and the control of the State
legislatures, justify less frequent elections than the public safely
might otherwise require, the members of the Congress need be less
numerous than if they possessed the whole power of legislation, and were
under no other than the ordinary restraints of other legislative bodies.
With these general ideas in our mind, let us weigh the objections which
have been stated against the number of members proposed for the House of
Representatives.
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