The senate of
Carthage, also, whatever might be its power, or the duration of its
appointment, appears to have been ELECTIVE by the suffrages of the
people. Similar instances might be traced in most, if not all the
popular governments of antiquity.
Lastly, in Sparta we meet with the Ephori, and in Rome with the
Tribunes; two bodies, small indeed in numbers, but annually ELECTED BY
THE WHOLE BODY OF THE PEOPLE, and considered as the REPRESENTATIVES of
the people, almost in their PLENIPOTENTIARY capacity. The Cosmi of Crete
were also annually ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE, and have been considered by
some authors as an institution analogous to those of Sparta and Rome,
with this difference only, that in the election of that representative
body the right of suffrage was communicated to a part only of the
people.
From these facts, to which many others might be added, it is clear that
the principle of representation was neither unknown to the ancients nor
wholly overlooked in their political constitutions. The true distinction
between these and the American governments, lies IN THE TOTAL EXCLUSION
OF THE PEOPLE, IN THEIR COLLECTIVE CAPACITY, from any share in the
LATTER, and not in the TOTAL EXCLUSION OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
PEOPLE from the administration of the FORMER.
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