The vote by ballot is converted into a constitutional method of counteracting any evil effects that might otherwise arise to ministerial candidates from the use of universal suffrage; for man is fallible, and the Greeks felt inclined, in some places, to oppose the system of Coletti. We recommend the plan adopted to the attention of an eminent historian of ancient Greece, who has more faith in the wood of the ballot-box than in the moral responsibility of the elector. When the number of electors in a district was about five thousand, and it was feared that three thousand might vote against the government candidates, and only two thousand in their favour, the ballot-boxes were doctored beforehand, by having one thousand votes placed in them before the process of the public ballot commenced. Intimidation was resorted to, to prevent at least one thousand of the real voters from attending, and it was generally successful with the middle classes; but, in one unlucky district, which contained only about four thousand voters, six thousand tickets were found in the ballot-box. At times, the success of the opposition was so great, that nothing could be done at the time of voting. The persons charged to convey the ballot-box to the place appointed for the scrutiny, were, in such cases, waylaid by armed bands, and the ballot-boxes were destroyed. These scenes were enacted even in Attica. We believe that, in order to secure free institutions to any people, it is more necessary to create a feeling of moral responsibility, than to protect the electors from the effects of intimidation and fraud merely when they exercise the franchise. National liberty cannot be protected by a wooden box; it must be fought for boldly before the face of all mankind. The vote by ballot injures the nation more than it protects the individual; and it can only cease to do harm in a state of society where perfect equality reigns among the electors themselves, and between the electors and the elected.