e general
welfare.

We have said enough to show that in internal affairs the influence of
the press, when it directly interferes with Parliament is an anti-social
force. In matters of foreign policy the case is still worse. The press
is almost universally jingoistic, because it is financially interested
in sensationalism. A war generally means a fortune to newspaper
proprietors. In such matters, therefore, responsible leadership by
Parliament is still more urgently required.

We now come to the claim of those ultra-democrats who preach the
poisonous doctrines of direct government and of unrestrained majority
rule, that responsible leadership is incompatible with popular
government. This claim, is of course, supported by the radical press in
Australia. We have already quoted from Mr. Syme's work on
"Representative Government in England" the extreme views in which he
confuses representation with delegation. "Popular government," he
declares, "can only exist where the people can exercise control over
their representatives at all times and under all circumstances." The
method proposed to obtain this control is to give a majority of the
constituents power to dismiss a representative at any time, and is
utterly impracticable. Imagine the position of a member elected by a
majority of one or two votes! The true way to prevent members abusing
their trust is not to increase the direct control of the people, but to
prevent the control of the press and all other irresponsible agencies
over them; and so to ensure the return of better men.

Perhaps the most striking anomaly in Mr. Syme's position is that, while
he would confine the office of Parliament to expressing public opinion,
he declares in the same work that "the press at once forms and expresses
public opinion."[2] Now, it is quite true that if Parliament is weak and
disorganized, or occupies itself in fighting for the spoils of office,
the power of forming public opinion is thrown into the hands of the
press. But the more power is seized by the press, the more Parliament is
degraded, and the less is the chance of recovery. The situation presents
little difficulty to Mr. Syme. Every newspaper reader, he declares,
"becomes, as it were, a member of that vast assembly, which may be said
to embrace the whole nation, so widely are newspapers now read. Had we
only the machinery for recording the votes of that assembly, we might
easily dispense with Parliament altogether."

The