Hence we scarcely scruple to take for granted that a County Representative is a man of substantial landed property; or stands in such known relation to a conspicuous Estate that he has in it a valuable interest; and that, whoever be the possessor, such Estate may be looked upon as a pledge for his conduct.
The basis of the elective Franchise being property, the legal condition of eligibility to a seat in Parliament is the same.

Our ancestors were not blind to the _moral_ considerations which, if they did not suggest these ordinances, established a confidence in their expediency.

Knowing that there could be no _absolute_ guarantee for integrity, and that there was no _certain_ test of discretion and knowledge, for bodies of men, the prudence of former times turned to the best substitute human nature would admit of, and civil society furnished.

This was property; which shewed that a man had something that might be impaired or lost by mismanagement; something which tended to place him above dependence from need; and promised, though it did not insure, some degree of education to produce requisite intelligence.

To be a Voter required a fixed Property, or a defined privilege; to be voted for, required more; and the scale of demand rose with the responsibility incurred.