From A. E. Dobbs   17 January 1872

Sir

I send you a pamphlet which I hope you will accept, if only as a mark of respect, & as I hardly expect that your time, which is so valuable to biological science, should even for a few moments be taken up with another subject, I will tell you why I send it, & why I think it would interest you if you were to read it.¹

Holding the unity & harmony of all kosmical action, I have applied the principle of that natural selection which you demonstrated, to the working of legislative institutions, & although it does not appear on the surface you will see the same principle in action in a different subject matter & among different surroundings. I have taken Mr Hare’s well known plan, (well known at least to students of political science) & by new dispositions as to the surplus votes, arranged that the action of the electorate & of the candidates will result in a struggle for political life, in which the unfit will be surely eliminated, & the most fit will have most power.² M^r. Hare, I may say, adopts my plan as it stands in the edition I send you, (I merely mention this to induce you to glance through it)—for if an inventor accepts a modification of his invention it may be taken for granted that it is a real improvement. I will not trespass further, but I am sure that M^r. Darwin is interested in everything which tends to social & political progress, so I send it.

I am | With the greatest & truest respect | Yours faithfully | Archibald E. Dobbs.

Jan. 17. 1872.