And if we suppose that the King is always well informed before he signs his august name at the foot of the document, in which he says he is convinced of “the good faith, the zeal, and the capacity” of the newly appointed Governor, even if we suppose that the new Viceroy is zealous, faithful, and able, then the question still remains, whether this zeal, and above all, this capacity, exist with him in a measure high enough elevated above mediocrity to satisfy the claims of his vocation.
For the question cannot be whether the man, who for the first time leaves the King’s cabinet at the Hague as Governor-General, possesses at that moment the capacity necessary for his new office,—that is impossible. By the declaration of confidence in his capacity can only be meant the belief, that he, in a quite different situation, on a given moment, shall know, as it were by intuition, what he could not have learnt at the Hague,—in other words, that he is a genius, a genius which suddenly must know and understand what before it neither knew nor understood. Such geniuses are rare, even among persons who are in favour with kings.
As I speak of geniuses, the reader will understand that I wish to omit what could be said of many a Governor. It would likewise disgust me to insert in my book pages that should expose the serious design of this work to the suspicion of hunting after scandal. I omit, therefore, the peculiarities that can only reach certain persons, but as a
