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by the author) or who enter into various profeſſions, frequently acquire very large fortunes, and ſeljdom, if they have talents and perſeverance, fail to obtain independence. What fairneſs, juſtice, or reaſon is there then in marking the character of the official man alone with diſreſpect, and himſelf as unfit to have reward in any caſe, beyond an annual ſtipend for his labour and ſervices, juſt ſufficient for his neceſſary current expences, however faithfully and diligently he may have diſcharged an important truſt for a long feries of years? Surely it is not unwiſe or unreaſonable that the public ſhould be in a ſituation to bid to a limited extent for talents, in competition with other honourable and lucrative proſeſſions, and various branches of trade and manufactures[1].
It has always been juſtly held in a free country, and particularly in this, to be one of its greateſt privileges, that the chief ariſtocracy, as far as
- ↑ The Author moſt readily admits that fortunes thus acquired are, in general, the honourable reward of talents and induſtry, fortunately exerted in a country where proſperity has given them room for exertion, and under a conſtitution which provides at once for their ſecurity and their diſtinction. He has witneſſed inſtances of this fort frequently, with peculiar ſatisfaction.
