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relates to the management of its public concerns, ſhould be an ariſtocracy of talent and of virtue, as well as of rank and property; which principle would be deſtroyed if remuneration for public ſervices ſhould be withheld; and the community would be deprived of all its advantages. Not only the great offices of ſlate, but ſome others of moſt efficiency muſt then be confined to men of hereditary wealth and independence; and, with all the proper reſpect which ſhould be entertained for ſuch men, it muſt be allowed that, for the acquiſition and improvement of talents neceſſary for the higher offices, the paſſing occaſionally through the inferior ſituations, and that principle of activity which animates men in the attainment, ſo much more than in the mere poſſeſſion, of power and ſtation, are much more favorable than the honours claimable by deſcent alone.
It is true that magnanimity and genuine patriotic ambition will look for a nobler reward for their ſervices than the emoluments of office; but, in the preſent ſtate of ſociety, a certain appearance is eſſential to be preſerved by perſons in certain ſtations, which cannot be maintained without a liberal
