Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Pamphleteer, 1818, Vol. 13: Respectfully Dedicated to Both Houses of Parliament; To Be Continued Occasionally, at an Average of Four Numbers Annually
Having the fortune to take an active part in the political business Of parliament, and to be involved in its contests, I was peculiarly solicitous to avoid every thing that might seem to proceed from party attachments or dislikes. For a proof of this, I appeal to those members of his Majesty's government with whom I had the honor of communicating from time to time; and I am confident they will admit that I received every suggestion of theirs with the greatest respect. Indeed the changes which I adopted at their desire, sufficiently prove that, if I am liable to any charge, it is to the imputation Of having surrendered too many of the provisions originally made in the bill. It is material that a few Of these changes should here be mentioned.
As the bill at first stood, the commissioners were to be named in it. The ministers proposed that the appointment should be vested in the crown; that is in themselves. To this important alteration the committee with extreme reluctance submitted, rather than assented. We were aware that upon the fitness Of the per sons selected to carry on the inquiry its success mainly de ended. We had before us the examples of the commissions of public accounts, and of naval and military inquiry, from which the coun try had derived the most Signal benefits, chie?y, as we conceived, because the acts establishing those boards had nominated the mem bers who were to form them. NO private selection of commission ers, how conscientiously soever it might be performed, could give the same security against improper or inefficient appointments. Without accusing the minister to Whose department it belonged, of so foul a crime as a wilful prostitution of patronage in this most delicate matter, we felt that all men in high office, are beset by applicants; that they must frequently trust to Others for their infor mation as to individual merit; and that private friendships Often blind very respectable persons in the reports which they make or the suits which they prefer. We could not indeed believe that the secretary of State was capable of Choosing men whom the place might suit, rather than those suited to the place; that he could shut his eyes to the claims of acknowledged merit, and prefer unknown persons backed I? Powerful supporters; or that, instead Of regard ing their fitness or the new office, he should 'bestow the salary as the wages of former service. Least of all did a suspicion ever enter our minds that care might knowingly and wilfully be taken to avoid those men, whose zeal for the cause, and whose habits of investigation gave a certain pledge that all abuses would be sifted to the bottom, and that the guilty would in no station be spared.
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