[To THE EDITOR or TER "SPECTATOR."] 6111, — A. recent movement in
favour of the measure which John Stuart Mill described as "a blister applied to all the peccant parts of human nature" leads me to offer to your consideration and that of your readers the following reflections from one who may at least be set beside Mill as a true Liberal and democratic thinker. In 1787, when the Convention of the American States met at Philadelphia to settle their Constitution, they were addressed by Franklin in the sentences which follow. They should be prefaced by the admission that in the particular object of his urgency Franklin would be now genentlly pronounced mistaken ; but this fact dOes not seem to me to interfere with the cogency
of his arguments in themselves and their application to the present case :—
" There are," said the aged statesman, "two passions which have a powerful influence in the affairs of men—the love of power and the love of money. Separately, each of these has great force in prompting men to action ; but when united in view of the same object they have in many minds the most violent effects. Place before the eyes of such men a place of honour that shall at the same time be a place of profit and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it. The vast number of such places it is
that renders the British government so tempestuous The struggles for them are the true source of all those factions which are perpetually dividing the nation And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profit- able pre-eminence ? It will not be the wise and the moderate, the men fittest for the trust. It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits. These will thrust themselves into your government, and be your rulers. And their vanquished com- petitors, from the same motives, will perpetually be endeavouring to distress their administration and thwart their measures. Besides these evils, though we may set out with moderate salaries, we shall find that such will not be of long duration. There will always be a party for giving more to the rulers, that the rulers may in return give more to them. It may be imagined by some that this is a Utopian idea, and that we can never find
men to serve us without paying them well for their services. I conceive this to be a mistake. The high sheriff of a county in England is an honorable office, but it is not a profitable one. But yet it is executed, and well executed. Another instance is that of a respectable society who have made the experiment, and practised it with success, now more than a hundred years—the Quakers. It is an established rule with them that they must not go to law, but in their controversies they must apply to their monthly and yearly meetings. Com- mittees of these sit with much patience to hear the parties, and spend much time in composing their differences " entirely with- out any salary. "The saving of the salaries," he concludes, "is not an object with me. The subsequent mischiefs of proposing them is what I apprehend, and therefore ' it is that I move the amendment'"
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