Il fallait un calculateur, ce fut un
danseur qui l'obtint, is hardly more of a caricature than in the
days of Figaro; and the minister doubtless thinks himself not only
blameless but meritorious if the man dances well. Besides, the
qualifications which fit special individuals for special duties can
only be recognised by those who know the individuals, or who make it
their business to examine and judge of persons from what they have
done, or from the evidence of those who are in a position to judge.
When these conscientious obligations are so little regarded by great
public officers who can be made responsible for their appointments,
how must it be with assemblies who cannot? Even now, the worst
appointments are those which are made for the sake of gaining
support or disarming opposition in the representative body: what might
we expect if they were made by the body itself? Numerous bodies
never regard special qualifications at all. Unless a man is fit for
the gallows, he is thought to be about as fit as other people for
almost anything for which he can offer himself as a candidate. When
appointments made by a public body are not decided, as they almost
always are, by party connection or private jobbing, a man is appointed
either because he has a reputation, often quite undeserved, for
general ability, or frequently for no better reason than that he is
personally popular.
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