Not,
of course, such delinquency only as makes them amenable to the law;
but voluntary neglect of duty, or conduct implying untrustworthiness
for the purposes for which their trust is given them. Since,
therefore, unless in case of personal culpability, there is no way
of getting rid of them except by quartering them on the public as
pensioners, it is of the greatest importance that the appointments
should be well made in the first instance; and it remains to be
considered by what mode of appointment this purpose can best be
attained.
In making first appointments, little danger is to be apprehended
from want of special skill and knowledge in the choosers, but much
from partiality, and private or political interest. Being, as a
rule, appointed at the commencement of manhood, not as having
learnt, but in order that they may learn, their profession, the only
thing by which the best candidates can be discriminated is proficiency
in the ordinary branches of liberal education: and this can be
ascertained without difficulty, provided there be the requisite
pains and the requisite impartiality in those who are appointed to
inquire into it. Neither the one nor the other can reasonably be
expected from a minister; who must rely wholly on recommendations, and
however disinterested as to his personal wishes, never will be proof
against the solicitations of persons who have the power of influencing
his own election, or whose political adherence is important to the
ministry to which he belongs.
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