These considerations have introduced the
practice of submitting all candidates for first appointments to a
public examination, conducted by persons not engaged in politics,
and of the same class and quality with the examiners for honours at
the Universities. This would probably be the best plan under any
system; and under our parliamentary government it is the only one
which affords a chance, I do not say of honest appointment, but even
of abstinence from such as are manifestly and flagrantly profligate.
It is also absolutely necessary that the examinations should be
competitive, and the appointments given to those who are most
successful. A mere pass examination never, in the long run, does
more than exclude absolute dunces. When the question, in the mind of
an examiner, lies between blighting the prospects of an individual,
and neglecting a duty to the public which, in the particular instance,
seldom appears of first rate importance; and when he is sure to be
bitterly reproached for doing the first, while in general no one
will either know or care whether he has done the latter; the
balance, unless he is a man of very unusual stamp, inclines to the
side of good nature. A relaxation in one instance establishes a
claim to it in others, which every repetition of indulgence makes it
more difficult to resist; each of these in succession becomes a
precedent for more, until the standard of proficiency sinks
gradually to something almost contemptible.
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