The "monopoly" of the Civil
Service, so much inveighed against, is like the monopoly of judicial
offices by the bar; and its abolition would be like opening the
bench in Westminster Hall to the first comer whose friends certify
that he has now and then looked into Blackstone. Were the course
ever adopted of sending men from this country, or encouraging them
in going out, to get themselves put into high appointments without
having learnt their business by passing through the lower ones, the
most important offices would be thrown to Scotch cousins and
adventurers, connected by no professional feeling with the country
or the work, held to no previous knowledge, and eager only to make
money rapidly and return home.
The safety of the country is, that those by whom it is
administered be sent out in youth, as candidates only, to begin at the
bottom of the ladder, and ascend higher or not, as, after a proper
interval, they are proved qualified. The defect of the East India
Company's system was, that though the best men were carefully sought
out for the most important posts, yet if an officer remained in the
service, promotion, though it might be delayed, came at last in some
shape or other, to the least as well as to the most competent. Even
the inferior in qualifications, among such a corps of functionaries,
consisted, it must be remembered, of men who had been brought up to
their duties, and had fulfilled them for many years, at lowest without
disgrace, under the eye and authority of a superior.
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