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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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gratified tear * * l ) im bare of motifes to overcome the t *> mertim of a lux * uriou 8 condition . It is by no means needful , however , for the reatons already stated * to exclude by law either the poor or the rich , of any degree , from a seat in the legislature . No very poor man , it may be added , would be chosen in any circumstances , unless he were distinguished by remarkable qualities ; and no very rich man would offer himself , under a
proper system of representation , unless he were prepared to yield his time and attention to the duties of his office . *—pp . 179 , 179 . Section 7 , * On the Duration of the Trust / shows the advantage of a short fixed term , so as on the one hand to secure the responsibility of the representative to the electors , and on the other , not
to disgust the best men by the precariouaness or brevity of the service . Three years is estimated as 'the longest period consistent with a salutary sense of accountableness . ' The power of dismissal , during that period of service which has been determined on as in itself the best , is shown to be a serious mischief , whether
exercised by the constituent body or by the executive . This allusion is one of a very few to the executive authority . The author has not traced the disturbing influence of different modes of constituting the executive upon the functions and utility of representative government . He has not investigated the
problem , whether representative government can long co-exist with an independent , irresponsible , and hereditary executive . Mr . Bentham , we believe , after long trying hard to make out this compatibility , had , for many years before his death , given it up entirriy . In all trusts , and charitable or other voluntary associations , the
combination ot permanent othcers with changing committees is found by experience to vest the power , really , in the hands of the permanent functionaries . This is sometimes a serious evil , although not perhaps very often , as the secretaries , or whatever else the permanent functionaries be termed , are probably much better qualified to manage the concerns of such societies * Jtji ^ n the committee-men associated with them ; as they have usually a paramount interest in the general well-doing of the institution ,
and are removable for misconduct , or even without specific allegation when they become obnoxious to the members . These mitigations of the evil tendency must be so largely modified , as to reduce them to little worth , when we speak of a permanent national executive . King- Log seems the best thing to be hoped for . But King Log is not easy to be had . There are always vermin who will make the block move , and pull or push it on the frogs ' heads , till it crushes more than King Stork would have devoured . Even
its accidental tumblings may produce all sorts of confusion . It is absurd to reckon on permanent quantities being neutral ones . Their very existence will be jxrtcntial , for good or lor evil . Were the legislative body to appoint the executive , it would still subject itself to some degree of reaction . Where it does not appoint the executive , there must b # another influence over it besides that of
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Tk * R ^ U m ^ & of PontU ^ R ^ pr ^^ ituticn . 8 * 7
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1835, page 327, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2645/page/35/
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