:

diligence and ever so much ability in the hearing of it, he would receive no more that year than his 40007.-though he were to absent himself altogether, and leave the business to his colleagues, he would receive no less in short, provided he does not so far swerve from his duty as to subject himself to fine or deprivation, whether he perform his duty ever so well or ever so ill-whether he decide many causes or few—whetheṛ his attendance is constant or remiss-whether he displays ever so much or ever so little ability, his salary is the same. Not that a man in his exalted station is in any want of motives to prompt him to exert himself in the discharge of its duties-he has the pleasure of power to balance the pains of study-the fear of shame to keep him from sinking below mediocrity-the hope of celebrity to elevate him above it-to spur him on to the highest pitch of excellence. These motives are presented to him by his station, but they are not presented to him by his salary.

"The services, and the only services, with which the salary presents him with a motive for performing, are, in the first place, the instantaneous act of taking upon him the station, that is, of subjecting himself to the obligations annexed to it, and in the event of his violating any of those obligations, to the punishment annexed to such violations: in the next place, the discharging of the smallest portion of those obligations which it is necessary he should discharge, in order to his receiving such or such part of the salary. Let it, for instance, be paid him quarterly if the first quarter be paid him in advance, it will afford him no motive in the nature of reward for doing any of the business of that quarter. He has that quarter's salary; nor can he fail of enjoying it, unless, in the way of punishment, it be afterwards taken from him. If it be not paid him till the end of the quarter, the case will be still the same, unless proof of his having rendered certain services, the having attended, for example, at certain times, be necessary to his receiving it. With this exception, it may be equally said, that in both cases, for any other than the instantaneous act of taking upon him the burden of the station for that quarter, he has no reward, nor any motive but what operates in the way of punish

ment.

"This distinction is of importance; for if the salary given were the inducement for performing the services, the chance of having them performed, and well performed, would be exactly as the magnitude of the salary. If, for example, fifty pounds sterling a-year sufficed to insure fifty grains of piety, assiduity, eloquence, and other sacerdotal virtues in a curate, five thousand of these same pounds ought to insure five thousand grains of these same virtues in a bishop or an archbishop. But what every body knows is, that this proportion does not hold on the contrary, it most frequently happens that the proportion is inverse-the curate labours much, the bishop little, and the archbishop less.

'The chance of service is as the magnitude of the punishment; and if the salary can be withdrawn, it is so far, indeed, as the magnitude of the salary; but it may be equally great without any salary-by the substitution of any other punishment instead of loss of salary.

"We see, then, how it is that a salary, be it great or small, independently of the obligation which it pays a man for contracting, has not in itself the smallest direct tendency to produce services; whilst experience shows, that in many cases, in proportion to its magnitude, it has a tendency to prevent them."-pp. 131-133.

Mr. Wakefield proceeds next to consider a proposal made by Sir Henry Parnell for the revision of the fifth class of the Civil List, and the reduction of their salaries. The fifth class includes the Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, Master of the Horse, Master of the Robes, Lords of the Bed Chamber, &c. The author seems to be of opinion, that there are too many obstacles in the habits and character of Englishmen against the practicability of carrying into effect the very proper suggestions of Sir Henry Parnell, because the art of governing by means of corruption, of plundering one class of persons in order to reward another class in assisting to plunder a third or fourth class, has been practised long enough to produce vicious consequences on the whole community which are visible, especially amongst the class which seeks to be connected with the government. Another proposition, of no little importance, is contended for by the author, namely, that high salaries, along with being a burthen to the State, actually contribute to make the clerks less efficient, a circumstance which renders the employment of more clerks necessary. Adam Smith has said, that it is the interest of every man to live as much at his ease as he can; and if his emoluments are to be precisely the same, whether he does or does not perform some very laborious duty, it is certainly his interest, at least as interest is vulgarly understood, either to neglect it altogether, or if he is subject to some authority which will not suffer him to do this, to perform it in as careless and slovenly a manner as that authority will permit.

From the household of the King, Mr. Wakefield makes a transition to the law courts for the purpose of exhibiting the evils which have arisen from the practice of appointing unfit persons as functionaries, particularly common lawyers, to the chancellorship. In the inferior courts, too, the excessive pay produces its deleterious consequences, in the selection of persons for offices, to perform the duties of which they are altogether incompetent. The same observation is made with respect to the Commissioners of the Bankrupt's Court, and again in the court of law held by the Commissioners of Excise, to try offenders against the Excise laws; in the latter case, Mr. Wakefield says, that not one of the individuals composing the Judges-Lord G. Seymour, Honourable B. Paget, and Honourable W. H. Percey, is likely to be acquainted with the commonest rules of evidence, or to have had any means whatever of coming to a knowledge of the nature of judicial inquiries. In the category of abuses of a similar nature, the author comprehends also the appointment to consulships; and he says, that the elevation of Beau Brummel to the consulship of Caen, originated simply in the circumstance that he had been a favourite of George the Fourthbut as to the fitness of Brummel for the duties of the office, they were thought about just as much as the colour of his morning gown, which we had the opportunity once of informing ourselves was particularly superb. But Mr. Wakefield is impelled to go out of his

regular course, and to quote the case of an ambassador, in order to give us a notion of the climax to which the system of extravagant expenditure, and its attendant errors, in the appointment of improper functionaries, has risen. There never was, in his opinion, a more important mission worse conducted, or more egregiously fruitless than that which went out to China under the auspices of Lord Amherst. The expense of the mission must have been enormous, when it is remembered that the salary to the individual ambassador was 40,000l. per annum, that he carried out a convoy of ships of war, that he had an immense retinue, and that he was the bearer of rich presents to the emperor. From the account rendered to us of the embassy, it would appear that its real object was to effect some commercial arrangements with the Chinese government, the nature or existence of which was not to be communicated to the Chinese people. Lord Amherst appears to have been properly selected for a doubtful mission of this sort, inasmuch as the account of the mission by Ellis is little less than a series of trickery and chicanery, in which deliberate falsehood was employed on the part of the ambassador and his suite. Besides, Lord Amherst was totally ignorant of the history of China and its existing condition; he knew nothing of commerce, and the only motive which appears to have directed the selection of such an individual for such a mission was, no doubt, a conviction that he would have been too many for the inexperienced cabinet of Pekin.

Referring to the manner in which the American Congress is constituted, and the way in which its businsss is carried on, Mr. Wakefield enters into a comparative examination of the British House of Commons, and the mode of conducting its public business, particularly by means of committees. Amongst others of the bad habits which operate against the usefulness of this body is the lateness, with the uncertainty of the hours of attendance, these hours being too unseasonable to allow us to suppose that they could be selected by any set of men who were really animated with a desire to do a service to their country. And then when they are met together, was there ever such a motley crew?" exclaims Mr. Wakefield, who then proceeds with the following description :

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"Here sits a member, whose listless manner and vacant gaze, tell of indolence and ignorance. Next him is one whose florid cheeks, whip. and well-splashed boots, denote an equestrian legislator, like Lord Westmoreland, who has rivalled Cæsar in the application of his talents to various subjects at the same time; and has demonstrated that English laws may be made in a canter, and State affairs be transacted whilst trotting twelve miles an hour. A third honourable member, perhaps, is a dandy packed up in his clothes, whose chief concern is to sit gracefully, and whose self-complacent smile plainly says, 'How pleasing it is to be occupied in admiring one's self.' Such a one may, perchance, wear mustachios, and be an officer in the household-troops; for there are many of those whose utility may be judged of, on reflecting that they were never

seen in the company of men of business. A fourth is a great heavyheeled, pudding-faced, broad-shouldered, narrow-minded, county member, sent into the house because he has only one idea-the prosperity of the agricultural interest, which means that he will vote against any infringement of the bread monopoly. Yet there is not one of these, or of those around them, without a motive active enough to impel the most indolent, strong enough to restrain the most thoughtless, and plain enough to be perceived by the dullest mind. That motive is self interest; for what other could induce a majority of the House of Commons to become legislators. That motive is a desire to share in the spoil afforded by an enormous Civil List, and by an extravagant expenditure in every public department; to obtain some or one of the many prizes, which a system of profusion holds out to youth, wisdom, and honesty, as well as to age, ignorance, and political immorality. A consideration of the manner in which this motive attracts members to the House of Commons, and afterwards acts upon them, will account for the idleness, carelessness, and deplorable ignorance, every now and then exhibited there."―pp. 188-189.

The author proceeds to notice various other cases in which a marked disproportion exists between pay and service; and he illustrates his positions by a reference to the evil effects of immoderate emoluments in unfitting, by their bad influence, the incumbents of office for the performance of their duties, as these effects are displayed in the Church of England, contrasted with the contrary results from an opposite system in Scotland and in Wales. He then, for the same purpose of illustration, contrasts the moderate pay of the American President with the "excessive," as he calls it, revenue of the Monarch of England.

The last chapter is occupied with reflections on the House of Peers, the origin of its political powers, the ambition of its members, and the solicitude on which it always acted to secure emoluments and places, even those which would appear unworthy of their possession. We have been content with presenting an account of the nature and objects of the work to the public, but by no means do we agree with the author in most of his principles and doctrines.

ART. XI.-An Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia, from the earliest Ages to the present Time; with a detailed view of its Resources, Government, Population, National History, and the character of its Inhabitants, particularly of the wandering Tribes: Including a description of Afghanistan and Beloochistan. By JAMES B. FRASER, Esq., Author of "Travels in Khorasan," "A Tour through the Himala," &c.-being Vol. XV. of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. 1834.

MR. FRASER comes to the task on which he has entered, with the signal advantage of a personal acquaintance with the people and

the country, which form the subject of his descriptions, and one evidence at least of the utility of this advantage, is the correctness with which he has been able to arrange the geography of Persia. In the map which is appended to this work, we perceive some considerable differences between the localities assigned to many of the principal places in that empire, and their positions in all other geographical delineations. No person can doubt the propriety of these changes, when he finds that they are the result of personal investigation, having been ascertained by astronomical observations taken by the author.

Persia occupies a space of more than twenty-five degrees of longitude, by fifteen of latitude, and presents accordingly a great diversity of surface and climate, and consequently of produce, and to this day, it continues to be what Cyrus the younger, many hundreds of years ago described it, when he said, "My father's kingdom is so large, that people perish with cold at one extremity, while they are suffocated with heat at the other." One of the most remarkable features of the country, is its chains of rocky mountains, its long valleys, characterized by great dryness, and the still larger deserts, either of salt or sand. The inland part may be said to be entirely destitute of water, and there is no river capable of being navigated in a compass of the territory extending to twenty degrees. The northern portion is, however, in some respects, a contrast to the southern portion of the country, having the advantage of a great number of streams, which however, are commonly no more than very small rills, trickling over a stony bed, or torrents violent or destructive in their course. Salt lakes, and sandy wastes, occupy a large proportion of the country. In the latter, there is generally found a crackling crust of earth, covered with the effluescence of salt. 66 Nothing," says Mr. Fraser, "can be more dreary than these wastes. When the traveller has advanced some distance into them, the boundless expanse around, blasted with utter barrenness and hoary with bitter salt, glistening and baking in the rays of a fervid sun,-only broken here and there by a mass of dark rock, which is distorted by the powerful refraction into a thousand wild and varying forms,-impresses him with a sense of desolation that cannot be described."

Thus it is, that the fairy visions about the elysium of Persia are dissipated. In this pretended paradise of the world, which was always thought a fit residence for the Houris, it turns out that neither green plains nor grassy meads offer a grateful spectacle to the eye: no babbling streams winding through meandering valleys, no parks or enclosed grounds, no retired cottages embosomed in a thick grove of trees, nothing in fact is seen, that is calculated to call forth the recollection of peace or happiness, or even common security. Should the traveller succeed in toiling up a declivity, to have an opportunity of contemplating the country, he feels disappointment at the uniformity of the brown expanse before him, ter