No man knows, when he cuts off the incitements to a virtuous ambition,
and the just rewards of public service, what infinite mischief he may
do his country, through all generations. Such saving to the public may
prove the worst mode of robbing it. The crown, which has in its hands
the trust of the daily pay for national service, ought to have in its
hands also the means for the repose of public labour, and the
fixed settlement of acknowledged merit. There is a time when the
weather-beaten vessels of the state ought to come into harbour. They
must at length have a retreat from the malice of rivals, from the
perfidy of political friends, and the inconstancy of the people. Many
of the persons, who in all times have filled the great offices of state,
have been younger brothers, who had originally little, if any, fortune.
These offices do not furnish the means of amassing wealth. There ought
to be some power in the crown of granting pensions out of the reach of
its own caprices. An entail of dependence is a bad reward of merit.