106 
“” 
limé subject of genius, and its useful 
application, been led into these re- 
*flections, because in no country are use- 
ful talents appreciated equal to their 
worth, unless it be in America. 
W. R. Witsox. 
ee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
we our ancient monarchs began 
to grant privileges to corporate 
bodies, they provided for their conti- 
nuance by means which at once indicated 
their respect for popular rights, and their 
knowledge of a principle which they 
knew was essential to the well-being of 
such institutions. 
The charters of John, and of our 
illustrious Edwards and Henries, were 
ail so many charters of popular free- 
dom ; and even under the arbitrary do- 
mination of the ‘Tudors, the people were 
empowered by all the royal charters to 
fill up vacancies in the corporations 
created by those sovereigns. 
It was a refinement of the Stuarts to 
destroy the old charters and grant new 
ones, which named a corporation for the 
time being, and empowered the members 
to fill up vacancies in their hody. Pa- 
triotism had, however, little connexion 
with the policy of that family; the con- 
sequences therefore of their measures 
were regarded as matters of inferior con- 
sideration, provided, like the policy of the 
late Mr, Pitt, the evil of the moment was 
parricd. Existing circumstances are 
always the measure of conduct, when the 
ruling powers are not possessed either of 
sufficient magnanimity or wisdom to 
eombine the removal of present difficul- 
ties with the permanent advantage of 
society. 
The late Mr. Bakewell made a great 
physiological discovery, when he ascer- 
tained that all animals degenerate in 
activity and intellect, if their breed be not 
crossed; and if they continue to breed 
in and in, for many generations, without 
the mixture of other families. By means 
of this principle he enlarged the car- 
case, and varied the shape, of sheep, 
oxen, swine, and working horses; and 
owing to their inactivity, his breeds fat- 
tened sooner than all other breeds, 
Doubtless, the same principle extends to“ 
the human race; and has been produc. 
tive of analogous effects in the history of 
man, particularly in separate lines of roy- 
alty, nobility, priesthOod, casts, and.tribes 
ef people; and the historian may ayail 
Intellect of Close Corporations. 
[March 15 
himself of it in accounting for many 
phenomena in the destiny of nations, 
A similar effect, but exasperated in 
degree, arises from the arrangentent and 
constitution of a close corporation, or of 
any society which fills up its vacancies by 
close election. The causes differ, but 
the effects are the same; the stupidity of 
a Bakewell breed, without mixture, for 
eight or ten generations, is far surpassed 
by the want of intelligence in the mem- 
bers of any close corporation which has 
filled up its own vacancies for an equal 
number of generations, It would be in= 
vidious to name particular bodies, bu 
every mai’s own observatior will supply 
him with examples of the justness of 
these conclusions. 
The physical cause is not easily to be 
traced, although the effect is somewhat 
analogous to that which arises from con- 
tinuing the same crops on the soil; and I 
have heard even of a recent discovery, 
by which it appears that successive gene~. 
rations of seed-wheat on the same soil 
increase the bulk of the grain, perhaps, 
however, without adding to its vital ener- 
gies. The moral cause may, however, 
be traced with arithmetical precision, 
and it will appear not to be difficult to 
ascertain the ratio and degree in which 
Stupidity increases in close corporations 
during any given number of generations. » 
If we suppose that twenty-four persons 
were named as the first members of any 
corporation by. the charter of a venal 
court, it is not very probable that they 
would consist of persons of superior ins 
tellect, intelligence, and independance. 
For the sake of argument, however, [ 
shall grant that they possessed the ave- 
rage of intellect, because the inferences 
will hold then in regard to many self= 
constituted societies, which, at the time 
of their origin, contained an unquestion- 
able average of public intellect. 
Let us then attend to the natural pres 
gress of sucha body. In a short time 
one of the members dies, and his va- 
cancy is to be filled up by the other 
twenty-three. They lock about for a 
successor—not among bold and spi- 
rited members of the community—not 
among those who have dared to op- 
_pose the measures of the corporation, 
and who therefore have evinced inde- 
“oan minds, and superior energies— 
ut they look for him among adocile and 
tractable class of citizens, who have been 
in the practice of complimenting the 
wisdom of the corporate body, and who 
have acquired a habit of cringing, flatter 
Ings 
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