1811 | 
ing, and fawning, to its members. Such 
persons in corporate bodies are called 
good sort of men; and from this class 
accordingly the vacancy is filled. In due 
time other vacancies happen, and they 
are filled in like manner by tools and 
sycophants of the existing corporation ; 
till, at length, by the strides of mortality, 
the whole have been renewed, 
Now, I would ask any reader, what 
proportion of intellect he thinks has sur- 
vived the first-named corporation? Be- 
fore the whole were dead, the new race 
of tools would have acquired a nominal 
ascendancy, and those chosen after that 
ascendancy began to preponderate, 
would, necessarily, be the tools of the 
first race of tools, Hence, in the first 
renewal, a double degeneration would 
have taken place in regard to half the 
corporate body; and a single degenera- 
tion in regard to the other half, even if 
the whole of the first corporation died 
before any of the new members. 
Taking the lowest standard of human 
intelligence, say among the Hottentots, 
or Samoiedes, at 1; we may take the 
standard of good uncultivated intellect 
at 2; the educated intellect of po- 
lished society at 3; and the superior in- 
tellect of polished society, at 4. Itis 
not unreasonable perhaps to ‘say, that 
the intelligence of Newton, Locke, Gar- 
rick, Priestley, Johnson, Burke, Hors- 
ley, Paine, and Porteus, was four times 
greater than the Hottentot intellect, and 
a third greater than the average of civi- 
lized man. J assume then, that the in- 
telligence of a close corporation, in their 
origin, may be taken at the average of 3; 
and that a generation of its members may 
be considered as 24 years. 
«It is not easy to render moral consider- 
ations the object of a nominal calculus, 
but itis evident, that the successive in- 
tellect of close corporations must be 
measured by a diminishing series; and 
the principle being established, I ain 
not anxious to raise the ratio too high. 
As matter of conviction, founded on my 
own observation, I should consider every 
succeeding generation fell short full one- 
half o&that which went before it. But con- 
ceding something to accidental causes, 
Aconclude I shall be considered by no 
one as taking the rate of reduction as too 
rapid, when [ estimate it at a fourth on 
each renewal. Ofcourse, at the lowest, 
they cannot well sink to the Hottentot 
level, the progression will consequenty lie 
in a gradation between 3, the average of 
the first sevof members, and 1, the mea- 
= 
Intellect of Close Corporations: 
107 
sure of the Tottentot intellect. The 
descending series wil! therefore be, 
5 for the intellect of the first set - 05 
21 for - ditto of = secondset - 50 
23 nearly for ditto of = thirdset - 75 
3 - ditto of - fourthset - 100 . 
13 - ditto of - fifthset - 195. 
it - ditto of - sixthset - 130 
13 . ditto of = seventhset 175 
14 fe ditto of - eighthset - 200 
which, in 200 years, ascertains the intel- 
lect of any close corporation to be only 
one-fourth of the difference between the 
Hottentot intellect and that of the first 
body corporate; or it appears to be only 
one-fourth of the Hottentot intellect 
above the Hottentot intellect. 
With reference to the mass of society, 
this ratio will be correct only with regard 
to bodies in which no mtellectual test is 
required before admission ; but in such, 
in relation to the first set, the ratio will 
be universal. The most learned body, 
after two hundred years, will possess bat 
one-fourth of the intellectual energy of its 
first set of members, and be only of one- 
fourth of the consequence and utility to 
society that it would have possessed, had 
its vacancies been filled up by exsernal, 
instead of internal, election. 1 
This then is a mathematical, though at 
the same time a very melancholy, truth. 
It demonstrates and reduces to the un- 
erring evidence of figures, the measure 
of an evil felt and deplored by every 
one. It is not the creature of chimeras 
hke the calculations of Messrs.’ Malthus 
and Colquhoun, but is founded on a 
self-evident proposition, and it comes 
home to every man’s business and bosom. 
It teaches a great practical truth, that 
close corporations and societies, kept up 
by close election or restrictive ballot, are 
constituted on a principle incompatible 
with their own glory, with the wise 
objects of every institution, ‘and with 
the welfare of those who are subject to 
their influence. 
It teaches us, that the true principle of 
regeneration is from without; that, like 
the blood itself, all bodies politic require 
to be regenerated by new supplies and new 
energies; and that without renovation 
they lose their vigour and elasticity. 
The prineiple applies equally to all-self- 
constituted societies, clubs, commercial 
companies and committees, as it does to 
corporations created by charter. Those 
who are truly wise, will enact new con- 
stitutions for societies which they desire 
to see flourish and perpetuated; and the 
people of England should petition the’ 
governmciat 
