sis]: ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
tremity to which the seaman. is 
sometimes exposed, of being forced 
to scud before the storm, the states- 
man is or ought to be exempt, 
The elements which he has to ma- 
nage, the passions, habits, and 
prejudices of the people, are in 
some degree under his contrqul or 
guidance ; and if ever a political 
tempest arises, it must be ascribed 
to same gross violation, immediate 
or remote, of the principles of le- 
gislation *.’ 
Mr. Michell blames those who, 
at the present moment, see in our 
political constitution nothing but 
perfection, while its assailants are 
pointing out numberless defe&ts in 
it. General panegyric opposed to 
eneral censure does not, in his 
mind, convey any idea of ability in 
the defenders of our own frame of 
government ; and nothing honour- 
-able to it can be derived from the 
‘arguments of those who defend it 
eniy by pointing out greater de- 
fects in the French constitution ; 
He then proceeds to examine 
the principles tha: ihe Frencg have 
Jaid down as fundamental maxims 
of legislation, whi¢h he reduces to 
two; 
Man is born equal ; 
And he continues equal in his 
r ghts ; 
So far is he from admitting therm 
to be true, that he contends most 
strenuovsly that, as far as they 
are applicable to legislation, they 
strongly enforce the necessity: of 
framing-a constitution on principles 
dire€ily opposite. Nature, he al- 
Jows, shews no partiality to any 
yank inthe distribution of her fa- 
‘ 
vours either mental or corporeal ; 
a d-fference, however, and a great 
one, exists between indivicuals of 
all ranks, and it is produced not 
by nature but by education, occu~ 
pation, and cxertion. The two 
former, he observes, separates. by 
an immense space the savage from 
the civilized man, and the clown 
from the gentlemun; the latter 
produces a distinétion not much 
less between one gentleman and 
another. He contends that it is 
only in an age of general corruption 
and apathy respecting the duties of 
citizens, that one man so far ex. 
cels his contemporaries ; and that, 
as the depression of one wave is 
necessary to raise another to the 
appearance of a mountainous height, 
he is indebted for his super-emi. 
nence as much to their indolence as 
to his own exertions. 
Integrity distinguishes one able 
man from anotlicr, as much as 
ability distinguishes an enlightened 
from an ignorant man, Men, 
therefore, he concludes, ought not 
to be placed on a footing of equa- 
lity in the service of the public ; 
the man of sense ought ta be pre- 
ferred to the blockhead; and the 
man of sense and honesty united to 
him who possesses the former with. 
out the Ok ‘ The chief care 
of a legislator should be to insure 
the integgity of those who must be 
trusted ; god if that be inflexible, 
we may be satisfied that their abi- 
lities will prove equal to their 
dyties.’ 
In his IId chapter, he pursues the 
consideration of the equality of 
rights ; aud he maintains that, in 
¥ * Bacon speaks with great contempt of this system of expediency. Essayr om 
“Empires 
the 
