istic  illufitration  of  the  use  of  this  power,  of  which  frequent
examples  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  leading  newspapers  ;  and
yet,  while  non-partisan  zeal  for  the  Queen  may  be  thus  rewarded
by  royal  favor,  no  administration,  I  think,  would  venture  to
advise  its  exercise  on  mere  partisan  grounds  ;  and  it  is  but  just
to  say  that  it  is  generally  exercised  for  the  purpose  of  reward-
ing exceptional  capacity  or  devotion  in  the  interest  of  science,
literature,  or  philanthropy.  Let  the  citizens  of  a  republic,  if
they  will,  condemn  the  tame  compliance  with  official  wishes
which  such  notices  may  be  thought  to  prove,  and  find  in  the
reward  of  mere  zeal  for  royalty  an  unworthy  use  of  executive
power,  but  let  them  at  the  same  time  remember  the  pervading
subserviency,  of  minor  officials  among  themselves,  to  officers
having  the  appointing  power,  and  the  fact  that  they  have  seen
not  individuals  only,  but  conventions  and  legislatures  obse-
quious before,  not  the  head  of  an  ancient  line  of  princes,  but
the  temporary  officers  of  their  own  creation.  If  it  is  bad  in  a
monarchy  to  give  social  precedence  to  those  who  are  zealous
for  the  crown  and  the  nobility,  for  which  the  constitution  pro-
vides, is  it  better  in  a  republic  to  give  offices  and  salaries  as
rewards  for  zeal  for  parties  for  which  the  constitution  does  not
provide  ?

Closely  connected  with  the  governmental  agency  just  con-
sidered is  another  affording  a  similar  illustration  and  equally
repugnant  to  our  system — that  of  pensions  granted  by  the
crown  (formerly)  or  the  administration  in  (the  practice  of)
recent  years.  This  authority,  once  as  vast  as  it  was  pernicious,
has  in  later  times  been  reduced  to  small  if  not  to  harmless
proportions.  It  is  important  that  this  power  of  pensioning
should  be  apprehended  as  distinct  from  the  authority  of  grant-
ing superannuating  or  retiring  allowances  in  the  public  service,
which  I  have  already  explained.*  Those  allowances  are  really
a  part  of  the  compensation  of  the  officer — of  the  conditions  on
which  he  entered  the  public  service — and  are  not,  therefore,
given  on  any  theory  of  a  gratuity  or  of  favor.  Looked  at
from  the  side  of  the  government,  they  are  regarded  as  present-
ing an  ingenious  and  just  method  of  securing  a  good  quality  of

'  See  ante,  pp.  141-144.
