Page:A Few Plain Observations Upon the End and Means of Political Reform.djvu/43

 deludes itself with the shadow of œconomy.

The Foreign Office and it's several relations, the diplomatic and consular branches, require to be placed upon a systematic and liberal establishment—and, in proportion as their advantages may be consulted, the Members of those Corps should be placed under stricter regulation, and subjected to a regular gradation of promotions, which should seldom be departed from, and only in consideration of particular merit.

For years a system of family compact has prevailed in the regulation of diplomatic arrangements, and their allowances as well ordinary as extraordinary, have been nicely proportioned to the Parliamentary influence of the individual, rather than to the importance of his duties, or the