The most important question is, Whether these pensions are given as the reward of scientific services rendered to the country, or as charity to enlightened and studious persons who happen to be poor? In the one case, they are an honour which a philosopher may be proud of receiving from his country: in the other, they are no more than a higher order of pauper relief, which an independent gentleman can scarcely condescend to accept. Another important question, though of a different nature, also arises here. Are these pensions, thus small in amount, fit to be offered to those who, in order to arrive at their discoveries, have themselves in some cases spent out of their own private fortune, sums far larger than the fee simple of the rewards thus offered to them. Is it just that the _same rewards_ should be given to persons filling well-endowed scientific offices, supplied with all the means of discovery which the most perfect art can produce, as to other philosophers, who, at the expense of their own personal comfort and perhaps of the interests of their family, have purchased the costly means by which they have succeeded in _equally_ improving their several departments of science? For the honour and the advancement of science, it is necessary that these questions should be distinctly answered. It is to be hoped that some independent member of parliament will at last press them in a manner which no ministerial shuffling can evade. [23] See App. to Rept. of Select Com. on Misc. Expenditure, p. 222. [24] See p. 221 App. to Rept. on Misc. Expenditure, p. 848 (543) II. [25] The pay of the non-commissioned officers has been assumed as somewhat less by ten per cent. than their extra pay. [26] See p. 41, App. to Rept. on Misc. Expenditure, p. 848, (268) IV. CHAPTER XV. THE PRESS. Some of the principles for the discovery of truth, professed and acted upon by those who administer the laws of England, and by those who practice in its courts, are certainly repugnant to the first impressions and feelings of honest men, if not also to common sense. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary, in order to remove these impressions, to state the ground on which those principles are defended. That ground may be shortly expressed thus— It has been found by long experience that it is more for the advantage of truth and justice that professional men should be stimulated by fees and the hope of advancement, to put forward or conceal every fact, to advance, withhold, or oppose every inference and argument, _solely_ as it may be of advantage to the party by whom they are employed. It is also stated that the public are aware of this convention, and, therefore, are not deceived by the speeches of the advocate.