A promised reward, bestowed upon one who has not deserved it, is entirely lost.An unpromised retard, thus improperly bestowed, is not necessarily lost.The hand of liberality has been deceived, but the utility of the reward is not altogether thrown away, whilst opportunity is left for a better application of it in future.Had Alexander lavished upon the man who, to obtain his bounty, exhibited his skill in darting grains of millet through the eye of a needle the rewards he bestowed upon Aristotle, it would have been a proof of prodigality and folly, whose effect would have been to multiply the race of mountebanks and jugglers.In rewarding Aristotle, he, without doubt, rewarded much jargon, of no greater value than this man's sleight of hand in darting millet; but since, in the midst of this jargon, a certain quantity of useful, and at that time new, truth was found, the rewards which this celebrated philosopher received may justly be placed to the account of useful liberality: their tendency was to multiply the precious race of instructors of mankind---the race of philosophers.
In fact, certain acts of liberality, which could not be justified, if considered as promised rewards, may deserve more or less indulgence, may possess a sort of utility of the same kind as that which belongs to rewards not promised.Even the act regarded as service may not strictly deserve to be connected with reward; but the disposition displayed by the distributing hand in awarding a recompense, may give birth to the expectation of similar rewards for really meritorious service.
Rewards bestowed in pursuance of a promise, may be considered as conferred according to a law belonging to the class of written laws ; whilst unpromised rewards, though not productive of similar evils may be considered as establishing a kind of law, or rather tacit rule, analogous to that established by means of punishment, in what is called unwritten law.It would be fortunate, indeed, if the penal law might remain unwritten with as little inconvenience as remuneratory law.In the penal, and even the commonly called civil branches, these unwritten laws develope themselves by a train of hardships, not to say of injuries;whilst the worst which can happen in the remuneratory branch of unwritten law is this, that, by reason of its being unknown, it may become a tissue of useless bounty.
Catherine II.did not allow the remuneratory branch of her laws to be exposed even to this danger, from which there is so little to be feared.Had the hand of liberality been expanded---was the dew of reward poured out upon the head of merit---immediately inserted in the Gazette, the notification of the reward connected with the name of the individual, and the service which had deserved it, was resounded throughout the most distant and unfrequented parts of her vast empire.It would have been altogether glorious, had she hastened to give the same character of publicity and certainty to those other branches of unwritten law, in which it is required with so much greater urgency, and had she never conferred favours which she would have blushed to see gazetted.
In England, a noble example of reward, ex post facto , was exhibited in connexion with the first establishment of mail-coaches.The manager of a provincial theatre having, proposed to the minister this plan for the better conveyance of letters, the plan was received, and having been tried in one part of the kingdom, it was afterwards extended to the whole: and this service being in consequence performed with a celerity and economy of which formerly there was no idea,---as a reward, the inventor was appointed Comptroller-General of the post-office, with a salary of £1500 per annum, besides a proportion of the savings.A reward thus judicious and equitable.transports us to the year 2440.It is equivalent to a proclamation to this effect: ``Men of genius and industry, employ your talents for the service of your country;exert yourselves to the utmost; produce your plans; their reception shall depend alone upon the opinion formed of their utility; your country will not grudge the labour necessary for their examination.Good intentions shall not be treated with contempt; you shall not be nicknamed projectors by the idle and the incapable.Your plans shall not be disregarded because of their authors; they shall not be thrown aside because they are extraordinary, provided they be useful.Impartiality shall preside at their examination, and their utility shall be the measure of your reward.''
There may appear at first sight a discrepancy between this and the immediately preceding chapter, but it is only in appearance.
I say here, no less than heretofore, that the upright dispenser of public treasures gives nothing.He buys or be sells.With promised rewards he purchases bespoken, clearly defined, and limited services; with unpromised rewards he purchases services unbespoken, indeterminate, and infinite.
The difficulty in both cases consists in making a proper choice of the action to be rewarded.This choice will form the subject of subsequent consideration.
