1821 June 10

Codification Offer

'.7. Foreigner why

2. Another circumstance which ought never to be let slip out of mind, is - the

power, or rather the want of power on the part of the draughtsman, more

especially on the supposition of his being a foreigner, with relation to the

ultimate effect of such his work. Be they in member, in extent[?], or in

mischievousness, ever so transcendent only in the event of their receiving the

force of law can any improper arrangements proposed by him be productive of any

mischief with which it may happen to them to be pregnant. The more manifest it

can not fail to be to himself, that every arrangement he proposes will be more

narrowly watched than if proposed by a native, so much the less likely will he

be to put his reputation to hazard by including in his draught any arrangements,

for the support of which no such reasons as in his eyes are adequate have been

attached. A good arrangement is an arrangement in support of which adequate

reasons can be given. If to this or that arrangement proposed by him either no

reasons at all, or none that appear adequate have been attached nothing can be

more obvious nor more likely to be adopted than the conclusion, that no such

reasons were afforded by the nature of the case: which is as much as to say that

it is a bad one. Then again suppose a misconception or miscalculation on his

part, and a mischievous and consequently not adequately justified arrangement

included in his draught, mens eyes being in all ranks more widely open to its

bad points than if it were the work of a native hand the danger of its being

ultimately productive of any mischief with which it may have happened to it to

be pregnant will on this further account likewise be, in correspondent

proportion, less.