and Great Britain. What may be the amount
of the whole expense which the church, either
of Berne, or of any other protestant canton,
costs the state, I do not pretend to know. By
a very exact account it appears, that, in 1755,
the whole revenue of the clergy of the church
of Scotland, including their glebe or church
lands, and the rent of their manses or dwelling-houses,
estimated according to a reasonable
valuation, amounted only to L.68,514,
1s. 51⁄12d. This very moderate revenue affords
a decent subsistence to nine hundred and forty-four
ministers. The whole expense of the
church, including what is occasionally laid out
for the building and reparation of churches,
and of the manses of ministers, cannot well
be supposed to exceed eighty or eighty-five
thousand pounds a-year. The most opulent
church in Christendom does not maintain better
the uniformity of faith, the fervour of devotion,
the spirit of order, regularity, and austere
morals, in the great body of the people, than
this very poorly endowed church of Scotland.
All the good effects, both civil and religious,
which an established church can be supposed
to produce, are produced by it as completely
as by any other. The greater part of the protestant
churches of Switzerland, which, in general,
are not better endowed than the church
of Scotland, produce those effects in a still
higher degree. In the greater part of the
protestant cantons, there is not a single person
to be found, who does not profess himself
to be of the established church. If he professes
himself to be of any other, indeed, the
law obliges him to leave the canton. But so
severe, or, rather, indeed, so oppressive a law,
could never have been executed in such free
countries, had not the diligence of the clergy
beforehand converted to the established church
the whole body of the people, with the exception
of, perhaps, a few individuals only.
In some parts of Switzerland, accordingly,
where, from the accidental union of a protestant
and Roman catholic country, the conversion
has not been so complete, both religions
are not only tolerated, but established
by law.
The proper performance of every service
seems to require, that its pay or recompence
should be, as exactly as possible, proportioned
to the nature of the service. If any service
is very much underpaid, it is very apt to suffer
by the meanness and incapacity of the
greater part of those who are employed in it.
If it is very much overpaid, it is apt to suffer,
perhaps still more, by their negligence
and idleness. A man of a large revenue,
whatever may be his profession, thinks he
ought to live like other men of large revenues;
and to spend a great part of his time
in festivity, in vanity, and in dissipation.
But in a clergyman, this train of life not only
consumes the time which ought to be employed
in the duties of his function, but in the
eyes of the common people, destroys almost
entirely that sanctity of character, which can
alone enable him to perform these duties with
proper weight and authority.
PART IV.
Of the Expense of supporting the Dignity of
the Sovereign.
Over and above the expenses necessary for
enabling the sovereign to perform his several
duties, a certain expense is requisite for the
support of his dignity. This expense varies,
both with the different periods of improvement,
and with the different forms of government.
In an opulent and improved society, where
all the different orders of people are growing
every day more expensive in their houses, in
their furniture, in their tables, in their dress,
and in their equipage; it cannot well be expected
that the sovereign should alone hold out
against the fashion. He naturally, therefore,
or rather necessarily, becomes more expensive
in all those different articles too. His dignity
even seems to require that he should become
so.
As, in point of dignity, a monarch is more
raised above his subjects than the chief magistrate
of any republic is ever supposed to
be above his fellow-citizens; so a greater expense
is necessary for supporting that higher
dignity. We naturally expect more splendour
in the court of a king, than in the mansion-house
of a doge or burgo-master.
CONCLUSION.
The expense of defending the society, and
that of supporting the dignity of the chief
magistrate, are both laid out for the general
benefit of the whole society. It is reasonable,
therefore, that they should be defrayed
by the general contribution of the whole society;
all the different members contributing,
as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective
abilities.
The expense of the administration of justice,
too, may no doubt be considered as laid
out for the benefit of the whole society. There
is no impropriety, therefore, in its being defrayed
by the general contribution of the whole
society. The persons, however, who give occasion
to this expense, are those who, by their
injustice in one way or another, make it necessary
to seek redress or protection from the
courts of justice. The persons, again, most
immediately benefited by this expense, are
those whom the courts of justice either restore
to their rights, or maintain in their