All public services, of whatsoever nature they may be, are paid; so that every one has not merely the right, but also the means of performing them.

Although, in democratic States, all the citizens are qualified to occupy stations in the Government, all are not tempted to try for them.

The number and the capacities of the candidates are more apt to restrict the choice of electors than the connections of the candidateship.
In nations in which the principle of election extends to every place in the State no political career can, properly speaking, be said to exist.
Men are promoted as if by chance to the rank which they enjoy, and they are by no means sure of retaining it.

The consequence is that in tranquil times public functions offer but few lures to ambition.

In the United States the persons who engage in the perplexities of political life are individuals of very moderate pretensions.