Weekly national intelligencer., 1857-10-10

| Eu, hned extent fnd unknown limits of that body
men bore with arisocracy less because the
could obtain admission within its pale than because the
never knew. when they were Within and could alway
consider themselves part and parcel Of it. could share il
ana derive sctat or profit from its power.
france on the contrary, the barrier which sepa
ased tne nobility from the other classes though eas
surmounted was always conspicuous and known by out
waro ana odious marks The parvenu who oversteppe
separated from his former associates by privilege
which were onerous and humiliatng to them
Inc plan OF raising commoners to the nobility there
iore far from weakening their hatred of the
Glass; increased it beyond measure. New mobiles wer
viewed by their old equals with bitter envy Henc
1t was that the Third Estate evinced far more islika
the new than of the old nobility and demanded constant
That the entrance to the ranks Of the nobility shouc
| be not enlarged but narrowed
" AT no time in history it easy to become
noble as In 1885, and at time had the nobility and the
commonalty been distinct and separate Not only die
the mobiles exclude from their electoral colleges every one
who was the least tainted with plebean blood the
exhibited equal anxiety to keep of their
ranks all who looked like of rank In certain pro-
vlnces new mobiles rejected by party because
they were not deemed noble enough by the others
cause they too noble. This happened it is said
to the celebrated Lavoisier
"The burghers presented very similar spectacle.
They were as widely distinct from the people the
bes from them.
sNeary the whole middle class under the old regime
lived In the cities Two had produced this result
the privileges of men of rank and the tde Segniors
residing their estates could afford to be
and patronising to the peasantr but they nsolent
to degree to their neighbors of higher rank. And
the political power they lost the proud and
overbearing they BECAME Nor could it be otherwise
for when they stripped of their authority they
longer needed to conciae partners in the business of
government while, the other hand they tried to
sole themselves for the sacrifice of substantial authority
by an mmoderate abuse of its outward sembance Their
absence from their estates rather an increased in
convenience than lief to their neighbors; absentee
sm had not even 81 advantage and privileges exer-
cised by attorney vi only the more intolerable"
The great crime Of the dncen regime was the division
of the people into classes Its subsequent policy followed
ened portion of people debarred from combination
for public purposes, government becomes impossible
and tyranny becomes a necessity.
Turgot in secret report to the King, observes sad
y The nation is composed of several dsunted class
es and divided people, hence takes thought for
any thing but his private interest Public spirit is
thing unknown. Villages and cities have mutual
ations with each other have the counties arrondss
ments) In which they are situate They unable
to come to understanding for the repair of the
mon roads An incessant warfare is carried on between
rival claims and pretensons the decision is invariably
referred to your majesty or your servants An order
from you is required before people will pay taxes
respect the rights Of their neghbors exercise
their own
1t was no slight task to reunte people who had been
strangers to each other foes for many centuries
1t was very difficult to teach them to under
standing for the transaction of their common business
Division was comparatively easy achievement We have
furnished the world with memorable illustration of the
dcuy of the reverse process. When, sixty years ago.
the various classes into which French society divd
ed were suddenly brought together after separation of
several centuries their only points of contact their
old sores-they only met to tear each other in pieces
Their rival eaousies and hatreds survive to this day.
In spite of the progress of civilization the condi-
ton OF the French peasant had become less respect
able and less comfortable than it was in the 18th
century Nay, it was the very progress of civiliza-
ton which had rendered him more acutely sensible
to the exactions and privations to which he was
condemned by the presence of the noblesse.
France, moreover, was all the while daily becom-
ing country in which the poper of the pen was
more and more recognised Men Of letters, it is
true, took little or no direct part in the civil admin
istration but they occupied themselves perpetualy
theories. The systems propounded by these wri-
ters, as well popular philosophical, differ widely
In their details, but find point of common depar-
ture and contact in the fact that all alike propose to
substitute, in lieu of the complicated and traditional
usages or institutes of the past rules of civil duty
which shall be elementary and simple, because
founded on reason and natural law. Pure ideas
placed in contrast yith the arbitrary imposi-
tions Of power 49, origin of this maniSre de
voir admits of eas explanation. It is thus stated
by M. de Tocqueville:
It was not chance which led the philosophers of the
eighteenth century to advocate principles opposed
those which society rested in their day. They
naturally suggested by the spectacle they had before
them. They had constantly in view a host of absurd
and ridiculous privileges whose burden increased daily,
while their origin was growing and more indstinct
Hence they driven toward notions of natural equal
ity. They behed many irregular and strange old in
sttuons, all hopelessy jarring together and unsuited
to the time, but clingng to life long after their virtue
had departed and they naturally felt disguised with all
hat opdt md tob;r he
for his guide-they sought to rebuild society
some wholly new plan
"These writer's naturally tempted to indulge
reservedy in abstract and general theories of govern
ment They had practical acquaintance with the sub
ect their ardors undamped by actual experience
they knew OF existing facts which stood in the way of
desirable reforms they ignorant of the dangers in
separable from the most necessary revolutions and
dreamed of There being approach toward po-
tcal liberty, the business of government not only
ill understood it was not understood at ALL Having
share in it themselves and seeing nothing that done
by those who had these writers lacked the superficial
education which the habit Of political freedom imparts
to those who take part in politics They
hence boder in their projects of Innovation fonder of
theory and SYSTEM more prone to despse the teachings
OF antiquity and to rely individual reason than
ally the with speculative writers politics.
Ignorance of the kind insured their success
among the If the French people had still parti
cpated in the government by of States General if
they had still taken part in the administration of the
public business in Provincial Assemblies it is certain that
they would have received the lucubraons of these au
hors with coolnesstheir business habits would
have set them their guard against pure theory.
Had they possibility of changing the spirit
without wholly destroying the form of their cid insu
ons, the English did, they might have been reluctant
to adventure upon absolute noveltes but there not
whose fortune or whose comfort, whose person.
or whose pride not daily interfered with by old
law, old institution, old decayed authority and
each particular grievance seemed altogether inourable
short of the total destruction of the constitution of the
country.
"We had, however, saved right from the general
wreck-that was the right of philosophising freely on
the origin of society the natural principles of gov
ernment, and the primitive rights OF man.
ga rage for this political literature seized all who
were inconvenenced by the legislation of the day. in
Guiding many who naturally but little prone to in
dulge in abstract sreculatons Taxpayers wronged by
the unjust distribution of the talle warmed the
principle of the natural equality of man. Farmers
whose harvests spoiled by rabbits kept by their
BILE neghbors, reoced hear that reason repudated all