The things we do!

This abuse was evidently an enormous one and had to be
ended. But, it did not follow that, because the position of the
privileged class on their domains and in connection with the
Government was open to abuse, they should be deprived of protection
for person and property on their domains, and of influence and
occupation under the Government. -- A favored aristocracy, when it
is unoccupied and renders none of the services which its rank admits
of, when it monopolizes all honors, offices, promotions,
preferences, and pensions,[12] to the detriment of others not less
needy and deserving, is undoubtedly a serious evil. But when an
aristocracy is subject to the common law, when it is occupied,
especially when its occupation is in conformity with its aptitudes,
and more particularly when it is available for the formation of an
upper elective chamber or an hereditary peerage, it is a vast
service. -- In any case it cannot be irreversibly suppressed; for,
although it may be abolished by law, it is reconstituted by facts.


Pages:
339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363