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Untitled Article
were glad to avail themselves of the protection of some nei ghbo a ring powerful baron , when the middle classes bad not acquired political consequence , nor , indeed , intelligence suffi * cient to enable them to act as an estate of the realm ; when
law and moral obligation were weak , and physical strength the arbiter of right ; when the darkest ignorance overspread the lend , and superstition and dogmatism held reason and philo * sophy in fetterg : in such iron times the sway of aristocracy cannot be marvelled at . But now , should it continue , it must be by miraculous interposition .
It is strange that the following simple questions do not occur to the advocates for hereditary nobility , though they are trite enough . How can the memory , which is an abstract of virtues or great deedg , be considered of superior social importance to the living incarnation of the same virtues , or the existing actor of similar deeds ? Why is the descendant of a hero to take
precedence of a living hero ? or the great grandson of a former eminent statesman , without other pretensions , be of equal weight in the senate with the breathing man who is every day proving consummate skill and unshaken integrity in politics ? Equally wise would it be , in a question of military tactics , to receive the opinion of a civil descendant of John , Duke of Marlborough , with equal deference to that of a veteran warrior ; or to elect the lineal representative of Bacon , Newton , or
Locke , the chief or umpire in a conclave of philosophers . Have men the power of transmitting their virtues or their talents with their blood ? Whence do ancient families derive their titles , and consequence , their influence in tlie senate , and standing in society ? From some virtue or talent , or achievement ( real or
supposititious as may be ) which earned a distinction for their ancestor in days of yore . Ergo , the present men of intellect , virtue , or heroism , whom they affect to consider their inferiors , are precisely those persons who are , or ought according to aristocratic principles themselves , to be the stocks and roots of such families as they pride themselves on belonging to . And how is it then that the founder of a family is not equal to the
descendant of one ? Would not the original ancestor of an ancient family , if he could be raised from the tomb , be the equal of his present representatives , or does the consequence of a family increase with every generation ? By pressing home these , and such like questions , you get the champions of
aristocracy between the horns of a dilemma . Are not the paltry squabbles for precedence among the aristocracy themselves—the disputes as to the comparative antiquity (!) of families—the jealousy with which a new title is-regarued , sufficient evidence of the absurdity of mere heraldic and genealogical pretensions , and the vanity of all distinction save that
Untitled Article
# t $ Cur * of \ y Tltwicurks 6 ft Prejudice .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1836, page 370, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2658/page/42/
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