It does not in
the least matter that your eldest son be a fool: we think your services
so remarkable, that he shall have the reversion of your honours when
death vacates your noble shoes. If you are poor, we will give you such
a sum of money as shall enable you and the eldest-born of your race for
ever to live in fat and splendour. It is our wish that there should be
a race set apart in this happy country, who shall hold the first rank,
have the first prizes and chances in all government jobs and patronages.
We cannot make all your dear children Peers--that would make Peerage
common and crowd the House of Lords uncomfortably--but the young ones
shall have everything a Government can give: they shall get the pick
of all the places: they shall be Captains and Lieutenant-Colonels at
nineteen, when hoary-headed old lieutenants are spending thirty years
at drill: they shall command ships at one-and-twenty, and veterans who
fought before they were born. And as we are eminently a free people, and
in order to encourage all men to do their duty, we say to any man of
any rank--get enormously rich, make immense fees as a lawyer, or great
speeches, or distinguish yourself and win battles--and you, even you,
shall come into the privileged class, and your children shall reign
naturally over ours.'
How can we help Snobbishness, with such a prodigious national
institution erected for its worship? How can we help cringing to
Lords? Flesh and blood can't do otherwise.
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