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zens than a titled aristocracy, because its
rights are unacknowledged and undefined.
This self-created aristocracy, must make an
unceasing effort to support its assumed dignity
in society; those who are supposed to
be a degree below them, silently resent
the usurpation ; but, at the same time,
they make similar pretensions to superiority
over those citizens, whom they regard
as one step lower down in the scale
than themselves. Thus coldness, formality,
and hauteur become habitual and general,
and the seeds o f internal and lasting; hatred
are sown between families; and to this
cause, more than to difference of political
principles, many of the former dissensions
in Geneva may be mainly attributed. History
informs us this was also the case in the
ancient republics, A titled hereditary aristocracy,
on the contrary, has its rights so
well defined, and so generally acknowledged,
that they excite no jealousy, and
when these rights are modified, as in the
FDglish constitution, and are tempered by
the possessor with intelligence and benevolence,
they are almost invariably exercised
with such courtesy, as to be
an ornament, rather than a weight, to social
intercourse. The British nobleman,
who is truly respectable, will ever receive
the voluntary tribute of deference and
esteem, and may dispense with the laborious
drudgery of constantly looking proud;
whereas, with a self-created untitled aristocracy,
this drudgery is the daily price paid
for dignity, nor can it be so purchased,
without taking with it a large portion of
hatred, which greatly overbalances its value.
The prevailing information and sound
sense of the Genevese gentlemen, are gradually
softening down the irritation arising
from the assumption of aristocratic distinction
; but females in all countries yield up
their pretensions to superiority in society
with reluctance, and are the more tenacious
of distinction, in exact proportion to
their ignorance of the grounds on which
their claims to it are founded.
There is no law at Geneva to deprive
the unfortunate suicide of the rites of interment,
as in England, a law which must
be considered as extremely unfair in its
operation, as it is never carried into effect,
except against the poor, or against unprotected
foreigners.
The code Napoleon was introduced into
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