they like the incisive sayings that hold the greatest number of
ideas. France is the one country in the world where a little phrase
may bring about a great revolution. Whenever the masses have risen,
it has been to bring men, affairs, and principles into agreement.
No nation has a clearer conception of that idea of unity which
should permeate the life of an aristocracy; possibly no other
nation has so intelligent a comprehension of a political
necessity; history will never find her behind the time. France
has been led astray many a time, but she is deluded, woman-like,
by generous ideas, by a glow of enthusiasm which at first
outstrips sober reason.

So, to begin with, the most striking characteristic of the
Faubourg is the splendour of its great mansions, its great
gardens, and a surrounding quiet in keeping with princely
revenues drawn from great estates. And what is this distance set
between a class and a whole metropolis but visible and outward
expression of the widely different attitude of mind which must
inevitably keep them apart? The position of the head is well
defined in every organism. If by any chance a nation allows its
head to fall at its feet, it is pretty sure sooner or later to
discover that this is a suicidal measure; and since nations have
no desire to perish, they set to work at once to grow a new head.
If they lack the strength for this, they perish as Rome perished,
and Venice, and so many other states.

This distinction between the upper and lower spheres of social
activity, emphasized by differences in their manner of living,
necessarily implies that in the highest aristocracy there is real
worth and some distinguishing merit. In any state, no matter