he meanness of the
transaction, and receive these bribes with all the alacrity imaginable;
and this system, which begins in these lesser transactions, is, in the
disposal of offices under government, and the regulation of the
patronage of the crown, the prime mover in France. If an office is to be
disposed of, the constant phrase in France is, as in India, _il faut
grassier la pate_. I was acquainted with two judges in France, who made
not the least scruple to acknowledge that they owed their appointments
to bribes, delicately administered. The bribes consisted in presents of
_fruit_, presented in _a gold dish_. The similarity between the French
and the inhabitants of eastern countries, on their hyperbolical
compliments, had been observed by Montesquieu, in his Persian Letters,
before the revolution; and by the effects of that lengthened scene of
guilt and of confusion, as well as by the consequences of the military
despotism under Napoleon, it has been increased to so great a degree, as
to present a parallel more apt and striking than can be easily
conceived.

The excessive poverty of the higher orders, more particularly amongst
the old nobility, has not only subjected them to this meanness of taking
bribes, but has produced also amongst them a species of fawning
servility of manner towards their inferiors; and this has, in its turn,
in a great degree destroyed that high feeling of superior rank and
superior responsibility, and that standard of amiable and noble
manners, which are amongst the happiest consequences resulting from the
institution of a hereditary nobility. The consequence of this servility
amongst the _noblesse_, has inevitably produced a corresponding
arrogance and insolence in the lower orders. One may see a French
servant enter his master's room without taking off, or even touching his
hat, engage in the conversation whilst he is mending the fire, throw
himself upon a chair, and thus deliver the message he has been entrusted
with, arrange his neckcloth at the glass, and dance out of the room,
humming a tune. To an Englishman, this familiarity, from its excessive
impudence, creates at first more amusement than irritation; but it
becomes disgusting when we consider its consequences upon national
manners, and that its causes are to be traced to national crime. I have
seen a French gentleman take his grocer by the hand, and embracing him,
hope for his company at supper. This submissive meanness towards the