date

[lxxxiv. 21] 1821 Decr. 5 Codification
[lxxxiv. 21]

1821 Decr. 5

Codification Proposal

penult

?.5. Draughtsman single

Appendix

II Aristocrats interest

7 Decr. Add Relation between Monarch and Aristocrats interest.

II. Aristocracy © Member of an Aristocracy.

Aristocracy © pure Aristocracy without a Monarch over it, belongs not to the present occasion. It is confined to the Aristocratical Cantons of Switzerland: governments which can not be charged with professing liberal ideas.

In the breast /situation/ of an Aristocracy the general description of sinister interest is the same as in that of a Monarchy

In so far as /in any community there exists/ a distinguishable body of men has place distinguished from the rest by a peculiarly large proportion of the general mass of the objects of general desire in any shape, a corresponding aristocratical body or aristocracy has place Of aristocracies in one and the same community there are accordingly or may be á³á   á³á different sorts.

Aristocracy more or less lasting constituted by operative power belonging to the legislative power /branch/, or derived by means of Election, real or pretended, from the body of the people

1. Aristocracy constituted by official power belonging to the executive branch © aristocracy of power

3. Aristocracy constituted by factitious dignity aristocracy of title

4. Aristocracy constituted by present opulence © aristocracy of wealth

5. Aristocracy constituted by power dignity or opulence of a man's ancestor © aristocracy of birth or ancestry: aristocracy of landed opulence: do of monied opulence.

6. Aristocracy constituted by official power, factitious dignity, present wealth /opulence/ and hereditary wealth /opulence/ in the hands of the Clergy.

7. Aristocracy constituted by the influence of talent applied to /employed in the/ political field of government

In all these several shapes any or all of them the matter of aristocracy may be lodged and united in the hands of one and the same individual

1. In respect of power it is the interest of the aristocrat and of the aristocracy to have /that his share/ as large a share of /in/ that of the Monarch as possible: and that in respect of /correspondency with/ that share the subjection of the people be as compleat and as extensive as possible

2. In respect of money, it is the interest of the aristocrat and of the aristocracy to have as large a share of that portion which is taken out of the hands of the producers /body of the people/ as possible: as likewise as large a share as possible of the residuum left by the Monarch in the hands of the people

3. In respect of factitious dignity it is the interest of each aristocrat to have to himself as large a portion of it as possible. At the same time it is his interest that the number of all those of the same class or /rank and of those/ of a higher rank be as small as possible: but that the share /lot/ possessed by those of a rank inferior to his own, be as large /high/ as possible, so also the number of those who have situation in that same inferior rank.
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    By the very nature of the conflict indication plain enough is given of the means © the effectual and exclusively effectual means of conciliation.

    As to ”money•, the larger the share afforded /allotted and given up/ to the Aristocracy by the Monarch to the Aristocracy, the larger the quantity they will be content to see him take

    The same observation applies to power, and without any difference worth remarking

    The same observation again applies to factitious dignity without any observations or exceptions other than as above In all these particulars, Much more valuable in their eyes will naturally be the sinister interest which they share with the Monarch, than their share in the universal interest.

    By the nature of men /the human mind/ on the occasion of every bargain of this sort the Aristocracy are disposed to accept of terms highly /more or less/ disadvantageous to themselves. Offices with the emolument and power attached to them with or without the addition of factitious dignity come all in a lump: taxes creep on gradually: and at the outset no man sees the amount to which they are destined to swell. Whatsoever be the real value of each man's chance, his own good opinion of himself, together with the confidence most men have in their own good fortune © that confidence by which lotteries are filled suffices for rendering it in his eyes greater than it is in reality /swelling to excess the value of it in his eyes/.

    As to power, by every atom /portion/ he concurrs in giving to the Monarch the Aristocrat gives up a correspondent portion of his own security: of his own security against abuses of that same power: abuses of a power which never has been nor ever can be used without being abused. He augments the degree of humiliation to which it may be necessary to him to subject himself. But whether advantageous or not in reality, few are those in whose eyes a bargain of this sort does not appear to be so: those as towards whom it is necessary for him to be obsequious and humble are the few, perhaps the very few: whereas those on whom his power imposes the necessity of being or the disposition to be humble and obsequious as towards him, are a countless multitude © and thus it is that many a man who would not have been corrupted by avarice is corrupted by pride and vanity.
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    II Aristocrats interest

    In regard to the government of these same distant dependencies his interest is that it be as tyrannical as opposite /hostile/ to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of the inhabitants as possible: that by and in proportion to the discontent may be the quantity of /and thence the expence of/ the military force necessary or pretended to be necessary to keep them in subjection.

    In regard to power, his interest is that the quantity as well as expensiveness of military force kept up be at all times as great as possible: to the end that /that so/ the subjection in which the great body of the people are kept may be as abject as possible: and the checks /bridles/ whatever they may be that by the Constitution stand opposed /are or are meant to be applied/ to monarchical and aristocratical power may be as ineffectual as possible.

    His legitimate interest in respect of security against misdeeds to his prejudice on the part /at the hands/ of the Monarch an interest which belongs to him in common with the body of the people /so far coincides with the universal interest/ at variance with his sinister interest in respect of money power and factitious dignity enjoyed at the expence of the people: according as the one interest or the other is at the moment the greater in his eyes each aristocrat will on each occasion side with the Monarch against the people, or with the people for the people

    In regard to the disposal of Offices and lots of factitious dignity his interest is that they be at the disposal of the Monarch to the end /that so/ etc

    In regard to factitious dignity it is the interest of the greater number /community/ that there be no such thing in existence: Whatsoever benefit it conveys is conferred at the expence of the people at large imposing upon them a burthen of humiliation more than equivalent: in the character of marks of reward considered as applicable to the procurement of meritorious service to the community at large, it is in a greater degree obstructive than contributory. The only service it is contributory and needful to the procurement of is service rendered to the Monarch at the expence of the people. By It contributes to that aggregate mass of the objects of general desire, by the hope of sharing in which individuals of all classes functionaries and non functionaries together are tempted to side with the Monarch against the people.
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    Appendix

    Monarch and Aristocracy

    Relation

    Relation between the /Monarch's/ interest of the Monarchy and the interest of the Aristocracy in its several branches. Interests how far coincident, how far conflicting © how far and how reconcileable and reconciled.

    I In respect of money. It is the interest of the Monarch as above that the quantity of money in his hands and at his disposal of the matter of subsistence and abundance extracted /extorted/ from those by whom it has been produced and from those into whose hands with their free consent it has passed should be as great as possible

    So is it the interest of the aristocracy in the aggregate, with the exception of such part of it as is extracted from them and thus at their expence

    II. As to power. It is the interest of the Monarch as above that the quantity of power in his hands and at his disposal be as great as possible.

    So is it the interest of the Aristocracy in the aggregate with the exception of /power in/ any such power /shape/ by /from/ which any sensible defalcation may be made from their own security: in particular from their own security as against misdeeds committed to their prejudice by the Monarch or any instrument of his.

    III. As to factitious dignity. 1. It is the interest of the Monarch as above, that the quantity of it be as great as possible: in a Monarchy the whole stock of it being in one way or other his: either condensed in his own person, or at his disposal

    It is the interest of the Aristocracy taken in the aggregate that the quantity of it be as great as possible: since the greater the aggregate mass the greater in possession or in contingency will be each members share.

    On the other hand it is the interest of each member taken separately not only that upon a level higher than his own, but upon the same level with his own a quantity of this aliment to pride and vanity be as small as possible: since by every addition to the number of those who are sharers with him the value of his own share is lessened.