JB_097_192_001.xml

Title: [1822 Aug. 12. or 1. Power]

Description: 1822 Aug. 12.

or 1.

Power is mischievous

in so far as needless.

Of factitious dignity, the

whole.

or 2.

1. At the expence of all

it is conferred.

or 3.

Its produce is - not obedience

indeed but obsequiousness;

i.e conformaty

to another's will.

or 4.

Persons to whom it

produces obsequiousness

are

1. The patron.

2. The dignitary

Towards the patron

most.

or 5.

Opinions it produces

1. That to the dignitary

belong power, opulence

and the good will of

the patron. This is commonly

more or less

true.

2 them, endowments

tending to render him

contributory to greatest

happiness, this is

always false.

or 6.

Factitious dignity is

the factitious cause

of factitious respect.

or 7.

Its product a confused

and indeterminate

mass of opinions

and conceptions

Principal ingredients

are —

1. In the dignitary, power

preeminent.

2. In d. o opulence d. o

3. D. o in habits with

men equal and even

superior in dignity,

and thence, or otherwise,

in power and

opulence.

or 7 contin. d

4. In d. o place in the

patron's esteem or affection

or both: thence

chance of obtaining

for others benefits such

as the patron can bestow.

5. In d. o qualities giving

him means and will

to contribute to greatest

happiness. True,

the first four false,

the 5th true, the reverse.

or 8.

curious and lamentable

its efficiency in the

production of the false

opinion, mischievous as

it is.

or 9.

In every case, the dignity

has for evidence of

its existence the instrument

or act by which

it is conferred: accompanied

commonly with

some symbol visible

and conspicuous, ex.

, ribbon, star, medal,

etc.

or 10.

Efficient cause of this

power in symbols or

signs, the associations

of ideas.

or 11.

Curious the irresistible

force with which they

operate in the production

of this effect.

Behold a set of men

whom taken in the aggregate

my judgment

pronounces below the

average in the scale of

worth, moral and intellectual.

yet by the sight of

any one is produced

the conception of the opposite

superiority.

or 12.

Cause of the inconsistency

train of associations

produced by authority in

all shapes and from all

sources from the earliest

dawn of reason. For

the introduction of the

false conception a amount the

of turn of a moment suffices: for

the expulsion, if at all nothing

less than a train of reflections.

can suffice

or 13.

So in case of Ghosts &

At the first moment of

Darkness opens the door

Imagination renders them present.

To bunch their

with the of judgment

judgment can it

great can through

during long life

existence in Ghosts is the

not more fabulous

than worth, moral or intellectual,

in those creatures

of Monarchy, State

Dignitaries.

or 14.

Source or corroboration

of the error, adulation adulation,

chief instrument of dissemination,

books; first

the pen, now the press.

In dignitaries, writers have

beholden possessors of power

and opulence to which,

in return for eulogy, they

have looked for benefit

to themselves.

Of the receipt of those benefits

the probability (they

say) would be not as the

moral or intellectual

worth of the dignitary:

such as his kindness towards

them, which again

would be as the intensity

of their eulogy on him.

or 15.

Factitious dignity, has it

in any stage of society

been contributory to greatest

happiness?

or 16.

Evil this institution has

been proved above. Needless,

by experience: viz of

: original number 13.

Ch. Factitious Dignity

G.

§. I. Factitious Dignity what

§ Cause of the

upon it. G

§ by it

, 4. 5

Magnitude of and

and un

conquerable of

. 11. 12. 13

cause of the

influence associate

. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Its effect in the conduct

and mind of parties interested.

3. 4. 5

Its mischievousness

1. 2. 19. 1 8

present & 24.

of the elements of effective

power this one

excluded; the

government not impaired,

but improved:

all benefits greater

without than with

it.

JB_160_270.xml

Title: [1821 July 10 Constitut l. Code? Codification]

Description: 1821 July 10

Constitut l. Code? Codification Offer

'9. Factitious dignity

IV. Factitious dignity

2. Irresistible force

Analogous case Ghosts

Practical inference Break the association - This J.B. is doing

The curious circumstance is the irresistible force with which in this instance the cause operates in the production of the effect. Here are a set of men whom taken in the aggregate I do not /can not upon reflection/ look upon as fit objects of a greater portion of esteem and respect and affection /love/ than nor even of so great a portion as an equal number of men taken at random. At the same time spite of myself by the idea of any one a greater degree of those social affections is excited than is excited by the idea of any one not possessed of any one of those symbols. Whence comes this? /this inconsistency?/. By a continually reiterated /renewed/ train of association commencing at the earliest dawn of reason this opinion of the constant connection between the possession of the sensible /external/ symbol in question and the mental quality in question has been created and confirmed: for the reproduction /revival/ of the false /erroneous/ opinion a single instant suffices at all times: for the expulsion of it nothing less than a train of reflection can suffice.

For /To/ This case I feel a very conformable parallel may be seen in the case of Ghosts and other fabulous maleficent beings which the absence of light presents to my mind's eye. To no man's judgment can the /could a stronger/ persuasion of the non-existence of these causes /sources/ of terror have place than in mine. Yet no sooner do I in a dark room lay myself down to sleep, than if no other person is in the room and my eyes keep open than these instruments of terror obtrude themselves, and to free myself from the annoyance I feel myself under the necessity of substituting to a degree /an extent/ more or less considerable, to those more or less pleasing ideas with which my mind would otherwise have been occupied, those reflections which are necessary to keep in my view the judgment by which the non-existence of these creatures of the imagination has so often been pronounced. Cause the stories told by servants. The tale of the apparition of Ghosts and Vampires is not more fabulous than is in general the tale of worth, moral or intellectual, as applied to those creatures of a Monarch who form the class of State dignitaries.

JB_111_269.xml

Title: [1820 Feb. 17 Radicalism not dangerous]

Description: 1820 Feb. 17

Radicalism not dangerous

III. Experience

II. Ireland

Radicalism origin of

Instruments of felicity

3. Factitious Dignity its evil effects

6

In this case the least bad purpose and effect that can /could/ belong to it would be - its being bestowed upon no other individuals than the companions and instruments of the private pleasures of the Prince /Monarch and his family/: to buts[?], buffoons and procurers, and no others: indeed could its application be attached exclusively to such characters its effect would be nearly harmless.

But the serious bad purpose and effect belonging to it is the application made of it in the character of an instrument of corruption.

In the case /situation/ of a Duke were it possible for a member of the aristocracy in that highest or any other order of it to become with zeal and sincerity a supporter of the cause of the subject many /people/, an instrument of factitious dignity with a visible symbol to it in the shape of a blue ribbon would be sufficient /suffice/ to draw him off and render him an adversary to that cause and when a man has not as yet a place in the aristocratic body, an instrument of factitious dignity without any such visible symbol - a mere name such as a barronetcy or even a knighthood /hereditary or even non-hereditary/, is continually productive of the same effect.

Money and power are the bones and muscles of the body politic: factitious dignity in all its shapes is but a wen upon the neck of it.