They would see a
country with firm, sound, and moral institutions, whose upper
classes are worthy of their rank, and, by possessing the highest
degree of culture, devoting themselves to the service of the
State, setting an example of patriotism, and knowing how to
preserve the influence legitimately their own. They would find a
State with an excellent administration where everything is in its
right place, and where the most admirable order prevails in every
branch of the social and political system. Prussia may be well
compared to a massive structure of lofty proportions and
astounding solidity, which, though it has nothing to delight the
eye or speak to the heart, cannot but impress us with its grand
symmetry, equally observable in its broad foundations as in its
strong and sheltering roof.
"And what is France? What is French society in these latter days?
A hurly-burly of disorderly elements, all mixed and jumbled
together; a country in which everybody claims the right to occupy
the highest posts, yet few remember that a man to be employed in a
responsible position ought to have a well-balanced mind, ought to
be strictly moral, to know something of the world, and possess
certain intellectual powers; a country in which the highest
offices are frequently held by ignorant and uneducated persons,
who either boast some special talent, or whose only claim is
social position and some versatility and address.
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