As soon as the old social divisions were destroyed the distinctions of the classes appeared artificial, and for that reason ceased to be tolerated.
The necessity of equality being theoretical, we have seen among democratic peoples the rapid development of artificial inequalities, permitting their possessors to make for themselves a plainly visible supremacy.Never was the thirst for titles and decorations so general as to-day.
In really democratic countries, such as the United States, titles and decorations do not exert much influence, and fortune alone creates distinctions.It is only by exception that we see wealthy young American girls allying themselves to the old names of the European aristocracy.They are then instinctively employing the only means which will permit a young race to acquire a past that will establish its moral framework.
But in a general fashion the aristocracy that we see springing up in America is by no means founded on titles and decorations.
Purely financial, it does not provoke much jealousy, because every one hopes one day to form part of it.
When, in his book on democracy in America, Toqueville spoke of the general aspiration towards equality he did not realise that the prophesied equality would end in the classification of men founded exclusively on the number of dollars possessed by them.
No other exists in the United States, and it will doubtless one day be the same in Europe.
At present we cannot possibly regard France as a democratic country save on paper, and here we feel the necessity, already referred to, of examining the various ideas which in different countries are expressed by the word ``democracy.''
Of truly democratic nations we can practically mention only England and the United States.There, democracy occurs in different forms, but the same principles are observed--notably, a perfect toleration of all opinions.Religious persecutions are unknown.Real superiority easily reveals itself in the various professions which any one can enter at any age if he possesses the necessary capacity.There is no barrier to individual effort.
In such countries men believe themselves equal because all have the idea that they are free to attain the same position.The workman knows he can become foreman, and then engineer.Forced to begin on the lower rungs of the ladder instead of high up the scale, as in France, the engineer does not regard himself as made of different stuff to the rest of mankind.It is the same in all professions.This is why the class hatred, so intense in Europe, is so little developed in England and America.
In France the democracy is practically non-existent save in speeches.A system of competitions and examinations, which must be worked through in youth, firmly closes the door upon the liberal professions, and creates inimical and separate classes.
The Latin democracies are therefore purely theoretical.The absolutism of the State has replaced monarchical absolutism, but it is no less severe.The aristocracy of fortune has replaced that of birth, and its privileges are no less considerable.
Monarchies and democracies differ far more in form than in substance.It is only the variable mentality of men that varies their effects.All the discussions as to various systems of government are really of no interest, for these have no special virtue of themselves.Their value will always depend on that of the people governed.A people effects great and rapid progress when it discovers that it is the sum of the personal efforts of each individual and not the system of government that determines the rank of a nation in the world.
