blindly adhered to, and continued into a different age, put to strive with new competitors, brought his country to ruin.  The “dead and formal” Prussian system was then contrasted with the “living” French system—­the sudden outcome of the new explosive democracy.  The system which now exists is the product of the reaction; and the history of its predecessor is a warning what its future history may be too.  It is not more celebrated for its day than Frederic’s for his, and principle teaches that a bureaucracy, elated by sudden success, and marvelling at its own merit, is the most unimproving and shallow of Governments.

Not only does a bureaucracy thus tend to under-government, in point of quality; it tends to over-government, in point of quantity.  The trained official hates the rude, untrained public.  He thinks that they are stupid, ignorant, reckless—­that they cannot tell their own interest—­that they should have the leave of the office before they do anything.  Protection is the natural inborn creed of every official body; free trade is an extrinsic idea alien to its notions, and hardly to be assimilated with life; and it is easy to see how an accomplished critic, used to a free and active life, could thus describe the official.

“Every imaginable and real social interest,” says Mr. Laing, “religion, education, law, police, every branch of public or private business, personal liberty to move from place to place, even from parish to parish within the same jurisdiction; liberty to engage in any branch of trade or industry, on a small or large scale, all the objects, in short, in which body, mind, and capital can be employed in civilised society, were gradually laid hold of for the employment and support of functionaries, were centralised in bureaux, were superintended, licensed, inspected, reported upon, and interfered with by a host of officials scattered over the land, and maintained at the public expense, yet with no conceivable utility in their duties.  They are not, however, gentlemen at large, enjoying salary without service.  They are under a semi-military discipline.  In Bavaria, for instance, the superior civil functionary can place his inferior functionary under house-arrest, for neglect of duty, or other offence against civil functionary discipline.  In Wurtemberg, the functionary cannot marry without leave from his superior.  Voltaire says, somewhere, that, ’the art of government is to make two-thirds of a nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third’.  This is realised in Germany by the functionary system.  The functionaries are not there for the benefit of the people, but the people for the benefit of the functionaries.  All this machinery of functionarism, with its numerous ranks and gradations in every district, filled with a staff of clerks and expectants in every department looking for employment, appointments, or promotions, was intended to be a new support of the throne in the new social state of the Continent; a third class, in