text:  One striking example of the force of birth station and association in public life never fails to occur to us as an extraordinary example of the magnifying power of these extrinsic qualities in giving to the aristocracy of birth a consideration which though often well bestowed is yet oftener bestowed without any desert whatever; and that title to admiration and respect which has died with ancestry patriotism and suffering in the cause of freedom is transferred from the illustrious dead to the undistinguished living