"
Now the Cockney, who is said to have been a very foppish Cockney,
was perfectly right in what he said, and therein manifested a
knowledge of the English mind and character, and likewise of the
modern English language, to which his catechist, who, it seems, was
a distinguished member of the Scottish bar, could lay no
pretensions. The Cockney knew what the Lord of Session knew not,
that the British public is gentility crazy, and he knew, moreover,
that gentility and respectability are synonymous. No one in
England is genteel or respectable that is "looked at," who is the
victim of oppression; he may be pitied for a time, but when did not
pity terminate in contempt? A poor, harmless young officer--but
why enter into the details of the infamous case? they are but too
well known, and if ever cruelty, pride, and cowardice, and things
much worse than even cruelty, cowardice, and pride were brought to
light, and, at the same time, countenanced, they were in that case.
What availed the triumphant justification of the poor victim?
There was at first a roar of indignation against his oppressors,
but how long did it last? He had been turned out of the service,
they remained in it with their red coats and epaulets; he was
merely the son of a man who had rendered good service to his
country, they were, for the most part, highly connected--they were
in the extremest degree genteel, he quite the reverse; so the
nation wavered, considered, thought the genteel side was the safest
after all, and then with the cry of, "Oh! there is nothing like
gentility," ratted bodily.
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