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their standard than we as a nation have ever kept to 

 ours. 



It was almost a point of honour with them to de- 

 fraud the State, to make false statements to supe- 

 riors, &c., just as it used to be for boys to rob their 

 master's garden, and mislead him whenever possible ; 

 but it would have been as base in their eyes to cheat 

 or bilk their friend, the family banker, as it would have 

 been for the schoolboy to steal from one of his own 

 companions. 



So there was debt in those days too, but it hurt 

 nobody ; the banker got his annuity so long as things 

 went well, and even if in bad times he got little or 

 nothing, he knew that there were always strong arms 

 and sharp swords, ready to defend him if things went 

 wrong with him ; each party was dependent more or 

 less on the good offices of the other, and so far from 

 being enemies they were friends, bound together by 

 the remembrance of many acts of mutual kindness, 

 and if by chance they could not agree, — and men, 

 though both honest and well meaning, will at times 

 fall out and differ, — they called in a party of respect- 

 able neighbours and friends (whose intervention only 

 cost a good dinner) who heard all both had to say, 

 effected a wise compromise, and settled the matter. 

 There was no appeal ; the brotherhood, or mixed jury, 

 as the case might be, had spoken and the matter was 

 at an end. 



But with the enlightened rule of the British Grovern- 

 ment all this was to cease. Brimful of philanthropy, we 

 could not let well alone, or indeed believe that any- 

 thing could be well for others, which was not in ac- 



