AN ATTORNEY   GENERAL.                       251
" This abrupt question astonishes you," continued he,
without divining the cause of my surprise. "Excuse
my indiscretion ; my mother was French, and I owe to
her certain ideas which never entered a Saxon brain.
These ideas nearly approach yours, and inspire me with
the most lively sympathy for the originality of your
talent.
"To me, for instance, the state is everything; and
despite the stupid prating of ignorant moralists, I main-
tain that the interest of a whole nation cannot be weighed
in the balance with the pretended right of an obscure
individual ! I am a socialist in the best sense of the
word—the state before the individual! The Yankees,
on the contrary—contracted minds, narrow brains—have
brought from England an egotistical and savage preju-
dice. Let a judge fail in respect towards an old gipsy,
let an attorney general lose patience in prosecuting a
pickpocket or brow-beating an assassin, directly a Saxon
arises from the earth to proclaim above the house tops
that the Magna Charta is violated and humanity out-
raged ; and, lo ! an imbecile crowd runs at the voice of
the barker and howls after the magistrate^ like dogs after
a horse on full gallop. It might be called a nation of
thieves, each one of which is afraid of appearing himself
in court to-morrow, and defends the liberty of "others
through interest for his own liberty. Thanks to the
solidity of my principles, I do not understand justice in
this wise ; I see with pleasure that in America, we are
both of the same opinion. Saints do not appear before
the jury, and I had rather send three innocent men to
the gallows, than suffer twenty villains to escape. I am
a clear-headed man ; let us shake hands on it ; together