Essentially, stop and rate the French hierarchical system (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
totem pole
'hierarchical system' is the definition.
(US term for a hierarchy)
'essentially stop and rate the french' is the wordplay.
'essentially' means to look at the middle letters.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'rate' becomes 'tempo' (tempo is a kind of rate).
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
The middle of 'stop' is 'to'.
'to'+'tempo'+'le'='TOTEM-POLE'
(Other definitions for totem pole that I've seen before include "Symbol revered by native Americans" , "Brave staff perhaps" , "(Am. Ind.) ritual pillar" , "carved column" , "Symbolic structure of some American Indians" .)