will

which you are responsible, but not as personal property, or as hereditary right; that that you be yourselves the first to submit to the laws which you make; that to-morrow you will descend from your station, and stand again on a level with us; and that you will have acquired no right, but the right to our gratitude and esteem. And, now only picture to yourselves with what tribute of glory and affection the universe, which reveres so many apostles of error, will honour the first assembly of rational men, that shall have solemnly proclaimed the immutable principles of justice to mankind, and consecrated, in the very face of tyrants, the rights of nations!"

CHAP. XVII.

UNIVERSAL BASIS OF ALL RIGHT AND ALL LAW.

THESE men, chosen by the people to investigate the true principles of morality and reason, then proceeded to fulfil the sacred object, with which they were charged; and, after a long examination, having discovered an universal and fundamental principle, they said to their constituents: "We have employed our faculties in the investigation you demand of us, and we conceive the following to be the primordial basis and physical origin of all justice and of all right.

"Whatever be the active power, the moving cause that directs and governs the universe, this power, having given to all men the same organs, the

same instinctive sensations, and the same wants, has thereby sufficiently declared, that it has also given them the same rights to the use of its worldly favours; and that, naturally speaking, all men are equal.

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Secondly, inasmuch as this power has given to every man the full means of providing for his own existence, it clearly follows, that it has created all men independent of each other and free, and that no one can be born or made the slave of another, but that all men are the unlimited proprietors of their own per

sons.

"Equality, therefore, and liberty, are two essential properties of man, two laws of the Divinity, as inseparable from his nature, as irreversible and indestructible, as the physical properties of the Elements.

"But, on the ground that every man is the absolute master of his own person, it follows,. that his own free and voluntary consent is an indispensable condition, that constitutes the very essence of every contract and engage

ment.

"And, since every individual is equal to every other individual, it follows, that the balance of what is rendered back ought to be rigorously in equipoise with what is given; for, the idea of equity and of justice is essentially interwoven in the idea of equality.*

*The very words (equipoise, equality, equity,) evidently trace out to us this connexion: for, equilibrium, equalitas, equitas, are all of one family or verbal pedigree, and the physical idea of equality, in the scales of a balance, is the source and type of all the rest.

"Equality and liberty, therefore, constitute the physical and unalterable basis of every union of men in society, and are, by consequence, the necessary and generative principle of every law and regular system of government. (c 2.)

"It is from having acted in a manner derogatory from this fundamental principle, that those political diseases have crept in amongst you, as indeed they have done in every other nation, which have, at length, awakened and excited you to the remedy of open resistance and revolt. It is only by returning back and new-modelling your conduct conformably with this rule, that you can remove abuses and reconstitute a happy state of social confederation.

"But, we are in duty bound to suggest to you, that, from this regeneration, you will have an extreme shock to endure in your habits, your fortunes, and your prejudices. Contracts of a vicious and injurious tendency must be annulled, abusive privileges abolished, preposterous and partial distinctions, illegitimate and false property of every kind surrendered; in one word, you must return for a moment into the state of nature.-Now, consider well, whether your feelings are capable of consenting to such immense sacrifices."

Thus spoke the representatives :-When, reflecting on the inherent and greedy passions of the human heart, I was just on the verge of believing that the people would renounce all thoughts of meliorating their condition. But, I was most agreeably mistaken :-for, instant

ly a vast crowd of men thronged towards the throne, and solemnly abjured all their riches and all their distinctions." Unfold to us," cried they," the laws of equality and liberty: we disclaim the future possession of every thing, that is not held in the sacred name of justice.

"Equality, liberty, justice-these shall be our code hereafter, these shall be the motto, that shall grace our standard."

And immediately the people raised a flag of a most extraordinary size, inscribed with these three words, and decorated with three corresponding colours. This was placed on the throne of the legislators, when the symbol of universal justice was, for the first time, seen to wave upon the earth. In front of the throne the people built a new altar, on which they placed a pair of golden scales, a sword, and a book, with this legend :

TO EQUAL LAW, WHICH JUDGES AND PROTECTS.

They then surrounded the throne and altar with a vast amphitheatre, and the nation seated itself to hear the publication of the law. And millions of men, lifting up their hands at the same instant towards heaven, took the solemn oath" to live equal, free, and just to respect the rights and property of each other; and to yield obedience to the law, and to its ministers regularly appointed."

A spectacle like this, so striking, so awfully sublime, so interesting and moving to a generous heart, melted me at once into tears; and, addressing myself to the Genius, "Henceforth let me live," said I ;-" away with despair;-be gone despondence:-for, my hopes

are now risen from the dead, and there is nothing in future, which they are not vigilantly prepared to expect."

CHAP. XVIII.

CONSTERNATION AND CONSPIRACY OF TYRANTS.

YET, Scarcely had the solemn cry of liberty and equality resounded on the earth, when symptoms of uneasy astonishment and apprehension were visibly excited in different nations. In one quarter, the multitude, moved by the impulse of desire, but indecisively wavering between hope and fear, between a sense of their rights and the habitual sense of slavery, betrayed active signs of agitation: in another, kings, suddenly roused from the listless yawnings of indolence and despotism, became feelingly alarmed, and trembled for the safety of their thrones: every where those classes of civil and religious tyrants, who delude princes and oppress the people, were seized with rage and consternation; and, concerting together their perfidious plans, they said one to another: "Woe be to us, should this fatal cry of liberty once reach the ear of the multitude, and this poisonous spirit of justice be disseminated in their minds." And, observing the three-coloured flag with its motto waving in the air: "What a swarm of evils," cried they, "are couched in those three words! If all men be equal, where is our exclusive right to honours and power? If all men are or ought