SECTION XIV.

XLII. Man is out of his true and natural state.

Does not the dignity of man, his dominion over the earth,. his sovereignty over all terrestrial and inferior creatures, a sovereignty of all others the most natural, the most worthy, and the most deserved, belong to man by nature, and precisely because he is man, and for no other reason but because he is man? If this be the case, then every man is, by nature, born the sovereign of innumerable inferior beings which surround him. Every man was invested by the common Creator with this most honourable and useful sovereignty, and every man has a right to the homage and services of those creatures that are placed below him. But if the extent and right to this natural sovereigny does belong to man, for no other reason but because he is man, then the extent and right to this sovereignty belongs, and is equally due, to all men. Therefore, all men are actually and in reality so many equal sovereigns, established to preside and rule equally and indifferently over the inferior creation.*

Behold a truth, which opens to our eyes a scene truly extensive, truly charming, and truly new! Behold a truth, which displays a perspective, that raises, that enlivens, that astonishes our mind!

But if all men be equally sovereigns and lords over the inferior creatures, then all men have an equal right to the ser

of almost all those evils, which constitute the unhappy lot of all mankind; but I shall likewise show, that this great evil is without remedy, because it originates in a disorder that is intrinsic to man. I shall prove that, to take away the right of property in the goods of fortune, would be the baneful source of evils infinitely greater, of evils almost incalculable: it would be the utter destruction of society, and would totally overturn all order, and the politico-moral state of This necessary forewarning, which will not stop my readers at the following paragraphs, will set the rectitude of my intentions beyond the possibil lity of a doubt or suspicion.

man.

*" And he [God] said: Let us make man to our image and likeness: and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moves upon the earth." Genesis, i. 26.

vices of them, an incontestable right, founded on their very nature, a right of which they cannot be deprived by any one, except that Supreme Being that has bestowed it upon them. Such a truth, which awakens man from his lethargy, and which equalizes the slave in chains to the proud and triumphant tyrant upon the throne, directly leads to an equal participation of the fruits of the goods of fortune, which are nothing else but the services of inferior creatures. This equal distribution of the services of inferior creatures, not only because it is conformable to the fulness of the rights of man, but also because it establishes all mankind in a kind of natural and becoming felicity; this equal distribution, I say, is according to the natural exigency of man; for man was assuredly created and established in the fulness of his rights, and in a state of natural and competent felicity. But if this equal distribution of the services of the inferior creatures be according to the natural exigency, or, what is tantamount, be the true and natural state of man, and if men neither do nor can enjoy, (as we shall see,) at present, this equal distribution, men, therefore, are not, at present, according to their natural exigency, or, what is the same, they are not in their true natural state, to which the Author of Nature raised them.

That state which places men under a true and real impotency to enjoy, in all their extent, those rights which belong to men as men, is not the true and natural state of man.

But the state which excludes an equal distribution of the services of the inferior creatures, or an equivalent to that distribution, puts man under a true and real impotency of enjoying, in their full extent, those rights which were given to

him as man.

Therefore, the state which excludes an equal distribution of the services of inferior creatures, or an equivalent to the same distribution, is not the true and natural state of man.

Again, a state which does not establish man in a certain natural felicity, is not the true and natural state of man.

But the state, which does not admit of an equal distribution of the services of the inferior creatures, or of an equivalent

to the same, does not establish man in a certain natural felicity, as far as it is attainable upon earth.

man.

Therefore, this state is not the true and natural state of Now I ask you, is man in that state, in which he ought naturally to be? Or, is he in his true and natural state? Let us observe, for a moment, the political, the moral order, of

men.

I see that many have raised themselves above great numbers of their fellow-creatures, and that they arrogate to themselves a true and exclusive dominion over the inferior creatures. That is mine, say some, pointing out immense quanties of grain, and stock: the services of all these creatures, says another, belong to me only; these forests are mine, and no man besides me has a right to the crop of those fields. On the other hand, I find almost a countless multitude of men, who have neither woods nor fields; who see themselves reduced to drag out their lives amidst want, privations, and distress, and to humble themselves before others, to beg, to work hard, and to run eternally after those who enjoy dominion over the inferior creatures, and who proudly rule the earth.

This is the state, in which all mankind are really placed; but this state does not admit of an equal distribution of the services of the inferior creatures, therefore, man is not in his true and natural state.

If, by an hypothesis only abstractedly considered, a beggar were to reclaim his natural and primitive rights, and were to maintain, that he has as much claim to the services of subordinate creatures, as the rest of mankind, he would establish his cause upon the ground that his nature is in nowise different from that of all other men.

The rich and the possessor, might, indeed, answer, that these possessions and this produce of their lands, are the price of the sweat and industry of their ancestors, and that the forefathers of those, who are now deprived of them, had toNo. II.

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tally relinquished all their rights, and that, of course, they lawfully hold possession.

But, to tell the truth, if the matter be considered in its origin and in itself, (prescinding always, as above observed, from the actual state of man,) we shall find that justice and right would manifestly be in favour of the beggar, for he might reply to the rich possessor, From whom did you get the proprietorship of these possessions? From my ancestors. But who were these your ancestors? They were men. But man was not placed upon earth to be the lord thereof, but for the time only he was to live upon it; how then could they who had but the usus fructus, transmit to you a right of property which they had not? This was done by a reciprocal agreement among men. But who made such an agreement? Our forefathers. And how could they make it? How could they deprive their descendants of a right which belongs to them as men? Or were the first men, indeed, designed to be the perpetual lords of the earth? I do not see that the Supreme Being and Creator has anywise distinguished the first from the last; therefore, I repeat it, reason would seem to be on the side of the poor, and the right of property in the goods of fortune against the natural and primeval rights of man.

SECTION XV.

XLIII. Continuation.

Let us continue our observations, and for a moment investigate the effects produced by this disorderly and unjust right of property in the politico-moral state of man. Here, then, we have arrived at a multitude of combinations, at an extensive and deep investigation of numerous experimental truths. What do we discover? What benefit does this right of exclusive property bring to mankind? Does it even render one part of men happy? I evidently perceive, I experimentally

understand, that this system of exclusive property is the occasion and baneful cause of almost all the evils, which afflict mankind. Let us penetrate to the very bottom of things, and not stop at their surface. Whence originate cabals, in trigues, frauds, deceits, enmities, hatreds, strifes, murders?* From what source do fears, pretensions, wars, and so many other evils spring, which render mankind miserable and unhappy at all times, in all places, in all situations? Most unquestionably, for the most part, from this system of the right of property in the goods of fortune. Men hope, fear, flatter, hate, mistrust, intrigue, quarrel, kill, wage for no other purpose, but to add a trifle to their property, and to raise themselves a little higher above other men. This man has one means, that man has another; this one makes use of this pretext, that of another; this one hides his covetousness, and that one shows it openly; and in the interim they injure each other, supplant each other, and run all headlong to the same end, which all cannot possibly obtain, and which, finally, renders them all miserable and unhappy; those, because they have not compassed it, and these, because they have.

war,

SECTION XVI.

XLIV. The conclusion is, that man is out of his true and natural state.

We have viewed the true and real state of the politico-moral order of men. What is it but a prospect of injustice, of confusion, of disorder, of misery; a prospect which opens to our view the blindness, the wanderings, and the universal corruption of mankind. If, therefore, we have found men in a state, which

*"From whence are wars and contentions among you? Come they not hence? From your concupiscences, which war in your members? You covet, and have not you kill, and envy, and cannot obtain: you contend and war and you have not." St. James, iv. 1