and consulted as far as it may be practicable to do so; and when this is attended to, all is done that can be done for the attainment of justice. The minority, though dissent

be found upon trial to be entirely harmless at least, if not positively beneficial and preferable to any limited plan of suffrage whatever.

It has been argued, that the system of universal suffrage would subject the community, where it should be allowed, to the government of the mob; and fears have even been entertained, or pretended, for the security of property under such a system. But certainly nothing can be more unfounded or gratuitous than such fears; for although universal suffrage were established, property would still preserve its full and legitimate influence in the election of representatives; and the inferior ranks of people would still continue to look up to those above them, and to be guided in a great measure by their opinion, except, perhaps, in the case of particular persons of superior judgment and intelligence, in whom the exercise of an independent vote would be not only innocuous, but highly salutary and advantageous.

Even the number of those who have property to protect, great and small, in an opulent and well-governed country, is always greater than that of those who have nothing, independent of their greater weight and influence with their neighbours. And with regard to the objection that great bodies of men might be influenced by their employers, and driven to the poll like herds of cattle, it is a sufficient answer, that the employers themselves, not being all of one side or one mind, would throw what influence they possessed into the opposite scales, and thus in a great measure neutralize the effects of one another.

"The lower sort of people, and small proprietors," says one who was never suspected of favouring democracy, "are good enough judges of one not very distant from them in rank or habitation; and therefore, in their parochial meetings, will probably choose the best or nearly the best representative: but they are wholly unfit for countymeetings, and for electing into the higher offices of the republic. Their ignorance gives the grandees an opportunity of deceiving them.”—Hume's Essays, part ii., essay 16.

So far from endangering property, the system of universal suffrage (or some plan of voting or representation approaching to it in a greater or less degree) is the one thing needful to render property perfectly secure; for it is this alone which can prevent all undue en

ing, must acknowledge, at least, the fairness of the proceeding, and will therefore the more readily yield obedience to the law, and even cheerfully contribute their allotted proportions, (in this case never likely to be exorbitant or oppressive,) under so equitable a system.

By extending in this manner the right of delegation or suffrage as far as may be practicable under any given circumstances, the fullest and most general consent will be obtained which is possible: there will be as little of force and as much of agreement in every act of government as the imperfection of human affairs will permit; and whilst the sovereignty of the law will be established on the surest foundation, and the maintenance of justice fully provided for, the prosperity of the country where such system prevails, and the harmony and tranquillity of the whole society, will be effectually promoted and secured.

From what has been here advanced, then, it should appear that there are just five distinct grounds or descriptions of right to property.

The first arises from LABOUR, by which it is directly and immediately obtained.

The second is from LAND, by which it is directly and immediately obtained.

The third is from CAPITAL, by which it is directly and immediately obtained.

These three foregoing are the primary and original grounds

croachments upon it in the shape of unjust and unnecessary taxation, and the consequent discontent and oppression of the labouring classes, (which is so frequent a cause of disturbance and of danger,) as well as in that of monopolies of every kind, (which influence so largely and so unjustly the distribution of property, and excite the discontent and just detestation of every enlightened mind,) and by annihilating (which it would do in time) every sinister and every partial interest, give that peace, and prosperity, and happiness to a people, which would establish the security of property on the only solid and permanent basis, and dissipate for ever all alarms about its safety.

of right from which the two others following (which are therefore secondary) are derived.

Fourth, The voluntary consent of proprietors fully given. Fifth, The voluntary consent of proprietors partially given by majority of their numbers in a joint contribution.

These then are the natural and the only equitable or reasonable grounds of right to vendible property or wealth, or modes of acquiring it consistently with justice; and none can have title to any the smallest portion of such property which is not founded on some one or other of these five grounds or descriptions of right, else they would have a right to the property of other people, that is, a right to what others have a right, which is absurd.

CHAPTER IX.

THE THREE ORIGINAL GROUNDS OF RIGHT TO PROPERTY TRACED TO THEIR FOUNDATION IN THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN NATURE.

SECTION I.

OF THE RIGHT TO PROPERTY FOUNDED ON LABOUR.

BEFORE the existence of property in land, when the earth was common to all, like the air we breathe, and when no sort of capital of any consideration had as yet been accumulated, labour, as it was the only available means whereby wealth could be acquired, so it was the single original ground of right to property.

He who first gathered the spontaneous and unappropriated productions of nature-the acorns, which, we may suppose,

he found scattered beneath the oak tree, or the grapes, which he descried hanging upon the vine-was immediately the proprietor, and would at once have felt it to be an invasion of his rights, if another savage had attempted to take from him, without his consent, any part of the fruit he had thus procured.

He who ran down, and took, or killed any wild animal, would, in like manner, immediately consider it as his property, and would equally have felt it to be an insult offered to his person, and an invasion of his rights, if another human creature attempted to take it from him without his consent. If he made a bow, or a tomahawk, or built a hut, he would still consider these objects as his own exclusive property; and the most ignorant and untutored savage of the wilderness would instantly have felt the sentiment of injustice and of wrong arise in his breast upon any attempt being made to dispossess him of them; and would have resisted and resented such attempt to the utmost of his power, and perhaps even at the hazard or expense of his life ;-so readily does the idea of property suggest itself to the mind of man, and so naturally does it arise, even in the very lowest state of human existence, from the consciousness of labour or personal exertion bestowed in acquiring it.

Nor does this representation rest on conjecture or speculation merely; on the contrary, it seems to carry its own evidence along with it, and speaks, I think, intelligibly enough to every man's bosom. And facts, still observable in the savage parts of the world, are abundantly found to corroborate the statement, there being scarcely a traveller who has visited those parts, and given any account of their inhabitants, who has not recorded some circumstance of their conduct calculated to illustrate our present subject. It will be unnecessary to adduce many of these, else I might here transcribe a whole volume of them. That, however, this portion of our argument may not be left wholly unstated or

imperfect, I must instance one or two; and these I shall select from a book of the most authentic description, the Journal of the American Travellers, Captains Lewis and Clarke, to the Source of the River Missouri, and across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean.

These officers were commissioned by the government of the United States, with a party of men under their orders, to traverse and explore those almost boundless and unknown regions. In their extensive wanderings they visited many tribes of savages, and from the accounts they give of them many things might be gleaned that are much to our present purpose; those, however, which follow are the most remarkable.

It is related by these travellers, in their very interesting Journal, that when the party arrived on the head streams of the Missouri, Captain Lewis was despatched with three men in quest of the Shoshonee Indians, on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, to endeavour to procure horses from them, and bring some of their people to assist the main body of the Americans in transporting their luggage and merchandise across the ridge of those mountains to the river Columbia. After crossing the ridge, and searching for some days, Captain Lewis came up with a tribe of the Shoshonees, and having engaged them to go with him, the whole party, consisting of himself, his three men, and the Indians, to the number of "fifty warriors," with their wives and children, set out together to rejoin their companions on the "forks" of the Missouri.

The parties who travelled together were, in those sterile regions, but scantily provided with food, and the necessary supplies were hardly to be procured. One morning when (to use the words of the Journal) "they had nothing to eat," Captain Lewis sent forward two of his hunters to endeavour to procure something, which the Indians (who were exceedingly jealous of their fellow-travellers) perceiving,