this vicious system, no adequate security that their possessions will be allowed to descend, on their death, to their children or legatees, are comparatively careless of futurity; and as none can feel any interest in the fate of an unknown successor, no one ever executes any improvement of which he does not expect to reap all the advantage during his own life. This is the cause why the Turks are so extremely careless about their houses: they seldom construct them of solid or durable materials; and it would be a gratification to them to be assured that they would fall to pieces the moment after they have breathed their last. Under this miserable government, the palaces have been changed into cottages and the cities into villages. The long-continued want of security has extinguished the very spirit of industry, and destroyed not only the power, but even the desire to emerge from barbarism.1

Had it been possible for arbitrary power to profit by the lessons of experience, it must long since have perceived that its own wealth, as well as the wealth of its subjects, would be most effectually promoted by maintaining the inviolability of property. Were the Turkish government to establish a vigilant system of police-to secure to each individual the power freely to dispose of the fruits of his labour, and to substitute a regular plan of taxation in the place of the present odious system of extortion and tyranny, industry would revive; capital and population would be augmented; and moderate duties, imposed on a few articles in general demand, would bring a much larger sum into the coffers of the treasury than all that is now obtained by force and violence. The stated public burdens to which the Turks

Thornton's "Account of the Turkish Empire," vol. ii. p. 63. "The Turks," says Denon, "bâtissent le moins qu'ils peuvent ; ils ne réparent jamais rien un mur menace ruine, ils l'étayent; il s'éboule, ce sont quelques chambres de moins dans la maison; ils s'arrangent à côté des décombres: l'édifice tombe enfin, ils en abandonnent le sol, où, s'ils sont obligés d'en déblayer l'emplacement, ils n'emportent le plâtras que le moins loin qu'ils peuvent."-Tom. i. p. 193.

are subject are light compared with those imposed on the English, the Hollanders, or the French. But the latter know that when they have paid the taxes due to government, they will be permitted peaceably to enjoy or accumulate the residue of their wealth; whereas, the subjects of Eastern despotisms have, generally speaking, no security that the moment after they have paid the stated contributions, the pacha, or one of his satellites, may not strip them of every remaining farthing! Security is the foundation, the principal element in every well-digested system of finance. When maintained inviolate, it enables a country to support, without much difficulty, a very heavy load of taxes; but where there is no security, where property is a prey to rapine and spoliation, to the attacks of the needy, the powerful, or the profligate, the smallest burdens are justly regarded as oppressive, and uniformly exceed the means of the impoverished and spiritless inhabitant.

Mr. Brydone states, that it was customary for the more intelligent Sicilians with whom he conversed respecting the natural riches of their celebrated island and its capacities of improvement, to observe,-"Yes, if these were displayed, you would have reason, indeed, to speak of them. Take a look of these mountains, they contain rich veins of every metal, and many of the Roman mines still remain. But to what end should we explore them? It is not we that should reap the profit. Nay, a discovery of any thing very rich might possibly prove the ruin of its possessor. No, in our present situation, the hidden treasures of the island must ever remain a profound secret. Were we happy enough to enjoy the blessings of your constitution, you might call us rich indeed. Many hidden doors of opulence would then be opened, which now are not even thought of, and we should soon reassume our ancient name and consequence." 1

The Jews have been supposed to afford an instance of a people whose property has been long exposed to an almost

1" Tour in Sicily and Malta," p. 351.

uninterrupted series of attacks, and who have, notwithstanding, continued to be rich and industrious. But when rightly examined, it will be found that the case of the Jews forms no exception to the general rule. The strong prejudices which have been almost universally entertained against them, have, in most countries, prevented their acquiring property in land, and have also excluded them from all participation in their charitable institutions. Having, therefore, no extrinsic support on which to depend, in the event of their becoming infirm or destitute, they had a powerful additional motive to save and accumulate; and being driven from agriculture, they were compelled to addict themselves to commerce and the arts. In an age when the mercantile profession was generally looked upon as mean and sordid, and when, of course, they had comparatively few competitors, they, no doubt, made considerable profits; though these have been very greatly exaggerated. It was natural that those indebted to the Jews should represent their gains as enormous; for this inflamed the existing prejudices against them, and afforded a miserable pretext for defrauding them of their just claims. There are a few rich Jews in most of the large cities of Europe; but the majority of that race has ever been, and still is, as poor as its neighbours.

Let us not, therefore, deceive ourselves by supposing that it is possible for any people to emerge from barbarism, or to become wealthy, prosperous, and civilized, without the security of property. Security is indispensable to the successful exertion of the powers of industry. Where it is wanting, it is idle to expect either riches or civilization.' "The establishment of property is in fact," to

"Ce n'est que là où les proprietés sont assurés, où l'emploi des capitaux est abandonné au choix de ceux qui les possèdent; ce n'est que là dis-je, que les particuliers seront encouragés à se soumettre aux privations les plus dures pour compenser par leurs épargnes les retards que la profusion du gouvernement peut apporter aux progrès de la richesse nationale. Si l'Angleterre, malgré ses guerres ruineuses, est parvenue à un haut degré

borrow the statement of one of the ornaments of the English church, "the source from which all the arts of civilization proceed. Before this establishment takes place, the indolent suffer no inferiority, the active receive no gain; but from the date of the recognition of property to the individual, each man is rich, and comfortable, and prosperous, setting aside the common infirmities which flesh is heir to, according to his portion of effective industry or native genius. From this period he is continually impelled by his desires from the pursuit of one object to another, and his activity is called forth in the prosecution of the several arts which render his situation more easy and agreeable."

It is clear from what has been previously stated, and from, the nature of the thing, that nothing can become property unless it be susceptible of appropriation; and, on this ground, it has sometimes been objected to the game laws, that they make a property of that which, being incapable of appropriation, should belong to the community, or to the captors. In support of this view of the matter, the rule of the Roman law has been appealed to, where it is laid down-Ferce igitur bestiæ, et colucres, et pisces, et omnia animalia quæ mari, cælo, et terra nascuntur, simulatque ab aliquo capta fuerint, jure gentium statim illius esse incipiunt; quod enim ante nullius est, id naturale ratione occupanti conceditur. But it is distinctly laid down in the same article, whence we have borrowed this paragraph, that the proprietor of an estate has full power to prohibit any one from entering on it to kill wild animals. Without this proviso, there would not, in fact, be any such thing as a real property in land; and this is, in truth, all that is

d'opulence; si, malgré les contributions énormes dont le peuple y est chargé, son capital est pourtant accru dans le silence par l'économie des particuliers, il ne faut attribuer ces effets qu'à la liberté des personnes et à la sureté des proprietés qui y régnent, plus que dans aucun autre pays de l'Europe, la Suisse exceptée."-STORCH, Cours d'Economie Politique, tom. i. p. 260. 1 Sumner's "Records of the Creation," 4th ed. vol. ii. p. 51.

2 Instit. lib. ii. tit. i. § 12.

meant when it is said that game is property. A partridge or hare is mine so long as it remains on my estate; but the moment it transfers itself to another estate, it becomes the property of its owner. Poachers are punished not because they have killed wild animals, but partly and principally because in doing so they invade the right of property by killing it without leave on lands belonging to other parties, on which they have no right to enter, and partly because they have not paid the tax demanded by government from all who kill game.

It is sometimes indispensable, for the interests of society, to appropriate the whole, or a portion of the landed property of one or more individuals to some public purpose, as the formation of a road, a canal, &c. But property should never be wantonly taken for such purposes, nor till the advantages to be obtained by its cession have been fully established before some competent tribunal; and when this has been done, full compensation should in every case be made to those who are thus called upon to give up their property for the promotion of the public interests.

Before dismissing this subject, we may observe, that Rousseau and the Abbé Mably have made an objection to the right of private property, which has been, in some measure, sanctioned by Beccaria and others. They allow that its institution is advantageous for the possessors of property; but they contend, that it is disadvantageous for those who are poor and destitute. It condemns, they affirm, the greater portion of mankind to a state of misery, and provides for the exaltation of the few by the depression of the many! The sophistry of this reasoning is so apparent, as hardly to require being pointed out. The right of property has not made poverty, but it has powerfully contributed to make wealth. Previously to its establishment, the most civilized nations were sunk

1 Speaking of theft, Beccaria calls it, "Il delitto di quella infelice parte di uomini, a cui il diritto di proprietà (terribile, e forse non necessario diritto,) non ha lasciato, che una nuda essistenza."-Dei Delitti e delle Pene, § 22.