CHAPTER II.

THE MEANS BY WHICH THE MANY HAVE BEEN ENSLAVED BY THE FEW.

Ir must be evident to all who have reflected on the subject, and indeed history confirms the conclusion, that, in the first stages of an approach towards civilization, much strife and contention must have existed with regard to nan's rights to the ownership of property. Such being the case, the natural instinct of self-preservation has been a sufficient impulse to convince a community of the necessity of making laws of some kind or other. In all countries, and in all ages, the law-making power has resided only in the hands of the few. Whether this power has been usurped or delegated, is of little consequence in this place at all events, they have been conspicuous men in community; men of talents, (that is, men who understand the use and power of words,) men of wealth, and, above all things, great lovers of law and order. Whether these men were men of honest integrity, remains yet to be seen; but that they should make some great efforts to provide well for themselves, is not in the least to be wondered at; though we think they had but a short-sighted view of their own permanent interest.

AXIOM 1. We lay down as an axiom, that we secure our own happiness best by promoting that of all men; or, in other words, the happiness of mankind is promoted and secured best where men's rights are least violated.

Ax. 2. That government is only just, which secures to all men their just rights.

The absolute, natural, unalienable rights of all men are: 1. "The right to personal security in an uninterrupted enjoyment of life, his limbs, his health and his reputation." -Blackstone.

We add,

2. The right to own and possess as property whatever may be made or produced by the energies and capabilities of the body and limbs, of which he only is the rightful owner; and this property he has a right to keep, to de stroy, to consume, to give or bequeath, and to sell or ex

change; and when he parts with any portion of it for the use of others, he has a right to an equivalent.

3. The right to the equal use of all the elements as they exist in a state of nature, to wit: air, sunshine, land, water, fruits, vegetables, wild animals, fish, &c.

Now these, we contend, are the natural and unalienable rights of all men; the truth of which are self-evident; for the proof of which, let every one who may feel disposed to object to any of them, say which of them he himself is willing to relinquish, or that would be wrong for him to claim. We say, let him ask himself the question; and if he be an honest seeker after truth, he will find there is but one way to answer. Not one, every man would say, without an exception.

Furthermore, we contend that all the evils depicted in the first chapter have been entailed upon us by the learned, cunning, knowing, crafty few, by totally disregarding our rights; by giving us error for truth, wrongs for rights, and the mere jingle of words for knowledge. Their first great and masterly stroke of policy being to hoodwink and blindfold Justice, to prevent her from taking cognizance of the enormities they were about to commit in her name.

For the truth of these statements, we will open their own books, and let them condemn themselves.

Mr. Paley tells us, (page 59, vol. 3,) that the real foundation of our rights is the laws of the land. This being the case, it follows, as a matter of course, that, as the rights to property depend upon the law of the land, a man has a right to take away any amount of property whatever from others, without being obliged to give an equivalent, so he can but screen himself behind the law: he may commit any enormity whatever, so he can have influence to get law to protect him; without any regard to man's natural rights whatever, or what is justly due from man to man. Is it any wonder, then, that the world is filled. with crime and misery? Not any. This, being a fundamental principle in law, is still adhered to in the present day, and will so remain until the mass discover in what way they have been enslaved; then will they rise up in the majesty of their strength, and decide that this state of injustice shall exist no longer.

Let every one ask himself the question: Can this declaration of Mr. Paley have any tendency in securing men in

the enjoyment of their natural and unalienable rights? There is but one answer can be given. This is one of the falsities, by the use of which the many have become enslaved by the few. Mr. Paley admits, (page 60,) that a bad use is apt frequently to be made by the establishment of this principle, as in many cases it will authorize the most flagitious chicanery. This is just what all honest men think. Mr. Paley further says, at the end of the same chapter: "Property is the principle subject of justice"; but as to persons being the subjects of justice, he says nothing. This was very prudent, his book being made for the rich to read; not the poor. Mr. Blackstone tells us, (vol. 1, page 124,) "That the first and primary object and end of human laws, is to maintain and regulate the absolute rights of individuals, which are, in themselves, few and simple, and are as follow: the right of personal security in an uninterrupted enjoyment of life, his limbs, his body, his health, and his reputation." (As to man's rights to his just proportion of land, and to the products of his own labor, he says nothing in particular, though it may, with much propriety, be included in, and rightly inferred from the declaration he gives us.) In the face of this declaration, Mr. Blackstone sets to work and writes four large volumes, each containing about 500 quarto pages; the object and end of which is to show, in a systematical manner, how a few, by laws and rules, made exclusively by themselves, with nothing to check or restrain them but their own self-love and natural love of ease, dominion and self-aggrandizement, and by what means and by what rules man's absolute, natural and unalienable rights might and should be violated, (except in their own cases,) set at naught, totally disregarded, and trampled under foot by kings, nobles, lords, dukes, barons, counts, earls, generals, and many other dignitaries, magistrates, landlords, capitalists, bankers, &c., &c. also, by what rules they might take away that life which all men had an absolute right to enjoy; what kind of ceremony they should make use of previous to chopping off a brother's head, his hands, or his ears, stringing him on a gallows, branding his flesh with a red hot iron; how they might condemn him to the gallies for life, banish him from the land of his birth, incarcerate him in a dungeon, rob him of his unalienable right in the soil, and plunder him of the products of the labor of his own hands;

in short, commit every species of crime with perfect impunity, without the slightest fear of punishment: (having the implements of torture in their own hands, with the power and will to use them,) but, on the contrary, are rewarded with crowns of glittering gold, set with diamonds and other precious stones, coronets. orders of kighthood of the star and garter, mitres, robes of honor, commissions to kill, and many other dignities and pompous marks of distinction.

They are clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day; they live in splendid halls and marble palaces, ride with much pomp in expensive coaches drawn with many horses, and occupy the highest seats in the synagogue; they require the service of many of their fellow men, to wait upon them, to wash them, dress and undress them, and put them to bed, as though they were. helpless infants. They require us to salute them with pompous titles, as, "your most gracious Majesty," "your Grace," "my Lord," and "the Right Honorable," "your Reverence," &c. They wish to be looked up to as a superior order of beings; they are to be considered as patterns of piety, charity and benevolence; they profess to be the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, who had not where to lay his head; pretend to believe in his gospel, which requires them to love their fellow men as they do themselves; to do unto all men as they would that all men should do unto them. But these requirements they totally disregard; when we ask for bread, which the labor of our own hands has alone produced an abundance for all, they give us a stone, a kick, perhaps a knock on the head.

When we ask for our just rights only, we are caged in a dungeon, doomed to drag out a miserable existence in solitude and wretchedness. This has actually taken place in this enlightened age, in this boasted land of liberty, under a government professed to be based upon the principle that the only just rights to govern a people are derived from the consent of those to be governed.

All that those persecuted victims of power and cruelty asked for, was permission to deposite their votes in the ballot box, which, in justice, they had as good right to do, as they had to breathe the atmosphere. This is the way these self-styled Christians and friends of law and order carry out into practice the benevolent and equalizing pre

cepts of the gospel. These are the men who prate about justice, honesty and integrity, and strictly require it of us, while, at the same time, they set us such fearful examples!

Mr. Paley tells us, (vol. 3, page 54,) that "there must be some very important advantages to account for the existence of institutions, which, in the view just given of them, [by himself,] are so-paradoxical and unnatural!" Listen! paradoxical and unnatural!! Truly said. This candid admission is more than we ought to have expected; but, inasmuch as he has made it, we are in no way disposed to deprive him of the credit of it. But those very important advantages which are to be derived from the existence of such "paradoxical and unnatural institutions," what are they? Yes, what are they? Let these learned gentlemen of legal lore answer for themselves.

Mr. Blackstone tells us, that the primary and principal objects of the law are to determine rights and wrongs. (Page 122.)

By the rights, as we understand him, he means the powers and privileges of the rich, whether they be usurped, vested or delegated, which, in plain English, means the defences and legal protection they have surrounded themselves with, by the means of which they can sit in security, while they violate the rights of their fellow men with impunity, and in perfect security. There is some advantage in this, to be sure; but the advantage is all on one side-for the rich and powerful only.

The wrongs, we understand to mean the suffering, the poverty, degradation, misery and wretchedness of the poor, by being plundered of their rights.

Those very "important advantages" which the poor derive from the existence of those "paradoxical and unnatural institutions," would be very difficult to discover.

However, Mr. Colquhoun, a celebrated English writer on Political Economy, throws some light on the subject, by saying, that "Poverty is the source of wealth; for without it (poverty) there could be no riches, no refinement, no comfort, no enjoyment."

Tillers of the soil, working men of every grade and condition, do you hear? or are you still sleeping and slumbering? If you are, it is high time to awake. Say, do you hear? Do you hear what these self-styled friends of law and order say to you? You that create all the wealth of