146 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and property, and for wliicli the citizen in return pays an equiva- 

 lent in money, merchandise, or personal service. There is, how- 

 ever, no historical example of any such contract. 



Others have sought to refer the origin of this right on the part 

 of the state to take the property of the citizen to an antecedent 

 right of might, and have assumed that, as the ruling power, 

 whether monarch or majority, is physically able to take and apply 

 to its own use all that the individuals ruled over may call their 

 own, it is therefore legitimate and morally correct for it to ex- 

 ercise this right and take such part of its subjects' property as it 

 may see fit. 



A third and more plausible theory is, that as all rights of prop- 

 erty are conventional and not natural, and without the interven- 

 tion of the state by its laws could not be enforced nor protected, 

 and, indeed, could hardly be said to exist ; therefore the state is 

 the source of all title, and the individual holds only by grant or 

 sufferance of the state. From these premises it follows that the 

 state, in compelling contributions from its subjects, or, as is ordi- 

 narily expressed, in "taxing," is in the position of an absolute 

 proprietor who takes simply what is his own. This was the the- 

 ory accepted and practically carried out by all the monarchs of 

 Europe in the seventeenth century, or about two hundred and 

 fifty years ago, and defended by the best and most eminent men 

 of the time, as Bossuet in France and most of the great jurists 

 of England under Charles I, as was exemplified in the case of 

 John Hampden, who was prosecuted for refusing to pay an arbi- 

 trary tax known as "ship money"; and the decision in which, by 

 the High Court of Exchequer, placed the property of every Eng- 

 lishman at the disposal of the crown. It was also so clearly ex- 

 pressed by Louis XIV that his words are worthy of exact citation. 

 Thus, in a manual which he wrote for the guidance of his heir 

 and successor, the Dauphin, he says : " I hold the place of God. 

 To me belong exclusively the lives and fortunes of my people. 

 The nation resides entirely in the person of the monarch. Kings 

 are absolute masters, and may naturally, fully and freely dispose 

 of all the property possessed by either the clergy or laity, to use 

 at all times like wise stewards and according to the needs of the 

 state." 



Herbert Spencer refers the growth of revenue, which involves 

 the right to take it, from the outset, like the growth of political 

 headship which it accompanies, directly or indirectly, to the re- 

 sults of war. " The property," he says, " of conquered enemies 

 at first goods, cattle, prisoners, and at a later stage land coming 

 in larger share to the leading warrior, increases his predominance. 

 To secure his good will, which it is now important to do, pro- 

 pitiatory presents and help in labor are next given ; and these. 



