148 



that we must still further curtail ; when we are placed in 

 situations where they are dying around us, all prior right 

 gradually vanishes. This law we acknowledge formally hy 

 a rise of poor-rates, according to the circumstances of the 

 country. 



Again, to take an example from extremes, if all Britain 

 were in the possession of one man, who desired to send 

 out all the inhabitants, and hunt with a few friends only 

 over London and Manchester, we should no doubt refuse to 

 go; we should then change our ideas of property, and we 

 would adopt the opinions of the Fifth Monarchy men and 

 say, "The earth is the Lord's." If half the country were in 

 this state, we would still give the same answer ; but if only 

 a county were in this possessor's hands, we would first hesi- 

 tate and say, '* What county ? " If it were Middlesex, surely 

 not — we will allow no individual to rule so despotically on 

 the Thames. Lancaster also not. But when it is Suther- 

 land, Arran, or Skye, we then give the permission, and the 

 permission remains until the inhabitants become powerful 

 enough to say that there are rights belonging to man, as an 

 intellectual and moral being, on which physical rights, with- 

 out moral modifications, must not be allowed to trample. 



This is especially the case with reference to clearances ; 

 they are allowed, although they would not be allowed in 

 densely populated counties; and they are allowed because 

 they are in conformity with formal law, although it is 

 generally thought that they are in opposition to a feeling not 

 yet fully expressed. It slumbers in the mind which says 

 that some great law is disobeyed, but on examining the law 

 of the land it is not found which portion is disobeyed, and it 

 may be that the heart is also mistaken in its feelings. It is 

 the business of legislators to put into words and parlia- 

 mentary law the great laws of justice which are written in 

 our hearts, and to see that all laws made for the nation are in 

 conformity with absolute law. All our laws are relative, or 



