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190 : state of nature. June G.. 
any other particle of matter, beyond that of his own cor- 
poreal frame. Liberty pre-supposes the pofsibility of ac-. 
quiring and reaping the advantages of property ; a right 
of receiving and giving aid and protection ; and a power 
of bettering one’s own condition, and providing for one’s fa- 
mily ; it pre-supposes virtue, in holding out its. rewards ; and 
the rewards of virtue necefsarily induce distinction and. 
and preference of the virtuous over others, which are ef- 
sentially contradictory to perfect equalization. The extent 
of this proposition, “ 
include each individual human being, or it says nothing ;. 
men are all born equally free,” must 
but it admits of no other than that original sense of equa- 
lity, inherent in the metaphysical efsence of man, which is 
not applicable to the physical ¢xistence of social men, 
since it is efsentially incompatible with the existence of 
society, which denominates man social. 
An Englifhman will conceive no liberty where there isna 
Jaw, no property, no religion. The preservation of these 
constitutes the sum total of those rights and liberties for 
which he will even sacrifice his life. Upon what ground 
then, fhall an Englifhman, even in theory, admit prin- 
ciples into civil government, which would justify the pea- 
sant in seizing the lands of his lord, the servant, in de- 
manding the property of his master, the labourer, that of 
his employer, the robber in purloining his neighbour’s purse, 
the adulterer in,defiling the wife of another, the outlawed 
in reviling, contemning, and violating the laws of, the com- 
munity ? 
' The greatest mischiefs arise from the misunderstanding 
and misapplication of terms. _ Millions of lives have been 
sacrificed in disputes and controversies upon the tenor and 
tendency of words. General abstract propositions are su- 
per-eminently liable to this evil, as appears in many cala- 
mitous instances of our own country. The use of words 
and terms can only be, te convey to others the real mean- 
