24 DISCOURSES OF FATHER HYACINTHE. 



kings, such a principle would justify tlie crimes of the 

 French Revolution, and the criminal dreams of social- 

 ism itself. 



Xo ; the right of property is not derived from the 

 State ! Land, that foothold of the family, that basis of 

 the home, is owned by a better title than the concession 

 of the State ! It takes hold of the deepest secrets of 

 human nature, the most absolute necessities of a. free 

 and intelligent man. The Columl)us of primitive ages, 

 or of newly discovered regions, I tread some uninhab- 

 ited land. I gaze upon it in its virgin beauty, — its wild 

 nncomeliness, perhaps ; — no matter, I am charmed by 

 it. I form witli it that bond, so full of mystery, which 

 unites person and thing, and in which interest, reason, 

 affection itself, are intertwisted. Ah ! when I have done 

 this, there is no power on earth, even though it call it- 

 self Louis XIV., which has the right to stand up and 

 say, as this monarch once said, " I am the owner, you 

 are the tenant." No! the owner is myself. It is all 

 mine, soil as well as crop. You cannot rend that patch 

 of earth from me ; neither can you give me a title to it. 

 My right consists in the act of my will, which said to 

 this field, this forest, " Be mine." My right consists in 

 the landmark I have placed, in the hedge I have planted. 

 My right! it is in the sweat of my brow, the blood 

 upon my hands, the rude embraces with which my love 

 and labor have seized and fertilized the land. Hence- 

 forth that land belongs to the person of man. I hold 

 it in my own right, and God stands by me in the claim. 



[ Douljllc'ss when Uu; existence of a central and sovereign 

 power is necessary to the maintenance of justice and peace 

 Ixtwcen domestic communities hitherto independent of each other, 

 tills power is ordnined of God; '* for there is no power but of 



