268 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL CHAP. 



themselves ; and I now propose to show in some detail 

 how all the difficulties in their application may be over- 

 come, and the land of Ireland, or that of any other 

 country may be gradually, but surely and permanently, 

 restored to the great mass of the people who desire to 

 cultivate it, without injustice to any of the present land- 

 owners, although the operation will be effected entirely 

 without cost. This is undoubtedly a bold statement, but, 

 before rejecting it as absurd or impracticable, I beg for 

 the reader's careful and unprejudiced consideration of the 

 propositions I shall endeavour to establish, and the 

 definite scheme that will be set forth. 



A General Principle of Legislation. 



My proposal is mainly founded upon a very simple 

 proposition, which I think will be admitted, and which, if 

 not capable of logical demonstration can yet hardly be 

 disproved. This proposition is, that whatever acts may 

 be done by an individual without injustice or without 

 infringing any rights which others possess or are entitled 

 to claim in law or equity, then acts of a similar nature 

 may be done by the State, also without injustice. In 

 judging of the validity of this proposition, we must 

 remember, that an individual may be actuated by purely 

 personal motives ; may be influenced by passion, by pride, 

 or even by revenge, and yet may not go beyond what 

 always has been admitted to be his right ; while the 

 State will, presumably, be guided in its action by a desire 

 for the public welfare, and cannot possibly, in the 

 particular cases here contemplated, be influenced by those 

 lower motives which often affect the individual, and yet 

 have never been held to impair either his legal or his 

 moral rights. 



The proposition here generally stated appears to me to 

 be so nearly in the nature of a political axiom as to require 

 no attempt at a formal demonstration. It will be time 

 enough to defend it when good, or at least plausible, 

 reasons have been given why it should not be accepted. I 

 will now proceed to its application in the present inquiry. 



