30-t ON THE XATIIJAI, IX EQUALITY OF MEN vil 



genre humain avait perdu ses titres; Jean- 

 Jacques les a retrouves " ; just as his intellectual 

 progeny declare that the nation ought to "re- 

 sume " the landed property of which it has, un- 

 fortunately, lost the title-deeds. 



We are now in a position to consider what the 

 chief of these principles of the gospel according to 

 Jean-Jacques are : 



1. All men are born free, politically equal, and 

 good, and in the " state of nature " remain so ; 

 consequently it is their natural right to be free, 

 equal, and (presumably, their duty to be) good. 1 



2. All men being equal by natural right, none 

 can have any right to encroach on another's equal 

 right. Hence no man can appropriate any part 

 of the common means of subsistence that is to 

 say, the land or anything which the land produces 

 without the unanimous consent of all other 

 men. Under any other circumstances, property 

 is usurpation, or, in plain terms, robhrry.- 



3. Political rights, therefore, are based upon 

 contract ; the so-called right of conquest is no 



1 Contrat Social, v. pp. 98, 99. The references here given 

 are to the volumes and pages of .Mussay I'athay's edition (1826). 

 Discoun, Jin*; i HI : see especially p. 268. 



2 Discours, pp. 257, 258-276. How many wild sermons have 

 been preached mi this text: " Ignorez-vous qu'une multitude 

 <le vos (Veres peril on soull'iv du besoin de ee que vous avex de 

 trop, ft qu'il vous fallait un eonsenleinent exprt'S et unaninie 

 dn genre humain pour vous approprifr sur la suKsistanee. 

 coinmune tout cequi alloit audela de la vi'it: 



