354 NATURAL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS vm 



potentially extended over the whole island and 

 everything in it. According to the law of na tun- 

 as denned by Quesnay, he was owner of everyi i 

 therein which he desired and was able to appro- 

 priate. Suppose, however, that another wreck 

 had simultaneously cast Will Atkins upon the 

 opposite shore, and that Atkins had established 

 himself there in Crusoe's fashion ; then it is plain 

 that the law of nature would confer upon him 

 rights no less extensive. Crusoe and Atkins, 

 stalking the same goat from opposite sides, would 

 have been in a position identical with that of 

 two tigers in the jungle, slinking after the same 

 Hindoo, so far as the law of nature is concerned. 

 And if each insisted upon exerting the whole of 

 his natural rights, it is clear that there would be 

 nothing for it but to fight for the goat. In the 

 case of the men, as in that of the brutes, extreme 

 and logical individualism means isolation and the 

 state of war ; it is plainly incompatible with the 

 peace and co-operation which are the essentials of 

 even temporary association. On the other hand, if 

 the two men followed the dictates of the common- 

 est common sense, not less than those of natural 

 sympathy, they would at once agree to unite in 

 peaceful co-operation with each other, for their 

 mutual comfort and protection. And that would 

 be possible only if each agreed to limit the 

 exercise of his natural rights so far as they might 

 involve any more damage to the other than to him- 



