380 NATURAL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS vm 



should he care that his stirring words might stir 

 up the plain enough conclusion : Well, if these 

 things are all ours as much as theirs, and wo are 

 the stronger, Avhy do we not take our own, and 

 that at once ? What harm in robbing robbers ? 



Well, whether exhortations in this style are 

 legitimate or not, this much is certain that, as I 

 hinted before, it is desirable to make very sure of 

 your ground before proceeding to such extremities. 

 Many years ago I heard of an Englishman who 

 had gone to see the Coliseum at Rome by moon- 

 light. He had been warned that the place was 

 haunted by thieves, and was on the alert. Sure 

 enough, a man brushed hastily past him, and the 

 Englishman, looking back, saw a watch in his 

 hand. Without more ado, our countryman, being 

 a prompt sort of person, knocks the fellow down, 

 captures the watch, and makes off to his hotel, 

 lest there should be accomplices about. And, lo ! 

 when he is safe in his room he finds he has two 

 watches. 



I am disposed to think that the communities 

 who follow out Mr. George's suggestions will find 

 themselves, on Mr. George's own principles, in the 

 position of our too ready-fisted Briton. For, 

 according to Mr. George, that deed of entail which 

 he should have somewhere in a tin box in his 

 office, confers the land upon " all the generations 

 of the children of men." Hence it follows that 

 the London infant has no more title to the Duke 



