$76 
EQUALITY. 
comply with our requifition in the latter cafe, as we are 
to comply with theirs in tire former.” This right of 
equality, together with its correfpcndent obligation, not 
only extends to mankind in general, but is applicable to 
every individual, and to all particular circutnftances and 
relations; fo that whoever enters into thefe, is imme¬ 
diately inverted with ail the rights, and bound to all tire 
duties, which nature has connected with them. It is 
obvious that tlris right and obligation mu ft fubfift equally 
among different nations colleftively confidered, and that 
no pretences of precede cy can be valid, unlefs founded 
on Come compaft, either tacit or exprefs. -Arioviftus felt 
this equality, when he faid to the Roman ambufTadors, If I 
wanted any thing of Caefar I would have gone to him ; if he 
wants any thing of me, let him come to me. And hence 
Dr. P aulus maintains, that as a dwarf is as much a man as 
a giant, fo the fmalleft independent republic is equal, with 
refpeft to its rights, to the mod powerful monarchy. Hence 
Ire deprecates all pretences to precedence among Sovereign 
ftates ; and infills that no fovereign frate can jnrtly forbid 
the commercial intercourfe of its fubjefts with tlrofe of 
other ftates, except in thofe cafes alone in which its abfo- 
lute fafety is immediately concerned. He expofes the 
abfurdity of every excltilive claim laid to newly-difco- 
vered countries, except fuch as is founded on peopling 
and cultivating thofe which were uninhabited ; and even 
then the claim can extend no farther than the part occu¬ 
pied by the colonifts. On all thefe fubjedts it muft be 
acknowledged that he is juft and impartial in his reafon- 
ing : and it is greatly to be lamented that politicians are 
fo much more attentive to expedience than to juftice in 
their tranfaftions :—but as long as an appeal to the fword 
is the only mean by which nations can decide their claims, 
weean fcarcely hope that impartial juftice will be the rule 
of their dealings with one another. The minifter of each 
ftate looks on thofe of other countries as men who are en¬ 
deavouring to take all portible advantage of any inadver¬ 
tence into which he may be betrayed, in order to extort 
all that they can ; he therefore thinks himfelf juftified in 
adopting a fimilar conduft, and tries to advance the im¬ 
mediate interefts of his principals, by praftifing the like 
difingenuous arts. 
With the equality of mankind, their liberty is imme¬ 
diately and infeparably connected : for, among thofe who 
are entirely equal, (that is, who are connected by no re¬ 
lation except the common tie of humanity,) none can 
have any right to command, nor can 3ny be under an ob¬ 
ligation to obey : but as this right of freedom belongs to 
all alike, it impofes on every individual the moft indif- 
penfable obligation to refrain from every thing that vio¬ 
lates the liberty of any other perfon, and to grant to all 
around him the peaceable enjoyment of that which he 
juftly claims as his o'W’n. This right and obligation ex¬ 
tends to religious fentiments and inodes of worfhip, to 
the acquifition and improvement of property, and to w hat¬ 
ever may be fuppofed to increafe the comfort and happi- 
nefs of human life. Many writers have maintained that pro¬ 
perty is not a natural but a civil right, and that the laws, by 
which it is regulated, necelfarily produce inequality ; but 
profertbr Cras has juftly (hewn that property, or exclufive 
potfellion, is a right of nature, and that the law, by which 
it is guarded, by afligning rights and duties to every indi¬ 
vidual, tends to eftablilh and preferve moral equality.— 
It may therefore be proper to contemplate the original 
tranfition of men, from a ftate of nature into one of civil 
fociety. If firth an aftbeiation be formed by a number of 
perfons who are equal, no individual can claim a right to 
govern the reft ; all have an equal (liare in the original 
foveveignty, which muft therefore refide in the citizens 
colleftively, that is, in the people ; and they havea right 
either to exercife it themfelves, or to delegate it to one 
or more of their number, as they may think moft condu¬ 
cive to their welfare. Hence neither an individual, nor 
any number of perfons, can poftibly have an original right 
to govern without theconfent of the governed ; but when. 
by mutual compact, the people have delegated their au¬ 
thority, the compact'ought to be held faered and inviola¬ 
ble both by the governor and governed. Thus, in civil 
(ociety, the equality of men is in fome refpefts neceftariiy 
diminidied, but this diminution does not affeft the eftential 
rights and duties of humanity. They lie beyond the 
reach of civil authority, which ought always to confider 
them as principles previoufly eftabliflied, that cannot 
juftly be violated by any human laws. And, though the 
governors and the governed, from the authority commit¬ 
ted to the one of thefe clafles, and the obedience required 
from the other, are unequal in rank and ftation ; yet, if 
we confider them as members of the fame community, as 
fubjeft to the fame general laws, they are equal, as they 
all enjoy the fame general rights, and are bound by the 
fame general obligations. Hence the obfervations made 
by Grotius, that a magiftrate muft be confidered in a dou¬ 
ble capacity; it is only in his official character that he 
can have a right to exert authority and to require obe¬ 
dience : in every thing in which his intereft, as an indi¬ 
vidual, is concerned, he is equally with others amenable 
to the laws : he cannot, in a conteft with the meaneft 
citizen, be judge in his own cafe, but muft fubrnit it to 
the decifion of thofe whom the law appoints, and who 
muft proceed impartially as the law directs. This kind 
ot equality, which is -eflential to every free government, 
may and ought to be fo modified as to preferve that decent 
relpeft for the magiftrate, which is neceflary to the pre- 
fervation of public order ; and this, we may obferve, is 
admirably done in our own conftitution, by rendering the 
minifters and advifers even of the king refponfible for the 
wrongs committed in his name. 
On entering into civil fociety, men lofe their natural 
equality no farther than is abfolutely neceflary for the 
welfare of the community, and become fubject, not to 
arbitrary power, but to juft and lawful authority ; the 
nature and limits of which muft be known from what are 
commonly called the conftitutional laws of a ftate. In all 
cafes which do not manifeftly alfeft the public order and 
happinefs, every fubjeft, when arrived at years of matu¬ 
rity, has a full right to regulate his own conduit accord¬ 
ing to his own will, without being neceftariiy dependent on 
that of his fellow-fubjefts, or of the magiftrate. This 
limitation of civil authority is evidently juft and reasona¬ 
ble ; and therefore, in civil fociety, much of the natural 
equality of mankind remains ; and of liberty, though it 
be more reftrained than in a ftate of nature, enough may 
be left to render life perfectly fecure and happy ; for every 
individual retains a lull right to aft conformably with the 
diftates of his own will, provided he neither injures the 
welfare of the community, nor violates the rights of 
others, who have the fame claim with himfelf to this 
freedom. This is all that a good man can defire. 
That men were fit ft prompted to enter into civil fociety 
in order to fecure their natural rights, is a principle laid 
down by every eminent writer on government ; and that 
the firft or primary objeft, the right of bolding a (hare iu 
the legifiature, either personally, or by a reprefentative, 
is a ftrong feature of equality in every fuch government. 
Yet fome have afterted that no civil fociety founded on 
fuch equality could flourifh ; and that, where all the 
members of the community had equal rights, there would 
not be proper fubordination, but that the ftate would be 
torn by diflenfions, of which anarchy and civil war would 
be the deplorable confequences. But Dr. Paulus (hews, 
that the principle of equality, when properly underftood, 
is fo far from tending to produce fedition and anarchy, 
that it necelfarily fuppofes a drift obedience to the laws, 
and to that authority which is founded on them. Equa¬ 
lity of rights is infeparabiy connedted with equality of 
moral obligation; and the former cannot be maintained 
without the cbfervance of the latter. In every conftitu¬ 
tion, they who are inverted with the executive part of 
government muft be armed with a power fufficient to 
compel every individual to obey the laws, which confti. 
tute 
