These sentiments alone are consistent with true independence of mind. He that is accustomed to regard virtue as an afiair of favour and grace, cannot be eminently virtuous. If he occasion- ally perform.an action of apparent kindness, he will applaud tlie generosity of his sentiments; and, if he abstain, he will acquit himself, with the question, " May I not do what I will with my own?" In the same manner, when he is treated benevolently by another, he will in the first place, be unwilling to examine strictly into the reasonableness of this treatment, because bene- volence, as he imagines, is not subject to any inflexibility of rule; and, in the second place, he will not regard his benefactor with that erect and unembarrassed mien, that manly sense of equality, which is the only unequivocal basis of virtue and happiness.
202 OF PROPERTY.
BOOK VIII.
OF PROPERTY.
CHAP. I.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
Importance of this topic. — Plan for its discussion. — Definition. — Suliject of' the present chapter — of the next. — Principle of decision stated. — Rights of man. — Superfluities appreciated — Love oj distinction. — Direction which this passion is capable of receiving. — Of merit and reward. — System of popular morality on this subject. — Its defects.
The subject of property is the key-stone that completes the fabric of political justice. According as our ideas respecting it are crude or correct, they will enlighten us as to the consequences of a simple form of society uithont government, and remove the prejudices that attach us to complexity. There is nothing that more powerfully tends to distort onx judgment and ojnnions, than erroneous notions concerning the goods of fortune. Finally, the period that must put an end to the system of coercion and punish' menty is intimately connected with the circumstance of property's being placed upon an equitable basis.
Various abuses of the most incontrovertible nature, have in- sinuated themselves into the administration of property. Each of these abuses might usefully be made the subject of a separate investigation. We might enquire into the vexations of this sort, that are produced by the dreams of national gi-eatness, and the sumptuousness of public offices and magistrates. This would lead us to a just estimate of the different kinds of taxation, landed or mercantile, having the necessaries or the luxuries of life for their subject of operation. "We might examine into the abuses which have adhered to the commercial system; monopolies, charters, patents, protecting duties, prohibitions and bounties. We might consider the claims of the church: first fruits and tithes. All these disquisitions would tend to show the incalculable import- ance of this subject. But, excluding them all from the present enquiry, it shall be the business of what remains of this work, to examine the subject in its most general principles, and by that means endeavour to discover the source, not only of the abuses above enumerated, but of others of innumerable kinds, too mul- tifarious and subtle to enter into so brief a catalogue. , The subject to which the doctrine of property relates, is, all OF PROPERTY. 203 those things which conduce, or may be conceived to conduce, to the benefit or pleasure of man, and which can no otherwise he applied to the use of one or more persons, than by a permanent or temporary exclusion of the rest of the species. Such things in particular are food, clothing, habitation and furniture.
Upon this subject two questions unavoidably arise. "Who is the person entitled to the use of any particulai- article of this kind? Who is the person, in whose hands the preservation and distribution of any number cf these articles, will be most justly and beneficially vested?
The answer to the first of these questions is easy, upon the principles of the present work. Justice has been proved to be a rule applicable to all the concerns of man. It pronounces upon every case that can arise, and leaves nothing to the disposal of a momentary caprice.* There is not an article of the kinds above specified, which will not ultimately be the instrument of more benefit and happiness, in one individual mode of application, than in any other that can be devised. This is the application it ought to receive.
We are led to the consideration of that species of rights, which was designedly postponed in an earlier division of this work.f Every man has a right to that, the exclusive possession of which being awarded to him, a greater sum of benefit or pleasure will result, than could have arisen from its being otherwise appropri- ated. This is the same principle as that just delivered, with a slight variation of form. If man have a right to anything, he has a right to justice. These terms, as they have ordinarily been used in moral enquiry, are, strictly and properly speaking, con- vertible terms.
Let us see how this principle will operate in the inferences it authorises us to make. Human beings are partakers of a com- mon nature; what conduces to the benefit or pleasure of one man, will conduce to the benefit or pleasure of another, j Hence it follows, upon the principles of equal and impartial justice, that the good things of the world are a common stock, upon which one man has as valid a title as another to draw for what he wants. It appears in this respect, as formerly it appeared in the case of our claim to the forbearance of each other,$ that each man kas a sphere, the limit and termination of which is marked out, by the equal sphere of his neighbour. I have a right to the means of subsistence; he has an equal right. I have a right to every plea- siure I can participate without injury to myself or others; his title, in this respect, is of similar extent.
This view of the subject will appear the more striking, if we pass in review the good things of the world. They may be diyided into four classes; subsistence; the means of intellectual • Vol. I., Book II., Chap. II. + Vol. I., Book II., Chap. V., p. 80. t Vol. 1., Book III., Chap. III., p. 69. i Vol. I., Book II., Chap. V., 79.
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and moral improvement; unexpensive gratifications; and such gratifications as are by no means essential to healthful and vigorous existence, and cannot be purchased but with consider- able labour and industry. It is the last class principally that interposes an obstacle in the Avay of equal distribution. It will be matter of after-consideration how far and how many articles of this class would be admissible into the purest mode of social existence.* But, in the meantime, it is unavoidable to remark the inferiority of this class to the three preceding. "Without it we may enjoy to a great extent, activity, contentment and cheer- fulness. And in what manner are these seeming superfluities usually procured? By abridging multitudes of men, to a deplor- able degree, in points of essential moment, that one man may be accommodated with sumptuous, yet strictly considered, insignifi- cant luxuries. Supposing the alternative could fairly be brought home to a man, and it could depend upon his instant decision, by the sacrifice of these to give to five hundred of his fellow beings leisure, independence, conscious dignity, and whatever can refine and enlarge tlie human understanding, it is difficult to conceive him to hesitate. But, though this alternative cannot be produced in the case of an individual, it will perhaps be found to be the true alternative, when taken at once in reference to the species.
To the forming a just estimate of costly gratifications, it is necessary, that we should abstract the direct pleasure, on the one hand, from the pleasure they afi"ord us, only as instruments for satisfying our love of distinction. It must be admitted in every system of morality, not tainted with monastic prejudices, but adapted to the nature of intelligent beings, that, so far as relates to ourselves, and leaving our connection with the species out of the consideration, we ought not to refuse any pleasure, except as it tends to the exclusion of some greater pleasure. f But it has already been shown, that the difference in the pleasures of the palate, between a simple and wholesome diet on the one hand, and all the complexities of the most splendid table on the other, is so small, that few men would even think it worth tlie tedium that attends upon a change of services, if the pleasure of the palate were the only thing in question, and they had no spectator to admire their magnificence. " He who should form himself, with the gi-eatest care, upon a system of solitary sensualism, would probably come at last to a decision, not very different from that which Epicurus is said to have adopted, in favour of fresh herbs, and water from the spring."J The same observation applies to the splendour of furniture, equipage and dress. So far as relates to the gratification of the eye, this pleasure may be reaped, with less trouble, and in greater refinement, from the beauties which nature exhibits to our observation. No man, if the direct plea- OF PROPERTY. 205 sure were the only thing in consideration, would think the dif- ference to himself worth purchasing by the oppression of multi- tudes.
But these things, though trivial in themselves, are highly prized, from that love of distinction which is characteristic of every human mind. The creditable artisan or tradesman exerts a certain species of industry to supply his immediate wants. But these are soon supplied. The rest is exerted, that he may wear a better coat, that he may clothe his wife with gay attire, tliat he may have not merely a shelter, but a handsome habitation, not merely bread and flesh to eat, but that he may set it out with suitable decorum. How many of these things would engage his attention, if he lived in a desert island, and had no spectator of his economy? If we survey the appendages of oiu: persons, there is scarcely an article that is not in some respect an appeal to the good will of our neighbours, or a refuge against their contempt. It is for this that the merchant braves the perils of the ocean, and the mechanical inventor brings forth the trea- sures of his meditation. The soldier advances even to the can- non's mouth, and the statesman exposes himself to the rage of an indignant people, because he cannot bear to pass through life without distinction and esteem. Exclusively of certain higher motives which will hereafter be mentioned,* this is the purpose of all the great exertions of mankind. The man who has nothing to provide for but his animal wants, scarcely ever shakes off the letharg)' of his mind; but the love of honour hurries us on to the most incredible achievements.
It must be admitted indeed, that the love of distinction ap- pears, from experience and the past history of mankind, to have been their ruling passion. But the love. of distinction is capable of different directions. At present, there is no more certain road to tlie general deference of mankind, than the exhibition of wealth. The poet, the wit, the orator, the saviour of his country, and the ornament of his species, may upon certain occasions be treated with neglect and biting contempt; but the man who pos- sesses and disburses money in profusion, can scarcely fail to pro- cure the attendance of the obsequious man and the flatterer. But let us conceive tliis erroneous and pernicious estimate of things to be reversed. Let us suppose the avaricious man, who is de- sirous of monopolising the means of happiness, and the luxurious man, who expends without limitation, in pampering his appetites, that which, in strict justice, is the right of another, to be contem- plated -with as much disapprobation, as they are now beheld by a mistaken world with deference and respect. Let us imagine the direct and unambiguous road to public esteem, to be the acqui- sition of talent, or tlie practice of virtue, the cultivation of some species of ingenuity, or the display of some generous and expan- sive sentiment; and that the persons who possess these talents • Chap. VI.
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were as conspicuously treated with affection and esteem, as the wealthy are now treated with slavish attention. This is merely, in other Avords, to suppose good sense, and clear and correct per- ceptions, at some time to gain the ascendancy in the world. But it is plain that, under die reign of such sentiments, the allure- ments that now wait upon costly gratification, would be, for the most part, annihilated. If, through the spurious and incidental recommendations it derives from the love of distinction, it is now rendered to many a principal source of agreeable sensation, under a different state of opinion, it would not merely be reduced to its intrinsic value in point of sensation, but, in addition to tliis, would be connected with ideas of injustice, unpopularity, and dislike. So small is the space which costly gratifications are calculated un- alterably to fill, in the catalogue of human happiness.
It has sometimes been alleged, as an argument against the equal rights of men in the point of which we are treating, " that the merits of men are different, and ought to be differently rewarded." But it may be questioned whether this proposition, tliough true, can with any show of plausibility be applied to the present subject. Reasons have been already suggested to prove, that positive institutions do not afford the best means for reward- ing virtue, and that human excellence will be more effectually forwarded, by those encouragements which inevitably arise from the system of tlie universe.* But, exclusively of this considera- tion, let us recollect, upon tlie grounds of what has just been stated, what sort of reward is thus proposed to exertion. ** If you show yoiu'self deserving, you shall have the essence of a hundred times more food than you can eat, and a hundred times more clothes than you can wear. You shall have a patent for taking away from others the means of a happy and respectable existence, and for consuming them in riotous and unmeaning extravagance." Is this the reward that ought to be offered to virtue, or that virtue should stoop to take?
The doctrine of the injustice of accumulated property has been the foundation of all religious morality. Its most energetic teachers have been iiTesistibly led to assert the precise truth in this respect. They have taught the rich that they hold their wealth only as a trust, that they are strictly accountable for every atom of their expenditure, that they are merely administrators, and by no means proprietors in chief.f But, while religion thus inculcat(>d on mankind the pure principles of justice, the'majority of its professors have been but too apt to treat the practice of jus- tice not as a debt, which it ought to be considered, but as an affair of spontaneous generosity and bounty.
The effect which is produced by this accommodating doctrine is, to place the supply of our wants in the disposal of a few, en- abling them to make a show of generosity with what is not truly * Book v., Chap. Xir.; Book VI. Chap. I.
+ MARK, CHAP. X.. ver. 21: ACTS, CHAP, ii., vcr, 44, 45. See also S^nft's Sermoy on Mutual Subjection.
PRINCIPLES OF PROPERTY. 207 their own, and to purchase the submission of the poor by the pay- ment of a debt. Theirs is a system of clemency and charity, instead of a system of justice. It fills the rich with unreasonable pride, by the spurious denominations with which it decorates their acts; and the poor with servility, by leading them to regard the slender comforts they obtain, not as their incontrovertible due, but as the good pleasure and grace of their opulent neighbours.
CHAP. II.
PRINCIPLES OF PROPERTY.
Definition. — Degrees of property — 1. in the means of subsistence and happiness — 2. in the fruits of our labour — 3. in the labour of others. Unfavourable features of this species of property. — Ground of obli- gation respecting it. — Origin of property — of inheritance and testa- tion— Instances of gratuitous inequality. — Legislation of titles, — Limitations on the preceding reasoning. — Sacredness of property. — Conclusion.
Having considered at large the question of the person entitled to the use of the means of benefit or pleasure, it is time that we proceed to the second question of the person, in whose hands the preservation and distribution of any of these means will be most justly and beneficially vested. An interval must inevitably occur, between the production of any commodity, and its consumption. Those things which are necessary for the accommodation of man in society, cannot be obtained without the labour of man. When fit for his use, they do not admit of being left at random, but require that some care and vigilance should be exerted to preserve them, for the period of actual consumption. They will not, in the first instance, fall into the possession of each indi- vidual, in the precise proportion necessary for his consumption. Who then is to be the factor or warehouseman, that is to watch over their preservation, and preside at their distribution?
This is strictly speaking the question of property. We do not call the person who accidentally takes his dinner at my table, the proprietor of what he eats, though it is he, in tlie direct and obvious sense, who receives the benefit of it. Property implies some permanence of external possession, and includes in it the idea of a possible competitor.
Of property there are three degrees.
The first and simplest degree is that of my permanent right in those things, the use of which being attributed to me, a greater sum of benefit or pleasure will result, than could have arisen 208 PRINCIPLKS OF PROPERTY.
from their being otherwise appropriated. It is of no consequence in this case, how I came into possession of them, the only neces- sary conditions being tlieir superior usefulness to me, and that my title to them is such as is generally acquiesced in by the com- munity in which I live. Every man is unjust who conducts him- self in such a manner respecting these things, as to infringe, in any degree, upon my power of using them, at the time when the using them will be of real importance to me.
It has already appeared* that one of the most essential of the rights of man, is my right to the forbearance of others; not merely that they shall refrain from every thing that may, by direct consequence, affect my life, or the possession of my powers, but that they shall refrain from usurping upon my understanding, and shall leave me a certain equal sphere for the exercise of my private judgment. This is necessary, because it is possible for them to be wrong, as well as for me to be so, because the exercise of the imderstanding is essential to the improvement of man, and because the pain and interruption I suffer are as real, when they infringe, in my conception only, upon what is of importance to me, as if the infringement had been in the utmost degree palpable. Hence it follows, that no man may, in ordinary cases, make use of my apartment, furniture, or garments, or of my food, in tlie way of barter or loan, without having first obtained my consent.
The second degree of property is, the empire to which ever}- man is entitled, over the produce of his own industry, even that part of it the use of which ought not to be appropriated to him- self. It has been repeatedly shown that all the rights of man which are of this description, are passive.f He has no right of option in the disposal of any thing which may ftill into his hands. Every shilling of his property, and even every, the minutest, exertion of his powers, have received their destination from the decrees of justice. He is only the steward. But still he is the steward. These things must be trusted to his award, checked only by the censorial power that is vested, in the general sense, and favourable or unfavourable opinion of that portion of man- kind among whom he resides. Man is changed from the capable subject of illimitable excellence, into the vilest and most despic- able thing that imagination can conceive, when he is restrained from acting upon the dictates of his understanding. All men cannot individually be entitled to exercise compulsion on each other, for this would produce imiversal anarchy. All men cannot collectively be entitled to exercise unbounded compulsion, for this would produce universal slavery: the interference of government, however impartially vested, is, no doubt, only to be resorted to upon occasions of rare occurrence, and indispensible urgency.
It will readily be perceived, that this second species of property is in a less rigorous sense fundamental than the rest. It is, iu one • Vol. I., Book II., Chap. V., VI. t Vol. I., Book II., Chap. V.
PRINCIPLES OF PROPERTY. 209 point of view, a sort of usurpation. It vests in me the preser\'a- tion and dispensing of that which, in point of complete and ab- solute right, belongs to you.
The third degree of property is, that which occupies the most vigilant attention in the civilised states of Europe. It is a system, in whatever manner established, by which one man enters into the faculty of disposing of the produce of another man's in- dustry. There is scarcely any species of wealth, expenditure, or splendour existing in any civilised country, that is not, in some way, produced by the express manual labour and corporal in- dustry of the inhabitants of that country. The spontaneous pro- ductions of the earth are few, and contribute little to wealth, expenditure, or splendour. Every man may calculate, in every glass of wine he drinks, and every ornament he annexes to his person, how many individuals have been condemned to slavery and sweat, incessant drudgery, unwholesome food, continual hardships, deplorable ignorance, and brutal insensibility, that he may be supplied with these luxuries. It is a gross imposition that men are accustomed to put upon themselves, when they talk 'of the property bequeathed to them by their ancestors. The pro- perty is produced by the daily labour of men who are now in existence. All that their ancestors bequeathed to them was a mouldy patent, which they show, as a title to extort from their neighbours what the labour of those neighbours has produced.
It is clear therefore that the third species of property is in direct contradiction to the second.
The most desirable state of human society would require, that the quantity of manual labour and corporal industry to be exerted, and particularly that part of it which is not the uninfluenced choice of our own judgment, but is imposed upon each individual by the necessity of his affairs, should be reduced within as narrow limits as possible. For any man to enjoy the most trivial accom- modation, while, at the same time, a similar accommodation is not accessible to every other member of the community, is, abso- lutely speaking, wrong. All refinements of luxury, all inventions that tend to give employment to a great number of labouring hands, are directly adverse to the propagation of happiness. Every additional tax that is laid on, every new channel that is opened for the expenditure of the public money, unless it be com- pensated (which is scarcely ever the case) by an equivalent de- duction from the luxuries of the rich, is so much added to the general stock of ignorance, drudgery and hardship. The country- gentleman who, by levelling an eminence, or introducing a sheet of water into his park, finds work for hundreds of industrious poor, is the enemy, and not, as has commonly been imagined, the friend, of his species. Let us suppose that, in any counh-y, there is now ten times as much industry aiid manual labour, as there was three centuries ago. Except so far as this is applied to maintain an increased population, it is expended in the more costly indulgences of the rich. Very little indeed is employed to