rule, opened prisons, caused chains to fall, and reigned at the same time over the powers of the earth and the genii of heaven.

I believe in the ring of Solomon; I believe in the prodigies produced by the true name of God, Our Father; an admirable name which Christ revealed to us; a magic name which is no longer merely engraved on the ring of Solomon, but in the heart of all men. Three syllables, which contain the most lofty idea which we have been allowed to understand, and which must one day destroy all tyranny, vivify all nations, and establish the human race in its glory and in its liberty.*

* Without defending slavery, and the abuses to which it has given rise, the translator cannot assent to all the conclusions of the author on the subject The difference between the Negro or Malay and other varieties of the human species is marked, not only by the colour of the skin, but also by the anatomical configuration of the cranium and other parts of the body, as well as by the great inferiority of the mental and moral qualifications, and the constant predominance of the animal passions, which do not arise from slavery, but from the original organisation which characterises the whole races, whether slave or free. This inferiority is further proved by the little success, beyond a certain point, which has ever attended the attempts which have been made to elevate the negro in the scale of intelligent being; whereas, the other varieties present innumerable examples of individuals who have raised themselves to distinction from the lowest grades, solely by the talents or qualifications with which they were endowed.

CHAPTER XXVII.

LABOUR-A

PHYSICAL AND MORAL LAW OF NATURE WHICH ESTABLISHES THE RIGHT OF PROPERTY.

"C'est une loi que la nature nous impose, afin de nous donner un droit.

"Quiconque violera cette loi renoncera à sa propre nature et se depouillera de l'humanité."

CICERON. Republique.

It is not our intention to consider fully so vast a subject, but merely to state the principle.

Here is a fact worthy of attention.

Wild nature may suffice for the miserable existence of some savage tribes: it cannot suffice for the existence of civilised nations. In order that the earth may enable nations to live, man must moisten it with his sweat, and fertilise it by means of his intelligence. Society is possible only through labour, and society is a law of nature; whence it follows that labour is the necessary fulfilling of this law.

Cast your eyes upon desert countries; the earth there produces nothing but dark forests, the resort of wild beasts and of venomous reptiles; the air is unhealthy; vegetation is supported by corruption and decomposition, which is destructive to man. You see only stagnant waters, or rivers unrestrained in their course and without banks; coarse fruits, hard and thorny herbs, an exuberance of vegetation which prevents fertility, a stupendous nature which astonishes, but which is only solitude, war, and death. A magnificent creation, the domain of animals, but not of man, and which awaits the hand of the latter to become his property in becoming his work.

Thus, the physical mission of man here below is to reorganise the earth which he inhabits, the air which he breathes, and even the vegetable productions which are to shelter, clothe, or nourish him. The ear of corn is filled only by means of his hand; the fruits of the tree are sweetened only by his cultivation; he chooses for himself companions from among animals, and makes them work with him and for him. He goes to seek iron and gold in the bowels of the earth, and makes use of them to embellish and fertilize it. At his command forests disappear, rivers re-enter their beds, climates are changed, the air is purified, flowers are multiplied, the rank and sterile grass of the savanhas gives place to verdant meadows, the vine the hills, and rich crops prein festoons grows among sent themselves to the view on every side. Thus rude nature becomes obliterated, and the gardens of Eden are realised. Each step which man impresses upon the earth marks a conquest; he is charged to perfect creation, and God lends him a part of his creative power.

Two thousand years ago, England, France, and Germany presented the aspect of the primitive forests of Americaman has modified all, even to the productions of the earth.

Cæsar relates, that the cold prevented the cultivation of the vine in Gaul-man has thus modified even climates.

It is by labour that he has reclaimed Europe, it is by labour that he reclaims America. On its uncultivated soil you see labour advancing like an indefatigable giant, whose thousand hands restrain rivers, level mountains, destroy forests, and raise cities; and from this terrific and incessant struggle there arises a more smiling and fruitful nature, of which man is at the same time the master and the creator. This is the manner in which labour justifies the property of the country by the nation, and of the soil by individuals.

For labour not only constitutes the elements of society, it establishes a right-the right of property.

The earth has been given to all; the fruits of labour are given to individuals.

This is what those sophists will not understand who attribute property to force, and who seek its origin in the right of the first occupant; as if violence were anything else than a fact, or could constitute a right.

Property has its roots in man himself; it is the want of his being, the product of his intelligence, the link of society, the right of labour. Those who talk of annihilating it, and of establishing a republican and monkish community, in which all goods would be in common, prove only one thing, viz. the complete ignorance in which they are respecting the faculties of man and the laws of nature. To destroy property is, though under another name, to destroy society.

Man at his birth is naked and possesses nothing. Later in life, by his industry he acquires clothing, a house, a garden; thus it is that he takes possession of the earth, changes its aspect, and makes it his property by the right of labour. From his wants and his weakness, his wellbeing, his right, and his sovereignty arise.

And this law, the action of which has been prepared by our intelligence and by our nakedness; this law, of which the yoke appears to us so burthensome, and of which the result is so magnificent, takes, as we have just said, its root in the human heart. The child wishes to possess: he scarcely yet knows himself, and he already understands the meaning of property. If one of his comrades lend him a plaything, he amuses himself with it, but his pleasure is incomplete, possession is wanting. He desires, and still desires until he can say, "This is mine."

And further; labour is one of the necessities of our

nature-one of the conditions of the duration of families and of the perpetuity of races, as is proved by the observations of Fresnel. This young philosopher, whose discoveries a few years ago obliterated at once nearly half of the book of Laplace, the Système du Monde, and the whole of the great work of Newton on Light-this great genius, whose premature death science has to deplore, had remarked that whenever four generations succeeded each other, without occupying themselves with manual labour, the children which constitute the fifth generation die young, and with diseases of the chest; labour with the arms being indispensable to the proper development of the organs of respiration.

History likewise corroborates this observation. It shows us the feudal nobility strong and robust, as long as they gave themselves up to the rude toils of arms and of chivalry, but weak, debilitated, and sickly, from the time that the invention of gunpowder had restored them to idleness.

The twofold exercise of the mind and body is, then, the law of nature. Nature orders us to cultivate, to build, to create, to control, with iron, with fire, by our genius; and she commands this, not to a class of men, but to all men ; she desires not that some should exhaust themselves, while others remain idle. Her justice is universal and without exception: all must obey, for upon obedience depends the conservation of races, whereas their cessation ensues upon the infraction of the law.

Thus, property is founded, on the one hand, upon the desire of possessing, which is natural to man; and on the other hand, on the necessity of labour, on which depend the perfecting of nature, the life of families, and the duration of races. These two laws harmonize admirably with another moral law of our code, viz. sociability.