Man was created free, and is at the same time a social being; that is, in order to enjoy
the advantages which society can give, each individual tacitly agrees to relinquish as much
of his freedom as may be found incompatible with the existance of society. All men are
abstractedly equal, and should be so in law, but are not so in fact, for we find a wide
difference between men, as well physically as morally and intellectually. Our actual
happiness depends entirely upon the results of labour; and as this labour is affected by
our physical, moral and intellectual powers its amount must vary with the individual, and
consequently the happiness which he can enjoy will depend on himself if the basis of
society is just.
Every man is entitled to an equal share of the land, and of all other things which are the
free gifts of Nature. These are the raw materials, from which, by his labour, he is to
obtain the necessaries of life; but this right he possesses only during his lifetime - he
cannot will them to another, nor exert any influence on their disposal after his death.
Every member of the community is entitled to an equal share of the property of those who
die; but as such a division could with difficulty be made, society allows each individual
to inherit the property of his father or other kinsman in lieu of the share to which he
would be entitled of the general property.
The labour of man produces, in most instances, more than he actually requires to support
life: this surplus, which he possesses in the form of tools, buildings, etc, is called
capital, or wealth, and in a flourishing state of society continually increases; it is its
possession which constitutes the real difference between the savage and civilized man. As
one individual may be morally, physically or intellectually superior to another, he will
naturally, by the use of his labour, obtain more products - that is, more capital, or
wealth - than the other: and as the arrangements of society allow the children to inherit
the capital of the father, it must necessarily happen that great inequalities must exist in
every society in relation to wealth; in fact that there must be rich and poor.
This arrangement of society is just and could not be otherwise. Although some may be born
poor, and therefore inheriting no accumulated labour or capital, they cannot, therefore,
justly demand that a new distribution of wealth should take place - that the property of
the rich should be given to them. But, on the other hand, society cannot demand of them to
become machines, to work to an extent unheard of among savages, and yet deny them that
comfort, and that share in progress which ought to be the sole end of civilisation.
The poor man is entitled to live; in the fullest sense of the word he is entitled to share
in all the accumulated advantages of civilisation, not only as regard his physical
happiness, but also his moral and intellectual cultivation. Why should he alone have no
future, except that of suffering?
Why should anyone dare to debar him of the enjoyment of domestic ties, those greatest
incentives to virtue?
The ancient civilisation of Greece permitted the same inequalities of rich and poor as our
modern civilisation does; but with the Greeks the intellectual and moral man was the
highest object of study. They laboured and accumulated capital; but the rich among them
instead of employing the whole of that accumulated capital in debasing the men who made it,
by subjecting them more and more, or in ministering to their own animal senses, sacrificed
their merely personal comfort to the public enjoyment of the nation. Hence was produced
those masterpieces of art which we can only admire, but not imitate. The poor Athenian
citizen was not taught that his sole business on earth was to labour incessantly, and that
enjoyment was only for the rich; no, he felt that it was his right, his business to discuss
in the public places the affairs of his country, to enjoy the pleasure of the theatre, to
hear the great truths enunciated by the philosophers, to attend the games, and that it was
his duty, as it is in all free States, to defend his country as a soldier.
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