are apt to content themselves with a general Justice, yet it can never
claim the Merit of an exalted Virtue, unless we both know and practise it
in particular. To attain this Knowledge and Love of Justice, Children are
to be taught, even before they can speak, to part with any thing they are
in Possession of, and this readily, and without Clamour: the Effect of
which will be, that when a little more advanced, and they can distinguish
their own things from others, they will not eagerly desire the Property
of a Brother, a Sister, or Play-fellow. The next Step is, that Parents
avoid with the utmost Caution every the least Deceit, especially about
Money, and every thing which discovers to their Children a Fondness for
it. There is nothing more surprising to me, than the universal Disregard
Parents have to the Presence of their Children; a thousand things in
Life are necessary to be said and done which they, particularly while
young, should not be Witnesses to; and yet are Parents every Day and
Hour so impolitic and so imprudent, as not only to disclose their inmost
Thoughts, but to transact the most improper, nay perhaps the most
unjustifiable things before their Faces. As Children seldom have Judgment
to distinguish, they can only catch Appearances. Now suppose a Man in
a just Cause has played the Politician, and by the Force of Stratagem
recovered his Right; can it be a proper Subject for Children to be in the
hearing of? But should this Man have gone farther, and should he boast
a Conquest unjustly gain’d, perhaps to the Ruin of another; what Effect
must this have on the tender Minds of Children? Children in general act
by Imitation; therefore, as far as can be, they should see nothing but
what they may imitate. But farther, Children naturally think those things
right which they see done by their Parents; therefore they should see no
Action in them but what is really so. Farther still, Children, even under
a virtuous Education, are surrounded with a thousand Incitements to Ill;
their Eyes and Ears are continually open, and continually receive corrupt
Impressions, which dart to the Mind and Heart of the most innocent: where
then can they fly for an Antidote to this Poison? To whom shall they
have recourse; or by whom shall they be furnished with Weapons for their
Defence? By those to whom they are bound by every Tye; Parents alone must
stop the Torrent of every Evil to their Children, not only by virtuous
Precepts, but by virtuous Example. For as it is a certain Truth, that the
Influence of Parents is more than a Balance for a thousand others, the
Necessity of their opposing Vice with Virtue, is every way apparent: nor
is it any where more so than in the noble Cause of Justice.
This Rule established, I must again repeat to Parents the avoiding before
their Children every Appearance of Deceit, and every Fondness for Money.
If Children are taught to deceive, they will be induced to practise it
for the Sake of Gain; and if a Love of Gain be cherished in them, they
will often use Deceit to acquire it. How apt are Parents to Wish for
Money in their Children’s hearing; and this, not merely the Indigent,
those who want many of the Comforts, the Necessaries of Life, but those
who have already perhaps more than they make a good Use of. _Tom_, says
a vain Father to his Son, had I ten thousand Pound, you should be the
smartest Fellow in the Kingdom, ne’er a Lord in the Land should out-do
you. Thus too, a doating Mother addresses her Daughter, What Pity it is
my dear _Nancy_ should not keep her Coach; so sweet a Girl! Oh! that I
was but rich, you should marry nothing less than a Lord. What must be the
Effect of this Language? Must it not inflame the Heart, or fly to the
Head and make it giddy? most certainly. Nor does it stop here; for when
this irregular Love of Money is once deeply rooted, irregular Steps will
often be taken to make it thrive.
But to pursue the Idea of Justice, let me not confine myself to the
Passions, but speak likewise to the Understanding. I will hope that
Parents have shewn Children in Infancy the general Justice I have spoken
of; the obvious Rules of Right and Wrong; and check’d in them every
Shadow of Injustice: that is, that they have taught them never to meddle
with Money, be it more or less, or with whatever else belongs to another;
nor even to desire it; nor to be fond of dwelling on it, counting it, or
chinking it; (for Money has a strange Effect on both Eyes and Ears:)
never to put their Hands into another’s Pockets; much less to unlock
a Scrutore: never to evade the Payment or Acknowledgment of a single
Farthing; nor obtain unjustly even a Top, a Marble, or whatever can be
called the Property of another. Farther, that as they advance, Parents
inform them that there is a constant Intercourse between Man and Man:
that Providence has created some to labour one way, some another; that
the various Wants of Life are to be supplied by the Care, the Industry,
and the Sagacity of each in their several Stations; that the Poor are
destined to labour for the Rich, and the Rich to employ and reward the
Poor: that some in fine are born to govern, others to be governed. That
this Intercourse is called Society; and that Justice alone is the Band
that connects and ties it; consequently, that he is the most valuable
Member of Society, who despising selfish or sinister Views, who shunning
the Tricks, the Frauds, the Villainies of others, resolves to make
Justice his Rule of Action. That to this End, besides a general Knowledge
of Property, and an Acquaintance with those Laws which are made to defend
it; besides the adjusting Profits in Trade, stating Accounts fairly, and
paying Debts regularly; there are still many things to be considered,
some of which I will here endeavour to reason upon, as they visibly
produce some certain kind of Injustice in their Effects, tho’ their
Cause is often hid from common Eyes, or they are disguised by false or
palliative Names.
The first Spring of Injustice is Pride. Children, as I have just
observed, have their Minds impressed with a Love of Riches; whence
naturally follows an undue Degree of Self-esteem, accompany’d with a Love
of Power, Show, and Dignity: now to effect these, a thousand Stratagems
are used; every Obstacle which stands in the Way to Wealth or Preferment
must be overturned; every Difficulty must be removed. Hence it is easy
to see that unjust Means will often be used to gain the desired End; and
hence it is plain that those who ascend by indirect and violent Measures,
crush down many others as they pass. Parents therefore to obviate this,
must teach their Children that nothing can be lawful which injures
others; that they may indeed arrive at Honours and acquire Riches; but
that unless they are obtained without Guilt, and possessed without Pride,
they cannot be just: for even allowing that no undue Means are used to
support our Pride, there is Injustice riveted to the Vice itself; for the
Proud, to raise themselves, always attempt to depress or debase others.
Another Cause of Injustice is Sloth. Providence has created us to labour;
the Head, the Hands, the Feet, all are given to answer in some Degree
the same End; that is, the Preservation of ourselves, and the Benefit of
others. None are born to be idle, none who are so can with any Truth be
said to fill up Life as they ought. Those who have Talents are bound to
cultivate them as far as they have Opportunity, that they may counsel,
instruct, or assist others: those who have Fortune cannot without
Injustice neglect the Care, the Improvement, and the Distribution of it:
those who have no Fortune, but enjoy Health and Limbs, are Robbers of
Society if they refuse to work: and indeed among the various Objects of
Sloth, those who exercise neither Head, nor Hands, nor Feet, but lounge
and fawn and beg for a Subsistence, no Matter whether in Rags or Finery,
are of all others the most mean, at the same time that they are grossly
unjust. The Virtues opposite to this are, Industry, Application, and
Oeconomy; which Parents must raise in their Children betimes, and cherish
with Zeal and Pains.
A third Source of Injustice is Lust. What I have before said of an
universal Regard to Decency both in Words and Actions must not be
confined to the State of Childhood, but be enforced by Parents on their
Children as Rules that are never to be departed from; since what is in
it’s Nature wrong, nothing can make right: for if Innocence be a Virtue,
which even the abandoned will hardly dispute, every Deviation from it
must be more or less a Vice. As this then is a settled point, enlarging
on it here is needless; my only Aim on this Head being to make some
Reflections on the Vice when manifestly attended with Injustice.
It has been the Custom of every wise Nation both in their Writings and
Conversation, to inculcate and enforce the finest Morals, the most
important Truths under an Allegory or Fable; and where the Simile is
natural and the Expression emphatic, nothing is more powerful. Suppose
then a Father should lead his Son, as he approaches to Manhood, into a
Garden, and thus address him. “View here, my dear Child, the Beauties of
the Creation; see how abundantly the Earth is furnished with all that
can contribute both to our Use and Delight. But besides the unmeasurable
Bounty of Providence, behold the Gardener’s incessant Toil; what pains
he takes to improve the Soil; with what early Care does he water each
tender Plant; how watchful to secure them against destroying Vermin, and
how anxious to defend his Flowers from Blasts! Now tho’ Providence has
given to MAN a Power over all the Works of the Creation, ’twas never
meant he should abuse them. What then would you think of him who should
pluck the choicest Flowers here, purely for the sake of destroying them?
But should he go farther, and exercise a wanton Pleasure not only in
stripping them of their Beauty, but in rendering them offensive and
odious to all who see them? What, my Son, I say, would you think of
such a Man? But Oh! my dear Boy, should this affect you, should this
raise in you a Degree of Contempt; with how much Indignation must you
behold the Wretch, who, with a Complication of Crimes has deflowered the
fairest Part of the whole Creation: not an inanimate Rose, or Pink, or
Lilly; but robb’d a spotless Virgin of her Innocence! Tremble, my dear,
dear Child, tremble at the very Thought of so much Baseness! View with
impartial Eyes the guilty Deed! On one side the Deceit, the Oaths, the
Perjuries, and a thousand criminal Inventions to gain the desired End;
on the other, the dreadful Change from Innocence to Guilt; from Honour
to Infamy; from the Esteem of all, to the Contempt of all; and what is
stranger still, forsaken and despised by the very Seducer himself! Yet
Oh! my Son, let not these Reflections be made in vain; but draw Profit
from others Crimes: examine them in their true Light; be not misled by
those who palliate the blackest Actions with the specious Names of Wit,
and Love, and Gallantry; but live in a Resolution never to share in their
Guilt; never to injure another in the least Degree; but above all resolve
to suffer a thousand Evils, to sacrifice every Passion, rather than even
stain, much less destroy, the Flower of Innocence.”
These are Sentiments our Sons must be warmed with; these are Ideas of
Justice they must not be Strangers to, if we wish to make them good Men,
or desire to fulfil our Obligations as Parents. Innocence, wherever it
resides, is an inestimable Treasure; two things therefore Parents have
to do herein, viz. to teach their Children neither to destroy another’s
Innocence; nor suffer others to sully theirs. The first has just been
spoken of: I will only add, that the same Regard must be paid to all
Degrees, whether high or low: it is the Vice we are to keep in view,
not the Quality of the Person. ’Tis no Extenuation of the Crime, that a
Gentleman’s Son seduced his Master’s Cook; or that a young Nobleman has
ruined only a Tenant’s Daughter, or his Mother’s Chamber-maid; no, no,
there are no Distinctions in Virtue’s Cause: that lost, there are always
some to weep; the poorest have their Parents, their Relations, or their
Friends, to lament their sad Mishap; and those who are robbed of what
cannot be restored, have always their own Loss to deplore.
The next Care of Parents on this Head is, that they labour to preserve
their Children’s Innocence from being tainted by others. One would
imagine when Parents had taught their Children every Virtue, and enforced
them by their own Example, their Duty would be compleat; but far from it;
they have still the Obligation of representing to them the Snares, the
Artifices, the Villainies of designing People. In my last View I have
shewn that our Sons, either hurried by Passion, led by false Notions of
Gallantry, or Strangers to Right and Wrong, are often the Instruments,
or liable at least to be the Instruments, of others Destruction: in
this I must touch on the Necessity Children are under of being defended
from receiving Injuries. And here I must observe, that both Sexes are
equally in Danger. The Girls indeed have by Nature and Education more
Innocence, as well as more Tenderness; the Boys, tho’ more robust, have
more Temptations. Men are the Instruments, and dreadful ones too, which
chiefly destroy our Daughters; but bad Women on one hand, and corrupt
Men on the other, combine to destroy our Sons. Let Parents then point
out to them the Dangers they are exposed to, and furnish them with every
Means for their Defence; let them shew that the Colours Vice is painted
in are false and delusive; that however pleasing the Appearances are,
the Effects are bitter; that our corrupt Imagination is extremely apt
to mislead us, therefore they must not trust to this Guide, but seek
Security from Reason and Reflection; that they must not rely on their
own Strength, by exposing themselves to those who have the Subtlety and
Cruelty to form Designs against their Virtue; and that, in these Cases,
the greatest Proof they can give of their Courage is to run away, because
their Passions naturally incline them to stay; that those, in a word,
who wish to maintain their Virtue, must shun the Vicious: and where the
Affairs of Life unavoidably expose them to the Company of such, let them
by a constant discountenancing Deportment, shew their Disapprobation
of every unbecoming Word or Action; whereby they will check, and often
prevent, any Attacks on their Innocence. But farther, to enforce the
Virtue of Innocence, let Parents shew their Children the Obligations they
are under of preserving it; that besides the Insult offered to their
Creator who made them rational Beings, and thereby distinguished them
from the Brutes, their departing from it is an Injustice to themselves,
an Injustice to their Parents, and to all those who have laboured to
correct the natural Corruption of their Hearts, by instilling into them
every virtuous Principle.
A fourth Cause of Injustice is Avarice: which implies an inordinate Love
of Gain. Avarice puts on a thousand Shapes, and is to be found in Men
of every Rank and every Age; but it is most apparent in the Rich and
the Old: which is an Aggravation of the Vice; because the one have more
than enough already, and the other have not long to enjoy the Fruits
of it, even should they live to reap them. But what is most alarming
in the Avaritious is, the extreme Danger of going beyond the Bounds
of Justice; and what _Dryden_[5] says of Wits and Madmen may, by the
easiest Change,[6] be apply’d without Impropriety to the Covetous and the
Dishonest. How many Schemes are formed, how many Devices used to raise a
Fortune, or to add Hoard to Hoard? One circumvents another in Trade; and
with more than savage Cruelty, abuses the Power he has by keeping those
under that might otherwise flourish; and had rather see another starve,
than himself be deprived of what he does not want. A second burns with
a Thirst of Gaming, and values himself for his superior Parts, if he
can trick another out of his Money at Play; regardless of the dreadful
Consequences attending the Loss; and regardless of the Injustice of
the Acquisition. How do they possess their Minds who have raised their
Fortune on another’s Ruin? Do they ever reflect on the Misery of their
wretched Companion; or do they view the Distress of his Wife, his
Children, and his suffering Creditors? Surely if the Gamester did this,
even he who wins, and wins by a fair Bet, and equal Lay, must tremble at
Riches thus acquired: but if to this be added the Traps, the Snares, and
other Artifices to draw in weak or unwary Men to their Ruin, what must we
think of such Wretches? We may both pity and condemn the Ruined, but we
must abhor those who caused it, however great their false Triumph may be.
A third takes the Advantage of Distress or Weakness, and lends his Money,
not with Kindness, but with a sordid View: these are the Men who grasp at
Mortgages for the sake of fore-closing; and get Possession of an Estate
for half it’s Value; who inveigle a Widow that they may ruin her Affairs,
and enrich themselves; or get a Guardianship that they may beggar the
Children. A fourth, sensible what Power Riches give him, employs it to
the harrassing and depressing all beneath him; these are those who to add
to their superfluous Wealth suck the Blood and Vitals of the Poor, by
reducing their just Pay, and defrauding them of their Wages; or who with
inhuman Scorn depreciate that Merit which others possess; or crush it in
it’s Appearance. But how shall Parents, who perhaps may not live to be
Witnesses to these Actions, prevent them in their Children? The Answer
is easy. Imprint on them an early Love of Justice; and as they advance,
shew them the various Ways of deviating from it; that by viewing these
things in their true Light, they may conceive a just Horror of Crimes so
detestable in themselves, and so destructive to Society.
A fifth Source of Injustice is Slander. There are Men who would not game
another out of his Money, nor forge a Deed, tho’ they could obtain his
Estate with Security, nor run him thro’ the Body; yet shall, without
Scruple, butcher his Reputation with Slander. An unbecoming Levity of
Conversation and Behaviour is natural to many, who thereby do great Harm
without once being aware of it; but this, tho’ a great Evil in Society,
is Innocence, if compared with the Malevolence of others. There are Men
of such rancorous Hearts, of such malicious Natures, that they seem to
have nothing human but the Form; Wretches, who, to gratify their Spleen,
or to indulge a Pique, tear in Pieces the Good-name of those whose Merit
is perhaps superior to their own. All the moral Writers condemn this
censuring, cruel Humour; and a celebrated dramatic Poet[7] describes
very beautifully the superior Loss of Reputation to that of Riches. A
Man that is robbed on the High-way sees his Loss, and knows the worst of
it; but he who is levelled at from afar, or receives a Stab in the dark,
neither discovers his Enemy, nor knows where the Mischief will end. In
the great Family of the World, every one is furnished with Means for his
Support, be it more or less; all are in some Degree possessed of Power,
Genius, or Abilities to procure, if not a Fortune, at least Subsistence;
with what Face then does Mankind dare to frustrate the Intention of
Providence, by robbing another of that Reputation which he is labouring
to establish, and by which alone he is enabled to support his Wife, his
Children, and himself. With what Pretensions, or by what Authority do
they presume to strip another of the Merit he is possessed of? If I have
less Merit than another, let me labour to equal him; should I perchance
have more, let me not rob him of the little he is possessed of. But
Men of this detestable Spirit imagine, that in making others little,
they render themselves great; and thus unjustly use the Power they are
invested with, by abusing their Hearers Ears; prostituting their own
Tongues to the Destruction of others; and, lest Words should sometimes
be ineffectual, they add Nods, Winks, Shrugs, and whatever can express
Malice, Hatred, or Contempt. Pure Morality teaches us to throw a Veil
over others Faults; but Justice demands that we stifle not their Virtues,
much less pervert them: that is, we should be ready to acknowledge the
Merit due to them, but cannot deny it without the basest Injury.
Behold then what Justice requires of us! Parents who teach their Children
a Knowledge of Property, who inspire them with a Resolution never to
invade it in others, who teach them a Fairness in their Dealings, an
Exactness in paying their Debts, and a just Detestation of the Tricks of
sophisticating Goods, particularly Drugs, Wine, Food, and those things
that often elude our Senses, or affect our Health; who teach them to
obey the Laws of their Country, in avoiding all clandestine Trade, all
Commerce in prohibited or contraband Goods, and make them ashamed of
such Employments as require them to steal their Way through the World,
or skulk about in the dark; those Parents, I say, who do this, do well:
but that is not enough; they must check, nay conquer a babling censorious
Disposition, and create in its stead that generous Tenderness for others
that they would wish to meet with themselves: but above all, they must
inspire their Hearts and Lips with Justice, and imprint on their Souls a
Sense of the Baseness of Detraction, Calumny, and Slander.
Before I quit this Head, I must touch on a Species of Injustice
diametrically opposite to that we have been censuring: my Readers will
perhaps be surprized when I say it is Silence. So much is due to the
Cause of Justice, that we cannot always be silent without a Breach of
it. Men complain, and very justly, that true Honour is rare to be found;
yet, while this is granted, we must observe, that false Honour reigns in
it’s stead; but my Purpose here is, to consider how far it is an Act of
Injustice.
When a Man sets about a lawless Enterprize, his first Care is to engage
what he calls a Friend to second his Attempts, or at least to promise him
Secresy; but, to make it succeed, the Party employed is to be a Friend on
both Sides: here then is a manifest Injustice in the Silence of the third
Person, however innocent he may be otherwise. But what is the Principle
they act upon? Honour. What! shall I betray my Friend! has he not reposed
a Confidence in me? he has; and I will be faithful to it. Who can
reflect on the fatal Effects of this false Friendship, this mistaken
Honour, without trembling? Who is there, with any Knowledge of the World,
that has not seen Sorrow, Guilt, Destruction brought on Families by the
Connivance of a Servant, the Silence of a Brother, and the Weakness of
a Sister? What Barbarity in a favourite Maid to be the Instrument of a
young Lady’s Ruin, by conveying a Scrub into the very Family whose Bread
she eats; or at least sees her on the Brink of it, without speaking
a Word for her Preservation? How dreadful are those Friendships, how
preposterous that Silence, where a young Gentleman sees his Companion,
his Fellow-Clerk, levelling at the Destruction of an innocent Girl,
and not have the Soul to declare the guilty Design till too late? Or,
finally, where is the Sense, the Good-Nature, or the Justice of her who
sees a Brother taking fatal Steps, about to injure another’s Virtue, or
marry a Beggar, or ruin himself, and, as far as he has Power, his Parents
too, without once striking at the Root, by discovering his vicious
Intentions and Practices? Who that can distinguish Right from Wrong,
but must see the Injustice of this Silence? Parents therefore should
animate their Children with a Resolution never to enter into these false
Friendships, never to promise what is in it’s Nature wrong, nor ever to
promote or connive at another’s Harm, if in their Power to redress or
prevent it. But farther, Parents, in forming their Children’s Minds, are
in many Cases to adapt their Instructions to the Station of Life they
are expected to act in. Those of Condition must not see their Parents
injured, especially in a Matter of any Moment, and neglect to remove the
Fault: those who are to serve, besides Duty and Respect, owe Justice;
therefore must not only be faithful in their own Actions, but discover
any real Injustice in those of others; and particularly they must detest
with honest Scorn the being privy to an underhand Match. Laying Schemes,
conveying Letters, Concealments from the Parents, or Denials where Danger
is suspected, or otherwise contributing to the Ruin of a young Master or
Lady, even tho’ they could make their own Fortune by being in the Secret,
are Actions ever to be shunned, as they are base in their Nature, and
grossly unjust.