I have already established the principle, namely, that the earth, in its
natural uncultivated state was, and ever would have continued to be, the
_common property of the human race_; that in that state, every person
would have been born to property; and that the system of landed
property, by its inseparable connection with cultivation, and with what
is called civilized life, has absorbed the property of all those whom
it dispossessed, without providing, as ought to have been done, an
indemnification for that loss.
The fault, however, is not in the present possessors. No complaint is
intended, or ought to be alleged against them, unless they adopt the
crime by opposing justice. The fault is in the system, and it has stolen
imperceptibly upon the world, aided afterwards by the agrarian law of
the sword. But the fault can be made to reform itself by successive
generations; and without diminishing or deranging the property of any of
the present possessors, the operation of the fund can yet commence, and
be in full activity, the first year of its establishment, or soon after,
as I shall shew.
It is proposed that the payments, as already stated, be made to every
person, rich or poor. It is best to make it so, to prevent invidious
distinctions. It is also right it should be so, because it is in lieu of
the natural inheritance, which, as a right, belongs to every man, over
and above the property he may have created, or inherited from those who
did. Such persons as do not choose to receive it can throw it into the
common fund.
Taking it then for granted that no person ought to be in a worse
condition when born under what is called a state of civilization, than
he would have been had he been born in a state of nature, and that
civilization ought to have made, and ought still to make, provision for
that purpose, it can only be done by subtracting from property a portion
equal in value to the natural inheritance it has absorbed.
Various methods may be proposed for this purpose, but that which appears
to be the best (not only because it will operate without deranging any
present possessors, or without interfering with the collection of taxes
or emprunts necessary for the purposes of government and the revolution,
but because it will be the least troublesome and the most effectual, and
also because the subtraction will be made at a time that best admits it)
is at the moment that.. property is passing by the death of one person
to the possession of another. In this case, the bequeather gives
nothing: the receiver pays nothing. The only matter to him is, that
the monopoly of natural inheritance, to which there never was a right,
begins to cease in his person. A generous man would not wish it to
continue, and a just man will rejoice to see it abolished.
My state of health prevents my making sufficient inquiries with respect
to the doctrine of probabilities, whereon to found calculations with
such degrees of certainty as they are capable of. What, therefore, I
offer on this head is more the result of observation and reflection
than of received information; but I believe it will be found to agree
sufficiently with fact.
In the first place, taking twenty-one years as the epoch of maturity,
all the property of a nation, real and personal, is always in the
possession of persons above that age. It is then necessary to know, as a
datum of calculation, the average of years which persons above that age
will live. I take this average to be about thirty years, for though
many persons will live forty, fifty, or sixty years after the age of
twenty-one years, others will die much sooner, and some in every year of
that time.
Taking, then, thirty years as the average of time, it will give, without
any material variation one way or other, the average of time in which
the whole property or capital of a nation, or a sum equal thereto, will
have passed through one entire revolution in descent, that is, will have
gone by deaths to new possessors; for though, in many instances, some
parts of this capital will remain forty, fifty, or sixty years in the
possession of one person, other parts will have revolved two or three
times before those thirty years expire, which will bring it to that
average; for were one half the capital of a nation to revolve twice in
thirty years, it would produce the same fund as if the whole revolved
once.
Taking, then, thirty years as the average of time in which the whole
capital of a nation, or a sum equal thereto, will revolve once, the
thirtieth part thereof will be the sum that will revolve every year,
that is, will go by deaths to new possessors; and this last sum being
thus known, and the ratio per cent, to be subtracted from it determined,
it will give the annual amount or income of the proposed fund, to be
applied as already mentioned.
In looking over the discourse of the English minister, Pitt, in his
opening of what is called in England the budget, (the scheme of finance
for the year 1796,) I find an estimate of the national capital of that
country. As this estimate of a national capital is prepared ready to my
hand, I take it as a datum to act upon. When a calculation is made upon
the known capital of any nation, combined with its population, it will
serve as a scale for any other nation, in proportion as its capital and
population be more or less. I am the more disposed to take this estimate
of Mr. Pitt, for the purpose of showing to that minister, upon his own
calculation, how much better money may be employed than in wasting it,
as he has done, on the wild project of setting up Bourbon kings. What,
in the name of heaven, are Bourbon kings to the people of England? It is
better that the people have bread.
Mr. Pitt states the national capital of England, real and personal,
to be one thousand three hundred millions sterling, which is about
one-fourth part of the national capital of France, including Belgia. The
event of the last harvest in each country proves that the soil of France
is more productive than that of England, and that it can better support
twenty-four or twenty-five millions of inhabitants than that of England
can seven or seven and a half millions.
The thirtieth part of this capital of 1,300,000,000L. is 43,333,333L.
which is the part that will revolve every year by deaths in that country
to new possessors; and the sum that will annually revolve in France
in the proportion of four to one, will be about one hundred and
seventy-three millions sterling. From this sum of 43,333,333L. annually
revolving, is to be subtracted the value of the natural inheritance
absorbed in it, which, perhaps, in fair justice, cannot be taken at
less, and ought not to be taken for more, than a tenth part.
It will always happen, that of the property thus revolving by deaths
every year a part will descend in a direct line to sons and daughters,
and the other part collaterally, and the proportion will be found to be
about three to one; that is, about thirty millions of the above sum will
descend to direct heirs, and the remaining sum of 13,333,333L. to more
distant relations, and in part to strangers.
Considering, then, that man is always related to society, that
relationship will become comparatively greater in proportion as the next
of kin is more distant, it is therefore consistent with civilization to
say that where there are no direct heirs society shall be heir to a part
over and above the tenth part due to society. If this additional part be
from five to ten or twelve per cent., in proportion as the next of kin
be nearer or more remote, so as to average with the escheats that may
fall, which ought always to go to society and not to the government
(an addition of ten per cent, more), the produce from the annual sum of
43,333,333L. will be:
[Illustration: table361]
Having thus arrived at the annual amount of the proposed fund, I come,
in the next place, to speak of the population proportioned to this fund,
and to compare it with the uses to which the fund is to be applied.
The population (I mean that of England) does not exceed seven millions
and a half, and the number of persons above the age of fifty will in
that case be about four hundred thousand. There would not, however, be
more than that number that would accept the proposed ten pounds sterling
per annum, though they would be entitled to it. I have no idea it would
be accepted by many persons who had a yearly income of two or three
hundred pounds sterling. But as we often see instances of rich people
falling into sudden poverty, even at the age of sixty, they would always
have the right of drawing all the arrears due to them. Four millions,
therefore, of the above annual sum of 5,666,6667L. will be required for
four hundred thousand aged persons, at ten pounds sterling each.
I come now to speak of the persons annually arriving at twenty-one years
of age. If all the persons who died were above the age of twenty-one
years, the number of persons annually arriving at that age, must be
equal to the annual number of deaths, to keep the population stationary.
But the greater part die under the age of twenty-one, and therefore the
number of persons annually arriving at twenty-one will be less than half
the number of deaths. The whole number of deaths upon a population of
seven millions and an half will be about 220,000 annually. The number
arriving at twenty-one years of age will be about 100,000. The whole
number of these will not receive the proposed fifteen pounds, for the
reasons already mentioned, though, as in the former case, they would be
entitled to it. Admitting then that a tenth part declined receiving it,
the amount would stand thus:
[Illustration: table362]
There are, in every country, a number of blind and lame persons, totally
incapable of earning a livelihood. But as it will always happen that the
greater number of blind persons will be among those who are above
the age of fifty years, they will be provided for in that class. The
remaining sum of 316,666L. will provide for the lame and blind under
that age, at the same rate of 10L. annually for each person.
Having now gone through all the necessary calculations, and stated the
particulars of the plan, I shall conclude with some observations.
It is not charity but a right, not bounty but justice, that I am
pleading for. The present state of civilization is as odious as it is
unjust. It is absolutely the opposite of what it should be, and it is
necessary that a revolution should be made in it.(1) The contrast of
affluence and wretchedness continually meeting and offending the eye,
is like dead and living bodies chained together. Though I care as little
about riches, as any man, I am a friend to riches because they are
capable of good. I care not how affluent some may be, provided that
none be miserable in consequence of it. But it is impossible to enjoy
affluence with the felicity it is capable of being enjoyed, whilst so
much misery is mingled in the scene. The sight of the misery, and the
unpleasant sensations it suggests, which, though they may be suffocated
cannot be extinguished, are a greater drawback upon the felicity of
affluence than the proposed 10 per cent, upon property is worth. He that
would not give the one to get rid of the other has no charity, even for
himself.
1 This and the preceding sentence axe omitted in all
previous English and American editions.--_Editor._.
There are, in every country, some magnificent charities established by
individuals. It is, however, but little that any individual can do,
when the whole extent of the misery to be relieved is considered. He may
satisfy his conscience, but not his heart. He may give all that he
has, and that all will relieve but little. It is only by organizing
civilization upon such principles as to act like a system of pullies,
that the whole weight of misery can be removed.
The plan here proposed will reach the whole. It will immediately relieve
and take out of view three classes of wretchedness--the blind, the lame,
and the aged poor; and it will furnish the rising generation with means
to prevent their becoming poor; and it will do this without deranging
or interfering with any national measures. To shew that this will be the
case, it is sufficient to observe that the operation and effect of
the plan will, in all cases, be the same as if every individual were
_voluntarily_ to make his will and dispose of his property in the manner
here proposed.
But it is justice, and not charity, that is the principle of the plan.
In all great cases it is necessary to have a principle more universally
active than charity; and, with respect to justice, it ought not to be
left to the choice of detached individuals whether they will do justice
or not. Considering then, the plan on the ground of justice, it ought to
be the act of the whole, growing spontaneously out of the principles of
the revolution, and the reputation of it ought to be national and not
individual.
A plan upon this principle would benefit the revolution by the energy
that springs from the consciousness of justice. It would multiply also
the national resources; for property, like vegetation, increases
by offsets. When a young couple begin the world, the difference is
exceedingly great whether they begin with nothing or with fifteen pounds
apiece. With this aid they could buy a cow, and implements to cultivate
a few acres of land; and instead of becoming burdens upon society, which
is always the case where children are produced faster than they can be
fed, would be put in the way of becoming useful and profitable citizens.
The national domains also would sell the better if pecuniary aids were
provided to cultivate them in small lots.
It is the practice of what has unjustly obtained the name of
civilization (and the practice merits not to be called either charity
or policy) to make some provision for persons becoming poor and wretched
only at the time they become so. Would it not, even as a matter of
economy, be far better to adopt means to prevent their becoming poor?
This can best be done by making every person when arrived at the age
of twenty-one years an inheritor of something to begin with. The rugged
face of society, chequered with the extremes of affluence and want,
proves that some extraordinary violence has been committed upon it,
and calls on justice for redress. The great mass of the poor in all
countries are become an hereditary race, and it is next to impossible
for them to get cut of that state of themselves. It ought also to be
observed that this mass increases in all countries that are called
civilized. More persons fall annually into it than get out of it.
Though in a plan of which justice and humanity are the
foundation-principles, interest ought not to be admitted into the
calculation, yet it is always of advantage to the establishment of any
plan to shew that it is beneficial as a matter of interest. The success
of any proposed plan submitted to public consideration must finally
depend on the numbers interested in supporting it, united with the
justice of its principles.
The plan here proposed will benefit all, without injuring any. It will
consolidate the interest of the Republic with that of the individual.
To the numerous class dispossessed of their natural inheritance by the
system of landed property it will be an act of national justice. To
persons dying possessed of moderate fortunes it will operate as a
tontine to their children, more beneficial than the sum of money paid
into the fund: and it will give to the accumulation of riches a degree
of security that none of the old governments of Europe, now tottering on
their foundations, can give.
I do not suppose that more than one family in ten, in any of the
countries of Europe, has, when the head of the family dies, a clear
property left of five hundred pounds sterling. To all such the plan is
advantageous. That property would pay fifty pounds into the fund, and if
there were only two children under age they would receive fifteen pounds
each, (thirty pounds,) on coming of age, and be entitled to ten pounds
a-year after fifty. It is from the overgrown acquisition of property
that the fund will support itself; and I know that the possessors of
such property in England, though they would eventually be benefited by
the protection of nine-tenths of it, will exclaim against the plan. But
without entering into any inquiry how they came by that property, let
them recollect that they have been the advocates of this war, and that
Mr. Pitt has already laid on more new taxes to be raised annually upon
the people of England, and that for supporting the despotism of Austria
and the Bourbons against the liberties of France, than would pay
annually all the sums proposed in this plan.
I have made the calculations stated in this plan, upon what is called
personal, as well as upon landed property. The reason for making it upon
land is already explained; and the reason for taking personal property
into the calculation is equally well founded though on a different
principle. Land, as before said, is the free gift of the Creator in
common to the human race. Personal property is the effect of society;
and it is as impossible for an individual to acquire personal property
without the aid of society, as it is for him to make land originally.
Separate an individual from society, and give him an island or a
continent to possess, and he cannot acquire personal property. He cannot
be rich. So inseparably are the means connected with the end, in all
cases, that where the former do not exist the latter cannot be obtained.
All accumulation, therefore, of personal property, beyond what a man's
own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes
on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part
of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came.
This is putting the matter on a general principle, and perhaps it is
best to do so; for if we examine the case minutely it will be found that
the accumulation of personal property is, in many instances, the effect
of paying too little for the labour that produced it; the consequence
of which is, that the working hand perishes in old age, and the employer
abounds in affluence. It is, perhaps, impossible to proportion exactly
the price of labour to the profits it produces; and it will also be
said, as an apology for the injustice, that were a workman to receive
an increase of wages daily he would not save it against old age, nor be
much bet-ter for it in the interim. Make, then, society the treasurer to
guard it for him in a common fund; for it is no reason, that because he
might not make a good use of it for himself, another should take it.
The state of civilization that has prevailed throughout Europe, is as
unjust in its principle, as it is horrid in its effects; and it is the
consciousness of this, and the apprehension that such a state cannot
continue when once investigation begins in any country, that makes
the possessors of property dread every idea of a revolution. It is the
hazard and not the principle of revolutions that retards their progress.
This being the case, it is necessary as well for the protection of
property, as for the sake of justice and humanity, to form a system
that, whilst it preserves one part of society from wretchedness, shall
secure the other from depredation.
The superstitious awe, the enslaving reverence, that formerly surrounded
affluence, is passing away in all countries, and leaving the possessor
of property to the convulsion of accidents. When wealth and splendour,
instead of fascinating the multitude, excite emotions of disgust; when,
instead of drawing forth admiration, it is beheld as an insult upon
wretchedness; when the ostentatious appearance it makes serves to call
the right of it in question, the case of property becomes critical, and
it is only in a system of justice that the possessor can contemplate
security.
To remove the danger, it is necessary to remove the antipathies, and
this can only be done by making property productive of a national
blessing, extending to every individual. When the riches of one man
above another shall increase the national fund in the same proportion;
when it shall be seen that the prosperity of that fund depends on the
prosperity of individuals; when the more riches a man acquires, the
better it shall be for the general mass; it is then that antipathies
will cease, and property be placed on the permanent basis of national
interest and protection.
I have no property in France to become subject to the plan I propose.
What I have which is not much, is in the United States of America. But
I will pay one hundred pounds sterling towards this fund in rance, the
instant it shall be established; and I will pay the same sum in England
whenever a similar establishment shall take place in that country.
A revolution in the state of civilization is the necessary companion of
revolutions in the system of government. If a revolution in any country
be from bad to good, or from good to bad, the state of what is called
civilization in that country, must be made conformable thereto, to give
that revolution effect. Despotic government supports itself by abject
civilization, in which debasement of the human mind, and wretchedness
in the mass of the people, are the chief enterions. Such governments
consider man merely as an animal; that the exercise of intellectual
faculty is not his privilege; _that he has nothing to do with the laws
but to obey them _; (*) and they politically depend more upon breaking
the spirit of the people by poverty, than they fear enraging it by
desperation.
* Expression of Horsley, an English bishop, in the English
parliament.--Author.
It is a revolution in the state of civilization that will give
perfection to the revolution of France. Already the conviction that
government by representation is the true system of government is
spreading itself fast in the world. The reasonableness of it can be seen
by all. The justness of it makes itself felt even by its opposers. But
when a system of civilization, growing out of that system of government,
shall be so organized that not a man or woman born in the Republic but
shall inherit some means of beginning the world, and see before them
the certainty of escaping the miseries that under other governments
accompany old age, the revolution of France will have an advocate and an
ally in the heart of all nations.
An army of principles will penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot;
it will succeed where diplomatic management would fail: it is neither
the Rhine, the Channel, nor the Ocean that can arrest its progress: it
will march on the horizon of the world, and it will conquer.