Virtue is always an appellant to justice. It is manifested by the acts
of an intelligent being of correct and benevolent motives, contributing
to the general good. Consequently an act, however benevolent may have
been the motive of the actor, cannot be a virtuous act if it have an
evil tendency. Ignorance can never be virtue: so, no man can be virtuous
who acts from a wicked motive, however beneficial may be the result. The
motive must be pure, and the effect good, before the act or the actor is
virtuous. A man, may be virtuous, but in so low a degree as to not merit
the appellation: we must compare what he does, with what he has the
power of doing. The widow’s mite may be an example.
We submit the inquiry—Is not the deduction clear, that men are not
equal—neither physically, religiously, mentally, or morally? Can they
then be so politically? Will not the proposition be correct, that
political equality can never exist with an inequality in these previous
terms?
Raynal has said, we think correctly, “that equality will always be an
unintelligible fiction, so long as the capacities of men are unequal,
and their claims have neither guarantee nor sanction by which they can
be enforced.” “On a dit que nous avions tous les mêmes droits. J'ignore
ce que c'est que les mêmes droits, où il y a inégalitè de talens ou de
force, et nulle garantie, nulle sanction.” _Raynal, Revolution
d'Amerique_, p. 34.
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