know to-day that taxation, to be equitably divided, must be graduated, and must be borne mainly by the rich,--that it must be levied upon luxuries, &c.And be sure that the people, once in the majority in the Chamber, will not fail to apply these lessons.Already we have a minister of public works.National workshops will follow; and soon, as a consequence, the excess of the proprietor's revenue over the workingman's wages will be swallowed up in the coffers of the laborers of the State.Do you not see that in this way property is gradually reduced, as nobility was formerly, to a nominal title, to a distinction purely honorary in its nature?
In "Mazaniello," the Neapolitan fisherman demands, amid the applause of the galleries, that a tax be levied upon luxuries.
_Seme le champ, proletaire;
C'est l l'oisif qui recoltera_.
Either the electoral reform will fail to accomplish that which is hoped from it, and will disappoint its innumerable partisans, or else it will inevitably result in a transformation of the absolute right under which we live into a right of possession;that is, that while, at present, property makes the elector, after this reform is accomplished, the citizen, the producer will be the possessor.Consequently, the radicals are right in saying that the electoral reform is in their eyes only a means; but, when they are silent as to the end, they show either profound ignorance, or useless dissimulation.There should be no secrets or reservations from peoples and powers.He disgraces himself and fails in respect for his fellows, who, in publishing his opinions, employs evasion and cunning.Before the people act, they need to know the whole truth.Unhappy he who shall dare to trifle with them! For the people are credulous, but they are strong.Let us tell them, then, that this reform which is proposed is only a means,--a means often tried, and hitherto without effect,--but that the logical object of the electoral reform is equality of fortunes; and that this equality itself is only a new means having in view the superior and definitive object of the salvation of society, the restoration of morals and religion, and the revival of poetry and art.
"In some countries, the enjoyment of certain political rights depends upon the amount of property.But, in these same countries, property is expressive, rather than attributive, of the qualifications necessary to the exercise of these rights.It is rather a conjectural proof than the cause of these qualifications."--Rossi: Treatise on Penal Law.
This assertion of M.Rossi is not borne out by history.Property is the cause of the electoral right, not as a PRESUMPTION OFCAPACITY,--an idea which never prevailed until lately, and which is extremely absurd,--but as a GUARANTEE OF DEVOTION TO THEESTABLISHED ORDER.The electoral body is a league of those interested in the maintenance of property, against those not interested.There are thousands of documents, even official documents, to prove this, if necessary.For the rest, the present system is only a continuation of the municipal system, which, in the middle ages, sprang up in connection with feudalism,--an oppressive, mischief-making system, full of petty passions and base intrigues.
It would be an abuse of the reader's patience to insist further upon the tendency of our time towards equality.There are, moreover, so many people who denounce the present age, that nothing is gained by exposing to their view the popular, scientific, and representative tendencies of the nation.
Prompt to recognize the accuracy of the inferences drawn from observation, they confine themselves to a general censure of the facts, and an absolute denial of their legitimacy."What wonder," they say, "that this atmosphere of equality intoxicates us, considering all that has been said and done during the past ten years!...Do you not see that society is dissolving, that a spirit of infatuation is carrying us away? All these hopes of regeneration are but forebodings of death; your songs of triumph are like the prayers of the departing, your trumpet peals announce the baptism of a dying man.Civilization is falling in ruin: _Imus, imus, praecipites_!"Such people deny God.I might content myself with the reply that the spirit of 1830 was the result of the maintenance of the violated charter; that this charter arose from the Revolution of '89; that '89 implies the States-General's right of remonstrance, and the enfranchisement of the communes; that the communes suppose feudalism, which in its turn supposes invasion, Roman law, Christianity, &c.
But it is necessary to look further.We must penetrate to the very heart of ancient institutions, plunge into the social depths, and uncover this indestructible leaven of equality which the God of justice breathed into our souls, and which manifests itself in all our works.
Labor is man's contemporary; it is a duty, since it is a condition of existence: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." It is more than a duty, it is a mission: "God put the man into the garden to dress it." I add that labor is the cause and means of equality.
Cast away upon a desert island two men: one large, strong, and active; the other weak, timid, and domestic.The latter will die of hunger; while the other, a skilful hunter, an expert fisherman, and an indefatigable husbandman, will overstock himself with provisions.What greater inequality, in this state of Nature so dear to the heart of Jean Jacques, could be imagined! But let these two men meet and associate themselves:
