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ESSAY II.

ON SECURITY TO PROPERTY.

WHATEVER may be the education or the acquired habitudes of individuals, or however great their desire of advancement in station, it seems to be indisputably certain, that few will apply themselves to industrious pursuits with any considerable degree of assiduity, unless they have full confidence that the reward of their labour is secure, and that they can preserve it at their own disposal.

The establishment of the right of property is essential to the progress of civilization, and where no such right is acknowledged and maintained, barbarism and indigence will prevail. In several countries of the East, where despotic monarchs rule, the reward of his toil is not secured to the labourer, and the lives and properties of all classes of society are at the sole disposal of a tyrant. It seems to be impossible, under such circumstances, that there can exist adequate motives for industrious exertion, beyond what is necessary to obtain the means of ordinary subsistence. No one will toil and patiently endure for the purpose of acquiring property, of

the enjoyment of which he is far from being assured. Indeed, the possession of wealth would probably endanger the life of its owner, by exciting the cupidity of his absolute master. In the capital of an absolute monarch, there generally exists, however, greater security for persons and property than under the petty tyrants who are appointed to rule over distant provinces. The present state of the Turkish dominions bears ample testimony to the justice of the preceding observations. Individuals, who are not placed in public employments, suffer but little from the oppression of the Sultan, or his ministers, at Constantinople; but the rulers over remote pachalicks plunder all without dis

tinction.

In every state of society the security of the lives and properties of individuals is held to be of the highest importance, and the greatest tyrants have generally thought it prudent to assign some plausible pretexts to palliate or excuse their violence and spoliation. In times that may almost be called barbarous, some regulations were adopted for general security. Of this nature is the law of primogeniture, by which the oldest son succeeds to the inheritance of a kingdom, and even of landed property. Had these been divided, the chiefs could not have afforded the same degree of protection' to their dependants, nor the sovereign to his subjects.

In the feudal times, when private war was not infrequent; when the will or caprice of a neighbouring baron became the law of the district over which his power extended; and when the cultivators of the soil were obliged to consult their safety by residing often in fortified towns; property was insecure, and no great exertions of industry were made for its acquisition. The uncertain issue of war, leaving in doubt who would enjoy the benefit of improvements, prevented any of importance from being undertaken. In such times the well-secured position of Venice, and the powerful league of the Hanseatic towns, afforded an asylum to the industrious, and protection to the wealthy. All the motives for engaging in industrious pursuits, and all that self-interest, which strongly influences the conduct of mankind, found there ample and free scope for action.

Some writers have considered that the declension of the wealth of Spain was caused by the influx of the precious metals into that country, from her colonies in America, and by the prohibition of their re-exportation. These circumstances are said to have reduced the value of gold and silver in Spain, and to have enhanced the money price of Spanish manufactures: this is no doubt correct. But the inferences from these premises; namely, that foreign manufactures could then compete more successfully than before, with the productions of national industry in the Spanish markets, is altoge

ther erroneous, as will satisfactorily be proved in a future Essay*. It is also affirmed, that the population of Spain was greatly diminished by numerous emigrations to the same colonies; on this point it is sufficient to observe, that had not the means of supporting the people been at the same time diminished, the gap which emigration occasioned would soon have been filled up. An increase of population, equal in number to the emigrants, had been encouraged by a superabundant supply of the means of subsistence. It is, however, no difficult matter to point out the causes which brought about, and are fully adequate to account for, the declension of the wealth, the depopulation of the provinces, and the diminution of the industry of Spain. The despotic rule of the government, the establishment of the inquisition, and its increasing tyranny, rendered all property, and even life, insecure.

The officers of the Spanish government in general, and those of the inquisition more especially, received with favour every secret, and every anonymous accusation. In the result, accusation was almost equal to conviction, for what innocence could prevail against the statements of witnesses, and the prepossessions of judges, all of whom were considered to be the more meritorious in the estimation of their superiors, the more numerous the prisoners that were pronounced to be guilty? For inquisitors

*See Essay VI.

frequently to agree in a sentence of complete acquittal would in some measure have been to declare their own incapacity, or their own want of zeal. Judges so lenient, or so lukewarm in a cause deemed to be holy, might have incurred the risk of being suspected of the same crimes, which they could not discover in the conduct of the parties denounced by anonymous accusation. In no state of civilized society, where industry is extensive, and the exchange of its productions is daily carried on, can many men be found without having at some time excited envy, or rivalry, or enmity in the ininds of others. By denouncing the object of these evil passions anonymously, or in secret, the most malicious found an easy means of gratifying some of the worst dispositions of the human mind. So ready a mode of indulgence in revenge, or of relief in jealousy, was not likely to become obsolete, or of infrequent practice. Had no victims been found, none suspected of disloyalty, or of heresies; had those who were accused been frequently declared innocent; then the spies of government and of the Holy Office would have become useless, and their employment at an end. The gratification of the most malevolent passions once indulged, may be compared to that of ravenous beasts of prey, which are said to find delight in no other food after having once tasted of human flesh. The horrors of the inquisition can alone justify a comparison so terrible to the human mind. In no country subjected to such a scourge as was this tribunal, worse

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