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RB.23

9
a.3159
From the Library of

ANNE RENIER
and
F. G. RENIER
 PANE

RB 23. a.31599

(1737)

574/158
 AGRARIAN JUSTICE,

I Being a Plan for Meliorating the

Condition of Man, &c.

By THOMAS PAINE ,

AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE, RIGHTS OF MAN, AGE OF

REASON, &c. &c.

PRICE ONE SHILLING.

Second Edition.
 e

BRITISH

Y
R AR
IBRAH
AGRARIAN JUSTICE ,

OPPOSED TO

AGRARIAN LAW,

AND TO

AGRARIAN MONOPOLY

BEING A PLAN FOR

MELIORATING THE CONDITION OF MAN,

By Creating in every Nation a

NATIONAL FUND ,

To Pay to every Perfon, when arrived at the Age of Twenty-one Years,

the Sum of Fifteen Pounds Sterling, to enable him or her to begin the
World ;
AND ALSO,
Ten Pounds Sterling per Annum during life to every Perfon now living
of the Age of Fifty Years, and to all others when they ſhall arrive at that
Age, to enable them to live in Old Age without Wretchedneſs, and go
"decently out of the World.

BY THOMAS PAINE ,
AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE , RIGHTS OF MAN, AGE OF
REASON , &c. &c.

PARIS :
Printed by W. ADLARD , Rue Menilmontant.

London :
Reprinted and fold by J. ADLARD, No. 39 , Duke Street, Smithfield,
and J. PARSONS , No. 21 , Paternoſter Row.
th

BRITISH

LIBRARY
 PREFACE.

HE following little Piece was written in

THE
the winter of 1795 and 96 ; and , as I had

not determined whether to publiſh it during the

prefent war, or to wait till the commencement

of a peace, it has lain by me, without alteration

or addition , from the time it was written.

What has determined me to publifh it now is,

a Sermon, preached by WATSON , Bishop of

Landaff. Some of my Readers will recollect ,

that this Biſhop wrote a Book, entitled An

Apology for the Bible, in anſwer to my Second

Part of the Age of Reafon. I procured a copy

of his book, and he may depend upon hearing

from me on that fubject .

B At
vi PREFACE .

At the end of the Biſhop's book is a Liſt of

the Works he has written , among which is the

Sermon alluded to ; it is entitled ,

" THE WISDOM AND GOODNESS OF GOD,

IN HAVING MADE BOTH RICH AND POOR ;

with an Appendix, containing REFLECTIONS

ON THE PRESENT STATE OF ENGLAND AND

FRANCE .'

The error contained in the title of this

Sermon , determined me to publiſh my

AGRARIAN JUSTICE . It is wrong to ſay that

God made Rich and Poor ; he made only Male

and Female ; and he gave them the earth for their

inheritance . *
*

Inſtead
 PREFACE . vii

1
Inſtead of preaching to encourage one part of

mankind in infolence

it would

be better that Prieſts employed their time to ren

der the general condition of man leſs miſerable

than it is . Practical religion confifts in doing

good ; and the only way of ferving God is, that

of endeavouring to make his creation happy .

All preaching that has not this for its object is

nonſenſe and hypocrify .

Thomas Paine.

B 2 AGRA
 AGRARIAN JUSTICE,

OPPOSED TO

AGRARIAN LAW,

AND TO AGRARIAN MONOPOLY,

BEING A PLAN FOR

Meliorating the Condition of Man , &c.

To preferve the benefits of what is called

то
civilized life, and to remedy, at the fame
time, the evils it has produced, ought to be con
fidered as one of the first objects of reformed
legiſlation.

Whether that ftate that is proudly, perhaps

erroneouſly, called civilization , has moſt promoted

or moft injured the general happineſs of man,
is a queſtion that may be ftrongly conteſted-
.
On one fide, the fpectator is dazzled by fplen
did appearances ; on the other he is fhocked

by
 ( 10 )

by extremes of wretchednefs ; both of which he

has erected . The moſt affluent and the moſt
miferable of the human race are to be found
in the countries that are called civilized .

To underſtand what the ſtate of fociety ought

to be, it is neceffary to have fome idea of the
natural and primitive ſtate of man ; fuch as it is
at this day among the Indians of North America.
There is not, in that ſtate, any of thofe fpectacles
of human mifery which poverty and want pre
fent to our eyes , in all the towns and ftreets
of Europe. Poverty, therefore; is a thing cre
ated by that which is called civilized life . It
exifts not in the natural ſtate . On the other

hand, the natural ftate is without thofe advan

tages which flow from Agriculture , Arts, Science,

and Manufactures ,

The life of an Indian is a continual holiday,

compared with the poor of Europe ; and, on
the other hand, it appears to be abject when
compared to the rich . Civilization, therefore ,

or that which is fo called , has operated , two

ways, to make one part of fociety more afflu,
ent, and the other part more wretched, than
would have been the lot of either in a natural
ſtate . teb

I
 ( II ) 1

It is always poffible to go from the natural to

the civilized ftate, but it is never poffible to go
from the civilized to the natural ſtate . The rea

fon is, that man, in a natural ftate , fubfifting by

hunting, requires ten times the quantity of land
to range over, to procure himſelf fuftenance , than
would fupport him in a civilized ftate, where the
earth is cultivated . When therefore a country

becomes populous by the additional aids of culti

K
vation , arts, and ſcience, there is a neceffity of
preferving things in that ftate ; becaufe, without
it, there cannot be fuftenance for more, perhaps,

than a tenth part of its inhabitants. The thing

therefore now to be done , is, to remedy the evils,
and preſerve the benefits, that have arisen to focie
ty, by paffing from the natural to that which is call
ed the civilized ſtate .

P
Taking then the matter up on this ground, the
first principle of civilization ought to have been,
and ought ftill to be, that the condition of every
perfon born into the world, after a ſtate of civiliza
tion commences, ought not to be worſe than if he
had been born before that period . But the fact is,
that the condition of millions , in every country in

Europe, is far worse than if they had been born

before civilization began, or had been born among
the Indians of North America of the preſent day.
I will fhew how this fact has happened .
It
 ( 12 )

It is a pofition not to be controverted, that the

earth, in its natural uncultivated ſtate, was, and
ever would have continued to be, the COMMON
PROPERTY OF THE HUMAN RACE . In that ſtate

every man would have been born to property. He

would have been a joint life -proprietor with the
reft in the property of the foil, and in all its natural
productions, vegetable and animal.

But the earth, in its natural ſtate, as before faid,

is capable of fupporting but a ſmall number of in
habitants compared with what it is capable of
"
doing in a cultivated ftate . And as it is impoffible
to ſeparate the improvement made by cultivation,
from the earth itfelf, upon which that improve
ment is made, the idea of landed property aroſe
from that infeparable connection ; but it is never
thelefs true, that it is the value of the improve
ment only, and not the earth itfelf, that is indivi
dual property. Every proprietor therefore ofculti
vated land, owes to the community a ground-rent ;
for I know no better term to expreſs the idea by,
for the land which he holds : and it is from this

ground-rent that the fund propofed in this plan is

to iffue .

It is deducible, as well from the nature of the

thing, as from all, the hiftories tranfmitted to us ,

3 that
 ( 13 )

that the idea of landed property commenced with

cultivation, and that there was no fuch thing as

landed property before that time . It could not
exift in the firft ftate of man, that of hunters. It
did not exift in the fecond ftate, that of fhepherds :
Neither Abraham, Ifaac, Jacob, or Job, fo far as
the hiftory of the Bible may be credited in probable
things, were owners of land. Their property con
fifted, as is always enumerated , in flocks and herds,
and they travelled with them from place to place.
The frequent contentions at that time about the
ufe of a well in the dry country of Arabia, where
thofe people lived, fhew alfo there was no landed
property. It was not admitted that land could be
located as property.

There could be no fuch thing as landed pro

perty originally. Man did not make the earth,

and, though he had a natural right to occupy it, he
had no right to locate as his property in perpetuity
anypart of it : neither did the Creato of the earth

open a land-office, from whence the firft title

deeds fhould iffue. From whence then aroſe the

idea of landed property ? I anfwer as before ,

that when cultivation began, the idea of landed
property began with it, from the impoffibility
of feparating the improvement made by culti
vation from the earth itfelf upon which that
improvement was made. The value of the im
C
provement
 ( 14 )

+
provement fo far exceeded the value of the na
tural earth, at that time, as to abforb it ; till, in
the end, the common right of all became con
founded into the cultivated right of the individual.
But they are nevertheleſs diftinct fpecies of rights,
and aufewill continue to be fo as long as the earth
endures.

It is only by tracing things to their origin, that

we can gain rightful ideas of them, and it is by
gaining fuch ideas that we difcover the boundary
that divides right from wrong, and which teaches
every man to know his own. 1 I have entitled this

tract Agrarian Juftice, to diftinguish it from Agrarian

Law. Nothing could be more unjuſt than Agra
轉
rian Law in a country improved by cultivation ;
for though every man, as an inhabitant of the

earth, is a joint proprietor of· it in its natural ſtate,

it does not follow that he is a joint proprietor of
cultivated earth . . The additional value made by
cultivation, after the fyftem was admitted, became
the property of thoſe who did it, or who inherited
it from them, or who purchaſed it. It had ori
ginally an owner. Whilft, therefore, I advocate
the right, and intereſt myſelf in the hard cafe of
all thoſe who have been thrown out of their na

tural inheritance by the introduction of the fyftem

of landed property, I equally defend the right of
the poffeffor to the part which is his.
Cultivation
 ( 15 )

Cultivation is, at leaſt, one of the greateft na

tural improvements ever made by human inven

tion. It has given to created earth a ten-fold
value. But the landed monopoly, that began with
it, has produced the greateſt evil. It has difpof
feffed more than half the inhabitants of every na
tion of their natural inheritance, without providing
for them, as ought to have been done, as an in
demnification for that lofs, and has thereby created
a fpecies of poverty and wretchedneſs that did not
exiſt before .

In advocating the cafe of the perfons thus dif

poffeffed, it is a right and not a charity that I am
pleading for. But it is that kind of right which,
being neglected at firft, could not be brought for- .
ward afterwards, till heaven had opened the way
by a revolution in the fyftem of government. Let
us then do honour to revolutions by juftice, and
give currency to their principles by bleffings .

Having thus, in a few words , opened the merits.

1 of the cafe, I proceed to the plan I have to pro

poſe, which is,

To create a National Fund, out of which there fhall

be paid to every perfon, when arrived at the age of
twenty-one years, the fum of Fifteen Pounds fterling,
as a compenfation in part for the loss of his or her natural
C 2 inheritance
 ( 16 )

inheritance by the introduction of the fyftem of landed

property.

AND ALSO,

The fum of Ten Pounds per annum, during life,

to every perfon now living of the age of fifty years,

and to all others as they fhall arrive 986
at that age.

MEANS BY WHICH THE FUND IS TO BE CREATED.

I have already eſtabliſhed the principle, namely,

that the earth, in its natural uncultivated ſtate, was,
and ever would have continued to be, the cOM
MON PROPERTY OF THE HUMAN RACE that in
that ftate every perfon would have been born to

property and that the ſyſtem of landed property,

by its infeparable connection with cultivation, and
with what is called civilized life, has abforbed the

property of + all thoſe whom it difpoffeffed, without

providing, as ought to have been done, an indem
nification for that lofs.

The fault, however, is not in the prefent pof

14
feffors . No complaint is intended, or ought to be
alledged againſt them, unleſs they adopt the crime
by oppofing juftice . The fault is in the fyftem,
and it has ftolen imperceptibly upon the world,

aided afterwards by the Agrarian law of the fword.

But the fault can be made to reform itſelf by fuc
ceffive
 ( 17 )

ceffive generations, without diminishing , or de

ranging the property of any of the prefent pof

feffors, and yet the operation of the fund can com

mence, and be in full activity the first year of its
eſtabliſhment, 4 or foon after, as I ſhall ſhew .

It is propofed that the payments , as already

ftated, be made to every perfon, rich or poor.. It
is beſt to make it fo, to prevent invidious diftinc
tions . It is alfo right it ſhould be fo, 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 thofe who

did. Such perfons as do not chufe to receive it,

can throw it into the common fund.

Taking it then for granted, that no perfon ought

to be in a worfe condition when born under what
is called a ſtate of civilization, than he would ‫ܡܨ ܕܪܚܗ ܗܘܢܬܐ‬
have been, had he been born in a ſtate of nature,
and that civilization ought to have made, and
1
ought ſtill to make, provifion for that purpofe, it
can only be done by fubtracting from property a
portion equal in value to the natural inheritance
it has abforbed .

Various methods may be propoſed for this pur

pofe, but that which appears to be the beſt, not
only becauſe it will operate without deranging
any
 ( 18 )

any prefent poffeffors, or without interfering with

the collection of taxes , or emprunts neceffary for
the purpoſe of government and the revolution,
but becauſe it will be the leaſt troubleſome and
the most effectual, and alſo becauſe the fubtrac
tion will be made at a time that beft admits it,
which is, at the moment that property is paffing
by the death of one perfon to the poffeffion of
another. In this cafe, the bequeather gives no
thing ; 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 perfon . A generous man
would not wiſh it to continue, and a juſt man will
rejoice to ſee it aboliſhed .

My ftate of health prevents my making fuffi

cient enquiries with refpect to the doctrine of
probabilities , whereon to found calculations with
fuch degrees of certainty as they are capable of.
What, therefore, I offer on this head is more the
refult of obfervation and reflection, than of received
information ; but I believe it will be found to agree

fufficiently enough with fact.

In the firſt place, taking twenty-one years as the

epoch of maturity, all the property of a nation , real
and perfonal, is always in the poffeffion of perfons
above that age. It is then neceffary to know as
a datum
 ( 19 )
1

a datum of calculation, the average of years which

perfons above that age will live . I take this aver

age to be about thirty years, for though many
perfons will live forty, fifty, or fixty years after
the age of twenty-one years, others will die much

fooner, and fome 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 fum

equal thereto, will have paffed through one entire
. revolution in defcent, that is, will have gone by

deaths to new poffeffors ; for though, in many in

ſtances, fome parts of this capital will remain
forty, fifty, or fixty years in the poffeffion of one
perfon, other parts will have revolved two or three
times before that 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 fame 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 fum
equal thereto, will revolve once, the thirtieth
part thereof will be the fum that will revolve
every year, that is, will go by deaths to new

poffeffors ; and this laft fum being thus known ,

and
3
 ( 20 )

and the ratio per cent . to be fubtracted from it

being determined, will give the annual amount of
income of the propofed fund, to be applied as al
ready mentioned .

In looking over the difcourfe of the Engliſh

Minifter, 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 ca

pital of that country. As this eftimate of a na

tional capital is prepared ready to my hand, I také

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 ferve as a
fcale for any other nation, in proportion as its
capital and population be more or lefs. I am the
more difpofed to take this eſtimate of Mr. Pitt, for
the purpofe of fhewing to that Minifter, upon his
own calculation, how much better money may be
employed, than in wafting it, as he has done, on
the wild project of fetting up Bourbon kings.
kings
What, in the name of Heaven, are Bourbon
to the people of England ? It is better that the
people have bread.

Mr. Pitt ftates the national capital of England,

real and perfonal, to be one thouſand three hun
dred millions fterling, which is about one-fourth
part of the national capital of France, including
Belgia,
 ( 21 )

Belgia . The event of the laſt harveſt in each

country proves that the foil of France is more pro
ductive than that of England, 感 and that it can bet
ter fupport twenty-four or twenty-five millions of
inhabitants than that of England can ſeven , or ſeven
and an half.

The 30th part of this capital of £.1,300,000,000

is £ .43,333,333 , which is the part that will revolve

every year by deaths in that country to new

poffeffors ;and the fum that will annually re
volve in France in the proportion of four to one,
will be about one hundred and feventy-three

millions ſterling. From this fum of £.43,333,333

annually revolving, is to be fubtracted the value
of the natural inheritance abforbed in it, which

perhaps, in fair juftice, cannot be taken at lefs,

and ought not to be taken at more, than a tenth
part.

It will always happen, that of the property

thus revolving by deaths every year, part will
defcend in a direct line to fons and daughters ,
and the other part collaterally, and the propor
tion will be found to be about three to one ; that
is , about 30 millions of the above fum will de
fcend to direct heirs, and the remaining fum of
£ 13,333,333 to more diftant relations, and part
to ſtrangers.
D Confidering
 22 )

Confidering then that man is always related to

fociety, that relationſhip will become compara
tively greater in proportion as the next of kin is
more diftant . It is therefore confiftent with civi

lization to ſay that where there are no direct heirs,

fociety fhall be heir to a part oyer and above the
tenth part due to fociety. 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 efcheats that may fall, which
ought always to go to fociety and not to the
government, an addition of ten per cent. more,
the produce from the annual fum of £.43,333,333
will be,

From 30,000,000 -at ten per cent • · • 3,000,000

From 13,333,333 at 10 per cent . with
the addition of 10 2,666,666
per cent. more · J

£ • 43,333333 . · · £.5,666,666

Having thus arrived at the annual amount of the

propofed fund, I come, in the next place, to ſpeak

of the population proportioned to this fund, and to
compare it with ufes to which the fund is to be

applied.

The population ( I mean that of England) does

not exceed feven millions and a half, and the num

ber of perfons above the age of fifty will in that cafe

be
 ( 23 )
1
be about four hundred thoufand. There would not
however be more than that number that would ac

cept the propofed ten pounds fterling per annum ,

though they would be entitled to it. I have no idea

it would be accepted by many perfons who had a

yearlyincome of two or three hundred pounds fterling.
But as we often ſee inſtances of rich people falling
into fudden poverty, even at the age of fixty, they
wouldalways have the right of drawing all the arrears
due to them.- Four millions, therefore, of the above
annual fum of £ .5,666,666 , will be required for
four hundred thouſand aged perfons, at ten pounds
fterling each.

I come now to ſpeak of the perfons annually ar

riving at twenty-one years of age. If all the per
fons who died were above the age of twenty- one

years, the number of perfons , 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 perfons annually arriving

at twenty-one, will be lefs than half the number of

deaths . The whole number of deaths upon a popu
lation of feven millions and a half, will be about
220,000 annually. Thenumber arriving at 21 years of
agewill be about 100,000. The whole number ofthefe
will not receive the propofed fifteen pounds, for the
reaſons already mentioned, though, as in the former
D2 cafe
 ( 24 )

cafe , they would be intitled to it. Admitting then

that a tenth part declined receiving it, the amount
would ftand thus :

Fund annually . • £ • 5,666,666

To 400,000 aged perfons

at £. 10 each .. £• 4,000,000
To .. 90,000 perſons of 21
years, £. 15 fteriing each 1,850,000
5,350,000

remains £.316,666

There are in every country a number of blind and

lame perfons , 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 clafs . The remaining fum of £.316,666, will

provide for the lame and blind under that age, at the
fame rate of£.10 annually for each perſon.

Having now gone through all the neceffary cal

culations, and ſtated the particulars of the plan, I
fhall conclude with fome obfervations .

It is not charity but a right- not bounty but

juftice, that I am pleading for. The preſent ſtate
of what is called civilization, is
It is the reverfe of what it ought to be, and
The contraft of af
fluence
 ( 25 )

fluence and wretchednefs 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 fome may
be, provided that none be miſerable in conſequence
· of it. But it is impoffible to enjoy affluence with

the felicity it is capable of being enjoyed, whilſt ſo

much mifery is mingled in the fcene. The fight of
the miſery, and the unpleaſant ſenſations it fuggefts ,
which though they may be fuffocated cannot be ex
tinguiſhed, are a greater draw-back upon the felicity
of affluence than the propofed 10 per cent, upon pro
perty is worth. He that would not give the one to
get rid of the other, has no charity, even for himſelf.

There are in every country fome magnificent

charities eſtabliſhed by individuals . It is however
but little that any individual can do when the whole
extent of the mifery to be relieved be confidered .
He may fatisfy his confcience, but not his heart. He
TH may give all that he has, and that all will relieve but

little. It is only by organizing civilization upon

fuch principles as to act like a fyftem of pullies, that

the whole weight of mifery can be removed.

The plan here propoſed will reach the whole.

It will immediately relieve and take out of view
three claffes of wretchednefs. The blind, the lame,
and
 ( 26 )

1
and the aged poor ; and it will furniſh the rifing
generation with means to prevent their becoming
poor ; and it will do this, without deranging or in
terfering with any national meaſures. To fhew that
this will be the cafe, it is fufficient to obferve, that

the operation and effect of the plan will, in all cafes,

be the fame, as if every individual were voluntarily
to make his will , and difpofe of his property, in the
manner here propoſed.

But it is juſtice and not charity, that is the prin

ciple of the plan . In all great cafes it is neceffary
to have a principle more univerfally active than
charity ; and with refpect to juſtice, it ought not to
1
be left to the choice of detached individuals, whether
they will do juftice or not. Confidering then the
plan on the ground ofjustice, it ought to be the act
of the whole, growing fpontaneouſly out of the prin
ciples of the revolution , and the reputation of it to be
national and not individual.

A plan upon this principle would benefit the re

volution by the energy that fprings from the confci
oufnefs ofjustice. It would multiply alfo the nati
onal refources ; for property, like vegetation , encreaſ- ·
es by off-ſets . When a young couple begins the
world, the difference is exceedingly great whether
they begin with nothing or with fifteen pounds a
piece. With this aid they could buy a cow, and
implements
 ( 27 )

implements to cultivate a few acres of land ; and

inſtead of becoming burthens upon fociety, which
is always the cafe, where children are produced faſter
than they can be fed, would be put in the way of be
coming uſeful and profitable citizens. The natio
nal domains alſo would fell the better, if pecuniary
aids were provided to cultivate them in fmall 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 fome pro
vifion for perfons becoming poor and wretched , only
at the time they become fo.- Would it not, even as
a matter of economy, be far better, to devife means
to prevent their becoming poor. This can best be
done by making every perfon, when arrived at the
age of twenty-one years, an inheritor of fomething
to begin with. The rugged face of fociety, che
quered with the extremes of affluence and of want,
proves that fome extraordinary violence has been

committed upon it, and calls on juſtice for redreſs .

The great maſs of the poor, in all countries, are be
come an hereditary race, and it is next to impoffible
for them to get out of that ftate of themſelves. It
ought alſo to be obferved, that this mafs increaſes
in all the countries that are called civilized . More

perfons fall annually into it, than get out of it.

Though
 ( 28 )

Though in a plan, in which juſtice and humani+

ty are the foundation-principles, intereft , ought not
to be admitted into the calculation , yet it is always
of advantage to the eſtabliſhment of any plan, to
fhew that it is beneficial as a matter of intereſt. The

fuccefs of any propofed plan, fubmitted to public

confideration, muft 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 confolidate the intereft of
the republic with that of the individual . To the
numerous claſs difpoffeffed of their natural inheri
tance by the ſyſtem of landed property, it will be
an act of national juftice. To perfons dying pof
feffed of moderate fortunes, it will operate as a ton
tine to their children, more beneficial than the fum
of money paid into the fund and it will give to the
accumulation of riches a degree of fecurity that none

of the old governments of Europe, now tottering

on their foundations, can give.

I do not fuppofe 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 fterling. To all fuch the plan

is advantageous. That property would pay fifty
pounds into the fund, and if there were only two
3 children
 ( 29 )

children under age, they would receive fifteen pounds

each (thirty pounds) on coming of age, and be en
titled to ten pounds a year after fifty. It is from
the overgrown acquifition of property that the fund
will fupport itſelf ; and I know that the poffeffors
of fuch 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 enquiry 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 an
nually upon the people of England, and that for
fupporting the defpotifm of Auſtria and the Bour
bons, againſt the liberties of France, than would an
nually pay all the fums propofed in this plan.

I have made the calculations, ftated 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 perſo
nal property into the calculation, is equally well
founded, though on a different principle. Land, as
before faid, is the free gift of the Creator in com
mon to the human race. Perfonal property is the

effect of Society ; and it is as impoffible for an indi

vidual to acquire perfonal property without the aid
of Society, as it is for him to make land originally.
Separate an individual from fociety, and give him
E an
 ( 30 )

an iſland or a continent to poffefs, and he cannot

acquire perfonal property. He cannot become

rich. So infeparably are the means connected with

the end, in all cafes , that where the former do not
exist, the latter cannot be obtained. All accumu
lation therefore of perfonal property, beyond what
a man's own hands produce, is derived to him by
living in fociety ; and he owes, on every principle
of juſtice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part
of that accumulation back again to fociety from
whence the whole came. This is putting the

matter on a general principle, and perhaps it is

beft to do fo ; 意 for if we examine the cafe mi
nutely, it will be found, that the accumulation of
·
perfonal property is, in many inſtances, the effect

of paying too little for the labour that produced

it ; the confequence of which is, that the work
ing hand periſhes in old age, and the employer
abounds in affluence. It is perhaps impoffible to

proportion exactly the price of labour to the pro

fits it produces ; and it will alſo be faid, as an
apology for injuftice, that were a workman to
receive an increaſe of wages daily, " he would not
fave it against old age nor be much the better
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 ufc of it for himſelf that another fhall
take it.
**
The
 ( 31 )

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 apprehenfion that fuch a ſtate can

not continue when once inveſtigation begins in any
country, that makes the poffeffors of property dread
every idea of a revolution . It is the hazard and not

the principles of a revolution that retards their pro

grefs. This being the cafe, it is neceffary, as well
for the protection of property, as for the fake of
juſtice and humanity, to form a fyftem, that whilit
it preferves one part of fociety from wretchedneſs,
ſhall ſecure the other from depredation .

The fuperftitious awe, the enfläving reverence ,

that formerly furrounded affluence, is paffing away
in all countries, and leaving the poffeffor of property
to the convulfion of accidents. When wealth and

fplendour, inſtead of fafcinating the multitude, ex

cite emotions of diſguſt ; when, inſtead of drawing
• forth admiration, it is beheld as an infult upon
wretchedneſs : when the oftentatious appearance it
makes ferves to call the right of it in queſtion ,
the cafe of property becomes critical, and it is only
in a ſyſtem of juſtice that the poffeffor can con
template fecurity.

To remove the danger, it is neceffary to remove

the antipathies, and this can only be done by mak
E2 ing
 >
( 32 )

ing property productive of a national bleffing, ex

tending to every individual . When the riches of
one man above another fhall increaſe the national

fund in the fame proportion ; when it fhall be feen

that the proſperity of that fund depends on the
profperity of individuals ; when the more riches
a man acquires, the better it ſhall be for the general
mafs ; it is then that antipathics will ceafe, and pro
perty be placed on the permanent bafis of national
intereft and protection .

I have no property in France to become fubject

to the plan I propofe. What I have, which is not
much, is in the United States of America. But I
will
" pay one hundred pounds fterling towards this
fund in France, the inftant it ſhall be eſtabliſhed ;
and I will pay the fame fum in England, whenever
a fimilar eſtabliſhment ſhall take place in that
country.

A revolution in the ſtate of civilization , is the

neceffary companion of revolutions in the fyftem 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

effects. Defpotic government fupports itſelf by
abject civilization , in which debaſement of the hu
man mind, and wretchedneſs in the mafs of the

people,
 ( 33 )

people, are the chief criterians. Such governments

confider man merely as an animal ; that the exer
eife 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
fpirit of the people by poverty, than they fear en

raging it by defperation .

It is a revolution in the ftate of civilization , that

will give perfection to the revolution of France.
Already the conviction that government, by repre
fentation, is the true fyftem of government, isfpread
ing itſelf faft in the world. The reaſonableness of
it can be ſeen by all. The juftnefs of it makes itſelf
felt even by its oppofers. But when a fyftem of ci

vilization, growing out of that fyftem of govern

ment, ſhall be ſo organized , that not a man or
woman born in the republic, but fhall inherit fome
means of beginning the world, and fee before them
the certainty of eſcaping the miferies, that under
other governments accompany old age, the revolu
tion 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 foldiers cannot- It will fucceed where di

* Expreffion of Horſley, an Engliſh Biſhop, in the Engliſh parliament.

3 plomatic
 ( 34 )

plomatic 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,

Thomas Paine.
 ( 35 )

Meansfor carrying the propofed Plan" into execution,

and to render it at the fame time conducive to the
public Intereft.

I.

Each canton ſhall elect in its primary affemblies,

three perfons, as commiffioners for that canton, who
ſhall take cognizance, and keep a regiſter of all
matters happening in that canton , conformable o
the charter that ſhall be eſtabliſhed by law, for car
rying this plan into execution.

II.

The law fhall fix the manner in which the pro

perty of deceaſed perfons fhall be afcertained .

III.

When the amount of the property of any deceaſed

perfon fhall be afcertained, the principal heir to
that property, or the eldeft of the co-heirs, if of
lawful age, or if under age, the perſon authorized

by the will of the deceaſed to reprefent him, or

them, fhall give bond to the commiffioners of the
Canton, to pay the ſaid tenth part thereof, within
the fpace of one year, in four equal quarterly pay
ments, or fooner, at the choice of the payers. One
half of the whole property ſhall remain as fecurity
until the bond be paid off.
IV.
 ( 36 )

IV.

The bonds fhall be regiſtered in the office of the

commiffioners of the canton, and the original bonds
fhall be depofited in the national bank at Paris .
The bank fhall publiſh every quarter of a year the
amount of the bonds in its poffeffion, and alfo the
bonds that ſhall have been paid off, or what parts
thereof, fince the last quarterly publication.

V.

The national bank fhall iffue bank notes upon the

fecurity of the bonds in its poffeffion. The notes

fo iffued, fhall be applied to pay the penfions of aged
perfons, and the compenfations to perfons arriving
at twenty-one years of age. -It is both reaſonable
and generous to fuppofe, that perſons not under
immediate neceffity, will fufpend their right of
drawing on the fund , until it acquire, as it will do, a
greater degree of ability. In this cafe, it is propofed,
that an honorary regiſter be kept in each canton, of
the names of the perfons thus fufpending that right,
at leaft during the prefent war.

VI.

As the inheritors of property muſt always take up

their bonds in four quarterly payments, or fooner if
they
 ( 37 )

theychufe, there will always be numeraire arriving at

the bank after the expiration of the first quarter, to

exchange for the bank notes that ſhall be brought

in.

VII.

The bank notes being thus got into circulation,

upon the beſt of all poffible fecurity, that of " actual
property to more than four times the amount of the
bonds upon which the notes are iffued, and with nu
meraire continually arriving at the bank to ex
change or pay them off whenever they ſhall be pre
fented for that purpoſe, they will acquire a perma

nent value in all parts of the republic . They can

therefore be received in payment of taxes or em

prunts, equal to numeraire, becauſe the govern

ment can always receive numeraire for them at the
bank.

VIII.

It will be neceffary that the payments of the ten

per cent. be made in numeraire for the first year,
from the cſtabliſhment of the plan. But after the

expiration of the firſt year, the inheritors of pro

perty may pay the ten per cent. either in bank notes

iffued upon the fund , or in numeraire. If the pay

ments be in numeraire, it will lie as a depoſit at the

3 bank,
 ( 38 )

bank , to be exchanged for a quantity of notes equal

to that amount ; and if in note iffued upon the
fund, it will caufe a demand upon the fund equal
thereto ; and thus the operation of the plan will
create means to carry itſelf into execution.

Finis.

ISH

ARY
CIRU
AR
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