Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1840-11-06
" THE PEOPLES OWN BOOK"

Chap. ~ Translated from He French.
1t is not enough that you know your rights;
you must also know your duties for the prac-
tice of duty is not less necessary than the en-
ioyment Of right to the maintenance of that or
der willed by the Creator, and without which
you have nothing to hope in this world. Right
is the guaranty Of your individual existence
and liberty it is your liberty ITSELF it makes
you person, and not mere thing to be used
according to the caprice Of the first conner. But
it is not all to exist-it is not all to be free. In
the whole universe no being lives entirely sc-
lated, resting upon itself, nourished by itself
alone They all give to receive; they receive
to give; and life would every where cease were
it not fer this mutual giving to and receiving
from each other
Who could entirely dispense with the assist
ance of others! We need it in infancy, we
need it in sickness, we need it in age, VIC need
it ON all occasons,at all time7. Picture TO your
self solitary mar, unconnccted with his kind
receiving nothing from others, returning nothing
to them he would be the savage in tie wilder
ness-hc would be less than the savage, for the
savage lives in his family, in society; he would
be even less than the animal, who has his mate
and his little ones, with whom hc rccprocates
Offices of Kindness and often also associates with
others of the same species, either for common
labor, or mutual defence. A man isolated from
all others, necessarily from that moment depr-
we'd of language, intelligence and love, would
be sort Of monster, without origin, without tic.
without name, an undefnable something thai,
would be regarded with terror.
Now if sympathy, if instinct, bring together
animals according to laws proper to them, duty
unitcs free and morally responsible beings 1t
is the basis of society, the indispensable cond-
ton Of common existence. Right conccntrcs
each one in himself; for its immediate end be-.
ing the preservation Of the individual, all right,
by its nature, is individual and the people, in
this conncxon, are but collective individual.
To claim right, is to demand something for
ones SELF Mere right, separated from duty,
would be mere selishness, and, consequently,
according to the Old axiom, supreme injustice.
What is injustice, in fact, save the absolute pre-.
ference of ones self TO commit murder,
robbery, or any crime whatever, is but to sacri-
fee others to passion, to avaricc, to exclusive
individual interest. Duty, on the contrary, with
draws ones attention from himself; for its end
is the good, tha preservation of all. To accom-.
plsh duty, is to do something useful to others
Right is sacred since it is the conservative prin.
ciple of the individual, the primitive element o.
society, and its necessary foundation. Duty is
sacred, since it is the conservative principle o.
society, with which no Individual could deyc!ope
himself nor even subsist.
How happy would the world be-, and how rap
Idly would the human race advance in the path
it should necessarily pursue, were right always
respected, and duty always fulfilled This mar
velous order, these beautiful and touching har
monies, whence come they! From the sun
whence pour nexhaustible foods Of light ant
life, down to the spring. that drop by drop ex
udes from the rock, all is ordered for givcI
end, to which all contribute in an infinite variet,
of ways, that are the more admired the NOR,
they are contemplated. That which is done
through blind Impulse by unreasoning brutes
man should do freely. lie ought, in subordina
ton to the whole body of which no is member
TO love bis brothers as himself, to desire the
good as he desires his own; to rejoice in the
Joy, to griye for their sorrows, to aid them, t.
serve them, to identify himself with thcm de-
vote himself for them, and thus endeavor, by q
constantly extending union, both among indi-
yiduas and nations, to consummate the holy
unity, friendship and happiness Of all mankind
Between virtue and vice there is no middle
bath