The Labor enquirer., 1883-11-24

ciplss Of mans liberty that the necessity
Of declaring them presupposes either the
presence q. or the resent remem brafloc
OF despotnm
XII.
The right Of private property can
justly be based upon no principle except
that having been produced by the per-
son in possession of it, or upon the pos
SCISSOR having rendered for it the. full
equivalent to the one who did produce
it. This rule can have no exceptions
save those created by the unanimous
consent of all members Of society.
XII.
So long as members of society shall
fulfill their portion of the social contract
they have right to demand of society
that it provide to them the means neces-
sary to provide for their subsistence So
ciety is bound also to insure the means
of existence to those who are incapable
of labor.
XIII.
Absolute justice is the right of every
being. The law is the free and SOL
emn expression of the public will, and
it must be equal for all. Society ought
to favor with all its power the progress
IS = +.
of public reason, and place instruction
and recreation within the reach of every
citizen. The people is the sovereign.
Government is its work and its property /;
the public functionaries are its agents
and officers, and the people justly should
have the power when it pleases to revoke
its mandatories or recall its servants.
The law can forbid only what is hurtful
to the people and can prescribe only
what's useful. Every law which violates
or infringes the imprescriptible right Of
man is void.
XIV.
In every just government the law
ought above all to defend public and in-
dividual liberty against the authority OF
those that govern. Every institution
that does not suppose the people good
and the magistrate corruptible, is vicious.
No part of the people can exercise the
power of the whole people but the wish
it expresses ought to be respected as a
wish of part of the people which is to
concur in forming the general will.
Every act against the imprescriptible
rights of man by whomsoeyer exercised,
even in the name of the law itself and
within the forms it prescribes every
such act is arbitrary and void. The very
respect due to law forbids submission to
| it, and if the attempt be made to execute
such act by violence or by artifce, it is
not only permitted but enjoined upon
every individual to repel such assaults
even by force. Resistance to oppression
is necessary consequence of the other
rights of man. There is oppression
against the social body whenever one
alone of its members is oppressed
There is oppression against every mem.
ber of it when the social body is op
pressed. When the government violates
the rights of the people. insurrection is
for the people and for every portion o.
the people the most sacred of rights and
the most Indispensable of duties. When
the social contract fails to protect citi,
zen he resumes his natural right to de
fend personally all his rights! In either
of the two preceding cases, to subject tc
legal forms the resistance to oppression
| is the last refinement to tyranny, and il
both infamous and void. ,
.-s XIV.
Public functions cannot be considered
as distinctions nor as recompenses, but
as public duties. The people ought, az
far as possible, to govern themselves
without the interposition of delegates OF
representatives. But when these repre-
sentatives are necessary they must be
selected by such system as will insure
their being real and not pretended mi,
crocosms of their constituents. The
crimes of such representatives should
be severely punished The people have
right to know the operations of theil
delegates, and it is the duty of the latter
to render to the people faithful ae,
count of their behavior. ... ~
XVI. r-
Men of all countries are brothers, and
the people of each ought to yield one
another mutual aid, according to theiI
ability, like citizens of the same state
He who opposes or oppresses one peo-
pie is the declared enemy of all. Those
who make war on people to arrest the
progress of liberty and to annihilate the
rights of man ought to be pursued every
where, not as ordinary criminals, but as
social outlaws, assassins and robbers.
Kings, aristocrats, tyrants of every de-
scription are beasts dangerous to the
welfare of mankind, and against them
shonld be raised the hand of every man.
XVII.
The conditions which will establish
universal happiness upon earth consist
in the free ENJOYMENT of the natural
rights of man, combined with the exer-
else of all his faculties upon the highest
plane of mental, moral and physical
worth. The best guarantee of the ex-