New-York tribune., 1895-02-10
NATURAL RIGHTS.
PROFESSOR RITCHIE ARGUES THAT
NONE EXISTS

NATURAL RIGHTS; 4 Criticism q a Some some, Pc .
Richie. ~. A.. Professor OF logic ana Meta
Pp xvi. soa. Macmillan & Co. Library OF
Philosophy.
The Declaration OF Independence asserts as
self-evident truths that all men are created
equal and that they are endowed by their Gre
ator with certain inalienable rights which
usually mentioned in this country with consider
able pomr and ceremony about the Fourth of
July. Professor Ritchie insists that there must
be some mistake about the matter. Even with
regard 10 life he seems to occupy the position
OF that French Minister who to an office-seekers S
plea that he must live replied II do not see
the necessity" He intimates that the Declara-
tion OF independence was really a declaration OF
war and that it must be viewed in the light OF
the struggle which followed. Statements which
may be quite true in particular case are not
therefore true for all times and places This IS
illustrated by the doctrine OF predestnatlph
which troubles many at the present day. How
was 1t that opinion which seems TO SAVIOR
Of fatalism could have been the inspiration of
men who were the sturdest defenders of lib
erty in their time? Because. answers Professor
Ritchie il put a fierce negative upon a belief
which was sapping the strength Of the Christian
world II divine power alone could save men.
then the magical effect attributed to the minis
tratons of the priesthood and the superstitious
observance Of rites was to be denied and men
were free from bondage in which they had
hitherto willingly served AS a negation the
doctrine was of wonderful value. But now that
the abuses which it counteracted have been re-
moved in large part ii has ceased to be a s;imu-
lus to humanity and has become a burden 1t
will easily be guessed that Professor Ritchie,
though anything but disciple Of Herbert Spen-
GER Is nevertheless an advocate of evolution.
Every institution accepted by mut!;udcs of men
in the past had it's value for the people among
whom IL existed. II became wrong only when
It outlasted it's usefulness. The most extreme
case Of this sort in modern times was that of
slavery Under certain conditions Of life human
bondage was indispensable to civilization. 1t
was only when men had arrived at new condi-
tions that the evil of slavery became unen-
durable 1t was no wrong long 1t con-
tributed to the advancement Of the race. and
the slave was not born with a right to freedom
when this right would have been all obstacle to
progress. In short. man is not born with any
rights at all. He IS born into society which
has already been set a-going. ana he receives
the consideration under the slowly changing
rules and methods of that society which he is
in position II exact. II is difficult to see now
Professor Richie avoid making right and
might exactly equivalent terms But. OF course
his view Of the case can be stated more ten
derlv in a volume than in paragraph Carlyle
thought he had answered the critics VINO ac-
cused him Of preaching that might is right by
saving that right is might. 1t was pretty
turn but it did no; serve. Professor Ritchie
seems TO maintain that right which cannot pe
successfully asserted is no right But II is pos
sible tha. this defect may be the best proof ot
natural right The most elementary example IL
that of an infant exposed by unnatural parents
to die. This crime was once prevalent among
very highly civilized people 1t was put down
among the Arabs by Mahomet, but is sih
common in China. Owing 10 one OF those am
h;suities which Professor Rtchie mentions par
ents might say that they only asserted nsh'
in abandoning burdensome babe But 'he
r;rbt of the babe to a chance for its life would
he indicated by a sci Sc of injustice among those
who found it exposed. emphatic enough IN some
cases to save IL from death. II II Is not USELESS
IN indigo all human nature by what can now he
known Of it, the compassion for an infant under
such circumstances is universal, though IN some
! races and individuals it may have been almost
effaced by usage The question is whether or
NOT there has always been in the human mind
serse of Injustice aroused BY certain acts To
this sense of injustice there must be a torre-
snondny right on the part of those who suffer
frIm these acts
Rut Professor Ritchie only considers so-caled
natural rights in the form asserted in modern
times in Europe and America. The controversy
goes back to the Reformation That movement
was inspired by the principle that the individuai
must be left to choose for himself in religious al
foirs II is easv 10 show that this principle cam
not logically be carried out Heredty education
environment forces which affect the NINA so
s,ox,v as to be rarely matters of direct observa-
tion. make the what he is An Araoiah
writer once imagined the case Of a philosopher
,rbo had neither father nor mother, but was born
from the fruit Of a tree and raised to manhood
among the beasts OF the field and the forest
Rut here the conditions of growth answer u
those NJ other mortals and IL would not follow
that another philosopher born on different tree
and raised in another island would arrive at the
same conclusions in religious metaphysics which
Abb Jaafer reached Thus there is no certainty
that truth could be attained without the COM
pulson Of society any more than within It's circle
But the assertion of the privileges of the ind'vid-
ual met the undue arrogance OF the priesthood
and the pervasive tyranny OF the social organism
Men were so pleased with the notion that thcy
used It in politics as we'll as in religion II was as
good an argument against princes as against
popes The use of 1t was not confined TO any race
Professor Rtchie holds up to ridicule the idea
that what Burke called metaphysic rights origi-
mated among the French. The English revolution
lists had said the thing in their time the only
difference being that their jargon was religious
And out of their agitation in the years between
1900 and 1858 had sprung succession OF phiioso-
phers who taught the French new dialect. Eng
Iish Jewellers, like Llburne. had not thought OF
going back to a hypothetical beginning OF things
10 f,nd the state which they hoped to restore. On
the contrary. they sought the golden age among
the Anglo-Saxons before the Norman Conquest
But that would not do for Hobbies nor for Locke