Pol. Just. Book VIII, ehap. vi

3. Thoughts occasioned by the perusal of Dr. Parr's Spital Sermon, preached at Christ Church, aprii 15, 1800 ; being a rcply to the attacks of Dr. Parr, Mr. Mackintosh, the authorof an essay on population, and others, by William Godwin, London, 1801. — Avec ce petit ouvrage, oa peut tenir comme définitivement close la polémique mémorable que les événements de France soulevèrent en Angleterre, et qui débuta par les Reflections de Burke, ou même, si Ton veut, par le discours de Price on the love of our cowilry.

LE DROIT A L'ASSISTANCE. — WILLIAM GODWIN

1. Edea lui-même explique comme suit (livre II, chap» i) que l'État soit intéressé à l'accomplissement de la fonction d'assistance publique : « Tuât, in rcscuing the Infant Poor from beggary and want, the sources of useful population are augmented ; tbat, in a ready care and cure of the Siek Poor (by the restoratiou of whose health, iudustry recovers aer best means), the productive capital of tbe nation is increased; and tbat a bare subsistence for the Aged Poor, is no more than the fair right of those who hâve spent tlieir best days, and exhausted their strength, in the service of the Public ». — Sur la loi des pauvres comme consacrant le droit à la subsistance et le droit au travail, v. même ouvrage, vol. I, pp. ':67 sqq. — C'est à un point de vue un peu différent que se plaçait le

Dr. Woodward, évêque de Cloyne, dans son « Address to the Public, en the Inexpediency of a regular Plan for the Maintenance and Government of the Poor in Ireland », lorsqu'il voyait dans l'assistance publique un moyen pour faire du contrat originel une réalité, et non plus une fiction. « However nattering to the love of liberty the idea of an original compact raay be T and however useful to aseertain the rights and duties of magistrale and sobject, yet, in reality, every man is adopted, by compulsion, into the socksty of which his parents were citizens, entitled only to that portion of the public wealth -which aecrues to him by inheritance, and precluded from ail right of occupancy over any other; that, consequently, if his parents were ao poor as to transmit no patrimony to him, ne is boni the inbabitant of a land, every spot of which is appropriated to some other person ... How can they (the Rich) justify their exclusive property in the cornmon héritage of mankind, nntess they consent, in retnrn, to provide for the sobsistence of the Poor, who were exeluded from those eommon rights by the laws of the Rich, to which they were never parties? » (Cité par Eden, State of the Poor, vol. I, pp. 413-441).

2. Arthur Toung, The question of ScarcUy plainly stated, and Remédies considered (publiée en 1800). — Allusion au « cow System » ap. Th. Paine, Agrarian Justice, etc. : "With this aid they could buy a cow and implements to cultivate a few acres of land ; and, instead of becoming burdens upon society, which is always the case, where children are produced faster tlien they can be fed, would be put in the way of becoming useful and profitable citizens.

3. Rights of Man, Part II, chap. v. Ways and Means of improving the condition of Europe, etc.

4. Agrarian Justice, apposée to Agrarian Law and to Agrarian Monopoly ; being a plan for meliorating the condition of man, by creating in every nation a national fond, to pay to every person, when arrived at the âge of twenty one years, the sum of fifteen pounds sterling, to enable him, or her, to begin in the world ; and also ten pounds sterling per annum during life to every person non living, of the âge of fifty years, and to ail others when they shall arrive at that âge, to enable them to live in old âge without wretchedness, and go decently ont of the world,

5. Pol. Just. Book VIII, of Property. Beaucoup plus développé dans la seconde édition que dans la première, où le chapitre II fait défaut et le chapitre*" se présente soub une forme abrégée. Le droit de propriété avait été fondé directement sot la considération de l'utilité sociale, avant Godwra, par Prâstley, An Essay, etc. sec. H. Political Liberty (édit. 177t, pp. 40-42) : The sum of what hath been advanœd upon this head, is a niaxim, than which nothing is more true, that every government, in Us original principles, and antécédent to its présent form, is an equal republir ; and, consequently, that every man, when he cornes to be sensible of his

naturel rights, and to feel his own importance, wili consider himseli as fully equal to any other person whatever. The considération of riches and power, however acquired, must be entirely set aside, when we corne to thèse first principles. The very idea of property, or right of any kind, is founded upon a regard to the gênerai good of the society, under whose protection it is enjoyed; and notbing is properly a maris own, but what gênerai rules, which hâve for their object the good of the whole, give to him. To whomsoever the society delegates its power, it is delegated to them for the more easy management of public affaire, and in order to make the more effectuai provision for the happiness of the whole. Whoever enjoys property or riches in the state, enjoys them for the good of the state, as wellas for himself; andwhenever those powers, riches or rights of any kind, are abused, to the injury of the whole, that awful and ultimate tribunal, in which every citizen hath an equal voice, may demand the résignation of them ; and in ci rcu m s tances, where regular commissions from this abused public cannot be had, every man who has power, and who is actuated with the sentiments of the public, may assume a public character, and bravely redress public wrongs. — Sauf la théorie des « règles générales x> et la théorie du « droit de résistance », c'est la doctrine de Godwin. La théorie de Godwin sur ce point a été excellemment analysée par Anton Menger, Das Recht auf den vollen Arbeitserlrag p. 141 sqq.