Enquirer, Av. and Prot., p

24. Helvétius, De VEsprit, discours I, chap. m. Cf. Godwin (2* édit. vol. II, pp. 477-478): A vast disproportion of the wealth of the community bas been thrown into the hands of the few ; — et Helvétius : « une grande disproportion entre les richesses des citoyens ».

25. Vindicalion ofnatural society (Works, vol. I, pp. 71 sqq.). Before we finish our examination of artificial society, I shall lead your lordship into a closer considération of the relations' which it gives birth to, and the benefits, if such there are, which rrsult from those relations. The mostobvious division of society is into rich and poor; and it is no less obvious, that the number of the former bears a great disproportion to those of the latter. The whole business of the poor is to administer to the idleness, folly, and luxury of the rich ; and that of the cich, in return, is to find the best methods of confirming the slavery and increasing the burthens of the poor. In a state of nature, it is an invariable law, that a man's acquisitions are in proportion to his labours. In a state of artificial society, it is a law as constant and as invariable, that those who labour most enjoy the fewest things ; and that those who labour not at ail, hâve the greatest number of enjoyments. A constitution of things this, strange and ridiculous beyond expression.

26. Pol. Just. , Book VIII, chap. ni. 2* éd., vol. II, pp. 447-448, et: Enquirer, Av. and Prof., pp. 173-174.

27. Enquirer, Part II, Essay V, of Trades and Professions, pp. 217-218. L'essai a été réimprimé en 1842, à Manchester, avec le sous-titre : A forcible exposure of the demoralizing tendencies of compétition.