prejudices were much excited against those who were expatriating themselves from France.
Condorcet begins with the statement, that:
"It is a great error to imagine that the public utility is not constantly to be found united with the rights of individuals, or that the public well-being may demand acts of real injustice. This error has everywhere been the eternal excuse for the inroads of tyranny, and the pretext for the artful manoeuvres employed to establish it.[1]
"On the contrary, in the case of every measure that is proposed as useful, it must first be examined whether it is just. Should it not be so, it must be concluded that it had only an empty and fallacious appearance of utility.
.....
"Nature concedes to every man the right of going out of his country; the constitution guarantees it to every French citizen, and we cannot strike a blow at it. The Frenchman who wishes to leave his country, for his business, for his health, even for the sake of his peace and well-being, ought to have the fullest liberty to do so: he ought to be able to use this liberty, without his absence depriving him of the least of his rights. In a great empire, the variety of professions, and inequality of fortunes, do not admit of residence and personal service being regarded as a common obligation which the law may impose upon all citizens. This rigorous obligation can only exist in the case of absolute necessity; to extend it to the habitual state of society, and even to all periods when the public safety or tranquillity may seem to be menaced, would be to disturb the order of useful labours, and to attack the sources of general prosperity.
"Every man, moreover, has the right to change his country; he may renounce that in which he was born, to choose
- ↑ This opinion may be recommended to those who war on "pious founders".
