WHAT IS PROPERTY?
OR,
AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLE OF RIGHT AND OF GOVERNMENT.
FIRST MEMOIR.
Adversus hostem æterna auctoritas esto.
Against the enemy, revendication is eternal.
Law of the Twelve Tables.
CHAPTER I.
METHOD PURSUED IN THIS WORK.—THE IDEA OF A REVOLUTION.
IF I were asked to answer the following question: What is slavery? and I should answer in one word, It is murder, my meaning would be understood at once. No extended argument would be required to show that the power to take from a man his thought, his will, his personality, is a power of life and death; and that to enslave a man is to kill him. Why, then, to this other question: What is property? may I not likewise answer, It is robbery, without the certainty of being misunderstood; the second proposition being no other than a transformation of the first?
I undertake to discuss the vital principle of our government and our institutions, property: I am in my right. I may be mistaken in the conclusion which shall result from my investigations: I am in my right. I think best to place the last thought of my book first: still am I in my right.
