graduated scale at present established, as quixotic and impracticable, constantly exclaim with a good deal of natural sarcasm to those on the other side, who are favourable to practicable equality.

"Will you, who talk so loudly of redress of grievances and reduction of possession, who would seem to aim at dividing the quarterings of our cake into thinner slices; who speak of these sacrifices as easily as if they were to be accomplished over a pinch of snuff; will you, we ask, come forward and set the first example?' Without hesitation, I answer, that for myself, I would. I presume not singly, to fix maximums, or minimums to others; but for my own part, as an individual, I swear by every tie that can bind the heart of man, I have no wish to possess more than such an extent of surface, of possession, than shall enable me, with the labour of myself and family thereon, to enjoy food and clothing of necessity, even with my fellow-men. But at the same time let it never be forgotten, they ask a most unfair question, and put it, when asked, on a wrong bearing: for this reason, such a sacrifice must be simultaneous and general; it can from its nature begin in no particular quarter, nor can any one solitary individual be pointed out in that way,

from whom it shall originate in the first instance. Such a mutation must be generated by common consent, from a thorough conviction of its necessitous expediency; by an Act of State which shall recognize the adoption of all practicable extension of equality as an inherent right wrested from man by foreign violence, or through indolence in himself, and now to be restored as one of the properties of his existence, no longer to be withheld, now that the eyes of all men are opened to first principles and inalienable natural laws.

"Nor did I mean to argue, (if you so thought you mistook me altogether,) that upon trial, it would be found possible that every one should hold the same extent, the same unity of possession: numberless incidents might occur which would render an attempt to form exactly defined equality abortive. But I do mean to say most confidently and unreservedly, that it is quite possible to act the converse of what we do now; to recognize equality as a basis, and not inequality: to make the former, instead of the latter, the common centre on which the social machine shall revolve. possible to legislate on that as a fundamental principle, to keep that as a goal fixed and everlasting, to which the eyes, the motions of the legislator, and those governed, should be

It is

directed with unceasing vigilance; which should be left wide open to every man's view, and never again lost sight of: the ulterior incidents arising out of this gradual change must be regulated by concurrent circumstances, the operators must be guided by occurrences as they successively present themselves."

LETTER XXIII.

"THE old question, 'Who's to begin?' is similar to that raised between our two great political parties, the Whigs and Tories: the Whigs cry, 'Put down the rotten boroughs.'—'What barefaced impudence!' sneer the Tories, who advocate the necessity of their existence, 'why you who raise the cry, are yourselves sitting in Parliament, returned for many of these very boroughs: do, pray, set the example of opening your own corruption first.'-' No:' rejoin the Whigs, and very justly, 'we shall do no such thing: as it is, we can scarce make a stand against you in the national assembly: if we parted with those, we should. lose our representation, and even the little influence we possess now. Nevertheless, we deprecate this system of foul corruption and intrigue, and only want to obtain an enactment of the State to put it down entirely; then we shall be all on a par, then all parties will start fairly together; but you must be fools to imagine we shall part, exclusively of your doing so, with that which keeps us in existence ;

even though we may abhor as pernicious and vile, the principle on which it is founded.

"I do verily believe, that if our monopolizers could catch air, one of the pabula of life, as they seize on surface, they would bottle and sell it retail, as they do the latter : happily it is of a nature which eludes their grasp; certainly not from want of good-will in them to forestal it. But the last and most important point which I would suggest to the exclusive possessors is this: Had you not better part with a good grace, with some of that which, after all the questions raised on it, is of so precarious a tenure, that you never will be able to hold it in security but for a few generations? which will be infallibly taken from you by force, and yourselves treated contumeliously withal? Would it not be wiser to throw more into hotchpot, as our old legal phrase is, to throw such monstrous inequality into a lump, and each draw forth a fairer portion? Had you not better make a merit of necessity, especially as this excess of possession has palled on the senses, has devoured you with a chagrin, a weariness and satiety, which cause you to hate your own couch of down, and envy the pallet of labour?

"When such queries as these are put to the rich, a few muse and ponder; many scoff