consider both Wallace and Malthus* as admitting the advantages of a Community of Goods, were it not for the danger of such an increase of mankind under the happy state which it would produce, that the world would not hold them, and that they must starve or eat one another; to prevent which catastrophe (according to the latter) the Creator has no better resource than to keep down their numbers by perpetuating vice and misery among them; or, as the late Attorney-General of Chester expressed it, "There could be no doubt that poverty was the doom of Heaven for the great majority of mankind." To such an objection I think no regard need be paid.

It was my intention to have considered the manifold ills which are alleged to have their source in the system of private property, and to take notice of the plans which have been proposed, or put in practice, for superseding it: I must, however, content myself with referring to the publications of that zealous and unwearied philanthropist, Mr. Robert Owen, of Lanark; wherein, in addition to those plans of his own which it were

*This essay was written before Mr. Godwin's clear and satisfactory refutations of the theory of Mr. Malthus had appeared; but its entire incompatibility with the Divine goodness was enough to convince us that it would prove false.

much to be wished should undergo a careful trial, he details those which have been proposed or carried into execution by several individuals and societies.* I shall also appeal to the exquisite and admirable work, of one of the greatest men that has adorned this or any other country, I mean Sir Thomas More, which has been disgracefully neglected and misunderstood by his countrymen, who have represented him as not having been in earnest in what he wrote, and have even converted the word Utopian into a term of contempt and reproach, as implying something absurd and impracticable. With a few passages from his "Utopia," in which there can be no doubt he expresses his real sentiments, I shall, therefore, conclude this essay :

"To speak plainly my real sentiments, I must freely own, that as long as there is any private property, and while money is the standard of all other things, I cannot think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily-not justly, because the best things will fall to the share of the worst men; nor happily, because all things will be divided amongst a few (and even these

* See "A New View of Society, by Robert Owen, Esq., of New Lanark." See also Muratori's "Account of the Government of the Jesuits in Paraguay;" "Remarks on the Practicability of Mr. Owen's Plan to improve the Condition of the Lower Classes;" and "Mr. Owen's proposed Villages for the Poor shown to be highly favourable to Christianity."

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are not in all respects happy), the rest being left to be absolutely miserable. Therefore, when I reflect on the wise and good constitution of the Utopians, among whom all things are so well governed and with so few laws; where virtue hath its due reward, and yet there is such an equality that every man lives in plenty; when I compare with them so many other nations, that are still making new laws, and yet can never bring their constitution to a right regulation; where, notwithstanding, every one has his property, yet all the laws that they can invent have not the power either to obtain or preserve it, or even to enable men certainly to distinguish what is their own from what is another's; of which the many lawsuits that every day break out and are eternally depending, give too plain a demonstration: when, I say, I balance all these things in my thoughts, I grow more favourable to Plato, and do not wonder that he resolved not to make any laws for such as would not submit to a community of all things. For so wise a man could not but foresee that the setting all upon a level was the only way to make a nation happy, which cannot be obtained so long as private property exists. For when every man draws to himself all that he can compass, by one title or another, it must needs follow, that how plentiful soever a nation may be, yet a few dividing the wealth of it among themselves, the rest must fall into indigence; so that there will be two sorts of people among them, who deserve that their fortunes should be interchanged-the former useless, but wicked and ravenous; and the latter, who by their constant industry serve the public more than themselves, sincere and modest men: from whence I am persuaded, that, till property is taken away, there can be no equit

able or just distribution of things, nor can the world be happily governed; for as long as that is maintained, the greatest and the far best part of mankind will be still oppressed with a load of cares and anxieties. I confess, without taking it quite away, those pressures that lie on a great part of mankind may be made lighter, but they can never be quite removed: for if laws were made to determine at how great an extent in soil, and at how much money every man must stop, &c., these laws might have such effect as good diet and care might have on a sick man whose recovery is desperate— they might allay and mitigate the disease, but it could never be quite healed, nor the body politic be brought again to a good habit, as long as property remains; and it will fall out, as in a complication of diseases, that by applying a remedy to one sore you will provoke another; and that which removes the one ill symptom produces others; while the strengthening one part of the body weakens the rest."-More's Utopia, p. 49, in "Phoenix Library."

And, again, at the conclusion of his delightful work :

"Thus have I described to you, as particularly as I could, the constitution of that commonwealth, which I do not only think the best in the world, but indeed the only commonwealth that truly deserves that name. In all other places it is visible that, while people talk of a commonwealth, every man only seeks his own wealth; but there, where no man has any property, all men zealously pursue the good of the public. And, indeed, it is no wonder to see men act so differently; for, in other commonwealths, every man knows that, unless he

provides for himself, how flourishing soever the commonwealth may be, he must die of hunger, so that he sees the necessity of preferring his own concerns to the public; but in Utopia, where every man has a right to everything, they all know that if care is taken to keep the public stores full, no private man can want anything; for among them there is no unequal distribution, so that no man is poor, none in necessity, and though no man has anything, yet they are all rich; for what can make a man so rich as to lead a serene and cheerful life, free from anxieties, neither apprehending want himself, nor vexed with the endless complaints of his wife? He is not afraid of the misery of his children, nor is he contriving how to raise a portion for his daughters, but is secure in this, that both he and wife, his children and grandchildren, to as many generations as he can fancy, will all live both plentifully and happily; since, among them, there is no less care taken of those who were once engaged in labour, but grow, afterwards, unable to follow it, than there is elsewhere of those that continue still employed. I would gladly hear any man compare the justice that is among them with that of all other nations; among whom may I perish if I see anything that looks either like justice or equity. For what justice is there in this, that a nobleman, a goldsmith, a banker, or any other man, that either does nothing at all, or at best is employed in things that are of no use to the public, should live in great luxury and splendour upon what is so ill acquired; and a mean man, a carter, a smith, or a ploughman, that works harder even than the beasts themselves, and is employed in labours so necessary that no commonwealth could hold out a year without