Remarks on the questions; 1. Whether the prohibition of foreign goods, &c. is advantageous to a manufacturing state, 360. 2. Whether such probi- bition is disadvantageous to a non-manufacturing state, 365. 3. Whether it is a national advantage, &c., 369. 4. On the constitutional power of Con- gress to make such prohibition, 370. Conference between a manufacturing PART I. OF GENERAL RIGHTS. CHAPTER I. Of the rights of Man, as derived from his nature and condition. DIVISION I. Of natural rights in general. Sec. I. Of the right of selfpreservation. Sec. II. Of liberty, or freedom of action.-Sec. III. Of natural equality.-Sec. IV. Of freedom of opinion and the rights of conscience.-Sec. V. Of the right of property.-Sec. VI. Of the right of self-defence.-Sec. VII. Of the right of protecting property.-Sec. VIII. Of the right to redress or reparation for wrongs and injuries.— Sec. IX. Of the pretended right of war.-Sec. X. Of the right to form associations and organize society. DIVISION II. Of those natural rights which are usually retained in organized society. Sec. I. Of self-defence in cases of extreme urgency.Sec. II. Of qualified liberty, under which is considered, 1, the right of expatriation; 2, the rights of conscience and freedom of inquiry; 3, the right of property; 4, the right of equality; 5, the right of freely discussing public measures; 6, the right of petition and remonstrance; 7, the right to reform the Government. THOUGH man is a being evidently designed for society, and the greater part both of his various rights as well as duties, depends upon the relations which he contracts through the medium of social intercourse; yet, it will facilitate a distinct understanding of those rights and duties, to examine what rights he must necessarily be considered as having in relation to the rest of mankind, without any reference to those which result from organized society. The only sure foundation of all right, is the will of the great Creator. Independently of this, men could have no ground to complain of wrong or oppression in any case, because their relation to each other would be that of brute animals, among which the strong and ferocious devour the timid and weak, without pity or remorse. It would be the same with men ; because, having no other aim than self-gratification, and knowing no other restraint upon their actions than the want of power, whatever each individual found himself able to do, he would do without regard to any other consideration, than his own advantage. And thus the world would be filled with antediluvian violence. Such is the direct tendency of Atheism; and it is on account of this tendency, as well as its impiety, that, it is held in the utmost detestation among reflecting men. Those persons, therefore, who having no settled or distinct notions on religious subjects, affect Atheism, in order to give themselves importance with the rest of mankind, by a pretended disbelief of the evidence of their own senses, if they were capable of understanding it, as well as of other evidence, which they have never examined sufficiently, err greatly to their own prejudice. For, they expect to excite admiration for the strength of their understandings, which, as simple people believe, sets them above vulgar prejudices, and frees them from the bugbears and restraints of what they term priestcraft, bigotry and superstition. But, the real consequences are, that, if sincere, they are pitied for the imbecility of their minds; but, if insincere, they are despised for their hypocrisy. If they boast of such opinions, their vanity is laughed at; if they attempt to make proselytes of simple persons, the ignorant, and novices, they are abhorred by people of principle. What, perhaps, is of much greater consequence in their own opinion, their oath is rejected as unworthy of belief in a court of justice, and they are trusted by nobody. Not by a prudent man, because honor is a base currency not by any means at par with religious principle; not by each other; because they know each other too well. Since there is nothing to deter them from anything which they think for their interest, but the fear of detection, exposure and loss of character. The following particulars, derived from the sacred scriptures, which contain satisfactory evidence of divine revelation, constitute, as it is believed, a sufficient foundation for all the rights and duties of mankind, whether towards the great Crea tor, or towards each other. 1. That man was created a rational and accountable being, and that the dominion over the earth and all things in it, was given him. 2. That the whole human race are derived from the same first parents, and consequently, however various in stature, complexion, intellect, morals or civilization, they are all brethren of the same family. 3. That the Creator has given men a conscience to distinguish between good and evil; as also, certain moral and religious precepts for the regulation of their conduct, as well with regard to themselves as towards each other; the substance of all which is, to do justice to all men; to walk humbly before God; to be holy, and avoid every species of impurity and ex cess. From this concise statement of so much of revelation as immediately relates to the subject of the present chapter, it is apparent, that all the rights, which men may justly claim to exercise or enjoy, and all the duties which they are bound to perform in relation to each other, are derived from the will of their Creator, either as necessarily to be inferred from the nature which he has bestowed upon them, and the condition in which he has placed them; or, as manifested in those express declarations of his will, which are contained in the revelation or dispensation, to which reference is made. Some of the more important natural rights, i. e. such as a man may claim in relation to the rest of mankind, but independently of organized society, or any of its positive regulations, may be found in the following enumeration. SEC. I. The right of self-preservation. As men have their existence from their Creator, as his gift, it follows that he alone has a right to deprive them of it. Consequently no man or body of men, whether organized into a society, or living in a state of nature, without any regular government, has any right to deprive any individual of his life, unless in obedience to the will of the Deity; whether it consist in some particular express command, like that given to Joshua, by virtue of which the different nations of Canaan were destroyed by him; or, in some general direction given to men, requiring them to punish |