herefore, two essential attributes of man,
two laws of the Divinity, constitutional and unchangeable, like the
physical properties of matter.

Now, every individual being absolute master of his own person, it
follows that a full and free consent is a condition indispensable to all
contracts and all engagements.

Again, since each individual is equal to another, it follows that the
balance of what is received and of what is given, should be strictly in
equilibrium; so that the idea of justice, of equity, necessarily imports
that of equality.*

* The etymology of the words themselves trace out to us this
connection: equilibrium, equalitas, equitas, are all of one
family, and the physical idea of equality, in the scales of
a balance, is the source and type of all the rest.

Equality and liberty are therefore the physical and unalterable basis
of every union of men in society, and of course the necessary and
generating principle of every law and of every system of regular
government.*

* In the Declaration of Rights, there is an inversion of
ideas in the first article, liberty being placed before
equality, from which it in reality springs. This defect is
not to be wondered at; the science of the rights of man is a
new science: it was invented yesterday by the Americans,
to-day the French are perfecting it, but there yet remains a
great deal to be done. In the ideas that constitute it
there is a genealogical order which, from us basis, physical
equality, to the minutest and most remote branches of
government, ought to proceed in an uninterrupted series of
inferences.

A disregard of this basis has introduced in your nation, and in every
other, those disorders which have finally roused you. It is by returning
to this rule that you may reform them, and reorganize a happy order of
society.

But observe, this reorganization will occasion a violent shock in
your habits, your fortunes, and your prejudices. Vicious contracts and
abusive claims must be dissolved, unjust distinctions and ill founded
property renounced; you must indeed recur for a moment to a state of
nature. Consider whether you can consent to so many sacrifices.

Then, reflecting on the cupidity inherent in the heart of man, I thought
that this people would renounce all ideas of amelioration.

But, in a moment, a great number of men, advancing toward the pyramid,
made a solemn