d out of my sunshine.'"--BENTHAM.

I.

NATURAL HISTORY OF SPOLIATION.

Why do I give myself up to that dry science, political economy?

The question is a proper one. All labor is so repugnant in its nature
that one has the right to ask of what use it is.

Let us examine and see.

I do not address myself to those philosophers who, if not in their own
names, at least in the name of humanity, profess to adore poverty.

I speak to those who hold wealth in esteem--and understand by this word,
not the opulence of the few, but the comfort, the well-being, the
security, the independence, the instruction, the dignity of all.

There are only two ways by which the means essential to the
preservation, the adornment and the perfection of life may be
obtained--production and spoliation. Some persons may say: "Spoliation
is an accident, a local and transient abuse, denounced by morality,
punished by the law, and unworthy the attention of political economy."

Still, however benevolent or optimistic one may be, he is compelled to
admit that spoliation is practiced on so vast a scale in this world, and
is so generally connected with all great human events, that no social
science, and, least of all, political economy, can refuse to consider
it.

I go farther. That which prevents the perfection of the social system
(at least in so far as it is capable of perfection) is the constant
effort of its members to live and prosper at the expense of each other.
So that, if spoliation did not exist, society being perfect, the social
sciences would be without an object.

I go still farther. When spoliation becomes a means of subsistence for a
body of men united by social ties, in course of time they make a law
which sanctions it, a morality which glorifies it.

It is enough to name some of the best defined forms of spoliation to
indicate the position it occupies in human affairs.

First comes war. Among savages the conqueror kills the conquered, to
obtain an uncontested, if not incontestable, right to game.

Next slavery. When man learns that he can make the earth fruitful by
labor, he makes this division with his brother: "You work and I eat."

Then comes superstition. "According as you give or refuse me that which
is yours, I will open to you the gates of heaven or of hell."

Finally, monopoly appears. Its distinguishing characteristic is to allow
the existence of the grand social law--_service for service_--while it
brin