that is, every
thing for me and nothing, or the least quantity possible, for
others. Here is the evil. A blind and bitter contest must
spring from this opposition of interests. To put an end to this
there is but one means: the recognition of the law of union,
(la loi de solidarite,) by virtue of which interests will
amalgamate and divisions disappear. This law is the palladium
of industry; refuse to acknowledge it, and every thing remains
in a state of chaos: proclaim it, and every thing is remedied,
every thing prospers. The capitalist comes in aid of the
workman as the workman comes in aid of the capitalist; it is a
common prosperity they enjoy, and if any thing menaces it, they
are united for its defence. The law of union puts an end to an
unfeeling employment of our fellow men, (_a l'exploitation
brutale;_) it replaces men in their natural position; it
re-establishes amongst them the relations of respect, esteem,
and mutual benevolence which Christian fraternity demands; it
substitutes association for rivalry; it restores to justice her
empire, and to humanity its beneficence."

Translating all this into simple language, there is to be a partition by
the legislature, according to some rule of natural equity, between the
capitalist and the labourer, of the proceeds of their common enterprise.
We confess ourselves utterly incapable of devising any such rule of
equity. The share which falls to the capitalist under the name of
profits, and the share which falls to the labourer under the name of
wages, is regulated under the present system by the free competition
amongst the labourers on the one hand, and the capitalists on the other;
it is the result of an unfettered bargain between those who possess
capital and those who practise industry. This is, at all events, an
intelligible ground, and has in it a species of rough equity; but if we
desert this position, and appeal to some natural rule of justice to make
the division, we shall find ourselves without any ground whatever. For
what are the rights of capital in the face of any _a priori_ notions of
justice? We shall stumble on from one vague proposition to another, till
we find ourselves landed in the revolutionary doctrine of the equal
imprescriptible rights of man. This is the first stage at which we can
halt. Judged by this law of equality, the capitalist is but one man, and
c