A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY
VOLUME IX
By
VOLTAIRE
EDITION DE LA PACIFICATION
THE WORKS OF VOLTAIRE
A CONTEMPORARY VERSION
With Notes by Tobias Smollett, Revised and Modernized
New Translations by William F. Fleming, and an
Introduction by Oliver H.G. Leigh
A CRITIQUE AND BIOGRAPHY
BY
THE RT. HON. JOHN MORLEY
FORTY-THREE VOLUMES
One hundred and sixty-eight designs, comprising reproductions
of rare old engravings, steel plates, photogravures,
and curious fac-similes
VOLUME XIII
E.R. DuMONT
PARIS—LONDON—NEW YORK—CHICAGO
1901
The WORKS of VOLTAIRE
"Between two servants of Humanity, who appeared eighteen hundredyears apart, there is a mysterious relation. * * * * Let us say itwith a sentiment of profound respect: JESUS WEPT: VOLTAIRE SMILED.Of that divine tear and of that human smile is composed thesweetness of the present civilization."
VICTOR HUGO.
VOLTAIRE: THE HOUDON BUST—Frontispiece
GENIUS INSPIRING THE MUSES
SAMSON DESTROYING THE TEMPLE
JOHN LOCKE
VOLTAIRE
A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY
IN TEN VOLUMES
VOL. IX.
PROPERTY—STATES-GENERAL
PROPERTY.
"Liberty and property" is the great national cry of the English. It iscertainly better than "St. George and my right," or "St. Denis andMontjoie"; it is the cry of nature. From Switzerland to China thepeasants are the real occupiers of the land. The right of conquest alonehas, in some countries, deprived men of a right so natural.
The general advantage or good of a nation is that of the sovereign, ofthe magistrate, and of the people, both in peace and war. Is thispossession of lands by the peasantry equally conducive to the prosperityof the throne and the people in all periods and circumstances? In orderto its being the most beneficial system for the throne, it must be thatwhich produces the most considerable revenue, and the most numerous andpowerful army.
We must inquire, therefore, whether this principle or plan tends clearlyto increase commerce and population. It is certain that the possessor ofan estate will cultivate his own inheritance better than that ofanother. The spirit of property doubles a man's strength. He labors forhimself and his family both with more vigor and pleasure than he wouldfor a master. The slave, who is in the power of another, has but littleinclination for marriage; he often shudders even at the thought ofproducing slaves like himself. His industry is damped; his soul isbrutalized; and his strength is never exercised in its full energy andelasticity. The possessor of property, on the contrary, desires a wifet