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THE 
 
 (P <DMie(£>i^ WH^Hi^M 
 
 OP 
 
 REASON. 
 
 WRITTEN BY • 
 
 WILLIAM jHODGSON, ESQ. 
 
 i. — ■ "" * 
 
 WHO WAS CX)NFINED TWO YEARS IN NEWGATE , ^N A 
 
 CHARGE OF SEDITION. 
 
 The Priyileged Orders may pass away, but the Paople will be eternal. 
 
 Mirabaud, 
 
 Liberty is the Right and Happiness of all, for all by Nature are EquA 
 and Free, and no one can, without the utmost injustice, become the sWe 
 of his Vike. '^Inscription on the Athenian Statue of Liberty. 
 
 ) 
 
 ilontton: 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHEIT BY THOMAS DAVISON, 
 
 10, DUKE STREET, WEST SMITHFIELD. 
 
 1820. 
 Price One Shiiling, 
 
 yh 
 

 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THE Publisher of this little work having been 
 solicited to bring out an impression on a more 
 reasonable scale than the three former Editions^ 
 did not feel himself justified in proceeding^ till 
 he had made every enquiry relative to the wishes 
 of the Author; but after a fruitless research of 
 many months for that highly-valuable man, hejias 
 been urged to produce it at the present price, by 
 JUr, Hodgson's friends, as, from his known good- 
 ness of heart, and philanthropic disposition, he 
 tvouldfeel happy in a wider dissemination of this 
 matchless production. ^ 
 
 The Publisher has to hope, that should this Jld- 
 vertisement ever meet the eye of Mr. Hodgson, 
 he will not for a moment entertain or attribute any 
 sordid or selfish motives to him, for he is very 
 willing, and it is his intention, to devote the profits 
 (after the expences of publishing, ^c. are de- 
 frayed) to some political object. 
 
 te42056 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 As the end of all government is, or ought to be, the 
 
 security, happiness, and advantage of the governed, and 
 
 not the exclusive benefit and interest of those intrusted 
 
 with the legislative or executive power, who should only 
 
 be considered as the organs by which the majority of the 
 
 community express their will, and as the servants of the 
 
 Commonwealth, amenable at all times, for their conduct 
 
 to the people^ these being the fountain from whence 
 
 alono can spring legitimate authority; it may not be 
 
 unacceptable, in these speculative times, when the science 
 
 of political government appears to have awakened men's 
 
 curiosity in an extraordinary degree, and the greater part 
 
 of the world seem bent on the investigation of its principles, 
 
 and on the destruction of those abuses^ the existence of which 
 
 has but too long disgraced civilized society, to have some 
 
 mode pointed out, by which, should any of the present 
 
 systems, so fraught with ruin, and injurious to the true 
 
 interests of mankind, be abolished, we can reasonably hope 
 
 to obtain what ought to constitute the only object of every 
 
 institution, whether political or social — public happiness, 
 
 from which source alone can flow individual felicity. 
 
 . For this desirable purpose, the following Plan for a 
 Commonwealth, to be founded on the broad and durable 
 basis of reason^ lihcrty, fraternity^ and equality, is sub- 
 mitted to the candid consideration and impartial examination 
 of mankind. U^ by the publicalion of it, the author shall • 
 
VI PREFACB. 
 
 be instrumental in removing any single grievance, out of 
 the enormous and almost countless nuniber under which 
 men at present labour, no matter in what part of nature's 
 wide-extended empire, he will consider his eflbrts as amply 
 and honourably rewarded. If, on the contrary, it shall not be 
 found to yield an idea, by which the present miserable and 
 unhappy condition of man can be ameliorated, he shall 
 console himself with the pleasurable reflection that must 
 necessarily result from a conviction, that although his judg* 
 ment may have erred, his intentions were honest, sincere^ 
 and well-meant; and he will retire, without experiencing 
 any other painful sensation, than that of wanting the ability 
 to do good, into that obscurity from which he never wishes 
 [to emanate, but for the purpose of increasing the prosperity 
 and happiness of his fellow-creatures, and which he conceives 
 he can never do more effectually than by pointing out to them 
 the truths and entreating them on every occasion to consult 
 their reason and their experience* 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Pag:« 
 
 Introduction 1 
 
 Plan, &c ^ 14 
 
 Declaration of Rights ^ 1(5 
 
 Representation and Executive Government 19 
 
 Committee of Government .* , 24 
 
 Finance ib. 
 
 Agriculture ib. 
 
 Trade and Provisions , , 25 
 
 Administration of the Laws , 27 
 
 Liberty of the Press. •..,.......,. 29 
 
 Inheritance and Bastardy 30 
 
 Price of Labour 31 
 
 Register of Births and Burials ib. 
 
 Public Taxes ib. 
 
 Religion , 32 
 
 Bread and Fuel ib 
 
 • 
 
 Marriage 33 
 
 Canals, Public Roads, and Rivers 34 
 
 Waste Lands 35 
 
 Magistracy ib. 
 
 Lame, Blind, Lunatics, Deaf, and Dumb, (Provisions for) .... 3(5 
 
 Public Prisons ib. 
 
 Abolition of Capital Punishments 37 
 
 Education ib* 
 
 Military Force and Discipline * 42 
 
 Provision for the Poor 44 
 
 Constitution ib 
 
 • 
 
 Calculation of the Expence of a Government upon the foregoing 
 Plan, for a Population of Ten Millions of Mouths, spread 
 
 over a Territory comprising fifty Millions of Acres. ...... 45 
 
(■fk 
 
 THE 
 
 OF 
 
 RE^^SON. 
 
 Tq he completed in Twelve Weekly Numbers. 
 
 FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1795. 
 
 Experience having proved corruption to be the most 
 dreadful evil that can possibly affect either public or private 
 life, it is of course that which men should be most studious 
 to avoid ; any endeavour, therefore, to raise up barriers . 
 against this all-destructive vice, may be considered as one of 
 -the noblest efforts of the human understanding: — as from 
 thence has proceeded all those arbitrary and diabolical actions 
 we have at different periods witnessed ; and of which such 
 innumerable examples^ that have justly called down the exe- 
 cration of mankind, are furnished in the history of the 
 world. 
 
 As corruption is generally the result of power long con- 
 tinued in the same individual, and prevention more humane 
 and far better than detection, it is a desire in this little work 
 to make every situation in the Commonwealth, to which is 
 attached either trust or power, — revolutionary or rota- 
 tive ; thereby taking this best remedy for, and precaution 
 against, this most inveterate enemy to public happiness, — .^ 
 this epidemic that has hitherto baffled the most strenuous 
 efforts of the most able physicians, — this political Upas,* 
 under whose baneful and malignant branches every virtue 
 finds immediate death. 
 
 Philosophers must long since have been convinced that the 
 abuse of power is much more the consequence of long and 
 uninterrupted possession in the hands of individuals, than 
 of any other cause whatever : and as it is an axiom in poli- 
 tics, " that wherever there is power, there will he abuse," 
 it is but right to imagine, that by making the power neces- 
 
 ' ' ' ■ • '— ■■ ■ . ■ ■■ .■.,.-.... H I I . !■■ I .I.I.I 
 
 ♦ The nam-e of a pQisoi)'tree in Java, 
 
 / ' 
 
W THE COM\TONlVE4LTH OF REASON. 
 
 sarily vested in a part to be exercised for the benefit of the 
 whole, as fleeting, and of aa little duration as possible, in the 
 same individual^ we obviate the great error in political insti- 
 tutions^ which seems to be a delegation of those powers, to 
 be exercised without a just control, and for a long and some- 
 times for aninriefinite space of time, that requires the eyes 
 of an Argus, and a frequent change of persons to prevent 
 them from degenerating (by corruption) into tyranny and 
 oppression. 
 / As pretended distinctions amongst men, who are all 
 equal by naturoj and are all, unquestionably, equally help- 
 less in infancy, and equally cold in the embraces of death, 
 have a tendency to create a difference of interests in the 
 «ame coramunitv, in which the weaker is invariably swal- 
 lowed up, and destroyed by the stronger ; and himan beings, 
 otherwise naturally friends and brothers, are thereby set at 
 enmity with each other, for the enjoyment of paltry titles, 
 that do not really distinguish the possessors from the mass 
 of mankind^ except in particular and local ituations. 
 
 This Flan will propose that no grade, or title of distinction 
 whatever, shall exist among the citizens of the Common- 
 wealth, except what the exercise of superior benevolence 
 and virtue shall obtain from the general respect of society, 
 or what the temporary possession of the public functions 
 shall necessarilj^ demand for the moment. Thus all being 
 citizens, equal in rights, none will have an interest separate 
 from that of his neighbour, since no one will be capable of 
 infringing" or invading the right of another, without involving 
 not only his own, but t hit of the whole Commonwealth, of 
 which he himself makes an integral part ; of course every 
 guch attempt wilL in this state of perfect equality, be re- 
 sisted not only by the citizen attacked, but by the collective 
 force of the whole community, whose, direct interest will ef- 
 fectually point out the absolute necessity of the opposition : 
 whilst daily experience teaches us to know, that in those 
 states where an inequality of righu does exist, it frequently 
 becomes the interest and desire of one class to subvert and 
 destroy the rights of another class, thereby, as they falsely 
 conceive, the more effectually to establish and support what 
 the errors of their constitution have led them to consider 
 as their own. Thus, in such states, it verv rarely, or never 
 happens, that the collective body of the citizens find an oc- 
 casion, where their common interest is united. On this 
 principle we may aecouat for the fall oi those vast and 
 
THE COMMONWEAI.TH OF REASOJT. If 
 
 mighty enjpires whicii hisfory informs us once had existence * 
 and of which we have not now a single vestige left, whereby 
 to descry their ancient power and grandeur, except the 
 traditionary detail handed down to us by our ancestors ; 
 for it is an old proverb in England, the truth of Avhich 
 has been universally admitted, — '^ That a house divided 
 AGAINST ITSELF, CANNOT STAND," As the accumulatioii 
 of immense wealth in the hands of individuals, by any 
 other means than personal industry, or equitable inheritance, 
 may with great truth be considered as th^ primary and most 
 effectual means by which the fiend — Corruption, secretly 
 undermines, and finally overturns the btst and wisest 
 institutions; the endeavour to destroy this channel of 
 abuse, this panacea, that infallibly turns all virtue into 
 vice, without rendering injustice to any one, is surely 
 highly deserving the consideration and attention of man- 
 kind ; and as such will form a part of the Plan. See- 
 ing, therefore, ih^i entailed estates^ and laws o^ primoge- 
 nitureship, and other unequal and unjust decrees, respecting 
 the distribution of property, are the causes of these mis- 
 chievous masses of wealth, so highly dangerous to, and 
 incompatible with, the existence of Liberty, and which 
 have been always found to furnish the ready means of cor- 
 liUPTioN, OPPRESSION, and TYRANNY, the only alteration 
 required will be, that in no possible case shall the different 
 children, whether male or female, of the same father, divide 
 in other than equal portions, the property of which the 
 sire may die possessed. Thus we shall prevent that dis- 
 graceful inequality of patrimony in children of the same 
 parent, that at present furnish not unfrequent instances, 
 where the head of the family, as he is called, has a revenue 
 of, perhaps, forty thousand pounds a year^ whilst the 
 younger branches have scarcely a sufficient income to sup- 
 port the appearance that custom has rendered absolutely 
 necessary to enable them to dine at their elder brother's 
 table ; to provide for whom, without injuring the possessions 
 of the elder son, an almost incredible number of sinecure 
 places^ and of trifling and useless offices, have been created 
 finder the ditleient governments the world h-as hitlierto 
 witnessed ; the burthen of which has, without exception, 
 
 * It is the Publisher's intention of presenting the English Nation 
 with a woik in cheap numbers, giving- a detailed account of the Fall 
 of those Empires, and every drcumslancc conVkfctcd with their 
 Rise and Decline. 
 
"•;» 
 
 
 4 THE COMMONWEALTH OF REASON. 
 
 '••:) ultimatelv fallen on those, who, it must ever be acknowr 
 ^^ jedged, form the g^reat bulwark of every state — the in- 
 
 vl DUSTRIOUS ARTIZAN AND LABOUKIOUS CULTIVATOR, 
 
 as the payment of these places is u.Wally provided for by 
 taxes levied on articles of the most general consumption, and 
 of the first necessity: — independent of which, these rich men 
 become themselves the servile tools^ and abject slaves of 
 the executive power ; as upon no other condition can they 
 \ reasonably hope to make provision for their poorer relatives! 
 Thus the only return the citizens receive lor encouraging 
 this immoral and partial distribution of the father's estate, 
 is the deprivation of the independent assistance of those 
 whom, by the most flagrant injustice, they have loaded with 
 riches. For these reasons it will be advisable not to admit 
 in the Commonwealth of any sinecure place^ than the ex- 
 istence of which nothing can be more absurd: for no one 
 can consistently with honesty, accept of payment for ser- 
 vices he has never performed, nor has the remotest in- 
 tention of performing. And when these fellows are inter- 
 rogated as to their nobility^ they turn round with an 
 unparralleled degree of eflVontery, and assert that it is an 
 ^^ iiidecent attack upon the king^s laavful prerogative *.*' 
 In fact, SINECURE PLACES MAY BE LITERALLY 
 
 denominated—^ robbery committed on 
 the jvjtion, uxder the false colors, 
 AjYd specious pretext, of having a public 
 
 EMPLOFlMENTj—and the existence and duration of 
 jsuch emoluments can only be built on the disgraceful igno- 
 rance and culpable inattention of the greater part of the 
 •citizens composing the Commonwealth ; — since no man in 
 his senses would, knowingly, pay his baker for a loaf he 
 never had, or was to have. Neither is it necessary to suffer 
 the establishment of any useless office, oremploynient in the 
 Commonwealth, which can only be harassing to the citizens 
 
 * Suppose Charles George Arden should be asked why he is more 
 particularly entitled to £38,574, than any other individual; — or 
 lord Cathcart to £27,364 ;— or Francis Rawdon Hastings to £2(>,(HJ() ; 
 — or Francis Gerard Lake to £12,(>49; — or the Earl of Talbot to 
 £20,000; they will tell you it is "an indecent attack upoii the 
 king's prerogative." In fact, should we enquire of the 2,344 Pen- 
 sioners and ISinecurists, why they collectively receive £2,474,805, 
 they will furnish you with the same answer, no doubt. In Great 
 Jiiitain alone there has been a calculation made that the Sinecurists 
 and Pensioners deprive ol' sustenance no Iciss a numlxr of individuals 
 than' 381, 525. 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH OF REASON, 1% 
 
 and destructive to their common interest Or to admit any 
 pnormous or disproportionate salary to be annexed to the 
 lexecution of the necessary public functions ; for as no citizen 
 ought to refuse to take upon him, in his turn, that public 
 employment, which a majority of his fellow-citizens shall 
 call him to the exercise of, — and as the due, faithful, and 
 impartial discharge of it is as much for his own security, 
 happiness, and advantage, as for that of the CommonAvealth, 
 so no citizen who really wishes to promote the general 
 prosperity of the Commonwealth, can or ought to have a 
 desire of wickedly enriching himself at the expense of the 
 community; which he certainly does whenever he accepts, 
 as a remuneration for his public services, a sum greater than 
 will defray the necessary expenses and consumption of time 
 that has attended them, or of a sinecure, or of a pension, 
 or of a place of profit, the functions of which produce no 
 general good to the citizens. Therefore, not suffering any 
 of these places or profits, the existence of ichich^ in the 
 governments we have hitherto tvitnesscd, may be justl?/ 
 stiled '^ a radical error ^^^ is the best and most certain way 
 to prevent the dreadful necessity of reforming abases^ that 
 we ourselves are the authors of, by permitting such tempta- 
 tions to be thrown in the way of the evil-disposed, avaricious, 
 and designing men : — for as \i is an axiom in metaphysics, 
 ** that no effect can possibly exist without a cause^'' so it is 
 also an axiom in medicine, '^ that if you can reinove the 
 cause J the effect will cease.^^ 
 
 As the existence of exclusive privileges is the grand 
 means by which these unhappy jealousies, shameful dis- 
 sentions, and destructive animosities, that have ever been 
 found to be absolutely necessary to the support and existence 
 of arbitrary oppression, despotic power ^ and lawless cor- 
 ruption^ are fomented and kept alive, and which effectually 
 prevent that harmony that ought ever to subsist among the 
 members of the Commonwealth ; it must appear evident to 
 every thinking and reasonable being, that those customs 
 which have no other tendency than to destroy the happy 
 union of interoiits so requisite to the furtherance of the hap- 
 piness and prosperity of the citizens, could only have originated 
 with those monsters, (for they are a disgrace to the name of 
 man,) who, lost to every social virtue, and wishing to trample 
 with impunity on i\\e sacred and indefeasihle rights (f mauy 
 have cunningly introduced a system of oppressing onj: i^ian 
 FOR TiiR PROFIT OF ANOTifi-R, whioh, IVom the extreme 
 ignoraiice of 'mankind and lh(;,r but too general iuatlentiou 
 
# THE COMMOXWEALTH OF REASON. 
 
 to their true and genuine interests, they have been able (o 
 pass on their bhndness and creduHty. as favors and fid van- 
 tages; — and who, by these nefarious means, having acquired 
 the direction of the public force, have, whenever the 
 cheat has been discovered, and men have attempted to 
 regain their original state of happy equality^ made use 
 of that command thus surreptitiously obtained, to per- 
 petuate a system, by which alone such miscreants 
 and viOLATERS OF JUSTICE, knew they could be enabled to 
 commence with safety, and continue with impunity, their 
 diabolical measures, enormous speculations, and sanguinary 
 administration. For these reasons, I propose, that in my 
 Plan no such heterogeneous and corrupt monsters of in- 
 justice, as PRIVILEGED ORDERS, GAME LAWS, MANORIAL 
 RIGHTS, EXCLUSIVE CHARTERS, CORPORATIONS, and OTHER 
 SUCH PARTIAL, WICKED, and OPPRESSIVE PRIVILEGES shall 
 
 have existence : for nothing- seems more irrational, than that 
 the birds of the air, wild animals, or the fish of a river, which 
 nature certainly has not stamped or marked with any par- 
 ticular man's name, and to which no one man can jnstly and 
 honestly shew ^ superior claim over his neighbour, should 
 be made the exclusive property of the rich man, and the 
 poor man be punished for the killing and appropriation of 
 that which nature seems to have sent for the express purpose 
 of appeasing those appetites she has given him in common 
 with the most wealthy and afiiuent. And it can never, 
 surely, be argued, that the destroying of these creatures 
 is in itself an immoral act ; as, supposing such argument to 
 be just, it could not but be admiited at the same time, that 
 if it is immoral in (he man of poverty, it is equally so in the 
 man of riches: unless, indeed, men can be so weak and 
 stupid as to imagine, that a rich man, lord of the manor, or 
 ocher privileged person, has a licence and authority from 
 Heaven, wluch purges the guilt from him, that attaches on 
 the poor man's shoulders : and yet, ridiculous as this sup- 
 position must appear to every man of common sense, we 
 nevertheless hear of some men whose infallibility is accre- 
 dited, and even held sacred, with a great part of the world : 
 which acknowledgment, on their parts, is absolutely sup- 
 posing the existence of this monstrous and incomprehensible 
 ftbsurdit}-. Neither can anything be more ridiculous, cruel, 
 and unjuf^t, ihaii that A f^^hould have a remedy against his 
 neighbour B, that B hat> not in like cases against his brother 
 i;itizen A, sinix' what is punishable when done by B, can or 
 tiight to be no les«» :^o when committed by A, howoiT 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH OF REASO.t. 7 
 
 ignorant men, by absurd and nonsensical privileges, ac** 
 corded to A, may bave sbeltered him from common justice' 
 and enabled, and indeed encourag^ed him to commit, without 
 fear of inquiry, or punishment, those acts of dishonesty and 
 oppression to B, for which, but strip him of his talismanic 
 garments, he would be held in utter and general detestatiorf. 
 As what are called, national religious esiablisInnenU^ 
 have been found to be the greatest scourge that ever aiflicted 
 mankind; and have, at different periods, been perverted 
 from what even the original institutors themselves meant 
 should be their object; and have been called into the aid of, 
 incorporated with, and made part of almost every national 
 government, by which means corruption has engeaidered, 
 at the moderate expence of a few mitres and other such 
 baubles, an additional and most implacable enemy to th^i 
 natural independence of man : and have by instilling tht? 
 monstrous and inconj>ruous doctrine of eternal damnation to 
 such as differ in opinion tVom the national theology, robbed 
 a great part of the citizens of their jw5^, necessary and indt- 
 J'easible rights ^ under the specious, and diabolical pretence 
 of heterodoxy; and compelled (he inhabitants of one c<Hin- 
 try, to murder the citizens of another, for the propaj^ation of 
 what, each has called the true religion, to their mutual dis- 
 advantage, and m direct defiance of the morality inculcated 
 by all ; — one cf the great and principal tenets of these reli- 
 gion-mongers, being, according t® their language, though 
 'not according to their practice, to protnote brotherhood and 
 good-ivill amongst men; yet, how far this principle actuate*s 
 those who call themselves orthodox, which each does in his 
 turn^ may behest collected from the reciprocal benevolence 
 they exercise towards each other ; from a Jew being con- 
 demned to the AutO'de-Fe in vSpain and Portugal, becaus<? 
 be will not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God ; 
 from a Christian being held in general abhorrence by the 
 Turks, because be doubts the truth of Mahomet's having 
 fiscei^ded seven Heaveiis, and helJ converse wit^i the Al- 
 mighty ; from a Ro.r.an Catholic beinof provented in Pro- 
 testant countries hording any public oJfBce or place of trust 
 and proiit, merely because he believes the wine and th« 
 wafer he receives when taking the sacrament, is the body 
 and blood of his friend Jesus Christ, whilst the true be- 
 liever, as he is stiled, under what the persecuted Catholic calls 
 an heretical government, s.ys, they are only taken in remem- 
 brance of their Lord and xMuster; betwixt whom and his 
 pre^eixt followersj there is no more resemblance, "than I lo 
 
ff THE rOMMONNVEAI/VH OF REASON 
 
 Hercule/s;*' — and a thousand other wicked and diabolical 
 pains and penalties attached to the great, enormous, and 
 never-to-be-forgiven crime of a man's thinking and jud<Wncr 
 for himself, in what is called the tnoi>t materjal concern ei 
 his life, the salvation of his soul ; not to mention the cruel 
 and murderous wars that have been carried on bv Jews against 
 Gentiles; Christians against Turks ; Turks against Infidels'; 
 and one sect of Christians against another sect of Chris- 
 tians; in which barbarous, bloody, and blasphemous con- 
 tests, millions of infatuated men have lost their lives, with- 
 out the point in dispute being yet- deterniincd ; the com 
 batants havino* been always reduced to the situation of the 
 hare and the hound : — where one teas too fatigued to follow^ 
 and the other too tired to run atcay; therefore, as every 
 establishment in a Commonwealth should be really and truly 
 to promoteyr«^(?r«z7?/among the citizens, and to draw closely 
 the bonds of union in society ; it follows of course, that these 
 institutions, experience having ptoved them to be productive 
 of contrcTry effects, should by every well wisher and friend 
 to the repose and happiness «f mankind be avoided. And 
 as religion se^ms to be a subject on which men may perhaps 
 never be perfectly agreed ; since no one can, by any thing 
 like demonstrative evidence, prove tha|: the tenets of the par- 
 ticular sect to which he belongs, is more acceptable to the 
 Supreme Being, than those of another sect, whether he be 
 Baptist, Jew, Gentile, Mahometan, Armenian, Christian, Anti- 
 christian, Adamite, Dunker, Swedenborgian, Worshipper of 
 the Sun, Worshipper of the Moon, Universalist, Eutychian, 
 Adrammelechian, Philadelphian, Qnartodecimanian, Pre- 
 destinurian, Agonyclite, Bonasian, B^tsilidian, Hottentot, 
 Nestorian, Carpocratian, Antinomian, Maronist, Cartesian, 
 Scotist, Thomist, Scripturist, Sacramentarian, Worshipper 
 ofFo, Gnostic, Idolator, Quietest, Sabattarian, Manichean, 
 Roman Catholic, Trinitarian, Anti-trinitarian, Rhetorian, 
 Mengrelian, Annomaean, Brownist, Whitfieldite, Cataphry- 
 gian, Messalian, Pelagian, Semipelagian, Elcesacitian, An- 
 thropomorphite, Millenarian, Antidicomarionite, Cerdonist, 
 Elaterist, Stercoranist, Jacobite, Georgian, Antitactite, Con- 
 g-regationalist, Colluthean, Berulian, Eudoxiau, Soliiidian, 
 Priscillianist, Melchite. Herodian, Cerinihian, Appollinarian, 
 Ag-ynite, Papist, Quintillian, Sceptic, Circumcellian, Disci- 
 plinarian, Eunomian, Albongist, Metemsychite, Lollard^ 
 Hemerobaptist, Fratricoliian, Avchontick, Eternalist, Dis- 
 senter, Samaritan, Remonstrant, Opinionist, Patripassiant, 
 Artolyrist, Aquarian, Ubiquitarian,Photinian, Marianalatrisf, 
 
Sublapsarian, Sopralapsarian, Metamorphist, Ebionite, Jan- 
 senist, Rogatist, Mennonite, Sabean, Apellitian, Marciou'jst, 
 Dulcinist, Catharian, Ascordrigilran, Macedonian, Augusti- 
 niah, Montanist, Chiliast, Muncerian, Libertine, Bongo- 
 milian, Rebaptizer, Bardesanist, Severian, Gentoo, Barulite, 
 Apostolian, Bacchanalian, Avian, Sabellian, Quaker, Bagno- 
 lensiart, Pharisee, Vaudois, Erastian, Petrobrusiari, Timo- 
 thean, Luciferian, Baanite. Eustathian, Flagellant, Mono- 
 tbeist, Socinian, Tritheite, Stoic, Gortinian, Sofee, Braman, 
 Sethian, Faster, Protestant, Sandemonian, Lutheran, Calvi- 
 nist, Fiftbmonarchist, Seleucian, New Jerusalemite, Poly- 
 ^amist. Fatalist, Polytheist, Nazarite, Ganlonite, Fiorinusite, 
 Sabatbian, Valentinian, Jovinianist, Sadducee, Pyrrhonist, 
 Pythagorean, Presbyterian, Methodist, Optimist, Donatist, 
 Moravian, Muggletonian, Deist, Novatian, Tao-sse, Uni- 
 tarian ; — it follows, of course, that setting up one species of 
 religion in preference to others, or nationalizing ity by 
 countenancing, protecting, and supporting in idleness and 
 luxury such drones as Muftis, Popes, Ta-ho-changs, Great 
 Lamas, Parsons, Archbishops, Deaconesses, Rectors, High- 
 Priests, Elders, Fakirs, Bishops, Deacons, Mustaphas, Arch- 
 deacons, Druids, Priestesses, Levites, Priors, Canons, Deans, 
 Priests, Doctors of Divinity, Ho-changs, Nuns, Rabbies, 
 Monks, Abbes, Carmeiites, Jesuits, Carthusians, Dominicans, 
 Franciscans, Lady Abbesses, Masorites, Lamas, Cardinals, 
 Emirs, Vicars, Prophets, Prebends, Talapolins, Bonze.^, 
 Bramins, Apostles, Seers, Primontres, Benedictines, Jaca- 
 bines, Feuillans, Bernardines, Freres de I'Ordre de la Mercy^ 
 Cordeliers, Capuchins, Recollects, Freres de h. Gharite, 
 Minimes, Oratorians, Chartreux, Predicatenrs, Picpuces, 
 Carmes, Augustines, Ursulines, Caiverians, Clerines, Soeurs 
 de la Croix, Barnabites, Sceurs de la Charite, Annonciat^, 
 Soeurs de St. Thomas, CHrmei?de Chaussee, Petit Pc^re?, 
 Dames de St. Claire, Lazarists, Ordre de St. Behoit, 
 Dames de la Visitation, Celestines, Chapitre* Nobles des 
 Femmes, Chanoins, Trapistes, Incas, Friars, Curates, Cler- 
 gymen, Chaplains, and other such useless beings, or as 
 they emphatically style each other^ Impudent impos- 
 tors, who being too proud and lazy to work, have availed 
 themselves of man^s credulity, and the corruption of the 
 executive power, to get laws enacted, enabling them to 
 steal with impunity from the laborious and industrious 
 citizens; and who, not content with thus cheating mart- 
 kind, have contrived to defraud each other in the division 
 of the s{>6il, by giving to one, becjiuse he wears at cap of a 
 
 2 
 
10 THS COMMONWEALTH OF REASON. 
 
 particular form, and of his own invention, ten or twelve 
 THOUSAND POUNDS A YEAR; whllst the poor devils who 
 read all their tenets to the infatuated multitude are allowed 
 by these meek^ moderate^ Uemperate, sober ^ honesty chaste, 
 virtuous^ modesty dignified^ and superior interpreters of 
 what, as they say of each other ^ each impiously chooses to 
 call God's holy uord, perhaps fifteen 0!i twenty pounds 
 A year; but then their motto is patience^ and perhaps I 
 may bea cardinal, bishop, pope, mufti^ Ta-ho-changyGreat 
 Lama, or high-priest; it follows, I say, that these establish- 
 ments, which produce such caterpillars, who pretend that 
 an all just God has sent them to devour the good things of 
 this world, without contributing to the labour of producing 
 *hem, can be attended with no other consequence than that 
 unhappy one of exciting the niiost rancorous animosities and 
 implacable resentments betwixt those whose immediate 
 interest consists in preserving the utmost cordiality, har- 
 mony, and fraternity, with each other, because they are at 
 every instant endeavouring to gain superiority the one over 
 the other, by engendering the most vicious hatred in tneir 
 followers against all who happen to dissent from their par- 
 ticular doctrine ; I therefore propose, as religion is a subject 
 roerely of opinion, and consequently ought to be free as 
 the circumambient air, not to suflfer the building, at other 
 than private expence, any cathedral^ mosque.^ synagogue^ 
 convent J pagoda^ churchy motiastery.) tabernacle, coni'tnticlcf 
 abbey ^ meeting- house^ nunnery, pantheon^ chap$l^ temple^ 
 altar^ or other ediiice, to be appropriated to the purpose of 
 "what is called national religious worship; or the endow- 
 ment of any monastery or nunnery; or the existence of 
 any tythes, or other provision for what are called the re- 
 gular and national clergy; taking it for granted, that 
 the citizens can never be more happy, or the Commonwealth 
 more flourishing, than when they follow that precept in 
 ethics, of *' Do unto all men as you would they should do 
 -itnto you;'' which great and immutable principle of mondity 
 is invaded, whenever one man attempts to deprive arother 
 of any of his rights, merely because he happens to differ 
 from him in religious opinions; for who will sny, that the 
 Swede, when he castrates the deluded Koman Catholic 
 priest, who has the misfortune to be found in his country, 
 would not think himself ill used by being served in the same 
 manner, whenever he chanced to go to Rome; and never- 
 theless this ia one of those savage cu>tom8, amongst a pro- 
 digious number of others, equally barbarous, that have been 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH OF REASOiV. H 
 
 iiHrodiicod by these religionists, who, with UDblushing 
 eftVonfery and unparalleled impudence, tell you, that in so 
 doing they zealously serve the Supreme Being, promote the 
 happiness of man, and propagate the doctrines of that great 
 and good man, Jesus Christ, of whom it is recorded, in tho 
 New Testament, a book which these hypocrites themselves 
 pretend to believe the truth of, that he was of so meek « 
 disposition, that, in his advice to his disciples and followers, 
 he said, '< If any man smits thee on the right cheeky turn 
 to him the left also.'* 
 
 And as tlie establishment of laws, however good and 
 wholesome they may be. can be of no real use or service to 
 the citizens, whilst the most effectual care is not taken to 
 obtain a fair, impartial, and speedy execution of them ; and 
 as all experience must have long since convinced men that 
 suffering of the law to be practised by individuals, for their 
 own peculiar benefit and advantage, thereby making a trade 
 of that which should form a principal and prominent feature 
 in the executive power of the Commonwealth, is a principle 
 that is radically founded in error, militates directly against a 
 due and equitable administration of justice, is attended with 
 the most injurious consequences to society ; with the most 
 melancholy examples of ruin and poverty to the parties seek- 
 ing redress, and above all, has become, in the hands of cor- 
 ruption, a very principal means of enslaving nations, of 
 destroying the great and sacred rights of man, and of rending- 
 asunder those fraternal bonds, which should ever unite the 
 citizens in the most brotherly afiection to each other ; and 
 the laws having, in most countries, under the most flimsy 
 pretext and specious assertion of maintaining peace, order, 
 and good government, of every one of whicli they are at 
 p/esent entirely subversive, no doubt, expressly with a view 
 to the particular interests of those legal wolves, who are con- 
 tinually prowling in society, seeking whom they may devour, 
 become so complicated and entangled, that a whole life spent 
 in the most unremitting" study of* them, is not sufficient to 
 ascertain, with precision, what is or is not law, whereby the 
 great bulk of the citizens of most countries are lelt in igno- 
 rance, and the most shameful state of b:intlness, of what 
 ou^ht to constitute their principal instruction, namely, a clear 
 and accurate knowledge of those laws under which they live, 
 are governed, and by which their lives, fovtiincs, and ho- 
 nour, are liable every day to be judged ; and as the present 
 method of administering public jushee inmost countriesis 
 such, that the greater part of the ciiizcns arc imbued with a 
 
yi T(1B COMMOIfWyiLTM OF RBASON, 
 
 Relief that they have no occasion to obtain a knowledge of 
 the laws of their nation, since they can always be able tq 
 find men who have studied them in a manner that is termed 
 professional^ and these, to keep up the delusion and error, 
 purposely contrive to render them so intricate and perplex- 
 ing, that the generality of men are deterred from entering 
 upon an examination of their principles, and, by this trick, 
 the public justice of a country is held up to sale like goods 
 ^t an auction, where the best bidder generally is the pur- 
 chaser, with thig difference, that whereas in the auction, the 
 buyer may perhaps be benefited by his bargain, the gainer 
 of a law-suit is but too generally ruined, and in a worse 
 jj^ondilion than if he had quietly put up with the first injury j 
 indeed, the lawyers are, in fact, in almost all countries the 
 most zealous, and strongest inculcators of Christianity ; for 
 fjxperience soon teaches all their clients, to their cost, that 
 it is much more for their advantage to follow that precept qf 
 Jesus Christ, where he says, " And him that taketh away 
 j^hy cloak forbid him not to take thy coat also, and of him 
 that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again,'' than em- 
 ploy an attorney to recover them, for frequently in attempt- 
 ing to recover his hat, the citizen has the misfortune to los^ 
 his coat, waistcoat, shirt, stockings, and breeches ; it 
 should seem, therefore, that those societies, which are esta- 
 blished for the purpose of propagating the Christian Faith, 
 would do well to recommend to the Pope the supplying all 
 yacant church establishments with these strenuous supr 
 porters of the doctrines of Jesus Christ, instead of those 
 qlergynien, who, by their conduct, seem determined rather 
 to bring Christianity into disesteem than promote its inte- 
 rests; and as distributive justice denaands that every where 
 the laws ought reidly to be what the English judges say the 
 law of their country is, equally open to the poor and the 
 ^ich ', although how far this is the case in niost countries may 
 be best judged of by the daily occurrences, where, if a man 
 have not wherewith to fee an avaricious attorney, his com- 
 plaints, however just, against his neighbour, must remain 
 unheard and unredressed, whilst there are not wanting 
 abundance of in?tances, where the man of w-ealth, by th^ 
 mere dint of money, properly appiiacl, as the men oj' lata 
 professionally term it^ has been able to harass, oppress, 
 and ruin his fellow-citizen, without any just cause whatever ; 
 and to what is .-ill this to be attributed, but that which is 
 qonsidered by. the profession as their sheet anchor, and emr 
 nhatically termed the gioriqas uncej^laintfj nj' the laWy 
 
THE POMMON\TSAtTII OF RKASOTf. 13 
 
 which readered into plain English, is, whose attorney is 
 the greatest rogue^ who has the longest purse, and the 
 ptost convenient witnesses ; and as this glorious uncertainty 
 of the law, so much valued and boasted of by its professors, 
 is, or ought to be, its greatest reproach, because the law 
 should equally apply to all the citizens, and none be suf- 
 fered to be ignorant of it ; should be definite, and never be 
 80 made as to admit of two or more constructions ; and as 
 delay in the determination of causes, is of all things the 
 most destructive of justice, by opening a wide and exten- 
 sire field for corruption, perjury, and oppression, and is 
 highly harassing, and cruel to the parties accused ; their 
 being a variety of examples where citizens who were ex- 
 tremely innocent of the crime alledged, have been detained 
 in prison for six, nine, twelve months, and more, without 
 being ever brought to trial, and at last discharged without 
 any thing like evidence being offered of their guilt; there- 
 fore, to remedy these evils, I propose, in my plan, not to 
 suffer any attorney or advocate to be paid at the private ex- 
 pence of (he individual seeking justice, but propose, that 
 the law, the just and equitable administration of which is a 
 circumstance mutually interesting to the whole body of the 
 citizens, should really be what the administrators of English 
 jurisprudence say of their laws, equally attainable by the 
 affluent and the needy, and for this purpose, I pro{)ose, that 
 it should at all times be administered at public expence, and. 
 without any unnecessary delay; thus preventing any use- 
 less and inconvenient disbursement of money on the part of 
 either plaintiff or defendant, and giving every citizen his 
 remedy against oppression; thus restoring Justice to her 
 original purity, by taking out of her beam that bias whick 
 at present but too often causes one of her scales to preponde- 
 rate, and never permitting her sword to strike but whea 
 ^Uth directs the blow. 
 
I / 
 
 H THE COMMONWEALTH OF RBASOJf,' 
 
 PLAN, &c. 
 
 I SHALL now proceed to lay down the outlines of my 
 plan for a Commonwealth, and here I must entreat the 
 candid reader to bear in mind, that if any part or the Whole 
 of it, may appear incongruous, I shall feel the greatest plea- 
 sure in seeing my feeble attempts taken up by a more 
 masterly hand, and that happiness, which is the undoubted 
 right of, and which I most fervently wish my fellow creatures 
 to possess, placed by superior abilities, within the reach of 
 oppressed mortals, by the proposition for a rational Govern- 
 ment, to be founded on the indefeasible rights of man, — the 
 non-existence of which in most countries has hitherto so 
 cruelly scourged the human species, sinking them in slavery, 
 sloth, and baseness ; making them hug those chains they 
 pught to rend asunder; corrupting their morals, degene- 
 rating their habits, and submitting them to the cruel and 
 rapacious tyranny of a few crafty knaves and designing 
 villains, that punish the imbecility of those who imitate their 
 example with the most bloody and dreadful tortures ; thus 
 filling their prisons with the wretched victims of their savage 
 policy, or else strewing- the earth with the dead and mangled 
 carcases of those who, left destitute by the negligence of 
 society, have been forced into criminal pursuits to obtain that 
 provision which their physical wants have rendered abso- 
 lutely necessary, but which the injustice and rapacity of 
 these unfeeling gaolers of the human mind has preveiited 
 them from being capacitated to obtain by other meaiiSj than 
 depredating in their turn upon those who never cease for an 
 instant to pillage and ravage their fellow-citizens, to support 
 themselves in the most shameful debauchery and extravagant 
 dissipation ; — regardless of the misery and wretchedness 
 which they everywhere diffuse by the gratification of those 
 inordinate and desolating- passions that reduce them in the 
 pyes of the honest and virtuous man, far below the level oi' 
 
THE COMMONWEAtTH OF REASON* 15 
 
 the beasts of the field. Indeed, government, in the most 
 part of the present societies, may be compared to caterpillars 
 and locusts, who destroy> without remorse, the produce oi' 
 the industry and labour of others, without ever dreaming of 
 giving, in any manner, their assistance in return. 
 
 I can truly say, that the endeavour to point out the means 
 of establishing such a government has been the most promi- 
 nent motive for the present publication ; conscious of the 
 deficiency of my own acquirements in the prosecution of this 
 design, I can flatter myself with nothing more than the hope 
 that 1 may by it excite in the bosom of the philosopher and 
 man of reflection, the desire of ameliorating the miseries 
 of his species ; which, whatever may be the difference of 
 opinion between men on the best means of remedying them, 
 must at all events be universally acknowledged but too 
 fatally to have existence, and to cry aloud for redress: no 
 man of humaniry can look at the cottager, and see him 
 «ieagre, half-famished, and worn down with excessive toil,— - 
 his children naked and uneducated, — and at the same time 
 view the plumpness and healthy appearance of the coach- 
 borse that drags his lord in enervating idleness past the 
 bumble thatch, and not be ready to allow, that wherever 
 such a wicked disparity between the condition of the human 
 and brutal species exists, the government must be radically 
 wrong, infamous, and little calculated to produce the de- 
 sirable end for which government was originally instituted. 
 
 To the critics, I can only say, I shall cheerfully submit to 
 their lashes, while thev inflict them only in conformity to 
 justice and reason ; and that, far from feehng myself angered 
 by their animadversions, however severe tliey may be, i 
 shall be happy in having my mistakes rectified, and to be 
 drawn from my wanderings into the path of truth; to be 
 imbued with those sublime doctrines, forms the most zealous 
 wish of my heart; and to inculcate the fascinating, beautiful, 
 and delicious tenets of this long-neglected though radiant 
 sun of human felicity, bounds the utmost ambition of my 
 soul ; and should I ever again appear before the public tri- 
 bunal, I shall feel it the most honourable part of my lite, 
 candidly to acknowledge my errors, and thankfully to re- 
 cognize the beuelits that 1 may have received from the im- 
 partial observations of the lenrned, and the honest criticisms 
 oi the friends of humanity and truth. 
 
 This premised, 1 think it proper and suit-ible to my sub- 
 ject, to set out with a Declaration of Rights, founded "on the 
 broad and permanent basis of Liberty, Fraternity, and 
 
li THE €OMMON\fttALTH OF MkaSON. 
 
 Equality^ as I conceive it \% on the imperiighable foundatioii 
 of these rights alone, that those la\vs afid regulations can 
 be built, which shall truly and faithfully have for object, 
 what ought to be considered the most important of nW huniati 
 pursuits — The happiness of the hitman rac6 living togetht^ 
 in society. 
 
 DECLARATION OF RIGHTS* 
 
 Article I. — All men, when they come out of the hand* 
 of Nature, are equal and free. This freedom and equality 
 they can never infringe without committing injusftice to 
 themselves; they ought always to remain equal ahd free: 
 no distinction ought to exist amongst the citizens but what 
 is conducive to the general utility and happiness of society ; 
 any privilege, therefore, granted to a member of society 
 for his own particular advantage, becomes an injustice to 
 the rest of the citizens. 
 
 Art. 2. — The legitimate end of all association whatever, 
 is the conservation of society, and the preservation of the 
 natural and imprescriptible rights of each of its members : 
 these rights are Liberty, Security, and Resistance against 
 Oppression of every kind, and are founded on the nature of 
 tnan. 
 
 Art. 3. — The Soverkigntv ought to reside in the ma- 
 jority of the citizens who compose a nation. No body of 
 men of less amount than the absolute majority ; no indivi- 
 dual^ unless authorised by a complete majority, can legiti- 
 mately exercise any authority over the citizens, because 
 Nature has willed that its part shall always remain subor- 
 dinate to the whole. 
 
 Art. 4. — Liberty consists in the power of doing every 
 thing for the advantage of the individual which does not 
 trench upon the rights of another: thus no restriction ought 
 to be laid on the rights of any man, because, whenever the 
 exercise of a function becomes injurious to society, it ceasei 
 to be Liberty, and becomes licantiousness ; but as every 
 man may not be able to form to himself an accurate and 
 precise idea of what constitutes Licentiousness, the law, 
 tvhich, to be just, must be the ej^pi'essiort of the will of the 
 absoluftc majority of the citizens, fixes boundaries to th6 
 a<??ions of meni The true and so!^ liraitaliori of Libarty if^ 
 
M THB COMMONWEALTH OF REASON. .17 
 
 the not doing that to another which you would not wish he 
 should do unto you. 
 
 Art. 5. — The law can acquire no right to forbid those 
 actions wh'ch are not injurious to society. Every thing that 
 is not forbidden by the law, each citizen ought to be allowed 
 to do with safety, and ought to be by the law guaranteed in 
 doing ; but no citizen ought to be obliged to do that which 
 is not prescribed by the law made antecedent to the com- 
 pulsion. 
 
 Art. 6. — The law ought to be the expression of the will 
 of the majority of the citizens comprising a state; a majority 
 of the citizens, by themselves or their representatives, ought 
 to consent to the law before it can have efl'ect: it ought to 
 be the same for every citizen, otherwise it would degenerate 
 into injustice. 
 
 Art. 7. — Every citizen being equal in rights, ought to 
 be equally admissible to the occupation of that post w-hich a 
 majority of his fellow-citizens shall call upon him to hold ; 
 each citizen ought to be compelled to accept the public offices 
 in his turn, if a majority of his fellow-citizens think fit ; but 
 no citizen ought to be obligated to hold a public situation 
 twice, until every other citizen shall have tilled the same 
 post. 
 
 Art. 8. — Religion being a matler of opinion, ought to be 
 free as the circumambient air. No citizen ought to be com- 
 pelled to adopt any particular religious tenets, or be ex- 
 cluded from his riiihts as a citizen on account of his faith, 
 while the manifestation of it does not tend to in'ure the 
 society of which he forms a part. 
 
 Art. 9. — No citizen ought to be accused, arrested, or , 
 detained, except in cases determined by the law, and ac- 
 cording to the forms which shall be prescribed by the law. 
 As punishment ought to attach to illegal arrest or detention 
 of any citizen, so no citizen ought to withhold an obedience 
 to the law, and resistance to it becomes a crime. 
 
 Art. 10. — The law ought not to establish any punish- 
 ment that is disproport'oned to the crime committed ; and 
 punishment, to be legitimate, ought to have been decreed 
 and promulgated antecedent to ihe offence, and be applied 
 according to the forms prescribed. 
 
 Art. II. — Every citizen being presumed innocent until 
 such time as a jury of his ffdlow- citizens shall have de- 
 clared him guilty ; whenever it shall be deeme 1 necessary 
 to the public sal'ety to seclude a citizen, all coercive force, 
 
 3 
 
1$ T»E fOMMONWftALTH OF REASON. 
 
 not nbsolutely necessary to the detention of his person, 
 ought to be criminal. 
 
 Art. 12. — The free communication of thought and of 
 opinion is one of the most irrefragable and precious rights of 
 a citizen. Every citizen therefore ought to be allowed 
 freely to speak, \Trite5 and publish his sentiments and opi- 
 nion, upon any and every subject, when such writing, 
 speaking, or publishing is not injurious to the interests of 
 individuals: the law ought, therefore, to apply remedies to 
 the abuses of the press and of speech, only in the cases of 
 individuals. 
 
 Art. 13. — The keeping of any armed force on foot, 
 other than the citizens of the state, hehm inconsistent with 
 the liberties of the citizens, ought to become criminal in 
 the parties concerned: the armed force being for the benefit 
 of all, ought not to be applied to the sole use or advantage of 
 any individual, except in protecting his natural rights. 
 
 Art. 14. — Society has a right to leimburse those ex- 
 pences which it incurs, by a levy on each of its citizens ; 
 this impost ought to be equally sustained by all the citizens, 
 according to the abilities of each. 
 
 Art. 15. — Every public functionary ought to be respon- 
 sible to the society for his administration ; from this responsi- 
 bility he ought not to be absolved, J 
 
 Art. 16. — Every citizen has the imprescriptible right by 
 himself, or by his representative, to give his voice concern- 
 ing the necessity of the contribution to be levied ; it ought 
 not to be levied without the consent of a majority of the 
 citizens previously obtained ; every individual has a right 
 to investigate the public accounts, and any attempt to pre- 
 vent the exercise of this right, is an infraction of the rights 
 of man, and ought to attach criminality. 
 
 Art. 17. — Society ought to guarantee to every citizen the 
 exercise of his natural and unalienable rights; whenever 
 these are attacked, each citizen has an indefeasible right to 
 call upon society for protection against the invader. Society 
 ceases to be just when it refuses this assistance. 
 
 Art. 18. — Every citizen has a right fo the protection of 
 society in the enjoyment of his property honestly acquired ; 
 no power can deprive him of any part of it except when a 
 majority of his fellow-citizens sliall have- declared it neces- 
 sary to the safety of the state; and in that case, society is 
 bound to make him an indemnity. 
 
THE tOMMONIVEALTH OF RKASOX. J9 
 
 REPRESENTATION AND EXECUTIVE 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Mex, in forming themselves into socielies, have tacitly 
 mnde a covenant^ by which they engage to be mutually 
 serviceable to each other, and to do nothing that can be 
 injurious either to their individual or collective capacity; 
 yet the nature of man rendering it indispensibly necessary 
 that he should at every instant search after happiness, which 
 he always makes consist in the gratification of some pass'on, 
 it becomes necessary to direct these passions in such a 
 manner that they may concur to the general prosperity, by 
 which alone individual happiness can be truly said to exist ; 
 for this purpose lawsnrc established, by which it is or ought 
 to be ascertained, from the united wisdom of society, what 
 actions are or are not conducive to the m-iintenance of asso- 
 ciation, and the felicity of its members. But that these laws 
 may be equitable and receive a general obedience, it is also 
 necessary that they should at ail times be the expression of 
 the public will, indeed, whenever they are not the result of 
 the/ree consent of a majority of the citizens who compose 
 a state, they are nn infraction of the rights of man, an unjusrt 
 usurpation^ and a direct rohhery. And, as in numerous 
 associations, an assembly of the whole citizens to discuss 
 public measures is altogether impracticable, and could not 
 be held without engendering tumults and disorder, it ha3 
 been found necessary to choose from amongst the citizens 
 individuals in whom society places a contidence, to be the 
 organs by which the general will, that is to say, the will of the 
 majority of the citizens, is expressed ; these are intrusted 
 with a certain degree of power, to make sur^-h regulationT* 
 and laws as they may judge expedient and necessary to i\\Q 
 happiness and well-being of the community of which they 
 themselves form a part. 
 
 Corruption, that dreadful weapon in the hands of wicked 
 and designing men, found means to spread its baneful influ- 
 ence into this wholesome and salutary institution, and by 
 ilegrees to enlarge the powers of the deputy by restricting 
 those of the elector: till at length the most protligate ofthe 
 representatives, in many instances, separated theni-ielves 
 

 20 / TMB COMMONWEALTH OF REASOIC. 
 
 from their companions ; assumed the sovereiga authority, 
 and having surreptitiously obtained the command of the 
 pubh'c force, they turned that which was originally meant 
 for the protection of society, against society itself ; and 
 t-lirough the ignorance and stupidity of man, thus made the 
 abject slave of those who first received their appointments 
 from him, the servant became the master : use familiarized 
 Ihem to the assumption ; ignorance and credulity concurred 
 to rivet their shackles ; until, at last, man entirely lost sight 
 of the first intention of his association, and in his delirium 
 and blindness, he committed for these very men who had 
 usurped over him an absolute authority, the most cruel and 
 oppressive acts against his fellow-citizens ; the interests of 
 society were divided, and man became an easy prey to the 
 ambitious and designing knave. 
 
 Elevated souls at diflferent periods, feeling the natural 
 dignity of man debased, his rights torn from him, and com- 
 misserating the wretchedness which every where pervades 
 human association, have endeavoured to draw society out of 
 this state of degradation, and place its members once more 
 in the possession of their legislative rights ; but an unfortu- 
 nate principle that has hitherto infused itself into almost all 
 their schemes, I mean that of dividing the representative 
 and executive power, and making certain situations heredi- 
 tary, has rendered, for the greater part, their most strenuous 
 efforts nugatory and abortive. 
 
 And as the sending men to legislate without giving them 
 the necessary power to carry their laws into execution would 
 be an absurdity ; so the separation of the executive and re- 
 presentative body, seems to have Had its origin in an inten- 
 tion to deceive and defraud the people of their just rights ; 
 under a pretext as flimsy as it is fallacious ; and not from 
 any evident demonstration of its being productive of superior 
 benefits to society: therefore, I propose that the representa- 
 tive and executive government shall be the same. The 
 great desideratum then seems to be, to obtain a perfect and 
 practicable equaHty of representation ; and to give to every^ 
 pitizen a due participation in the choice of those persons to 
 whom is delegated the power of disposing of a part of that 
 property, which can only legitimately be the offspring of 
 industry, and of making those laws which may abridge a 
 part of man's original liberty, in order to secure the safety 
 and felicity of every component member of the Common- 
 wealth ; and here 1 must dissent from that distinction, 
 :^^hich has hitherto been held as an axiom not to be departed 
 
THE COMMONWEAl.tn OF REASON, 21' 
 
 from, that of causing property, antl not persons, lo be re-» 
 presented ; and my reason for thus dissenlincr is this, that in 
 all cases it is persons, and not property, that must protect 
 both the laws and society ; for all the gold, silver, and other 
 valuables that ever came out of the bowels of the earth, could 
 never have been able, without the assistance of men's bodies, 
 to have protected a single individual against the depredations- 
 of rapacious villains and titled robbers. Property, there- 
 fore, in my opinion, should never be considered in any other 
 light than as an adventitious circumstance, enabUng the citi- 
 zen who possesses it to gratify more sensual appetites than 
 the citizen who has no such appendage ; but as by no means 
 giving the possessor any advantage in point of right or pri- 
 vilege over his poorer fellow-citizen, whose body, without 
 this casualty, will form as strong a rampart against the 
 enemies of society, as that of the richest nabob that ever 
 left the insulted and enslaved shores of liindostan, glutted 
 with bloody diamonds^ and wretchedness ! 
 
 I therefore propose that the Co^jmoxwealtii, shall be 
 divided into districts, containing, as nearly as possible, each 
 twenty -Jive thousand inhabitants intitled to vote ; that is to 
 say, male citizens, who shall have attained the age of 
 eighteen years, and who shall not be incapacited by crime 
 or insanity ; and that this may be oblaiiied as precisely as 
 possible, 1 propose that a general census of the people should 
 be taken, and when the districts are tbrmed, the inhabitants 
 of each shall choose, from amongst themselves, by an abso- 
 lute majority, that is to say, by not less than twelve thou- 
 sand Jive hundred and one suffrages, a fit and proper 
 person to be their reifister^ or keeper of the archives ; wiioso 
 functions shall consist in enroiino- ihe names of all the inha- 
 jbitants of the district qualified to vote ; which qualiiication, 
 as 1 have before stated, shall (Xily be, having attained 
 eighteen years, being a male unctltaiiited by crime, of sans 
 intellect^ and. a natire oj' the cou7ilx'<f^ or if not native, one 
 who tfiall have passed in his favour^ by an absolute niajo^ 
 rity of the whole representative body^ a vote o/*denization. 
 
 This registry ought to beat all times open to the inspection 
 of the citizens of the district to which it shall belong-, and 
 no one ouiiht to have the rioht of citizenship who shall have 
 neglected to enter his name, situation, and place of abode in 
 the Register: and he shall, at the time of enrolmeirt, be 
 obliged to bring ^tro citizens, whose names shall already be 
 on the register, as vouchers to prove his qualification and 
 vightlo be so cnregistered, and any citizen who shall give ^ 
 
22 THE COMMONWEALTH OF REASON. 
 
 false voucher for another in order to obtain his eiirohnent, 
 shall, upon such falsity being- proved to the satisfaction of a 
 jury, be disenfranchised for seven years; and, if convicted 
 of a second offence, for ever; but this in no case to atfect his 
 children ; and in order that the citizen who may happen to 
 have residences in dilferent districts, shall not be, from that 
 circumstance, enabled to obtain an undue influence over his 
 fellow-citizens, by having in consequence a plurality of votes, 
 I propose that the citizen being possessed of such different 
 abodes, shall, at the time of his being enregistered, give in 
 the titles and designations of such habitations, in each district 
 "ivhere such possessions may be, signifying in each th^ dis- 
 trict in which he means to exercise his right of suffrage, 
 and this, under penalty of forfeiture for seven years of his 
 elective franchise for the first offence, and perpetually for 
 the second, upon conviction before a jury of having given 
 in a false account to the register : the same regulations to 
 be observed upon any citizen becoming possessed of any 
 other residence subsequent to his enrolment ; the account 
 to be given in ten days next after such acquisition, provided 
 no election shall intervene during the ten days; should that 
 happen, he shall then be bound to do it immediately ; and in 
 case of removal from one district to another, he shall ob- 
 serve the same mode of procedure, giving notice to the 
 register to strike off his name from the roll of the district 
 from which he shall depart. And I propose that every fourth 
 day a list of all cases of death, crimination, and lunacy, 
 shall be published by the municipal officers, and be by them 
 transmitted to the register of the district, that he may ac- 
 cordingly rectify his registry. And, that no district may 
 increiise or diminish in too great a degree, and thereby render 
 the representation unequal, — 1 propose, that every third 
 3'ear the representative body shall have laid before them the 
 different registers, that they may compare the numbers of 
 each, and join together, or separate, or otherwise modify 
 such as shall have increased or decreased in such manner, 
 that each body of electors may be composed as nearfy as 
 possible of Ucenty-Jive thousand citizens possessing the 
 elective franchise, who shall be entitled to sendybwr repre- 
 sentatives. And, as 1 propose that in the Commonwealth 
 noplace or office of any kind shall be held for a longer time 
 than one yecir^ so I proj)ose, that one month previous to 
 the expiration of each year, tlie citizens shall, by a number 
 of twelve thousand five hundred and one electors, beinjr an 
 absolute iiiojerity of each district, choose a register for the 
 
TTIE COMMONWEALTH OF REASO??. 2f^ 
 
 year ensuing: the salary of the register to be fixed at threa 
 bushels of wheat per diem^ or a consideration in money 
 equal to the value of such wheat, to be ascertained by the 
 respective returns of the avei-age price of grain in the 
 district where he is chosen. His qtialijlcations to be being- 
 a resident in the district^ and having elective franchiye^ 
 having attained the age of' twenty-Jive years^ uncontami'^ 
 nated by crime, and of a sane mind. The mode' of 
 election to be by ballot. 
 
 The manner of electing the four representatives for each 
 district of twenty-five thousand electors, I propose to be by 
 ballot, to take place one month previous to the expiration 
 of each year ; the only period for which I propose they 
 should CDJoy their representative capacity ; no citizen to be 
 declared to" have been chosen unless he has an absolute 
 majority of the citizens having elective franciiise in his 
 favour ; that is to say, not having a less number of votes 
 than twelve thousand Jive hundred and one. 
 
 The qualification for a representative to be, having at- 
 tained the age of twenty-five years, having been an inha- 
 bitant of the district which lie is to represent for the year 
 antecedent to his election, having elective franchise, that is 
 to say, being uncontaminaled by crime, and of a sane mind. 
 
 The representative to be incapable of holding any other 
 public situation or office during the year of his deputalion; 
 and to be paid Jour bushels of wheat per diem, or an equi- 
 valent in money equal to the wiieat, taking- the average 
 price of the grain in the district where the representative 
 body meet, for the standard : and to be allowed such travel- 
 ling expences as a jury of twenty-five of his constituents 
 shall deem reasonable; the jury for this purpose to be 
 chosen by lot. 
 
 At the same time, when the election for Ihe four rcpre- 
 senUitives takes place, 1 also propose that there shall be 
 chosen four supernumeraries, who shall succeed to tlie 
 representation in case of the death of the member, or of hfs 
 impeachment, or removal, &c. and to perform the duty of 
 the representative in case of sickness; the supernumerary 
 to receive the same salary as the representative vvheji on 
 actual service; and to be allowel travelling expences, to be 
 settled by jury as alreaily slafe'l ; and in c ise o-his succeed'- 
 ing to the re(>resentalion by the deaih or (lioim'^sil of the 
 former member, then the citizens of the district to proceed 
 immciiiatelv to choose another svioernnmerarv. 
 
 I also propose, that the eleclors shall, at any time v/heii 
 
•l 
 
 ^HB COMMONWEALTH OF REASON, 
 
 they shall (to the number of tivehe thousand Jive hundred 
 and one^ agree that the representative or his supernumerary 
 has forfeited their confidence, be possessed of the power of 
 removing such deputy or his supernumerary, and proceed 
 to the election of another. 
 
 HHir^ COMMITTEE OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The representative body, when met, shall proceed to choose 
 from amongst their own body, a Committee of Government^ 
 to be elected by ballot, and each member to be considered 
 only as having his election by having' in his favour an actual 
 Toajority of the representative body : for example, if the 
 deputies consist of four hundred citizens, then it shall be 
 absolutely necessary for each member chosen into tho com- 
 mittee of government, t© have the suffrages of tiro hundred 
 and one representatives. I also propose, that four of the 
 members of the committee shall go out monthly by rotation, 
 and be replaced by four others chosen in the same manner 
 as the first* This committee to have no other power than 
 that of executing the decrees of the representation, and lay- 
 ing before them, for consideration, such measures as they 
 may deem necessary to the pubh'c advantage ; but not to put 
 any measure into execution until after it shall have received 
 the sanction of an absolute majority of the representatives 
 of the people. This committee to have under them six 
 clerks^ to be chosen anually from among- the people, by an 
 absolute majority of the representative body, one month 
 previous to the expiration of each year ; each to be paid two 
 bushels o( wheat per diem, or an equivalent in money at the 
 average price of grain in the district where the represen- 
 tatives shall hold their sittings. 
 
 COMMITTEE OF FINANCE. 
 
 I also propose, that the representative body shall choose 
 from amongst themselres, observing the same forms as in the 
 choice of the members composing the Committee of Govern- 
 ment, a Committee of Finance y to consist of twelve members 
 Jour of which shall go out monthly by rotation, and be re- 
 placed in the same manner as the citizens of the committee 
 of government. This committee to have under them six 
 clerks f to be chosen from amjngst the people, in the same 
 manner as the clerks of the Committee of Government ; and 
 each to be paid tno bushels of wheat per diem, or an equi- 
 valent in money according to the value of the wheat at the 
 
THB COMMONWEALTH OF REASON. 2^ 
 
 average market price of such district where the representa- 
 tive body are assembled. 
 
 The functions of this committee, I propose, t® be the 
 receipt of the taxes ; the care of tlie national treasure ; and 
 the payment of all salaries: the inspection of public roads, 
 buildings, canals, and rivers, and to report to the repre- 
 sentative body, when and where it is necessary to amend 
 old ones, or make new ones ; but not to put them into exe- 
 cution until they shall have been decreed by an absolute 
 nitijorily of the national representation. It shall be their 
 duty to inspect the public w'orks of every sort, and make the 
 necessary payments; but, previous to any such payment 
 taking place, they shall report upon it to the representative 
 body, and receive their sanction. Their accounts to be 
 always subject to the. inspection of the citizens composing 
 the representation , and every month they shall publish an 
 account of their receipts and expenditures, and of the money 
 in their hands, signed by the names of the whole committee, 
 with the names of the districts they represent: these accounts 
 shall be deposited with the registers of each district for ti^e 
 inspection of the citizens. 
 
 COMMITTEE OP AGRICULTURE, TRaDJ^, AND PROVISIONS. 
 
 ■t 
 
 I also propose, that the representative body shall choose 
 from among themselves, a committee of agriculture, trade^ 
 andprovision.s, observing the same forms as in the two other 
 committees, four of whicn shall vacate their stations monthly, 
 by rotation, and be replaced in the same manner as in the 
 other committees. This committee to have under them ^ij; 
 clerks, chosen from among the citizens in the same manner 
 as the clerks to the other committees, and each to be paid 
 ino bushels of wdieat per diem, or an equivalent in money, 
 at the average price of the district where the representation 
 are communed. 
 
 The functions of this committeee, I propose, to be the in- 
 spection of the agriculture of the country ; the state of the 
 trade; and the taking measures for providing provisions and 
 fuel for the diiforent districts ) they shall every montli make 
 a report to the national rcpresentr.tion, signed by all the mem- 
 bers composing the committee, stating the dislricls which 
 they represent; these reports, 1 propose, shall be sent to the 
 registers of each district for public information. 
 
 The qualilication forac/^r/t to the comniiltnes to be. having 
 attained the age of twenty-one years, and having elective 
 
 4 
 
26 -ffift dOMMONWEALTH OF REASON. 
 
 franchise, that is to say, uncontaminated with crime, of sane 
 intellect, a native of the country, or naturalized. 
 
 I also propose, to prevent any stagnation taking place in 
 the prosecution of the public business, that at the dissolution 
 of one representative body, the committees who shall be in 
 office, shall remain until they are replaced by the regular 
 monthly succession of four members of the new repre- 
 sentation. ' 
 
 And as laws, to be equitable, should always be the expres- 
 sion of the will of the majority of the citizens, 1 propose, 
 that no act, regulation, or decree, shall take place and have 
 effect, or be binding on the citizens, unless it has received 
 the sanction of an absolute majority of the whole repre- 
 sentation ; that is to say, if the deputies are five hundred in 
 number, then to every act that shall have force, two hundred 
 and fifty-one members shall have given their assent; and 
 their names, and those of the districts which they represent, 
 shall be annexed to every such decree on its promulgation, 
 or else it shall be considered as void, and of no effect. 
 Thus every act of the legislature being sanctioned by an 
 absolute majority of the deputies, and these representatives 
 being themselves deputed by an actual majority of the citi- 
 zens, it would be a fair inference to suppose all such acts to 
 be the expression of the public will, and to convey, as 
 nearly as human possibility admits, the genuine sense of the 
 community. The same inference will hold good with respect 
 to the Committee of Executive Government, which, being 
 chosen by an absolute majority of the representative body, to 
 which every citizen is eligible, whatever they do maybe justly 
 considered as springing from the free consent of a ma- 
 jority of the whole citizens. I propose also, that a copy of 
 every act of the legislature be sent, properly signed, to the 
 registers of each district, for public inspection, and also to the 
 offices of the judicial administrators. 
 
 But as the long possession of power has been found, by 
 experience, to corrupt the human mind, and make men take 
 illegal and surreptitious means to continue the enjoyment 
 of it, I propose, to remedy this evil, hitherto found to be 
 fraught with such destructive consequences to the liberty of 
 the human species, that after having served the office of re- 
 presentative for one year, the citizen shall be incapable of 
 being again chosen for two years after ; this will have two 
 good effects — the one will be, that the representative, being 
 ilecesffitated to return into the mass of the citizens, will be 
 
 / ■^ 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH OF HEASON% g| 
 
 careful not to give his sanction to any arbitrary measure, be- 
 cause lie will, in that case, be subjected himself, for two 
 years, to all the evils of his own decrees ;-r-the other is, that 
 by this means, the business of legislating and governing 
 will be more generally diffused amongst the people ; and thus 
 the principle of public happiness will become more univer- 
 sally understood, and the opportunities of cor rw/?^»on be con- 
 siderably if not entirely removed. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 
 
 As I conceive that the administration of laws, which 
 ought to be made only with a view to the public good, requires 
 nothing more than integrity and industry ; and, as nothing 
 •can be more unjust, or implicate a greater absurdity, than 
 that those institutions, which are meant for the benefit of all, 
 should be exercised for the particular profit and advantage of 
 a few ; so the establishment of attorneys, counsel, judges, 
 &c. to be paid by the individual who feels it necessary to 
 recur to the justice of his country, seems to be a practicq 
 that has originated in corruption, the continuation of which 
 must ultimately be destructive of all morality, and subversive 
 of that equality of judicial administration, that alone can 
 render it beneficial and estimable in the eyes of men. It 
 is the boast, indeed, of some countries, that the law is equally 
 open to the rich and the poor; the same may be said of a 
 banker's shop ; but as it needs no argumeht to prove, that 
 in the latter instance, the man who is unprovided with a 
 good draft will not be allowed to receive money: so it is 
 equally demonstrable, that, in those countries where the 
 jaw is administered at private expence, the man who is des- 
 titute of a long purse, will be equally unable to obtain either 
 law or justice, Thus, in such countries, the rich man is 
 enabled to lord it over his poorer neighbour with impunity. 
 This generates strife amongst the citizens, and divides their 
 interests, which, that they may retain their liberty, and live 
 in perfect security, they "shquld always endeavour to con- 
 centrate and unite. 
 
 I propose, therefore, that in each district the citizens shall 
 choose, annually, from amongst their own body, by an abso- 
 lute majority, a citizen, whose duty it shall be to preside 
 over all complaints, both criminal and civil, that may arise 
 in tiie district, and adjudge them, with the assistance of a 
 jury, to be chosen by lot from the registry of the district, 
 according to the laws of the Commonweath. This Judicial 
 
 / 
 
28 THE COMMONWEALTU OF REASON. 
 
 administrator^ I propose, to be assisted by three clerks, who 
 shall also be chosen by an absolute majority of the electors 
 of the district yearly : the election to take place one month 
 previously to the expiration of each year. This tribunal, I 
 propose, shall be open every day for the distribution of justice. 
 To all parties accused, I propose giving the right of a pe-r 
 remptory challenge to as many jurymen as the number of 
 which the jury by which they are to be tried shall be com-, 
 posed. Thus suppose fifteen citizens to be a jury, and this 
 is the number I would propose ; thirty shall be summoned 
 by lot, out of which he shall have a right to reject fifteen : 
 the other fifteen to try the cause, with the assistance of the 
 administrator of justice, who shall read the law upon the 
 case, and in the event of the party accused being- found 
 guilty, pass the sentence affixed by the law immediately, 
 and in all those cases, where the punishment is not precisely 
 expressed by the legislature of the Commonwealth, then 
 the jury to award such punishment as they shall deem 
 V^-onsistent with equity; and if the party sentenced under 
 this last circumstance be dissatisfied, then an appeal to lie 
 to the Committee of Executive Government, who shall report 
 the affair to the representation, an absolute majority of which 
 shall finally decide the cause. 
 
 I also propose, that the same jury shall never try two 
 successive causes, either criminal or civil ; but that for as 
 Diany causes as there are to be tried, so many times thirty 
 jurymen shall be chosen by lot, and summoned to attend ; 
 the names to be enrolled, and called over in rotation, and 
 each fifteen^ as they are left after the challenges, to be the 
 jury to try the cause. This will prevent the possibility of 
 bribing a jury, because it will be utterly impossible to know 
 what jury will try any given cause. 
 
 The qualification for a judicial administrator to be, having 
 attained his thirtieth year, having been a resident in I he 
 district for three years previous to his election, having the 
 elective franchise, that is to say uncontaminated with crime, 
 and of sane mind. — His remuneration to be fixed at three 
 bushels of wheat per diem, or an equivalent in money, at 
 the average market price of the district. 
 
 The qualification of a clerk to be, having attained twenty- 
 five years, having resided in the district for two years an'e,- 
 cedent to his election, and having elective franchise : the 
 salary to be two bushels of wheat per diem, or an equivalent 
 jn munev. 
 
THE €03fM0NWKALTH OF REiASOIf. 29 
 
 I also propijse, that the laws should be o,d ministered im- 
 mediately, and without intermission, allowing only to the 
 parties the time necessary to prepare their documents; and 
 in no case do I propose that the administration of justice 
 shall be attended with one farthing expence to either party, 
 except what a jury shall adjudge against those parties whose 
 suits they may pronounce litigious and vexatious ; for as 
 justice ought to be distributive and impartially administered, 
 nothing can be more absurd than to make the obtaining of 
 it a matter of expence to the citizen who applies for it ; this 
 being, in fact, nothing more than establishing a dangerous 
 pre-eminence in the man of property over his more needy 
 neighbour, and deciding- the point in dispute by the strength 
 of the purse, and completely and effectually secluding 
 poverty^ from obtaining that redress which is equally its 
 right with the greatest ivealth and affluence, 
 
 LIBERTY OF THE PRESS. 
 
 This being one of the most sacred rights of a citizen, and 
 perhaps the only means of ascertaining-, what most cerbiinly 
 ought to be the principal object of every citizen's pursuit, 
 truth^ I propose, that in the Commonwealth, in no possible 
 case shall any restriction be laid on the writing, publishing-, 
 or delivering any discourse or opinion, on any subject what- 
 ever. Indeed, truth being the end most desirable in all well 
 regulated states, the investigation of principles ought to bo 
 free to every one, and rather meet with oncouragemont than 
 restraint ; therefore no licence or authority ought to be ne- 
 cessary for the printing, publishing, or delivery of any doc-» 
 trine, or of any animadversion on the public administration ; 
 and these are my reasons; the doctrine, if good, and capable 
 of producing a mrijority of the people to declare in its favour, 
 ought, most assuredly, to be received ; if otherwise, its own 
 want of importance will be its surest and best destruction 
 •with freemen ; and all experience has shewn, that the at- 
 tempt to suppress opinions is the most infallible means of 
 bringing them into esteem : indeed, that which in itself is 
 stupid and irrational, does not want the keen and critical eye 
 of a public accuser to point out its absurdity; and if it is 
 reasonable and just, it only marks the ignorance, folly, and 
 wickedness, of those who are willing to smother it ; for in a 
 Commonwealth, where every one has an equal interest in 
 supporting the happiness and tranquillity of the nation, no 
 pne will be able^ by any arguuiont, however plausible, to 
 
30 THE COSIMONWEALTIl OF REASON. 
 
 injure a society whose members will, at all times, be ready 
 to resist every attempt at subverting that felicity of which 
 they feel the beneficent effect. Thus, when the govern- 
 ment shall be rational^ just^ and equitable^ all the citizens 
 will find their greatest advantage in defending it from insi- 
 dious attacks, and they will be a much better security for 
 its stability than prosecutions for high treason^or imprison^ 
 Clients for sedition. The wings of /t6er<?/ are deprived of 
 their feathers whenever the Press is laid under restraint. 
 
 In cases of libel on private characters, I propose, that 
 the person who makes the attack, if called upon, shall either 
 be bound to substantiate the charge, or be liable to such 
 penalty as a jurif o^ fifteen men, chosen by lot, shall inflict, 
 and also the citizen convicted, shall be deprived^ for seven 
 yearsy of his elective franchise. 
 
 INHEillTANCE AND BASTARDY, 
 
 1 propose that, in all cases, the children shall divide, in 
 equal portions, the property of which the father may die 
 possessed; if the wife be also alive, she shall be entitled to 
 participate, and receive her dividend accordingly : when she 
 dies, I propose, the children shall again divide equally. 
 
 And as nothing can possibly exceed the cruelty and in-r 
 justice of the laws of bastardy, which are, in fact, injlicling 
 punishment on those who never yet had it in their power 
 to offendy I propose, that in the division of the father's effects, 
 all the children, without exception, shall be included, whether 
 born in wedlock or otherwise, for if any crime can attach, it 
 must be to the flither and mother, and not to the child, who 
 is brought into this world without his consent ; and surely 
 no one will attempt to deny that the bastard, as he is called 
 byt he crooked policy of some governments, is as much the 
 child of the father, and a citizen of the state, as the present 
 legitimate inheritors of the parents' wealth. These laws, 
 which seem to have originated in an intention to restrain 
 men from forming promiscuous connexions, like most others, 
 have been found, by experience, to be sadly deficient in 
 means to the end proposed. Indeed, what absurdity can be 
 more apparent than making those the only sufferers by any 
 particular act, who had no knowledge or share in the com- 
 mission of it. Would it not be considered as iniquitous, to 
 hang the son because the father had committed a robbery ? — 
 And yet the laws of bastardy form a parallel case in all those 
 countries where they have existence. In ray apprehension^ 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH OF REASON. 
 
 the only result of the laws of bastardy, is the rendering a 
 certain portion of the citizens vicious and the enemies of 
 those societies who deprive them in the most cruel and unjust 
 manner of the immunities of a citizen, for that in which they 
 participated not, and could not avoid. 
 
 In cases where there are no children to inherit, I propose, 
 the possessor of property to be at liberty to leave it as he 
 pleases ; and if he dies intestate, the property to go lo his 
 nearest relation. 
 
 PRICE OF LABOUR. 
 
 And that the industrious manufacturer^ labourer, or 
 cultivator^ may at all times be enabled to live comfortably, 
 and bring- up his family in a manner suitable to become good 
 and useful citizens, and that they may never be oppressed, 
 by their richer associates, 1 propose, that no labourer or 
 workman shall be paid at a less rate for his day's labour than 
 one bushel of wheat, or the value of it in money, at the 
 average market price of the district were he is employed. — 
 This will always enable him to satisfy all the real wants of 
 his nature, and make provision for his old age ; and surely 
 no one can be more justly entitled to be rendered comfort- 
 able than he who by his labour contributes to the comfort 
 and happiness of others. I also propose, that every citizen 
 shall be at liberty to follow that occupation which most 
 pleases him, and in any part of the Commonwealth without 
 restriction. 
 
 REGISTER OF BIRTHS AND BURIALS. 
 
 I propose, that all citizens shall, on pain of losing their 
 rights of citizenship, be obliged to give in regularly an ac- 
 count of all births and deaths that take place in their families 
 to the municipal officers, who shall transmit them, every 
 fourth day, to the register of the district. I also propose, 
 that no dead body shall be suffered to be interred at a less 
 distance than one furlong from the city^ village^ or town, 
 because experience has proved, that suffering burial grounds 
 in populous places is destructive of health. 
 
 PUBLIC TAXES. 
 
 When taxes are levied on the people, they ought to be of 
 such "description that they fall as equally as possible on all 
 the citizens, according to their respective a])ilities; and not 
 to be of such a nature as to be easily avoided, becau^ic, this 
 
\-' 
 
 Si ' THE eOMMONWEALTH OF RtSiSOX* 
 
 ao-ain has a tendency to separate the interests of the citizens^ 
 wnich all institutions ought to endeavour to unite; for this 
 purpose the only tax 1 would propose in the Commonwealth^ 
 is so much per acre on land, to be paid yearly, by the 
 citizens, when they go to ballot for representatives, into the 
 hands of the register; any citizen who shall neglect to pay 
 his quota, or use any kind of subterfuge to avoid paying for 
 his full number of acres, to forfeit four times the tax. The 
 com^nittee of agriculture, trade, and pi^ovisions, shaW cause 
 surveys to be made in the ditterent districts; and each 
 citizen, when he enrolls his name with the register, to de^ 
 clare the number of acres he holds absolutely in his own pos- 
 session; but as the tax tnus levied would be extremely small, 
 it would scarcely be a temptation for any one? to evade it ; 
 and in this mode it would be collected without expence. I 
 calculate that Jburpence per acre would overpay ail the ex- 
 pences of a good government. These taxes to be paid into 
 ' the hands of the committee of Jinance, and to be deposited, 
 in the national treasury, within one month after the receipt, 
 'j'his would preclude those hordes of tax-gather e 5, excise- 
 me?iy and custom-house officers, that swarm in every country 
 and are almost always the enemies of the people. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 I propose, that this being entirely a matter of opinion, 
 in which no one can prove his infaJlibility, the Common- 
 wealth should not adopt any particular religious tenet, nor 
 pay any priest, of any persuasion, nor build any house of 
 relfg'ious worship ; but that each citizen should be left 
 entirely at his liberty to follow that form of religion which is 
 most accordant to his ideas. On no account would I propose 
 that it should interfere in any manner with the political 
 . government of the Commonwealth nor ever allow it to 
 become a subject of discussion in the legislature, 
 
 BREAD AND FUEL. 
 
 These being articles of the first necessity, without which 
 human nature cannot long subsist, the supply of them to 
 the citizens at an easy rate should of consequenre form a pro- 
 minent feature in the administration of every good govern- 
 ment; for nothing can be more scandalous, or a greater 
 reproach to any government in any country, than either to 
 see a scarcity of these necessary articles, or that they should 
 be at an exorbitant price, 1 therefoie propose, that the 
 
Tlia COMMONWEALTH O^ UliASON. 33 
 
 CommiUee of JkjiHculture^ Trade ^ and Provisions, shall 
 make it an indispensible part of their duly to see that every 
 district has a proper supply of these commodities at tho 
 most reasonable rates; and in those places that depend for 
 a supply from other parts of the Commonwealth by Avuter • 
 carriage^ I* propose, that they shall establish large national 
 magazines, in which six months' provision of tliese neces- 
 saries shall always he kept ready for (be pubirc nse : this will 
 prevent the prices being aiiected by frosi, or other casual- 
 tiesj iiiul enable the inhabitants to be contiaually in the 
 enjoyment of a plentiful supply at a moaerate price. And 
 that this object rriay be continually kept in view, I propose, • 
 that the registers shall make a" monthly repori of their dis- 
 tricts, on this subject, to the Committee of. Agriculture^ 
 Trade, and Provisions^ who shall lay them regularly before 
 the national representation, v^'ith their own remarks. 1'ho 
 registers and the committees to be answerable for the truth 
 of tiieir statements. This mode would destroy those dis- 
 graceful monopolies that frequently render these articles so 
 dear as scarcely to be within, tho reach of the poor. J a 
 England, if this mode was pursued, cor//^ would never 
 exceed six-pence or seven-pence the busliel; or bread 
 three-pence o'c four -pence the quartern loaf, even under 
 the present system. 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 It is, I believe, an incontrovertible principle, that the 
 strength of a state depends upon the number of its citizens ; 
 to encourage population;, therefore, should be the maxim of 
 all wise governments ; for this purpose they tell us, the 
 marriage-ceremony in most couiilries was instil uted ; but I 
 apprehend it wmII not be denied, that to render this means 
 adequate to its end, it should necessarily bo producliv^ of 
 the felicity of the parties contractijig: this can never be the 
 case while two persons, who, after living together for a 
 cerlaiH time, find their tempers iinaccordani, and whoso ' 
 manners are but little calculated to promote each other's 
 happiness, have no power to dissolve the bond of their 
 union, from henceforth, contrary to nature, and useless to 
 the purpose for which it was designed, that of procreating 
 their species, and augmenting human happiness. The h^^- 
 meneal lamp expires when love ceases to furuish oil To 
 remedy this evil, and render the connubial state re^dlv 
 conducive to the happiness and increase of the human 
 species, I propose, that wia^^r^ajc shall be tr.crchv a civil 
 
34 'inn commonwealth of t?EAso:<f. 
 
 contract, niid bo entered iiUo before the magistrate of the 
 place, unattended with expence, a copy of it being trans- 
 mitted to the register of the district; and that it 5^hail at all 
 times be liable to dissolution, upon suilicient cause being 
 shewn to a jury, who shall be immediately summoned, upon 
 the complaint of either the husband or wife, to the adminis- 
 trator of the'^district. This would prevent those shameful 
 bickerings that but too frequently send the hqsband one 
 way and the wife another, to their mutual destruclioi} ; 
 because any thing is preferable to the company' of those who 
 have ceased to meiit our tdfections. I also propose, that 
 the male, at the age of eighteen, and the female, at the age 
 oT sixteen, shall t>e deemed marriageable. This will have 
 a tendency to lessen those dreadful scenes of wretched pol- 
 iulion that every where disgrace the moral institutions of 
 civilized nations, and which are principally kept iji existence 
 by the impolitic restraints which have been laid on the youth 
 of both sexes entering iiito the hymeneal bonds at a period 
 when nature has given vigour to their passions, and that 
 greediness of wealth that frequently induces parents to 
 oblige their children to render themselves unhappy for life, 
 by an- intermarriage with decrepitude, age, or a person that 
 is their utter aversion, merely because it is what the world 
 very unjustly calls a prudent match. Thus the youth, dis- 
 gusted at home, seeks amongst those unfortunate females, 
 whom a similar policy has driven into a state of prostitution, 
 to satisfy those passions that nature has implanted strongly 
 in his breast. I tJierefore propose, that no consent wliat- 
 ever shall be necessary to the junctidli of a male and female, 
 except their own; for as this is a matter in which their 
 future happiness or misery is concerned, it seems but ra- 
 tional and just that they alone should be consulted on an 
 aflair of such importance to their welfare, 'i'hese regulations 
 would also remedy another evil, which is the immense ex- 
 pence that attends the obtaining of a divorce in most coun- 
 tries, and which frequently obliges a man and a w^oman, for 
 want of the money necessary, to live together, although 
 they are conscious of each other's iniideiity. 
 
 CANALS, PUBLIC ROADS, AND RIVERS. 
 
 I also propase, that no canal shall be dug, public road 
 made, or river cleansed, at other than public expence; and this 
 is mv res son, — these thin^js beino; a benefit to the whole com- 
 muoity, either immediately or conyequently, ought to be 
 defrayed by the generality of the citizens ; they will al^o, 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH OP BUASOX. <S 
 
 by this mcaus, be done much bellei* and more effecluallv. 
 I propose, Uierefore, that whca the inhabitants of any place 
 shall deem it necessary to widen a river, make a roady or 
 cut a canal, they sliall lay their observations ^before the 
 Committee of Finance^ who shall cause inspection to be 
 made, and report thereon lo the representative body im- 
 mediately, on pain of impeachment for neglect. In every 
 AYell-regulated state, canals should intersect the Vvhole 
 coantr}', in order to faci]itute the transport of the superfluity 
 of one part to another, at easy rates, and diminish the breed 
 of hOrses, who consume that produce which ought to nourish 
 man, and by this means increase the price of provisions. 
 
 WASTE LANDS. 
 
 The existence of these are a reproach to any government, 
 because they have a tendency to check population, and aug-r 
 ment the price of provisions, both of which are in ihefr 
 consequences injurious to the Commonwealth, however be- 
 neficial they may be to some few of its members. T therefore 
 propose, that no land w^hatever shall be suffered to remain 
 u^icuitivated, either for parks, pleasure-grounds, common, or . 
 otherwise ; but that the CominitteeofAgricultxiYe^ Trads^ and 
 Provisions^ shall make it their duty continually to see that 
 atl the soil of the Commonwealth is in a stale of culture, 
 eilher for pasturage or produce ; and in case of any citizen's 
 refusing to cultivate any part of his lands, the Coinmittea 
 shall take such lands into their own hands, and cause them 
 to be cultivated for the benefit of the stute, reserving half 
 the profits towards defraying the public expenditure, aiid 
 paying- the other half into the hands of the owner of the 
 land^ who shall 'be permitted to reclaim them,, on giving 
 six citizens, having elective franchise, as security for 
 their future cultivation. To see an acre of land uncul- 
 tivated, and a citizen williout employ in the same state, 
 denotes a culpableinattentionin the legislature, and demands 
 the strictest enquiry of the citizens into the causes of il\\% 
 shameful neglect. 
 
 MAGISTRACY. 
 
 Every iown, city^ and large village^ ! propose, should 
 have a titnnicipul ojjicer^ with clejks to assist him, for tiie 
 regulation of the police ; these officers and clerks, 1 propose, 
 tq be chosen yearly, by ballot, by nn actual r/iajority of the , 
 Avh<de irihabitanls of the municipality, having elective fran- 
 chise ; the number of these municipr.iitiei^ to be sellled by 
 
30 THE eo:viMONWEALTH OF RI£A*sON. 
 
 the nalional representation, marking the dependencies of 
 eacl). The sabn-ies of these municipal oificers to be three 
 h'ushcls o[' wheat per diem x their clerks ttvo bushels of 
 wheat per diem ; to be paid by the inhabitants of the muni- 
 cipality, and to be assessed yearly by a jury of tuenty-jice 
 of the citizens of the municipality, to be chosen by lot. 
 
 LAMK,*» BLIND, LUNATICS, DEAF, AND DUMB. 
 
 These descriptions of citizens being in most instances 
 incapacitated by nature from contributing by their exertions 
 to the common stock, most justly claim the support of their 
 more favoured fellow-citizens ; 1 therefore propose, that all 
 such, after declaration of the fact by a jury of twenty-five 
 men of the district, chosen by lot, shall be pensioners of the 
 Commonwealth, and receive one bushel of wheat per diem, 
 or its equivalent in money, unless the jury are of opinion 
 that their circumstances do not require it. For such lunatics, 
 whose being at liberty may be deemed prejudicial to society, 
 by a jury o^ twenty-Jive, chosen by lT)t, public edifices should 
 be erected ; these to be under inspection of the committee 
 o^ forty ; the keeper to be chosen yearly by an absolute 
 majority of the representative body. 
 
 PUBLIC PRISONS. 
 
 If such disgraceful buildings, which are always a reproach 
 to the legislative body, and can scarcely ever obtain in a 
 well-regulated state of society, are rendered necessary by 
 the degeneracy and corruption of man, at least they ought 
 to be rendered the instruments of public utility, and the 
 means of re-conducting the citizens into the paths of truth, 
 ?;ir^Me, and reason; and not as they are in most countries, 
 the nurseries of vice and infamy, where the novice is har- 
 dened in crime, and the profligate loses all sense of shame 
 and of their duty to their country. 
 
 I therefore propose, that in those districts w^here the na- 
 tional representation shall deem it expedient to have prisons, 
 they shall always be situated at least two miles from any 
 city or town, in an open airy situation; that the keeper and 
 his servants shall be chosen yearly, by an ahsolulo majority 
 of the citizens of the district, having elective franchise, that 
 is to say, by the sulfrage of tivelve thousand fiva hundred 
 undone vote<» ;.4hat they shall be paid by the nation, and not 
 siiflercd on any account to take any fee or other emolument 
 whatever from tho unhappy citizens coniniiiled to tlieir care, 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH OF REASON. 67 
 
 « 
 
 on pain of attaching criminality; their salaries to he three 
 bushels of wheat per diem to the keeper., and two bushels 
 to each of his servants, or an equivalent in money. And 
 that no extortion or other ill treatment of [)risoners may 
 obtain, f propose, that ^Aree members of the legislative body 
 shall be chosen by an absolute majority of (he representation 
 every month, who shall visit all the prisons, and make a 
 report, signed with their names and the districts they re- 
 present, to the representation; this report shall be printed 
 and sent regularly to the register of the districts for public 
 inspection. I also propose, that all the prisoners shall be 
 made to work at some useful occupation ; the profits of their 
 labour to be their own property, after deducting a certain 
 portion towards defraying the expence of the prison esta- 
 blishment, unless otherwise decreed by their jury, and 
 during their seclusion to be fed at the charge of the Com- 
 monwealth, in a mode to be settled by the representtdion. • 
 
 ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 As nothing can be more unnatural than that man should 
 destroy his fellow-man, so society, in my opinion, can never 
 acquire the right of inflicting the punishment of dedh on 
 any of its citizens ; indeed, even in cases of murder, the de- 
 privation of the life of the murderer is only redoubling (ho 
 loss already sustained by the Commonwealtii. I should 
 therefore propose the abolition of all capital punishments, 
 and in their place substituting some mode of making Ihose 
 whose offences may be deemed of a ca|)ltal nature, vvorU hard 
 the remainder of their hves, for the benelit of the commu- 
 nity they have injured; for society commits suiciie eviivy 
 time it deprives itself of tl}e services of any of its members, 
 merely because they have already injured it. 
 
 EDUrATION. 
 
 I have now reached what 1 conceive to be the liiost in- 
 teresting' and important of all human objects, siiice frOm it 
 springs the only |>ennancnt liberty and durau'e liappincss 
 of man, — the adture of the human mmd and //i? eUiicaiio'i, ■ 
 of the members who compose societij, — anil this should of 
 course torni an institution that d'.ight to be considered of the 
 first con«f<pie!ice to th.e Commonv/eaUh, and h^i cordiajlv 
 cherished by all the citizens. 
 
 There needs no argument to prove iJie pains that have «i 
 hfin taken by despols, priests, ami usuiper.s, to keep the 
 bulk of the peo^jlc in a stale of l\i^ most feav;)ge ignorance; 
 
OS THE COMMOXWEAhTH OF REASON. 
 
 almost evety page of history, as well ancient as modem, is a 
 "strong and irrefragable evidence of Ibeir malign and wicked 
 endeavours. They vvell knew the importance of education ; 
 they were not unacquainted' that knowledge and liberty went 
 hand in hand, and that wherever the first prevailed generally, 
 the latter must be the inevitable consequence; they were 
 perfectly aware that an enlightened people would not con- 
 sent to that shameiul degradation of their species, of becom- 
 ing the vile slaves and abettors of lawless oppressors^ sun- 
 yuinary tyrants^ and peculatijig adventurers j they felt 
 that man, cultivated and educated, would consider his feiiow- 
 man only as a man, and not as a god, or being of a superior 
 order. To prevent, therefore, this salutary institution from 
 obtaining (which would immediately tend to a total subver- 
 sion of their usurped power^ formed the most prominent and 
 most interesting speculation of every chief. But it w as to be 
 done with art and circumspection, with the apparent consent 
 of the citizens, and not by prohibitory laws, which would 
 at once have blown up this 7nine of infaQny, and have 
 opeped the eyes of those whom it was necessary, to further 
 iheir own views, and that they might be enabled to continue 
 with impunity their nefarious practices, to keep in a state of 
 utter blindness. To effectuate this iniquitous scheme, and 
 to prevent education from sending froth its irradiating beams 
 amongst the citizens, required Machiavelian skill, and mor^ 
 than common duplicity and adroitness ; because it was indis- 
 pensibly requisite, for this purpose, to have the appearance 
 of encouraging that which they meant most effectually to 
 smother and destroy ; we tlierefore see the greatest despots 
 encouraging men of letters at their courts, and founding 
 universities, but we at the same tisne have the melancholy 
 spectacle of their fixing the price of labour at so low^ a rate 
 as completely secludes the laborious citizen, who lives by 
 his iiidustry alone, from any hope of being able to maintain 
 the expence of educating his children ;- we see them lay 
 heavy imposts on all the necessaries of life, thus rendering it 
 absolutely requisite to employ that time which ought to be 
 dedicated to education, in hard labour to support existence ; 
 we see them, under every kind of specious pretext, clogging 
 with stamps and other duties the free circulation of know- 
 ledge ; we see newspapers put under inquisitorial laws, 
 and in most countries w^e see licencers of publications esta- 
 blished, who are careud in rejecting all those works that 
 have any tendency to conduct to the people to /rw^A and 
 reason, and make tbom throw off the bandeau of svpcrstu 
 
VllK COMMONWEALTH 0^ REAg0^f. S9 
 
 liortf Jcilse/ioody and tyranny : the theatres are shackled in 
 the same manner. By these practices, ediuation and the 
 means of acquiring- intbrmation has been confjired to a small 
 circle of citizens, who have ahvavs been either bonoht over 
 by the friends ofarapacions gorernment, or hunted down by 
 oppression, if they Ijave erer presumed the attenvptin^- to illu- 
 minate the mind, and enlighten the nndei standing- of dic mass . 
 of mankind ; uniHtelligible and technical terms have been in- 
 troduced into all the sciences, and thus by a combinarion of 
 circumstances that have had ail ihe shew of accident and ca- 
 sualty, although in fact they are connected links of the great 
 and heavy chain, that has been villainonsly forged to bind in^n 
 down in the most de'^radino; ignorance; knovvsedg-e and in- 
 struction has been ingrossed by the few, to the injury of the 
 many, and has been made a lucrative trade in the hands cf 
 -those, who, seduced by corrupt inlluence, have, instead of 
 imparting it generally, most scandalously abused if, from 
 a conviction that they were in no fear of detection by {\\e 
 2'eueralitv of their fellow-citizens, and coiicurred in the 
 great but diabolical plan of maintaining* n/norance^ cre^ 
 dulitij, and superstition, by means of wdiich men have been 
 made slaves. Indeed, education has been so very rare and 
 uncommon, that those who have possessed this advantage, 
 have o-eiierallv obtained a oreat de^-ree of credit with the 
 people ; who, though not permitted tiiemselves to experience 
 its beneficent effects, have ahvays admired it in others. Cor- 
 ruption saw this with pleasure,'' besieged and subdued the 
 greater part of the learned; oppression m\d tyranny putting; 
 tiight those few honest men w ho opposed its attacks, thus 
 turning- to advantage this disposition :is the people, wliicii 
 they seemed to gTatif3^ These venal sons of e<lucaiion thus 
 gained over, readily lent their aiil to perpetuate abuses in 
 which they were now become interested, to rivet closely the 
 fetters of a tyranny in wlrich they were permitted to partici- 
 pate, and keep man in a state of abject slavery, by rootling- 
 in him ignorance and folly, to prevent their own iniquitous 
 measures from being discovered ; nay, some of thef-'e have 
 even so infamously disgraced themselves, ami been such 
 vile tools in the hands of corruption, as to write treatises to 
 prove that man's felicity was considerably di.ninished ami 
 abridged by literary acquirements, and tliat the more igiiorant 
 the man, the more completely happy his condition. In conse- 
 quence, falseliooc! has every wliere obtained, systems of error 
 have been established, and men have been left to grope in. 
 blindacrss their >yaY thrdugh thcrje d-irk caverns, into which 
 
40 THE COMMONWEALTH OF iiKASOX. 
 
 * 
 
 the cunning of priests and tyrants have precipitated ihcm 5 
 and which their infern:^] policy has always preveuted froia 
 being' enlightened by the sacred and brilliant rays ai' educa- 
 tion^ knowledge, and truth, v. hich alone can conduct them 
 to the groves of happiness. 
 
 To restore then liberty to long-insulted man, to draw im- 
 mortal and immutable truth oat of those holes and corners 
 into which falsehood, superstition, and tyranny has driven it, 
 and place it on those aUars which are at present occupied 
 by error, and to remove that disgraceful ignorance which 
 debases human nature, rendering it corrupt, venal, and pro- 
 fligate, 1 intend that education shall form a part of the na- 
 tional establishment of the Commonwealth, and be considered 
 as one of the first objects of the legislator's care, because to 
 form good and virtuous citizens for a state, it is absolutely 
 necessary that they should be instructed in their rights, 
 know how to maintain them, and be acquainted with their 
 nature and consequence. J therefore propose, t^iat in each 
 district there shall be erected a sufHcient number of public 
 schools, to educate all the children of the district, and that 
 from the age of four to fourteen, no citizen shall be suffered 
 to withhold his child from receiving an education at one of 
 the public seminaries of the district in which he resides, 
 upon pain of forfeiting his rights as a citizen for ever; and 
 that the rising generation may at all times receive the im- 
 pulse of the public will, and that each parent may have a 
 due share in and controul over the education of his child, 1 
 propose, that every year the masters^ mistresses, or tutors, 
 shall be elected by ballot, by an absolute majority of the 
 electors of the district, that is to say, by the sufrrage of not 
 less than twelve thousand Jive hundred and one; the new 
 election to take place one month previous to the expiration 
 of each year ; and each master, mistress, or tutor, to receive 
 a salary oifour bnshels of wheat per diem, or an equivalent in 
 money, taking the average market price of the district, and to 
 live rent free in the national school, which shall always be the 
 property of the Commonwealth, and be fitted up with a 
 library, and with mathematical, astronomical, optical, and 
 other scientific apparatus, for the use of the pupils ; the 
 children to be clothed, boarded, and lodged during the ten 
 years of their education, at the public expence, and without 
 any distinction whatever ; the expence to be borne by the 
 inhabitants of the district by assessment. 
 
 And to prevent abuses taking place in these establish- 
 ments, and to cnyure a punctual and steady conduct in the 
 
TftK COMMONWEALTH OP REASOX. 41 
 
 hiasters, mistresses, or tutor's, I propose that there shall be 
 chosen, in each district, by a majority of the whole electors, 
 ybr^y persons who shall form a committee of superintendance, 
 ten to go out every three months, by rotation, and to be sup- 
 plied by ten other citizens, who shall also be chosen by an 
 absolute majority of the whole suffrages of the district; 
 these shall be bound to examine once in every month, or as 
 much oftener as they shall think right, all the schools of the 
 district, and make their report to the representative body, 
 and to the district, which report shall be lodged with the 
 register, for public inspection ; they shall also audit the ac- 
 counts of the expenditure attending the public seminaries, 
 and settle the quota of each citizen towards defraying them, 
 every third month, for the ensuing three tnonths; as the 
 members of this committee will be immediately interested 
 in their functiouj?, so I propose, that no salary shall attend 
 the execution of them ; and to prevent the affairs of the 
 district ever getting into the hands of a junto, I propose, 
 that no citizen, after having served on the committee, shall 
 be again eligible to be chosen for twelve months ; they shall 
 also inspect the conduct of the municipal officers, and report 
 thereon. 
 
 The qualification of a master or tutor to be, having- at- 
 tained thirty years^ having resided in the district for four 
 years^ being father of a family, and having elective fran- 
 chise. 
 
 The qualification for a mistress to be, having attained 
 twenty -six years f being a mother, and having resided in the 
 district seven years. 
 
 The qualification for a member of the committee of inspec- 
 tion to be, having attained twenty-one ycars^ having been 
 resident twelve months in the district, having elective 
 franchise, and being father of a family-. I 
 
 I also propose, that no religious doctrine whatever shall 
 be taught in the national schools; and that any master, 
 mistress, or tutor may be displaced, on twelve thousand five 
 hundred and one of the electors of the district signifying to 
 the register that he or she has lost their confidence, 
 
 I also propose, that tv/ice in every year the scholars of 
 each district shall assemble at some place, to be previously 
 appointed by the committee of superintendance, to celebrafe 
 civic games, and other exercises that may be productive of* 
 activity and health amongst the youth ; on which days a; so, 
 they shall elect fron^ amongst themselves one of the scholars, 
 
 6 
 
42 THB COMMoNWBAkTK •? RBASON^ 
 
 who shall deliver an oration on liberty^ and the benefits 
 accruing from education; which shall be printed and distri- 
 buted through the Commonwealth, and a copy lodged with 
 the register of the district, signed \}y the youth who pro- 
 nounced it. 
 
 MILITARY FORCE AND DISCIPLINE. 
 
 The introduction of what have been termed soldiers, that 
 is to say, men carefully separated from their brother citizens, 
 and exclusively instructed in the art of murdering their 
 fellow-man, has been one of those means of which tyrants 
 have availed themselves to destroy the liberty and indepen- 
 dence of man, and subjugate him to that disgraceful state 
 of slavery and oppression, under which we at present see him 
 groaning and languishing in almost every climate ; and the 
 evil that has resulted to society from this institution is too 
 glaring and notorious to admit of controversy; yet in a 
 state of association, some kind of defence is absolutely ne- 
 cessary to preserve the citizdns from foreign insult, and 
 domestic depredation; now, as every member of the com- 
 munity is equally interested in the preservation of his rights 
 and liberty, and as teaching one man the use of oifensive 
 weapons in preference to another, is giving the one a decided 
 superiority and mastery over his fellow-citizen ; and as cor- 
 ruption has been enabled, by artful men, to spread its baleful 
 influence over these military automatons, and thus to enslave 
 nations to the arbitrary caprice of individuals, I propose, as 
 a remedy for these evils, and to maintain amongst all the 
 citizens that equality of right, from which alone must flow 
 their respective and collective happiness, and security against 
 oppression — That every citizen in the Commonwealth shall 
 be a soldier, and every soldier a citizen. For this purpose, 
 I intend that the science of military tactics shall form a 
 part of the education of youth ; thus placing all the citizens 
 upon a level in the use of arms, after which, if they suffer 
 their liberty to be wrested from them by ambitious and de- 
 signing knaves, it will be their own fault, and they deserve 
 only to be slaves. The man, who having the means of pre- 
 serving his liberty, voluntarily gives it up, is unworthy of 
 being n freemen, 
 
 I therefore propose, that in every district there shall be 
 erected national military schools, into which the youth, after 
 they have attained the age of fourteen > shall be sent for one 
 year more to learn the exercise and duty of a soldier, and 
 
tnn COMMONWEALTH OP RRASOX. 43 
 
 defender of himself and bis country. The masters of these 
 schools to be chosen in the same manner as those of the other 
 seminaries of the Commonwealth, and to be paid in the same 
 manner; the same qualifications to be requisite, and the 
 jschools to be under the superintendance of the committee 
 of forty; and the expences attending them to be defrayed 
 by the citizens of the district, in the same manner as those 
 incurred by other public schools. I also propose, that one 
 day in every two months, every citizen from the age of fif- 
 teen to fifty, shall form himself, with his neighbours, into 
 regiments, and go through the martial exercise and military 
 evolutions: this will prevent their forgetting the great prin- 
 ciple of defence, and render them at all times ready and fit 
 to defend their country in case of attack, I also propose, 
 that every citizen who shall have obtained the age of four- 
 teen, shall be furnished by his district, with a firelock and a 
 bayonet, which he shall be boui^d fo keep in complete repair 
 and fit for immediate use, if occasion requires, to defend 
 himself and the Commonwealth. 
 
 In cases of public emergency, that is to say, of defence, 
 (for I would propose that the citizens should never enter upon 
 offensive war) toe force that shall be deemed necessary by 
 the leg-islature shall be called out by an equal portion from 
 each district, to be chosen by lot, and without distinction of 
 persons. This force to be paid for their services in such 
 manner, and at such rates as the legislative body shall judge 
 fitting and expedient, and to remain on foot only as long as 
 the public danger shall be declared to exist by the national 
 representation. 
 
 Thus all being adequate to the defence of themselves^ and 
 of their country, it would be impossible to subjugate, as at 
 present, one part of a nation by another, and, at the same 
 time, the society would be preserved from foreign attack, 
 since it would be, in fact, attacking an hornet's nest to attack 
 a nation of armed men, well disciplined, and w^hose common 
 and natural interest would consist in supporting- and protect- 
 ing each other. Thus those bloody and ci'uel wars that have 
 so often depopulated the earth, would receive an eflfectual 
 check \ ambition would not know where to rear its head 
 with any probable chance of success ; cruel and blood-thirsty 
 chiefs would be abandoned by an enlightened people, and 
 we should no more have the misfortune to see either an 
 Alexander or a CcBsar; a Mahomet or a Cortez; a Charles 
 tkr. Twelfth or a Lctvls thn Fourteonthj a William the Cori" 
 
0^ THE eOHJroXWFALTH OF RKASON. 
 
 queror or a Cs:ar Peter, — Peace would be restored to tlie 
 blood drenched earth ; security would reign in the cottage 
 and the city, and men would no longer be liable to have in- 
 famous and oppressive measures insolently crammed down 
 their throats with the point of a bayonet, or to be cruelly and 
 wickedly kidnapped ; tyranny would receive its vital blow, 
 and despotism become as obsolete and uncommon as it is 
 now prevalent and fashionable. The necessity of reforming 
 abuses would no where exist, because citizens, instructed in 
 their rights, and rendered capable of defending them, would 
 never suft'er a set of wretched and cowardly miscreants to 
 usurp an authority over them not warranted by their nature, 
 nor conducive to the felicity and repose of the people ; 
 spies and informers would get into disuse and disesteem ; 
 gaols would become almost unnecessary, and the science of 
 government really become the art of rendering the Com- 
 monwealth happy and flourishing. 
 
 PROVISION FOR The poor. 
 
 Nothing seems more rational than that society should be 
 obliged to provide for all its members, I therefore propose, 
 that in every district there shall be erected national manu* 
 factories of such articles that every citizen wanting employ- 
 ment may be able to assist. In these manufactories, I pro- 
 pose, none should be admitted unless they produce a voucher 
 trom twelve of their neighbouring fellow-citizens, to the 
 propriety of their conduct, their industry, and their incapa- 
 bility of procuring employ. To each of those citizens, who 
 shall have past the ag^e of fifty without having been enabled to 
 provide for their old age, I propose, that upon production 
 of a certificate, signed by twelve of their neighbours, who 
 are citizens, having elective franchise, of their former good 
 conduct, industry, and of their present incapacity, the re- 
 gister of tlie district shall regularly pay four bushels of 
 wheat per week, or the value thereof at the average market 
 price of the district. 
 
 CONSTITCTIOX. 
 
 The first business of the Legislattivc Body should be to 
 frame a constitution upon the sacred Rights of Man, and 
 all laws and decrees should be considered as null and of. 
 fto, effect that deviated from the principles of (his consti- 
 lutiou ; and the proposer, and those ccnfcrned, to be at 
 
 /- 
 
THE COMMONWEALTH OF R&ASd^V. 4^ 
 
 ?iU limes answerable to the people for their conduct, a ma-' 
 jority of whom shall decide their fate ; and in order that 
 the constitution may be such as is convenient and suitable 
 to the people, I propose, that every seven years it shall 
 either receive the .sanction of a maj<irity of the people, or 
 undergo such alteration as they shall deem necessary ; for 
 this purpose a treble number of vcpresentatives shall be 
 dioseri, independent of the ordinary representative bodyj, 
 whose function shall be to examine and revise the consti- 
 tution, and which function shall cease when that business 
 is completed ; their sittings not to exceed two months in 
 any case. I propose, that they shall be paid in the same 
 manner Jis the other representatives, and their qualification 
 and mode of election to be the sameo 
 
 CALCULATION 
 
 Of the Expence of a Government upon the foregoing Plan,, 
 for a Population of Ten jMUlions of Mouths^ spread 
 over a Territory comprising fifty Millions of Acres. 
 
 Of the above number I suppose there would be three 
 millions of male citizens having elective franchise, that is, who 
 had obtained their eighteenth year; this divided into districts 
 o^ twenty-Jive thousand each, would make one hundred 
 and twenty. 
 
 I reckon, for the sake of clearness, the bushel of wheat at 
 six shillings, sterling money. 
 
 One hundred and twenty registers, at three busht'is 
 
 of whest per diem each £33,420 
 
 Three clerks to each register, at 2 bushels of wheat 
 
 per diem each. . . , ^ , 78,840 
 
 Stationery, &c. for each register's office, suppose 
 
 one hundred pounds each per annum 12,000 
 
 Four hundred and eighty deputies, at 4 bushels of 
 
 wheat per diem each. .,.,.... 210,240 
 
 Travelling expeiices for each deputy, average at 
 
 tweiity pounds each 9,600 
 
 Six clerks to the Committee of Government, at two 
 
 ' bushels of m heat per diem each 1,314 
 
 St^tiouery, &c. for tlieotlice per annum 250 
 
 S'X cleiks to the Commit tee ol' Finaiice. at two 
 
 ' bushels of wheat per (ii(ita et^ch Ifli i 
 
 Stationery, >S:c. foi* the office, per annum, ..,».. . 2jJ 
 
46 THE OaMliONWflAI.TII OF ftBASON. 
 
 Six clerks to the Committee of Agriculture, Trade, 
 ^nd Provisions, at 2 bushels of wheat per diem 
 
 each....... £1,314 
 
 Stationery, &c. for the office, per annum 250 
 
 Printing and other contingent expences of the re- 
 
 1 presentative body, committees, registers, &c.. , . • 25,000 
 
 One hundred and twenty judicial administrators, at 
 
 three bushels of wheat per diem each • . 99,420 
 
 Three clerks to each ji|dicial administrator, at two 
 
 bushels of wheat per diem each •• . • • 78^840 
 
 Stationery, &c. for each office, at £250. per annum 30,000 
 
 £528,052 
 
 This may be amply provided for by a tax amounting to 
 Qne twentieth part of a bushel of wheat, or about four* 
 pence per acre per annum on the lands of the Common- 
 wealth, which will produce a sum of eight hundred and 
 thirty-three thousand, three hundred and thirty-three 
 pounds J and may be collected without any expence, by the. 
 registers of the districts, and will greatly overbalance all 
 the necessary expences of an honest and rational govern- 
 tnent, leaving every year the considerable sum of three 
 hundred and \five thousand two hundred and eighty-one 
 pounds y to be applied to works of public utility, and other 
 casualties, as they may occur. 
 
 Taxes, raised by four-pence per acre on land. , . .£833,333 
 Expences of Government ....•••• t^ ••» t 528,052 
 
 Balance remaining yearly in the Public Treasury £305,281 
 
 Thus every fourth year the taxes might be remitted to 
 all the citizens; on such years I would propose, that they 
 should celebrate a festival to economy. 
 
 FINIS, 
 
V 
 
# 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 BERKELEY 
 
 Return to desk from which borrowed. 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 /^Mb 
 
 AUG! 31952 tij 
 
 LD 21-100m-ll,'49(B7146sl6)476 
 
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