If I must speak my mind, when the _right of the strongest_ has been put aside, sophisms have set up in its place _the right of the most cunning_; and it is difficult to say which of these two tryants has been the more fatal to humanity. Men have an immoderate love of enjoyment, of influence, of consideration, of power--in a word, of wealth. At the same time, they are urged on by a strong, an overpowering, inclination to procure the things they so much desire, at the expense of other people. But these other people--in plain language, the public--have an equally strong desire to keep what they have got, if they can, and if they know it. Spoliation, which plays so great a part in this world's affairs, has, then, only two agents at command, _force and cunning_; and two limits, _courage and intelligence_. Force employed to effect spoliation forms the groundwork of human annals. To trace back its history, would be to reproduce very nearly the history of all nations--Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Goths, Franks, Huns, Turks, Arabs, Monguls, Tartars; not to speak of Spaniards in America, Englishmen in India, Frenchmen in Africa, Russians in Asia, etc. But civilized nations, at least, composed of men who produce wealth, have become sufficiently numerous, and sufficiently strong to defend themselves. Does this mean that they are no longer plundered? Not at all; they are plundered as much as ever, and, what is more, they plunder one another. Only, the agent employed has been changed; it is no longer by _force, but by cunning_, that they seize upon the public wealth. To rob the public, we must first deceive it. The trick consists in persuading the public that the theft is for its advantage; and by this means inducing it to accept, in exchange for its property, services which are fictitious, and often worse. Hence comes the Sophism,--Sophism theocratic, Sophism economic, Sophism political, Sophism financial. Since; then, force is held in check, the Sophism is not only an evil, but the very genius of evil It must in its turn be held in check also. And for that end we must render the public more cunning than the cunning, as it has already become stronger than the strong. Good Public! it is under the influence of this conviction that I dedicate to you this first essay--although the preface is strangely transposed, and the dedication somewhat late. END OF THE FIRST SERIES. SECOND SERIES. I. PHYSIOLOGY OF SPOLIATION. Why should I go on tormenting myself with this dry and dreary science of _Political Economy?_ Why? The question is reasonable. Labour of every kind is in itself sufficiently repugnant to warrant one in asking to what result it leads? Let us see, then, how it is. I do not address myself to those philosophers who profess to adore poverty, if not on their own account, at least on the part of the human race.