Winterslow: Essays and Characters Written ThereHazlitt, William
General
Winterslow: Essays and Characters Written There
Hazlitt, William
English essays
but these will suffice. 2. There should be a perfect toleration in
matters of religion. In what relates to the salvation of a man's
soul, he is infinitely more concerned than I can be; and to pretend
to dictate to him in this particular is an infinite piece of
impertinence and presumption. But if a man has no religion at all?
That does not hinder me from having any. If he stood at the church
door and would not let me enter, I should have a right to push him
aside; but if he lets me pass by without interruption, I have no
right to turn back and drag him in after me. He might as well force
me to have no religion as I force him to have one, or burn me at a
stake for believing what he does not. Opinion, 'like the wild goose,
flies unclaimed of any man': heaven is like 'the marble air,
accessible to all'; and therefore there is no occasion to trip up
one another's heels on the road, or to erect a turnpike gate to
collect large sums from the passengers. How have I a right to make
another pay for the saving of my soul, or to assist me in damning
his? There should be no secular interference in sacred things; no
laws to suppress or establish any church or sect in religion, no
religious persecutions, tests, or disqualifications; the different
sects should be left to inveigh and hate each other as much as they
please; but without the love of exclusive domination and spiritual
power there would be little temptation to bigotry and intolerance.
3. AS TO THE RIGHTS OF PROPERTY. It is of no use a man's being left to
enjoy security, or to exercise his freedom of action, unless he has a
right to appropriate certain other things necessary to his comfort and
subsistence to his own use. In a state of nature, or rather of
solitary independence, he has a right to all he can lay his hands on:
what then limits this right? Its being inconsistent with the same
right in others. This strikes a mathematical or logical balance
between two extreme and equal pretensions. As there is not a natural
and indissoluble connection between the individual and his property,
or those outward objects of which he may have need (they being
detached, unlimited, and transferable), as there is between the
individual and his person, either as an organ of sensation or action,
it is necessary, in order to prevent endless debate and quarrels, to
fix upon some other criterion or common ground of preference. Animals,
or savages, have no idea of any other right than that of the
strongest, and seize on all they can get by force, without any regard
to justice or an equal claim. 1. One mode of settling the point is to
divide the spoil. That is allowing an equal advantage to both. Thus
boys, when they unexpectedly find anything, are accustomed to cry
'_Halves!_' But this is liable to other difficulties, and applies only
to the case of joint finding. 2. Priority of possession is a fair way
of deciding the right of property; first, on the mere principle of a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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