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than the ploifghboy , and so oh , till the philosopher is declared to b £ by natural right the king of his race . Let the natural rights of his species be understood , and it will be seen whether some who are now grovelling in ignorance and vice had not originally as good a right to empire as he . Let it be understood that the primary principles of the human mind are few * and simple , and let this knowledge be followed up to its social results , and we ? shall find—not that there are no original and permanent differences between
man and man—but that the present constitution of society sanctions startling iniquities , and that communities are far indeed from being , in their best regulated departments , what they might be , what they ought to be , what they shall be . —I ^ et it be as generally allowed as it is certainly ascertained , that the differences in human constitution arise , not from an irregular distribution of faculties , but from a greater or less original sensibility to pleasure and pain , and that one grand principle , having this sensibility for its material , is employed in the formation of all minds , and it will be seen that the grand objects of human life lie before all ; and that though some must attain
a higher dignity and enjoyment than others , every one has a right to his share of those lofty intellectual and spiritual privileges which have hitherto been possessed by a very few whom circumstances have peculiarly favoured . Let it be acknowledged that every human being at his birth prefers a claim to have his capacity for pleasure and pain , be it large or confined , made the most of , and every such being will be more likely than hitherto to have his power of association judiciously directed , his labours proportioned to his abilities , and his pursuits appropriated to his tastes or genius . Each will be more likely to find his proper place , and to be in the way of earning his share of advantages . As Godwin says ,
" Putting" idiots and extraordinary cases out of the question , every human creature is endowed with talents ( or his nature involves principles ) which , if rightly directed , would shew him to be apt , adroit , intelligent , and acttte , hi the walk for which his organization especially fitted him . What a beautiful and encouraging- view is thus afforded us of our common nature ! It is not true , as certain disdainful and fastidious censurers of their fellow-men would persuade us to believe , that a thousand seeds are sown in the wide field of humanity , for no other purpose than that half-a-dozen may grow up into
something magnificent and splendid , and that the rest , though not absolutely extinguished in the outset , are merely suffered to live that they may furnish manure and nourishment to their betters . On the contrary , each man , according to this hypothesis , has a sphere in which he may shine , and may contemplate the exercise of his own powers with a well-grounded satisfaction . He produces something as perfect in its kind as that which is effected under another form by the more brilliant and illustrious of his species . He stands forward with a serene confidence in the ranks of bis fellow-creatures , and
says , ' I also have my place in society , that I fill in a manner witli which I have a right to be satisfied / He vests a certain portion of ingenuity in the work he turns out . He incorporates his mind with the labour of his hands f and a competent observer will find character and individuality in it . "—Pp . 36—38 .
Thus will it be with the hewer of wood when he ceases to vegetate like the tree he fells ; and thus wilh the drawer of water when he understands by what obligation and for what end he lets down his bucket into the well . At present , such as these see that their children come into the world resembling in all natural rights the children of the aristocracy : while , after a few yea r * * differences , of mind as well as manners arise which are not to be overlooked
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Godwin * * TTtougkts on Man . 435
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1831, page 435, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2599/page/3/
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