Page:The Rights of Man to Property!.djvu/19

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pot, makes it known to them through the medium of greater sufferings, than those to which they had heretofore been accustomed. Perhaps, in all human history, there is not more than a single instance or two, if there be even these, where revolutions have been produced, by any other cause than by rendering the condition of the people of those nations, in which they have happened, more oppressive and burdensome, than they were before. And even this aggravation of the miseries of nations, is capable of being accomplished, without the intervention of revolutions, where tyrants have sufficient discretion to make its introduction gradual, and as it were, almost imperceptible.

It results from these observations, what is apparent to every reflecting man; that the mass of mankind are afflicted with evils of which they have no just conception; that they have rights, of which they have no clear and definite understanding; and that, in the slavery, poverty, and ignorance, with which they are surrounded, there is no possibility of exhibiting to them, the evils under which they labor, nor of acquainting them with their rights, the possession of which wouldremove their sufferings; till they can be, or have been, taught to read, and understand what they have read. These remarks apply to every country, but our own, and even to this, in every things though in a qualified degree, except it be that of public education.