THE RIGHTS OF INFANTS. Written in the latter End of the Year 1796.
[]"AND pray what are the Rights of Infants?" cry the haughty Ariſtocracy, ſneering and toſſing up their noſes.
Aſk the ſhe-bears, and every ſhe-monſter, and they will tell you what the rights of every ſpecies of young are.—They will tell you, in reſolute language and actions too, that their rights extend to a full participation of the fruits of the earth. They will tell you, and vindicate it likewiſe by deeds, that mothers have a right, at the peril of all oppoſers, to provide from the elements the proper nour⯑iſhments of their young. And ſeeing this, ſhall we be aſked what the Rights of Infants are? As if they had no rights? As if they were excreſcences and abortions of nature? As if they had not a right to the milk of our breaſts? Nor we a right to any food to make milk of? As if they had not a right to good nurſing, to cleanlineſs, to com⯑fortable cloathing and lodging? Villains! Why do you aſk that ag⯑gravating queſtion? Have not the ſoxes holes, and the birds of the air neſts, and ſhall the children of men have not where to lay their heads? Have brute-mothers a right to eat graſs, and the food they like beſt, to engender milk in their dugs, for the nouriſhment of their young, and ſhall the mothers of infants be denied ſuch a right? Is not this earth our common alſo, as well as it is the common of brutes? May we not eat herbs, berries, or nuts as well as other creatures? Have we not a right to hunt and prowl for prey with ſhe-wolves? And have we not a right to fiſh with ſhe-otters? Or may we not dig coals or cut wood for fuel? Nay, does nature provide a luxuriant and abun⯑dant feaſt for all her numerous tribes of animals except us? As if ſorrow were our portion alone, and as if we and our helpleſs babes came into this world only to weep over each other?
And is your ſex alſo ſet up for pleaders of rights?
Yes, Molochs! Our ſex were defenders of rights from the beginning. And though men, like other he-brutes, ſink calmly into apathy reſpecting their offspring, you ſhall find nature, as it never was, ſo it never ſhall be extinguiſhed in us. You ſhall find that we not only know our rights, but have ſpirit to aſſert them, to the downfal of you and all tyrants. And ſince it is ſo that the men, like he-aſſes, ſuffer themſelves to be laden with as many pair of panyers of rents, tithes, &c. as your tender conſciences pleaſe to lay upon them, we, even we, the females, will vindicate the rights of the ſpecies, and throw you and all your panyers in the dirt.
So you wiſh to turn the cultivated world into a wilder⯑neſs, that you may eat wild fruits and game like Indians?
No, Sophiſts, we do not want to be as Indians. But the natural fruits of the earth being the fruits of our undoubted common, we have an indefenſible right to, and we will no longer be deprived of them, without an equivalent.
Do you not, in lieu of thoſe wild productions, get bread, and mutton, and beef, and garden ſtuff, and all the refined productions and luxuries of art and labour; what reaſon then have you to complain?
Are you ſerious? Would you really perſuade us that we have no reaſon to complain? Would you make us believe that we receive theſe productions of art and culture as a fair compenſation for the natural produce of our common, which you deprive us of? Have we not to purchaſe theſe things before we enjoy them?
Sure, woman, you do not expect the fruits of men's labours and ingenuity for nothing! Do not the farmers, in the firſt place, pay very high rents for their farms; and, in the next place, are they not at great trouble and expence in tilling and manuring the ground, and in breeding cattle; and ſurely you cannot expect that there men will work and toil, and lay out their money for you, for nothing.
And pray, ladies and gentlemen, who ever dreamt of hurting the farmers, or taking their proviſions for nothing, except yourſelves? It is only the privileged orders, and their humble imi⯑tators on the highway, who have the impudence to deprive men of their labours for nothing. No; if it pleaſe your nobleneſſes and gentleneſſes, it is you, and not the farmers, that we have to reckon with. And pray now, your highneſſes, who is it that receive thoſe rents which you ſpeak of from the farmers?
We, to be ſure; we receive the rents.
You, to be ſure! Who the D-v-l are you? Who gave you a right to receive the rents of our common?
Woman! Our fathers either ſought for or purchaſed our eſtates.
Well confeſſed, villains! Now out of your own mouths will I condemn you, you wicked Molocks! And ſo you have the im⯑pudence [7]to own yourſelves the curſed brood of ruſſians, who by ſlaugh⯑ter and oppreſſion, uſurped the lordſhip and dominion of the earth, to the excluſion and ſtarvation of weeping infants and their poor mo⯑thers? Or, at the beſt, the purchaſers of thoſe ill-got domains? O worſe than Molochs! now let the blood of the millions of innocent babes who have periſhed through your vile uſurpations be upon your murderous heads! You have deprived the mothers of nature's gifts, and farmed them out to farmers, and pocketied the money, as you audaciouſly confeſs. Yes, villains! you have treaſured up the tears and groans of dumb, helpleſs, periſhing, dying infants. O, you bloody landed intereſt! you band of robbers! Why do you call your⯑ſelves ladies and gentlemen? Why do you aſſume ſoft names, you beaſts of prey? Too well do your emblazoned arms and eſcutcheons witneſs the ferocity of your bloody and barbarous origin! But ſoon ſhall thoſe audacious Gothic emblems of rapine ceaſe to offend the eyes of an enlightened people, and no more make an odious diſtinc⯑tion between the ſpoilers and the ſpoiled. But, ladies and gentlemen, is it neceſſary, in order that we eat bread and mutton; that the rents ſhould be received by you? Might not the farmers as well pay their rents to us, who are the natural and rightful proprietors? If, for the ſake of cultivation, we are content to give up to farmers our wild fruits, our hunting grounds, our fiſh and game; our coal-mines, and our fo⯑reſts, is it not equitable that we ſhould have the rents in lieu thereof? If not, how can the farmers have the face to ſell us again the produce of our own land?
Hear me! ye oppreſſors! ye who live ſumptuouſly every day! ye, for whom the ſun ſeems to ſhine, and the ſeaſons change, ye for whom alone all human and brute creatures toil, ſighing, but in vain, for the crumbs which fall from your overcharged tables; ye, for whom alone the heavens drop fatneſs, and the earth yields her encreaſe; hearken to me, I ſay, ye who are not ſatisfied with uſurping all that nature can yield; ye, who are inſatiable as the grave; ye who would deprive every heart of joy but your own, I ſay hearken to me! Your horrid tyranny, your infanticide is at an end! Your grinding the faces of the poor, and your drinking the blood of infants, is at an end! The groans of the priſons, the groans of the camp, and the groans of the cottage, excited by your infernal policy, are at an end! And behold the whole earth breaks forth into ſinging at the new creation, at the breaking of the iron rod of ariſtocratic ſway, and at the riſing of the everlaſting ſun of righteouſneſs!
And did you really think, my good gentlefolk, that you were the pillars that upheld the univerſe? Did you think that we would never have the wit to do without you? Did you conceive that we ſhould never be able to procure bread and beef, and fuel, without your agency? Ah! my dear creatures, the magic ſpell is broke. Your ſorceries, your witchcrafts, your prieſtcrafts, and all your juggling crafts, are at an end; and the Meridian Sun of Liberty burſts forth upon the aſto⯑niſhed [8]world, diſpelling the accumulated miſts of dreary ages, and leaves us the glorious blue expanſe, of ſerene unclouded reaſon.
Well then, ſince you have compelled, ſince you have driven us, through your cruel bondage, to emancipate ourſelves, we will even try to do without you, and deal with the honeſt farmers ourſelves, who will find no difference, unleſs for the better, between paying their rents to us and to you.
And whereas we have found our huſbands, to their indelible ſhame, woefully negligent and deficient about their own rights, as well as thoſe of their wives and infants, we women, mean to take up the buſineſs ourſelves, and let us ſee if any of our huſbands dare hinder us. Wherefore, you will find the buſineſs much more ſeriouſly and effectually managed in our hands than over it has been yet. You may ſmile, tyrants, but you have juſter cauſe to weep. For, as nature has implanted into the breaſts of all mothers the moſt pure and une⯑quivocal concern for their young, which no bribes can buy, nor threats annihilate, be aſſured we will ſtand true to the intereſt of our babes, and ſhame, woe, and deſtruction be to the pitiful varlet that dare obſtruct us. For their ſakes we will no longer make brick without ſtraw, but will draw the produce of our eſtate. If we deprive our⯑ſelves of our common, in order that it may be cultivated, we our⯑ſelves will have the price thereof, that we may buy therewith, as far as it will go, the farmer's produce. And ſo far as our reſpective ſhares of the rent may be inadequate to the comfortable and elegant ſupport of ourſelves and infants, ſo far will we chearfully, by our honeſt endeavours, in our ſeveral callings, make up the deficiency, and tender life worth enjoying. To labour for ourſelves and infants we do not decline; but we are ſick of labouring for an inſatiable ariſtocracy.
To convince your highneſſes that our plan is well digeſted, I will lay it before you. You will find it very ſimple, but that is the ſign of the greater perfection. As I ſaid before, we women (becauſe the men are not to be depended on) will appoint, in every pariſh, a com⯑mittee of our own ſex, (which we preſume our gallant lock-jawed ſpouſes and paramours will at leaſt, for their own intereſt, not oppoſe,) to receive the rents of the houſes and lands already tenanted, and alſo to let, to the beſt bidders, on ſeven years leaſes, ſuch farms and tene⯑ments as may, from time to time, become vacant. Out of thoſe rents we can remit to government ſo much per pound, according to the exigencies of the ſtate, in lieu of all taxes; ſo that we may no longer have taxes nor tax-gatherers. Out of theſe rents we ſhall rent pay all our builders and workmen that build or repair our houſes; pave, cleanſe, or light our ſtreets; pay the ſalaries of our magiſtrates an [...] other public officers. And all this we women ſhall do quarterly, without a bank or bank-noter, in ready money, when the rents are [...] in; that ſuffering neither ſtate nor pariſh to run in debt. And [...] to the overplus, after [...]ll public expences are defrayed, we ſhall [...] it farly and equally among all the living ſouls in the pariſh, whether male or female; married or ſingle; legitimate or ill [...] ⯑t [...]mate; from a day old to the extremeſt age; making no diſtinc [...]on [9]between the families of rich farmers and merchants, who pay much rent for their extenſive farms or premiſes, and the families of poor labourers and mechanics, who pay but little for their ſmall apartments, cottages and gardens, but giving to the head of every family a full and equal ſhare for every name under his roof.
And whereas births and funerals, and conſequent ſickneſſes, are attended with expence, it ſeems requiſite to allow, at quarter-day, to the head of every family, a full ſhare for every child that may have been born in his houſe ſince the former quarter-day, though the in⯑fant may be then but a day old; and alſo, for every perſon who may have died ſince the former quarter-day, though the death ſhould have happened but a day after it.
This ſurplus, which is to be dealt out again among the living ſouls in a pariſh every quarter-day, may be reaſonably ſuppoſed to amount to full two-thirds of the whole ſum of rents collected. But whatever it may amount to, ſuch ſhare of the ſurplus rents is the impreſcriptible right of every human being in civilized ſociety, as an equivalent for the natural materials of their common eſtate, which by letting to rent, for the ſake of cultivation and improvement, they are de⯑prived of.
Wherefore, now ladies and gentlemen, you ſee the glorious work is done! and the rights of the human ſpecies built on ſo broad and ſolid a baſis, that all your malice will not be able to prevail againſt them! Moreover, when we begin with you, we will make a full end of your power at once. We will not impoliticly tamper with the lion, and pluck out a [...]ooth now and then, as ſome propoſe to melt down your ſtrength by degrees, which would only irritate you to oppoſe us with all the power you had remaining. No; we will begin where we mean to end, by depriving you inſtantaneouſly, as by an elective ſhock, of every ſpecies of revenue from lands, which will univerſally and at once, be given to the pariſhes, to be diſpoſed of by and for the uſe of the inhabitants, as ſaid before.
But yet be not caſt down, my good ladies and gentlemen, all this is done for the ſake of ſyſtem, not revenge or retaliation; for we wiſh not to reduce you to beggary, as you do us, for we will leave you all your moveable riches and wealth, all your gold and ſilver, your rich clothes and furniture; your corn and cattle, and every thing that does not appertain to the land as a fixture, for theſe, you know, muſt come to the pariſh with our eſtates. So that you ſee you will ſtill be the richeſt part of the community, and may, by your chearful ac⯑quieſcence, be much more happy then you are now under the exiſting unjuſt ſyſtem of things. But if, by fooliſh and [...]cked oppoſition, you ſhould compel us, in our own defence, to confiſcate even your moveables, and perhaps alſo to cut you off, then let your blood be upon your own heads, for we ſhall he guiltleſs. It will therefore be your intereſt and wiſdom to ſubmit peaceably, and fraternize chear⯑fully with us as fellow [...]. For, inſtead of you then having the [10]revenues of the counrty to carry on war againſt us, as you have now, the pariſhes will then have theſe revenues to carry on the war againſt you. And as to your moveable property, we are not afraid of it, for it would ſoon melt away in ſupporting you in a ſtate of hoſtility againſt the ſtrength and ſtanding revenues of the country, unburthened with debis and penſions. So prepare yourſelves peaceably to acquieſce in the new ſyſtem of things, which is faſt approaching. And when you ſhall hear of the bleſſed decree being paſſed by the people, that the laud is from that day forth parochial property, join chorus with your glad fellow-creatures, and joyfully partake in the univerſal happineſs.