Some one, a woman I believe, has correctly defined it as "the safety-lock upon the property of the people." COMMENTARY.
If this little book were destined to live three or four thousand years, to be read and re-read, pondered and studied, phrase by phrase, word by word, and letter by letter, from generation to generation, like a new Koran; if it were to fill the libraries of the world with avalanches of annotations, explanations and paraphrases, I might leave to their fate, in their rather obscure conciseness, the thoughts which precede.

But since they need a commentary, it seems wise to me to furnish it myself.
The true and equitable law of humanity is the _free exchange of service for service_.

Spoliation consists in destroying by force or by trickery the freedom of exchange, in order to receive a service without rendering one.
Forcible spoliation is exercised thus: Wait till a man has produced something; then take it from him by violence.
It is solemnly condemned by the Decalogue: _Thou shalt not steal._ When practiced by one individual on another, it is called robbery, and leads to the prison; when practiced among nations, it takes the name of conquest, and leads to glory.
Why this difference?
It is worth while to search for the cause.

It will reveal to us an irresistible power, public opinion, which, like the atmosphere, envelopes us so completely that we do not notice it.
Rousseau never said a truer thing than this: "A great deal of philosophy is needed to understand the facts which are very near to us." The robber, for the reason that he acts alone, has public opinion against him.

He terrifies all who are about him.