" PROPERTY HAS ITS DUTIES AS WELL AS ITS RIGHTS."
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—This striking dictum has made the name of Thomas Drum- mond famous in a degree that his varied labours certainly would have failed to do. It would be too much to say he was a plagi- arist, and, probably, if he arrived at it from an extraneous source, he was unconscious of the fact when he gave utterance to it.
It really belongs to a very remarkable and nearly forgotten man, Sir P. Francis. He was almost beyond question "Junius," and handled, with remarkable power, a variety of political ques- tions which, even at this moment, fix the attention of thinking men.
In his speech in the House of Commons, April 11, 1796, on the question of improving the condition of slaves in the colonies, after discussing the right of the British Parliament to legislate for the colonies, taking strongly the affirmative side, he goes on to say that if the right be claimed, it is one only to be exercised in great emergencies ; and then, " Rights are not given to lie dormant for ever, but they have relative duties attached to them. According to the occasion, the right is to be exercised and the duty to be performed." It is clear that the coincidence is very striking, and
perhaps not quite accidental.—I am, Sir, &c., A READER.
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