furnace and the night in a cellar, is bad for the individual, but good
for others who enjoy the benefit of his labour.

_Mr Escot._
By what right do they so?

_Mr Jenkison._
By the right of all property and all possession: _le droit du plus
fort_.

_Mr Escot._
Do you justify that principle?

_Mr Jenkison._
I neither justify nor condemn it. It is practically recognised in all
societies; and, though it is certainly the source of enormous evil, I
conceive it is also the source of abundant good, or it would not have
so many supporters.

_Mr Escot._
That is by no means a consequence. Do we not every day see men
supporting the most enormous evils, which they know to be so with
respect to others, and which in reality are so with respect to
themselves, though an erroneous view of their own miserable
self-interest induces them to think otherwise?

_Mr Jenkison._
Good and evil exist only as they are perceived. I cannot therefore
understand, how that which a man perceives to be good can be in
reality an evil to him: indeed, the word _reality_ only signifies