force then, that puts a man into
the state of war with another; and thereby he that is guilty of it makes
a forfeiture of his life: for quitting reason, which is the rule given
between man and man, and using force, the way of beasts, he becomes
liable to be destroyed by him he uses force against, as any savage
ravenous beast, that is dangerous to his being.
Sect. 182. But because the miscarriages of the father are no faults of
the children, and they may be rational and peaceable, notwithstanding
the brutishness and injustice of the father; the father, by his
miscarriages and violence, can forfeit but his own life, but involves
not his children in his guilt or destruction. His goods, which nature,
that willeth the preservation of all mankind as much as is possible,
hath made to belong to the children to keep them from perishing, do
still continue to belong to his children: for supposing them not to have
joined in the war, either thro' infancy, absence, or choice, they have
done nothing to forfeit them: nor has the conqueror any right to take
them away, by the bare title of having subdued him that by force
attempted his destruction; though perhaps he may have some right to
them, to repair the damages he has sustained by the war, and the defence
of his own right; which how far it reaches to the possessions of the
conquered, we shall see by and by. So that he that by conquest has a
right over a man's person to destroy him if he pleases, has not thereby
a right over his estate to possess and enjoy it: for it is the brutal
force the aggressor has used, that gives his adversary a right to take
away his life, and destroy him if he pleases, as a noxious creature; but
it is damage sustained that alone gives him title to another man's
goods: for though I may kill a thief that sets on me in the highway, yet
I may not (which seems less) take away his money, and let him go: this
would be robbery on my side. His force, and the state of war he put
himself in, made him forfeit his life, but gave me no title to his
goods. The right then of conquest extends only to the lives of those who
joined in the war, not to their estates, but only in order to make
reparation for the damages received, and the charges of the war, and
that too with reservation of the right of the innocent wife and
children.
Sect. 183. Let the conqueror have as much justice on his side, as could
be supposed, he has no right to seize more than the vanquished could
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