Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/200

Here is what Mr. Proudhon thinks of the harmonious nature of man, as announced by St. Simon and Fourrier, and of the future transformation of the earth into a garden of delights, as announced by all the socialists: "Man, considered in the combination of his manifestations, and after all his antagonisms have been met, presents, nevertheless, one contradiction which cannot be referred to anything which exists on the earth, and must remain without any solution whatever, here below. For this reason, no matter how perfect the order of society may be, it can never be entirely exempt from all sorrow and weariness. Felicity in this world is a chimera, which we are perpetually condemned to pursue, and which the invincible antagonism between the flesh and the spirit ever places beyond our reach."^[1] Now mark the following sarcasm against the natural excellence of man: "The greatest obstacle that equality has to overcome is not in the aristocratic pride of the rich, but in the unconquerable egotism of the poor; and yet, in spite of this, you dare to depend upon the innate goodness of man, in order to reform both the spontaneity and the premeditation of his malice."^[2] His sarcasm is still more pungent in the following words, taken from the same chapter of the same work: "Truly, the logic of socialism is astonishing; . . they tell us that man is good, but that it is necessary that he should have no interest in doing evil, in order that he should abstain from evil; and we are told that man is good, but that it is necessary that it should be to his advantage to do good, in order that he should practice it. For, if it is the interest of his passions that he should do evil, he