He that forces my horse from me, ought
presently to restore him, and I have still a right to retake him.
By the same reason, he that forced a promise from me, ought
presently to restore it, i.e. quit me of the obligation of it;
or I may resume it myself, i.e. chuse whether I will perform it:
for the law of nature laying an obligation on me only by the
rules she prescribes, cannot oblige me by the violation of her
rules: such is the extorting any thing from me by force. Nor
does it at all alter the case to say, I gave my promise, no more
than it excuses the force, and passes the right, when I put my
hand in my pocket, and deliver my purse myself to a thief, who
demands it with a pistol at my breast.
Sec. 187. From all which it follows, that the government of
a conqueror, imposed by force on the subdued, against whom he had
no right of war, or who joined not in the war against him, where
he had right, has no obligation upon them.
Sec. 188. But let us suppose, that all the men of that
community, being all members of the same body politic, may be
taken to have joined in that unjust war wherein they are subdued,
and so their lives are at the mercy of the conqueror.
Sec. 189. 1 say, this concerns not their children who are
in their minority: for since a father hath not, in himself, a
power over the life or liberty of his child, no act of his can
possibly forfeit it.
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