32 Theoretical error, real-world problems according­to­his­definition­of­improvement,­did­not­have­relevant­claims­to­it.20 James Cook reportedly observed that Australia was so sparsely populated that there was no sense of ownership amongst the existing occupants at the time of colonisation. As a consequence of this, for example, colonised lands could apparently­be­appropriated­justly­within­a­liberal­understanding­of­justice­of­the­ time. This is an important aspect of the development of both the theory and the practice of today’s liberal democracies. And the blind spots developed then persist today. ­ Crucially,­ this­ was­ already­ identified­ by­ liberal­ theorists­ at­ the­ time.­ To­ an­ extent, the concern at the insider and located perspective presented in the previous­ chapter­ was­ already­ identified­ by­ Adam­ Smith­ who­ warned­ that­ a­ democracy of masters would be less likely to serve the interests of slaves than a despotism. He wrote: …­every­law­is­made­by­their­masters,­who­will­never­pass­anything­prejudi cial to themselves … and: [t]he­freedom­of­the­free­was­the­cause­of­the­great­oppression­of­the­slaves­ […]­And­as­they­are­the­most­numerous­part­of­mankind,­no­human­person­ will wish for liberty in a country where this institution is established.21 And so slaves bear the burdens of this weird form of liberalism which is also constructed not to take them into account. Liberalism’s founding fathers developed­theories­that­explicitly­justified­racialised­exclusions­of­certain­people­ from consideration – and indeed supported extremes of treatment of people thereby excluded. Yet liberals also railed against this and contemporaries identi fied­the­inconsistencies­in­such­theoretical­approaches­and­the­inhumanity­of­the­ activities that the theories apparently legitimised. In some philosophy classrooms, when Locke is taught, his work is prefaced by the recognition that there are no longer the same apparently endless opportun ities for settlement as there were in his time. But in Locke’s time too, the vast lands ripe for appropriation were only available because some individuals were explicitly written out of consideration in the liberal metric. These persons were the noncitizens, the non-consenters to the liberal system, and those given no 20 See ‘Of Property’ in the Two Treatises. See also useful analyses in: Barbara Arneill (1996) John Locke and America: The Defence of English Colonialism, Clarendon Press, Oxford; James Tully and Quentin Skinner (1993) ‘Rediscovering America: The Two Treatises and Aboriginal Rights’, pp. 137–176 in James Tully (ed.) (1993) An Approach to Political Philosophy: Locke in Con texts, Cambridge University Press. 21 Adam Smith (1982) Lectures on Jurisprudence, Liberty Classics pp. 452–453 and p. 182. Suggested by Domenico Losurdo (2014) Liberalism: A Counter-History, Verso [translated by George­Elliott].