UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, _SANpiEGp Jl illliiliil 3 1822 01728 9570 ii -V? ''- ^. 'v V\ W^'Mf'-i : " , ■~Xi, L.y C. Wren Hoskvns, Esq., M.P. 92 III. — 'i"ENURE OF Land in India. By George Campbell, Esq. 145 Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces of India. IV.— Land System of Belgium and Holland. By M. Emile de Laveleye ........ 228 V. — Ageakian Legislation of Prussia during the Present Century. By R. B. D. Morier, Esq., C.B. . . 279 VI, — Land System of Erance. By T. Cliffe Leslie, Esq. . 328 VII. — Russian Agrarian Legislation of 1861. By Ur. Julius Faucher ......... .'JSS Member of the Prussian Landtag. VI II. — Eai;m Land and Land-laws of the United States. By C. ]\r. Fisher, Esq 398 Counsellor-at-Lay, United States of America. SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. I. THE TENURE OF LAND IN IRELAND, By the Rt. Hon. M. Longpield. CHAPTER I. The laws wbicli govern the relation between landlord and tenant are not very different in England and Ireland ; but there are some differences in their pedi- grees, and in some collateral circumstances, which have made them produce very different effects. I shall mention a few of those circumstances. In both countries the law is based upon the feudal system, which gave the landlord a certain superiority over his tenants. But the feudal relation, with its reciprocal rights and duties, never existed in Ireland. Here the landlord never led his tenants to battle; if they fought in the same field, it was on different sides. They had no traditions of common victories or common defeats. Tlie relations that existed between them were hostile. According to the old feudal law, the lordship could not be transferred without the consent of the tenant, lest an enemy might be made his feudal superior ; but in a great part of Ireland a sudden and violent transfer of the lordship was made to persons whom the tenants only knew as their victorious enemies. The feudal law of distress was increased in force, to make it a more powerful instrument for extracting rent i; ic 2 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [LoNaFiEi.D. from a reluctant or impoverished tenantry. The old laws, which were unduly favoural:>le to the landlord, were generally retained, as if they had been unalterable laws of nature ; but they were at once altered when they appeared to afford a temporary protection to the tenant. Take the case of a disputed account between the landlord and tenant. The former maintains that a year's rent is due to him ; the latter insists that he owes nothing. Do they come before a court of justice on equal terms, to have this question tried ? On the contrary, the landlord, as the feudal superior, takes the law into his own hands, and without making any pn)of of his demand, he sends his bailifls to seize the goods of the tenant. The landlord was not obliged to apply to any officer of the law, or to give any security lo pay damages if his demand should prove to be unfounded. But it was otherwise with the tenant ; if he saw his goods distrained by this summary process, he could not get them back without a troublesome replevin, which he could only get by giving security to pay the sum demanded. To discourage him from contesting the landlord's rights, he was compelled by an Act of Par- liament to pay double costs if he failed. Still, at common law the distress, or goods distrained, could not be sold; and a tenant, ruined and driven to despair, might submit to the loss, and still refuse to pay ; but an Act of Parliament was passed to enable the landlord to sell the goods, and pay himself. Still, he could not seize the tenant's crops while they were growing, as by the common law crops while they were growing were considered as a part of the soil and freehold, and could not be distrained. But here Parliament again intervened, and passed a law to enable the landlord to distrain the crops while tlic}^ were still growing, so that as soon as the corn appeared above the ground he might send his keepers to take possession, and cut and carry it away wlien it was ripe. If the tenant removed his goods to avoid a distress, an Act of Parliament intervened to visit him and the friends who assisted him with a penalty, although the Irki,\ni).] /A' VAh'lOUS ('(){! NTRI KS. 3 kiudloi'd liimscir may have been at the same moment hiding his own goods to evade an execution. In the same manner Acts of Parliament were passed to give the landlord the power of evicting his tenant for non-payment of rent, and of recovering possession of the land in cases in which he was not entitled to this remedy either by the terms of his contract or by the rules of the common law. Those laws were injurious by leading the landlord to rely more on the extraordinary powers given to him by law, than on the character of the tenant or the liberal terms on which he set his land ; but I refer to them now as co-operating with other circumstances to lead the poor Irish farmer to the opinion that the laws were framed entirely in the interests of the landlord class. Here one important difference between English and Irish law must be noticed. In Ireland there were no poor laws. The poor man, reduced to destitution by sickness or want of employment, had no legal claim to a maintenance out of the property of the country. I allude elsewhere to other effects of the poor laws ; but the point which I now notice is, that, notwithstanding all the abuses attending on the administration of the poor laws in England, they had this effect, that the poor man could not shut his eyes to the fact that the laws were in some part framed in his interests, and that for the relief of his class a large sum was levied every year from the wealth and successful industry of the com- munity. Another circumstance tended to diminish the respect of the people for the law of the land. Religion did not, and could not, lend its aid to the authority of the law. The great mass of the agricultural population was Roman Catholic ; and the Roman Catholic priest, their minister and instructor, was in some respects under the ban of the law. He could scarcely be an effectual teacher of the doctrine that it is a moral duty to obey the law of the land, when he himself was obliged to violate it almost daily in the discharge of his most sacred functions. B 2 4 SYSTEMS OF LAyD TENURE [Longfield Of all laws, those which are framed for the protection of propcrt}' are the most likel}^ to be disregarded by the poor man. The man who never possessed an_y property can scarcely feel the duty of respecting it. He must be tanght that dnty, either by arguments, which do not bring conviction to all men, or by some authority which he respects. But the Roman Catholic priest had no property of his owai, and he generally belonged to a family which did not possess much projicrty. He had therefore no sympathy with the landlords, who, in general, did not belong to his flock. Religion, which ought to be the great bond of union between men of every race and every class, was in Ireland an additional source of disunion. Under such circumstances, it was not surprising that the Irish farmer was generally discontented with his position, although the landlords did not give him much cause of complaint. As a class, the Irish landlords were not greedy nor oppressive. They did not plunder their tenants, Ijut they neglected them. For some time after the Act of Settlement, leases were granted more readily and for longer terms in Ireland than in England. Fee-farm grants, leases for lives renewable for ever, and leases for terms exceeding- one hundred years in duration, covered no small portion of the soil of Ireland. i>ut those long leases, at moderate rents, did not produce a contented tenantry ; they only created a race of middlemen. The de- scendants of the men who granted those long leases had the mortification of finding that they were deriving a very small income from their estates in proportion to the value of the land, and yet that the occupying tenants were as i)Oor as if the}' had rigidly demanded the utmost penny that the land could yield. It was felt to be bad management to grant such leases ; and leases for three lives, or twenty-one years, or thirty-one years, were more usually granted in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The leases for lives were in some measure caused l)y the law which existed up to the Iieform Bill. Freeholders alone could vote at an election for Members Ireland.] IN VARIOUS COUNTllIES. 3 of Parliament; ami this statu of the law was injui-ious to agriculture by leadintj,' to a very inconvenient tenure. It was almost absurd that the duration of a fanner's interest should be made to depend upon such an accident as the longer or shorter duration of a stranger's life. Although leases for lives were very common, their duration appears not to have been understood. It was very common in settlements to insert powers of granting leases for three lives, or thirtj^-one years, as if those leases were of about equal average duration ; although in reality the average duration of the freehold was about double that of the chattel interest. In computing the compensation due to a landlord for renewal fines, it was assumed that a life to be named by the tenant would expire in seven years ; and this gave the landlord, as com- pensation, more than five times Avhat he had lost by the tenant's neglect. In the early jiart of this century a great rise took place in the value of land, as the French war and the depreciation of the currency raised the price of agri- cultural produce. The tenants who had previously obtained leases l)ecame rich. The landlords who had not granted leases obtained a great accession to their income. The landlords who had granted leases found them- selves poorer, inasmuch as their nominal income remained the same, while its purchasing power was diminished. This increased the desire of the tenantry to obtain leases, while it made the landlords less disposed to grant long leases In 1816, and the three following years, land fell again in value ; and the tenants who had got leases or farms during the high times were unable to pay their rents. In many cases they ran away and abandoned their farms ; in other cases they put their landlords to the delay and costs of an ejectment ; in other cases they were permitted to remain in occupation at a reduced rent. The landlords then perceived that a lease was a one-sided agreement. It prevented the landlord from obtaining the benefit of a rise in prices; but it did not prevent him from suffering if they fell. (3 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENURE [Longfield. Still, leases were frequently granted from political motives. The tenants, as a matter of course, voted as their landlords directed them ; and the landlord increased his political influence by granting freehold leases to a numerous tenantry. This condition of aflairs was changed by the agitation that preceded the Act for granting Catholic emancipa- tion ; and first in the county of Waterford, and after- wards in a still more remarkable instance in Clare, the tenants voted against their landlords' wishes ; and the latter had no longer any political inducement to grant leases to their tenantry ; indeed, political motives rather acted in the opposite direction. Although it became less usual to grant leases, the tenant was generally left undisturbed in possession at the old rent. Nothing was more common than to find a yearly tenant holding land at a rent fixed by a lease which had long since expired. No general change in the value of land took place of sufficient magnitude to cause a readjustment of rents. But in the year 1846 the potato crop throughout Ire- land generally failed ; a fall greater than had ever taken place on an}^ former occasion took place in the value of land. The tenant found that the possession of a farm could not secure him against starvation. Landlords were compelled to submit to a considerable temporary abatement. In 1851 the reaction commenced; land- lords added to the rent by degrees the sums that had been taken off during the famine; and in some cases they added a little more. Frequent small additions to the rent are very annoying to the tenant, who on each occasion has to calculate whether it is more prudent to submit to this increase, or to incur the inconvenience and expense of giving up his farm and looking out for another. Another circumstance occurred about this time. The Encumbered Estates Court was established in 1849, and many estates were sold subject only to existing leases and legal rights. The new landlords were more active, and effected more improvements in the land than their encum- Ikei.and.] in various COUNTRIES. 7 bered predecessors ; but they were less indulgent to their tenants; old traditions of liberality were disregarded, and the new landlords were more disposed to exact the full value of the land. They also sometimes introduced changes, which, although to the advantage of the country and of the tenantry, were looked upon with suspicion, on account of their evident advantage to the landlords. The tenants did not like any interference with their customs, even when it was obviously for their interests. On the whole, however, the condition of the Irish farmers steadily improved. The value of land increased faster than the rents Never were they more prosperous than at the present moment. The marketable value of the interests which the occupying tenants have in their farms is about fifty millions sterling, exclusive of their stock in cattle, machinery, and agricultural produce, which is w^orth as much more. But at the same time the}^ never were more discontented. The reason of this is partly that they fear that their present prosperity is insecure, and parti}' that they hope to seize upon something more. Their wealth is as safe as that of any other class, so far as it depends upon their capital, or their skill and industrj^ ; but it depends upon the will of the landlords, so far as it is a consequence of their holding land at less than the competition value. They are too dependent upon their landlords. It is not convenient that the prosperity of one class of men should depend upon the liberality of another class. Besides, in many cases the tenants hope by agitation and outrage to acquire more than they at present possess. They have great political power, and are able to reward the agitators who inflame their passions or their cupidity. They are taught to believe that it is in their power to acquire the absolute ownership of the land which they have hired for a limited period. Their well-founded complaints are mixed up with the most unreasonable demands; and by skilful sophistry and metaphorical language they are almost led to believe that murder may be justitied when it is committed from motives of avarice or revenge. Before we endeavour to dra\v a distinction 8 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Lokgfield. betAveen the just and unjust demands of those who call themselves the tenants' friends, a question maybe asked, " Will outrao-es against life and property cease when everything that justice requires shall be conceded?" I do' not think the question very important, because the claims of justice should be allowed, even if no beneficial results were expected. But the question itself cannot be answered by a direct "Yes" or " No." Whenever any just measure is passed, all discontent is not at once allayed. All that ought to be expected is to reduce the number of the malcontents, and to diminish the vehe- mence of those who remain dissatisfied. The friends of law and order are strengthened by an increase of their numbers, and by the removal of many of the topics on which their adversaries are accustomed to rely. In this manner a succession of just measures may produce such an overwdielming majority in favour of the law as to reduce the discontented to silence. I do not expect such a result in Ireland to follow im- mediately from any legislation, until the people are taught to look upon murder with horror. If all the land in Ireland was divided in fee simple among the peasantrj^, the number of murders would not be diminished. The difference would only be in the heading of the sensation paragraphs in newspapers. Instead of an "agrarian outrage," it would be called a" domestic tragedy." The same feeling that prompts a man to murder his landlord, to prevent or revenge some real or imaginary wrong, would lead him to resort to the same remedy against a sister who claimed her fortune at an inconvenient time, or a brother wdio did not agree with his views respecting the partition of the estate. Good consequences may be confidently expected from just legislation, although those consequences may not appear so quickly as sanguine people often expect. It is not certain that the discontented farmer thinks that all his demands are just and reasonable, or that he ex- pects them to be conceded. A I'armer is generally dis- posed to make a bargain, and to begin by asking for a good deal more than he expects to get. iKEi.ANi..] JN VARIOUS COUNTliU'JS. 9 CHAPTER II. The opinions of p]nglish and Irish economists generally are different on the subject of absenteeism. The Irish, who feel it, think it a great evil. The English, who do not feel it, think that it does no harm to the country. It does not, however, follow that the Irish are right, for they may perhaps have fallen into the mistake of attri- buting to absenteeism evils which coexist with it, but are not cansed by it. For a short time the defenders of absenteeism liad the arguments of logic on their side. The complainants made a mistake in the form of their complaint. The mercantile system was in full vogue. Money was thought to be synonymous with wealth. Every trans- action which brought money into the country was sup- posed to increase its wealth, and every cause that led to the exportation of money was held to impoverish it. With this belief, nothing was more natural than to com- plain of the rents remitted to England to absentee land- lords, and to calculate how much it amounted to in the course of half a century. It was no matter to be sur- prised at that Ireland was poor, when so much money was annually sent away without any return. The king- dom was in the same condition as if it paid a tribute to England equal to the amount of rent paid to the absentees. The answer made to such complaints w\ns, that no money \vas sent out of Ireland to the absentees. Com- modities, chiefly cattle and corn, were exported ; these were paid for by bills, and the produce of those bills applied to the payment of rent to the absentees. Even if monej^ was sent here to pay for the cattle, and that money }xiid to the absentees, it would come to the same thing in the end. The rent is still substantially paid, not in money, but in that agricultural produce by means of which the mone}^ was procured. As to the wealth sent out without return, that is treated as a matter of no consequence. No one has any cause of complaint. A hundred iwunds worth of corn is sent to England, the 10 SYSTEMS OF LAND TEN UltE [Lonufield- produce of tliat com is paid to the landlord. He buys a hogshead of Freuch wine, which is consumed hj himself and his family. How are the Irish people worse off than if that hogshead of wine was consumed by the same persons in Ireland ? It might perhaps ha admitted that Ireland would not suffer much by the absence of any landlord who, if he was present, would do nothing with his income except bujdng French wine. But in fact a landlord does not in general spend so much as half his income in the purchase of foreign goods. The greater part of his income is emploj^ed either in paying for services, or in the purchase of goods produced in the immediate nighbourhood. It makes a great difference to the producer whether his market is close at hand, or whether he must send his goods to a distance to seek for a customer ; and this difference will be the greatest when the goods which he pro- duces are bulky in proportion to their value, and when the roads and other means of communication are bad. It may perhaps be said, "Let him produce such goods as may be readily exported, as he ought to know that he must seek a distant market." But in a poor and ignorant agricultural community the producer has no choice. He can produce certain things, and nothing else ; and it would be a dull mockery to tell the family of a poor peasant, who can find no convenient market for his eggs, and butter, and poultry, and honey, and the services of his children, that he ought to employ himself in making clocks and watches, or brushes, or gloves, or cloth, or paper. Fie earns his bread from day to day by the only business that he understands, however im})erfectl3^ and he never saw any one employed in any other pur- suit, and he has no means of getting into any other industr3^ Let us abandon the argument derived from the balance of trade, and examine the effect of absenteeism upon the small village of C. All the property in the neighbourhood, to the amount of 20,000?. a year, belongs to absentees. There is not a gentleman's house or luELANi).] JN VARIOUS COUNTHIES. 11 garden near it. There is very little traffic, and the roads are bad. The post arrives and departs at incon- venient hours, as there is not sufiicient correspondence to induce the Post-Office authorities to incur any ex- pense in improving the postal service. There are no pul)lic conveyances, as there is not traffic enough to supi)ort them. The shops are few and ill-supplied, goods are sold at a high price, and yet for a\ ant of sufficient custom the profit of the shopkeepers is very small. The district cannot support a market, and the people are obliged to travel a considerable distance for their supplies. The peasant finds it impossible to oljtain any price for butter, eggs, poultry, and other small rural produce. They cannot be sold in the neighbourhood, and the expense of carriage to a distance consumes nearly the entire value. There are no means of education. One medical practitioner^ with very little skill, has the monopoly of an immense territory, from which he obtains a scanty subsistence, as the gentry who are able to give him fees are absentees. Agriculture is in a very backward state. The implements are of the worst kind. The cattle are of the most unprofitable breeds. No improvements in either cattle or imple- ments have l)een introduced within living memory. There are no gentlemen of wealth and education to know what is done in other countries, to make experiments, to instruct the people, and to introduce improvements. I am writing about the state of things in the beginning of this century. The following extracts are taken from a report on the state of the King's County, presented by Sir C. Coote to the Royal Dublin Society, in the year 1801. " Barony of Geshill. " Every acre of this barony, being the estate of Lord JD., it is almost entirely inhabited by farmers. They use the old Irish plough and harrow, and none of the improved kind are yet amongst them." "In this })arony there is not a single town, and only two villages, those 12 SYSTJ^MS OF LAND TENURE [I.ongfiei.d. of Killagh and Gcsliill, but no market held in cither, though each has a patent for one." " The roads through- out this ])arony arc shamefully bad, and at times almost impassable. Deprived of a resident gentry, this district is in a lamentable state of neglect." " Farms run from fift}^ to three hundred acres ; farm-houses have only the appearance of warmth ; and if we except Dean D.'s, Mr. V.'s, and Mr. W.'s, they have nothing of neatness to recommend them. The tenant is obliged to repair: the old leases were for thirty-one years, or three lives, few of which now exist-, those of later date do not exceed twenty-one years, and non-alienation is insisted on." " There is no want of bidders to every farm out of lease ; and the highest gets the preference." " Where such short leases only are granted, little real improvement can be expected ; the tenant is discouraged from it, lest he should have his rent raised in his next tenure to the value of his improvements, which he is fairly apprized of, the highest bidder having alwaj^s the preference. When the peasantry become more civilized, perhaps this rigorous mode will be abandoned, and real solvent tenants ma}' be granted encouragement proportionate to their abilities and industry." I may add that the owner of this estate was not an encumbered proi)rietor. He died without issue, and worth nearly a million sterling, and some of the leases which he granted were impeached by his successor. Sir C. Coote's account of the Barony of Geshill is the natural description of a large property owned by ab- sentees. The object was to give an account of the agriculture of the county ; and he did not refer to those inconveniences which a resident only can feel. Let us suppose that some of the proprietors return to reside in the district which I have described; and con- sider the results which are likely to follow. A better description of agricultural implements is introduced. The common cart of the country, with its wheels of solid wood without sjiokes, which only turn with the axle, gradually disappears. It draws onl}- two hundred- weight, and is replaced by a cart with spoke wheels, Ikki.am).] TN VARTOUS COUNTPiTES. 13 wliicli will draw fi'oiii ten to twcnt}^ liunclrcd. The improvement is introduced by a resident gentleman who is acquainted with the superior vehicle. He em- ploys carpenters to make them ; and these men and their apprentices are again emplo3'ed by the farmers in the neighl^ourhood, wlio quickly perceive the benefit of an improvement wdiich they see in actual operation, at the same time that the means of making the improvement are placed within their reach. The same thing occurs with respect to ploughs and other agricultural im})le- ments. The farmer is generally unwilling to alter his practice in submission to any theory or to any argu- ments. He will not adopt an improvement unless he sees it in actual successful operation. In the same manner the resident landlord is the means of introducing an improved breed of cattle, a better rotation of crops, and that improved cultivation which he has witnessed in other parts of the country. He is the living mode of communication between the ignorant backward district and the more iiuproved and more civilized parts of the kingdom. The resident gentlemen attend to the state of the roads, and insist that they shall be well made and duly repaired. They support by their advice and subscri])tions schools, dispensaries, and various institutions of utility or charity. They assist in the preservation of the peace and the local administra- tion of justice. The increase of correspondence caused by a number of wealthy residents leads to improved postal communication. The traffic and travelling of themselves and their families, their friends and their tradesmen, lead to the establishment of public con- veyances, which formerly could not have been run without a loss. All the residents enjoy the advantages of these conveyances. The custom of the resident land- lords is a great assistance to the shopkeepers in the neighbourhood, and enables them to keep a better selec- tion of goods, and to sell them at a lower price, and yet a greater profit to themselves. The resident gentry must have houses, offices, and gardens, which become part of the wealth of the country, and require masons, 14 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUIIK [Longfiklr carpenters, and workmen of a superior description to make them and keep tliem in repair. I need not pro- ceed further to enumerate the advantages which may be confidentl}^ expected from the residence of the landed gentry on their estates. They are certainly not met by the argument that the rents of absentees are not remitted in gold and silver, but in bills purchased by the sale of Irish commodities. We are not to consider merely the effects of ab- senteeism in the abstract, but its effects upon a poor ignorant country such as Ireland was. It can hardly be doubted that the whole social system must suffer from the absence of one important class. A great gap is made by the want of men with knowledge, wealth, or leisure for anything more than the supply of their immediate pressing wants. The cases I have supposed of the utility of a resident gentry, and the inconvenience of their absence, could readily be supported by reference to facts. The causes of absenteeism are partly the superior advantages which England by nature possesses over Ireland. Its civilization is older and more advanced. It is a larger country, with a finer climate, much richer in its mineral productions, and is more convenientl,y and centrally situated. The most convenient way for an Irishman to go to any part of Europe is to pass through England. Ireland will always bear to England a relation like that of a provincial town to the metro- polis. But this does not entirely account for the extent to which absenteeism existed. The chief cause is to be found in the confiscations and grants which took place in the time of Cromwell, and confirmed by the settlement made in the reign of Charles II. By those grants large estates fell into the hands of Englishmen who would not, for ten times their value, have left their native country to dwell in such a barbarous and disturbed country as Ireland was. Accordingly they remained in England, and set their newly-acquired estates in large tracts to tenants who undertook to manage the land and pay the luioLANi).] IN VAIllorS COUNTRIES. 15 rent. The leases were generally made at moderate rents, and sometimes for very long interests. The laws relating to land made it easier for men to set than to sell their estates ; and from this cause the estates remained in the same families, and absenteeism continued to prevail. It is, hoAvever, diminishing. In his Political Anatomy of Ireland, Sir William Petty computed the absenteeism of Ireland to extend to one fourth of the real and personal property of the kingdom. Lists of absentees, with their names and the value of their estates, were published in 1729, and again in 1769. Many of the estates mentioned there have since been sold, and purchased by men who reside in Ireland ; and in many other cases where the estates remained in the same families, the present representatives reside in Ireland for a considerable portion of the year. It may be answered that, although those particular estates are no longer held by absentees, there may be other estates now possessed by absentees, which were then held by residents. I do not, however, believe that this has occurred to any considerable extent. Especially it rarely happens that the purchaser of an Irish estate becomes an absentee. Of the estates sold in the Encumbered Estates Court, a very small proportion was bought by Englishmen or Scotch- men, and even in those cases the purchasers frequently came to reside in Ireland. But not only has absenteeism diminished, but even when it exists it is less injurious now than it was formerh^ This is the result of several causes. The roads are no longer dependent upon the great pro- prietors for their existence or repairs. The ratepayers now are permitted to take an active share in this part of the county business, and county survej^ors are officially appointed to see that all contracts for the formation and repairs of roads and bridges are duly performed. The poor laws now compel the absentees to contribute their fair proportion to the support of the destitute poor. The dispensaries are supported by a compulsory rate, and no longer depend upon the casual subscriptions of the resident gentry. A large parliamentary grant gives ]<> SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE [Longfield. equal independence to the edncation of the poor. The appointment of stipendiary magistrates gives assistance to the residents, and supplies the places of the absentees. The penn}^ postage and the cheap newspaper press bring information to every part of Ireland. Steam has almost made a bridge across the channel, and railways are now made to places that were formerly inaccessible. Thus in the Barony of Geshill, in which there was such a want of good roads in the beginning of this century, there is now a railway station ; and it is easier now for a man to travel from Geshill to Dublin than it was then to go from one part of the barony to another. Besides the changes just mentioned, another cause tends to mitigate the mischievous effects of absenteeism. The wealth of Ireland not derived from the rents of land has considerably increased. Taking round numbers, w^e may say that in the course of two centuries the population has increased five-fold, the rental has increased fifteen-fold, and the general wealth of the country has increased fifty-fold. It is probable that the marketable value of the interests which the occupying tenants have in their farms is about fifty millions sterling. But absenteeism is still an evil, although not so great as it was; and it may be asked, "Can anything be done to mitigate or prevent it ?" Legislation is slowly moving in this direction. One great truth is gradually dawning on the public mind, that every matter of public importance (not of private interest) should be under- taken by the state, and not be permitted to depend upon the casual contributions of benevolent individuals. Whatever ought to be given to the poor, beyond what they can obtain by their own exertions, ought not to depend upon the accident of their living in a rich and li1)eral neighbourhood. Several of the changes which I have noticed in our legislation follow at once from this principle. Nothing would more tend to diminish absenteeism than free trade in land, and the absence of all restrictions that impede its transfer. There is a natural tendency in })roperty to move towards its owner, or in the owner to JiiRLAN!).] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 17 move towards liis property. Thus, in the case of a great Irish railway, it was thought expedient, soon after it was formed, to compare the interests of the English and Irish proprietors. It was then found that, although the two classes were ecpial in number, the English proprietors held two thirds of the stock. Some years afterwards the same comparison was made, and it was found that the proportions in the meantime had been reversed, and that the Irish proprietors held twice as much stock as the English. The change has since gradually gone on in the same direction. But there is a much greater tendency in land than in railway shares to belong to the residents of the country in which the property is situated. A railway share is merely a right to receive a certain proportion of the profits made l)y the company. What those profits are can only l^e known from the accounts, which are equally accessible to the nearest and the most distant j)ro- prietors. But land is something different; it is more than a mere income, and an intimate acquaintance with it is necessary in order to know its value, present and prospective. No person has any special desire for a particular railway share ; but when any land is to be sold, it frequently happens that there are several persons who know its value well, and to whom that land is more desirable than au}^ property of equal value in any part of the kingdom. Such persons must be residents in the neighbourhood, or at no very great distance, and they are therefore the most likel}^ to purchase it. The principal laws that prevent that frequent transfer of land which would put an end to absenteeism, are the law of primogeniture, the heavy stamp duties on conveyance, the law which permits property to be settled on unborn ])ersons, and the general complications permitted in the titles to real property. Something has been done to facilitate the transfer of land by the creation of the Landed Estates Court ; but it is an inconvenient anomaly, and exhiljits the imperfection of the law, that a lawsuit should be thought the best and the most expeditious riiode of selling an estate. c 18 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfield. The Record of Title Act has been passed to facilitate further the transfer of land ; but it has not been very effective, and as long as settlements are permitted, the transfer of land cannot be free from difficulty. CHAPTER III. A VEKY injurious custom prevalent in Ireland, and en- couraged by the law, was the permitting an accumulation of arrears of rent to remain due by the tenantr}^ In many districts in the south and west, every tenant was in the condition of an uncertificated bankrupt, whose debts amount to more than he can ever hope to pay. It is difficult to conceive anything more calculated to destroy the energies of a tenant, than the consciousness that no amount of skill, industry, or economy can im- prove his position, while idleness and prodigality can hardly make it worse. This is the state of a tenant who holds his land at a rent rather higher than he can afford to pay, and who finds that each j^ear adds to the amount of arrears due to his landlord. If any lucky accident should increase his fortune, or add to the value of his farm, it is a gain to his landlord, but no benefit to him- self; while a bad crop, whatever be the cause of it, only makes an addition to the bad debts due to his landlord, but is no concern to himself. As long as he owes more than he can pay, he is ecpially in his landlord's power, whether the arrears amount to fifty or to five hundred pounds. The landlord, if he wishes it, may seize all his goods, and evict him from his farm. His only hope lies in the forbearance of his landlord, from whatever motive that forheai^ance may jjroceed. A tenant in this position will never make any pay- ment until he has made every effort in his power to evade it. When he pays a portion of his rent, he feels himself so much the poorer ; his property is less by the amount he has paid ; but he does not obtain in exchange that independence and freedom from debt which in ordi- luELAND.J IN VARIOUS COUM'IUJlS. 19 iiarv cases are the results or the motives of the payment. It is a most iinsatislactory thing to pay money, and yet to remain hopelessly insolvent. Why, tlien, does he pay anything ? He does it in order to avoid a distress, or an action, or an ejectment. He knows that he cannot expect to retain possession of liis farm without paying something; he must only feel his Avay, and try to pay as little as possible. Hence a perpetual effort to avoid payment, by pleas of distress and poverty, and a contest between the landlord and the tenant. The ft)rmer is uncertain whether the latter's pleas of poverty are true ; the tenant is uncertain whether the landlord is serious in his threats of takino; legal proceedings. The contract is disregarded, and the parties have no guide to direct them how much they may demand and how much they ought to concede. When a single tenant succeeds in reducing his rent by pleading inability, every tenant will endeavour to do the same. A man will almost think it a hardship to be compelled to observe his contract, when he sees that his neighbour is permitted to evade it. The feeling of independent honesty is gone. The insolvent tenant is not looked upon in the same light as an ordinary debtor who is unable or unwilling to pay his creditors, but is considered as a man who has made a skilful bargain ; for the payment of each gale of rent is made the subject of a separate bargain. I could narrate many instances in which tenants succeeded in their plea of poverty, and were afterwards by accident discovered to have been in possession of money far more than sufficient to pay their rent twice over. I have knoAvn many estates in which no account was ever settled between the landlord and the tenant. Pay- ments were made from time to time, but the tenant cared yery little whether they were placed to his credit or not. This vicious custom often led to the offer of rents which the farmer knew he could not pay. The solvent farmer, who hoped to cultivate the land skilfully, and to derive a profit from his industrv, and skill, and capital, c 2 20 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Longkield. and to pay his rent punctually, had no chance of gettin^^ a vacant I'arni against the competition of a man who did not intend to fulfil his engagements. Thus the system teiided to throw the lands into the hands of dishonest or insolvent tenants. Such men began by promising to paj^ more than the land was worth, and ended by paying less than its fiiir value. Those tenants were not only unable from want of capital to make the land productive, but it was also their interest to avoid high and efficient cultivation. Their apparent poverty was the staft' on which they relied in lieu of payment of their rent; and to preserve this appearance it was necessary that they should carefully avoid such things as a sufficient stock, or a good breed of cattle, improved agricultural implements, or an 3^ outlay on their farm, either for ornament or utility. Their object was, with the least possible expense, to raise a scanty crop, which W'Ould prove that they were unable to pay the rent. Ey this proceeding the landlord, the country, and even the tenant himself, were sulferers. The landlord had his land deteriorated by bad cultivation, and received less than its fair value, and far less than his nominal income. In mau}^ cases it did him a further injury, by enabling him to excuse to himself his own extravagance. He owes a good deal to his creditors, but his tenants owe a considerable sum to him ; and in this manner, without going into details, he is able to present a rough balance of accounts to his conscience if it accuses him of exceeding his income.* The country obviously suffers ])y anything that diminishes the produce of the soil. The tenant hides his monc}' instead of employing it in reproductive works. T'he fund for the subsistence of the labourer disappears, * 'J'liis may riiii)ear fanciful and far-fctclicJ ; Lut it is certain tliat man}- do deceive tl:cniselves by comparing tlieir ex]icnditiire uitli tlieir nominal incomes. 'J'iie ohdervatii'n is nut new. " So when they have raised their rents they sfiend tlieir fortunes tiy living up to a nominal rent-roll, which is fre(|uently the reason we see so many families ruim-d and often cxtinct/'ttc. " Landlords would have a certain and \vell-])aid rent, and would know exactly what they could dejiend upon. 'J'his would m.\\io them less lavish and extravagant than they are." — Airi'iii'U Doiuss, I72!». InKLANi).] IN VAUIOTm COUNTBIEH. 21 and there is no profitable employment for the peasant and the artisan. A number of ill-paid lal)ourors are employed to do badly a work which a few well-paid men could perform efficiently with proper capital and under skilfnl direction. Every man who observes the ai^riculture of England and Ireland, even with a careless eye, is struck Ijy the contrast between the produce of the land and the numl)er of men emplo3'ed on it. To the Irish traveller in England it seems as if the work was done without hands. He sees the work finislied, but nol)ody doing it. The Englishman wonders at the multitude of men whom he sees with agricultural imple- ments in their hands, and nothing done to account for their appearance. It was often found that the land was most wretchedly cultivated in districts where labour in al)undance could be had for sixpence a day, or even less. There is no profit to be made by employing ill-paid labourers. And without skill, and capital, and freedom, and security, the employer cannot afford to pay fair wages. It may be said that, even for a tenant owing more rent than he could pay, it would be on the whole more prudent to cultivate his land skilfully and carefully. This may be the case, but men are naturally disposed to indolence, and a slight argument will often turn the scale. A man is often not industrious even when he knows thnt the produce of his industry will be his own ; how much less will his industry be when he has good reason to fear that another will seize the fruits ? This complaint of high rents has been made without ceasing for more than three hundred years. There was never less ground for it than at the present day, although in some instances the rent demanded is still too high ; but this chiefly occurs where the landlords are middle- men, or where the property is very small. Several circumstances concurred in former times to make the competition for land keener, and the demand for high rent more inconsiderate then than now. One great difference between English and Irish law, the im- portance of which it is difficult to estimate, was that in 22 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfield. Ireland there were no poor laws. The poorer tenant, of the class that in England would look to the parish for support, saw no resource in Ireland but to obtain on any terms possession of a sufficient (juantity of land to pro- duce as much potatoes as his family could consume, with, if possible, after the potatoes, on the following year, as much corn as with his pig would be sufficient to pay the rent. The general poverty and ignorance of the people increased the competition. There was not much difference among the people who applied for a vacant farm. No man had such capital or skill as to enable him to make a greater profit than his competitors, and the most obvious distinction was the willingness to offer the highest rent. For such tenants the landlord could not erect suitable buildings for residences or farm offices. The tenant, if he got them, would not keep them in repair. The law gave some encouragement to this mode of dealing on the part of the landlord by the a])sence of poor laws, l^y the law of distress, which enabled the land- lord to help himself without the expense of litigation with an insolvent tenant, and l)y the want practically of any laAV of limitations to affect the landlord s claims against his tenants. The law has been altered in this respect, although scarcely to a sufficient extent. The imprudence of setting land at high rents to in- solvent tenants was becoming apparent to many, and the events connected with the famine of 1847 made it manifest to all. It is comparativcdy a rare thing now for a landlord to set land at a rent which he does not believe the tenant ought to be able to pay ; and rents are now generally paid with reasonable punctuality. Not- withstanding the outrages that occur in some parts of the countrv, I believe there never was a time in which the occupying tenants owed so little rent. It is still, however, not unusual to insert in leases many clauses and covenants which are inconvenient to the tenant and useless to the landlord. The}'' are not observed ; but they have the mischievous effect of giving the landlord too much power over his tenant. luELAN-n.J IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 23 This is not peculiar to Ireland. I liavc seen copies of English leases which would make it very difficult for a tenant to nianafi'e his farm with profit, if he did everything which by the terms of his lease he was bound to do. The allowance of half a year's rent in arrear, under the name of the running gale, is almost a settled institu- tion in some parts of the country. This is so much the case, that a tenant who had not paid his landlord the rent that fell due on the 1st of November, would in the following month of March describe himself as owing no rent to his landlord, and in a year after he would describe himself as owing only a year's rent. He would not count the rent that fell due the preceding November. This custom is mischievous, as leading to accumulation of arrears ; it keeps the tenant in the landlord's power ; it prevents the tenant from looking to his lease as the measure of his obligations. In this, as in other cases, the prospect of long credit induces him to offer too high a price. The institution of a running gale often compels the landlord to plunge into debt, from which he never extri- cates himself. A man dies in December possessed of a good estate. The eldest son gets possession, subject to a jointure and portion. Thus he has a smaller income than his father had, while he is naturally disposed to live in the same style. He has also to be at some expense in buying furniture, and other matters, when he takes possession of the famih^ mansion. But all his difficulties are crowned by the running gale, which adds nearly six months to the period that intervenes before he receives any rent from his tenants. He receives very little before he is ten months in the possession of his estate ; and in the meantime he often contracts inveterate habits of running into debt. Arthur Young, in -the interests of the tenantrj^ strongly recommended the enforcement of punctual pay- ment of rent in his advice to Irish landlords. "The lirst object is a settled determination, never to be departed from, to let his farms only to the immediate occupiers of the land, and to avoid deceit ; not to let a cottar, 24 S}\^TEMS OF LAND TENURE [Longfield. herdsman, or steward, have more than three or four acres on any of his farms. By no means to reject the little occnjVier of a few acres from being a tenant to himself, rather than annex his land to a larger spot. Having by this ])revions step eased these inferior tenantry of the burden of the intermediate man, let him give out, and steadily adhere to it, that he shall insist on the regular and punctual payment of his rent, but shall take no personal service whatever. The meanest occupier to have a lea«e, and none shorter than twenty-one years, which I am inclined also to think is long enough for his advantage. There will arise, in spite of his tenderness, a necessity of securing a regular payment of rent. I would advise him to distrain without favour or afl'ection at a certain period of deficiency. This will appear harsh only upon a superficial consideration. The object is to establish the system ; but it will fall before it is on its legs, if it is founded on a landlord forgiving arrears or permitting them to increase." " Such a steady regular conduct would infallibly have its effect in animating all the tenantry on the estate to exert every nerve to be punctual ; whereas favour shown now and then Avould make ever}" one, the least inclined to remissness, hope for its exertion towards himself; and every partial good would be attended with a diffusive evil ; exceptions, how- ever, to be made for very great and unavoidable mis- fortunes, clearly and undoubtedly proved." CHAPTER IV. TiiE subletting and subdivision of farms are not neces- sarily connected with each other. A farm may be sublet without being divided. Ihit they partly produce the same cllects, and proceed from the same causes ; and, in many cases, subletting leads to subdivision. The common cause is the poverty of the country. This, when there are long leases, leads to subletting ; when the TRELAND.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIKM. 25 leases are short and uiiprorital)lc, it leads to a subdivision of fanns. When a man holds land at a rent loss than the full value of the land, whether the lowness of the rent is caused by the liberality of the landlord, or by the im- provements which the tenant has made on his farm, or by a ^"(:nei-al rise in the value of land throug;h the country, he has a property which he may enjoy in per- son, or transfer to another. If his inclination or any other circumstance leads him to any pursuit except the occupation of that particular farm, he will endeavour to dispose of his lease to the best advantage. In the wealthy districts of the north of Ireland he will readily find a purchaser. There are many men anxious to get a farm, and possessed of monej'- sufficient not only to cultivate the land, but also to pay a fair price for the interest of the selling tenant. After this transaction, the new tenant now in occupa- tion of the land has gained nothing by the liberality of the landlord, or the general rise in the value of land, or the improvements made by the tenant. Whatever the land (from any cause) is worth alcove the rent, he has paid for in the purchase money which he has given to the preceding tenant. To him it is the same thing as if he had paid a fine to the landlord on getting possession of the farm. The sum thus paid depends more on the means of the purchaser than on a nice calculation of the value of the farm, or of the interest wdiich the tenant has in it, although of course the greater the interest the greater will be the price paid for it. There is nothing in a transaction of this kind injurious to any person. On the contrary, like the ordinary operations of free trade, it appears beneficial to all parties concerned. This is obvious with respect to the immediate parties to the bargain. It is a voluntary transaction, into which neither party would enter if he did not consider it to be for his benefit. The outgoing tenant prefers the money to the land, the incoming tenant prefers the land to the money. The country gains by the change, as the incoming tenant is probably 26 '^SYSTE.US OF LAND TENURE [LoNOi-iELn. a better farmer or possessed of more capital tliaii his predecessor. The landlord is secured of his rent, and of the performance of the covenants in his leases. It is not likely that any man wonld pay a large snm for a farm, and then expose himself to rain, or put himself in the landlord's power by neglecting to pay his rent, or by breaking the covenants in the lease. In one case, however, the change is not always to the landlord's taste. If he conferred an obligation on the outgoing tenant by granting him a lease on liberal terms, he may not be pleased by the change which puts the farm into the hands of a person who is under no obliga- tion to him. But this is a very slight matter. The sense of obligation is seldom very durable unless it is kept up by continual kindness, and such conduct on the part of the landlord would excite the same feeling in the new tenant. But there are parts of Ireland, chiefly in the south and west, which are so poor, that a tenant who wished to dispose of a valuable interest in a farm might find it difficult, if not impossible, to procure a purchaser. ]\Iany people might wish to get his farm, but none have the money to pay for it. The outgoing tenant therefore sublets the land instead of selling it, and thus receives an annual profit rent instead of a gross sum in hand. The new tenant hopes to pay the profit rent out of the proceeds of the farm. He is in the same position with respect to annual payments as if he had borrowed money to buy the tenant's farm, paying as interest a sura equivalent to the profit rent. He could not, however, borrow the money, because there are few who have any sum to lend, and because he has no security to oiler. The middleman trusts him Avith the land, relying upon the extraordinary^ powers which the law gives the land- lord for tiie recovery of his rent. It is probable that the under-tenant will engage to pay a very high rent, to compensate for the indifferent security which he off'ers to his immediate landlord. In many cases this subletting was a profession or calling. The chief landlords thought it impossible, or at Ireland.] 7.V VAIUOUS COUNTIilES. 27 least very unpleasant, to collect rent from the very poor persons wlio were the occupying tenants of the country. They gave leases for their lives, or longer, and on reasonable terms as to rent, to men whom they con- sidered good marlvs for the rent, and who sometimes promised that tliey would make some improvements in order to enable them to sublet at a profit. Thus sub- letting became very general, and there were large districts in which scarcely a single occupying tenant held directly from the owner of the fee. This system was useful to nobody but the middleman. He had a good income with very little risk or trouble ; and in the earlier part of this century, during the French revolutionary war, and the depreciation of the currency caused by the suspension of cash payments by the Bank of England, rent of land rose so much that in many cases the middleman had as much profit from the land as the head landlord himself. Sometimes land rose so much in value, that the tenant of the middleman was able to sublet his farm at a profit, and thus to become a middle- man himself. The peasantry under this system were reduced to a wretched state. The traditions of liberality which be- long to men who inherit large estates did not exist among men who took farms for the purpose of subletting them at the highest rent they could obtain. They were not expected to deal like gentlemen with their tenantry. They belonged nearly to the same class as the farmers, and made as hard a bargain in setting a farm as they would in selling a horse. They could scarcely alTord to be liberal. If a gentleman whose estate is set for fifteen hundred a-year makes a redaction of his rent at any time to the extent of twenty per cent., he loses one-fifth of his income ; but if he was a middleman, paying a rent of twelve hundred a-year, he could not make such a reduction without losing his entire income. The same principle extends to every case. Every act of liberality by the middleman would cost him a much larger propor- tion of his income. His trade was to extract as much as possible from the wretched occupiers of the land. The 28 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Lonckield. increase of population was so rapid, and the General poverty of the country was such, that men were found willing- to engage to pay him anything that; he demanded. The wages of labour were so low, and the difficulty of getting enijihn'nient was so great, that it was better to get possession of land on any terms than to trust to casual employ uient for a subsistence. The middleman, not having a permanent interest, did not care for the improvement or deterioration of the estate. A thought upon the subject never crossed his mind. Two circumstances were of material assistance to the middlemen, and to those who acted like middlemen in their treatment of the tenantry. First, there were no poor laws. They were therefore enabled to cover the land with a starving population, without the pos- sibility of being called upon by law to contribute any- thing to their support. Secondly, the laAV of distress was more severe than it is now, and enabled the land- lord to distrain growing crops. At common law, the crop, until it was severed from the soil, was part of the soil, and could not be seized by distress or execution ; but this was altered by Act of Parliament, to enable the landlord to seize the crops before they w^ere ripe, to put keepers in possession to watch them, and to carry them away when they were ripe, leaving the starving tenant and his family in possession of the naked land. Thus the landlord frequently thought it for his interest to encourage the subdivision of farms. I remember, many years ago, hearing an extensive land agent laying down the principle in a very authoritative maimer, that it was better for the landlord that there should be as many occupiers as possible on the land, since the more occu- piers, the more tillage was necessary to supjiort the tenants, and the landlord was able to heli) himself to the produce of the soil before they got anything. But altliough some landlords may have thought that subdivision was for their benefit, they could not long have retained that opinion of subletting. They soon saw that the middleman was no use to them, but was Ireland.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES 29 merely intercepting a portion of tlieir natural income ; and when the great fixll of land took place after the year 1815, many middlemen were broken, and left the eliicf landlords to deal with the land itself or with the im- mediate occupiers. Many landlords resolved to grant renewals of leases to none but tlie tenants in actual occupation. Acts of Parliament were passed to prevent or discourage subletting, and the system of middlemen gradually died away. They exist now chiefly where the land is held under bishops' leases, or under leases for lives renewable for ever. Although I have referred to tlie subletting Acts, I do not believe that they had much influence in preventing subletting. The law was always sufficient, if the land- lords inserted covenants against subletting in their leases, and took a little trouble to enforce tliem. What really caused the change was that the landlords became alive to their interests on this i)oint. However mischievous the old custom of subletting may have been, it is guiltless of one charge that has been sometimes made against it. The landlord had a right to distrain for his rent, even when the land was in the hands of an under tenant, who had paid his own rent to the middleman. It has been frequently stated as a grievance of no unusual occurrence, that owing to this state of the law, the tenant in occupation was obliged to pay his rent twice over, once to his own immediate land- lord, and again to thf head landlord. I have seen this stated in tales written to illustrate the state of Ireland, and even in evidence given before commissioners to in- quire into the state of Ireland. But the statement is untrue. Such statements could not obtain credence among any men who knew what the real grievance was under which the peasantry laboured from the middleman system. The real grievance was that the rent was so high as to reduce the tenant to indolent apathetic despair. His habitual state was one of hopeless insolvency, and the middleman secured him against being obliged to pay two rents, Ijy charging him with one rent so high as to exceed liis means of paying it. 30 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Longfielu. The fonndatioQ of the cimrse is this : a man gets a farm for a h)iig term at the moderate reut of 1/. an acre ; he sub- lets it to a iarmer at the higher rent of 21. an acre, and, to save himself trouble, he accepts his profit rent of 1/. from the tenant, and lets the tenant settle the balance with the head landlord. The tenant does not dislike this arrangement, as the head landlord is usually more indul- gent than the middleman. He is apt, however, to describe himself as paying two rents (although he is in realitvonly paying one rent, divided between two persons), and to complain of it as a grievance that after he has paid his own landlord, another landlord should demand more from him. The system of subletting, at once the cause and the effect of Irish poverty, has nearly disappeared, and the middleman by profession no longer exists. In general, the immediate landlord of the occupying tenant is either the actual lord of the fee, or he has an interest in the land equivalent for all practical purposes to that of a fee- simple proprietor. The subdivision of farms arises from different causes ; one cause is subletting. The middleman who sublets looks for the highest price "svhich he can procure. The highest offers will be generally made by the poorest farmers or labourers. These generally would not have the means to cultivate more than a small patch of land, and they would not be a mark for the rent of even a middle-sized farm. In many cases the middleman held a farm in his own hands, and received a considerable part of the rent of the small holdings under him in labour, or in such agricultural produce as the cottier tenant could produce, and as his position as a farmer enabled him to consume or utilize. His account with his tenant would be something of this kind : on the one side would be the rent, the per contra would be two shillings and fourpence cash, forty days' labour, seven daj's' work of a horse and cart, a young pig, two geese, five pair of chickens, six dozen of eggs, and two loads of turf. The accounts, however, were never settled ; receipts were neither given nor demanded; the tenant Triclaxd.] in VARTOUS COUNTIUES. 31 knew that be owed more than he could pay, and he liad very little curiosity to know the exact amount. But the race of middlemen has now nearly died awav, and subdivision from this cause rarely takes place. A more fertile cause of subdivision of land is the custom which prevailed among farmers of dividing their farms among their children. In this manner, a farm belonging to a man with several children would be divided into five or six smaller farms ; and these in their turn might be further subdivided in the following gene- ration. The landlord found it impossible to stop this proceeding. There were no formal acts which he could notice ; the children who were ])orn on the land remained on it, and by mere verbal agreement each enjoyed some particular part instead of all enjoying the whole in com- mon. Sometimes they remained for a time in the same house, and then the labour of a few days would erect a separate cabin, which might appear to be intended as a dwelling for a lal)ourer, or as a pigsty, or as a residence for some offset of the family. The chief causes of this custom were the absence of proper buildings on the land, and the ignorance and poverty of the farmers. The son who built a wretched cabin was as well lodged as he had been in his father's house ; he had never known anything better. As there were no farm buildings nor any capital on the chief farm, he did not want any for the plot assigned to him for his support. In fact, the want of capital and farm- buildings made a small farm more convenient and more profitable than one of larger size. If the large farm had been supplied with a suitable dwelling-house and other buildings useful for the cultivation of the farm, it could not have been divided without inconvenience and pro- bable loss. Thus the condition of the country made this subdivision a matter of convenience ; but the poverty and ignorance of the people made it a matter of necessity and justice. The farmer possessed nothing but his farm, and, there- fore, could not provide for a child in any manner except by giving him a part of it. He and his children appeared 32 SYSTEMS OF J.AXD TKXVRE [T^oNC.FiEr.D. not to know that any mode of livelihood was open to them except the cultivation of the particular farm on which they had hitherto lived. In many cases they could only speak Irish, which put successful emigration out of the question. Those causes of subdivision of farms are gradually losing their force. Many farms are so well provided with suitable dwelling-houses and convenient offices, that they could not be subdivided without consideraljle loss. Tenants have more money, and are able to push for- wards their chiklren in various occupations. There are more sources of employment open to them, and their better education enables them to emigrate with success. The spread of education has been a great cause of the increase of emigration. A very small proi)ortion of that increase has been caused by insecurity of tenure. I do not believe that at present there is much ten- dency to an inconvenient subdivision of land in the greater part of Ireland ; things may be safely left to iind their own level, and under a system of freedom land will naturally fall into those parcels which will make it most productive and useful to the entire community. There are physical causes in the land itself which in some cases will produce small, and in others large farms. CHAPTER V. It has been supposed by mtiny that a beneficial change might be produced in the condition of Ireland by creating and keeping uj) a large body of peasant proprietors, that is to say, of men holding small farms in fee simple. I shall not enter into nmch discussion respecting the utility of such proprietors, because I believe it would be very difficult to create them, and im])ossible to keep them up in such a country as Ireland. Where they have long existed, they may continue for a little longer, and be sustained lly habits and feelings traditionary in the families. Ihitsuch habits and feelings cannot l)e created IiiELAxn.J IN VARIOUS COUNTRTES. 33 by any law, and tlicy aro inconsistent with the mental activity of Irishmen. They are inconsistent with rail- ways, penny postage, a cheap newspaper press, and national education. Men will follow where their in- terests lead them, and in general it is not for a mans interest to he a peasant proprietor I This may appear a paradox to some who would lay it down as incontrovertible truth that every peasant would desire to beco?ne a proprietor. I do not deny that, but I say that in general the proprietor would not wish to remain a peasant. Take, for example, the case of a man who is the owner in fee of thirty acres of land, worth thirty shillings an acre. The value of this, toge- ther with the capital necessary for its cultivation, and the furniture of his house, &c., cannot be less than fifteen hundred pounds, and it is not to be supposed that a man who has received a fair education, and has so much capital at his command, would consider his intellect and time and capital sufficiently employed in the cultivation of live small fields. A farmer with the same capital and holding a hundred and fifty acres at a full rent would be much better off*. He could live in greater comfort, give his children a better education, and leave them a larger provision at his decease. The small proprietor might improve his position by selling his land, and en- gaging in trade ; or he might set his land, and enter into a profession, or some industrious calling with a salary, or he might emigrate and become the owner of five hundred acres of land instead of thirty, and have Ijoundless prospects for his family instead of giving them the paltry provision of five or six acres each. In short, he can scarcely make a more unprofitable use of his estate than by occupying it himself as a peasant pro- prietor. Of course, if you take a, peasant of forty years of age, and make him suddenly a proprietor, although he may emigrate, he cannot readily betake himself to any other pursuit. But his sons will not remain on that farm. The latest agrarian crime that I saw mentioned in the newspapers was the murder of a man with a (Celtic name. D 34 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfield. He was stated to have been the owner in fee of forty acres of land, which he set to four or five tenants, and went away to earn his bread elsewhere. He returned, having become entitled on his discharge from some ])u1)lic employment to a pension of about 14/. a year. He took back some of the land from the tenants to reside on it himself, forgiving them a year and a halfs rent in exchange. He was brutally murdered. In the sales in the Landed Estates Court it may be observed as a matter of constant occurrence that a man with an estate that would be the size of a single small farm does not hold it all in his own hands, but sets the greater part of it to several small tenants, not keeping more in his own hands than is necessary for the supply of his house. The possession of a small fee-simple estate can have little tendency to prevent emigration. The price would furnish the means of a prosperous emigration. The owner of an estate of forty acres in Ireland may become the owner of several hundred acres in Australia or America. In those countries where there are many very small hereditary estates, the inhabitants are ignorant, unambi- tious, selfish, frugal, and laborious. The whole concerns of the family are centered in one care — how to preserve the patrimonial field. AVith this view, only one son may marry, and the occupations of all are settled beforehand with this one object. The peasant proprietor has the virtues which tlie Irish farmer wants, and the vices from which the Irishman is free. I should not expect much advantage from the sudden creation of peasant proprietors ; but tlie law ought not to do anything to prevent their existence, as it now does by the law of primogeniture, the law of settlement, and every law that makes the transfer of land tedious, diffi- cult, uncertain, or expensive. The question of large and small farms is sometimes discussed as if it was intimately connected with the prosperity of Ireland. Some think that the country would be more prosperous if it was divided into large Ireland.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 35 farms, held by men of capital, cultivating tbe land by means of well-paid labourers assisted by the most ap- proved machinery. They wish to assimilate the agri- culture of Ireland to the manufactures of England. Others are for the division into small farms, where the farmer would be his own labourer and overseer. A great deal may be said on both sides ; but the nature of the land itself generally determines whether the farms should be large or small. Rich plains, well fitted for pasture, will be held in large tracts. Uneven, rocky, rough, light, arable land, will generall}^ be divided into small farms. The grazier, who buys and sells and fattens cattle for the market, requires far more skill than the village farmer. He has far more opportunities of gaining money by skill, or of losing it by ignorance. Hence the unskil- ful grazier breaks, the skilful enlarges his territory. This he may safely do, as it is not necessary for him, as it is for the tillage farmer, to watch his labourers all day. He may even have several farms not adjacent to each other. The more extensive his operations are, the more opportunities he has of using and even of improving his skill in the selection, purchase, sale, and management of cattle. For these reasons there is a tendency for fatten- ing pastures to be held in large tracts. The case is different with rough tillage farms. The expense of locomotion and of carriage from one part of the farm to another, and the impossibility of adequate in- spection if the farm is large, naturally lead to the creation of small farms. The nature of the soil also determines to a great extent whether the land should be employed in pasturage or tillage. There is a rich stiff clay that is excellent for pasture, and while under pasture improves every year, but is not profitable for tillage, as it requires so much labour as to consume the value of the crop. Old pasture land, if broken up, takes a long time to recover its fattening qualities, although it will yield hay or be fit for dairy produce. On the other hand, there is a light soil which yields a fair crop without nnich expense of 1) 2 .30 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Lont.fiel cultivation, and will not improve by being kept long in pasture, but has a tendency to run into unprofitable moss. This land is necessarily employed in tillage, and divided into small farms. If a farmer makes money, he cannot conveniently extend his operations, which are limited by the size of his farm. His success depends more upon thrift and industry than npon superior skill. The chief difference is that the good farmer is able to live in greater comfort than the bad one. A-gricultural skill has not made such progress as to decide the contest between high and low farming. The one makes much, but the other spends little, and runs no risk. I have given instances of land which must be held in large pasture farms, and of land which must be held in small tillage farms ; but these shade into each other by imperceptible gradations, and there is much debateable ground, in Avhich sometimes the one and sometimes the other system prevailed. At present I think the system of pasture and large farms has a tendency to extend itself, for the following reasons. In the first place, the price of meat has risen, while the price of corn has not advanced. This is an addition to the grazier's profit. In the second place, the wages of laboiu' have risen in a greater degree than tlie efficiency of the laljourcr, and this, Ijy increasing the expense, reduces the profits of tillage. Thirdly, the invention of machines for threshing, reaping, and mowing enables the farmer on a large scale to perform those important operations with less expense and greater rapidity. It wouhl ))e unprofitable to a small farmer to {possess those machines, for which his farm could not furnish more than one or two days' work in the year. It is true that they may be hired, and, in fact, this is often done with threshing machines. But with mowing and reaping machines this is more difficult. The farmer cannot so rcadilv make an ap- pointment some time beforehand, irrespective of the weather; and when his crop is rendy he cannot wait for ...AND.] 7.V VAinOUS COUNTRIES. 37 the reaping niaehiiie without some loss. The land also must Ije properly prepared, or the maehiiiery will suller damage. These circumstances throw some difficulty in the way of hiring reaping and mowing machines; but it is not impossible, and it is sometimes done. Another circumstance, which tends to keep up large farms when once they have been consolidated, is the larger capital now expended in the erection of farm- buildings. It is obvious that when a farm of two hundred acres is supplied with a suitable dwelling, a barn, houses for cattle, and other offices, it cannot be divided into two farms without loss. The best remedy against too great an extension of the large farm system, without an injurious interference with the free course of industry, is to be found in a good agricultural education for the poor. It is a sad sight to see a holding of four acres, of which only one is in a state of cultivation, and that often a cultivation of a wretched kind. The remaining three acres are taking a long rest, after having been over-cropped, and the entire is full of weeds. Meantime, the peasant is looking idly on, and between the time of planting his potatoes, and digging them,'^spends only a few days' labour on his farm in earthing them. His short or long tenure has nothing to do with the matter. The work which he neglects is precisely that work which would yield him an immediate return. It is not always the sloth of the owner which is the cause of the wretched state of his little farm. He is often read}" to work for any employer at very small wages. It has not been an uncommon thing for a man to look for work at sixpence a day when he might earn more than double that amount Ijy working for himself on his own little farm. Ignorance is the chief cause of his idleness and mis- management. The peasant farmer knows only how to raise potatoes according to the routine of the slovenly farmers around him. While he imitates them, he is inferior to them, for he works with less capital and worse 38 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Longfield. tools ; but he is unaware of tlic advantages which he might possess by deviating from their practice, and treat- ing his little plot as a garden, not as a farm. He thus might find employment for himself and all his family, and treljle the produce of his land when they spent that time in profitable work which the^^froin ignorance often spend in worse than unprofitable idleness. To enable him to act thus he must be taught, for at present he has no opportunity of learning the cultivation of a garden farm by experience or observation of what is going on around him. He has the advantages on his side that tlie personal expenses are inconsiderable. ]3eing himself the labourer, he requires no steward or overseer, and he saves many of the expenses incident to a larger farm. Those advan- tages are lost as soon as he possesses more land than he can cultivate without a horse. It then ceases to be a garden farm. The small farmer in Ireland has never sufficiently considered the necessity of keeping up the fertility of the land. Ireland has been mercilessly over-cropped. Notwithstanding the increase of pasture since 1848, the land has not yet recovered from the exhaustion caused by the over- tillage of a century. Formerl}^ the course of husbandry was of this kind. 1st. Potatoes, with manure. 2nd. AVheat. 3rd. and successive years oats and barley until the land was so barren as to be incapable of yielding another corn crop. It was then permitted to rest in dirt and weeds until it got a green skin or sole, and then the same exhausting process recommences. This was the case in Arthur Young's time, 1777. Thus he describes the courses of Newtown Stewart : — 1. Oats on lay. 2. Wheat. 3. Oats. 4. Barley. 5. Oats. 6. Barley. 7. Oats. 8. Left for lay. A few sow clover or rye-grass for two years. Hisaccountof the courses of Courtown are, 1. Potatoes. 2. Barley. 3. Oats: then more crops of oats, or barley and oats, till the soil is exhausted, when they leave it to turf itself, which it will not do under ten or fifteen years. Irkland.] JN various COUNTRIES. 39 This system continued until tho middle of this century on many estates in which the agents seemed to consider that their only duty was to collect tlie rents. Even with careful management, it would not have been easy to preserve the fertility of the soil unimpaired when the chief exports were provisions, and no artificial ma- nures were imported. CHAPTER YI. ULSTER TENANT RIGHT. The phrase " tenant right " is not unknown in England, and is sometimes found in wills and other legal docu- ments. It signifies not merely the actual estate and right of the tenant, but also the good-will, and the ex- pectation which the tenant has that he will be permitted to remain in possession of the land on reasonable terms. The phrase is used in many parts of Ireland besides Ulster : and in every part of Ireland, any tenant-at-will, under a liberal landlord, could obtain a good price for his interest in the land if he were permitted to sell it. The peculiarity of the Ulster tenant right is, that it has been reduced into a kind of system, with the consent or acquiescence of the landlords. It has several qualities which may be found separately elsewhere. In the first place, when land is set for agricultural purposes, the rent demanded is not a competition rent : it is not the utmost rent wdiicli a good and solvent tenant would be willing to pay. If there is a permanent increase in the value of land, either from the general improvement of the country or from the increased price of agricultural produce, the landlord may raise the rent at his discretion in the same manner as any other landlord may raise the rent of his yearly tenants. It is, however, expected that this discretion will be guided by the same generous feel- ing wdiich the landlord showed in the original letting. Secondl}^ it is expected that as long as the tenant 40 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfield . pays his rent, the landlord will not nse his legal power of putting an end to the tenancy. Thirdly, if a tenant finds it necessary or convenient to leave his farm, he may sell his tenant right, with the approbation of his landlord. This approbation is not to be capriciously refused; but, on the other hand, the tenant is not at liljerty to select any substitute that he thinks proper, irrespective of his character, and possession of sufficient means for the efficient cultivation of the land. He is not always permitted even to accept the utmost that an eligible successor would be willing to pay for the tenant right. The landlord has an obvious interest in preventing this price from being too high. Too high a price might deprive the incoming tenant of the means of doing justice to the farm. Moreover, it might impose a moral ol)ligation on the landlord not to raise the rent so high as he might otherwise do without prejudice to the customary tenant right allowed on his estate. Thus, suppose the customary value of the tenant right on an estate has been 7/. an acre, but since the last settlement fixing the rate of rent the country has im- proved, or the price of agricultural produce has risen, so that it would be reasonable in a short time to make a new agreement with the tenants respecting the rents. In this case, if an incoming tenant, with the consent of the landlord, paid for the tenant right a price based on the calculation that the present amount of rent would not be altered for a consideral)lc period, he would have a just cause of complaint if the landlord, by raising his rent, should disturb the arrangements, on the faith of which he had paid his money. If the selling tenant should say, have not I a right to sell my interest for the highest price I can get ? the landlord might reply, have not I the same right. The selling tenant has no right to comi)lain, if, when he sells his farm, he gets back the price which he originally paid, together with the value of all the improvements which he may have made in the meantime. Fourthly, all arrears of rent must be paid before the transfer is completed. In a large and well-managed Ireland.] 7.V VAUIOUS COUNTRIES. 41 estate, the transaction proceeds in this manner : — John MGarry holds a farm at the yearly rent of 30/. He owes a year and a half's rent, and he wishes to sell his farm, in order to emigrate, or to set up a shop, or to pay his debts, or for any other purpose. Charles O'Neil agrees to give him 500/. for it. He asks the agent's consent, which is granted. They call on the agent at his office ,• all arrears of rent are paid, probably out of the 500/. An entry is made in the books, and the name of Charles O'Neil is entered as tenant in place of John M'Garry. The transaction is then complete, Avithout any law expenses or any risk of bad title. It is true that as against the landlord it rests upon his honour, and upon public opinion ; but as against the rest of the world, the title is perfect. No creditor, purchaser, mortgagee, or claimant under any former tenant can dis- turb the purchaser. A notice to quit by the landlord will protect him against every other claimant. It is no small advantage to be emancipated from all the com- plicated laws of landed property. Thus in Ulster, free trade in land, as far as the right of occupation is concerned, prevails in the most per- fect manner. Thus important property, to the value of several millions, may be bought and sold without risk, or trouble, or expense in reference to the title or con- vej^ance as readily as a horse or a cow. Find a person in possession willing to sell, agree upon the value, and pay the price, and the thing is done — the property is yours. It is true that this free trade affects only the permanent right of occupation, and does not extend to the absolute property in the soil ; but this is enough, for it is the industry and capital of the occupier that makes the land the source of wealth. 1 have alluded to the entry in the agents' books where the estate is large ; but where the estate is small, and managed with less regularity, the same transaction is accomplished, without any formal entries in books, by a conversation with the landlord or his agent on the road, or at a fair or market, or any place where the parties meet each other. 42 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfield. There are some advantages attending the Ulster tenant right independent of the free trade in land which it creates : under this system the tenantry cannot be very poor. However, it may be said that this result is attained, not by giving property to the tenant, Ijut by preventing any poor man from becoming a tenant. You cannot become a farmer unless you have capital sufficient not only to cultivate the land, but also to buy at a high price the interest of the tenant who is already in occupa- tion. To the manager of an estate the system is very agree- able. The rents are moderate, and paid with punctuality, and the agent is not subjected to the harassing labour and danger which attend the enforcement of rent in many parts of Ireland. There are no evictions by process of law ; but if the tenant is not thriving, and finds it difficult to pay his rent, he is Avarned by the agent or by his own prudence, that he ought to sell his tenant right, and retire from his farm with a good sum in hand to emigrate or support him in some other pursuit, before he is totally ruined by remaining in a farm that he is unable to culti- vate with profit. He is succeeded by a wealthier or more skilful tenant, and the landlord and the country at large gain by the change. Under the Ulster system, the landlord appears to receive a smaller rent than he might reasonably demand, but 1 doubt if he is injured by it. He is less apt to live beyond his real income. His rent-roll does not present him with an extravagant view of his means. Owing to the quietness and industry of the people, the value of land improves rapidly. It is better to receive two-thirds of the value of an estate worth (JOOO/. a year than the entire value of an estate worth only 3000/., and this is often the difierence between an Ulster landlord and a landlord in those parts of Ireland where the system does not })rcvail. It is doubtful whether an Ulster landlord does not receive as ranch rent as a Connaught landlord would receive for an estate of the same natural jiroductive powers. But the system is not without its disadvantages. The tenant is too dependent on his landlord for the property Ikeland.] in VARTOUS COUNTRIES. 43 for which he has i)aid the lull value. Not only are his rights agaiiist the landlord not recognized by law, but even while dependent upon usage and honour, they are- incapable of being exactly delined. The important question, what ought to be the proportion between the value of the tenant's and the landlord's interest is not ascertained. It varies on dilferent estates according to the wealth and liberality of the landlord, and even on the same estate it is liable to fluctuation. When the value of land remains stationary, the matter is easily settled by letting the rent remain as it is ; but when an improvement takes place gradually, a diflSculty arises. It is not easy for some time to determine whether the change is temporary or is likely to be permanent. Ever}^ small increase in value, even if it is likel}^ to be per- manent, cannot be met by an immediate increase of rent. To make frequent, although small additions to the rent, would be a very unpopular course for the landlord to take. It would lead to frequent disputes, while it would alarm the tenantry, and diminish their confidence in the tenant right. Thus, while an increase in the value of land is always gradual, and scarcely seen while it is going on, a rise in rent is a sharp change, and is immediately and unplea- santly felt. Take the case of a farmer who holds eighty acres at a rent of 120/. a year. The fair marketable value of the land is 1/. iTs. an acre, so that he has a profit of seven shillings an acre in addition to the ordi- nary profits of his capital. For this tenant right he could readily get a price of 7/. an acre, 560/. or more, if the people in the neighbourhood are prospering either in trade or agriculture. The country is improving, so that each year on an average adds three pence an acre to the value of the land. This goes on for twelve years, when the landlord thinks it right to make a new settlement of the rent, by adding three shillings an acre, leaving the customary seven shillings an acre tenant right. The tenant will certainly complain loudly. He will see that this increase of rent makes him worse ofi' than he has been for several years past, and that nothing has occurred 44 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENCBE [Longfield. during the last three or four years to justify such an addition to his rent. He cannot remember accurately what was the general value of land tAvelve j'ears ago, while he has a very precise recollection of any improve- ments which he himself may have made in the meantime, and to such improvements, whether real or imaginary, he will attribute the increase of rent that has ]3een im- posed on him. He will complain all the more loudl}", and feel a deeper sense of injury, because the justice of his complaint cannot be legally investigated. The legal power of the landlord to increase the rent is altogether independent of the circumstances by which his conduct may be justified. Thus, whether by a gradual process or by starts at long intervals, the landlord finds it equally unpopular and disagreeable to increase the rents in proportion to the improvements, and in this manner the tenant right on large and liberally-managed estates has a constant tendency to increase in value. I believe it never was more valualjle than it is now. The right which the landlord has on the sale of a tenant right, to object to the i)urchaser or the price, is very rarely exercised. The ability to pay the purchase money may be taken as a fair proof that the incoming tenant Avill be able to cultivate the land and meet his engagements. As to the price, when the rent is all paid up, the incoming and outgoing tenant may make what bargain they like without the knowledge of the landlord, so that there is seldom an opportunity of objecting on this score. So far everything seems to l)e in favour of the tenant. But if the value of land falls, the loss falls entirely upon him ; and when the great depreciation of land took place in ] 848, the state of parts of the counties of Armagh and Moiiahan was nearly as bad as in King's Count}^ or Tipperary. To those who wanted to part with their farms, the tenant right was valueless, as there were no purchasers. The tenants were unable to sell what they had bought at a very high price. They expected that good times would return if they could hold out for a Ireland.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 45 short time, and were inclined, in defiance of tlie law, to resist every attempt to deprive them of their holding?:, or to make them pay their rents. The vahie of the tenant riglit on an estate is not subject to any fixed principle. It does not depend on any im- provements made ])y the tenant. If the landlord is a just man, he will, in all his dealings with the tenant, value the land as if those improvements had never been made. But beyond those improvements, and even in cases where it cannot ])e pretended that any improve- ment was made, the tenant right exists, and is often bought and sold for large sums of money. The price is often so high that the interest of the purchase mone}^, together with the rent, is much more than the fair value of the land. It seems essential to the existence of tenant right, that land should be owned in large masses by the land- lords. The owner of au estate of 20,000/. a year may act with great liberality, and set the laud for less than it is really worth. But if the same estate was divided among forty men, each with 500/. a year, it is not likely that they would all act so liberalh^ without any regard to the ordinary commercial principle of getting as much as they reasonably could. There would ]je a chance that some at least among the number would take every opportunity of making small but frequent additions to the rent, so small that the tenant would not on any one occasion feel it worth his while to make a desperate resistance, but so frequent that the value of the tenant right would gradually dwindle away. It is sometimes asked, would the tenant prefer leases to their present position as yearly tenants ? This, of course, must depend upon the length of the lease. A very long lease would undoubtedly improve their posi- sion. A short lease might have a contrary effect by leading to an earlier readjustment of the terms of their tenures. They would sometimes hope that the present system might operate as an adjournment sine die of this readjustment. Time passes away, and it appears as far off as ever, as there is no reason why it sliould be 46 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfiflp. required in one year rather tlian another. But if a lease was made, the time would l)e growing shorter everyday. On the whole, however, I believe that most of the tenants would gladly accept a lease for thirty-one years at some increase of rent, rather than remain in their present somewhat dependent and precarious position. It is not to be suj^posed that this system prevails uni- versally through Ulster, or that any man could make a map to include only the parts in which it prevails. It is more usual to grant leases in towns, and in the neigh- bourhood of towns. There are also many scattered estates on Avhich leases are granted, and there the leases are often sold, or the land sublet as in other parts of the country. But although there would be no difficulty in the way to prevent the introduction of leases into Ulster, it would not be found so easy to introduce the Ulster system of tenant right into other parts of Ireland. It is too vague to be capable of exact definition, or of being enforced by law. It depends upon confidence on one side, and honour on the other — upon a mutual understanding and public opinion — and these feelings cannot be created by law or agreement; they can only grow up gradually and slowly. No one would wish to break up a system as long as it is supposed to work w^ell, and when no complaints are made b}' the persons affected by it. But even if it were pos- sible, I should not Avish to see it extended to the whole of Ireland. The tenant is dependent on the liberalit}^ of his landlord to a degree inconsistent with a democratic constitution. A landlord who would not venture alto- gether to destroy the tenant right, has still the power to make a very great reduction in its value. The tenant holds a valuable property at the mercy of another, who has an interest in taking it from him. Another evil of tlie system is, that no man cau take a farm unless he has double the capital that would other- wise have been necessarj^ The purchase of the tenant right takes as much cai)ital as the stocking of the farm. Thus a barrier is placed against the accpiisition of a farm Ireland.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES, 47 by a poor man. The advantage of the landlord and tenant system, as distinguished from the proprietary S3^stem, is that it enables the farmer to apply his capital more enicicntly to the cultivation of the soil, when the land itself is only paid for while he is using it. For the use of the land, the tenant pays a rent that would only be a moderate interest on the sum necessar}^ to l)uy it. In Ulster, the saving in the amount of rent gives the tenant a very low interest on the sum that he is required to pay for the tenant right. A man with skill and energy and a moderate capital would scarcely think it prudent to set up as a farmer in Ulster. The wealth obtained by the cultivation and manufac- ture of flax in Ulster, is the cause that when a farm is to be sold there is always at hand some person able and willing to pay for the tenant right. In the other pro- vinces the case would be different. None of the neigh- bours would have money to buy the tenant right, and the purchaser would be obliged to borrow the purchase money at a high rate of interest, as the security for pay- ment would be of an inferior character. We should therefore look for some source of improvement in Mnnster and Connaught, other than the introduction of Ulster tenant right. Something, however, like the Ulster tenant right in all its useful characters, but without its vagueness and uncertainty, might be created by an agreement or a law to the following effect. Landlord demises land to tenant on the following terms : — Tenant shall hold as 3'early tenant at the rent of 40/., payable on the 1st of May and 1st of November, and subject to the covenants in the lease contained for the proper culiivation of the land. Landlord shall not be at liberty to evict the tenant for any cause except breach of covenant or non-jiayment of rent. On the first eviction for any breach, the tenant shall be entitled to redeem within three months on pay- ment of damages, to be settled by the court. The tenant rights shall be considered as of the value of seven years' purchase. The landlord shall Ije at liberty to raise the rent by giving notice one year at least before the 1st of 48 SYSTE3IS OF LAND TENURE [Longfiei,d. November. If the tenant is not satisfied to pay such increase of rent, he may at any time before the 1st of March give notice to the landlord that he will surrender his holding on the 1st of November next, upon which the landlord must pay him seven j^cars of such increased rent as compensation for his tenant right. If the tenant considers his rent to be too high, he may, one year before the 1st of November, serve notice on his landlord to have it reduced to such rent as he may choose to name. In this case the landlord, at any time l^efore the 1st of March, may serve notice on the tenant that he will not consent to the reduction, and will take up the land and pay him seven years' value of such reduced rent, and upon tender of this sum on the 1st of Novemljer, the tenanc}^ shall be at an end. The money is not to be paid until the land is given up. In all cases of eviction the tenant shall be entitled to seven vears' rent from the landlord, deducting therefrom all money due for arrears of rent or breach of covenant. The tenant shall not be permitted to divide or sul)let his farm, Init he ma}' sell his tenant right, with the consent of the landlord, on giving two months' notice. If the landlord refuses to give his consent, he must purchase the tenant right him- self, paying seven years' purchase, but deducting all money due for arrears of rent or breaches of covenant. The tenant shall not be permitted to charge or incumber his holding. Every contract or engagement that he makes shall be considered as a merely personal contract, binding himself, but not affecting the land until the landlord shall have given his consent. If the tenant linds it necessary to make any improve- ment on his farm, he shall serve notice on the landlord, specifying the improvement and the estimated expense. If the landlord objects, the tenant may refer it to the Land Tribunal to determine whelhcr the objection is reasonable. If the landlord does not object, or if the Land Trilnmal decides that the objection is not reason- able, the tenant may proceed with the improvement, and when it is completed the tenant shall be entitled to com- l)ensation in the ibllowing ninnner : — He slinll receive for Iret.axd.] in various COXTNTnTES. 49 the term of forty years an annuity at tlic rate of 7/. 10s. per cent., payable half-yearly. As long as he remains in ])OSsession, his enjoyment of the land shall be deemed a payment of the annuity. If he sells his tenant right, the purchaser shall be entitled to the residne of tlie animityon the same terms. J f the landlord sliaJl increase his rent with the consent of the tenant, the latter shall be entitled to deduct the annuity, during his terra, from the increased rent. If the tenant objects to the increase of rent, the landlord shall pay, as compensation for the tenant right, seven years of the increased rent, plus the cstiniated value of the residue of the annuity, minus seven years of the annuity, or, at the option of the tenant, sliall pay seven years of the increased rent. To jirevent frequent alterations of the rent, it might be provided that no increase shall be less than ten per cent, on the rent, and that no increase shall be made at a shorter interval than seven years from the last increase. The above ma}^ be called the parliamentary tenant right, which every landlord should have power to grant, not- withstanding any incumbrance or settlement affecting his estate. CHAPTER Yll. A FEELTXG almost universal prevails in Ireland, that the relation between landlord and tenant is not in a satisfac- tory condition, and that some concessions are required from landlords, and it is thought by many that such concessions might be made without detriment to their real interests. I shall mention some of the chief comi)laints, and shall endeavour to draw a distinction between those complaints which appear to have some foundation in real grievances, and those claims which arise from a greedy desire to obtain by political changes that wealth which ought to be the reward of thrift and industry. The first complaint is, that landlords arc frequently prevented by settlements from granting beneficial leases, E 50 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE [Loxgfield. or entcrinf^ into reasonable agreements with their tenants. If a fanner obtains a beneficial lease or a fair agreement, and expends money upon the faith of such lease or agree- ment, he is liable to utter ruin. The landlord's successor, often his eldest son, may evict liiin ^Yithout compensa- tion, relying upon some settlement of which the tenant never could have suspected the existence. The second grievance is, that the tenant gets pos- sion of a farm in such a condition that he cannot cul- tivate it efficiently, or dwell on it with decency, without making a large outlay on buildings or other permanent improvements. But when he has made those necessary improvements, he is liable to be dispossessed before he has enjoj^ed the farm long enough to obtain a fair remu- neration for his risk and outlay. He loses the money, which he expended in the reasonable belief that the landlord who permitted the expenditure, would also permit him to reap the benefit of it. The third grievance is, that a tenant often purchases the interest of a tenant from year to jxar with the express or implied sanction of the landlord. Sometimes part of the purchase money is paid to the landlord in dis- charge of arrears of rent due by the outgoing tenant. Notwithstanding this, the tenant who paid the money is liable to be dispossessed l)y the landlord who received it. The landlord must have known that the tenant paid the money in the belief that he would be permitted to enjoy the land for a reasonable period. In those three cases the tenant has expended money, or money's worth, on the faith of a contract expressed or implied, that he should be permitted to enjoy the fruits of his expenditure. These three grievances could be completely remedied without any revolutionary changes. The first grievance would cease to exist if every limited owner was empowered to grant a lease for a term of fortj^-one years, at a rent not less than three-fourths of the value. This would completely protect the tenant farmer ; and if any man seeks to obtain a greater interest in land, there is nothing unreasonable in requiring him to investigate the title like any other prudent purchaser. Ikelaxd.] in various COUNTRIES. 51 A line must be drawn somewhere to distinguish the tenant from the purchaser. The two hitter grievances might be remedied by an enactment that an}' tenant from year to year wlio has purchased the interest of an outgoing tenant, or any tenant who has improved his farm with the consent of the landlord expressed or implied, may nppl}^ for a recognition of his legal tenant right. If the landlord refuses this re- cognition, an arbitrator appointed by Government should have authority to investigate the case, and determine whether the tenant has made out his claim for tenant right. If the claim is established, the arbitrator should in his award set forth what improvements, if any, the tenant has made, and the date and value of those im- provements. Until those improvements are exhausted, the tenant should be entitled to enjoy them without paying any increased rent on their account ; and if he is obliged to leave the farm in the meantime, he should receive a fair compensation, in addition to the value of his tenant right, for his improvements. But the claims made by many on behalf of the tenants go far beyond the cases that I have mentioned. They claim rents determined by arbitration, not by contract ; and fixity of tenure, irrespective of any custom of tenant right, or money paid to an outgoing tenant, or any im- provement made upon the land. They claim in effect tliat a man who has taken a lease of a farm for twenty- one years, at a rent of 50/. a j^ear, shall have it changed to a lease for ever at a rent of 25/., although every farmer in the neighbourhood may be willing to pay 50/. rent for the farm. It is scarcely necessar}^ to use argument to prove the injustice of a claim which is made in contradiction to an express contract. If the contract is unequal or unjust, the utmost that can be demanded ))y the complaining party is, that it should be rescinded. But except in the claims made on behalf of Irish tenants, it was never known that a man who had made a contract beneficial to himself, the benefit of which he could sell at a con- siderable profit, and which he would be exceedingly un- E 2 52 SYSTI:MS of land tenure [Longfield. willing to rescind, should set up a public cry to have that contract altered. What would be thought of such a case as this : — A man sells for 100/. a horse, for which, if he set it up to auction, he could probaljly get 130/. The following conversation takes place the next day between the buyer and the seller. Buyer : " You have charged- nie too much for that horse." Seller : " I am sorry you think so. However, I am ready to take it off your hands, and to return the price, or I can find a person who will pay you twenty pounds to stand in your shoes." Buyer : " I thank you ; but that will not suit me. I am determined to keep the liorse, and the price must be left to arbitration ; and if I am satisfied with the price which the arbitrators award, I shall pay it, otherwise not." But such a conversation would not give an adequate idea of the claims of the Irish tenant. He demands not only to pay less, but to get more than he contracted for. His bargain is to get the land for twenty- one years, and his claim is to hold it for ever, although he has not a shadow of right to the land, except under that contract. I am confining myself to the case where the tenant has no claim, except that he is a tenant ; for if he has any other ground for his demand, it ought to be fairly and liberally considered. It is not difficult to prove that a law establishing fixity of tenure would be as impolitic as it w^ould be unjust. It would utterly fail in its professed object. It would be a mere violent and wrongful transfer of pro- perty from a certain numl)er of individuals, who are now called landlords, to another set of individuals who are now called tenants, and who would then become land- lords. The men now in possession would be enabled to violate their engagements, but no future tenants would gain anything by the change. It may be taken as an undou1)ted axiom in political economy, that if a man is p(n-mitted to sell or retain his own i)ro})erty, and to select the purchaser, he cannot be prevented from getting the utmost price that another person will be ready to pay for it. The only test of value is the price which the public is willing to pay. Ikeland.] in various COUNTRIES. 53 Apply this axiom to the case of land. Suppose fixity of tenure, and the settlement of rents by a Grovernment arbitrator to be the estal)lished law of the land. I am in possession as owner in fee simple of a farm of one hundred acres, worth two pounds an acre. A farmer would l)e willing- to pay that rent, hoping to get a fair return for his capital and labour according to the ordinary rate of agricultural profit. If I set it to a tenant, he will have the rent settled by an arbitrator, who will pro- bably award a rent of 100/. a year as the fair value. But 1 may set it to a trustee, who then becomes entitled to the land for ever at the fee-farm rent of 100/. a year. He sets up the tenant right for sale, which will sell for between two or three thousand pounds. The purchaser will probably be obliged to raise the greatest part of this by mortgage. In the end it will be found that between rent and interest the new tenant will have to pay more than 200/. a year, the rent at which he could have obtained it if the law had permitted me to set it to him at that rent. Moreover, he will have paid away a large portion of his capital, which would have been more pro- fitably employed in the cultivation of the land. The tenant will lie under another disadvantage, in being obliged to deal with two persons, from neither of whom can he expect any forbearance, instead of a single landlord, from whom he might get some assistance or aljatement in a bad season. He cannot ask an abatement from the landlord to whom he is paying only half the value of the land as rent. He need not expect any reduction of interest from the mortgagee, for a money- lender is more apt to increase than to reduce the rate of interest in a season of hardship and scarcity. The only mode in which any person could get a farm w^ould be by paying a high price for the interest of some farmer who might be willing to sell his tenant right. The price would generally be as much as three times the capital that would be sufficient to till the land. A great obstacle would be opposed to agricultural improve- ment hj this impediment to free trade in land. No man could become a farmer unless he had much more capital 54 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfield. than w(3uld othcr\YisG be found necessary ; for he would not be able to borrow the entire sum necessary to purchase the tenant riglit ; and without purchasing a tenant right, he could not obtain a farm. It is not to be supposed that the present tenants, when they had obtained a permanent title to the land, would part with their farms on the basis of the valuation on which they had obtained them. They would certainly require the highest price that could be obtained by free competition. Thus, after the first confiscation of the landlord's estates, the law of valuation would become a dead letter. It would not be used to regulate future contracts, as men would find a way of settling the terms of their own contracts by mutual agreement. As to fixity of tenure, it would soon be found into- leraljle, and would be repealed as soon as it had done its work of depriving the present owners of their estates. The public would not long bear a law which prevented two men from making a bargain just in itself, useful to the public, and profitable to both parties. I hold some land in fee. I am too old and infirm to cultivate it. In a few years my son will be old enough to undertake the management of it. I wish to set it for a term of seven years ; and, on account of the shortness of the lease, to accept a lower rent than if I were granting a longer term. This exactly suits my neighbour, to whom a moderate rent is a greater object than a long lease ; but the law of fixity of tenure would step in, and sa}^ that I must either hold on my land at a loss, or part with the possession for ever, and that he must either do without a farm, or pay a sum for a fee-farm tenure bej'ond what lie could aflbrd. The result would probably be, that he would be obliged to remain idle for want of a farm, and that my farm would remain nearly unprofitable for want of a tenant, and the wealth of the country would be pro- portionally diminished. In general there is no mode of getting land so con- venient to a good farmer with a competent cai)ital as getting his land for a moderate term at a rent settled by mutual agreement. The term should not be too long, as Ireland.] IN VAEIOUS COUNTRIES. 55 the landlord would naturally and reasonably require a higher rent. A belief prevails very generally that land has a tendency to rise in value, irrespective of any im- provements made upon it, or that money will fall in value, so that in the next century land will be worth a higher rent. The advantage of that rise will belong to the person who will then have the disposition of the land. This at present belongs to the owner in fee simple in possession, and if he is asked to part with it, he will require an increase of rent, or some present paj^ment as an equivalent. This would be inconvenient to the tenant, who expects to make ten per cent, compound interest on his capital. To him it would be a loss to expend any of this profitable capital in the purchase of an expectation to be realised at the end of a century. It is not material whether this belief in the probability of a rise in the value of land be well founded or not, it is sufficient that it exists and must have its influence upon all contracts. It certainly cannot be disproved, and it has the experience of several centuries to sup- port it. I have assumed that fixity of tenure is to be founded on a valuation, because I see no other mode in which it can be established. If the landlord and tenant can fix the rent by agreement, there would be danger that the land would be set in many instances at far more than its real value, with an understanding (not supported by any promise, and not capable of being enforced by law) that the entire rent would never be demanded. This, as far as the public is concerned, is the worst tenure by which a tenant can hold his land. If the fixity of tenure is to be on the existing rents, it in many cases would be unjust to liberal landlords who often set their lauds at less than the fair value ; and also in the case of land held by leases still unexpired and made in the last century or earlier ; while to the harsh landlord, who sets his land for the highest rent that is ofi'ered, it would be no injury, but it would be no boon to his tenantry. But the settlement of rent by valuation appears just only to persons who do not know what a valuation of 56 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Longfield. laud is, and always must be. The value certainly is, that rent which a solvent tenant will be ready to otfer for the farm on a lease of moderate duration. When a landlord wishes to set his land, the proposals made by persons willing to become tenants settle the value of the land beyond the possiljility of dispute. The solvent tenant will take care not to (jfier a rent which the profits of the land will not enable him to pay. He is under the strongest inducements to discover the real value of the land. He may consult an experienced valuator if he thinks proper ; but he rarely takes this step, as he generally knows the value of the land better than any one whom he could consult. He often talks the matter over with his friends, to know their opinions, and then to form his own judgment. The professional valuator forms a more rapid judgment ; and uidess he is living in the immediate neighljourhood of the land, his judgment is not worth much. A serious dilference of value between two lields is often caused by circumstances which the most careful examination would fail to detect. The tenant does not merely look to the soil, and to the condition of the roads, the fences, and the buildings : he knows what treatment the land has received for several years — the nature and quality of the crops — whether cattle appeared to thrive well on the land — what rent was usually paid for that and other similar land in the neighl)ourliood — and whether the tenants who paid such rents were i)ros})erous or the reverse. Many other inquiries, which I need not enumerate, he makes before he determines what rent he will bind himself to |)ay. When men are com])etent to make their own bargain, it is unjust to com[)el them to su))init to the o})inion of a third i)erson. In the year 18G5, I made the following observations, and I have seen no reason to alter my o[)inion since I made them: — "Many other things are to be considered, but I have said enough to show how utterly inadequate to the occasion is the cursory inspection that is made by a proiessional valuator. All that he often does is to IiuiLAXD.] IN VAUIOUS COUNTIUES. 57 find out what is the rent actually paid for the adjacent farms, and whether the farm he is valuing is better or worse than those ; and tlien to make an abatement or increase on the result so obtained, according to the pur- jiose for which the valuation was made. If the valua- tion is made for the purpose of taxation, it is generally made low, for then there is less likelihood of an appeal. If the owner gets it valued for the purpose of a sale, the valuation is apt to be high — as more likely to suit the interests or wishes or feelings of the employer. " The following cases are fair specimens of the dis- crepancies which are to be found in different valuations made of the same property." " Since I wrote the aljove, the estate of John Camp- Ijell Jones was offered for sale ; and the following are the differences Ijctween the valuations made by a civil en- gineer and by the Ordnance valuation of the same lots : Killiewingan. Engineer 120 6 6 Tenement valuation . . . 57 No. 5. Valuator 8 10 Tenement valuation ... 250 Ratlidine, Valuator ...... 20 17 7 Tenement valuation , . . 8 Fox and Calf Ibland. Valuator 40 Tenement valuation ... 300 Lot 9. Valuator 10 U Tenement valuation ... 1 G 'I'' Lot 10. Valuator ...... 843 Tenement valuation . , , 14 58 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Longfield. In the estate of Paitlcdge tlic following are two of the valuations : — Cregganrae. £ s. d. Valuator 53 1 7 Tenement valuation . , . 17 10 Ballykit. Valuator 226 13 7^^ Tenement valuation . . . 131 12 0" I have given those examples, not as the most remark- able that could be found, l^ut because they were the most striking cases that came before me within a few days after I had made the above remarks. I believe that, in those cases, both the valuations which I have contrasted were intended to be fair, and w^ere made by skilful valuators. It may be asked, " Is there no mode of valuing a farm; must the tenant make a mere guess at what he is to offer ?" No ; the landlord and the intending tenant have means of knowing the value of the land which no other person is likely to possess and to employ. They both know the past history of the farm, and of all the farms in the neighbourhood ; what rent was paid for them ; in what manner they were cultivated ; and whether the tenants appeared to thrive on them, or the contrary. No man has such an interest in discovering the exact value as the person w^ho proposes to become a tenant, and as his object is to make a prolit by his occupation as farmer, it is not to be supposed that he will give more for the land than he can pay, reserving a reason- able profit to himself. The injustice of setting aside a voluntary contract, and substituting a valuation, is not manifest at first sight, for the words appear fair. Why, it is said, shoidd an}^ tenant be required to pay more than the fair value for his farm ? But every one who has any experience knows that nothing can ])e more uncertain and unde- termined than the valuation of land. It is not un- Ireland.] 7^V VAniOUS COUNTRIES. 59 common to sec two valuators differing enormously in their estimates, and 5^et neither suffering in reputation as if he had made a discreditable mistake. It is probable the value as fixed by any tenant-right measure would be less than half the rent which a solvent tenant would be willing to pay. All future valuations would be still more uncertain ; for as soon as the possession of land ceased to be a snlj- ject of contract by mutual agreement, the valuators would have no average market-value to refer to, and would form their estimates on the wildest prin- ciples.* This, however, would not be a matter of much importance, as I have shown that between rent and purchase of tenant right every new tenant will be obliged to pay the full value of the land, no matter what changes ma}^ be made in the law. In the form of tenant right, which I have ventured to suggest as possible to be introduced and maintained in Ireland, I have therefore taken care that it should be self-working, and not depend upon any valuation of the land to be made by any third person. Some reason should be given for making land an exception to the ordinary rules of commerce, and fixing the price by law, instead of letting it be arranged by mutual agreement between the buyer and the seller, the landlord and the tenant. The reason formerly assigned was, that the possession of land was a question of life or death to the tenant ; that he had no other resource to preserve himself and his family from starvation, and that therefore he was obliged to submit to any terms which an avaricious landlord might impose. That the parties to the contract stood on such unequal ground as to make it necessary for the law to mterfere to protect the weaker party. It could not be pretended that this argument was ever applicable except to the case of small pauper tenants, and now the introduction of poor laws, and the * It is highly probable that, in the excited state of feeling that Avould be raised by an alteration of the law, no valuator would venture to express un opinion of the value of the laud that was not in accordance with the tenant's wishes. 60 SYSTL'MS OF LAND TENURE [Longfield. increased demand for laljour, put it out of any man's power to say that he is obliged to offer an exorbitant rent for a farm in order to save himself from destitution. The argument never had any bearing on the case of those tenants who hold the greatest part of Ireland, who have capitals of two or three hundred pounds and up- wards, and who are farmers, not from necessity, but from choice, because they find the occupation of a larnier more profitable or more suitable to their taste or educa- tion than any other employment. On the profits to be expected from their industry and capital it may neces- sary to make this remark. It is often said that agri- culture is the most honourable, the most healthy, and the most delightful of all occupations. If this be the case, it follows from an elementary law of political economy that it must also be the least profitable. It will require greater profits to induce men to enter into any business that is less wholesome, less creditable, or less agreeable. It should ever be remembered that it is a dishonest act for a man to make a contract which he does not believe that he can fulfil. The man who has obtained possession of a farm by promising a rent which he cannot afford to pay has committed a dishonest act. He has done wrong to the landlord, from whom he has obtained possession of the laud on false pretences, and he has done wrong to the competitors for the farm whom he has outbid, and he has no just claim to have a law made to reduce his rent, and give him an advantage over his more honest competitors. I should not have thought it necessary to point out the unreasonable injustice of the claim made for fixity of tenure on a rent to be settled by valuators, were it not for the mischief that is caused by the expectation of the measure. It not only diverts attention from more prac- ticable means of improving the condition of the people, but it increases the desire (already too strong) to obtain, and to retain, possession of land, no matter how incapable the possessor may be of cultivating the property. There is a hope that llie interest, which is now worth little or Ikklanh.] in various COUNTRIES. Gl nothing', will be converted by law into a valuable estate. This hope vanishes if possession is transferred to another. The eviction from a farm is felt not as a loss of the in- terest which the tenant had, but as a loss of the interest which he hopes to acquire by a change in the law. In many cases a failing farmer, who could dispose of his farm for a sum that would enable him to emigrate or to set up himself or his family in some more profitable business, is tempted to hold on to his farm, l)y the belief that the approaching law of tenant right will give him an interest that he can dispose of for a much larger sum. In some districts the agitation on the subject has fixed it like an axiom not to be controverted in the peasant's mind, that the possession of land, on whatever terms it is acquired, is a property wdiich it is unjust to take from him without paying him large compensation. The relation between landlord and tenant is made the constant subject of violent declamation. His imaginary rights are assumed as if they were too clear for argument; and indeed this is necessary, for they will not bear argu- ment. A landlord has twenty acres of land in his possession. A peasant offers him twenty pounds a year for the land. His offer is accepted. He is put into possession of the land, but neglects to pay the rent, and finally he is evicted, owing perhaps three years' arrears of rent, which he never pays. He is considered an injured man, the victim of landlord oppression. No questions are asked about the merits of the case. The mere fact that he has been deprived of his farm is sufficient to excite the sympathies of the population, who will assist him to take revenge, or to escape, after he has gratified his revenge by murdering the tenant who succeeds, or his landlord, or his agent, or any member of any of their families. Others will take the part of justifj'ing the murderer, or blackening the character of the deceased. They will go through the form of saying that it is not right to commit murder, but they will exaggerate the provocation which the murderer received; they will rake up charges true 62 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Lcxgfield. or false against the deceased, and will at the same time classify as murders of greater enormity many acts of oppression never perpetrated, but which the populace will readily credit. In many cases the landlord is deterred from enforcing his rights ; and it is sometimes argued that it is therefore no injustice to deprive him of them by law. The land- lord, it is said, will suffer no substantial injury 1)}^ being deprived of a right which he can never venture to enforce. This is like putting a price upon the landlord's head. It is to announce that everything will be conceded to the tenants, provided they will shoot so many landlords as may keep them for some time in subjection to the White- boy code. Success acquired by such means would not produce the expected fruits. Riches acquired by fraud and outrage are not long enjoyed, for the qualities by which they are acquired are inconsistent with the qualities which are necessary to retain them. Anything that would retard the advance of the countr}^ in civilization, and still more, anything that would make it go back, would do an injury to the tenant far beyond the value of anything that he could gain by an alteration in the conditions of his tenure. The fee- simple proprietor of a hundred acres of land two centuries ago was not so well clothed, so well lodged, so well taught, or so well fed, as the tenant of the same lands who at the present time pays a fair rent for his farm. This change is chiefly caused by the greater civilization of Ireland. A very small part is caused by any improve- ments placed upon the land b}^ the tenants. Not more than ten per cent, of the present value of the land is owing to such improvements. The general question, how much of the improvements made in the country is due to tenants, and how nuich to landlords, or to possessors, Avhose tenure is substantially equivalent to a fee, appears to be immaterial. When once the tenant has received possession, his equitable Irei-axd.] 7.V VAIUOUS COUNTRTES. G3 riglits depend upon the contract which lie has made, and upon the condition of the land when he obtained posses- sion. It is no concern of his how that condition was caused. It may have been improved by the landlord, or by a previous tenant, who may have received comjiensa- tion from the landlord ; or the previous tenant may have w^asted the land, or have run away owino- laro;e arrears of rent, or have had his lease unjustl}^ broken without compensation for his improvements. With all this the new tenant has nothing to do ; he does not inherit the claims or the liabilities of his predecessors. On the whole, it would appear that the tenants would have no just cause of complaint if, 1st, Snch leasing powers should be given to all landlords that no fair lease should be broken ; 2ndly, That when a tenant by lease has improved his flirm, he should be entitled to a fair compensation ; 3rdh% That when a yearl}^ tenant has improved his flirm, or purchased the interest of an out- going tenant, he should be entitled to the seven years' purchase tenant right on terms to be settled by an arlutrator ; 4th, That when there is no written contract, the tenancy should be deemed to terminate on the 1st of November, and the tenant be entitled to a j^ear's notice to quit. As to evictions, the tenant can protect himself by refusing to take a farm without security that he shall enjoy it for a reasonable time. I have made no allusion to a difference in race, as creating any reason for a difference in legislation between England and Ireland. When the Celt becomes the absolute owner of land, he is just as willing as the Saxon to become a landlord, and to insist upon all a landlord's rights, which he then seems to think very reasonable. It is only when he becomes a tenant that his peculiarity is said to appear in a dislike to fulfil his engagements, and in a wish to hold his land at a lower rent and for a longer term than he is entitled to b}^ his contract. I suppose the Saxon farmer would have the same desire. It is impossible to frame laws to suit the feelings of people who dislike to pay their debts, or to fulfil their G4 SYSTEMS OF lAXB TENUBE [Loxgfjei.d. engagements and to respect the rights of property, and in general to act as men are reqnired to do in every civilized community. There is no valid foundation for this charge against the Irish Celt. England had the power of making hiws for Ireland at a time when selfishness reigned supreme in the councils of every state ; and Ireland, as the weaker country, suffered some injustice from her stronger sister. But times are altered. No man now would think of doing an injustice to Ireland for the sake of any supposed benefit to England. The two countries are now parts of one united kingdom. All grievances have been swept away, although the memoiy of them still remains, and will be kept alive by the exertions of those who have an interest in fomenting discontent. But a just policy will eventually bear its fruits ; and if the laws are framed for the good of all without reference to party interests, and are impartially and firmly administered, it will prolmbly be found that the Celt is as quiet and amenable to law, and as willing to be honest and true to his engagements, as if he belonged to any other race. But even the best laws will be of little service unless the people are disposed to act justly and reasonably. The landlord should not strive to be the master of his tenant. He should set the land at a reasonable rent and on fair conditions, and not hope to keep the tenant in subjection, by exacting a rent which he cannot pay, or inserting covenants which he cannot fulfil. Even when leases are granted tliey are often stufied with covenants which Avould ruin the tenant if he obeyed them strictly. But some change is also required in the tenant. He should not enter into any contract which he is unwilling to fulfil. It is no excuse for him to say that he cannot get land on any other terms, and that he must be a farmer as every other l)usiness is overcrowded with conij)etitors. Such an excuse is contradictory to itself, ibr if he cannot get a farm except by offering more than it is worth, it shows that farming is subject to as keen a competition as other trades. If lie cannot get a farm on luELAND.] 7iV VAllIOUS COUNTRIES. 65 reasonable terms he should take to some other l)iisiness, or emigrate. He may think that this is a great liardship, but it is a hardship that is not cansed either by the law or by the landlord. If two men desire to get the same farm, one of them must do without it; and if the com- petitors are honest, and will not offer too much, the one who succeeds will be better off, and the one who fails will not be worse off than at present. The same rule that I suggest as to his rent should apply to all the conditions of his tenure. Instead of first taking a farm and then complaining of the conditions, he should refuse to take any farm except on such terms as he considers jnst and reasonable. A man who is to have a voice in the government of the country should not make any contract which would make him dependent on the liberality or for- bearance of any other man. CHAPTER YIII. It is frequently said that in Ireland the landlord erects no buildings, and makes no improvements on the land ; that everything is left to the tenant, who l)ui]ds and improves at the risk of having the improvements made by his labour and capital seized by the landlord, or made an occasion of raising the rent ; and that this was not a very unusual course for the landlord to take. At no time was it a matter of every-day occurrence for a landlord to seize his tenant's improvements before he had enjoyed them for a remunerative period. Im- proving tenants without leases would not be so foolish as thus to lay out their capital without a confident ex- pectation, founded on the prevailing customs, that the landlord would not take advantage of their confidence in his honour. Cases of inconsiderate and unjust harshness could never have been very frequent, and they are now exceedingly rare. The real grievance was, not that the tenant frequently' F 66 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURh: [Loxgfiei.d. lost the value of his improvements, but that his liability to this loss generally ju'e vented him from making those improvements which would have been profitable to himself and useful to the country. It is true that if au}' man searches for cases of griev- ances suffered by tenants, he will have plenty of stories told to him : many of them will be utterly false, and many of them will have a slight foundation of truth, dis- torted by the most monstrous exaggerations. When names, dates, and facts, are not stated, it is impossible to expose and detect the falsehood. " One story is good until another is told." I am told that a tenant held a farm at a rent of 40/., that he Ijuilt a liouse at an expense of 100/., and then was ejected without any compensation as soon as he owed one year's rent. Such a story may lead to the murder of half-a-dozen landlords, or to the robber v of the entire class, when the propagator describes the look of inextinguishal)le hatred with which the narrator mentioned it to him. I do not believe in the possibility of such a case pure and simple. An ejectment is not a sudden irreversible process. The proceedings take some time to bring them to a termination ; and, even after they are concluded, the law allows the tenant six calendar months to pay his rent and redeem the land. This period is reckoned not from the judgment in eject- ment, but from the actual dispossession of the tenant by the execution of the habere. The story, therefore, is that the tenant was rich enough to build a house and to cultivate his farm, which generally requires a capital equal to five years' rent, but that he could not get money to pay half a year's rent, and had not friends or credit to enable him to borrow money to pay his rent. A tenant is not evicted for non-payment of rent until after he has become hopelessly insolvent. I should expect that on investigation it would be found, either that the story was totally false, or that it was subject to one or more of the following qnalilications. The tenant did not build the liouse at his own expense ; the landlord supplied the roof and timber-work, and gave luELAN]).] IN VAli'TOrs rnrXTlUKH. 67 other aid. The tenant was in the enjoyment of the house a suflScient length of time to recompense him for the portion of tlic outlay that he had incurred. Tlie landlord at various times forgave him large arrears of rent in consideration of his outlay on the house. The tenant ran out and wasted the land, and owed consider- ably more than a year's rent at the time of the eviction. I suggest those qualifications to show with what reserve such a story should be received until it is fully investi- gated, especially when it is told by a person evidently anxious to make a case against Irish landlords. I do not deny that, among the infinite number of cases occurring between landlord and tenant, many may be found in which the landlord acted harshly and oppres- sively to an honest tenant, as well as cases in which the kindness of a generous landlord has met with a very ill- requital. But I believe that such cases are exceptions to the general rule, which is, that an honest and indus- trious tenant will meet with kind and generous treat- ment, and that a good and liberal landlord will find or make good tenants. But to state all the exceptions to this rule of which one hears on one side, without qualifi- cation or investigation, is not a good way of forming a correct opinion of the true state of the Irish land ques- tion. The cases in which landlords seized upon real improvements made by their tenants, without giving them compensation, are very few, and the landlords would suffer nothing by a law which would make such injustice impossible. As to evictions of solvent tenants, I i:ielieve them to be more rare in Ireland than in England, To a super- ficial observer, the contrary might at first appear to be the case, for the following reason. In England, if the interest of a tenant is determined by a notice to quit, or by the expiration of his lease, and the refusal of the landlord to permit him to remain in possession, he gives up the farin^ and nothing more is said about it. He merely complies with the conditions on which he obtained possession. But in Ireland he generally resists, and puts his landlord to the expense and delay of an ejectment, f"2 68 SYST/'JMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfiei-d. and has the newspapers filled with abnse of the land- lord and articles on landlordism and evictions, 'i'hns in Ireland nearly ever}^ case of removal of a tenant makes a noise, and is brought before the public, and therefore they appear to be more numerous than in England, where they pass without notice. While I was writing this, I read in the newspaper a report of an action for a libel brought by a farmer. His complaint was that he was falsely accused of shoot- ing foxes ; and, on account of this false and unproved charge, he was deprived by a noble duke, his landlord, of two farms, one of which he had held for sixteen, and the other for twenty-one j^ears. The eviction hv the landlord was not made a matter of comment, and would have passed unnoticed, only that it was the special damage for which the action was Ijronght. If a tenant was evicted on such grounds in Ireland, the circumstance would certainly be brought before the public, and proljably before Parliament. If there are a hundred men Avishing for farms, and there are only fifty farms to be let, then fifty men must do without farms, and take to some other occupation. Whatever adds to the difficulty of evicting a tenant, adds to the difficulty of obtaining a farm, and thus makes the eviction a greater calamity when it occurs. It is very much against the interests of a landlord to eject a good solvent tenant who is willing to pay him a fair rent. He will find it difficult to procure a tenant with skill and capital to take the vacant farm, and to put himself in the power of an oppressive and unreason- able landlord. If a careful inquiry was made into the nature of the provocations which are supposed to have led to the late crop of agrarian outrages, a judgment might be formed of the frecpiency of landlord oppression. It wouhl not be unreasonable to assume that all the worst instances would Ije included among those cases which have led to such extremity of revenge. It maylje generally said that four circumstances should combine to make a tenant an eff'ectual improver. He luiiLAND.J IN VARIOUS COUNTltJKS. iW) imist have, first , a siifficicrifc motive ; secondly, skill ; thirdly, energy ; fourthly, capital. And it is not an un- common mistake, when some obvious improvement is neglected, to attribute the neglect solely to the want of some one of those circumstances, without taking the rest into consideration. The landlord frequently is without the capital that is necessar}' for important improvements on his estate ; for he must pay money for everj'thing (in addition to his family and personal expenses), and the return for his expenditure comes in very slowly. But it is different with the tenant, who seldom wants capital to make some small improvements yielding a quick return. In some cases it might )}e thought that no capital was necessary, as when a small farmer reclaims land by removing the stones, all the work Ijeing done by himself and his family. Some would say that his labour was equivalent to capital, but this would not be strictly correct. The produce of his labour did not support him during the progress of the work. The store of food which he possessed, or the money with which he purchased it, was the capital which he expended in the prosecution of the work. Without such capital, or credit to supply its place, he must have abandoned the improvement, and supported himself by working for daily wages. Thus the tenant is seldom prevented from making im- provements by want of capital. He may be prevented from undertaking something grand, but if his land is in a very wild, unimproved state, there must be some reason other than want of capital for his permitting it to re- main so. For this neglected state of the land a different reason is given by the landlords and the tenants' friends. One saj^s that the cause is, that the tenant has not a sufficient estate in the land, and Arthur Young's exaggerated as- sertion is quoted as if it was strictly true. But excuses for not doing a thing are always to be viewed with great suspicion, especially when they take the form of re- quiring some great boon as a preliminary to exertion. I have known many cases in which the occupier lield 70 SYSTL'MS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfikld. ill perpetuity or for very long terras, in Avhich the agri- culture was as defective and the land as much neglected as if it had been held by tenants at Avill. A good interest given to the tenant is a good thing, but it removes only one impediment to improvement, namely, want of motive ; but two impediments may yet remain — sloth and ignorance. Bishop Berkeley, indignant at the neglected appear- ance of the country, the houses full of dirt, and the land covered with weeds, rejected this excuse of want of a sufficiently long estate in the tenant, and remarked that things were left undone which would be remunerative if done by tenants even with the shortest leases, and that the Irish proprietors who occupied land which they held in fee were as slovenly and negligent as any tenants at will. He thus arrived unfairly at the conclusion that the cause of the neglected state of the land was Irish sloth. He did not see that there was a third cause which might be the operative one, namely, ignorance. The Irish tenant acted according to his limited know- ledge. He had no example to guide him to a better agriculture. Even if a resident gentleman improved his demesne, and made it more productive, the farmer saw clearly that he could not follow the example. The im- provement seldom yielded a fair return for the outlay. Works were undertaken with a mixed view to ornament and utility. This was better for the country than if the same money had been spent in idle dissipation •, but they conveyed no useful instruction to the farmer. It may be fairly doubted whether any improvement of land yields the average return that may be expected from invested capital. Thus I do not say that no drainage pays ; but if all the drainage in Ireland was taken with the mistakes made by inadequate or superlluous drains, or drains badly made, or too deep, or too shallow, or too expensively, or works otherwise unskilfully executed, it is probable that half the works do not yield a return of five per cent, on the outlay. But a former will not undertake an expensive improvement, unless he is reason- ably certain, not only that his landlord will not seize iRiiLANi..] IN VAIHOIJS COUMTL'/L'S. 71 upon the fruits, but that there will be some Iriu'ts for himself to enjoy. Thus the want of agricultural kuovv- ledge is a serious obstacle to improvements. There are some improvements which give a return in comfort and enjovmeiit, rather than in prolit. A dwell- ing-liouse is of this class. In general a man does not willingly live in a worse house than that to which he has been accustomed ; l,)ut he seldom desires one much better. It is ver^Mnuch a matter of habit. The starving occupier of a fetid, squalid hovel would wish for strong drink and tobacco, better and more abundant food, good clothes and less work ; but the last of his desires would be a larger and cleaner house. He would scarcely accept it willingly on the terms of his keeping it clean and in good repair. This has tended to discourage the landlords from building good houses for their tenants. They found that the tenants did not value them, and were often unwilling to keep them in repair, although it was generally found that after some experience they felt and appreciated the advantage of the decency and cleanliness which at first they disliked as cold and troul:)lesome. Partly by the landlords, and partly by the tenants, comfortable farm- houses have been built, and improvement in this respect is still making progress. In a few instances, houses have been built by tenants relying on the honour of their landlords ; and very few would object to a law that would entitle a tenant to compensation who built a house suit- able to his farm. In many arguments on the compensation that a tenant should receive for his improvements, a calculation is made of the compensation or enjoyment that would be sufficient if the improvement was made in the most successful manner, and with the greatest skill and economy. This is hardly fair. Every improvement is to a certain extent tentative, and the enjoyment or compensation should be such as to remunerate a tenant of average skill and good fortune. It is frequently said that drainage ^\'ill repay the first outlay with interest in seven years. I do not assert that such a thing never happens, but I am sure that it could 72 SY,'STJ^iM>'S OF J.AND TENURE [Loxgfield. not be truly said of one-tenth of tlie drains that have been made in the United Kingdom. It requires less skill to reclaim than to improve. The former is done either by carrying off surface water or by removing stones. These works are done by the cottier and his family. They jield a very moderate return, but the results arc obvious to the most unskilful, and hence it happens that they are often executed b}' tenants with very precarious interests, while more profitable works, requiring more skill and foresight, are left undone by tenants with much longer leases. If sloth was very prevalent, the sterile land would not have been reclaimed ; if want of tenure was the only cause, the good land would have been more generally improved. It was want of skill that confined the efforts of the most energetic to those works which required no skill to accomplish or to appreciate them. Arthur Young describes the effects of letting land on })rofitable leases to persons without skill or energy : " They are, however, sometimes resident on a part of the land they hire, where it is natural to suppose they would work some in.iprovements ; it is, however, very mrely the case. I have in different parts of the kingdom seen farms fallen in after leases of three lives of the duration of fifty, sixty, and even seventy years, in which the residence of the principal tenant was not to be distin- guished from the cottared fields surrounding it." He attributes this to the idle, drunken habits of the small country gentlemen : " Living npon the spot, surrounded by their little under-tenants, they prove the most oppres- sive species of tyrant that ever lent assistance to the de- struction of a country. Not satisfied with screwing up the rent to the uttermost farthing, they are I'apacious and relentless in the collection of it." " If long leases at low rents, and ijrofit incomes given would have improved it, Ireland had long ago been a garden." Such were the results of long leases given to persons ignorant of agri- culture, and without efficient covenants to prevent them from subletting. If they had been possessed of sufiicient skill, they would have found it more profitable to culti- vate than to sublet. Irki.and.] in various COUNTPxIES. 73 CHAPTER IX. Maxy think that the wealth of Ireland maybe increased by the cultivation of new crops, or the employment of new instruments, which the}^ accordingly recommend with great zeal. They are not aware of the difficulty of introducing improvements in agriculture, nor how little profit the persons who adopt them should expect. Never- theless, several improvements in both crops and instru- ments have made their way in Ireland in the present century. Improved carts and ploughs have almost superseded the old-fashioned car and plough which were in general use seventy 3-ears ago. Through a great part of Ireland the threshing machine is used instead of the flails, and the scythe instead of the sickle. The American rake and the tedding machine are used in making hay, and even reaping and mowing machines may sometimes be seen in use. But the use of new machines proceeds more slowly in agriculture than in manufactures. It is less necessary to the individual, as it does not diminish the price of agricultural produce, and therefore the farmer may, with- out loss, continue to cultivate his land in the manner to which he has been accustomed. But the chief impediment is, that the operations of agriculture are periodic, and not continuous, and the division of labour does not produce a division of trades. The same loom may be employed every day in the year ; and if one loom did its work at half the cost of another, no weaver could hold his ground who used the inferior loom. But a machine of great efficiency in sowing turnip seed ma}' make its way very slowl}'. The farmer would have occasion to use it only two or three days in the year, and the advantage of its use during those few days is all that is obtained to pay the interest of the first cost of the machine, and the expense of finding a place to hold it during the long time that it is unemployed. This latter item is not un- important in tiie case ol"a small farm. Besides, sowing turnip seed is only a small part of the business of a farmer, 74 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgkiekd. and he ma}^ till with profit, although he does not perform this particular operation in the cheapest and most efficient manner. The same observations apply, with greater or less force, to all the operations of the farm. Similar causes impede the introduction of new crops, or new modes of cultivation. The work that is done only at intervals of a 3'ear is not easily learned. When once it has taken root this difficulty is diminished, for the difference between the earliest and latest period of performing any operation extends the time during which the business may be learned by observation or by actual work. Thus, if you introduce the cultivation of flax into a district into which it was not known before : it is neces- sary to steep it ; you superintend this operation, and give the most precise instructions to your workmen. The work is done, they are employed during the rest of the year on other business, and when the season for the same operation comes round again they will be found as ignorant as they were the preceding year. Still some new crops have been introduced with ad- vantage during the present century. Seventy ^^ars ago, turnips and mangolds were unknown to the working farmer, and even clover and artificial grasses were seldom sown except by a gentleman farmer. The manner in which the cultivation of flax has been almost confined to one province of Ireland shows very strongly the difficult}^ of introducing the general culti- vation of a new crop. It is not unknown in the other provinces, but it is generally profitable only in Ulster. This is not caused by any peculiarity of soil or climate. The crop is equally good in other parts ; but it is not equally profitable, and missionaries go about in vain recommending its cultivation. Some sa}^ that a large profit may be expected ; others say that they have tried it, and found it unprofitable. A short sketch of flax culture may show the cause of this disagreement, and how the true state of the case may be discovered. ] give an account of the culture as it existed at the iRKi.AND.] IN VAIIIUI'S COUNIltlES. 75 beginning- of tliis century, and of some of the changes that have since been made : — Having prepared the land as if for oats, but with a finer tilth, the seed is sown rather thickly in order that the flax may be drawn up without sending out side branches. 2. AVhen the flax is fit, which is generally before the seeds arc ripe, it is pulled up instead of being cut like corn. This is not an operation of much difficulty. It is then carried to a dul), or flax pond, to be steeped. This is necessary to detach the outside fibre, Avhich is the valuable product of the flax, from the inside w^ood}^ part, which is worthless. This is an operation of some nicety. If it is overdone, the quality of the flax may be injured. If it is underdone, the fibre Avill be wasted in the subse- quent operations. The duration of the steeping must depend upon the temperature. The experienced flax cultivator forms his judgment b}^ the sight, and smell, and taste. 4. It is then taken out of the dul), and carted to a field, where it is spread and dried. The spreading may be done by men, women, or children. The taking out of the dub and spreading are not operations of much difficulty ; but a practised hand will do the work better and more cheaply than a novice. 5. When the flax is sufficienth' dried, it is gathered, and bound in sheaves, and put into stocks, and sometimes into stacks or ricks, like corn. 6. The next operation is scutching, or beating the flax with a heavy wooden mallet. The steeping dissolved and destroyed the glutinous matter which fastened the Avood to the fibre ; but it is still enclosed by the fibre, and the scutching is necessary to break into small parts the wood, which has been made very brittle by the steep- ing and drying, in order that it may more readily escape between the threads of the fibre. The scutching should break the wood as much as it can be done without injury to the fibre. 7. The next operation is cloving. The cloves are made of two small boards, or a board and })iece of iron ; 76 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUliE [Loxgfiei.d. they move on a hiii.ue or pivot, and meet each other edgeways. The operator takes a handful of flax, and places the part near his right hand between the cloves ; he then j^resses the n]iper clove on the flax with his left hand, and Avith his riglit pulls the flax through. This operation, repeated several times, forces the broken wood between the fibres, and rubs it away from the flax, which remains in the clover's hands. Some of the fibre is necessarily broken in this operation, and is detached along with the broken wood. This is called tow, which is an inferior product. The quantity of waste depends upon the skill of the clover, and the efficiency of the preceding operations, as well as upon the quality of the flax. Cloving is often performed with great skill by women. 8. The next operation is hackling. This requires more skill and more expensive instruments than any of the preceding operations. It is frequently performed \)y women. The hackle is a board about six inches by four inches. On one of the longer sides there is a handle. One face of the board is covered with a number of sharp steel spikes from three to five inches long, according to the fineness of the hackle. The hackler takes a bunch of the fibre in hand and swings it gently on the spikes of the hackle and draws it through the spikes. This is repeated several times to disentangle the fibres, and to reduce them to parallel threads, and to remove the small particles of wood which, after the cloving, still remain adhering to the fibre. An awkward })erson may se- riously injure his hand on the spikes, or by injudicious force may break the fibre, aud tear some of it away, producing worthless tow instead of valuable thread. Sometimes it is passed through several hackles in- creasing successively in fineness. It is then made up into suitable hanks or parcels. 9. The next operation is spinning, which I need not describe. After being spun on the spinning-wheel (in the last century the distaff and spindle were often used), it is reeled off, and made into hanks of thread or yarn. 10. The next operation is weaving, which I need not describe. iiiKi.AN'D.] 7.V VAinous rouNTniES. 77 11. Tlie next operation is bleachiiio;, wliicli foniierly consisted in washing; the linen well, and spreading it on the grass, freqnently watering it nntil it became white nnder the inflaence of the sun and air. The Ulster small flirmer performed all these opera- tions with the aid of his family. This domestic manu- facture was carried on during the spare hours for which the farm found no employment. As generally happens in such cases, the produce was sold at a price which gave the workers a very small remuneration. The work cost them nothing ; 1 may say, less than nothing, as it saved the flunily from those evil habits which idleness seldom fails to engender. The above short sketch may give an idea of the diflfjculties which prevented the introduction of the culture and manufacture into the other provinces. It could only be extended from neighbour to neighbour, and when the continuity was broken Ijy mountains, and by the fertile plains of Leinster, in which flax could not be profitably cultivated, the rest of the island was de- prived of the best means of acquiring the necessary skill. Some changes have been made in the manufacture which may facilitate the extension of flax culture. The manufacture and the agriculture are becoming more dis- tinct. In the first place the process of bleaching is no longer carried on by the farmer. Mere grass bleaching has disappeared, and the chemical processes can be more cheaply conducted in large establishments. Still, on this point, Ulster has some advantages in the possession of bleach greens, in which, in consequence of the scale in which their business is done, linen can be bleached more cheaply than in the other provinces. Flax is now almost always sent to scutch-mills in- stead of being scutched at home by the farmers. The spinning has also become a separate manufacture, and only a small portion is spun in the cottage of the grower. The power-loom has reduced the profits of the hand- loom weaver ; and even when the hand-loom is used, the trade is carried on under a new system. Inter- 78 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [f.oxoFiKr.n. mediate men, called drapers, purcbase yarn and give it out to weavers, who work for wages. The draper by his capital and skill in l^nying yarn and selling linen can undersell the weaver who works on his own account. The customer gets his goods cheaper, although an ad- ditional profit is received. The manufacture has outrun the agriculture. There is not enough of flax grown in Ulster to supply the manufacturers. It will not be easy to introduce the hand-loom to extensive use in the other provinces. The wages of the weaver are low ; in some parts of the year they are less than those of the ordinary agricultural labourer. In Ulster, where the business is learned in the family, he remains in the trade from habit, notwithstanding the competition of the power-loom ; but in the other pro- vinces there is little inducement to go out of the way to learn a business in which the wages are so low. The same friction that prevents its departure from Ulster tends to prevent its establishment in Alunster. On the whole, the changes are favourable to the other provinces ; but Ulster retains some advantage in the skill acquired by long experience, and in the possession of those establishments in which flax is prepared or manufactured. It remains to be seen whether flax can be successfully cultivated in the south and west of Ireland. Some say that it can, others say that it can- not; and the accounts are usually furnished in such a manner as not to give the information that might settle the dispute. They ought to state the extent and value of the land, the quantity and price of the seed, the number of men, women, and children employed on each opera- tion, and for what number of days, and the wages paid to each. The quantity of flax at the commencement and end of each oiieration should be stated, and the quantity in the final state in which it is sold, and the price re- ceived for it. If this is done, it will be seen at once wh}^ one loses and another gains. It will be seen what processes are carried on at too great expense or too much waste of material. iRELAxn.] 7.V VAliTOUS COUNTRIES. 79 Flax is an cxhaastiup,- rrop, and does not enter con- veniently into any course of rotation. It is most suit- able for small farmers, as it finds employment for their families. Any person who watches the operations before the scutchinc, that is, before it becomes a manu- facture, will probably come to the conclusion that if he paid even moderate wages to the workers he would not find it easy to make any profit out of a field of flax. The cultivation of madder, and of sugar-beet, has been recommended, and they may be tried by any one who can afford the experiment ; but it is easier to learn how to improve the cultivation of the knoAvn crops than how to raise a new crop profitably. Tf the produce of the soil could be doubled, it would not diminish the discontent of the Irish tenantr}^ Their complaint is. not that the land is unproductive, but that it is not theirs. It is a dispute for property, and at present any increase in the productive powers of the land would only embitter the contest by enhancing the value of the prize. As the evils presented themselves to my mind, I could not forbear from considering whether any remedies could be found. I considered that the following principles should be kept in view : — 1st. There should be no injustice nor confiscation of property. 2nd. There should be no interference with freedom of contract, and the law should do nothing to encourage those modes of dealing which are least beneficial to the nation. An apparently immaterial law in constant operation may have an important effect in moulding the habits of the people. It is even possible that the relation between landlord and tenant may have been influenced by the fact that a stamp is necessary for a lease, but no stamp is required on a notice to quit. 3rd. The landlord, subject to all express or implied contracts, and to all equities arising from past tran- sactions, is entitled to the present value of the land, and to all increase in its value which does not arise from the acts of the tenants. Independent of the injustice, it 80 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Loxgfield. would be impolitic to deprive the landlord of all interest ill his estate, and to remove him from his natural position as the guide and friend and assistant of the tenant in the management of his farm. It would produce extensive absenteeism, by converting the landlords into mere receivers of fixed rents, without any interests in their estates. They would l^e an idle, useless, unhappy body of men, without any incentive to work, or any special duty or occupation. 4th. Although the tenant should not get his landlord's property for nothing, he ought not to be deprived of anything for which he paid with the concurrence of the landlord, although he may have trusted to the rules of natural equity, instead of com})lying with all the for- malities required by a highly artificial state of the law. Lastly, although men cannot be compelled to perform duties of imperfect obligation, they ought not to be permitted by any contract or promises to put the per- formance of those duties out of their power. Thus no settlement or incumbrance should prevent the landlord while in the enjoyment of his estate from dealing in a liberal spirit with his tenantry. Every landlord ought to have it in his power to give either a parliamentary tenant right, or a lease of forty-one years at a reasonable rent, and to make an agreement to compensate a tenant for his improvements. It may be thought by many that in suggesting forty- one years I have named too long a term, and that a lease of twenty-one years would give a tenant sufficient enjoyment to compensate him for any improvement, except buildings, that he might make on his farm. To this it may be answered that, generally, the Irish tenant is not of this opinion, and that a lease of twenty-one years would not induce him to improve. That a lease for forty-one years is much shorter than a lease for three lives, which is commonly permitted hy marriage settle- ments, and that it is not the length of the lease at its commencement, Init the length of the term when the tenant is about to improve that is the operative induce- ment. A prudent tenant will not make any change iiiKLANi).] /A" VARiors cors'iiniis. si iininediatcly on his obt;iim'i\u; possession of !i is Ihnn. ITo will vvtiit until cxpcrionco has made him intimately aoloyer pays a certain present sum as wages in exchange for the future uncertain product of the labour. But the same argument does not apply to land, which is not the product of labom-, but is the gift of the Creator of the world to mankind. Every argument used to give an ethical foundation for the exclusive right of property in land has a latent fallacy. It omits a portion of the value which ought not to be left out of consideration. I shall call attention to one or tAvo of them. First comes the argument founded on the rights of labour. Land, it is said, is worthless until it is cleared and cultivated, and it properly belongs to the man who has improved it, or brought it into cultivation. There would be some force in this argument if land was worth nothing l)eyond the value of the labour laid out upon it ; but if this is not the case, the argument is subject to this objection, that it permits one man to improve another man's estate, and then hold it as his own. This is- what rni.:r,AN-n.J /.V VAIUOFS ('OfXTRlES. nZ is called improving a, man out of his propel•t3^ Here is some land very convenient and snitable as a site for bnilding, it belongs to no person as private property, and therefore T, as a member of the commnnity, am a part owner of it. Another person takes possession and builds a valuable house on it, and then claims the land as exclusive property on account of his buildings and improvements ; am not I thereby improved out of my estate ? I was a part owner once, and now I have no interest wdiatever in it. Land of very indifferent quality in the neighbourhood of a town frcciuently is sold or let for a large sum as a site for building, before a single penny has been laid out in reclaiming it. Although it is of no present use, still its capacity for being built on gives it a present value. In this case the original value can be estimated, and in fact it is often separated from the additional value which the land derives from the buildings placed on it. It is the ground-rent which a tenant would be willing to pay on condition of getting a grant of the land in perpetuity. But without any reference to building-land, it is easy to find large quantities of land in Ireland of which the value cannot be attributed to any labour expended on them. Indeed, some of the land is probably of less value than if it had been left in a state of nature ; and yet it is private property. It might at first appear as if the argument against the right to property in land as founded on labour applied equally to the case of manufactured articles. The raw material did belong to the community, which is deprived of it by the individual who manufactures it, and converts it into his own exclusive property. This objection would be valid if the raw material was in limited quantities ; and if the labourer, for the purpose of the manufacture, seized upon a greater proportion than his share would be as a member of the general community. But this never happens. As a matter of fact, the value as well as the right of property in a manufactured article is derived from the labour emploved in producing G 2 84 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUnE [Loxgfield. it ; and the title could generally be shown through the most important stages. It is equally certain that neither the title to property in land nor the chief part of its value is founded upou labour. It was in general claimed as property before any labour was laid out on it. The right arising from the first discovery is sometimes alluded to as a possible foundation for the right of property in land. But this must refer to the right of the whole community, and not to the right of any private individual. AVhen once a party lands upon an island, the whole island is substantially discovered. They all know^ the land is there, althongh they have not actually walked over every foot of it. But suppose the case of a discovery made by an individual. A party of men and women discover an nninhaljited island, and take possession of it. Good water for drinking is scarce, and different persons go in various directions. One rnan, either hj superior intelligence or better fortune, d'iscovers a well which j-ields an ample supply. This does not give him a right to exclude the rest of the party. They must possess the same natural right which they had before the discovery, to use the w^ell if they can find it. The right of the first discoverer is merely to keep his secret, or to sell it to the community for the best priee which he can obtain for it. The case bears some analogy to the patent laws, and therefore I may allude to an argument which is some- times used in their defence. A man invents some process, and it is said that if the public makes use of this process he is deprived of the fruits of his industry and inventive talent. But this assumes the very point in dispute : it assumes that one of the natural fruits of a discovery is the I'ight to prohibit every other person from doing the same thing. This is not a well-founded assumption. Ilis natural right is only to use it himself. The first man who broke a cocoa-nut and found the inside eatable would have a right to eat it himself, but he would have no right to insist that no otlier man in the world should ever eat any other cocoa-nut without his permission. Ikelanu.] hV VARIOUS COUNTRIES. H5 The fact of possession is sometimes given as the origin of private property in kind. The man who gets first under the shade of a tree has a riglit to remain there undisturbed. He cannot be removed without a Ijreach of the peace ; and tliis right seems to be acknowledged by the inferior animals. It is sometimes added, that the mere fact of talcing possession is of itself an act of la])onr, and therefore that the rightof property thereby conferred is within the general rule, that labour creates a right to property. To tliis it may be replied, that this right, if it existed, would only last as long as the possession in which it originated. It could not extend over a large estate, nor be transferred to another person. As to the acknow- ledgment of the right by the lowTr animals ; even if we WTre disposed to learn ethics from their example there is great reason to doubt the fact. It probably exists only so far as the beast in possession has sufficient strength to make it inconvenient for any other beast to disturb him. When it is said that the mere taking of possession is an act of labour, it should be noticed that even if it deserves tlie name of labour, it is not of that sort which can confer a title to property. The only labour which can give a title to property is that labour which has created the value of the property that it claims. The foundation of the right to property in land is not ethical but political Its origin is expediency. In order that it may be cultivated to the most advantage, it is necessary that the cultivator should Ije secured in the enjoyment of the fruits of his intended industrj^ For this purpose it is necessary tliat the person who is permitted to use the land should be permitted to enjoy it for a certain length of time, to make it his interest to cul- tivate it in the most productive manner. This jicriod varies with the increase of forsesight and agricultural knowdedge. It is easy to conceive a state of things in whicii men did not look beyond the passing year. They sowed and they reaped without any knowledge or care whether the land is left in a better or worse condition. 86 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TEXUBE [r.oMiFiKi d. But the inconvenience of a frequent repartition of land is quickly perceived, and this is best avoided by per- mitting land to be held in absolute ownership, subject to such taxes and regulations as the State shall from time to time thiidv it reasonable to impose. It seems just that land should be charged with the duty of maintaining the poor, so that no man should be destitute on account of the existence of private property in land. Those who are able to support themselves owe that power to that general wealth and civilization which could not have existed without the establishment of })rivate property in land ; and those who are not able to support themselves, receive from the poor-rates a better subsistence than they could extract from their share of the land of the country if undivided and unreclaimed. But the rights of the present owners do not depend upon the truth of any theor}' respecting the origin of proprietorial rights. It is a rule of natural justice that saj^s that, if I encourage a stranger to buy from a wrongful owner property that is really mine, I cannot justly press my own claims against the purchaser. This is the case with land in every settled country. The present owners either themselves purchased the land, or derive their rights under those who purchased it with the sanction of the community, represented by the authority of the State. In many cases, the State itself received })art of the purchase money from stamp-duties on the purchase deeds. In this manner, the title of the landlord ai)pears to be perfect as well against the nation at large as against every member of it. l>ut there is one person in par- ticular who cannot claim the land without the most shameless dishonesty ; and that is the tenant who has obtained a temporary possession of the land by means of a contract with the landlord. I wish for a farm. I see one that suits me. 1 apply to the person in ))ossession, who claims to be the owner, and I agree to take a lease of it for twenty-one years, or as tenant from year to year at a rent of -M)/. a year, and to give him back the liirm when the lease expires. iREr.ANi).] IS VAUIOVS (JOVNTBIES. 87 Nothing can be clearer than that I can claim no right to that land beyond what is given to me by the lease. It either belongs to the landlord who bought, or to the nation at lara-e, but certainly not to me. If it belongs to the landlord, I can claim nothing but my bargain, viz., possession for twenty-one years. If it jjelongs to the community at large, my right is still less. It would be strange that I should claim more than my bargain, because I made the bargain with the wrongful owner. I have ])ut the case of a tenant ol)taining the posses- sion of land by a contract with the landlord, and on that possession, on that contract, resting his claim to hold the land for a larger period or at a smaller rent. But there are other cases in which the tenant has done somethino- more, and in which he has some equitable rights, which, although they are rather vague, are 3'et, I think, capable of being ascertained, settled, and conceded by carefully- considered legislation. The two chief cases are — first, where the tenant has made such permanent improvements on the land as were necessary for its efficient cultivation, or for his decent and wholesome habitation ; secondly, where the tenant has to the reasonable knowledge of the landlord paid the outgoing tenant money for his interest in the farm. In the former case, it must be supposed that the tenant made the improvements, or erected the buildings, in the belief that he would be permitted to enjoy them. It is incredible that any man should build a house if he was assured that another should enjoy all the benefit, either by turning him out, or by charging him rent for it. The same argument applies to the case of a purchase of a precarious interest. The landlord who permits the purchase of a mere tenancy-at-will must be considered as encouraging the belief that the purchaser thereby acquires a substantial interest in the land. A third case in which the tenant seems to be entitled to something more than the law gives him, is where he has made a reasonable bargain with the apparent owner of the land. There is a common-sense distinction between a purchaser and a tenant whicli the law does not suf- 88 SYSTEM.^ OF LAND TENUIIE [Longkield. ficiently recognize. The man who Iniys an estate, and the man who takes a farm in order to earn his bread by- its cnltivation, are treated l)y law in the same manner, and are snbject to the complicated laws of real propert^y. These laws are tronblesome and inconvenient so far as they atfect purchasers, but are oppressive and unjust where they disturb the title of a tenant. It may be said that it is not easy to distinguish l)etween a tenant and a purchaser. A man takes a lease of land for a thousand years at a rent of a penny an acre. Is he not to be considered a purchaser, although he takes the land for a limited term and is subject to a rent? Add a penny to his rent, and take a year away from his term, he is still a purchaser. Continue this process, and you may have him paying a rent of 4/. 2.^. iSd. an acre, and with a term of only ten years. He is then clearly a tenant. At what step in the process did his position change from a purchaser to a tenant ? Such an argument has no practical force. It must be met by drawing an arbitrary line at some reasonable point. Say that a tenant, whose rent is not less than three-fourths of the value, and whose term does not exceed forty-one years, shall not l)e disturbed in con- sequence of any settlement or incumbrance aflccting his landlord's interests. It is inconsistent with justice that a man should hold land at a certain rent, and for a certain term, without any claim except tiiat he took the land for a different term and for a different rent. A man takes a farm to- day, and demands that a law shall be made which would enable him to sell his lease next day for several hundred pounds. This is to give him a property which he did not purchase or earn, merely because he threatens to commit murder if he is kept to his engagements. However, no demand founded in justice ought to l^e refused, merely on account of the imjH'oper manner in which it is demanded. I must not refuse to pay a creditor because he pres(Mits his account or demands payment in an uncivil manner. 1 have made these observations on the origin of pro- liiKL.vND.] IN VAUWUS CnUNTrJES. 89 perty in land in ordor to show tliat tlie State retains tlie power of niodilyinf^' it from time in accordance with tlic general interests of the coninmnity. This right of private property in land is a political not a natnral institution. " Nam propria^ tellnris heruni, natnra ncque illnni, Nee me, nee quenqiiam statnit." What justice requires is that changes in the law shonld not be directed against any particular persons, hut that all who are in similar circumstances should be treated in the same uianner. A land-tax of ten per cent, would not be nnjust if it was thought necessary for the security of the kingdom ; and there would be as little injustice in a law which modified the rights of property for the same ol)ject, even although the result should be equivalent to a tax by causing some diminution in the value of the property. It is sometimes supposed that a change in the law would be unjust to purchasers under the Landed Estates Court. I see no grounds for that opinion. The Act of Parliament which constituted the Court did not give a guarantee against future legislation. To do that is beyond the power of Parliament. What the conveyance of the judges gives is the perfect right to the land, subject only to the adverse rights mentioned in the deed, and to such obligations as may afterwards be imposed, either by the purchaser or by the authority of Parliament. It may almost be said that the latter comes within the former case, as the House of Commons is the lawful re- presentative of the purchaser. It could hardly be contended that the purchaser with a parliamentary title should be exempt from all Acts passed for the relief of the poor, or that the area of poor- law taxation should not be altered, and yet such changes might have the effect of giving his poorer tenants a sub- stantial interest in his estate. What the purchaser has a right to insist on is, tliat no law shall be si)ecially directed against him, and that no rights shall be set up which were in existence at the time of his purchase, but were omitted from the deed of conveyance. But in common with all the subjects of OO SYSTEMS OF LAND TEXi'IlE [Lon(jfiki.d. the realm, lie must take snbjeet to all regulations that may be made by lawful autliority, whether they increase or diminish the value of his property. The purchaser, by the fact of his ])urehases, ])laees himself in a new relation to a certain number of j^ersons, which imposes on him some very important duties, and it is for the State to determine whether those duties shall be enforced by law or trusted to his own conscience for their fullil- ment. The foUowino; changes might be made in the law of real property, and they do not violate an}^ natural or political right. First, the law of primogeniture should be abolished, and all the children of the same parents, and their descend- ants should have equal rights to the land of their direct or collateral ancestor. Under the influence of this new law absenteeism w^ould quickly disai)pear. Some of the children of an absentee would sell the estate which descended on them, and for Avhich, not having seen it, they could entertain no special affection. No lease nor agreement between landlord and tenant should he liable to any stamp-duty. No settlement or encumbrance should prevent the owner of land in possession from having the following power : — First, — he may make any lease for any term not exceeding forty-one years at a rent not less than three- fourths of the full value, or competition rent. Second, — He may take a fine on granting a lease. Third, — He may agree that the tenant shall be entitled to tenant right as above defined. Fourth, — He ma}^ agree with his tenant to give him compensation for impi*ovements. If a lease is made for a shorter term than forty-one years, the landlord should not be permitted to distrain for rent. If a lease is made for a shorter term than forty-one j^ears, and without tenant right, all poor-rate and county cess should l)e borne by the landlord. No proceedings should be taken to recover any arrear of rent which accrued more than a year before the com- mencement ol'tlic proceeding. iKKi.AND.] 7.V VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 91 In the absence of a written agreement, the tenancy should determine on the first of November, and require a year's notice to quit. The arbitrator should have power to avv^ard parlia- mentary tenant right to any tenant who had ftiirly earned it by his outlay. The tenant should be entitled to the trees he planted, without the necessity of registering them. 92 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE. [Ween Hoskv.ns. II. THE LAND-LAWS OF ENGLAND. By C. Wren Hoskyns, M.P. More than a generation has passed away since a late Professor of Geology, in addressing the Royal Agri- cultural Society at their first country-meeting, held at Oxford, arrested the attention of his landed and farming auditory by the remark, that the perfect model of a Plough, and of a Ship, still furnished to the world of science matter of unsatisfied inquir^^ and speculation. The speaker cited these fomiliar instances, —and he could hardly have made a more skilful choice, — to illustrate the proposition that some of the deepest problems underlie our commonest uses, problems that seem never to wear out or to grow old by time, but reappear from age to age, linking the old world and the new, by questions that equally defy the decision of authority and the conquest of science. In the interval that has elapsed since the words were uttered, in all the confidence of knowledge that continues to mark each " ignorant present time " of the world's history — it will be admitted that the advances made by the " audax lapeti genus " in the forms that j^lough both land and ocean, have given to them a force little intended, or even dreamt of, by the speaker : yet the challenge still remains that seemed almost antiquated then, and perhaps tlie words conveying it are but the formula for an e(iually j)regnant future. AVhy it is that the most enduring questions should seem to link them- selves often with what is most familiar to our daily Englaxd.] 7X VAUTOUS COUNTRIES. 93 practice, is a matter of inquiry l)ejon(l tlic present purpose ; l)ut there arc few experienced minds whose thoughts do not bear testimony to the existence of what may be termed standing difficulties in common things. One of these, holding a place anterior to most — if not in point of time, yet certainly in importance — connected as it is with the history of our common inheritance, is that of the Laws of the Soil, the individual right to use, to hold, to dispose of it, by gift, or sale, to others, to transmit it by descent, or will, to the next generation, — and, resulting out of all these, its general distribution amongst the various classes and members of the com- munit}". Old as the subject is, — for it must be nearly coeval with man's social existence, — and worn as much by modern treatment as by mere age, yet it can hardly be denied that it comes to us little simplified, if not rather complicated by time, and the usage it has found among the various families of our race, who have, in truth, exhibited few differences more characteristic, more ethnologically marked, than those arising out of national habits in reference to the soil. The grazier, the sportsman, even that picturesque terror of our childhood, now rarely seen, the encamped gipsy, — has each his ancient prototype in tribes and races having this feature in common, that to each of them the earth presented simply so much space to move in, and to use as suited their temporary wants or con- venience. No law of meum and tuum was written upon the Waste, or grew out of it, for those to whom not even a fixed habitation had yet suggested the idea of ' pro- perty ' in the land. But as soon as tillage comes upon the scene, even in its earliest and rudest form, a very different claim to that implied in the mere surflxce use begins to develop itself. It needs no al)stract description : we have it in familiar shape before our eyes, in the settlements of our own race in America and Australasia — where, in the dealings with some of the non-cultivating native races. 94 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [WnEN Hoskyns. the idea of purchase — as a contract of permanent and exclusive right — of irredeemable alienation — was almost as unintelligible on one side as its violation was on the other. It can hardly with reason ])e doubted that the laws of the soil, including the first idea of permanent pro- prietary right (for even the hunter of the Prairie claims a temporary sole possession) owed their very birth to tillage. Land does not become soil till cultivation has made it so : the process, when accomplished, is as much a manufacture as the implement that eflected it, — as the plough-ljeam shaped from the timber, or the coulter from the smelted iron. If it could only be carried away after the conversion, it would have spared the world some ingenious arguments on both sides of the question of exclusive property. Had tiie agricultural fact been kept in view that a Seed-bed (alwaj^s excepting the one primeval example on the Ijanl^s of Father Nile) is as strictly an artiiicial produc- tion of labour as any that is wrought by man's hand upon Nature's materials, the political economist might perhaps have had a lighter task. The claim of him who before he can reap any return must invest a long expenditure in time, and seed, and labour, and tools, might vindicate a year's possession, and a freshly earned one 3'ear by year (and the four or six-course farmer perhaps could urge a still more ])rotracted suit) against that ideal claim of his brother man wliich has been quaintly described as " the right that belongs to all to take that which belongs to none."* But the more complicated ciuestion lies Avaiting for us yet one stage * The words of Locke arc ns follows : "Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all men, yet every man hath a property in his own person : tliis nobody has a riiiht to but himself. ^I'lie labour of his body and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatever, then, he removes out of the state that Nature hath provided and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it somethins; that in his own, and thereby makes it his property. It l)eing by him removed from the common state Nature hatli ]ilaced it in, it hath by this labour something; annexed to it that excludes the common rif^ht of other men. For, this labour being the unquestionable pro] erty of the labourer, no man lait he can have a right to what that is once joined to, at least when there is enough and as good left m Cfinirrirm for others." England.] IN VAIUOUS COUNTRIES. 95 further: namely, when the phenomenon begins to be witnessed of the severance of ownership from occupation ; when the fact stands patent of a process having taken place which has enaljled the occupier to transfer the right he held to another, either wholly, — by sale or gift, and the still more potential act of transmission by heritage, or by will, — or partially, by lease, or other temporary assignment. In every fully-peopled country a long unwritten history has been acted out, of the gradual acquisition of such rights over the soil ; and in most of them there has come, in the natural course of events, a time when the unlanded portion of the growing community have begun to inquire into the cause of their own exclusion, and the ' title ' of those w^ho have been before them in the race, and have got possession. The student of early Roman history is often puzzled by the reiterated occurrence of some mysterious struggles between the richer and poorer citizens which appear never to reach anj^ final settlement ; marking the growth and predominating power of a landed caste whose domains extending around the city for miles, gave, in a popula- tion so dense and concentrated as that of Rome, a special severity to the Agrarian question, by leaving for the in- creasing numbers of the State only the more distant and worthless portions of the unappropriated " public land." So, in the Greek States, " every accession to the number of citizens was followed by a call for a fresh division of the public land ; and as this involved the sacrifice of many encroachments that had grown into vested interests, it was regarded with horror by the old citizens as an act of revolutionary violence. For though the land was the undoubted property of the State, and although the occupiers of it were to the State mere tenants at wall, yet it is in human nature that a long possession should give a feeling of ownership, the more so, as while the State's claim lay dormant, the possessor was to all appearance the proprietor ; and the land would thus be repeatedly passing by regular sale from one occupier to another." * * Arndld. ' Hist, of Rnme,' vol. i. Dr. Arnold shows that tlie law of real 96 SYSTEMS OF LAND TEMl:/: WnEX IJoskyns.. The samo tale wliicli finds such raUerinp; oxjirossion ill those nations that luul liistorians, has worked out its silent but not less actual history in every cultivating nation of the worid. Increase of population ; decrease of })u])lic land ; the vehement claim of ])articipation on 'N.^ the one hand, the fierce and jealous tenacity of prescrip- tive rights on the other. Proljably in no other country of Europe so much as in our own — })artly owing to its island character, and partly to the succession of distinct races that has gone to form its peoi)le and its laws — have the history of the land and the institutions connected with it been more Y; truly, in everj^ sense, a history. The forced introduction V by tiie Norman kings of the most op})ressive incidents of feudalism, without its better features, broke in upon an ancient landed system which had been growing up for centuries, disjointedlv, but steadil}', in Saxon England, having its roots in the imperishable principles of Roman jurisprudence, that had prevailed here for nearly four centuries, and of which it has been truly said that it " was never permanently lost in any country in which it was once estal)lished."* Under the subsequent rule of such men as Egbert, Alfred, Athelstan, and Canute, there are surviving proofs that the laws and distri- bution of land had reached a stage of advancement that cnd)odied, with the remains of that Roman polity which "had graven itself in our land,"t some of the most property jn "Rome was more advanced than the Feudal sj-stem in many imi»ortaiit features. The proprietor of land was tlie absolute owner durinc;; his life-time, and could bestow it absolutely at his deatii. * Creasy. ' Hist, of Enr;land.' J)urin,i^ the interveniii;:;; centuries, from A. D. H2 when Agricola reduced the island to a. n. 4G3 when tiie Legions were withdrawn, the judicial tribunals of the Province of Britain were fashioned on the Roman models. The corjiorations invented by Ilomaii Jurists were the orii^in of our municipal institutions by whicli F,m;land has always been distinguished. Papinian, the celebrated Poman jurist mider tSeptin)ius Severus, presided in the Forum Eboraci (York); l)l[iian and Paulusan; considered by Selden to have occupied the functions of ' Assessores' in the tribunals of Roman Pritain. t Pearson. ' England in the Early and Middle Ages,' vul. i., chai). ii. " It is scarcely too much to say," writes Mr. Pearson (p. 51), " tliat we owe a vantage-ground of six centuries of inherited Law and Cidture to our Roman conquerors." England.] IN VAHTOIJS CO ('N TRIES. 97 sterling; eleinonts of the old Saxon character and institutions. We must not forget that it is from the pens of Norman writers tliat most of the ideas we entertain of our native English forefathers at the time of the Conquest have been derived : but ample traces that have escaped the distorting profile of the historian, tend to show that whatever the comparison may seem to us between the personal habits of the conquering and of the con- quered race in other points, it would be far from the truth to suppose that the English of the eleventh century had much, if anything, to learn from their Norman in- vaders, in the laws of the soil. " Norman literature before the Conquest is worthless ; their law-courts have nothing to match the splendid series of Anglo-Saxon charters."* There is much that is primitive and simple to be met with, but (a[)art from the personal habits of the age) nothing of barbarism in the land institutions of Saxon England, unless, indeed, an excessive love for it, and an almost exaggerated deference for its possession may be so classed. In an age when freedom was the exceptional condition, the ownership of land was the mark of a free man, and ample territorj^ the inseparable appa- nage of rank. The modern Conveyancer's broad separa- tion between ' real ' and ' personal ' estate was strongly marked in the practices of Saxon life, but with far better reason, when the rareness and insignificance of other forms of property gave truth and meaning to the distinction. No amount of gold or 'chattel' property conferred the franchise : land alone was recognised as the vehicle of all personal privilege, and the basis of civil rank. "There is no trace of such a qualification as constituted citizenship at Athens or Rome ; among our Saxon fore- fathers the exclusive idea of the city had no sway."t In this they only inherited the national character of their continental ancestors pictured by the Eoman annalist with such expressive brevity. "It is well known that the German race inhabit not cities, nor care even to join * Pearson. Vol. i. p. 401. t Kcmlilc. ' Saxons in Enjiland.' 98 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [^Veen IIoskyxs. house to house. They d^Yell independently, and apart, as the stream, the meadow, or the grove ma}^ guide their choice."* Centuries have not obliterated these features in their descendants to this day ; the love of land, its estimation aljove all other forms of property, and its political preponderance. It long held, and still in a measure holds, with us, the dangerous prerogative of being its own lawgiver, a power hardly to be trusted to any human hands, without check or counterweight; for, even justice and conscience are not always gifted with that reflex intelligence that can see in the claims of others the portraiture of the same rights which they defend for themselves. The characteristics of the English land system before the Conquest are worth careful notice, not only as being the earliest contributions to the history of the land in this country, but as embracing original types of national law and custom, from which it would be difficult to say how large a share of that unwritten code known to our fiimiliar use as ' Common Law ' is derived. If the materials are not as abundant as those of later time, they are yet so hand-marked as to make up for want of detail by the significance of a few broad outlines. In the first place it embraced (though with some variations in different parts of the country) those three important rights which together may be said to form the very test of land freedom. 1. The right of alienation, or transfer by sale, or gift. 2. The power of disposal by will. 3. That of transmission by inheritance. This is the more observable, at that early ])eriod of our national life, because under the Feudal rule which succeeded the Con- quest, the two first were abrogated, and the third com- pletely changed from its original character, so as to subserve only the feudal purposes. In the next place, there existed in a very distinct form that remarkable reservation of public right which found expression in the word " Folc-land," or land of the people, and emljodied " the principle of a direct * Tacitus. De Mor. Gonn, c. xvi. The passage is as cliaracteristic of the writer as ol' the people he describes. Knoland.J /N various COlINTlUE^i. 99 ownership by tlie coiiinmnity, not in tlicory only hut to some extent in practice : private proi)erty in its more perfect form ol)taine(l only over those portions which were granted to iiulividnals by charter, and hence were called ' boc-land ' "* (book-land). This distinction seems almost identical with the ' publica terra ' and ' privatus ager ' of the Romans, and marks, with other evidence, the extent to which the principles of Roman law still subsisted. " It was only with the consent of his Witan that the king conld make grants of the public domains of the P'olc-land. The theory that the sovereign is the paramount proprietor of all land, was utterly alien to Saxon ideas and institutions. Such state domains, like the ager jmblicus of the Romans, might be held by indi- viduals as tenants of the Commonwealth, till it \vas formally made over as private property."! But still, after such appropriation, and accompanying every private estate, all land remained subject to three inevitable public charges (' Trinoda necessitas') — 1. Military service in (but not alwaj^s confined to) defensive war. 2. The repair of bridges, and 3. of royal fortresses. The land-owning class consisted of the Eorls or larger owners who held under the crown, and the Ceorls, a much more numerous but independent class. J " They are the root," says Hallam, " of a noble plant ; the free socage tenants, or English yeomanry, whose independence stamped with peculiar features both our constitution and our national character." §. The limits of land were de- fined with scrupulous accuracy, and a Register of deeds and decisions, including mortgages, was kept in the Superior courts.|| The form of alienation, or transfer, * See Mr. C. Neate's 'Lecture on the Histoiy and Conditions of Landed Property,' p. 19. f Creasy. ' Hist, of England.' " The feebleness of the resistance of so brave a people as the English at the Battle of Hastings is attributed by Mr. Kcmble to the discontent and dei)ression of the middle class at the gradual absorption of all the public lands by the great owners of that day." % The Eorl and Ceorl (words whose terminal sound often coupled them in a sort of civil apposition) nearly corresponded to the Squire and Yeoman of a later day. The Thegnes (Thanes) were of a higher order, yet hardly equivalent to the nobleman of the present. § 'Middle Ages,' ii. 38fi. II Kelliam's ' Domesday Book,' p. 242, note 1. H 2 100 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Wren Hoskyns. was very simple •, but its efficacy was secured h?/ puhliclfj/. " Before tlie Conquest, grants of land were enrolled in the Shire- book, after proclamation made, in public Shire-mote, for any to come in that could claim the lands conveyed ; and this was as irreversible as the modern Fine with pro- clamations, or Kecove^3^"* It might almost shame a reader of our Blue-books on ' Sale and transfer of Land,' to find a ' Registry of Title,' and, what was then almost its equivalent, a ' Register of Assurances ' existing in the ancient English County courts, while the age of Christendom was yet written in three figures. The powxr of disposition by Will appears to have been unrestricted, extending even to oral declaration if formally made in the presence of a sufficient number of witnesses,! of whom eight or ten were usually re- quired; and all wills had to be established in the County court. The right of hereditary succession extended — in * Gurdon on ' Courts Baron.' f Hallam's ' Middle Ai^es,' ii. p. 393. He gives a very ancient and characteristic Saxon instrument, published by Hickes, recording a suit in a county court. " It is made known by this writing that in the Shire-gemot (county coiirt), held at Ageluothestane (Aj'lston, in Herefordshire), in the reign of Cnute, there sat Athelstan the bishop, and Kanig the alderman, and Edwin his son, and licofwiu, Wulfig"s son ; and Thurkil the White, and Tofig, came there on the king's business ; and there were Bryning the sheriff, and Athelweard of Frorae, and Leofwin of Frome, and Goodric of Stoke, and all the Thogns of Herefordshire. Then came to the mote l']dwin, son of Knneawne, and sued his mother for some lands, called Weolintun and Cyrdeslca. Tlien the bishops asked, who would answer for his mother. Then answered 'J'hurkil the White, a!id said that he would, if he knew the facts, which he did not. Then were seen in the mote three Thegns, that belonged to Feligly (Fawley, five miles from Aylston), Leofwin of Frome, ^gelwig the Wed, and Thinsig Stoegthman : and they went to her, and incpiired what she had to say about the lands which her son claimed. She said that she had no land that belonged to him, and fell into a noble passion against her son, and calling for Leofleda her kinswoman, the wife of Thurkil, thus spake to her before them: 'This is Leofleda my kinswoman, to whom / give my lands, money, clothes, and whatever I possess after my life ; and this said, she then spake to the Thegns : ' Behave like Thegns, and bear my message to all the good men in the mote, and tell tliem to whom 1 have given my lands, and all imy possessions, and nothing to my son ;' and bade them to be witnesses to this. And tlnis they did, rode to the mote, and told all the good men what she had enjoined them. Then 'JMiurkil the White addressed tlie mote, and requested all the Thegns to let his wife have the lands whieh her kinswoman had given iier ; and tlius they did, and Thurkil rode to the church of St. Ethclbert, with the leave and witness of all the i)eople, and had this inserted in a hook in the church.''^ A Nuncupative Will is recorded also in the Domesday of Worcestershire. Consuetudines, Gale, vol. iii. p. 708, England.] IN VARIOUS COUNTniES. 101 accordance with the custom of Gavel-kind — to all the children,* differing in this respect from that introduced after the Conquest, which has ever since })revailed in this country. To the ante-Norman Englishman the claim of primogeniture seems to have been unknown.^ A practice curiously the converse of it existed, however, in some districts, under the name of 'Borough-English,' by which the youngest son succeeded to the inheritance ;! the reason assigned for this preference being that tlie elder sons would be more surelj^ provided for during the father's lifetime ; a ground that may stand com- parison with some of the arguments used for our law of succession of the eldest. It may also be noticed that, upon the death of the son without issue, the father inherited. " By our common law he is absolutely and in every case excluded," writes Mr. Hallam, in the year 1829, just before this principle was restored to our law, after an interval of eight cen- turies, thus leaving only one of the ancient English land-institutions unredeemed from feudal change.^ Several features of the Saxon land laws, the relation of lord and ' vassal, '|| the obligation of military service, and the reverting of some lands to the State on the failure of male heirs, have led to the belief that an in- choate form of feudalism existed in England before the Norman invasion ; and the question has been contested b}^ high authority on both sides. Some negative evidence for the affirmative is found in the fact that no new code of law appears to have ever been promulgated by the Conqueror, who had sworn at his coronation to observe the laws of his new subjects. But the question is chiefly of antiquarian interest. A sovereign who not * Females were sometimes excluded. t William the Conqueror's charter Ui London provides (as for a jioint on which there might be ai)prehension) that the children of an Intestate shall inherit equally. As late as Hen. I. the eldest son only inherited the Fief; Boc-land went to the family. } This practice has lasted down to historical times in this country ; and seems to have been transplanted from England to Brittany. § See Freeman's ' Conquest,' vol. i. p. 597 ; note, on the use of the word ' English.' II This word is used by Asserius, a conlemporary of Alfred. 'JMiddle Ages,' vol. ii. p. 113. 102 SYSTE3IS OF LA^^D TENURE [Wren IIos^kyn^ 011I3' employed bis own justiciaries, using a foreign lan- guage not understood by the people, Imt provided the land itself with new ouniers, could afford — and would be not unlikely — to omit the ceremon.y of a new code. But the opposite opinion seems to be now generally received ; and it is strongly supported b}- the facts of the land being transferable inter vivos, devisable by will, and the inheritance equally shared by the children, features all so opposed to the principles of feudal tenure that they render the question, for the present purpose, unimportant. These and most other free and distinctive features of the native land laws were swept away and entirely abolished at the Conquest. William's grants made no distinction of public and })rivate land, and were all made by his own sole will as aljsolute sovereign, unshared by any Council, and to be held directly and solely of himself as feudal lord. " He formally established the doctrine of the universal supremacy of the Crown, and he exacted the solemn acknowledgment of it by all the landowners of England, at the great assembly which he convened at Salisbury in 1086.''* But he did much more than this. The same S3^stem which, on the Continent, formed a kind of social network of alternate sub-infeudation, shared by the nobles, took the shape in England of an oppressive tyranny of one sole monarch, felt chiefly in the exasperating incidents of "relief" and "wardship" which the Norman kings in succession inllicted upon their English subjectsf in place of the free and systematised land-institutions, which they had before enjoyed from the time of the great Alfred, and which found their attestation, with their death-l)low, in the terrible record of ' Domesday Book.' 'Jliat extraordinary work, which, as it sprang from the fiat of the Conquerer, has been attributed to his genius ami })ower, seems, however, to have owed the possibility of its production — accomplished as it was in the course * Creasy. * Hist, of Engliind.' ' Fiecman's Conquest of England.' t Ilallam seems . 1085, and tlie returns were brought to the court at Winchester, at Easter following. The same commissioners did not act for all England. They proceeded by summoning before them the sheriffs, lords of manors, parish priests, bailiffs, &c., to give an exact account of the land, whether wood, pasture, or tillage, &c. In some cases the live-stock were enume- rated. 104 SYSTEMS OF J.JND TENUBE [Wken Hoskyns. and no layman was al)lo, to draw comparisons in favour of the ancient landed liberties, against the system in which thej' were now taught, and to which all their learning and all their prejudices leaned. And thus, while in matters affecting the general liberty of the realm, the commonalty profited by the power, and shared many of the privileges, of the nobles — wrung from William's successors, and strengthened by repeated conlirmations of the Great Charter, — the evil seed of landed feudalism planted by his hand, and screened by its language from popular intelligence, produced its evil fruit ; and the tyranny of 'relief and 'wardship' continued, through successive centuries, to generate a systematic growth of " legal legerdemain," — a complete science of fiction and evasion — to escape its burdens, which still, unhap- pily, characterises the laws that govern real property in this country. But as " virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of it," the vestiges of English liberty and the perseverance of English resistance contrived to re- tain a large portion of the land under the modified and freer tenure called ' common socage,' in which, though the feudal bond existed, its exactions were pecuniary, instead of personal and military. This form of tenure was preferaltle in so far as it altered the character, though without getting rid of, that feudal dependence whose essential element was an enduring personal relation which no time released or affected as betmeen the lord and his heirs on the one side, and the tenant and his successors on the other. The power of alienation was, however, withheld, and the primogenitary succession substituted, though not so universally, for that of eqnal inheritance. Indeed that mode of land-succession was the keystone of feudal tenure ; for, as to the power of alienation during life, by the tenant in tail, though nominally forbidden, it was in the smaller fiefs connived at, on the condition that the lord was not deprived of his rights. Provided there was an eldest son to succeed to the duties and services of the fief, it did not greatly matter whose eldest son it was ; and the practice grew up of bespeaking the acceptance Ekgland.] in various COUNTRIES. 105 by the lord of the new tenant, during the life of tlie old one who wished to retire. This practiee did not extend to the tenants of the crown {in capite), but it became sufficiently general to lead to the enactment of two important and well-known statutes passed in the reign of Edward I. ; one {de Donis co)iditionaliba>:) which prohil)ited the collusive alienation of ' estates tail,' by which the lords had been deprived of their forfeitures on the failure of heirs ; the other {Quia Eniptores), passed five years afterwards, which, while appearing to legalise alienation, reclaimed the right of the superior lord against tlie attempts of the tenant to substitute himself as lord to the new purchaser, and reimposed on the land the same rights of lordship to which it had been subject in the hands of the vendor. These two statutes for nearly two centuries crushed the growing effort to emancipate land from its feudal fetters, at least by open alienation ; and had the further mischievous effect of making the position of the unfortu- nate tenant iu agriculture more insecure than ever, as no leasing power of one tenant-in-tail was binding on his successor. Thence, all good farming betook itself to the monastic houses, whose Mortmain lands became the fixed asylum of agricultural knowledge and improvement. Certainty of tenure out of doors, and the classical w^riters on husbandry studied and transcribed within, told powerfully upon the soil, and were draining and re- deeming into cultivation the fens and marshes of Lincoln, and Somerset, and Sussex, while elsewhere the pressure of feudal exaction upon the fee-simple proprietor, and the insecurity of the farming tenant, even under lease, reduced cultivation to its most precarious and servile condition, and dwarfed the agricultural growth of the kingdom. The remedy for the effects of these statutes was gradually found, in a practice which drew from the machinery of the law the instrument of its own evasion by means of wliat was called a " ( /ommon liecovery." This ingenious but surreptitious mode of transfer seems to have owed its invention to the churchmen, in 100 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [When Hoskyxs. order to evade the statute against Mortmain apjionded to the reissue of the Great Charter in the ninth year of Henry III., and consisted in the artifice of inducing liberal or superstitious landowners to l)ecome defendants in collusive lawsuits, in which the ecclesiastical ]:)lainti(rs sued for and recovered the lands as their own, no defence l)eiiig made to their claim : and these mockeries of law, as well as justice, received the sanction of the courts, equally to the disgrace of the clergy who instituted, and the judges who allowed them. But of all the manifold inventions which grew up under the pressure of feudalism, the most fertile of am- biguit}" was that by w^hich the ov/nership of land, while nominally vested in the hands of several proprietors, was secretly transferred to the " use " of another person, who was thus enabled to enjoy the beneficiary ownership without being liable to forfeiture, or the onerous charges of relief and wardship. Down to the time of Henry YIII. this practice had so increased that, by its means, a con- siderable part of the kingdom had contrived to get rid of some of the worst inconveniences of feudal tenure.* One evasion generates another ; and the adoption of " uses " was out-manoeuvred in its turn by a statute passed in the twenty-seventh year of this reign, by which the beneficiary owner of the ' use ' was drawn from his retreat, by the two estates being thrown into one, that is, by investing the owner of the Use with the " legal estate." And henceforward the machinery that had been employed in the creation of the Use was adopted for the transfer of land l)_y Deed witliout puhlicitij or registra- tion. Thus our whole present system of unregistered conveyances is derived from an original fraudulent evasion of the law ; " an objection of no great Aveight," observes * In the courts of Common Law the "use" was a nonentity ; and so it escajicd the Mortmain Statutes. But the Chancellors (who wei'e ahuost in- variably ecclcsiasticy), acting ujion the fiduciary principle introduced into Konian jurisprudence (to escape the harshness of the Voconian law u.c. 584), p;ave it validity, as binding on the conscience (" fidei commi.ssa :") and on the same principle, ' Ccsluujue Trust ' afterwards succeeded to ' Cestuique Use: HNiiLAND.] IN VARIOVS COUNTUTKS. 107 Mr. Neato, " as so much of tlic law of real propo'ty rests on no better foundation."* Nominally, this solidification of the Use into a taiifi-ible ' legal estate ' again subjected the land to its old feudal liabilities. But that iron grasp which, rising- out of the deca}^ of Roman power, had reached over the greater part of Europe, holding the mind and liberties of nations with a force so wonderfully concentrated — wonderful even when looked at from the advanced social organization of our own day — had begun to relax its hold. No better proof of this can be seen than in the fact that only live years after the Statute of Uses, the Act w^as passed (32 Hen. YIII.) which is commonly said to have given, but in truth restored^ the power to devise lands by Will. As this powder, which had freely existed before the Norman rule, was extinguished by the practice of primogenitary descent — with which it was of course incompatible — it would have been right that, on its resto- ration, the ancient English rule of equal division in case of intestacy should be also restored, as the system of exclusive heredity, though no longer required for feudal objects, could now be created at pleasure by Will. This, however, will be more fully considered presently. After an attempt to resuscitate the feudal claim of the sovereign by Charles I. in his struggle with the Parliament, military tenure was finally abolished in the first year (legally the twelfth) of Charles II. What then was the actual condition in which the formal extinction of feudal tenures left those laws that govern Land in all that is implied in its modern relation to the uses of society ? This is the anxious question, above all others, of the agricultural Owner, and Occupier, whose interests are so fundamentally, yet often ob- scurely, affected by the silent operation of the principles which regulate the distribution of the Soil. And first of all, what was the condition of the law especially in the three i)oints before named — the power of Alienation, of disposal by Will, and of Inheritance ? * ' History and conditioius of laiulcd property.' 108 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUIiE [Wrex IIoskyks. With reo'ard to the first, the early simplicity of trans- fer ae'coinpanied by public registiy, and even tlie later forms of Seisin and Enfeoffment, had become substituted by secret conveyance, through the instrumentality of private deeds, whose language was cast in the forms and phraseology derived from the reiterated struggles of ecclesiastical and legal ingenuity against feudal and statutory restrictions. " Fine and recovery," "conveyance to uses," "lease and release," all the circuitous shapes that evasion had been compelled to assume, survived, together with the whole storehouse of factitious science that had grown up around them. Once launched into existence, the system of private and unregistered conveyance had generated a science and vocabulary applicable to the numberless " estates " created in land, which made every ' title ' a matter of intricate personal history ; hence arose the necessity of investigations requiring the most practised and recondite knowledge of the whole body of statute law, which feudalism, though extinct, had left behind it; and demanding a long train of evidence, traced in full upon the instrument of conveyance, of all the * dealings ' that had occurred to the ' estate ' of the vendor, for, at least, the period of human life ; indeed, the riglit of bringing " real actions " (suits for the recovery of land) far exceeded this limit. It would be a hopeless and presumptuous task to at- tempt to present, in a mere popular essay, even a sketch of the history of all the various ' estates ' upon which land was held, each a study in itself, and which neces- sarily entered into the question of title, when once that was divorced from the public evidence which had guarded its simplicity and security. The mere epitome of all the various doctrines of legal and ecpiitable estates, of seisins, of uses, of trusts executed and executory, of powers at common law, and in equitj^ of terms of years outstanding and assigned, of mortgages, of all the com- plex interests, often fictitious, and even contradictory — by which "the same person may be at one side of AVest- minster Hall the owner, and at the other a trespasser " — Rxr.LANn.] IN VABIOUS COUNTHJEK 109 wlik'li form tlio Real Property Law of this country, would awaken in tlie mind of the reader a kind of despair that might well take the form of Rasselas's exclamation after hearing- Inihic's catalogue of the requisites to make a Poet. "Enongh! no man can be aA^endor or a Purchaser ; or a Conmyancer I proceed with thy narrative." Those who are most deeply versed in the intricate science that grew out of so mau}^ centuries of conflict between land in its feudal sense, and land in its modern development as the basis of all industry, the source of all wealth, will, perhaps, least wonder at the slow and partial emancipation witnessed even to our own day, from that state in which the extinction of military tenures left it two centuries ago. Five bulky volumes of blue-books, reaching from 1829 to nearly the present date^ record the labours of the Real Property Commissioners, who from time to time have entered upon this Plerculean labour. The limi- tation of 'Real actions,' the earliest result of their inquiry, and which held out the promise of a title by twenty years' possession,* reserving the five exempted cases of infancy, coverture, idiotcy, lunacy, and beyond seas, proved, for practical purposes, a failure. No con- veyancing skill or human foresight could insure a purchaser against the eventualities that might be lurk- ing in the ten years' reservation accorded to this formid- able list of excepted claims. Capital is proverl)ially timid ; and the fear that indulges itself at another's cost, and not without advantage to the prudent alarmist, is more easily awakened than allayed. The abolition of Fines and Recoveries,! of the assignment of Outstanding Terms,! and of the Lease and release,§ have done some- thing to sinii)lify the form and language of the deed of conveyance, but not much towards the shortening of titles, from which conveyancing practice abates little if any of its claim for the exhibition of a title on the part of a Vendor, or Mortgagor, for a period equivalent to two generations. * 3 and 4 Wm. TV. c. 27. f Ibid. c. 74. \ S and 9 Vict. c. UJG § Ibid. c. 112. 110 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Wrex IIoskyns. So early as at the time of the Restoration this uncer- tainty of the titles to estates was stated as " one cause of the decay of rents and value of lauds,"* and at the date of the report of the Commissioners on the Rejxistration of Title (1857), upwards of twenty bills had within twenty years been brought into Parliament in order to establish a system of Eegistration ; and a Select Com- mittee of the House of Lords appointed to inquire into the burthens upon land, attributed the diminution of its marketable value to the tedious and expensive process attending its transfer, and asked for a " thorough revision of the whole subject of conveyancing, and the disuse of the present prolix and vexatious system." The problem has not been suffered to sleep, and has been taken up by Chancellor after Chancellor, as if the highest station of the legal profession had come to recognise the task as a challenge to its corporate conscience ; and the names of Cairns, of Westbury, and of Hatherley are each associated with the noblest efforts to remove an evil, of which neither the existing Land Register in England, nor the Landed Estates Court in Ireland, have furnished any permanent abate- ment. Lidividual practice defeats in detail the per- missive operation, in the former case, of an Act which was soon found to offer a remedy that, like Inoculation, has too much of the original disease for safe or profitable use; and titles gather again the parasitic evils from which they were temporarily freed, once for all as it was vainly hoped, in the latter. The same disproportionate cost, delay, and repeated investigation for every fresh transaction of sale or mortgage remain ])ractically as they were ; impressing the public mind with the feeling that he who enters upon the sale or purchase of land must do so under the warning that he is indulging in something that has mnuy of the features of a Laic-suit^ of uncertain cost, duration and result, through the operation of a system as opposed to the simple forms of antiquity, as it is to the Inroad stream of modern thought and i)roce- dure in all the transactions of business, and of social life. * 1009, Lori\,wn's Chancery Cases, Vol. i. p. 505. See also Jarman's Powell,. 77-78, et seq. (See note, p. 144.) 118 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Wren Hoskyns. Volumes have l)een written, the highest authorities in political economy appealed to, proposals made Session after Session in the House of Commons, the practice of every civilised country in the world cited (with one or two exceptions, which fortify the rule they seem to infringe), in order to remove this straggling waif of an extinct system from our law. The prevailing influence which has deferred its removal has been the fear of the subdivision of land, by the breaking-up of estates. As things suggest their extreme opposites by a well- known natural law, this fear has been intensified by that portion of the Code Napoleon which, on the other side of the English Channel, has parcelled out French soil by a law which subjects the testa- mentary power of the parent to the number of his children, dividing his estate accordingly. This arbitrary morcellement is pictured as the inevitable alternative ; as though the interspace of freedom and true prin- ciple which lies, broad as the channel itself, between the two, were lost to sight, or had no existence. Hasty and unfounded assumptions of evil results from ' peasant proprietaries ' are readily accepted, w^hich if true would be immaterial to the question of the removal of a law which, anomalous itself, can only come into operation by intestacies, which its abrogation would render still more rare ; a law which, when it does operate, " makes a will for a man which any one of its supporters would deem it an insult to be accused of making for himself."* They who really value the Custom of primo- geniture — a practice in this country centuries older than tliat law, and likely long to survive it — should, in true consistency, banish from })ublic view its hideous effigy, which presents the hard lineaments of exclusive heredity in the most revolting form — that of disinheritance to all but one, leaving the widow, the helpless daughters, and the other sons destitute. Its condemnation is pronounced by nothing more strikingly than by the practice of the primo- genitary class, for no well-drawn settlement ever omits to make j)rovisiou for the widow, and the younger children. * Ml". W. L. Nevvmnn on the I.aiitl Laws. England.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 110 It is the unfortunate peculiarity of laws governing the distribution of land, that their effect upon the life and welfare of the community, unlike those causes which directly touch the personal freedom or convenience of individuals, is often obscure, lying remote from their con- sequences; like that class of poisons which, received into the circulation, enter the tissues of the body without detection, to be recognised only in the concrete form of diseased structure. The evils are slow of cure that reach men thus indirectly, and have to wait upon opinion. Such is the character of this law. It passes innocuously through the upper stratum of large proprietors, where the absence of family entail — its almost universal substi- tute — is extremely rare ; where it alights, when it does so, is generall}^ upon those small and unpretending acreages, whose owners have found it possible to marry without a settlement and die without a will, a class of proprietors upon whose surviving families it works the greatest hardship, who are often as ignorant of its existence as they are innocent of primogenitary inten- tion. The instances of singular hardship among such intestates cited by Mr. Locke King in his repeated introduction of the Bill to the House of Commons have been sometimes met by the trite reply that ' extreme cases make bad law.' The converse is the truth here ; it is the bad law, and only the laiv, that makes the extreme cases; and its extinction would obviate a scandal to our landed system which rarely, if ever, arises under the operation of the custom of primogeniture as arising by deed or will. It may be hoped that the majority obtained in the House of Commons during the last session in favour of the Bill which Mr. Locke King has so consistently kept before the leo-islature indicates a chancre of view not con- fined to the mere narrow issue involved in the clauses of the Bill. The popular arguments which enter into its debate have often obscured the far more important question that it governs, forming, as it does, the basis of the obsolete distinction expressed in English law by the words 'real 'and 'personal,' a distinction more expres- 120 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Wken IIoskyns. sively indicated ])y the terms movable and immovable, which have passed from the Roman law into other European systems. But if the limited ownership resulting from our system of entail be unfavourable to the investment of capital by the Proprietor, it is yet commonly thought that under the security of a Lease there is nothing to prevent it on the part of the occupying Tenant. Most well-drawn settlements contain leasing powers extending to twenty- one years ; and it is often said that the freedom of contract between the owner and occupier leaves the parties at liberty to make what arrangements they please. But even here one of the worst vestiges of feudal law meets us again. By the statute of Gloucester (6 Edw. I.) the maxim was established, Quicquid plantatur solo, solo cedit, which took away all claim of the tenant over every addition he had annexed to or incorporated with the land the moment that his interest, whether yearly or by lease, expired. Under the misapplied name of ' Waste,' he was even forbidden to erect any building upon land where there was none before, or to convert one kind of edifice into another, even of improved value to the estate. Exceptions were soon made, after the jiassing of the statute, in favour of Trade ; and Lord Holt is reported to have said that trade fixtures were even recoverable by Common Law.* But the statute has always operated with lull severity against the tenant in agriculture, whose pro- perty is thus confiscated in any engine or machine annexed to the soil, though for the express })urposes of the farm, and without which it could not be profitably occupied. It would be difficult to conceive a law more injurious to the very party in whose favour it was made ; and probably there is none in the whole range of land legislation by which tlie proprietor has sudered more loss than by this. The temptation to outlay upon land by the occupier even under short leases is always disproportionately great — I'ar * lOlwcs V. Mawo. L* Sniitli L. C. and Notes. Sec also the Judgment of Lord Uardwicko in Lawtdu v. Lawtou, and of Lord Kenvon in Tcnton v. Kobart, 2 East 'JO. Englan-o.] in various COUNTRIES. 121 beyond what the tenure seems to justify ; and, fi^eneraUy speakmg, no one knows so well as himself what is re- quired. A law the very opposite to that a})ove referred to, and encouraging a regular system of valuation for addition and improvement by the tenant, would be the most salutary for the interests of all parties, and would have added millions sterling to the landed wealth of the country. It av ould hardly be too much to say of this law that it has lain like a cankerworm at the root of the whole question of landlord and tenant, wherever that question indicates adverse instead of united interests. It is obvious almost to a truism that, next to the occu- pation of the owner himself, the occupation that most resembles ownership must, by the imperative laws equally of the soil and of human instinct, Ije the most profitable to both parties by the uninterrupted progress of improvement and addition to the land. The expense of keeping up a high state of cultivation is small, compared with that of restoring it \ and the national loss is almost incalculable which the ' beggaring out ' of farms has occasioned under the influence of the motives ])rought into action b}- this law. No tenant even under lease would lay out money in improvements which he must leave behind him, on the estate of another, unless he felt sure of such increased profits during his term as would repay him ; and therefore it is that under short leases and yearly tenancies the land is rarely cultivated to its full extent. Moderation of charge in case of actual change of tenancy would be generally insured by the fact that every addition made by the occupier is far more valuable in situ than after removal. The recom- mendation of the Real-Property Committee of the Law Amendment Society was strongly in favonr of an altera- tion of the law in this particular. The words of their Report on this point state — " That the law with respect to things affixed to the freehold is different and more beneficial to the tenant as regards the annexations made for the purposes of trade than those made fur the i)urposes of agrimlture ; an out- going tenant being permitted in many cases to remove 122 SY.)iTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Wren Hoskyss. the former Avlien erected by himself, but not the latter." The practical effect of what may be called the feudal law of Fixtures, as still subsisting, is that the parties to the supposed contract meet each other scarcely upon fair and equal terms. A lease even for twenty-one years underlain by a law that confiscates to the lessor whatever is left unremoved or unexhausted (to adopt the infelicitous expression of common use) upon the land by the lessee is somewhat deceptive in operation, because it includes in the term those years near its effluxion during which productive outlay has to be withdrawn, and the ' mill works half time ;' and of necessity restricts all investment to that which can be withdrawn within the term. The evidence of one of the witnesses (Mr. Owen, a Berkshire land agent) given before Mr. Pusey's com- mittee (on agricultural customs) put this matter in a true light : — " I am convinced of this, that where landlords cannot make improvements, there are so many cases where the tenant has the means of making them, that he could make them very much to his advantage, and very much to the landlord's advan- tage ; because I consider that, under the present system in our country of letting farms, farms are what we call ' beggared out.' There is not a farm that I have re-let, but every tenant who has quitted has taken everything out of the farm that he possibly could. If a system could be laid down where that never could be allowed to be done, and any outlay that the tenant had made upon that property, whether they were improvements by build- ing or manure, he should liave the certainty of being repaid for them, I think the benefit would be immense, both to the land- lord, and the tenant, and the public." Under the existing sj'stem operating over the greater part of the land in this kingdom, it is a difficult matter to say who there really is possessing such an interest in the soil as to enaljle or even justify the full amount of profitable investment. The ostensible owner, usually a tenant for life, cannot make it for the reasons before noticed ; the remainder-man cannot make it, because he is not in possession. The ' tenant-farmer ' cannot do it, because he, at best, is only a holder for a term of j^ears, EN(iLAND.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 123 which every year l)rii\ti;s nearer to its conchision. The Avhole system of hmded settlement is founded upon laws and habits unconnected with the needs of modern agriculture. To an occupier, whether of lands or tenements, life- tenure is the one which offers the highest inducement to make every necessary outlay and improvement. The uncertainty of life is one which each individual con- strues favourabl}'' to himself, under the influence of that useful feeling, which has been said, with as much truth as poetry, to make " all men think all men mortal but themselves." But to the owner who is not the occupier, the case is exactly reversed : here the calcu- lation of life operates for the avoidance of all that diminishes the annual return ; and even necessary rei^airs are apt to be postponed. On the other hand, a lease for years, even though the term may exceed the l)robable duration of the life of the lessee, is always looked upon in reference to its effluxion ; the average ' expectation ' (to use a technical expression) of a 21 years' lease is only 10 h years. Now, by the sj^stem pursued in agricultural tenure both these principles of action are violated. The oc- cupier, holding for a period which the law recognises only as a chattel interest, is dissociated from that desire of improvement common in the case of a life interest ; and the \ife-owner, uninterested in the occupation, finds his account to lie in a direction equally negative to per- manent investment. Such is the formal position of the parties. The varieties of circumstance and locality modify it greatly ; and the ordinary amount of capital employed in farming, where drainage and other improvements are not re- quired, enables the system to work smoothly enough to hide the defects of the machinery. But where heavy outlay is required, as where embankments, arterial and other drainage, inclosure, expensive irrigation, road- making, and other permanent additions are needed, the want of a capitalist soon discloses itself. It would be impossible, under such circumstances, to undertake 124 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Wre\ Hoskyxs. any work of heav}^ and protracted outlay wliere the annual returns did not, as in a farm, meet, if not far exceed, the current outlay. Government drainage-grants and land-improvement companies thus rose up, in evidence, that life-tenure forbade the employment of capital upon settled estates. The immediate benefit conferred by the machinery of these grants is no proof of the political wisdom of the system. The work is done ; but " the relief, like that known to medical science under the name of local remedy, is followed by a recurring ' local liability.' The power to follow up the enlarged business growing out of the loaned investment will, in most cases, devolve upon the tenant. That a public company, itself borrowing public money, should have to be invoked to help a land- owner to carry on the business of his own estate would offer a singular commentary upon the state of the English land-laws, to a person uninformed of the cause. And of this we may be sure, that wherever a series of supplcmentaiy devices manifests itself, in order to meet a state of things at variance with the progress of the time, it indicates the undercurrent of a law struggling against worn-out barriers that will not long be able to withstand it. In no other country is there known to exist any l)arallel to the sj'stem of land tenancy prevailing so commonly in England, by which the relations between the ow^ner and occupier are comprehended in the ex- pressive phrase, ' a good understanding.' It has been construed severely by some as a compact of selfish interests ; politics, and game, on one side, undisturbed tenure and rent on the other, and stigmatised as a sorry substitute for Leases. More favourable critics have seen and eulogised in it the evidence of a mutual trust rarely exampled, and equally honourable to both })arties in the unwritten contract. It scarcely merits either the blame or the praise. Leases were common upon most English estates down to the period of the AVar at the close of the last century, when the extraordinary and rapid rise in the l)rices of produce and value of land took place, and Englaxp.] in various COUNTRIES. 125 continued to advance throughout the war, causing a complete disruption of all previous calculations. The collapse that occurred at tlie close of the war in 1815, followed by the extreme uncertainty which marked the Corn Law period of the next thirty years, sustained the interruption, though from an opposite cause. Yearly tenancy thus became for more than half a century the almost inevitable alternative of a period when agricultural prices, and political apprehensions, alike uncertain, scarcely allowed of any but provisional terms ; and tenants as well as owners were willing to stand loose from permanent engagements, not knowing what a year might bring forth ; believing that no skill or foresight could reduce future prospects to calculation, for the fixed and unelastic terms of a Lease. The Corn- law question is gone ; but the ' good understanding ' survives the causes that gave it origin. It has, however, this defect, that as it offers no banking security, it increases the dependence of the English as compared with the Scotch tenant, and the analogy which in this respect exists between his own holding and that of the owner Avho has to play the banker's part. In Ijoth, the nature of the tenure discourages the outlay of private capital by those who possess it, and prevents the employment of loaned capital by those who would borrow it. The effect of this upon the condition of the Labourer will be presently noticed. In Scotland, the predominance of leases, though not of earlier date, has been more systematic, and was pre- served with less interruption during the period affected by the circumstances above named, than in England. Several distinct causes have conduced to this : the difference resulting from a climate less favourable to speculative excess in the growth of grain, and less influ- enced therefore by a system of legislation based on the market value of that produce ; a more diffused education giving clearer views of the practical value of leases, coupled with their available use, and recognition by bankers, as security for advances of capital to the lease- holder ; the power to heirs of entail (under the Mont- 12G SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Wren PIoskyns. gomery Act) to charge the estates for their own im- provement — all these causes combined have produced a very characteristic difference in the land system of our northern neighbours, and a more commercial and business-like independence in the general economy of landed and farm management. In Ireland the land question has a history of its own, a history that presents the most deplorable and in some respects the strangest issues that ever in any country have darkened the problem of the vicarial occupation of land. It is too much forgotten that this relation of man with man is one for which nature has made no provision. No appeal lies to any innate sense, as in that of the parental, fdial, or fraternal instinct, in aid of the tie, conjunctive or disjunctive, as the case may prove, that unites — or confronts — the interests of men under the factitious relation of proprietor and occupier. It is one that bow^s to no sentiment, nor tolerates even the un- sound ring of a faulty metaphor. " We pull in the same boat," said the English landlord to his tenant, when rents hung quivering upon the Corn law^ Debates : "Yes, but in opposite directions," was the humorous retort. There was a vein of truth in the reply, that is ever at hand, to show itself on the surface when occasion calls. " The land laws of Ireland," it is often remarked, " are the same as those of England ;" — where large estates have made large farms, and large farms have in their turn produced a gigantic manufacture of machines and lal30ur-saving implements, unknown to former times or other countries, itself reacting upon a system whose broad-scale cultivation is finally quoted, perhaps too exclusiveh^ as the perfection of agriculture. It is true that the laws are the same. But there is an old adage of authority, that 'indifferent laws well administered are better than good laws badly admin- istered.' If England has exemplified the first category, in the sister island has been seen the worst of both. By the presence of the wealthy English proprietor amongst his tenants, l)y the example — sometimes the Enqland.] in various COUNTRIES. 127 warning — of his own experimental farm, Ijy the intro- duction of the last 'new and improved' machine, and the best blood, by the intelligent and kindly intercourse (not confined to the " stumpy courtesies of males ") per- vading the estate as from a central focus, by his heavy bills for farm repairs, constantly occasioning some visita- tion of his own, be the mason and carpenter never so alert, or the steward never so ul)iquitous; by these mere commonplaces of an English landlord's life, what laws, however awkward and rusty, could fail to move lightly on well-oiled hinges ? What does the tenant, in such a case, think or care about the ' land laws ?' What are they to him more than the night-wind that whistles through the keyhole of his well-warmed dwelling, erected — like everything else upon the farm except the very corn-ricks — by his landlord, and at a cost whose yearly mterest, exclusive of repairs, is a running item ' written off' by the hand of Time, in the silent partnership that meets his own investment in the soil. Now take away all this ; substitute, one cannot say its ' opposite ' — the picture of its mere absence — in every particular ; open the Pandora's box, and let out all the ills that follow the ' curse of absenteeism,' — the rack-rent, the often unfurnished farm, with its lean kine, and fossil implements, the dismal dirty cabin ; and let the same wind blow upon the scene — upon " this picture and on that." Would it be possible, out of the same bare ele- ments, to create a greater contrast ? under the ' same laws ' to produce more opposite effects ? But a contrast no less striking lies in this, that whilst in England the aggregation of land under the influence of entails has tended to create large farms ; on the other hand it has been under these very laws that the worst evils that have ever been associated with small holdings of land, as seen in the cottier system of Ireland, have grown up ; and led to results that reached their climax in the Encumbered Estates Court, and the Potato famine : whilst no such results have been ever exemplified or heard of in those countries, and they are many, whose laws are favourable instead of adverse to the distribu- 128 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Wken Hoskyns. lion of land (in the sense understood by political econo- my). Yet that which looks so like a paradox, is as due to the simple laws of cause and effect as anything can be which the history of land teaches. The solution lies in the well-known fact that men treat what is their own in one way, and what is another man's in another way ; that what is a man's own teaches him care and economy, while in dealing with that which is another's he learns indifference and waste. Let Ireland on the one hand, and Belgium (or Prussin, since the introduction of Stein's system), on the other, be taken as illustrations. In the former \vere to be seen immense estates held, and let at second hand, by ' middle men ;' and let and sublet again, like a sporadic growth generating its kind, till it reached, if it did reach, its unit in the potato-patch. In the latter, the law which facilitates and cheapens purchase, to the small equally with the large buyer, beginning, at the small end, so to speak, sets at work the self-interest, and care, and prudence, of every individual who can buy, no matter what the quantity. The result shows itself in the con- duct and character of a whole people. In each case, the land reflects like a mirror the motives set to work upon it. Take away the individual sense of property, and the opposite result is seen. Arthur ^'oung's often- quoted words underlie the whole question. Those who attribute the results experienced in Ireland to national character, find in Ireland examples which contradict the judgment, even were it not nullified by the impossibility of distinguishing between cause and effect. In his speech on the second reading of the Irish Church Bill the Bishop of Lichfield (late Bishop of New Zealand) said ; " In Now Zealand, Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen, live together npon the best terms. The qualities of each particular class become blended with each other to the im- provement of all. No dissension as to tenant right can arise, hecause every tenant has the rigid of imrohasing the land he holds at a fixed price. Under tlusi', circumstances tlie tenants, instead of being lazy and drunken, strain every nerve in order Englan-d.] 7.V VARTOUS COUNTRIES. I'jO to save the money which will enable them to become the Dro- prietors of the land they occupy. In this way it ha})pens that the most irregular people of the Irish I'ace become steady and industrious, acquiring property, and losing all their wandering habits, until it becomes almost impossible to distinguish between the comparative value of the character of Irish and Scotch elements. *' Of their loyalty to the Crown I can speak from my own observation, for the only regiment that is employed in keeping order in New Zealand is Her Majesty's Royal Irish." But if tills be true in New Zealand, it is not less exemplified at home, where the impartial pen of the Times' correspondent in Ireland has exhibited instances of estates as well managed by resident proprietors.^ and in some cases by intelligent agents, and a tenantry as satisfied, prosperous, and attached, as in any part of England. The description given of the Bessljorougli tenantry might be taken as an exemplar of small farming. Where the same ameliorating causes are present the same results are found to follow ; but these are exceptions, and will continue to be so wherever the English land laws prevail unmodified by the hand of the resident pro- prietor, and the resources presented in a wealthy manu- facturing country where the displaced agricultural population can find emploj'ment in the towns. It is not under such modifying conditions that our land laws work out their natural consequences. What we have to con- sider when examining a system are its absolute elements and structure, not the dress it may be made to wear under special circumstances, or in the lap of customs invented and adapted to relieve its pressure. Ireland has furnished the test and criterion of the naked action of laws, writing of which Lord St. Leonards, the most professional, not to say technical apologist thej^ have ever had, acknowledges that " no young state ought ever to be entangled in the complication of our law of real property." Such an acknowledgment from such a quarter leaves little unsaid ; it would be difficult to frame a heavier indictment. Our colonies have, one and all, wisely shrunk from their imposition ; the LTnited States rejected and repealed them as soon as they were K 130 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [\VREN;;nosKYxs. free to choose, and there is now (with one, and that only a partial exception), not a country of the civilised world in which they survive. Ireland alone — not a colony, not a dependency, but an integral part of the United Kingdom — is involved in the unwelcome partner- ship of laws which we inflict upon ourselves in the teeth of our own Commissioners' Reports and the testimony of our greatest lawyers and economists, " Committees and commissions," writes Mr. Booth, in answer to the Real Property Commissioners,* " composed of men of capacity and experience of all parties, have, over and over and over again, patiently and ably investigated the causes of the distresses, difficulties, and misfortunes peculiar to Ireland, and there has been an almost general concurrence of opinion in their numerous reports, as also in the writings of otlier able men, including those in the periodical press of the whole kingdom, that the system of Transfer of Land requires simplifi- cation and amendment. The whole subject has, in short, been so exhausted in these publications, that it is scarcely possible to suggest an idea upon it which has not been clearly expressed before. " Simple absolute ownership of land is the condition most favourable to its improvement ; but, nearly up to the present time, such ownership has been very limited in Ireland. The land has been almost wholly held by tenants for life, often liable to the payment of heavy annual charges for incumbrances, or by men holding under such circumstances of tenure as deprived them of that stimulus to the expenditure of labour and capital which accompanies a full ownership of land. The personal interest of the absolute owner is, that his land shall become as valuable in every respect as he can make it ; that of the mere life annuitant, or of the man having any other limited interest in it, is merely that his own rent shall be as high as can be obtained. IMillions of the public money have been lavishly squandered in the vain audeavour to put down evils which would have had no existence under a better state of the laws of property ; disturbances and insurrecticns, with all their attendant misfortunes and crimes, have, until very recently, for a century past existed in Ireland as a chronic disease, clearly traceable, to the anomalous state of ownership and tenure of lan. 411. Com- muiiication from Mr. William Booth, C.B. (Ordnance Office), Dublin. Englaxd.] 7^ VAIUOUS COUNTRIES. 131 with land, that some persons erroneously believe they were contrived expressly to deter men from becoming the owners of real property. There could not have arisen such universal dis- satisfaction with the existing laws, or such general approbation of that most salutary measure, the Incumbered Estates Act, unless the evils of the ordinary system had become almost intolerable. "The people of Ireland of the inferior classes are very shrewd and intelligent. I have often heard men of that class make use of a common sayiug, ' A pennyworth of land, a pound's worth of law.' Since the passing of the Incumbered Estate Act another expression has become common : ' It was the best thing ever done for Ireland.' " There can be no doubt that Ireland, by means of its existing Registry of deeds, its complete Ordnance survey, and uniform public valuation, and the machinery formed under the Incumbered Estates Act, possesses obvious facilities for the introduction of some permanent system to facilitate the sale and transfer of land." The Encumbered Estates Act did all that a temporary remed}' could do for a permanent disease ; but it *' scotched the snake, not killed it." It probed the wound and showed where the mischief lay. It even created wealth in Ireland, and a taste of prosperity which has flushed the cry for a constitutional cure, for land laws that shall not drift the country again into the renewed need of such a irieasure. The treatment of the Irish land disease will hardly be found by ignoring its cause, lest the discoveiy should present us with the home motto, " physician, cure thy- self." Nor will the cure be hastened by indulging the selfish nationality that expects from another peoi)le the race-characteristics that do not belong to them. It may be startling to the English experience that prefers tenancy to ownership, or to the Scotch intelligence that has brought leasehold to a science, to find their panacea imperfectly appreciated by a people whose native attach- ment is to the land more than to forms of tenure, or even length of lease. But statesmanship embraces all nationalities ; and if the utmost freedom of land purchase,— which all au- thorities on the wealth of nations have pronounced to be K 2 132 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE [Wren IIoskyks. one of the first of national l^cnefit?, — contain, as proved in other conntries, the permanent cure for agrarian diffi- cult}^, the day may be nearer than it is thought, — and near it is, if there be truth in the maxim that a complete diagnosis is half a cure — when the long-runuiiig issue of Ireland's greatest trouble shall be dried up. But the malady of centuries' growth is not cured in a year. Hitherto the points of view from which the history of our land laws has been considered have comprehended only the interests of the Owner, and the Occupier, whose individual and relative positions it has been attempted to trace. The two classes that remain — the Labourer, and that large portioji of the public who have no direct participa- tion in the owaiership or tenancy of land — seem to fall under a different field of inquiry. It is true, w^e commonly hear our agricultural system spoken of as comprehending the Landlord, the Tenant, and the Labourer, and so in a certain sense it does ; but no one who considers the position of the labourer in English agriculture will assert that he has any fixed personal tie within the structure, that he stands to it in any rela- tion but that of an auxiliary, more or less in demand at different seasons of the year, subject to the precarious vicissitudes of that demand, no longer indeed as in former times, adscriptus glebce — free to go and come as he pleases, but without part or parcel in tlie land he helps to cultivate, or any certain abode upon it, near it, or in connection with it, for himself or for his family. This is no overdrawn picture : neither are the facts stated due to any surviving hardship of feudal habits which modern legislation has forgotten to correct. On the contrary, the labourer w^as, till recent times, the recognised inmate of the farmer's house, and still farther back than this, the bond that tied him to the soil, the badge of his servitude, was yet the link whicli connected liis life and social state with that of his employer, who was usually tlie Owner of the land he tilled. Time has changed all this; and, for most other classes, for the England.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 133 better. But the same English reign that awarded to the labourer his freedom, marks the origin of our Poor- law system — an ominous association — and his present disconnection from all that is known as the " progress of societ}'," constitutes not only the reproach of our agri- cultural advancement, but an acknowledged blot upon our social system. It would be a libel upon any class of the generation to which we belong to charge upon it the isolated phenomenon which the agricultural laljourer presents in the midst of the growing wealth, and the growing poverty, that arc separating the modern life of this country into the problem of two gigantic masses widening from each other, and both rapidly augmenting : " constantly in- creasing rates, constantly increasing pauperism, millions of mone}^ spent, yet without satisfaction, and — infinitely w^orse — millions of human beings whose very name im])lies a degradation even in their own eyes as re- cipients of parochial relief " * on the one side, and on the other, on a scale never before exemplified, " the most conclusive evidence that the production of wealth in this country is so vast and so rapidly augmenting that it is idle to say poverty exists because enough wealth is not produced."! Aw anomaly within this wider anomaly is presented in the farm-labourer ; for while in every other feature of progress — in machinery, in skill, in applied science, and in scale of profit, the business to which his labour belongs has advanced at a ratio never before witnessed, his position has been, except in a few favoured districts, worse than stationary. Mr. Caird's tour, in 1850, through the counties of England, established that " while in the purely agricultural counties the rent of land, and the rent of a labourer's cottage had risen since the tour of Arthur Young, 100 per cent., the price of butter 100 per cent and of meat 70 per cent., the rise in the labourer's wages was but 14 per cent." Over the south and west of England, the description given by Mr. Fawcett of those whose * Speech of the President of the Poor Law Board, DeccPiler 20, 1868. t Fawcett. ' Economic Position of the British Labourer,' p. 6. 134 STSTEJilS OF LAND TENURE [Wren Hoskyxs. daily toil is on the land, is still applicable. " Theirs is a life of incessant toil for wages too scanty to give thera a sufficient supply even of the first necessaries of life. No hope cheers their monotonous career : a life of con- stant laljour brings them no other prospect than that when their strength is exhausted they must crave as suppliant mendicants a pittance from parish relief. Many classes of la))0urers have still to work as long, and for as little remuneration as they received in ])ast times ; and one out of every twenty inhabitants of England is sunk so deep in pauperism that he has to be supported by parochial relief."* Comparisons are sometimes drawn l^etween the agri- cultural labourer in England, and in other countries ; but little reliance can be placed upon parallels made by travellers from hasty generalisation, mostly in ac- cordance with foregone conclusions, and which contra- dict each other : the true and honest comparison in all countries is that which arises in measuring the relative advance of class with class at home. And here the state of the agricultural labourer presents itself as that of one thrown out of participation by the very system which his toil helps to build. The manual labour of an aral)le farm forms at least a third of the entire cost of production ; nothing is more common than to hear the complaint of the great costliness of this element in the year's accounts. In his useful little essay Mr. Bailey Denton remarks, " the only way to justify an increase of tiie labourer's wages will be by rendering the value of the labour greater than it now is."f Yet its energy and power are wasted, almost without a thought, even in the mere clement of distance^ — which has been aptly compared to the day's march of a soldier, — between the toiler and his work ; coupled with a neglect of his comfort, of his spirit, and of his intelligence, that diminishes its value as much as the waste of physical power. But effects do not arise without causes, and the con- dition of the labourer will derive no permanent change * I'\a\vcctt. ' Economic Position of the British Labourer,' p. ti. t ' Tlic Agriciiltiirul Labourer,' by J. I5ailcy Denton, Esq. England,] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 135 from the mere suggestions of philanthropy. It must be studied in conjunction with the system of which it is a part. The kiw of Parish Settlement swept away Cot- tages, and tlie Union Chargeability Act has done notliing to restore them. Whose interest is it under our universal system of tenancy to provide the labourer with a home that may connect him with his work ? The farming tenant cannot do so ; the land is not his to build on, nor the permanent interest his, to care to sprinkle the land with dwellings that might furnish hands for acres to those who come after, or even, it may be, for next year ; for who can tell what change to himself a year may bring forth ? And the landlord cannot do it; for what, under our system, is his interest? He lets his land for the return that another man's capital and skill can make of it, by any means not forbidden in the agreement or lease. It is the tenant's natural endeavour — it is his business — to make the most that he can, and within a certain time ; and if he could cultivate his farm entircl}^ by machinery, without employing a single labourer upon it, it would be worth his while to purchase a saving so econo- mical to himself, placed as he is in the position of an occupier to whose point of view each cottage is a standing threat upon the rates, subject to the ivhole of which he rents his farm. Under our land-tenure system — that of the life owner under settlement, and the yearly tenant farming the land for the largest profit that can be made from it, by the most compendious machinery, with the least outlay of manual labour — the interest of the labourer in the soil, his relation to it, or to either of the other parties, is one admitting of strange definition. He is 7iot his landlord's workman, and he is iiot his employer's tenant ; — the man who emplo3's cannot house, and the man who could house does not employ him. Dependence has its advantages, and independence its charms ; but his lot is so cast as to derive the minimum of benefit from either. The improvement of his present condition b}^ education belongs to a great and solemn question of the day : but 136 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Wren IIoskyns. education which enhances the sense of hardship, also hnppily tends to emancipate the subject of it ; and an educated farm-labourer becomes, in too many cases now, a farm-labourer no longer. When we are considering how to improve the nest, it hardly helps the inquiry to show how the birds may learn to fly out of it. The question as to his cottage accommodation becomes, under our system, one of those detached problems that fall into the waste-basket of pure philanthropy. Whence he comes in the morning to his work, or whither he goes in the evening when he has done it, provided he has done it, his employer, who has no cottage to give him nor means of building one, may vainly inquire ; and if it presses lightly upon him, still more remotely does it touch the landlord, who is ill prepared to spend the portions of his younger children in making questionable additions to the inheritance of his eldest, b}^ erecting a class of buildings that have the worst reputation of all as an investment; thereupon the Government is in- voked to lend the public money — through " land improve- ment companies " empowered by Act of Parliament to furnish gentlemen's estates with Cottages, and to help '' Tenant for life " out of the dilemma between younger children and philanthropy ; and jiublic capital is invited to join an indirect scheme for keei)ing public capital out of the land-market. Dr. Hunter, the medical officer of the Privy Council, inquires, " whether all land wldch requires labour ought not to be held liable to the obligation, of containing a certain proportion of labourers' dwellings;"* and so we go on putting legislative props under this decaj'ing branch, and under that; the last thought that occurs being that of examining what it is that aih the circula- tion^ — what is the matter at the root ; — whether the defect be not in the system itself, which has been instru- mental in bringing the condition of the farm labourer to be preached at as a standing subject for charit}', philan- thro})y, state grants, and emigration, as if it was an isolated effect without a cause? 'I'lie (piestion has * Seventh Report. Ekc;i.and.] in VARIOUS COUNTRIES, 137 been brought so frequently of late before the public, the facts have been so fully and forcil)ly stated, of the housing, and condition, and prospects, of the agricultural labourer, that it is useless to repeat the descri|)tion. The point we have here to consider is its connection witli the landed system of which it forms a part, a part thrown out, indeed, like the slag from the working of the furnace, and yet a part. The striking defect of the system is that of his entire separation from all interest and share in the results of his own labour. " The worst-paid workmen in this country," says Mr. Fawcett, "are so thoroughly reckless that they seldom show any foresight for the future ; and even higher wages effect no permanent improvement in the condition of the poor. They do not save their increased earnings, but spend their money either in drink or luxurious living. That this should be the case can be a matter of no surprise whatever. There is no effect of ignorance more certain than an almost entire absence of foresight ; and the life of a hired labourer can exert no influence whatever towards cultivat- ing any of the habits of prudence . . . How much more powerfully would ])rudence be stimulated, if a definite prospect were held out, that a labourer might in the course of time, by means of his saving, secure a small landed property ! The value of such an acquisition is not to be estimated by the amount of w^ealth with which it enriches him. It makes him, in fact, a different man ; it raises him from the position of a mere labourer, and calls forth all those active qualities of mind Avhicli are sure to be exerted when a man has the consciousness that he is working on his own account." The proposal contained in this last paragraph has been looked upon in some quarters as if it was chimerical. The circumstances of "landed property " have with us become so thoroughly exceptional, that the very idea of wliat may be described as its proportional acquisition or enjoyment has ceased to be regarded as a possible reality. Such is the effect of habit and custom on many minds that they come to regard conventional impediments sanctioned 138 SYSTEMS OT' LAND TENURE [Wren Hoskyxs. by the law as if tliey were natural impossibilities. The effect becomes a cause, and the obstacles that artificially exist are the lions in the path of their own removal ; and the argument goes into a circle. Mr. Bailey Denton, in his essay before referred to, observes, " An agricultural labourer, if he is fortunate enough to have — what he ought invarialjly to have — a rood of garden ground as part of his occupation, which he may cultivate after he has done his wage-paid work, will grow upon it vegetables sufficient to yield him a return, after payment of rent and for seed, of at least U. a 3'ear, which is rather more than Is. C)d. a Aveek ... If I am right, the labourer makes from his garden ground a profit equivalent to the rent of his cottage." And in a previous page he says, '* as newly built cottages are now usuall}-^ placed so as to reduce to a minimum the distance the labourer has to walk, wherebv time and sinew are saved, the advantages to the employer are, in the aggregate, equal to the difference between the return due to the condemned hovel and that due to the improved cottage ; and thus, in point of fact, the farm labourer receives in abetter home an equivalent to increased wages." A consummation devoutly to be wished. But mean- time (with some striking exceptions in the eastern coun- ties) there is not a living animal connected with the farm, from the Draught-Team down to the Sheep-dog, that is not better lodged and looked after than the laljourer and his family. And it is curious enough that the omission of the Farm is stereotyped in the omission of the Legislature, which has conceded every loan-claim that fettered ownership has asked for but this one, whicli really forms the most notable deficiency in the "Fur- niture " of almost every English farm. The last point, the one last thonglit of, yet immeasur- ably the most important of all, is tlie eflect of our land laws on the whole of that class who have no participation in the soil, who look ujjon its ownershij) from a distance as a thing that has long grown out of the reach of the England.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 139 great bulk of the community by its costliness of pur- chase, and the still more discouraging prospect of its continuing costliness to hold ; who see it gathering year by year into larger territorial acreages, bej^ond the reach, as beyond the prudence of moderate or small investments, who are jauntily assured that henceforward in this country land is to be regarded as the "pleasure- ground " of the rich, and that whatever political economy may say about the distribution of wealth, at least when it takes this form, it is neither profitable nor desirable that it should be owned in anj' but the largest quan- tities—estates that will support their lawyer and their land-agent without sensible diminution of the rental. Of the actual inducement offered by our present system of transfer to buy small quantities of land, the two following Tables will furnish some idea.* The first is that of purchases over, and the second of purchases at or under 1000/., during a period of four years : — Table 1. Purchase Money. £ 1,800 Purchaser's Expenses, irrespective of Stamp Duty, &c. £ 8. d. 24 10 Table 2. Purchase P^rd^aser's Expenses ... irrespective or ^^^"'^y- stamp Duty, &c. 4,667 54 5 4 £ £ s. d. 2,300 52 4 1,000 46 12 1,260 17 2 8 956 23 19 2,662 39 746 48 12 6 1,340 40 9 2 600 31 10 1,695 21 10 500 15 6 8 1,835 32 10 230 39 13 3 1,248 46 12 2 225 15 7 1,895 54 8 100 23 14 3 2,274 72 4 6 . £22,976 £453 13 10 £4,357 £244 14 * ' List of rurcliascr's expenses, furnished by "Mr. George Sweet, Barrister (Conveyancer) to the Commiss-ion for Begistratiou of Title,' p. 381. 140 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE [Wken IIoskyns- These Tables show an average of 2^ per cent , or live times the ad valorem stamp diit}', which alone is a heavy tax. But an average gives no evidence of the burthen in individual cases. Thus in Table 2, taken alone, the average expense of the purchaser is nearly 6, and in the last case 23 per cent ! The vendor's expenses would be in every case much higher. It is not to be wondered at that under such discourage- ment attending the mere initiatory step, and irrespective of all the after-circumstances attending the ownership of land, it should gradually cease to enter into the thoughts of the great bulk of small and middle-class investors, and come to be looked upon as the expensive plaything onl}^ of the largest fortunes. It is beyond the power of judgment or calculation to estimate the effect, upon a saving and industrious community, of this denial of the most natural and preferred of all forms of invest- ment — the ])urchase of land. We see the picture of its alternative, in speculations of the wildest and most waste- ful character entered upon by the public under sanguine vieAVS, often equalled only by the ignorance of the very nature of the objects undertaken ; where thousands of small capitals which, emplo3'ed upon the land under the influence of a very small share of the auri sacra fames that vents itself to no purpose upon useless or de- ceptive schemes, would set to work tens of thousands of agricultural labourers. It would be difficult to paint the portrait of a folly more cruel and suicidal than that which, by home-made obstruction, purely artillcial and conventional, intercepts the inward flow of capital, and drives it from our shores in pursuit of objects far more il- lusory and worthless than the conversion of the most im- practicable moor or bog that ever was turned into an exam])lc-farm. In the very " madness " of such home investment there lies a " method " which belongs to the birthright of the labourer. To him first, and to the home consumer secondly, there arises benefit upon schemes of land restoration and improvement that might have remained for centuries neglected, if the returns of the capitalist EnOxLAND.] in VABIOUS COUNTBIES. 141 had been tlie only point of calculation. Every cause that interferes with the transfer — with the free circula- tion — of land is laden with this heavy responsibility, one that operates in the same or a like degree upon no other form that wealth can take. The mischief of artificial laws is not simply, or even primarily, the evil they set up, but the good they prevent, by interfering with those natural laws whose salutary action they intercept. It ought to be superfluous to say that what is wholesomest for every country, is that wealth, whatever form it takes, should exist in both large and small, and every intermediate proportion without hindrance from the agency of factitious rules and theories. The rule applies unchanged to that which takes the form of land. It is not true that small estates or that large estates are evils ; but it is true that artificial restrictions, and exceptional laws directed to produce either extreme, whether in England or any other country, are an evil, more mischievous than is commonly supposed. They not only affect injuriously the immediate subject of their operation, but disturb all the relations naturally connected with it. And of nothing is this so true as of the land. There is not a class of society un- affected b}" the laws that govern it. If this proposition appear too sweeping, let it be borne in mind that the earth is literally the leaf we feed on^ the original source of all wealth, and of the whole machinery of human action consequent thereon. Let it be asked whether it is probable that an error in the laws that govern it should be a trifling matter, a mere mistake, of small moment, or limited action, involving no con- sequences that interpenetrate the social action of the com- munity : whether it is safe or prudent to indulge theories in favour of small estates, or large estates in land ; when the trodden experience of life ought sufficiently to demonstrate that the mere tendency of a " law " to produce either extreme is its condemnation. The comparison of large and small holdings in land is useful in so far as it brings into practical view their relative advantages, and limits, both in mode of culture 142 ' SYSTIi3fS OF LAND TENURE [When- ITosktns and speciality of produce, their adaptation to peculiarities of soil and climate, and to the varjing genius of race (for the difference of national aptitude and bent are evident and unquestionable) ; l)ut, as a matter of con- trovers}^ it is unpractical and inconclusive, since no result of argument can bring it within the proper sphere of legislation, or under any human tribunal. The laws have no such office, and custom will take care of itself. All that the hand of legislation can do is to remove every obstruction to the wholesome operation of the natural laws which regulate the distribution of land and its response to the causes that affect it, under laws as inflexible as those that govern the tides. The Danish monarch might have turned the wave-washed throne that his courtiers set for him on the shore, and with equal wisdom have again apostrophised the littleness of human po^Yer when it attempts to govern the laws that govern the land. The real property laws of this country, from the period immediately succeeding the Conquest down to the present time, present a history consistent Avith itself in one particular, that of a perpetual struggle of rival interests. The parties to the conflict have differed in successive periods, the feudal sovereign, the baron, the churchman, the lawj^er, and the landowner have each entered into the strife in turn, each as the pressure of adverse power or of selfish interest impelled them. The result of all these struggles was the system bequeathed two centuries ago, and under which, with but slight modification, the business of the country is still carried on. But in those struggles there are two voices that were never heard — two interests little thought of— -those of the Political Economist, and the Agriculturist. Can it be wondered at, if the state of those laws be found productive ot results injurious to the best practices of the one, and violating the first principles of the other? There is probably in the history of this country no instance to be found in which the ripened and intelligent desire of the community, clearly and repeatedly expressed through the England.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 143 most public, the most able, the most learned channels, upon a subject which has received prolonged and ex- haustive investigation by a succession of Koyal Com- missions — has waited so long and so patiently upon the hand of legislation as that which has asked for the reform of our law of Real Property, especially as affecting the transfer of land. Whether the subject be looked at from the point of view of the Jurist as a question of law-reform, in the restoration of simple and inexpensive, instead of complicated and costl}" procedure, or from that of the Agriculturist in respect of the influence that this Ijranch of the law exercises over our most important home- industry, or from that of the Political Economist pleading for the rights of the community in the distribution of public w^ealth, — the cry is still the same, " Free the land ;" release it from the shackles in which time, and customs, and interests — long passed aw^ay — have entangled it, obstructing its adaptation to the uses of modern life, and presenting it as an anachronism upon the face of our institutions. It is almost idle to expect — from those whose pro- fessional education and whose daily practice have been engaged upon the traditional forms and technical frame- work of a system which comes to their hands sanctioned by the usages and stamped by the learning of centuries, — from them to expect the initiative of that emancipation of land which the necessities of modern life, agricultural, and commercial demand, from restrictions imposed during historical periods, when those interests had no representa- tive in the State. The land has parted with protection in the disposal of its produce, and confronts the rivalry of the world. In that rivalry it encounters the laws which govern the productive powers of other States, laws resting upon the diffusion, not the concentration of land, or the con- traction of its resources. The testimony of a host of witnesses who have com- municated their views personally or by writing, to the Royal Commissions that have sat from time to time during the last fortf/ years, and of writers, professional 144 SYSTEiMS OF LAXD TENURE [Wren TIoskyn"?. and otherwise, whose very pamphlets, if collected would form an encvclopajdia of real-property-law reform, might be cited to show that the rendering effectual the Registry of title, based upon an authorised map on the cadastral (6 inch) scale, and free of stamp-duty for the first five years— restriction of Entail to lives in being at the date of the Settlement, or death of the Testator, — the assi- milation of the law of landed Intestacy to that in the case of personalty, the fusion of Legal and Equitable estates, and the assimilation of the law of agricultural to that of trade Fixtures, would do more to advance the interests of those concerned in the land, and those dependent on them, than all the cumbrous mechanism which the law now lavishes upon forms that operate by withdrawing from each ownership in turn that fertilising power and action in the present, which experience has shown to be the best protection of the Future. NOTE from p. 117. The following is Lord Eldon's owrv account of the judgment in the celehrated case which has governed so many nice questions of " real " and " personal " property. " Might T ask you, Lord Eldon," said Mr. Farrcr, " whether Ackroyd and Smithson was not the first case in which you distinguished yourself?" — " Did I never tell you the history of that case ? "You must know (he replied) that the testator had directed his real estates to be sold, and the residue to he divided into fifteen parts, which he gave to fifteen persons named in his Will. One died in the testator's lifetime. A bill was filed by the 77ext of kin, claim- ing the lapsed share. A brief was given me to consent iox the heir-at-luio * * * So 1 went into Court, and when Lord Thurlow asked who was to appear for the heir-at-law, I rose and said modestly that I was ; and as I could not but think that my client had tlie right to the property, if his Lordship would give me leave I would argue it. And 1 argued that the testator had ordered this fifteenth share to be converted into jwrsonal property, for the benefit of one particular individual, and that therefore he never contemplated its coming into possession of either tlie next of kin, or the residuary legatee ; but being land at the death of the individual, it came to the heir-at-law. Well, Thurlow took three days to consider, and then delivered his judgment in accordance with my speech." Twiss's Life of Lord Eldon, L, 119. I NPi .\ . I IN 1 \i in 01 rs CO UN TR I F.^. \ \ i III. THE TENURE OF LAND IN INDIA. By Geokge Campbell. TENURES PREVIOUS TO BRITISH RULE. It is sometimes said that India is composed of so many different conntries tliat we can never speak of it as a whole, I do not think that is the case in the full sense in which the statement is made. Probably, six or ei^rht hnndred years ago, in the European conntries which had l^een conquered and ruled first by the Romans and then by the Germanic peoples, there was a greater similarity of institutions and manners than in modern days. Similarly it has happened that, however different may have been the aborigines of different provinces of India, they have been covered by successive waves, first of Hindoo popnlations, and then of Mahommedan con- querors, and so have been assimilated in perhaps a greater degree than ever were European countries. We have no historical record of the advances of the Hindoo peoples, but much still remains, in the ethnography and institutions of the country, to show that they may be divided into at least two classes, the earlier Brahminieal Hindoos, and the later tribes of more democratic character and more nearly allied to the Germans, who preceded the Mahommedans in the rule of the country. After all that has passed, the institutions of these Hindoo races still survive in almost every Indian village. The Mahommedan conquest and dominion was more complete and more centralized than that of any power which has ruled in Europe since the Romans. Twice have Mahommedan empires ruled over the whole of I. 14fi SYSTEMS OF LAND TEXri?E [Campbell. India, with little exception. In the interval between these two nniversal empires the country was not lost to the Mahommedans, bnt was for the most part divided among several ]\rahommedan dynasties, very similar to one another in character. The last great Mahommedan empire, which welded all India into one country, was in its zenith no longer ago than the beginning of the last century. Its rule was highly centralised, and from Peshawur to Cape Comorin on the one side, and to Chittagong on the other, much of its official system, and almost all its official language, survive to the present day. My view then is that, although the present circum- stances of the various provinces of India infinitely vary, their institutions may be traced to very similar sources. We may say that very varied forms have been built up on various plans, but that the materials are in the main the same. I would first try to explain the conditions of landed tenures which we found in existence, and then would exhibit the different phases which they have assumed in different provinces under British administration. The long-disputed question, whether private property in land existed in India before the British rule, is one which can never be satisfactorily settled, because it is, like many disputed matters, principally a question of the meaning to be applied to words. Those who deny the existence of this property mean property in one sense ; those who affirm its existence mean property in another sense. We are too apt to forget that property in land, as a transferable mercantile commodity absolutely owned and passing from hand to hand like any chattel, is not an ancient institution but a modern development, reached only in a few very advanced countries. In the greater part of the world the right of cultivating particular portions of the earth is rather a privilege tlian a property ; a privilege first of a whole people, then of a particular tril)e or a particular village community, and fmall}'^, of ])articular individuals of the community. In this last stage the land is partitioned off to these individuals as a matter of mutual convenience, bnt not iNDfA.] TN VARfOUS COUNTRIKi^. 147 in imcoiiclitioiial propci-ty ; it long- remains subject to certain conditions and to reversionary interests of the community, which prevent its nncontrolled alienation, and attach to it certain common rights and common burdens. A still more important distinction is this, that in countries which have been conquered by immigrant races from predecessors who had already cultivated the soil (that is, in almost all the conntries of the old world), the dominant arms-bearers generally cannot cultivate the whole of the land themselves, and do not attempt to culti- vate through others on the modern cajiitalist farmer and labourer sj^stem ; they willingly leave in actual posses- sion of the greater part of the soil the people who cultivated it and who are attached to it by many bonds. Hence we have a very widely-prevailing distinction between the privilege of levying the customary rent and the privilege of occupying the soil. In India the rent was generally levied l3y the State or the immediate assignees and representatives of the State ; but, never- theless, there was frequently to be found in the village communities a privilege or property in the occupation and management of the soil, which constituted as strong a form of property as can anywhere be found short of our modern form of landed property. I do not here refer to the disputed question of the right of occupancy as between landlord and ryot, which is the latest phase of Indian land questions, but to the rights of some of those whom we now put in the proprietory class. I cannot imagine a more distinct privilege-property than that of some of the strong Jat villages in the Punjab territories, many of which were rather tributary republics than subjects or tenants. In the sense, then, of the right of holding the land subject to the payment of customary rents, I think that private property in land has existed in many parts of India from time im- memorial. The feudal system I believe to be no invention of the middle ages, but the almost necessary result of the here- ditary character of Indo-Germanic institutions, wdien the \. 2 148 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE [Campbell. tribes take the position of dominant conquerors. They form, in fact, a hereditary army with that gradation of fealty from the commander-in-chief to the private soldier, Avhich is esscutial to military operations. Accordingly we find that among all the tribes of Indo-Grermanic blood which have conquered and ruled Indian provinces, the tendenc}" is to establish a feudal system extremely similar to that which prevailed in Europe. In Rajpoo- tana, the system is still in full force. The Mahrattas and Sikhs had both established a similar s^^stem. In my early days it existed in great perfection in some parts of the Cis-Sutlej Sikh States. But the Mahom- niedan system is quite non-hereditary — I may say, anti- hereditary. The genius of their centralized government was entirely opposed to the feudal sj^stem ; and wherever they have completely ruled, they have swept it away. Hence it has only survived in those Rajpoot States which were indulgently permitted to retain a self-governed position as tributaries, and among some border tribes never thoroughly subdued. It had been but partially redeveloped in the Hindoo States which had a brief in- dependent existence between the fall of the Mahommedan and the rise of British power. Rajpootana then not being British territory, and the surviving Mahratta and Sikh Jaghardeers being in most instances rather rulers than subjects, it may be said that, nothwithstanding the feudal genius of the people, the feudal system does not prevail in our territories. There are a good many tributary chiefs and sub-holders under them in the wilder parts of the country, and several gradations of tenure may still be found in some provinces ; but no great province is organized on a regular feudal system. 'J'here are, however, numerous grants of the revenue due from particular tracts or plots of land, and to these revenue-free hoklings only do the Mahonnnedans apply the term " milk," or propert}". They are very frequently granted by the ruler for the time being in terms import- ing })erpetuity ; l)ut being almost always assigned for some particular purpose^ — the supjiort of a particular religious institution — for a particular service of some India.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRTES. 140 kind: — or for the livelihood of a particular family — they may be considered as being property entailed and in- alienable. In practice they were always resumaljle at the }3leasure of the ruler of the day ; and under native rule there was a continual process of resuming old grants, and granting new ones. In the confusion attend- ing the downfall of dynasties, many grants of this kind were made by subordinates of insufficient authority ; many were set up by fraud and usurpation ; and the known tenderness of British rule for anything bearing the appearance of property, as well as our foreign igno- rance, greatly encouraged such claims and usurjmtions, in the provinces which iirst came into our hands. The sifting of these grants, and distinguishing the good from the bad, and those made for purposes still subsisting from those for services no longer rendered, is a process which always requires early attention. We have treated them under very liberal rules. Renouncing the arbitrary de facto powers of native princes, we have recognized, as valid and binding, all grants made by any authority which was at the time competent to make them, and have given the grantees a complete and certain tenure, instead of the precarious tenure at the pleasure of the prince for the time being. All incomplete tenures having some show of long possession or other equitable claim, we have treated very tenderly, either maintaining them, or giving them terms of very easy compromise. We have not only professed this indulgent treatment, but we have embodied these lenient rules in public laws, and have opened the courts of justice to all who wish to appeal to them from the decisions of the executive officers. Altogether, so far, nothing could be more equitable and indulgent than the treatment of the whole subject. But it unfortunately happened that in some of our older provinces, the investigations necessary to apph' the rules were long delayed — the most fraudulent and unfounded tenures acquired a certain prescription of possession — and when the inquiry was at last made, there was a good deal of bitterness and outer}', which led to still more indulgent compromises. I believe that 150 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. these investig'ations have now been entirely or almost completed in every province, and that the whole matter is finally set at rest. The permanent revenue-free holdings thus created, though large in the aggregate, are in most districts very inferior in extent to the lands which remain subject to the public revenue, and may therefore be put aside as exceptional. In the course of the general investigation of titles, which forms part of what we call a settlement, it is determined whether the grant-holders have a complete title to the land, or are only entitled to the public rent or revenue. In very many cases — in almost all the larger holdings — they are but revenue receivers, while the land is actually held by others whose privileges are similar to those held under Government. In other cases, especially in the smaller holdings, the grantee either held the land before it was made revenue- free, or has in some manner obtained possession of it. In that case, he is the complete owner. A large propor- tion of the grants are, as I have said, held for specific trusts ; but many (too many, in my opinion) have evaded such obligations. These latter are now freely alienable, and they constitute the only complete landed property in the English sense which exists in India. Having disposed of the revenue-free tenures once for all, I return to the normal condition of land in India ; that is, when it pays rent or revenue to the State, but is occupied and managed by individuals. The whole question whether we consider the state to have been the superior proprietor, may be narrowed to the question whether we are to call the state receipts revenue or rent ; and that again may be got over by showing what the dues of the State really are, and leaving it to every man to give them wiiat name he chooses. The original form of the due received by the State from the land was certainly a share of the produce. When the crop is reaped the State is entitled to a pro- portion of the grain, regulated according to the custom of the localitv. Tliat is a verv old institution. In India.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. ir.l very ancient times the proportions were less tlum in modern times — one-tenth or one-eiuhth — and I am unable to say whether the subsequent enhancement of the State share is chielly owing to greater demand for land to feed a larger population, and consequent natural increase of rent, or whether it is rather owing to enhancement of taxation on the part of successive conquerors. ]>ut this is certain, that in modern times, and indeed for centuries past, the share taken has been so large as to be no mere tax, but substantially to absorb the rent. It has amounted in fact to a customary rent raised to the highest point to which it can l)e raised without causing the people to emigrate or rebel, and so defeating its own end. It seems to me that the distinction between a tax and a rent is merelj^ matter of amount ; and that if a land tax is so high as to absorb the rent, it becomes in fact rent. In this view the State in India may be con- sidered to have been the superior proprietor, in the same sense as any other proprietor who is entitled to receive customary rents, but does not cultivate or manage the land. In no part of India, and under no form of Government, did the State undertake these latter functions, or any Qthers analagous to those of an English landlord. Ex- cept in the assignment of waste land to be cultivated on the customary tenure, there never was any system of interference with the immediate possession of the soil ; no letting it by competition to the highest bidder, or anything of that kind. Those in possession of the village area were left in possession, and were allowed to manage their own affairs, subject only to the State right to receive its dues before the crops were carried from the ground. The State, then, generally took very nearly, if not quite a full rent ; but, so far as my knowledge goes, there was seldom in India any systematic attempt on a large scale to go beyond this point, by chaining the people to the soil, and so exacting from them a customary rent larger than the real rent, as was the case in Europe when free trade in tenants was put a stop to ]jy the system of 152 SYS'lEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbkll. serfage. I'lie people liave never been adscripti gieb^e. I cannot say whether this is due to the large population and cheap labour, rendering anything like agricultural slaver}^ unprofitable, or to equitable laws. The Hindoo system was one of small States, or when there have been large feudal organisations the territory was divided among different chiefs. I should judge that in a country abounding in great open plains, and where personal property is in small compass and light, it would have been scarcely possible to prevent the escape of a dis- satisfied ryot to another jurisdiction. To the present day we have sometimes complaints that a tenant has decamped in the night without paying his rent, and carried his house with him. Under the more centralised Mahommedan rule, the equitable Mahommedan laws did not permit any excessive tyranny of the great and rich over the poor. And so it has happened that under all governments, notwithstanding many hardships, the people have always in India enjoyed a great amount of individual freedom. To this extent only it may be said that, in the times immediately preceding our rule, the Government rent was not unfrequently driven beyond a full rent, viz., that the settled ryots, the ancient inhabitants attached to the soil by the bonds of affection, habit, and property, were sometimes made to pay heavier rates than the mere temporary sojourners who were induced to come from elsewhere, and to take up, on exceptionally favourable terms, the lands left uncultivated for want of hands, at times when the countiy had been depopulated by wars and famines. The old inhabitants no doubt had the first choice of the best land, but still I believe that the result of the system was, that in hard times grasping rulers took from them both the fullest rent, and any- thing more that they could be induced to pay, rather than abandon their household gods, and the wells and other improvements which they had made. Jt must not be suj)posed that the customary rent con- sisted of a uniform share of the produce levied equally on all crops, and under all circumstances. On the India.] 7.V VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 153 eoiitraiy, the system was to a remarkable degree adapted to the circumstances, with much regard to principles which we should call political economy. Not only did the share taken vary in different ])arts of the country, but it also varied in respect of dilferent kinds of crops, and different modes of cultivation. For instance, crops raised by artificial irrigation (not supplied from Govern ment works), usually rendered a smaller proportion than those raised without irrigation, l^ecause in the former case a larger proportion was due to the labour and capital of the cultivator. The more valuable pro- ducts as sugar-cane, cotton, vegetables, &c., paid money rates according to the measurement of the land — the produce not being divided. The proportion of grain crops taken as rent or revenue may be said in modern times to have varied from one-fourth to one-half, one- fourth being a decidedly light assessment — one-half the heaviest. One-third and two-fifths were, I should say the most common rates. The grain only was divided, the cultivator usually retaining the straw. In ordinary agricultural villages he also had free grazing for his cattle on the village common, but in parts of the country wdiere a large proportion of the land was given to grazing, a cess per head was levied on the cattle. I am not aware that the rent was in any part of India paid in labour as in Europe ; but in addition to the proper rent, it w^as a common arrangement that the villagers furnished a regulated number of unpaid labourers for the service of the rajah. These labourers were men of the servile classes, who received a small but exactly regulated proportion of the grain from the threshing floor, as their remuneration for this and other labour. When the labour was not exacted, its value w^as charged to the village, and formed a regular item in the accounts. Most frequently the grain is not actually taken in kind, but being weighed at the threshing-floor, tlie value of the Government share is charged at the market rate, and paid in cash. Another mode is to estimate the produce of the crops 154 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Caupbell. on the ground before tliey are cut, and to cliarae the value of the proportions derived from the estimate ; but in this case, allowance being made for over-estimate and the risk which the farmer runs, the proportion is calcu- lated at a lower rate than when the grain is actually divided ^ for instance, if the division rate is one-third, the estimate rate will be one-fourth. In each locality, then, there is a regular and exact scale of rates and charges established by long practice. I know no mode by which these rates can be altered in a constitutional manner : to make a radical alteration of this kind would be a revolutionary measure such as would onh^ be effected by a very strong Government ; perhaps by a conqueror making new arrangements for the first time. But in another way native governments generally contrive to squeeze their subjects a little more, viz., by the system of cesses, dues, and benevolences so well known in Europe. These are generally not taken in an altogether uncertain manner; there is much system in all these arrangements, and the various cesses are for tlie most part regularly entered in the revenue accounts and uniformly levied ; the peculiarity, however, being that a rate once made for a temporary purpose very soon acquires, in the ruler's eyes, the sanction of custom, and is continued long after the necessit}^ for it has ceased. Thus, then, a native revenue account exhibits, besides the m.ain rent, a succession of small charges — perquisites of various officials — perquisites of the rajah's wife — contributions to the marriage expenses of the rajah's son — and so on. Previous to our rule, the Government share of the crop had been in some parts of the country" commuted into money rates, classified according to the most i)rominent descriptions of soil, and the nature of the croi)S grown. These money rates were equally subject to the extra cesses which I have mentioned. Besides the Government dues made up of the aggregate of the assessment on each individual, there were fre- quently charges upon the whole village, such as the value of forced laljour already mentioned — benevolences India.] 7A' VAIUOUS COUNT Ji IKS. 155 levied in the lump — Hues and eompensatioiis for value ol' property plundered in the village limits — and such like ; and these charges were partitioned among the individual members of the community, according to fractional shares or other form of account, representing the interests of each. The village is the well-known unit of all revenue arrangements, and it may be said of all landed tenures in India. I use the word not to signify a village in our sense, but rather the area of land occupied by a com- munity who generally reside together in a village. In the plain and thickly-populated country it may be said that all the land cultivated and uncultivated belongs to one village or another. The country is, in fact, par- titioned off into villages; the village boundaries are known (if they are not the subject of feuds), and where one village ends another begins. When I speak of a village "community," I use this latter word in our ordinary English sense, and not to signify the actual holding of property in common. Nothing can be a greater mistake than to attribute to the Indian village system any of the features of com- munism. It is true that in early times, before communi- ties have settled down to fixed cultivation, the land is held to a great degree in common for grazing purposes, private property being in cattle, not in land ; and even after it has been distributed for the purposes of cultiva- tion, the custom of periodically adjusting inequalities by redistribution has not unfrequently subsisted to a much later time. But even in this latter case the land was never equally distributed, but was only reparted accord- ing to the recognized ancestral shares, casual inequalities and usurpations being redressed. As communities be- come more and more fixed and settled, this practice of redistribution dies out ; and it may be said that in modern communities, in civilized parts of the country, it no longer exists. Encroachments may of course be resisted and redressed, but inequalities founded on possession of long- standing are redressed Ijy redistribution of the burdens, not bv redistribution of the land. 150 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUHE [Campbell. The ]jond which keeps together a vinage comiiiiuiity is, then, rather municipal than a coninumity of property. The cnltivatecl k\nd is liehl by individuals, and the com- mon interest in common property is scarcely greater than that which exists among the commoners of an English manor. The waste land and grazing ground is held in common, certain common receipts are brought to a com- mon fund, certain common charges are charged against the same fund, and distributed in a cess on individuals according to their holdings. There is a system of muni- cipal management, and the community claims to exercise a certain limited control over its members, and to have a reversionary right to the land of members who cease to cultivate or fail to pay ; but. beyond this there is complete individual freedom. The Indian village is best known in England by the descriptions which have been given by Elphinstone and others of the Deccan village ; but in my view^ that is a somewhat decayed form of the true village of the stronger Hindu tribes, and we must look for the strongest and most perfect village form in the more complete and more democratic communities, such as we find in the Punjab territory. It is these wdiich I have cited as exhibiting the strongest form of Peasant property. A Jat village community consists of a bod}^ of free- men of one caste, and who traditionally derive from a common ancestor — clansmen, in fact. A village may be divided into two or three ]:)arts, held by different castes or triljes, but I describe a simple village, Ever}^ man has his share, which is generally in the Punjab expressed in plough lands. A plough land is not a uniform (juantity of land, but a share in the i)articular village. There may be sixty-four or a hundred and twenty-eight, or any other number of shares ; one man lias two ploughs, another a jjlough and a half, another half a plough, and each holds land representing his share. The community is managed by a council of elders, who rule it so long as they retain the confidence of the people, and who conduct all negotiations with the Government. In such a village, then, the l)ody of the In-dia] 7xV VARTOUS COUNrUTES. 157 cultivators consider themselves to l)e proprietors. They are united, and very strong; they certainly exercise rights of property ; and no one would dream of attempting to disturb them. Most republics have been in some degree served by some inferior race, and in these Indian communities a smaller body of the servile tril)es is almost invarial)ly attached to the village •, not slaves, but servile labourers. They may cultivate small portions of land, but they have no part in the village management, and would not, I think, be considered to have rights of property. Again, persons of better condition, bnt not members of the proprietary tribe, may have settled in the villnge and obtained land. The Government dues being such as to leave scared}" any margin between rent and revenue, we almost always find that all these people pay the same rates as the original proprietors. It may be that they are not admitted to a voice in the manage- ment, or to share in certain common receipts or per- quisites levied by the head men ; but the distinction between an original proprietor and a cultivator long settled in the community, and in a great degree adopted into it, frequently became very shadowy in native times.* Where we have strong communities, there is little difficulty in dealing with the community. But more frequently we have phases of land tenure which are much more doubtful. In some provinces, where the Indo-German tribes have not fully penetrated, the village constitutions perhaps never were so complete as those which I have described. My impression is that the ancient Brahminical institutions were by no means so democratic. Both in Lower Bengal and in Cashmere the villages have much less cohesion. Again, in great parts of the country, war, desolation, and famine have, during the last century, obliterated many communities, and their place on the land has been * For facility of reference, I give in this Paper a short account of tlie indigenous village communities, &c. ; but some years ago I published details on the subject. Modern India, chap. iii. — G. C. lo8 SYSTEMS OF I.AXD TKXUnE [Campijei.i.. taken by casual cultivators, haiiaiiig loosely together, and who can claim no ancient rights in the soil. A still more common phase is the following : — The older proj^rietary tribes have been exhausted by pro- sperity, ])romotion, military service, misfortune, and the many vicissitudes of Indian history; they have ceased to hold their original position. But a small remnant ])artially occupies the i)lace where once they Avere dominant ; and the land which they have ceased to till has been occupied by others. This has frequently happened to Kajpoot communities in the north-west ]irovinces, and to other tribes in the south of India. The reduced representatives of the old tribe will generally be found to assert claims which the others do not always admit. The Government officers take their dues from the old inhabitants and new comers indif- ferently, and looking to revenue will not permit the former to keep others out of that which they cannot cultivate themselves. The old lamilies may or may not furnish the headman through whom the Government collects its dues ; they may or may not receive some of the old perquisites for duties which they maj^ or may not perform. But I think I ma}^ say that the relation between the old and the new occupants never, under native rule, takes the form of landlord and tenant. There is no such thing as an old family letting the lands to tenants at its pleasure, and making its profit of the rents. Wherever they have the manage- ment, it is as headmen accounting to the Government for their collections. And wherever they have certain dues, it is iu the shape of penpiisites, not of rent. In all cases in which there was not a democratic ])od3^ electing their own headmen, there was a headman whose functions were j^artly those of a Government officer, and partly those of the head of a quasi-municipality. This headman was called the Mokaddum in the more northern and eastern ])rovinces; Potail in western and central India and in the iMaratta ])eccan ; and Gauda in some other parts of the south. The office was semi-hereditary, as almost all lliiuloo offices are, that is, the fittest India.] IN VAUIOUS COUNTniFS. ir.;» member of the late ofricial's lamily succeeds, witli tlie sauction of the ruling: power, some preference being given to seniority com))ined with approved fitness. Tiie Potail accounted for the revenue collections, receiving the perquisites and percentages which were the accustomed dues of the office. Then theVe was an accountant, who held on a similar tenure, and sometimes combined with it the functions of village banker; and there were other officers, each })aid by the established perquisites. The whole constitute the form of community described by authors who have written of the Deccan and other provinces similarly situated What, if an}^ were the rights of the cultivators of comparatively recent settlement who do not come within the category of village proprietors, is a question which has been raised into great importance of recent years, since there has been discussion of the relative rights of landlords and tenants, but to which no definite answer can be given. It is and must remain a mere matter of opinion whether the facts establish a claim to consideration or not. There was no law to determine such rights, and no standard by W'hich they could be measured. It is certain that, as a rule, such cultivators were not dispossessed so long as they wished to hold their fields, but it may equally be asserted that if ixuy individual for any reason were dispossessed, there was little chance of any remedy available to him. AYe have no details of the social arrangements of any former period when India was so settled and so well cultivated that cultivators had difficulty in obtaining land in one place or other. During the prosperous period of the Ma- hommedan empire, the cultivators were no doubt in some sort protected. All the Mahommedan Regulations aim at that object. But during the century of anarchy which preceded our settled dominion, there was for them only the protection which circumstances afforded. In fact, the depopulation and reduction of cultivated area, resulting from a long anarchy had almost everywhere occasioned a demand for cultivators, which, as soon as peace was restored in any province, rendered the posi- 160 SYSTEMS OF LAND TKM'RE [Campbei.i,. tion of tlic ryot in some respects fiivonrable. Instead of l)eing obliged to compete ibr land, he found that there was a competition for r3^ots. A ruler's strength and wealth, under a system of customary rents, depended on the num1)er of his ryots and the extent of their culti- vation ; and a man not embarrassed by local ties could generally make favoural)le terms. As no one was evicted, the question of compensation for improvements never arose. It is not, however, al- together lost to sight. AVherever there is a question between the representatives of a declining body still claiming to be owners of the land, but not fully occu- pying it, and strangers holding it on terms not yet admitted to be permanent, the making of an improve- ment which cannot be removed — the building of a well, or even the planting of a tree — is always regarded with jealousy, as an act involving ownership or at least per- manent occupancy. The Indian law does not, as with us, give to the proprietor everything that is put \\\)0\\ the land ; it remains the property of the man who put it there. An Indian proprietor, therefore, does not claim a right to Ijenefit by another man's improvement ; he objects to his making the improvement, as involving a property inseparable from the soil. I have had such complaints in modern da3'S. If an improvement of a solid immoveable kind be made, I think the right of occupancy would be admitted. But unless a well be built or a grove planted, the ordinary agricultural rcfpiirements are so few as to give rise to little question of compensa- tion. The house is built of mud, which is of no value, and the wood used for the roof is taken away by an outgoing rj'ot. The principal expenditure in the way of improvement is in bringing jungle into cultivation, and many of the recently settled ryots had established that claim to permanency. The general result seems to be that there was no definite law giving a right of occupancy to nonpro- prietary cultivators, and that the equitable claims of these men varied infinitely in degree. But there was in the general language of the country a distinction between India.] 7.V VAh'IOUH COUNT/: IKS. 16i ryots settled as permanent inhabitants of and cnltivators in a village who had given pledges b}^ bnilding and clearing and establishing themselves, and had accepted a share of common obligations, and those other ryots who were avowedly mere temporary sojourners, or who, with- out sojourning at all, came from some other village to cultivate patches of land. The former were called "Khoodkasht," or "own cultivating," "Chapper bund," or "house tied," and sometimes " Mooroossee,"or " here- ditary ;" while the latter were called " Pj^e-kasht," a term implying that they come and go at pleasure. The sentiment and feeling of the country was certainly in favour of the moral claim of the former class to hold the land as long as they cultivated and paid their rent. Some think that our Government might be justified in treating these men as tenants-at-will, and turning them over to landlords in that character ; some think that they could not with justice be so treated. The latter was the view taken in the earl}^ days of our rule ; the other is that held by those who in these days favour the idea of capitalist landlords. But either party would, I think, admit that in most parts of the country there was nothing to prevent the Government from recognising the position of the ryots and imj)roving their status, if it was minded so to do at the time of the first settlement of rights, and before incompatible rights were conferred on others. In small native states the ruler very frequently collects his dues direct from the cultivators, with the assistance of the established headmen and accountants. The alternative mode of management is to farm out the right of receiving the state dues to mercantile speculators. In disturbed times, again, when it was not easy to collect dues in detail, it sometimes happened that the ruling power for the time being compromised with the villagers l)y agreeing to take from them a lump sum in lieu of all claims, and the villagers themselves allocated the l)urden according to holdings. In these various ways were the land revenues collected by native rulers. But it is well known that, in some of the greater dominions, persons were found intermediate M 162 SYSTJJMS OF LAND TENURE [Cami-ukll. l)ot\vocn the villag'crs and the Government, whose position hud become more or less hereditai'v, and ^vhose chiims and treatment have given rise to much discussion. We must then examine the origin of these hereditary middle- men. First, however, we shoukl be clear about the meaning in which we use the words "zemcendar," and " ryot." " Zemcendar " is a Persian word, signifying literally " land-liolder." It has been, however, very variously a])plied to different classes connected with the land. The Mahommcdans seem originally to have used it very much as we use the term " native," applying it to the people of the land. But eventually they applied it to the holders of the tributary tenures not brought under complete subjection. Under the Moguls the semi-independent territories are always called the Zemeendarees. Great Rajpoot chiefs and others were known as " Zemeendars." In Bengal and other districts the term came to be applied to the great middlemen, who rose to power in the decline of the empire ; and the name may have had some weight in bringing about the policy which made them pro- prietors. But a little farther north we fmd the same name applied to the small village proprietors ; and farther north again in the Punjab the term is universally applied to simple peasants. I have often asked a man on the road-side, " Who are you ?" and got for answer, "• Oh, a poor man — a Zemcendar!" And as the Jats are the great cultivating tribe in the Punjab, the terms have come to be used as synonymous ; and a man will often tell you he is a Zemcendar by Caste, meaning a Jat. I shall try to use the word as much as possible in its ordinary English acceptation of a holder between the State and the actual cultivator. " Ryot " is a word which is much more mis-used. It is Arabic, but no doubt comes through the Persian. It means "protected one," "subject," or " commoner," as distinguished from "Races," or "noble." In a native mouth, to the present day, it is used in this sense, and not in that of '* tenant." Not only all classes of culti- vators, those who claim the strongest rights equally with iNi.iA.] 7.V VAHfOUS COUNTRIES. 103 those who claim none, but also weavers, carpenters, and hibonrers, call themselves ryots. To simplify matters I shall apply the term to cultivators of the land, pro- prietary or non-proprietary, as distinguished from the holder intermediate l)etween the ryot and the State. It is very important to note the meaning of this word, because the persons on whom very strong rights ' are conferred by the early regulations or by subsequent laws, are officially called " rj'ots," and by merely translating the word " tenants," it is assumed that rights were arbitrarily bestowed on persons holding the position of English tenants. In the ancient Braminical accounts of Hindoo insti- tutions as they ought to l)e, we find mention of district officers who seem to have filled much the same position in larger areas which the village headmen fill in vil- lages. They were lords of one thousand, of one hundred, or of ten villages, and were apparently hereditary officers. I do not know whether the Marattas derive similar offices direct from earlier times, or whether the}" have been re- invented by the Maratta Bramins, but we certainly found in Maratta countries an established system of " Deshmooks," — officers exercising a jurisdiction in con- siderable tracts — and " Deshpandyas " — district account- ants for similar areas. A proprietary character has, however, never been attributed to these men, and they have been for the most part pensioned off. In the days when the Mahommedan rule was vigorous, there was little intermediate tenure between the state and the people ; but in proportion as the central power declined, smaller authorities rose. In the long period of anarchy there was, under a nominal imperial rule, a partial return in many parts of the country to native rule and to the Hindoo system of petty chiefships. Out of these it may be said that the larger modern Zemeen- darees have sprung. I would trace them to the following principal origins : — Mrst. Old tributary rajas, who have been gradually reduced to the position of subjects, but have never lost the M 2 164 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUIiE [CAMPnEix. inaiiafromont of their ancieiit territories, which tliey lioUl rather as native rulers than as proprietors. These are cliiefly found in ontlA'ing border districts and jungly semi-civilised countries. Second. Native leaders, sometimes leading men of Hindoo clans, sometimes mere adventurers, who have risen to power as guerilla plunderers, levying black mail, and eventually, coming to terms with the Government, have established themselves, under the titles of Ze- meendars, Polygars, &c., in the control of tracts of country for Avhich they pay a revenue or tribute, uncertain under a weak power, but w^hich becomes a regular land revenue when a strong power is established. This is a very common origin of many of the most considerable modern families, both in the north and in the south. To our ideas there is a wide gulf between a robber and a landlord, but not so in native view. It is wonderful how much, in times such as those of the last century, the robber, the raja, and the Zemeendar run into one another. Third. The officers whose business it is to collect and account for the revenue have frequently, in disturbed times, gained such a footing that their rendering of an account becomes almost nominal, and practically they pay the sum which the ruling power is willing to accept, and make the most of their charges. Fourth. T have alluded to mercantile contracts for the dues payable by the rj'ots, held l)y persons in the position of Farmers-General. To a weak Government this system is very tempting, and in the decadence of the Mogul emi)ire enterprising ))ankers and other speculators, taking contracts of this kind, exercised great authority, and handed it down to their successors. There are infinite varieties of the i)hases which the matter may assume, one of these characters passing into the other, so that a Zemeendar may have sprung partly from one and i)artly from another of these sources. 'ilie tendency of everything Hindoo is to become hereditar}^ The son l)ecomes, l)y the mere fact of his birth, the partner of his father, and so a family interest T.vuiA.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 165 is cstaljlislicd in everything. Thus contracts and other hoklings passed from father to son, and when we found them well esta))lished, the holders have passed into the category of Zemeendars. Where there is a recognised chiefship or office, it is nnderstood that, as it cannot be divided, one man must hold it. Great Zerneendarees have therefore gene- rally descended to that member of the family who was best fitted, and of whom the superior poAver approved. There was something corresponding to primogeniture, modified by circumstances. With the usual tendency of Hindoo iustitutions to a feudal character, we constantly find that, under great Zemeendars, sub-holders have sprung up, sub-chiefs of the original raja, or the original robber •, inferior officers, sub-contractors; and these acquiring permanence in a manner similar to their chiefs, have sometimes survived when the chief has fallen, or arc sometimes found holding under him. Whatever the character of these various classes of hereditary or semi-hereditary middlemen, one thing may broadly be said of them all, that they were the repre- sentatives of the governing powers, the delegates of the Government, receiving the dues of Government. The status of the cultivators was not altered. Where there were strong village pro})rietors they held the same position under the Zemeendar ; where their position was not so strong, the Zemeendar exercised the functions which the Government officers would have exercised. This only may be said, that a small ruler may exercise a more minute interference than a great ruler. But still the relation was between governor and governed, or at most between payer and payee of the customary rent ; there was nothing like our relation of landlord and tenant. Under native rule the rights in the land, whatever they may be, are not bought and sold in the market. As regards the occupancy of the peasants, the rent which gives the real value going to the Government, and the claim of the peasant being rather a privilege, deriving 166 SYSTEjVS of LAXD TENURE [Cami'i-.ki.l. its value from sentiment affection and habit, than a property ca})able of beinu- estimated in money, there was little room for mercantile dealings. Nor was there any margin of profit wliich admitted of systematic sub-letting. Transfer from one hand to another did occur, but the communities claimed a riglit of veto, and would not permit the entrance hj purchase of a stranger disagreeable to them. The general feeling prevented a man from alienating his land for ever. Hence, if the occupant was unable to cultivate his land or to pay the revenue, when he did not simply run away, the ordinary form of alienation was, not by selling or letting, but l)y mortgaging, if the term can properly be applied to the transaction. The mortgagee, or depositar}^, undertook to discharge what was due upon the land, and oljtained the use of it, while the original owner retained an almost indefinite riglit of reclaiming it on repa3nng the mortgagee. Nothing has been more difficult to settle than the adverse claims of persons long in possession, and of others claiming to be very ancient mortgagors. As respects the superior tenures, they were so entirely of a personal and official character that they were in no degree transferalile by ordinary sale. • . It may be said then of all landed tenures in India previous to our rule, that they were practically not transferable by sale ; and that only certain classes of the better-defined claims were to some extent transferable by mortgage. The seizure and sale of land for private debt was wholly and utterly unknown, — such an idea had never entered into the native imagination. THE 15EXGAL SYSTEM. Bengal jjroper was the first considerable province which came under British Administration. The later northern tribes had scarcely penetrated into that coun- try, and the village institutions were not of that demo- cratic independent self-su]iporting character which gives lacilities for dealing direct with the people. The servants India.] TN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 167 of the East India Company were then qnite without experience of civil administration. Middlemen, more or less hereditary, Zemeendars, Choudrees, Talookdars, &c., were found in existence, and it was natural that foreigners attempting so new a task should avail themselves of the services of these men. No proprietary character was then attributed to them. It was quite understood that they were liable to be displaced for inefficiency or mis- conduct, and in fact they frequently were displaced. There was no well-established rule of inheritance. But still if a man did well, another of the family was gene- rally permitted to succeed him. In the course of the various experiments which were made, these men may sometimes have had contracts for the revenue ; but their recognized position was that of men bound to account to the British Government for their collections ; and in the Regulations of 1793, it is stated that up to that time their right was to take a perquisite of ten per cent, on the revenue ; or, as it is expressed, they were bound to pay into the Treasury ten-elevenths of their collections. It would be foreign to the purpose of this paper to attempt to trace the various systems of land administra- tions which were tried from the assumption of the Defewanee of Bengal and Bahar,* to the time of the Per- manent Settlement. All our modern history dates from the Regulations of 1793, establishing the latter measure and the code of laws which accompanied it. The cir- cumstances and character of the Permanent Settlement of Bengal have been a good deal misapprehended. f It has been supposed that we were very new to, and ignorant of Indian administration ; that the British administrators mistook tax-collectors for landed pro- prietors, and by the laws then passed conferred upon * The imperial grant was of the Decwanee of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa; but Orissa was in the possession of the Nagpore Marattas, and we only acquired it from them in the beginning of the present century. t I must confess to liave been under a misapprcliension myself, and to have to some extent taken part in misleading others on this point, when I published " Modern India." At that time I had had no official connection witli Bengal ])ropcr, and adopted the popular view. I have since spent some years of my life in (leaHng oflicially and judicially with the land tenures of Ben.;al, and give the present statement in correction of that which I previously made. — U. (J. 168 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENURE Cami-bki.l. them absolute property in the soil to the entire ex- clusion of the rights and claims ot" the inferior holders. Such views of the matter are very wide of the truth. British officers had administered Bengal for a whole generation. Circumstances make men, and in the papers of a much earlier period, I have been greatly struck by the breadth of view and public spirit of many of the local administrators of those early da3\s. At the time of the Permanent Settlement, Lord Cornwallis was surrounded l)y men of ripe experience and know- ledge. The preambles to the Bengal KegulaticMis suffi- ciently attest that these men quite understood and did not over-estimate the real position of the Zemeendars, who were made proprietors, not in recognition of a right, but in pursuance of a deliberate policy. The unsatis- factory result of the systems of administration already tried had led to the belief that what was most wanted was permanence and security of tenure, and a grand experiment was made in that direction. I pass over here the sin against posterity (and so far I think that there was a financial mistake) which was committed in lixing the revenue demand for ever, instead of for a long period. As respects the tenure of the laud, it seems to me that there was not so much error as is generally supposed. The Government having found the uncertainty of tenure of the Zemeendars and others to be attended with much evil, made the Zemeendars in one sense proprietors. As between the Government and the Zemeendars the claims of the former were strictly limited, and the Zemeendars became proprietors, instead of mere revenue officers; but they were by no means made sole and absolute proprietors. As one of the English lawyers on the Ijench of the liigli Court at Calcutta said of the original enactment in hi^ judgment on the great Rent Case (decided in 18G5), " This Begulation teems with provisions quite incompa- tible with any notion of the Zemeeiidar l)eing absolute proprietor." These provisions may be said in brief to have given, so far as the theory of the law goes, to all under-holders down to (he ryots, the same security of India.] IN VAllIOUS (JOUSTRIKS. K'.O tenure as against the Zemeendar, wliicli the Zenicendai' had as against the Government. Subhohlers of Ta- lookas and other divisions, under the Zemeendars, were recognised and protected in their holding, subject to the pa3'inent of the established dues. As respects the ryots, the main provisions were these : All extra cesses and exactions were aljolished, and the Zemeendars were required to specify, in writing, the original rent paj^able by each ryot at the pergunnah or established rates. If any dispute arose regarding the rates to be so entered, the question was to be " determined in the Beicany- Adawlut i^Civil Court') of the ZiUali in which the lands icere situated^ according to the rates established in the per- gunnah for lands of the same description and quality as those respecting which the dispute arose.''' It was farther provided that no Zemeendar should have power to cancel the pottahs (or specifications of rent) except on the ground that they had been obtained by collusion, at rates below the established rates ; and that the resident ryots should always be entitled to renewed pottahs at those rates. Even on a sale for arrear of revenue (which cancelled all superior rights), the purchaser was to have no power to evict any resident rj^ot unless he refused a pottah at the established pergunnah rate. Thus, in fact, fixity of tenure and fixity of rent rates were secured to the ryots by law. In Bengal proper, the proportion of the produce had very generally been converted into money rates, and thus these fixed rates were, in fact, fixed rents. Pro- vision was at the same time made for the maintenance both of the Canoongoes or district registrars, and of Patwarees, or official village accountants, an object of whose appointment was declared to be " to prevent op- pression of the persons paying rent." In addition to these specific provisions, there was the general provision, often quoted, reserving a power of future interference in behalf of the inferior holders. " The Governor-General in Council will, whenever he may deem it proper, enact such regulations as he may think necessary for the protection of the dependent talookdars, rvots, and otJier cultivators of the soil." 170 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Camphell. As the earl}" Ivegulations were construed by the judicial tribunals, the law was settled to be that, under the general provisions in favour of subholders, every man, whetlier ryot or of any other class, who had held for twelve years before the permanent settlement (that being the Indian term of prescription) at a uniform rent, was entitled to hold for ever at that rent, whether it was or was not below the established rates ; other resident r3^ots were entitled to hold at the established rates, but if holding below the customary rate, could be enhanced up to that point. The Zemeendars were authorised to appropriate to their own use the ditierence between the sum which they engaged to pay the Government and the established rates, "which formed the unalterable due of the Govern- ment according to the ancient and established usage of the countr}'." They were, moreover, encouraged to exert themselves to bring the waste lands into cultivation, and to induce the r3"ots to cultivate more valualjle articles of produce, by the assurance that all that was thus added to the rent-roll should be their own. The whole of the waste lands were thrown into the holdings of the Zemeendars without additional charge, except in the case of some remote parts of the country, uncultivated and unpopulated, where there were none to claim the land or pay revenue for it. So far as I can judge, I should say that the recogni- tion of the position of the Bengal Zemeendars was not more than would have been to some extent done in modern days in any part of India in which the liyotwar system, pure and simple, was not adopted. There was a time when their claims might have been more rigorously scrutinised, and in Bahar (which, though attached to Bengal, is quite a Ilindostanee pro- vince) the claims of tlie cliiefs prevailed over those of village holders to a much greater degree than would have been the case when the present north-west provinces were settled. But in Bengal proper, where the village system had so little cohesion, I doubt whether at any period of our administration we should have quite set aside the India.] IN VAUfOUS CUUNTBIluS. 171 Zemeendars. They not oiilj^ had a certain position and certain claims when we assnmed the administration, but we had ourselves dealt with them and used them for upwards of a generation. To set them aside altogether would have been a very strong measure. In fact, the settlement was by no means made with the great Zemeendars exclusively : when holders of smaller degree were thought to have stronger claims, it was made with them. There were many such small holders ; and in one or two of the eastern districts of Bengal the mere cultivators were found to have the best claim, and the settlement is, for the most part, to all intents and purposes Ryotwar. As respects revenue, the Zemeendars were subjected to immediate terms very much harder than those which are now accorded. The Government demand was fixed at ten-elevenths of the then rent-roll. On the whole, my impression is that (perpetuity of revenue apart) the principles of the permanent settlement of Bengal were in the main good and sound, and that the ground for subsequent complaints is to be found not so much in those principles as in the failure properly to carry them out, and in the ideas which afterwards arose from a misinterpretation of them. ' The original intention of the framers of the permanent settlement was to record all rights. The Canoongoes and Patwarees were to register all holdings, all transfers, all rent-rolls, and all receipts and payments ; and every five years there was to be filed in the public offices a complete register of all land tenures. But the task was a difficult one : there was delay in carrying it out. English ideas of the rights of a landlord, and of the advantage of non- interference, began more and more to prevail in Bengal. The executive more and more abnegated the functions of recording rights and protecting the inferior holders, and left everything to the judicial tribunals. The Patwarees I'ell into disuse, or became the mere servants of the Zemeendars : the Canoongoes were abolished. No record of the riglits of the Ryots and inferior holders was ever made, and even the quinquennial register of superior 172 sy.^TEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campuell. I'i'ilits, which wns ninintninod for a time, fell into disuse. When a re.iijnlar police was cstaljlished, the Zenieendars were in practice freed from any effective responsibility for the suppression of crime or other administrative functions. They became in every sense mere rent- receivers. The Bengal principle of non-interference on the part of Government was })nshed to the point which may be said to have culminated in the recent famine, when the authorities so long refused to interfere, not because the Zenieendars did anything for the people, but because, according to the Bengal tlieor}', they ought to do so. At the same time that property in land was recognized by the Regulations of 1703, it w%is made freely trans- ferable by sale, and in every respect put on the footing of property. The original code declared the custom of descent to a single heir, existing in certain large estates, to have been an invention of the Mahommedans for revenue purposes, and abolished it, laying down that the descent of all estates was to be regulated by the ordinary Hindoo and Mahommedan laws, apj^licable to any other l)roperty. ]>ut a subsequent regulation modified this provision, and permitted the rule of primogeniture in some jungle and other districts, where it was well esta- blished. To this day I believe that it is not very clear what estates do, and what do not descend to a single heir ; l)ut the matter is not so important, because the courts have recognized the power of Hindoos to make wills. The Hindoo laws say nothing of wills, and it is very doubtful whether they should have been admitted ; but the courts, acting on English precedents, having once admitted them, this curious result has followed, that, in the absence of any provisions to limit them, the power of a Hindoo in Bengal to tie u}) his property by will seems to be almost unlimited. A creditor has the most summary power of selling all the landed rights of his debtor in satisfaction of debts of any kind. And it was part of the system that perma- nent rights of property being once recognized, and the revenue beinu" so lixed that the Government could no India.] 7A^ VAUIOUH CO U NTH IE 8. 173 longer demand any increase, tlic reserved rent of Govern- ment mnst be paid with unfailing regularity. Failing l)ayment on the appointed day, the estate is put up to auction, and knocked down to the highest bidder, with a clear and complete title against all comers. In the hrst years after the settlement, this provision was very oi)era- tive, and a large proportion of the newly-created pro- prietors were sold out. Sabsequently the Zemeendars have learned punctuality ; ])ut sales for debt are always constant. It may be said, then, that from the very first an encumbered estates court has been sitting in perma- nence in every district. It has been epi grammatically said that Lord Cornwallis designed to make English landlords in Bengal, and only succeeded in making Irish landlords. This, however, hardly expresses the truth. He certainly sanguinoly hoped that security of tenure would induce the Zemeen- dars to perform duties in the way of improvement in which they have entirely failed ; but it has been shown that nothing was farther from the thoughts of Lord Corii- w^allis and his advisers than to create absolute landlords after the English pattern. The design was rather to create something like what model Irish landlords ought to be. The theory and intention of the Cornwallis ad- ihinistration was to do for Bengal exactly what James I. did for Ireland — to secure all parties, great landholders and cultivators alike, in their rights according to their degree. The subsecpient sales of the rights conferred on the Zemeendars, and the failure to record the inferior rights, produced in practice in Bengal something of the same state of things which resulted in Ireland from Cromwell's confiscation of the rights conferred by James, followed as it was by the de facto restoration of the Irish cultivators to their holdings. In Bengal, as in Ireland, the cultivators were protected by custom and public opinion rather than by an efficient administration of the law. The landholders were men who did nothing for the land, but only received (generally through middle- men) the customary rents from the cultivators who tilled old fields or cleared new ones. Still there were 174 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENCRE [Campi.kll- not in Benj^al the dilTerences of race and politics which have embittered the social state in Ireland ; and reli.a'ious differences do not lead to the same bad blood. Hindoo and ]\[ahommedan generally live in an amity which Roman Catholic and Protestant may well imitate. So far, then, Bengal has l)een in a much better state than Ireland. The margin of profit left to the Zemeendars was at first so narrow, and habits were still so native, that it is scarcely surprising that for many years there were com- plaints of the illegal levy of the cesses and imposts so universal under native rule, and of exactions from the ryots still poor and abject. But as, with peace and prosperity and the rise of prices, the condition of the ryots has improved, the rates levied by the Zemeendars have not increased in an equal degree. The Bengallee is not a very pushing landlord ; he is generally content to take what he can claim according to the custom, with such additions as his agents can quietly manage ; and for the rest he is satisfied with the enormous increase of income which the, as it were spontaneous, increase of cultivation has given him. On the whole, then, the relation of landlord and tenant has not been unfriendly. The Zemeendar scarcely ever sought to take into his own hands more land than his old " seer " or demesne. Population had not yet reached the point when there is a severe struggle among cultivators for land ; and there w^as no such thing as an}' desire to evict tenants. The mass of the ryots in Bengal proper came at last to be tolerably well off, sitting at pretty easy rents, which gave them some margin of profit and attached a certain value to their holdings. In order to prevent the fraudulent or improvident dis[)osal of the assets IVom which the revenue was to be })aid, the Zemeendars were at first prohibited from giving leases of any parts of their estates for terms ex- ceeding ten years ; l»ut some years later this restriction was witiidrawn. In Bahar, where there are many large estates which descend undivided, they are let in portions for short terms of years to mercantile speculators, who India.] IN VAUIOUS COUNTRIES. 175 make the most of the ryot — an arrano-ement almost universal under such circumstances. The mercantile class of those parts are a pushing set of men, but havino- no permanent interest in the soil, the practice has all the disadvantages of the middleman system. The r3^ots have not even the advantage of a landlord who has some interest in keeping them alive ; and in that part of the country they are much more rack-rented than in Lower Bengal. In Bengal proper, where there is less of the mercantile spirit, the custom has sprung up of giving sub- leases in perpetuity for a consideration. The great estates have thus been split up by a system of sub-infeudation ; and it may be said that practically most of the land in Bengal is now in the hands of permanent landowners of moderate calibre. Many ryots and other smaller holders, even wdien they cannot prove a title from the permanent settlement, have obtained perpetuities by payment of a fine. And so it happens that under the shadow of the permanent settlement, a very widespread system oi perpetuities of all grades has sprung up. Perpetuities are alwaj's transferable, and the inferior like the superior tenures can be summarily sold for arrears of rent. Where there is a mere right of occu- pancy at the customary rates, the sanction of the superior holder is ordinarily required to a transfer by sale ; but in some districts the Zemeendars interfered so little, and were so glad to have the security for their rents afibrded by saleal)le tenures, that the ryots' tenures have become by (custom entirely transferal)le, and the state of things is very similar to that prevailing in the north of Ireland. The Hindoo laws and customs divide property among all the sons or other agnates. Failing sons, a widow succeeds on a very limited tenure ; and in Bengal daughters and other female relations also succeed after the widow, when there are no sons. The Mahommedan law of inheritance is extremely complicated, and creates a great complication of shares. The result of the opera- tion of these laws for several generations has been the creation of a very large number of interests, present and 17(3 SYSTE}fS OF lAXn TEXUin-: [Campbeix. contingent, in almost every estate. Tlie law gives to every shareholder the right of i)artitioning oiY his share ; but where there is no survey and no record, and no machinery in the hands of the executive Government, the attemi)t to divide through the courts an estate not in jiossession of the parties, but held by ryots, and of which the parties themselves scarcely know more than the rent-roll, is in practice attended with enormous difficulties. The process is seldom attempted in Bengal, and still seldomer brought to a successful issue. Thus then almost all estates are held in undivided shares by several, or many people — and many others have reversionary rights. It is very singular how many of the higher classes of Hindoos die childless, and how many widows' life tenures result. The tenure of Hindoo widows is peculiar in the extreme. They have no power to administer for useful jmrposes, so as to give leases, &c., beyond their own lives, but under Bramin-made laws they can do many things in favour of Bramins, and for superstitious purposes. Thc}^ are constantly in the hands of Bramins, and constantly trying to make away with the estates for the benefit of their own relations, or of their Bramin friends, to the ])rejudice of the husbands' heirs. Alto- gether the tenure is a most noxious one, and gives rise to half the litigation in Bengal. When we have then concurrenth^, a system of inherit- ance leading to constant subdivision of rights, without division of tenures; a vast system of sub-inieudation in eveiy form and degree, and on every condition, at the unrestrained pleasure of the parties; and then perplexing and injurious widow holdings coming as constant faults to disturb the course of every tenure ; all this overlaid on a system originally complicated and unrecorded, it may ])e supposed that there is an ample field for litigation in the courts. To this it must be added that our judicial sj'stem has encouraged to the utmost the worst tech- nicalities of law, and a practice under which witnesses have been numbered rather than wciglied. To such an extent has the habit of playing at law been carried, that it has Ijccome the common ])ractice to purchase and India.] IX VAftlOl^S COUNTJUES. Ill hold land in any fictitious name rather than a man's own. The most respectable man feels that if he has not need to cheat any one at present, he ma}' some day have occasion to do so, and it is the custom of the country ; so he puts his estate in the name of his wife's grand- mother under a secret trust. If he is pressed by credit- ors, or opposing suitors, it is not his ; if his wife's grand- mother plays him false, he brings a suit to declare the trust. To any one who should follow any land suit, taken at random from the files of our courts, in its in- ception, origin, and progress through many appeals to a final decree, and then should observe how the attempt to carry out the decree breeds half a dozen new suits, the wonder must be how any people can tolerate such a state of things. It is, however, remarkable how the world adapts itself to circumstances. The apparent evils are mitigated by two considerations ; first, the litigation of nearly a centurj^ has produced a certain record of rights in the shape of recorded decisions, which give a certain solid basis for future proceedings ; and second, litigation is to a Bengallee what alcohol and stock-jobljing together are to our countrymen, and opium and the opium trade to the Chinese — it is his stimulant, and his form of gamb- ling : and in some sense he likes it. Every Bengalee, high and low, treasures as his Lares and Penates an endless assortment of decrees of court and other processes, which he unfolds to every one who will listen to him. The grand difficulty in purchasing land in Bengal is to make a title. A purchaser can never be sure that some one ^^ ill not start up and declare the seller to have been a mere man of straw\ In truth, too often a litigious person buj^s from a man of straw a nominal property which is not in his possession. The only safe title is a purchase under a sale for arrear of revenue. Notwithstanding all drawbacks, the desire to possess landed rights is so great, and so much money has accu- mulated during a hundred 3'ears of peace, for which there is great want of means of safe investment, that land has come to bear a very high price indeed. The profits of the superior holders are now very high, and the prices X 178 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell paid arc such as to yield but a small rate of interest on the money invested. It would be sufficient subject for a separate treatise to discover why it is that the evils attending- joint hold- ings much subdivided (without corresponding facility of partition and transfer), which are so evident in all tenures above those of the cultivators, are not so marked as respects the holdings of the cultivating r3'ots. Their tenure is simpler ; being at the bottom, there are seldom complications under them ; they are on better terms with one another, and less skilled in law. They, too, have generally had a good deal of litigation ; but if they can only settle their rights, as between them and their landlords, they sometimes settle their own lamily adairs out of court. Up to this time the process of absorbing the waste has been going on, and there has not l)een complaint of the too minute division of farms, and the impossibilit,y of supporting life upon them. A large proportion of the holdings are certainly very small ; but except in time of general failure of crops and universal famine, the people support themselves without poor laws and do not trouble us. We really know wonderfully little of the social arrangements of the lower classes. They are independent, and that is enough for us. I think I may say, once for all, that the Irish form of difficulty, over population and insufficiency of land, has not yet troubled us. But the population is certainly much increasing, and this phase of the question may not be far off". I have alluded to the failure of the Bengal Zemeendars to perform the duties of landlords. In fact, to expect of them the duties of an English landlord, to build, and plant, and introduce improved agriculture, and improved machinery, if it ever was expected, was a mere chimera, and not reasonabl}^ to be looked for under the circum- stances. Those are not the functions of a native land- lord. If a man encourages and ]irotects the ryots who break up his waste and till his lands, and deals faith- fnlly and equitably )jy them, he is considered to do his duty. If lie nirther acts tlK> ])art of a capitalist money- India.] 7 A' VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 17U lender, and advances money and seed, to be repaid with interest at harvest time, he does something more; and if the interest exacted is not too exorbitant, he is a model landlord. In the very large estates the intervention of middlemen renders it impossible for the landlord to perform these functions, and he does not do so. In moderate estates he might do so, but in Bengal the complications of existing and contingent titles are so great that few have the power, if they have the will, and the}' are generally little disposed to do much. The virtues of a Bengallee landlord are rather negative than positive. I have said that generally he is not very exacting. Perhaps the ryots might fare worse than under his King Log sort of rule. In India, as in Ireland and many other countries, the tenure of land affects the happiness and determines the content or discontent of the people more than all other laws and administrative acts put together, and a main test of thd success of the land system is to be found in the political feelings of the people. The advocates of the Bengal system of management are wont to quote the quiet and loyalt}^ of the people of Bengal during the mutiny, as a proof of the excellence of their system. It is impossible to compare a country far from the scene of the military outbreak, and inhabited by an unwarlike people utterly alien to the Sepoys (whom they personally detest), with countries which were the immediate scenes of the mutiny and the home of the Sepoys ; but still no doubt those days, when the British power seemed to be for a time almost in abeyance, afforded great opportunity for the outbreak of discontent in any part of India. The population of Eastern Bengal is chiefly Mahom- medan, and there are many of those reformed Ma- hommedans whom a little persistent persecution may make our enemies. Although Bahar was much disturbed, Bengal certainly remained perfectly quiet throughout the mutiny ; and when, towards the end of the crisis, a Sepoy party stationed in Eastern Bengal threw off their al- legiance, they were even actively opposed by the j)cople. Without, then, admitting that the system is in all X 2 180 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. respects good, I think it may be said that the people were not seriously discontented with our rule. I reserve to a subsequent part of this Paper a notice of recent leoiislation affectino; the tenure of the land. TOE SYSTEM OF THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES. For some years subsequent to 1793 the views which had led to the permanent settlement of Bengal still prevailed. A part of the Madras presidency was permanently settled with great Zemeendars. Under that adminis- tration, however, ryotwar principles having eventually prevailed, the rights of the ryots under these Zemeendars were secured b}^ record and the active intervention of the Government. The permanent settlement was also extended to the Benares province, but there, too, in con- sequence of its being attached to the north-west pro- vinces, where a different system prevailed, a complete record of inferior rights has been made. In the early years of the present century, the obliga- tions towards us of our ally the Nawal) of Oude were settled by a partition of his country, half being retained by the Na\Yab, and half made over to the British Govern- ment. About the same time a considerable territory in the same part of India, which had been overrun by the Marattas, was acquired by their repulse. We thus ol)tained the command of the upper Gangetic valle}^ or rather plain — the proper Ilindoostau ; and the territories so acquired are those know^i as the north-west provinces. Soon after their acquisition the Government proclaimed its intention of making a permanent settlement on the Bengal pattern — a declaration which is still referred to as an embarrassing pledge. But other counsels soon prevailed. Great doubts were thrown on the advantage of the permanent settlement system ; the settlement of the north-west provinces on the same S3'stem was first postponed, and then altogether abandoned. Thus it has happened that, while in the lower provinces of Bengal and Baliar the system has been, as I have explained, exair:gerated and intensified in one direction, the northern IxDiA.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 181 provinces have fallen into a different groove, and the land policy has taken quite another direction. The doubts and dilferencos of opinion wliich j)revailed led to a succession of short temporary and provisional settlements of the new territories, witliout any minute investigation of rights. Short leases Avere given to the parties most easily accessible ; and where there seemed to be none possessed of any hereditary or quasi-proprietary claims, the villages were let to farmers. Wherever there was any appearance of rights they were ruthlessly sold when the revenue fell into arrears, and great abuses resulted, to the profit of our subordinate officials and their confederates, who acquired much of the land which they brought to sale. A special commission subsequently inquired into and partially redressed these abuses, but it was felt that some more settled system was necessary. This state of things led to the famous Eegulation YII. of 1822, which is the basis of all subsequent land arrange- ments in all parts of Northern India. The system of fixing the land revenue in perpetuity was abandoned, settlements for long periods being substituted ; but private property in the land was none the less to be as fully acknowledged as in Bengal. The landholders were in fact to have long leases, with a right of renewal at a revaluation at the end of the leases. Their rights were to be freely transferable, and completely regulated by law. No class was to be arbitrarily invested with these rights, but an exact survey and complete inquiry was to be made •, the parties best entitled to proprietarj^ rights were to be ascei'tained, and with them the Government revenue was to be settled ; while at the same time all inferior rights of every description were also to be fully ascertained, described, and recorded. A very important provision was this, that where two or more parties, superior and inferior, were found to be possessed of con- current rights in the same land, the Government officers were empowered either to settle directly with the superior, and to make a subsettlement between the superior and inferior holders, or to pension oft" one party with a percentage (in compensation for the rights which 182 SYSTEMS OF LAM) TENURE [Campbell he had heretofore exercised), and to make the settlement \vith the other. The r^'ots were to be divided into old settled ryots having a right of occupancy so long as they paid a fair rent, and ryots who had acquired no such rights ; but the tests by which this riglit was to be determined, and the standards by which the rent was to Ije fixed from time to time, were not defined with such accuracy as might have been desired. There was, however, to be a general record of the rules and customs of every village available for future reference. Minute calculations w^ere to be made of the value of agricultural produce, and of the share of that produce to w^hicli Government was entitled, and from these calcula- tions money rates were to be deduced, from which, after due allowance for the expenses and profits of the pro- prietors, the Government revenue was to be calculated and fixed. I think that one error to some extent pervades these excellent provisions, and has embarrassed all the opera- tions founded on them, — I mean the assumption that distinct proprietary rights everywhere exist, which we have only to ascertain and record. The fact is that, as I have before tried to show, such rights exist in a strong form only in certain parts of the country ; in others they are but inchoate and rudimentary ; in others they have fallen into decay and almost into abeyance ; in some they hardly exist at all. The consequence was that the function of the settlement officers has been to a great degree not only to ascertain rights but also to create a class of rights which did not exist before, or at any rate to give them a form and substance which they did not before possess. Great scope was tlius left for individual discretion ; and in the absence of distinct provision for the cases in which that Avhich did not exist could not be ascertained, individual prejudices were carried a long way in one direction or other. Much dilference of opinion, and many official battles have resulted. I think it would have been Ijetter if the Government had boldly India.] JN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 183 recognized the iiict that to arrive at complete private ])ropei'tv a great creation of rights was indisi)ensa]jle, and had distinctly determined on whom and in what degree those rights were to be conferred, what was to be given to great Zemeendars, what to village head-men, and what to the ryots, instead of leaving those questions to be fought out l)y the local officers in every case. As it is, there has generally been (as in most matters in which Englishmen are concerned) an aristocratic party and a party of the people ; a i)arty wdiicli woidd give as much as possible to the rich and gentlemanlike natives, the descendants of ancient rajas or sons of modern farmers-general, and trust to them to rule the people \ another, which, considering that it is our function to protect the people from the tyrann}^ of native rulers, would give as much as possible to the people, and restrict tlie aristocracy to their actual rights. Either course is possible under the law, for by putting the people to the proof, and giving them no more than they can prove a right to, all the rest falls to the aristocrats ; by putting the aristocrats to the proof, and giving them no more than they can prove a title to, there is ample room to give the people very large rights. On one point all administrators in all the provinces wiiich have been administered by the Bengal Civil Service (the name is applied to the whole service, W'hich comprises the separate Bengal and North -Western branches), or by officers associated with them under the Government of India, have agreed, viz., that under no circumstances whatever will the Government deal direct with the individual rj^ots, as in Madras and Bombay. If there is no intermediate proprietor, or office holder of some kind w^ho can be taken as such, and the villagers have not a complete constitution enabling them to deal with the Government in a bod}^ through their representa- tives for a lump sum to be paid jointly, a proprietor must be found or created. To this day in Bengal the estates which have in any w^ay lapsed as Government [)roperty are sold to the highest bidder, rather than settled with the ryots under a system which Bengal 184 SYSTEMS OF lAXD TENUBE [Campuei.l. officers do not accept as admissible. The}' cannot get rid of the small tenures of Eastern Bengal, but will allow no others where they can help it. In the North- West Provinces ever}- village is settled in the lump with some one. For some years the proceedings under Iieg. VII. of 1822 did not progress satisfactorily. It turned out that the machinery at the disposal of Government was quite inadequate to the vastness of the work which had been undertaken ; and the attempt to obtain reliable revenue rates by a calculation of the value of produce and cost of production was found to be fallacious and impossible. Jn 1833 the requisite machiner}' was supplied by the employment of natives in posts hitherto confined to Europeans ; and it was determined to calculate the revenue of each village in the gross, with reference to actual past receipts, and to allow the parties interested to distril3ute it under the superintendence of the settle- ment officers. An energetic settlement school sprung up ; and in the course of the following eight or nine years the whole of the North-West Provinces, yielding an annual revenue of some 4,000,000/., was settled, and all rights and holdings of every kind were voluminously recorded in great detail. This settlement was mainly carried out under the superintendence of Mr. Robert Mertins Bird, Mr. Thom- ason being one of his most active subordinates; but as it afterwards fell to Mr. Thomason, during a long incum- bency as Lieutenant-Governor, to administer the sj'stem, it is ])0})Uiarly associated with his name. The battle between the officers who supported the claims of the aristocracy and those ^^ ho took the more ])0])ular view raged with intensity in the course of the settlement. Neither one nor the other entircdy pre- vailed ; but it is not to be denied that the party which looked with disfavour on aristocratic claims had even- tually more sujjport of authority than the other. Many large Zemeendars were maintained in their position ; but in many cases, where they had hitherto held from Govern- ment, village })ro[trietors were found to liave claims to a India.] IN VABIOUS COUNTRIES. 185 sub settlement under them ; and in some instances they were altogethei' set aside with an allowance, and the settlement was made with the sub-proprietors, under the provision for such cases which I have mentioned. The supporters of the aristocracy assert that in some places village claims which had been long ago over- ridden and trodden out, during the troublous times which preceded our rule, were arbitrarily revived, to the prejudice of the great landlords, who had exercised (.'omplete authorit3\ On the whole subject of this settlement it must, how- ever, be understood that the settlement officers and the Government under whom they acted had no arbitrary powers ; the civil courts w^erc open to all, to contest and bring to a judicial decision the justice of their awards; and by the higher classes especially that remedy Mas freely resorted to. The proprietary rights having been determined, the principle followed was to take two-thirds of the then rental as Government revenue, leaving to the proprietors the remaining third, and all future increase during the term of the settlement, which was fixed at thirty years. A proprietor objecting to the assessment fixed may decline the engagement, in which case the village is let to a farmer, and he has a small percentage — a good check on over-assessment. The waste lands were demar- cated with the village boundaries, and included in the settlement. The survey was most minute. Every field, however small, was measured and mapped, with the name of the occupant and the rent. Perhaps the part of the settlement which was least guided by any uniform rules was that which distin- guished between hereditary occupancy ryots and tenants- at-will. The fact is that there was no contest on the point. The ryots hardly understood the distinction, the question of eviction never having been raised ; and the Zemeendars did not press any claim to evict so long as they got their rents. It was thus left to the settle- ment officers to do very much as they liked on tliis point. A practice sprang up — it is not clear how — to ISG SYSTEMS OF LAXD TEN THE [Campebll. consider that all cnltivatiiifi: ryots who had been in unin- teiTni)ted j)ossession for twelve years, without special contract, should be taken to have a right of occupancy ; and in most districts that rule was followed. No doubt, as matter of prescrij)tion, the holding of a tenant-at-will or from year to year is not adverse to his landlord, and so far there was no legal justification for the rule. But in the absence of any other rule, and in the absence of contest, the rule was probably as good as any other which could have been suggested, and had some support from the analogy of judicial decisions in the case of the Bengal ryots. If the Government, when conferring such great benefits upon those who were made projtrictors, had in so many words estal^lished by law this rule in favour of the rj^ots, there would have been no coni- jjlaint ; Ijut since the rights of the proprietors have been established, and are taken for granted, it has in recent days been said that the settlement officers gave occu- pancy rights to ryots who had no sufficient title. Nothing was declared as to the power of the Zemeeu- dars to raise the rents of occupancy ryots for anj^ cause during the term of the settlement. The power to realise rent l)y summary proceedings before the collector was restricted to the recorded rent heretofore payable ; but it was eventually decided in the civil courts that a Zemeendar was entitled, on showing that causes inde- pendent of the exertions of the rj^ot had raised the value of the land, to obtain by regular suit an increase of rent. The course of procedure was, however, difficult, the right hardly known; and I think it may be said that in practice the occupancy ryots held at unvaried rents, till the introduction of the new rent law, to which I shall come presentl3\ The result of the settlement of proprietary rights in the North-A\'est Provinces was to create a great variety of landholders of many different classes. I have said that many large Zemeendars retained great estates. In some i)arts ol" the country the settlement w^as made with cultivating village communilies; but as the [)ro})er villages of this class are principally in the territory India.] /.¥ VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 187 about Delhi, since transferred to the Punjalj, I may leave them till I come to that province. In the greater part of the North-West Provinces the settlement was most frequently made with small landholders and village proprietors, a class intermediate between the great Zemeendars and the true cultivating communities. The country is chiefly that in which the Eajpoots were at one time predominant ; and a large proportion of the villages were of that class, to which I have before re- ferred, where the original Rajpoot community or other similar body was considerably reduced in numbers, and did not cultivate the whole village, but still maintained a position of greater or less superiority over the ordinary ryots by whom they were surrounded. The proprietary rights of these ftxmilies or groups of families were very generally recognised. The system is that they cultivate the lands in their own possession, and collect on common account the rents paj'able by the other r3^ots. The common receipts are applied to the payment of the revenue, and any deficiency is supplied by a rate on the lands of the proprietors. Where a small family holds, and the rents of the ryots exceed the revenue and ex- penses, the surplus is similarly divided according to shares- In the many villages where neither great Zemeendars "nor old proprietary families established claims, it being necessary to find some proprietors, a good headman or solvent farmer, or some other person of some sort, was established as proprietor. The facility of sale and transfer afforded by the establishment of saleable property and authentic register of rights, with the frequency of compulsory sales through the civil courts, have brought into possession of many landed properties men of the mercantile and capitalist classes. These men are in Northern India very enterprising, and some of them have really done much to plant ryots and develop the resources of the country in the native way. The normal tenure of the North-West Provinces may be said then to be that of moderate proprietors, of fair position and character, with many ryots under them who possess 188 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE [Campbei.l. a right of occnpaney at a fair rent. The security of teniu'e resultini;- from the settlement gave a great im- pulse to agriculture ; there was peace and prosperity ; the country flourished ; property in land acquired a high value \ and for a long period the settlement of the North-West Provinces was held out as the perfection of Indian management. Ill a great degree these praises were well deserved ; yet there ai-e some drawbacks. The immense records, pushed on rapidly to completion, were sometimes found to con- tain a good many errors, and required some revision and correction. Considerable inequalities no doubt occurred in the assessment of the revenue. The main drawbacks are, however, I think the following : The establishment of property gave facility for obtain- ing credit, while the facility of resort to sale of landed rights in satisfaction of debts, and the strictness of the collectors' demands, rendered alienations very frequent. Those who most suffered in this way were the some- what improvident classes — the old Rajpoot and such-like families — who were constantly sold out. If there was often economic gain in this process, there was political weak- ness, for the old proprietors — the most martial class in the country— remained on the land in great numbers, reduced to the position of needy and discontented cul- tivators, holding under those whom they contemned as mere shopkeepers, and who were only kept in their position b}^ the strength of British power. Then, as the old head-men and others, who had been made proprietors of so many villages on account of their merits and prominence, died out, their properties often fell to people who had not their capacity; and they have been much subdivided under the laws of inheritance. The tendency in many of the small estates which at first seemed all that could be desired is, I think, to the gradual creation of a small proprietary class, above cultivating themselves, and not efficient as landlords. Finally, as land became valuable and competition arose, it was found that the position of the ryots had not been sufficiently defined. India.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 189 The North- West Provinces were the principal scene of the mutiny. The Sepoys were almost all Ilindostanees. For several months, the British p-ower was, it may be said, absolntely and wholly extinct throughout the length and breadth of these provinces. Anarchy, of course, resulted ; it could not have been otherwise. To expect that a grateful i)eoi)le would keep the country for us under such circumstances, when they had seen their British masters slaughtered and driven away, would be too much. The old robber tribes resorted again to rob- bery ; the strong took advantage of the weak ; old feuds were fought out ; every man's hand was against his neigh- bour. The judicial records containing obnoxious decrees were in some instances burnt. Yet I can speak with some authorit}' when I say that there was nothing like a general popular war against ourselves ; for I marclied the wdiole length of the provinces as civil commissioner with the first column which came down after the fall of Dehli, and can say that there was not a sjnuptom of popular resistance or hostilit3\ With the exception of opposition from one or two considerable chiefs and Zemeendars, we everywhere w-alked into the villages and met the people as if nothing had happened. The moment our military power was re-established, they quieted down as a matter of course. 'While, then, this paper is designed rather to state facts than to offer opinions, I cannot but testify, as matter of fact, to the want of foundation for the suggestion at one time put forward in some quarters, that the events of the mutiny showed the unsoundness of the settlement system of Northern India. On every occasion of great calamity there is a disposition to say that whatever is, is wrong, and it was so on this occasion. It has been some- times said in the public prints that the people took the opportunity of rushing back to allegiance to their old masters, the great Zemeendars ; but no particulars of places or circumstances are given, and the statement is quite without foundation. Putting aside Oude, which had only been a few months annexed, and to which I shall present^ come, I venture to say that great Zemeen- dars, who had long ceased to exercise their functions, 190 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE \Q,\y\vxiv.\A.. nowhere regained anthority. It is trne that, in this time of anarchy, good Zemecndars of large means and con- siderable power were able to maintain a nearer approach to order than existed elsewhere ; but, on the other hand, several men of tliat class took the opportunity of rebel- ling. What did very generally happen was this, that the ousted village Zemeendars, the fomilies and com- munities of the arm-bearing castes, who had been recog- nised at the settlement but had been sold out (princi- pally by the civil courts), took the opportunity of driving away the unmilitary purchasers, and resuming what they still considered to be theirs. This it was which was mistaken for a voluntary return ( f the people to the dominion of their ancient chiefs. While, then, I have said that the North-West settlement is not, in all respects, the piece of absolute perfection which it was at one time represented to be, on the other hand I say that nothing occurred in the mutiny to give the slightest ground for suggesting that it had failed or was founded on Avrong principles. It was only made apparent that the subsequent action of the courts, in too summarily alienating the rights of the village proprietors who had been properly recognised at the settlement, was a source of political weakness ; and that lesson is one which has been borne in mind. THE PUNJAB. Much of the Ois-Sutlej Sikh country, and the Jullunder Doab, were annexed in 1846, and the Punjab became British territor}^ in 1849. To these were added the Dehli territory, and the whole form the present Punjab Government. The Punjab was settled on precisely the same principles as the North-West Provinces. Lord Lawrence was bred a settlement officer under ^Ir. Bird, and the system was fully introduced. The differences caused by local circumstances are chiefly the following : ^Vlthough tliere are foinid in the Punjab, as in all provinces settled under Peg. A^II. of 1822, a considerable variety of tenures, the majority are the complete village Ln-dia.] JN various COUNTRIES. 191 communities which I have described in the fii-st part of this paper. These, then, may be taken as the normal Pnnjab type, on which the Punjab system is founded. Tlie pro])rietary rights of the communities are {\\\\y acknowledged, and the settlement is made with them, each village undertaking the payment, through its representative council of elders, of the revenue assessed upon it, which again is distrilmted upon the individual members, in proportion to the land held and cultivated by them. Thus we recognise the proprietary right of the mass of the freemen — constituting, I should say, in most cases an actual majority of the popnhition, and certainly almost the whole strength of the country. Practically, the settlement made with a community is very nearly ryotwar, with the difference that Government deals with the united body, and not directly with each individual separately. Most of the Punja)) people are far better cultivators and much more provident tlian the Rajpoots and simi- lar tribes, and the Government officers have l)een more considerate ; hence the sale of rights, in consequence of the non-payment of revenue, is almost unknown. The revenue is paid with extreme punctuality. Another most important distinction, as compared with the North-West Provinces, is this, that in the first instance the unlimited interference of civil courts ad- ministering technical law on the principle of " fiat justitia ruat coelum " was not permitted. In those days it was considered that in the new countries, called non- regulation, the ruling authorities had, in the absence of specific law restraining them, something of the old despotic power of the rulers to whom they succeeded. There were no independent judicial triljunals. The executive officers were vested with judicial powers ; and there was at most only an appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober. It was distinctly laid down as the rule of the country that landed property was not liable, as a matter of course, to summary sale in satisfaction of simple debts, such sales l)eing only permitted witli the special sanction of the higher authorities ; and that was 192 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. only accorded on a fall consideration of the circumstances of the tenure and of the case, when it was considered that the course was both just and expedient. These conditions being made fully known, no injustice was done to tliose who chose to lend money on such security as they could get. There was also in all cases of sale of individual rights, a right of pre-emi)tion in the other members of the same village community. A large Sepoy army was quartered in the Pnnjal) in 1857; and all the regiments which were not disarmed in time and guarded almost as prisoners broke into mutiny and rebellion. It may be admitted that the Punjab people had no love for the Sepoys. But still most of the European troops having marched to Dehli, an almost complete opportunity was afforded to a war- like and independent people only a few years conquered. It is impossible to suppose that if there had been discontent it must not have then burst forth. Yet it is well known that the people not only did not rebel, but gave us the most active assistance. We put arms in their hands; they fought the rebel Sepoj^s ; the villagers hunted them down ; troops hastily organised in the Punjab largely contributed to take Dehli. It may then very confidently be asserted that the system pursued in the Punjab had given satisfaction to the people. It is constantl}' said, as matter of theory, by those who follow other systems, that the joint responsibility Avhich the system of joint engagements involves must be bad ; that it is a system which makes the good pay for the bad, the provident for the improvident. But, in fact, this is not so. The assessments are calculated to give, and do in fact give, much value to the land ; if a man breaks down, others are always found most ready to take his land and pay up his arrears ; it is generally not even necessary absolutely to transfer the land of the defaulter (although this may be done) ; the feeling of the country is rather in favour of transfer in the way of native mortgage, which gives the defaulter a sufficient ])eriod to recover his inheritance, on paying the amount advanced, if he can ol)t-ain the moans bv mib'tarv service or India.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 193 otherwise. The theory of the northern settlement system gives every sharehokler the right to have his land and his liahilitics partitioned, if he lik.\s to incur the necessary expense; bat the privileges and advantages of membership of these communities are snch that the sliareholders seldom seek to carry the division farther than the partition of cultivated lands, which is the essence of the system. In course of time we shall pro- bably come to entirely separate properties; but there is no need to hurrv the process.* Even if it be conceded that there mi-^iht be some economical objection to the system of joi t tenure, the main point is this, that by the indigenous system of joint engagements the Government is enabled at once to deal with the body of the cultivators, and to acknow- ledge and enlarge their rights, to the satisfaction of the people and advantage of the administration. It can do this without incurring the much more serious evils and drawbacks which have always been found to attend the attemi)t of a great foreign Government to deal separately with each petty holder, till, at least, many years and much experience have enabled it to do so in a way which is impossible in the first generation under our rule. I will not delay to enter into farther details ; but I believe it must be admitted on all hands that in practice the Punjab sj^stem has l^een eminently successful. No one can have passed through the country without feeling that. THE RYOTAVAR SYSTEMS OF MADRAS AND BOMBAY. The system known as the " ryotwar " is that of dealing separately with each ryot without joint responsibility. It has been mentioned that a part of the Madras * The most curious proof that the natives do not necessarily prefer the separate to the joint system, is found in the fact, puhHshed in some of the official papers of tlie Madras Presidency, that in that country villages were found which for half a century had submitted to the farce of a Government assessment on each individual, but had year by year lumped the individual assessments together, and rcdivided the total in their own way among the members of the community. 194 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE rcAMPCELL. territory was permanently settled with the great Ze- meendars. In another part, on the western coast, there are peculiar tenures nearly amounting to complete property ; but my space will not admit of going into details ; and, in treating of Madras, I shall keep to the normal system of the greater part of the Madras ter- ritory, the ryotwar. As soon as the orders for adopting the Bengal system were relaxed, the Madras authorities returned to their own system of management. They considered the Zemeendars and Polygars to be no better than robbers and tyrants, from whom we had delivered the people. Most of these men had been swept away in the w^ars of our early days, and those who remained were put aside. The Madras authorities not only dealt direct with the people ; ])ut, insisting on strict economic justice in every individual case, they rejected the old sj'stem of joint village responsibility. It is singular how much Englishmen, educated in the same way, and dealing with very similar institutions, have fallen into different grooves w^hen separated in different localities in a foreign country. Perhaps no two sets of men bred in different planets could have diverged more widely than Bengal and Madras civilians on the land question. The fact seems to be that the country to which the rule of India has fallen is that of all the countries of Europe in which there is least that is analogous to Oriental institutions. And Englishmen, set down amid scenes entirely new to them, are very amenable to local influences. Local schools being once established, men isolated, and coming little into personal contact with those following other systems, maintain their own views with a persistence and intolerance which we do not find when men are brought more together. It has been said that the different schools of Bengal civilians agree in this, that under no circumstances shall the Government deal direct with the individual ryots. The Madras civilians, on the other haml, have made it the root and foundation of their faith that under no circumstances siiall the Government deal with the land India.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 195 in any other way. ^lucli of tlie country was really in that state which suggested the ryotwar system, there being none who could claim the character of proprietors, unless the}' had been created, as would have l)een the case in Bengal or the North- West. But it is abundantly clear, from the descriptions of the early administrators, that in gome parts of the south there were village com- munities just as completely constituted as those of the Punjab, and well accustomed to pay the revenue in the lump, and manage their own affairs. The system was rejected as unjust and inexpedient ; and, by the force of the Government, the communities were generally dis- solved into the individual units, each man being sepa- rately assessed for the land which he held ; although in some instances the villages maintained their system in spite of the Government. In the early years of vigorous ryotwar management, a measurement and classification was made, in native fashion, of the whole lands of the country ; every field was recorded, with the Government dues payable for it. Every ryot in possession is secured so long as he pays the revenue so assessed. He may give up any field if he likes, and may take any unoccupied field. For long, a certain distinction was drawn between the meerasdars or hereditary and proprietary ryots, who had more fixed and positive rights, and the simple ryots, whose tenure was rather one of permission to hold than an acknow- ledged property ; but, by a system of levelling up, this distinction may be said to have been eventually effaced in the ryotwar countries, and the ryots' holdings have become complete property so long as the revenue is paid. A very important difference between a ryotwar system and the others which have been described is this, that in the ryotwar provinces all the waste and unoccupied lands are considered to be Government property, and. being separately assessed in fields or survey plots, are available to the first comer, native of the village or stranger, who chooses to take them upon the pre- scribed terms. Whether the settlement be made with o 2 196 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. the Bonp:al Zemcendar or with the Punjab village com- munity, the lump sum assessed includes all the lands of each village area, cultivated and uncultivated ; and the proprietors may make their own arrangements for culti- vating the waste without increase of revenue, except when there is a new settlement. In Madras and Bombay it is not so ; there for ever}- new field cultivated the Government has an additional revenue. Where, as is still the case in some parts of Madras, the revenue is payable in the old native fashion (a proportion of the grain crop, varj^ing rates for different kinds of crops, and so on), the Government also benefits by the increase of prices and spread of valuable products. The advantages and disadvantages of the rj^otwar system have been made very apparent in Madras. There is no tyranny of grasping proprietors over poor ryots. The revenue is adjusted according to circum- stances. When peace brought down war prices, it some- what fell off; since the expenditure of British capital, and other recent circumstances, have enhanced prices and increased resources, it has greatly risen. But too much was attempted in the first instance. The survey was very rough, and the rates were certainly too high ; so that there has not, till quite recently, been any suffi- cient margin to enable the ryots generally to attain an easy and independent position. The survey and assessment have not been revised, as was necessary. In the greater part of the presidency there is still nothing more recent than the days of Sir Thomas Monro. The assessment once fixed was never altered; and it has frequently happened that the best fields remained uncultivated, as being too highly assessed. The chief evil is this, that it is impos- sible to work a most complicated system, and to collect from many hundreds of thousands of ryots a revenue, expressed in a multitude of items, Avithout the interven- tion of a host of native subordinates. The revenue could never be exactly collected ; the grant of remissions to individuals who can show some excuse for non-payment is still a recognized part of the system ; and as it is India.] IN VARIOUS COUNTBIES. 197 totally impossible that the collector can really master every such case, many abuses necessarily result. In Bomba_y, when the territory was acquired from the Marattas, Mounstuart Elphinstone was altogether in favour of the village system ; but eventually the Madras pattern of ryotwar management was that more generally adopted. Suljsequently, when the successful settlement of the north-western provinces had called attention to these matters, a knot of able and energetic Bombay officers devised an improved ryotwar system, which has been very successfully carried out. A new and exact survey and valuation is made by much improved methods. The land is permanently marked out by substantial boundary marks in convenient fields or small blocks, and the revenue is systematically assessed on each in money, and fixed for a period of thirty j^ears. The rates are extremel}^ low — many people say too low — but that is now generally considered to be a fault on the right side ; and although there was at first a dispo- sition to rush from old lands to lightly-assessed new ones, and to take up more than a man could properly culti- vate, I believe that, the great demand for cotton and consequent flow of money largely aiding, there has been a very great increase of substantial and permanent culti- vation and a great development of agricultural enter- prise. A man may still give up each field at his pleasure, or take any new one that is unoccupied ; but all land in possession is declared to be complete and absolute property, and has acquired such a value that it is now seldom surrendered. The rates being so low, the revenue is punctually exacted, and the tenures are held liable for its payment. I believe that, sufficient pains being taken, and a sufficient machinery employed, and circumstances favour- ing, the ryotwar sj^stem has really been worked out to a ver}^ successful issue in Bombay, and that the revenue has been benefited as well as the people.* * I am compelled to be brief as regards Bombay and Madras, but I have given fuller details of the systems there followed in ' Modern India,' chap, vii.— G. C. 198 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. The mode of assessment was originally too artificial and minute ; but I suppose that in practice the great oljject has been to make a reasonable assessment in some way, at rates so low that minor inequalities are com- parativel}' immaterial. The Bombay territory is small : the officers employed were zealous and energetic; and the object aimed at has been efTected. It must, how- ever, be understood that the thing has not been done without something of the same lump system to which objection is taken as regards the practice of Northern India. The unit is not the village, but a smaller unit ; still that unit is to some degree arbitrary and artificial. The assessment is not imposed on each actual petty field, but on an artificial field, often ten or twelve acres or more. When there are several holders in this block, a certain joint responsibility is imposed. If one culti- vator surrenders his portion, he who remains must take the whole or give up the whole. And he is not per- mitted to subdivide it again for revenue purposes. Subject to the undivided responsiljility for each revenue block, there is no prohibition of subdivision by inherit- ance, &c., as among the peo|)le themselves ; but there being much facility for taking up new land on the one hand, and great demand for labour for railways, manufactories, &c., on the other, I understand that the tendency has been rather to consolidation, and not to subdivision of farms, taking the country generally. I am told that there has not been much sub-letting, and that the evils sometimes said to attend small properties have not yet been largeh' experienced in BoinJjay. My visits to Bombay districts have impressed me very favourably. I can say that all that we can hear from the people of the adjoining villages of the central provinces goes to show that the Bombay system is ex- tremel}' popular. And the highest authorities connected with the ]>ombay Administration assure me that the social results are so far altogether good. The success of tlie Bombay system led to measures for a similar revision and reconstruction of the ryot- war system in Madras; but the same successful result has India.] JN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 199 not yet been obtained. The reasons of this failure are not clear ; this only is certain, that the territory is larger, and the task heavier than in Bombay. Madras men used to say that it would be very easy to give as much satisfaction if the revenue were as completely sacrificed as it had been in Bomba}^ ; but since the Bombay revenue has been recouped, that argument can hardly hold. I suspect that a dislike servilely to follow the Bombay, or any other pattern, has something to do with it. And I should rather think, from the papers I have seen, that the Madras ofiBcers have fallen into the same error Avhich at first rendered Reg. YII. of 1822 inopera- tive, that is, they attempt too minute calculations of produce, and too scientific deductions of rates, as the basis of their settlements, instead of cutting the knot b}^ a rough and ready assessment at rates so low as to be safe, some inequalities notwithstanding. I have not been in the Madras territories since 1864, and Madras revenue affairs have always been a kind of sacred mystery to the outside world, the whole system is so full of native complications, and all the reports so bristle with hopelessly unintelligible technicalities. The popu- larised settlement reports which have been elsewdiere so much in vogue, have not been generally imitated in Madras. The ofiQcial documents are such that I, an expert of man}^ provinces, shrink from them : an ordinarj' Englishman might as well attempt to read an arrow- headed inscription. The Madras authorities used to be loud in praise of their own system, but of late years they seem to have run to the other extreme of pessimism. After 3^ears of discussing and minuting, a resolution intended to inaugurate a new survey and settlement was re- corded by the Madras Government, on 14th August, 1855. According to this document everything was bad. With little exception, no part of the presidency had been in British possession for less than half a century, yet it stood alone among British provinces, as that in which there had been no proper survey and settlement. The old survey was wholly defective, a mere measurement 200 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Cami'isell. and valuation made in haste hj persons wholly ianorant of an}' correct nu^tliods of measuring, and under no eflcctive control. There were no maps and no permanent boundaries. The records, such as they were, had been imperfectly preserved, and in many instances had been grossly tampered with. There were many districts in which there had been no pretence of measurement, and where at that day " the land revenue demand is based merel}- on the unchecked statement of the Curnum, who has thus vast opportunity Ijoth of making exactions on the rj^ots, and in coHusion with them of defrauding Government." The geni?ral result of the S3^stem was stated to be that not only was the revenue injuriously affected, but the poorer and less influential classes suffered for the benefit of the wealthy ; to all, both rich and poor, pro- perty was rendered uncertain, and they were placed in dependence on grasping and unscrupulous men, and diverted from the pursuits of honest industry. The moral of this dreadfully black picture was that the Supreme Government must give the money necessary for a new survc}^ and settlement ; but still there was too much truth in it ; and the new settlement was re- solved on. Elaborate details regarding the system to be followed are to be found in the papers. The Madras Government wished to settle the revenue at money rates, calculated on the average prices of pro- duce, which were to be revised every seven or ten years ; but the Government at home decided that it Avould be better to fix low mone}^ rates once for all, and to make the settlement at these rates for thirty years. When I visited the Madras presidency in 1859, Sir C. Trevelyan being Governor, the settlement was being actively discussed, and it was apparently in train to be fully carried out. In 1864 I could not find that any- thing substantial had been done, and since that time I had been unable to learn anything tangible regarding the progress of the settlement. On applying for inform- ation, I have now received, as the latest intelligence, a paper which seems to put things in a very unfavourable T-NDiA.J IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 201 light. It is a report made in the present year 18G9 to the Board of Revenue by an officer specially deputed to inquire into the matter, and himself formerly deputy director of settlements. The Board simply request the director of settlements to favour them with his views, and I suppose that it is a tolerably reliable document. It appears that, excepting the districts where a new system of irrigation rendered a resettlement indis- pensable, scarcely any settlements have yet been com- pleted. A conference, it is stated, was held on settle- ment subjects in Sir Charles Trevelyan's time, in 1859, but, says the report, " The result of the conference was never officially notified ; for Sir Charles Trevelyan soon after left the countr}^ and from that day to this the Settlement Department has continued to work without any specific instructions, on a sort of semi-organised footing, doing a little here and there, in an uncertain and unconnected manner." That is a very extraordinary statement. The report goes on to say, that as things are managed the system still works badly, " The bulk of the people are paupers. They can just pay their cess in a good .year, and fail altogether when the season is bad. Remissions have to be made perhaps every third year in most districts. There is a bad year in some one district or group of districts every year." It is stated that the Government have gradually abolished a vast number of vexatious and petty native items of assessment, but that there are still nineteen different systems in the nineteen districts, and many anomalies; e.g.^ "A man grows tobacco in his garden and is charged eighteen rupees an acre, while his neigh- bour grows millet and is charged three rupees an acre. Single crop lands are charged double crop rates, and double crop lands single crop rates. Two or more rates of assessment are imposed on different parts of the same field. Certain lands in this village are charged eight rupees, and precisely similar lands in a neighbouring village, four rupees an acre." These and many other anomalies are said to exist ; l)ut it is asked, are the ad- vantages of a new settlement worth the outlay of a 202 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. million sterling on estaljlisliment and working expenses, and a certain loss of revenne which it will take time to recoup ? In fact, sa.ys the reporter, two millions must ])e spared to carry out the settlement, or the system must Ije abandoned. I believe that, notwithstanding the pessimism of the reports which I have quoted, there has been of late years a considerable increase of prosperity and wealth in Madras. Still the failure to put the great interests connected with the land on a proper footing seems very bad. That is no consequence of the ryotvvar system ; on the contrary, the adoption of that system is just what renders a minute survey and valuation much more indispensably necessary than in provinces where we deal with the people in a a body, or through intermediate proprietors, and leave them to settle their own affairs. The omission to carry out a proper system can only be considered to be an administrative failure. RECENT LEGISLATION AND SETTLEMENTS. I have explained the very good footing on which the Bengal ryots of the time of the permanent settlement were put by the laws of that day, record only being wanting ; but I have scarcely alluded to the ryots who came into land subsequent to the setthment. In truth, till recent legislation dealt with the whole subject, their position was very obscure and doubtful. The Regulations giving the Zemeendars power to deal with the waste land would have enabled them to introduce, in so much of their estates, an English contract system ; to have retained the complete and absolute property in their own hands — to have built and improved, and let the inn)rove(l lands to tenants. But, in fact, they did nothing of the sort. Exactly the same thing happened which has happened in Ireland, that is to say, the Zemeendars and those holding under them permitted ryots to reclaim the land, settle themselves, put up houses, and do all that was required for agricultural pur])oses, on the understanding that when it was reclaimed they were to pay the usual rents. There was, however, this material difference from the India.] 7.V VAUTOUS COUNTRIES. 203 state of tluno's in Ireland, tliat no circumstances arose leading the Zemeendars to think of attempting to evict tenants. And the mass of the old tenants not being liable to eviction, those who came in subsequently, on similar customary terms, probably considered that the}^ also were not to be evicted so long as they paid their rents. In course of time, indeed, the distinction between the old and new ryots would necessaril}^ become very difficult to trace ; it became hard to say who had held from before the settlement, and who had come in subsequently, the apparent tenure being precisely the same. At any rate the question of occupancy rights was not raised between the Zemeendars and ryots, both parties being content that things should remain as they were. Under a legal system where the greatest force is given to custom, it was at least doubtful whether it might not be held that, according to the custom and understand- ing of the country, any man who occupied land as a resident ryot, and invested his labour and money in it, ispo facto acquired a right of occupancy subject to the customary rent. The old Regulations, in fact, seem hardly to contemplate any other than the ordinary native method of managing these things ; and there are in them expressions which would seem to imply that no more is to be taken from any class of ryots, old or new, than the customary rates of the neighbourhood. Special contracts would probably override these general provisions ; but it is certain that in the whole course of litigation, from 1793 to 1859, there was no case in which any ryot's rent had been raised by the agency of the courts, on any other ground than that it was below the customary rates of the neighbourhood, and should be raised to that standard. The logical inference would be that as there was no mode of raising the general established rates of a locality all round, and individual holdings could not be raised bej^ond those rates, they must have remained unaltered all along. The fact, however, is not exactly so. Zemeendars, like other native rulers, have a good deal of irregular power ; as prices rose and expenses increased, they had some 204 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. equitable claim to an increase of rent. Cesses and extra items were added to the rent-roll : then on special occasions new measurements were made, and claims of one kind and another were sometimes compromised by an agreement to add something to the previous rates. Thus in an irregular way, but more or less by mutual consent, the old Pergunnah rates were changed into very various local rates, and the tendency was always towards increase ; there beiug in this respect little distinction between ancient and modern ryots, except in the case of the formally acknowledged holders of perpetuities at a quit rent. Once the body of the ryots had submitted to any increase, individuals could be made to pay the local rates thus established. Still there was no general sj^stem of rapid enhancement, and, as I have already said, the increase of rents did not keep pace with the increased value of the land. A few years ago it was found that the increase of knowledge and of the mercantile spirit were bringing about a state of things when it would be no longer safe to rely on the undefined customs which were daily becoming more varied and indistinct, and that a revision of the Bengal rent laws was necessary. In the north-west provinces, also, it was felt that the settlement proceedings had left the rights and liabilities of the ryots in a some- what inaccurate state. And it was determined to pass a new law applicable to both provinces. This was the famous Act X. of 1859, by which the respective rights of landlords and ryots are now regulated. The first provisions are applicable to the permanently settled provinces only, and do little more than confirm the rights of the old r3^ots conferred on them by the original laws. Ryots who have held from the time of the permanent settlement at fixed rates of rent which had never been changed are entitled to hold at those rents for ever. The clfect is that those of the ancient ryots who have clung to their rights and submitted to no increase keep them still ; but those who have, as matter of fact, submitted to any increase, just or unjust, fall down into a lower class, to be presently mentioned. India.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 205 Then, to p^ct over the want of record and the difficulty or impossibilit}^ of proving an ancient invariable hold- iiio:, it was provided that when any ryot can prove that his rent has not been changed for twenty years, it shall be presumed that the land has been held at the same rate from the time of the permanent settlement, unless the Zemeendar shoics to the contrary. This is by on means giving perpetuity to all ryots of twenty years' standing, but is a mere adjustment of the burden of proof. There has been a great disposition to be very strict in the proof required of the twenty years' holding at a fixed rent. It has not been thought enough that some sort of proof should be given, and it should be accepted if uncontradicted by evidence on the other side. Very specific and exact proof has been reciuired, which is not always forthcoming, the provision not having been anticipated, and there being no official record. This deficiency has often been met in native method by forging the receipts which were wanting. The result, I fear, is that it very much depends on the idiosyncrasy of the individual judge, whether claims to hold at a fixed rent are admitted wholesale or rejected wholesale ; and there is a painful uncertainty as to every tenure which has not passed the ordeal of the courts. - These, however, are judicial difficulties ; the general equity of the law is so far not disputed. The provision which has since led to much discussion, and to a cry that the rights of landlords have been confiscated, is the next, which declares a right of occupancy at a fair rent (subject to enhancement from time to time) to belong to everj'' ryot who has held laud for a period of twelve years and upwards, with two important exceptions. First, the law is not to affect the terms of any written contract, so that a man holding, on contract only, a terminable lease does not benefit by the provision. And second, it does not apply to the "seer" or demesne lands of the proprietors. Lands which have once borne that character, although let for the time, can be resumed at any time. Tenants having a right of occupancy are liable to 206 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. enhancement of rent on the following grounds, and on these only : — That the land is found by measurement to be in excess of the quantity paid for. That the rate of rent is below the preyailing rates paid ])y the same class of ryots for similar lands in the places adjacent. That the value of the produce or the productive powers of the land have been increased otherwise than by the agency or at the expense of the ryot. Facilities were given to the Zemeendars to put in force claims under these provisions in special revenue courts of easy access. The following incidents of the occupancy tenures are established by law or by judicial decisions. So long as the ryot pays the rent he may do wdiat he likes with the land (provided he does not absolutely destroy it) ; and may su))-let it temporarily. It also descends by in- heritance, and there is no actual restriction upon sub- division as regards the rights of the heirs among them- selves. But the Zemeendar is not bound to recognise any subdivision ; so long as he does not accept separate tenants he is entitled to hold the whole tenure liable for the whole rent, and can sell the tenure or eject the ryots when any part of the rent is in arrear. The question whether the tenures are or are not saleable is left to be determined by the custom of each district or locality. The right of occupanc}^ having been secured to so large a body of the tenants, there is no provision for compen- sation for improvements ; but an outgoing tenant is entitled to carry away everything which he has placed on the land if he can remove it, and generally either sells or removes the woodwork in his house, and an}^- thing else not actually sunk in the soil. It has been said that the twelve j'cars' rule of oc- cupancy is an arltitrary rule, borne out by no native law or custom ; and there is some truth in that statement. But then very much was to be said for the still wider rule which would have given every resident ryot a right of occupancy, as his due under the custom and an im})lied India.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 207 contract. In fact the law, as originally drawn for Bengal, gave all resident ryots the right to hold at the prevailing rates. It was, however, pointed ont by the authorities of the north-west provinces, that in modern times, since the cessation of the external pressure which in troubled times made every man necessarily reside in a village as a member of a community united for many purposes, the distinction between resident and non-resident ryots could hardly be maintained, and they suggested their own twelve years' rule, which was adopted accordingly, as a compromise of a doubtful question. Be the abstract merits of the occupancy question what they may, the consideration which I think takes away all ground of complaint is that the law declaring the occupancy right of the mass of ryots was passed without the slightest opposition on the part of the Zemeendars ; it may almost be said with their tacit consent. Modern Indian laws are not passed as mere edicts ; they are published and fully discussed in an open legislative council, the proceedings of which are re- ported day by day. The Bengalee Zemeendars are a highly educated class, with English newspapers, and abundant organs ; they are the last people to submit without complaint to any infringement of their rights. But on this occasion they did not complain. It is true that the twelve years' limit was, I believe, put in somewhat hurriedly, towards the latter stages of the bill ; but then it was, as I have said, substituted for a much wider rule, which had been long published. The fact is, that to native ideas the rule was one to which it did not occur to them to object. Native Zemeendars generally prefer fixed ryots to those who may run away any day. At the same time that the twelve years' rule was intro- duced, there was also inserted the third of the grounds for enhancement of rent which I have mentioned ; one pre- viously unknown in Bengal, and not practically operative in the north-west provinces, which gave the Zemeendars a right to enhance on the ground of increase in the value of the produce or in the productive powers of the land. That was a great gain to them. In the north-west pro- vinces, where no class of ryots have a right to hold at fixed 208 SYSTEMS OF LA XI) TENURE [Camphfll. rents, and the right of occupancy was already secured, the result of this provision is that tlie Kent Act, taken as a whole, benefits the Zemeendars, and renders the vyois much more subject to enhancement of rent than before. In Bengal, the settlement in favour of the r^'ots of a doubtful right of occupancy is counterbalanced by the new rule of enhancement. But the Zemeendars did not show a disposition to press it much ; and so far as the natives, superior and inferior, were concerned, the new law might have worked quietly enough in Bengal. A storm, however, soon after arose from an unexpected quarter. The oldest and perhaps the most successful European in- dustrial enterprise in India is that of the Bengal indigo planters. They used generally to buy the indigo plant from the rj'ots, and to manufacture the indigo themselves. For facility of obtaining indigo, they had acquired posses- sion of considerable estates, generally as sub-holders or middlemen, under the Zemeendars. Holding thus to- wards the rj^ots a double relation as landlords and mer- chants, the landlord influence was brought to bear on the cultivation and delivery of the plant. And, as so often happens in India, the matter came to be regulated rather by custom than by proper mercantile principles. The planters did not attempt to make profit by the rents ; the ryots were allowed to sit at the old easy rents ; but they were required to deliver a tale of indigo plant, and the price paid was fixed by custom and not by competition. As was shown when a Commission in- vestigated the matter, the planters had adopted some high-handed ways, in the absence of sufficient Govern- ment authority in the interior of Bengal ; but, after all, natives will bear a great deal in that way, so long as they are in the main tolerably well off"; and through the planters much European money circulated among them. It was when the increase of prices of all produce and general rise of values made it apparent that the old customary prices paid for the indigo plant were very unprofitaijle, that there arose serious discontent, ter- minating in a sort of rebellion against the indigo rNDiA.j IN VARfOUH COUNTRIES. 209 planters. The wliole matter was iii([uired into by a Commission, and it was made evident that the old state of things conld not continue, and that if the planters wanted indigo, they must pay market value for tlie plant. They then said, " We have let 3^ou sit at easy rents because you gave us indigo ; but since you object to give indigo on the old terms, we will raise your rents." So far the planters had entirely right on their side ; and if they had on the one hand offered a reasonably increased price for the indigo plant, and on the other claimed a reason- able increase of rent, the matter might proljably have been settled. In fact, however, the plante-rs who tried the question did not at first take this moderate course. They rather sought to conquer the ryots and to liring them to their own terms with respect to indigo, by demanding an extravagant and penal increase of rent. They proposed to treble and quadruple the rents all round at one blow. 1'he case came l^efore the Chief Justice, Sir Barnes Peacock, who decided that the ryots were bound to pay a fair rent in the sense of the highest rent obtainable, and that, an increase of the value of produce being shown, there was no limit to the increase demandable but the net profit of the cultivator or rack- rent. Entering into a calculation of the value of produce and costs of production, and deducting the one from the other, he found that the difference left a profit greater than the rent claimed by the planter, and accord- ingly decreed the full claim. The ryots, however, still declined either to grow indigo on the old terms or to pay the rents so greatly increased, and the case eventually came before the full High Court of fifteen judges, who decided by fourteen to one (the Chief Justice still maintaining his opinion) that as the landlord could only enhance for a certain cause, he could only enhance in the same degree or in the same proportion in which that cause operated. It being shown that the value of agricultural produce has increased in a certain proportion since the last adjust- ment of rent, the rent will be increased in the same pro- 210 SYSTEMS OF IjiND TENURE [Campbell. portion ; e.g., if prices have risen fifty ]ier cent, the rent will also be raised fifty per cent. That is the final decision in what is called the Great Eent Case. I believe that nnder this decision things have settled down qnietly enough. The planters are enabled con- siderably to raise their rents, they have been obliged to pay higher for the indigo plant, and things go on upon a Ijetter footing than before. The native Zemeendars have to some extent followed the example ot* claiming enhanced rents; bnt I do not think that in Bengal they have done so to an excessive degree^ or that there is any considerable war of classes there. The thirty years' settlement of the north-western provinces having expired, a new settlement has been for some time in progress. It has been determined to follow in all new settlements a more moderate rule of assessment than in former da}'S. Instead of taking two- thirds of the rent, the Government is now to take only half of the present rents, leaving the other half to the landholder for his expenses and profits, besides future increase. There are several cesses for roads, schools, &c., to be paid out of the landholders' portion; but still the profit left to him is very large. The increase of rental since the last settlement being counterbalanced by the lower rate of assessment, I believe that the Government will scarcely profit by the revision. Of late years there had been a reaction of opinion in favour of permanent setthMuent of the land revenue, and orders were sent out by the Secretary of State that in every estate where the land might be considered to be sufficiently cultivated (the proportion of untilled land not being in excess of that required for grazing and other reasonable purposes) the assessment should be declared to l)e perpetual. It is evident, however, that a permanent assessment on the basis of half present assets is a much more liberal aiTangeinent than any hitherto made, and that as the land revenue forms in India so large a [U'oportion of the total revenue of the country, if it is stereotyped we must seek for otlnu' sources of income. There is much reason India.] IN VARIOUS rOUNTniES. 211 to suppose that the value of money and produce are rapidly altering, and that great changes are likely to occur in the next few years. An opinion has also sprung up that the resources of the country' are as yet insufficiently developed, and that it is for the Govern- ment, as superior landlord, to do much in the way of irrigation works and similar improvements, about which there will be difficulty if it is debarred from increase of land revenue. Hence I think there has again ])een some reaction of feeling. Orders have been issued that where there is a probability of irrigation works being under- taken we are not to commit ourselves to permanenc}^ of the land revenue. Altogether the question seems to be still in an misettled state. It is to be noted that the recent orders for permanent settlements in the north-western provinces contain no provisions for extending the benefit of permanency to the inferior class possessed of acknowledged rights in the land (the old occupancy ryots) such as were contained in Lord Cornwallis's Regulations, and are repeated (as regards the old permanently settled provinces) in Act X. of 1859. As matters now stand they would still remain subject to constant increase of rent. The first settlements in the Punjab were made for shorter terms than those adopted in older provinces, and a revised settlement has been for some time in pro- gress there. The proceedings have led to one of those lamentable official battles which so much interfere with progress. I have mentioned that the normal tenure of the Punjab is that under which the same persons, as members of village communities, are proprietors and cultivators at the same time. Still there are also in parts a good many non-cultivating landholders of the same classes as those of the north-west provinces, and many cultivators holding under them. The distinction between hereditary or occupancy ryots and tenants-at-will had certainly been very loosely made in the first settlements (as was also the case in the north-west provinces), there being little or no contest at a time when tlie distinction between r 2 212 SYSTEMS OF J. AND TKNI'lil'. | Campbell. revenue aficl rent rates was hanlly kiioAvii to the people ; and the landholders were sometimes ready enougli to let others share the burden of the fixed money revenue then for the lirst time imposed on them. Some settle- ment officers had followed the old north-west practice of considering; all who had held for twelve years to have a rig;lit of occupancy ; but the more correct rule afterwards laid down by Sir J. Lawrence was " to consider the nature quite as much as the length of occupancy, and to pay entire regard to local customs and the opinions of the agriculturists." In the original settlement very large numbers of inferior holders were recorded as having right of occupancy. Act X. of 1859 has never been extended to the Punjab, so that its provisions do not settle the matter. Soon after the commencement of the new settlement operations the officer at the head of the department represented that the old settlement w^as very frequent^ wrong in attributing occupanc}" rights to mere tenants-at- will ; that many of these men themselves admitted this to be so ; and he asked if he might re-open the matter and correct the erroneous entries. Beyond an order enjoining on him extreme caution in his inquiries, no deftnite instructions were issued. Unhappily this question of the rights of the cultivators was then the subject of hot controversy in several parts of India, and the dispute was taken up by opposing parties among the Punjab officials. The highest authorities differed, and nothing was settled. Meantime the settlement commissioner, being himself very strongly of the party which denied the rights of r^'ots, went on in his own way, and very many thousands of the occupancy ryots of the old settlement were put down as tenants-at-will under the new settlement. An independent chief court has now been established in the Punjab, and some of the proceedings of the settlement commissioner coming before the court, were declared to be not warranted l)y law. All parties were then agreed as to the necessity of legislation of some sort. After much discussion a new Land Act was |)assed fin* Imjia.J in VAIUOUS COUNTRIES. 213 the Punjab last year, the provisions of which, as regards the disputed point, are these : — p]v'ery person entered in the records of settlements previously completed and sanctioned, as having a right of occupancy, shall be presumed to have such right, unless it shall be proved by regular suit brought by the land- lord — 1. That he has admitted before a settlement officer that he has no such right ; or, 2. That within thirty years tenants of the same class, in tlie same or adjacent villages, have ordinarily been ejected at the will of the landlord. Revised rent-laws have also been passed in Madras and Bombay, settling all doubts which had there arisen. During recent years much attention has been paid to the land affairs of new provinces, which I shall separately notice. THE LAXD QUESTIOX IX OUDE. The partition of the Oude territory at the beginning of the century has been mentioned. The division, in a plain country with no natural boundaries, was purely political. The people of the country left to the Nawab were almost absolutely identical with those of the districts taken by the British, in race, language, and institutions, being Hindoostanees of the regular Hindoo- stance type. The first use made by the Nawab of the power which a strong British contingent gave him was to bring to complete obedience the subjects who were left to him, and to put down most of the Jagheerdars and Talookdars. But under his successors, the interference of British forces in their internal affairs being no longer permitted, a very different state of things grew up. A great degree of anarchy prevailed ; local chiefs constantly set the Government at defiance, and from the death of Xawab Saadat Allee, to the time of the annexation of Oude, these men acquired more and more power. This is the ])eriod of the rise of the modern Talookdars. Some of them are members of old leading families, and a few of 214 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE rCAJU-BELb. these are in some sense ehiei's of ckius ; many others are mere modern revenue collectors or contractors who have obtained a hold over the districts intrusted to them. In all cases the power has gone to the strongest or most astute in each family, not to the man who had the most legitimate claims by seniority. Take as an example the family of the present leader of the Talookdars, known to the English public as " chief of the barons of Oudc," Maharajah Sir Man Sing, K.S.I. They are not Oude men at all. The uncle of the present Maharajah, a native of the old British province of Bahar, and a Bramin by caste, was a trooper in one of the Company's regiments of regular cavalry. Being quartered at Lucknow, he entered the Oude service and rose to high office. He introduced his brother, the father of the Maharajah. Up to the time of annexation the family rose higher and higher in the Oude administration, and acquired a great estate. The eldest son has held great places, but is notorious for having almost ruined by tja^anny the districts beyond the Gogra, and has been prudently kept in the Ijackground since British rule. Another son is a man of literary tastes, who does not care for politics ; and the family is now represented by the youngest son, the present J\Iaharajah, an extremely clever person, thoroughly versed in political atfairs, I liave no doubt that the example of the British districts l)y which they were surrounded had much to do with the disposition shown by the Talookdars to acquire, by fair means or foul, not only the rule over, but some- thing like proprietary right in as many villages as possil)le. Certain it is that a continual process of absorption of the independent villages into the Talookas, and suppression of those men who would have been con- sidered village proprietors under the north-west system, went on up to the time of annexation ; so that at last the greater i)art of Oude was held by the large Talookdars, corresi)onding to the Zemcendars of Bengal. Not only were the Talookdars constantly in arms against the Government, but the Talookas were also torn Ijv intestine feuds. If we look to the succession of India.] JN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 215 the great cliiel'sliips, wc shall generally find that tiie rnler for the time had murdered his uncle and su|)|)hinted his cousins, and that the cousins or cousins' sons formed an opposition, ready to supplant him on the first oppor- tunity. Tlie outs constantly harassed the ins by ):>reda- tor}'- attacks. AVheu I was magistrate of a British border district, I had repeated remonstrances, through the British resident, regarding the atrocities of a man who was represented as a common robber and dacoit of the vilest description, sheltered Ijy British sulyects ; and after some blood had been spilt in an attempt of my ]x)lice to capture him, I was quietly told that I need not trouble myself any longer, as he had made terms with his Cxovernment, and was installed as Talookdar. The ryots, too, were often almost necessarily involved ou ihe side of one faction or other, and were plundered and oppressed when the opposite faction triumphed. The British border was sometimes full of them. Yet they seemed seldom to care to settle there ; they only encamped, and were generally ready to return on a favourable opportunity. The fact is that the system had its compensations for them ; the exercise of despotic power by the superior implies the possession of the sacred right of rebellion by the inferior ; and if they were illused by one man, they generally soon found the means of paying him off by adhering to some opposition chief; so that either party would at last make some sort of terms with them. The general result, however, of the state of anarchy which prevailed, was that all tenures and all rights had "been very much shaken and shuffled in the generation preceding our rule ; and under a nominal Government at Lucknow, the country w^as in great degree held by semi- independent Talookdars, rather tributary than subject. Both the official reports and the Anglo-Indian news- papers were constantly full of the tyrannies and opi)res- sions of the Talookdars. Colonel Sleeman, the British resident, made an official tour through the country, and wrote a book full of their misdeeds. It was solely and wholly on the ground , of the inability of the native 216 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. Government to control tliem and protect the people that, in the year 1856, under orders issued contrary to the opinion of Lord Dalhousie, we dethroned the re])re- sentative of the famil}' who had been our oldest allies and for a liundred years thoroughly faithful to us, and annexed the country. Under these circumstances, it is scarcely surprising that the first orders issued on the annexation gave some- what scant justice to the Talookdars, who had caused all the mischief. They amounted in brief to this : that our officers should deal primarily with the village com- munities, leaving the Talookdars to prove their right to superior tenures, if they had any. In practice, however, these orders could not be fully carried out. The Talookdars had too complete a hold of much of their possessions to leave it possible to ignore them altogether. Many of their more recent acquisitions were taken from them and restored to village proprietors ; but they still remained possessed of great estates, and had not been deprived of their forts, guns, and followers when the mutiny broke out, in the j^ear immediately following the annexation. Oude was, as is well known, one of the chief scenes of the mutiny. It was almost exclusively held by Sepoy troops, very many of whom were natives of the country, and when thc}^ rose the small British force was besieged in the Residency. The Talookdars did not Ijehave excessively ill. Some of them assisted our fugitive officers to escape, and for a time they generally temporized, and did not take a very decided part. From the time, however, when the attempted relief by Have- lock and Outram failed, and the relievers were shut up along with the original besieged, the great body of the Talookdars identified themselves with the Sepoy cause, went into full reljcllion, and took part in the siege of the Residency. As soon as the military strength of the rebellion was completely broken. Lord Canning came out with his famous proclamation, confiscating all the lands of Oude. As there lias been so nuich discussion on this subject, I may state that, being then in immediate communication India.] fN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 217 with Lord Canning, he sliow(3d me the original draft of the proclamation in his own handwriting, and 1 then liad it from his own lips (before the proclamation was pidj- lished) that his object was not really to confiscate finall}' the rights of the Talookdars, but to get rid of all the engage- ments into which we had entered after annexation, and to obtain a " tabula rasa " which would enable him to restore the great landowners, and redress the injustice which he thought they had suffered, on condition of their full and complete allegiance. In fact, the step was taken in ])ur- suance of a policy the opposite of that which had before prevailed, and in order to clear the ground for the new S3'stem. The advice which I ventured to tender to Lord Canning was, that it W'Ould be better to avoid the appearance of extreme severity on the one hand, and the extreme of concession to those who had rebelled on the other ; that it w ould be enough to assure the Talookdars that bygones should be bygones — that their property and reasonable claims should be respected — that the whole question of landed rights should be again gone into, and that any injustice of which they could fairly complain should be redressed. But the Governor-General had taken his course. The proclamation was accordingly issued, and the Talookdars w^ere immediately informed, that on their submission they should have re-grants of all that they had held before the annexation. They WTre at first very suspicious and incredulous about the extreme goodness of the terms offered ; but they had no choice but to come in or go off to the hills as fugitives; they almost all came in and received English grants of all the villages which they had in an}^ shape or in any way brought under their dominion before the annexa- tion of the country. Thus Lord Canning did in Oude precisely what Queen Elizabeth did in Ireland, when the surrender of the Irish chiefs was accepted and their possessions were re-granted on English titles. Boon after the pacification of the country, a revenue settlement was undertaken, and then there arose the 218 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Campbell. question whether any inicrior rights were to be recog- nised in subordination to tliose of the Talookdars, just as the same question arose when a settlement of Ireland w^as made under James I. The advocates of the extreme landlord theory at first said that the confiscation swept away everything, and that the Talookdars had now com- plete and absolute titles, to the exclusion of every one else. ]^ut it was shown that Lord Canning had reserved subordinate rights, proved to have been in active exist- ence at the time of annexation, and any such which can be made out are maintained. A^iews unfavourable to rights of ryots were then held by many, and Sir Barnes Peacock's decision in favour of the landlord had just come out. As respects the ryots, then, it was at first said that the old hereditary ryots had a bare right of occupancy, but that there was no limit to the rent which might he demanded, save the highest rack-rent of the day. A little later, the Chief Commissioner declared that he had been misled by the prejudices of his education in the north-west provinces, and that, correcting himself, he now said that there was no such thing as a right of occupancy ; he therefore directed that no distinction should be made in the records between tenants-at-will and any other class of ryots, except in case of leases under voluntary contract. Of these orders the GrOvernor-G-eneral, Sir John Law- rence, disapproved, and there was a special inquiry on the subject. It turned out that most of the ryots did not care to claim fixity of tenure. Even the grant of pro})rietary rights under our system, accompanied by fixed burdens punctually exacted, are scarcely ever appreciated in the earliest j^ears of our rule ; and perhaps, seeing how often the first possessors of such dangerous rights have been sold out and reduced far below their original position, the natives are not so far wrong as we suppose. It is, then, hardly surprising that most of the Oude ryots, who had so long looked on the free right of rebelling and running away as their best safeguard, did not much like anything which seemed to bind them down, and wholly India.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 219 rejected the leases which it was soiiietiiues attempted to thrust upou them. There was also no standard of kiw and ri<;lit ; and thouiih the ryots said that a Talookdar ought uot to turn them out, when asked whether he formerly had the power to do so, they said, " of course he had — the man in power could do anything." The general result of tlie inquiry was that neither the ryots proved a right to stay in, nor did the Talookdars prove a right to turn them out ; but the Talookdars being taken as prima facie owners under the grants, and the onus of proof being thrown upon the ryots, it may be said that the rj^ots generally failed of the proof necessary to give them any legal status. All depends on the way the burden of proof is put. Eventually a compromise was effected, under which a comparatively small number of the highest class of ryots, the descendants of old proprietors and dominant families, have been admitted to a right of occupancy at rates (to be fixed from time to time) slightly below the full rack- rents of the da}', while all the other ryots become tenants-at-will. Thus the Oude Talookdars are much more complete owners of the soil than any superior landholders in any other province — infinitely more so than those of Bengal ever were. Since the Oude inquiry it has been said that the result conclusively proves the whole system of ryots' rights hitherto obtaining in so man}' provinces to have been a mistake — that ryots' rights are a fiction of the British imagination, and that the less they are fostered the better. It may, I think, be admitted that wherever the strong communities of the Punjal) type are not found, if the burden of proving a legal title be thrown wholly on the ryots, in countries where there are no laws, and before custom has had time to crystallize into shape under British rule, most of them would fail to prove any titles. Even putting out of view the disturbance of all titles in Oude in the half centuiy between our annexation of the first half and that of the second half of the territory, I 220 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE [Campbell. believe that if, in tlie lirst years of our rule, the ryots of the districts of the north-west provinces had been subjected to the same ordeal as the Oude ryots, the result would not have been very dillerent. Jkit it by no means follows, that when landed rights are to be created or enlarged, it may not be equitable to give some share of that which is to be given to the ryots ; or that, if time be allowed before the question is raised, it will not be found that native feeling and custom have given them a position which ought to be recognised. It may be, in fact, that without any formal declaration they would crystallize into copyholders as did English villeins. The Oude system is still on its trial. The Talookdars were taken under the special protection of Lord Canning. They have had a remarkably light assessment of the revenue, and every advantage. English newspapers have been started as their organs with every sort of enlightened ideas. As many virtues have been attributed to them as formerly were vices. As usual, the truth will pro- bably be found to be somewhere midway. But already we hear of their free nse of the power of raising rents without restriction which has been conferred on them, and even of the service of notices of ejectment in large numbers ; and on the other hand, of comljinations of rj^ots to resist these proceedings. Class questions seem to be prematurely arising which have not been reached in other provinces in several generations. And it has been necessary for the Grovernment to come to the assistance of the aristocratic system, by lending the Talookdars money, not to improve their estates but to stave off their creditors. THE CENTRAL PROVINCES. Till a recent period, the British territories in India iiave been com})letely separated from one another, the mass of native States in the centre dividing thein into very unequal portions. The great sub-IIimalayan plain, running ui)wards of fifteen hundred miles from the Baj^ of Bengal to the Affghan hills, contains one hundred millions of British subjects, and comprises the India.] JN VAIITOUS COUNTL'TES. 221 four administrations of Bengal, the North-west Provinces, Oucle, and the Paujab. Madras occupies the south of the Peninsula, with twenty-four millions of inhabitants, and Bombay, the west, with thirteen millions. The annexa- tion of the Nagpore territories, in the very centre of India, an\- llian (hose of the Canton of Vaud, being the agricultural wonder of the Lake of (ieiieva. Is the wine <;ro\vn tlierc exported like cham]ac;no, claret, or port ? Not at all ; tiie Vaudois drink it themselves. Docs it not do them more 37 surface of the soil shows not the least trace of any such divisions. Not only do many parcels often belong to one and the same proprietor, bnt a single estate or farm of ten or twelve hectares generalh^ consists of many of them. The land is divided into farms of ditferent sizes in pro- portion to the capitals of the cultivators; for example, lifty hectares to four horses, twenty-five to two, twelve for one horse, five or six hectares to a family without beasts of burden, and a little plot for a labourer. When large farms are subdivided it is done on economical grounds, viz., because they fetch higher prices when sold in lots : they are hardly ever divided in consequence of the law of succession. The peasant attaches too much value to the proper outline of a field to break it into pieces ; he would rather sell it altogether. Hitherto, the consequence of the progressive sub- division of land in Flanders has only been to raise at once the rental, the gross produce, and the value of the soil ; at the same time that the number of landowners has increased, the condition of the cultivators has im- proved. In Flanders you do not find the land subdivided in the way it is in Ireland, according to Lord Dufferin, who has shown the evils of the kind of subdivision practised there ;* from his description it appears that in Ireland, at the death of any holder and often even during his life- time, the children divide the land among themselves, each of them building a cottage on it ; or, if the tenant has no children, he sublets his land to several small farmers, and allows them to settle on it, notwithstanding the stipulations of the lease. Such breaking-up of the land must lead to the most wretched kind of farming, and to pauperism on the part of the tenants. As long as the Irish farmer has no better understanding than that, of his own interest and of the requirements of a sound economical system, no agricultural policy, neither fixity of tenure nor even ownership in fee-simple could improve his condition. Although the population of Flanders is twice as dense as that of Ireland, a Flemish peasant * Vide Lord DulTerin on ' Irish Temin',' cliap. iii. 238 SrSTE^fS OF LAXD TENURE [Lavei.kye. would never think oi' dividino; the farm he enltivates among" his cliildren ; and the idea of allowing a stranger to settle and build a house on it, and farm a portion of it, would appear altogether monstrous to him. On the contrary, he will submit to extraordinary sacrifices to give his farm the size and typical shape it should have. How is it that the Fleming and the Irishman hold such different points of view ? I think it is partly due to the difference of race, and partly to circumstances. The Celt being more sociable, thinks most of the require- ments of members of his family, whilst the Teuton thinks more of the requirements of the soil and of good cultivation. Nowhere to my knowledge does the Celt show himself a cultivator of the first order (cultivateur d'elite) ; it is to the German, the Fleming, the Englishman that agriculture is indebted for its greatest improvements. The Celt has in several countries subdivided the soil for the sake of his family, without regard to the requirements of national husbandry. Throughout Germany,* law and custom alike have always been opposed to the division of farms. In Upper Bavaria this is carried so far that almost all the land is in the hands of wealthy peasants, keeping up a kind of entail by always bequeathing the whole of their property to one of their children, a small pittance being given to the others. But supposing the Irishman to become the absolute owner of his farm, would he learn and comply with the requirements of the land? A Flemish farmer's son always wants to have a good farm of his own ; he would not put up with a hovel improvised on a potato field. Could the Irishman but be brought to practise agriculture as an art, and not as a mere means of bringing a subsistence from the soil, he would soon abandon the iniseral)lc s^'stem of subdivision which he has adhered to so long. But how is this taste for agricnl- ture as an art to be im[)arted to him ? To extinguish the influence of instincts or tendencies, whether inherent in the race or the historical product of centuries, w^ould it suffice to introduce an agrarian constitution in Ireland similar to that of Flanders, or better still, of Switzerland ? * Viilf W. IIoscIkv, ' Xiiliriiinlokoiioniik cl(s Ackcrhaiu-s,' ]-i. 221i. I'Rr.OIIIM.] /.V VAlUOUl^ COUNTBIES. 239 Tliese are qnestions wliicli I confess mj^sclC not in a position to answer; but they are questions which those who have tlie Irish land question to solve ouglit to face, when considering the land system of Flanders. I think it useful to subjoin a tabulated statement, giving an idea of the number of f\irms {e.rploifatloiis) ami their relative sizes. These results date as far back as 1846, no returns having been published since. : — Propoktionate NUIVIBER OF Farms of from Provinces. || 1 « 3 1 a s i 1 1 ■a a =3 O « o o o 5 33 p o o c o o s o o o «| o 3 o Antwerp . 43-53 8-62 26-90'10-38 4-97 2-26 1-18 1-52 0-14, 0-05 Briibant .34-11 17-24 36-20i 6-18 2-30 1-15 0-17 1-42 0-53, 0-17 Flanders, West . r)7-42 7-35 19-24 6-27 2-66 2-10 1-72 2-72 O-.'iS; 0-02 Flanders, East 44-G8 10-08 31-50 7-63 2-77 1-38 0-81 1-02 0-12 0-01 Hainaut 53-461I-99 23-92 4-83 2-06 1-09 0-66 1-32 0-56t 0-11 Lie'ge .... 45-72 13-81 25-76 7-10 2-91 1-35 0-73 1-40 0-9l' 0-26 Limbourg . 30-41 11-97 32-6213-34 5-64 2-50 1-13 1-78 0-47| 0-14 Luxembourg . 18-92 12-7541-8812-67 5-28 2-75 1-48 2-78 1-10 0-93 Namur . . . 33-8718-9732-92 G-26 2-40 1-19 0-76 1-60 1-44 0-77 Average of Kingdom 43-2412-30 28-99 7-46 3-04 1-59 0-98 1-64 0-58, 0-17 [ 1 -§ 6. It has often been asserted that the peasant pro- perties of Flanders are burdened with debts, and that loans on them are raised at ruinous rates of interest. The follow^ in g table shews that the truth lies in the opposite direction. In the remarkable return of the Census of 1846, the Government published an instructive talDle, shewing which are the provinces of Belgium where loans are raised at highest rates of interest (page 240). Thus while in East Flanders no more than five per cent, of the loans are raised on usurious interest, in the province of Luxembourg as much as eighty-two per cent. of the loans bear interest at five per cent, and upwards. Were a statement drawn up of the debts with which land property is burdened in the various parts of Europe, it would Ije seen that large estates are generally more encumbered than small ones. 240 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Lavelete. Provinces. rroportion of Capital bearing interest at the rate of 5 per cent, and ujiwards to the ag- gregate Loans. Antwerp Flanders, West . Flanders, East . Brabant ) Limbonrg . . . . j Hainant ] Liege I Namur | Luxembourg . . . ) Small farms Middle-size farms Large farms 15 per cent. 23 „ 5 In England, the mortgages are reported to amount to fifty-eight per cent, of the value of the land ; in France only to ten per cent., according to Messrs. Pass}^ and AYolowski. In Prussia the eastern provinces with their large estates show greater indebtedness than those of the west with their small farms.* In Lombardy, the total landed debt amounts to twenty-five per cent, of the value of land, and in the province of Sondria, where the farms are small, they represent no more than one-and-a-half per cent, of that value. § 7. Every one knows La Fontaine's story of Perette gomg to the market to buy eggs ; the eggs are hatched into chickens ; the chickens produce a pig and then a calf, and the calf becomes a cow. This dream of Perette's is daily realized by the Flemish small farmer. We are often told that agriculture stands in need of capital ; that institutions in aid of agricultural credit are wanting : I reply, good husbandry itself creates the capital needed. In agriculture, the capital most needed is live stock, to i'urnish the manure by which rich harvests are secured. The Flemish small farmer picks up grass and manure aloijg the roads. He raises rabbits, and with the money * Vide the excellent work by rresiilent Adoli'li i.ello: ' Die Verlheilung des Grundeigentliiiuj.s.' Belgium.] IN VABTOUS COUNTRIES. 241 9 they fetch he bu3^s first a goat, then a pig, next a calf, by which he gets a cow producing calves in her turn. But of course he must find food for them, and this he does by staking all on fodder and roots ; and in this way the farmer grows rich, and so does the land. The institu- tion in Flanders, in aid of agricultural credit is the manure-merchant, who has founded it in the best of forms ; for money lent may be spent in a public-house, but a loan of manure must be laid out on the land. The poor labourer goes with his w^heelbarrow to the dealer in the village to buy a sack or two of guano, undertaking to pay for it after the harvest. The dealer trusts him and gives him credit, having a lien on the crop produced by the aid of his manure. In November he gets his money : the produce has been doubled, and the land improved. The small farmer does as the labourer does ; each opens an account with the manure- dealer, who is the best of all bankers. The large farmers of Hainaut and Namur do not buy manure, fancying they w^ould ruin themselves by doing so. The Flemish small farmers invest from fifteen to twenty millions of francs in guano every year, and quite as much in other kinds of manure. Where does large farming make such advances ? § 8. The chief objection made to la petite culture is, how- ever, that it does not admit of the use of machinery, being reduced, as it is alleged, to the employment of the most primitive implements of liusbandry, and never raising itself above the first stage of cultivation in that respect. This has been put forward as an incontestable axiom, baffling refutation, and I believe is so regarded in England. To disprove this, I need not point out that to Flanders are due the best forms of the spade, the harrow, the cart, and the plough — Brabant ploughs having for a long time been imported from flanders into England. It may be said that these are primitive and not very costly implements. I need only reply, look at what is going on in Flanders at the present day. The most costly agricultural machine in general use K 242 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Laveleye. in England is the locomotive steam tliresliing-maeliine. AVell, this machine is to be fonnd everywhere in Flan- ders. Some farmers will chib together to purchase one, and use it in turn ; or else a villager, often the miller, buys one, and goes round threshing for the small farmers, on their own ground, at so much per day, and per hun- dred kilos of corn. The same thing takes place with the steam-plough as soon as the use of it becomes re- munerative. To keep hops in good condition, very exjiensive machines are required to press it. At Poperinghe, in the centre of the hop country, the commune has purchased the machines, and the farmers pay a fixed rate for having their hops pressed — which is at once an advantage to them and a source of revenue to the town. The example of Flanders proves therefore that the division of land forms no obstacle to mechanical economy in farming. Moreover, the subdivision of the soil is perfectly compatible with the methods of la c/rande culture itself, the operations of husbandry may all be on a great scale, while the land is held in sliares by a number of persons, like shares in a railway. I see no practical impossibility in such a solution of the problem how to combine the land system of Flanders with all the improvements of the age. § 9. It is often asserted that poor lands can be brought into cultivation only by large and wealthy owners. This is exactly the reverse of the truth — at least as regards the most intractable soils. In Belgium there are lands so sterile by nature that one-half of all the capital sunk in them is cither lost or yields hardly any returns — so that it is not in the interest of any capitalist to work them. In La Campine, all those who have attempted to set up large farms, were the}'' ever so well managed, have ruined themselves, or, at any rate, lost money by it. It is the small cultivator onh' "who, spade in hand, can fertilize the waste, and perform prodigies which nothing but his love of the land could cnal}le him to accomplish. Belgium.] IN VAUIOUS .COUNTRIES. 243 His day's work he counts for nothing; he spares no exertion, and shuns no trouljle ; and by doing double the work, he produces doul)le the result he would do if he worked for hire. Thus he has made fertile farms of the dunes and quicksands which border our dangerous coast. Penetrating into the interior of these dunes in the neighbourhood of Nieuport, you observe little cottages with a few acres of rye and potatoes around them. Their owners succeed in keeping a few cows, which the children take out to graze wherever a blade of salt grass can be found. With the manure of their cattle they mix sea-weed and whatever aniinal matter the sea throws up, and thus they raise crops of iirst-rate potatoes and vegetables. La Veluwe — the Campine of Holland — has been reclaimed in like manner inch by inch by the peasantry, I have elsewhere given an account of the rise of one of these sand villages within recent years.* In Savoy, in Switzerland, in Lombardy, in all mountainous countries, land has been reclaimed hj la petite culture which large landowners could not have broached without loss. In those highlands man makes the very soil. He builds terraces along steep inclines, lining them with blocks of stone, and then carrying earth to them on his back, in which he plants a mulberry or walnut tree, or a vine, or raises a little corn or maize.f Whoever, after paying for the labour, should take a lease of the ground thus created would not get one half per cent, from his outlay, and therefore a capitalist will never do it. But the small cultivator does it ; and thus the mountain and the rock become transformed. So too under la petite culture, even when aided not l)y pro- prietorship, Ijut only the kind of tenure to which the name of emphyteusis has been given, and which corre- sponds to a long lease, the most ungrateful land has been reclaimed in Flanders. The tenant being secure of the future, builds a house, clears the ground, manures and fertilizes the rebellious soil ; and though he will not reap the same benefit from it that a peasant pro- * Vide ' Economie Eurale de la Nderland,' p 212. f Vide my ' Kconomie Rurale de la Suisse et de la Lombardie,' p. 71. R 2 244 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Laveleye, prictor would, he reaps much more than either a large larmer or a large proprietor would. § 10. Notwithstanding all the arguments of the most distinguished economists in England, cspeciall}^ j\Ir. John Stuart Mill, to the contrar}^ peasant property in land seems still to be regarded there as synonymous with wretched cultivation, and large estates with rich and improved farming. The reason is obvious; the English are accustomed to compare the farming of their own country with that of Ireland. In fact, however, both England and Ireland are excejitions, one on the right, the other on the wrong side. In England there exists a class of well-to-do and intelligent tenant farmers such as are not to be found anywhere else. In Ireland, on the contrary, there is no peasant property, but only large estates in combination with small tenure, often with a middleman between the landlord and the cultivator — of all agrarian systems the most wretched. Added to this, many centuries of oppression and misgovernment made the Irish people more improvident than the inhabitants of any other country in the civilized world ; thus, what with a land system of the worst kind, and the general con- dition of the country, the case of Ireland is surely an exceptional one. All over the continent of Europe there is more live stock kept, more capital owned, more produce and income yielded by small farms than b}^ large estates. Look at Flanders, for an example. The soil is de- testable, as we have seen ; and it is unha})pily a country where a multitude of small farms are held by tenants, as in Ireland ; but happily the peasant proprietor exists by the side of the small tenant. The working capital of a farm, which in England is estimated at from 10/. to 12/., amounts here to 500 francs (20/.). The gross produce may be taken at (500 francs (24/.) per hectare. As regards live stock, there were to be found in 1846 55 heads of horned cattle, 12 horses and 8 sheep on every 100 hectares superficial area. For England (not including Ireland and Scotland) M. de Lavergne gives the following averages for the same Belgium.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 245 year: — 33 heads of horned cattle, 6 horses, and 200 sheep per 100 hectares. Bringing these figures down to the common standard of heads of great cattle,* we find G4 heads in England and 68 in Flanders ; the land of Flanders being at the same time worse than any in England. The average rent of land in Flanders is 100 francs (4=1.) per hectare, and the value or selling price varies from 3500 to 4000 francs (140/. to 160/.). Rents and selling prices have doubled since 1830. These results are not equalled in any other part of Europe. § 11. The fact that the Flemish husbandman derives such abundant produce from a soil naturally so poor, is due to the following reasons, viz : — 1. The perfection of both plough and spade work. 2. Each field has the perfection of shape given to it, to facilitate cultivation and drainage. 3. Most careful husbanding of manure. None is wasted either in town or country, and all farmers, down to the poorest tenants and labourers, purchase manure from the dealers. 4. The great variety of crops, especially of industrial plants, e.g., colza, flax, tobacco, hops, chicorj^, &c., yield- ing-large returns and admitting of exportation to the most distant countries. 5. Second, or " stolen " crops, such as turnips and carrots, after the cereals, of English clover, spuriy, &c., whereby the cultivated area is in effect increased one-third. 6. Abundance of food for cattle. Although the soil is not favourable to permanent meadows, yet, taking the second crops into account, one-half of the available super- fices is devoted to the keeping of live stock. Hence the rise of rents, although the price of corn has hardly increased. 7. House feeding of the cattle, by which the cows give both more milk and more manure. 8. Minute weediug.f * In reducing sheep to great cattle, we have adopted the proportion of 8 : 1, instead of the usual one of 10 : 1, the English sheep being exceptionally superior as regards flesh and wool. t Vide my ' Economic Rurale de la Belgique.' The reader will pardon uiy 246 SYSTEMS OF J.AXP TENURE [Lavki.kyk. ^Many of these agricultural practices are possibly only where there is a large agricultural population ; for which, on the other hand, work is found at the same time by these very practices. § 12. The following table shows the amount of labour eninloved in the cultivation of the soil in Belgium. ^ o >, « . = . 1 A ^ en ja V o V' .c c h > — C •°? "3 g M « > % a a 2 ■¥- a 3-a J3 ^ ■3 = 3 -1 Provinces. *" T3 i B Z ■S a. 5 1^ J- P 2 is t.- o 55 .a o 2 »§ — > •Si S3 S-5 1 c '^ o c = li MS 11 |l a 3 £-2 3 =3 11 3 •■« < ^ Sq ^ ^ PQ 15 Iz; ^ Antwerp .... 70 26 74 84 ' 83 17 4-76 47,935 106,080 Brabiiiit 47 27 64 78 1 86 18 3-46 83,130 183,522 Flanders, W. . . . 50 23 57 56 65 13 3-86 78,498 149,668 Flamlers, E. . . . 38 26 60 57 103 14 2 76 88,305 203,5(!1 Hiiiiiaut 52 22 70 57 ' 67 23 3-14 105,977 157,071 Lic'p;o 64 17 64 69 46 20 449 55,347 76,290 Linibourg .... 130 37 55 61 58 19 6-72 32,170 69,158 LuxeniLourg 237 37 77 71 51 30 11 35 36,244 69,537 Namur 68 26 50 57 42 19 7-42 **,944 68,714 Aggregate of Kingdom 68 25 61 65 97 19 4-55 672,550 1,083.601 * Compiisinsc the larmei-s themselves, tlie farm labourers, and laboureis pioper. t BeincT the proportion of women of the three preceding classes to 100 men. + " lidldcrs" includes Loth irechold and tenant fanneis. Tins table is taken from the official statistics pul)lished by the Belgian Government in 1850. Those published in 18G1 relate to the year 1856, and are less detailed. Til the following table I have given the data relative to the two Flanders, Nainnr, Luxembourg, and the entire kingdom, as derived from those statistics. Although the two tables are drawn up on different statistical plans, the returns are about the same, and therefore the data may be considered the more trustworthv. referring hini to a ])revioiis work of luine for particulars which need not be repeated here. Even in the writings of the best foreign aiitliors errors occur with regard to Iklgium. Thus Mr, Stuart Mill, in his ' Principles of Tolitical Economy,' quotes a passage from MncCuUoch in which Ilainaut and the two Flanders are alludeil to as being circumstanced alike — whereas, in fact, their cnnditiuns arc different in every respect. Belgium.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 247 Flandeiis West. Males. 32,617 ■\ 1,727 Owners, tonnnts, manajitTH utkI di- rectors of farms . Gardtners, kitchen- ' gardeners, horti- cultuiists, arbori- culturists, silk- worm rearers, vint- ners .... Slieplierds, graziers herdsmen Field hands and day labomers, farm I' ^o q^- servants of both (I ^'^'^'^' ;rs, "I 304 Wood - cutters and other wootl labour- ers, gamekeepers and others 673 99,278 Females. 28,132 546 39,139 137 Flanders EAsr. Males. Femalfs. LuXEMliOUKG. 79,207 1,478 432 63,174 98) 35,812 360 31,802 67,958 145,271 67,975 Males. 19,223 62 532 14,445 580 34,842 Females. 4,671 46 7,227 11,947 Landowners and te- nants, farmers and managers of es- tates .... Gardeners, kitchen- \ gardeners, horti- culturists, arbori- culturists, silk- worm rearers, vint- ners .... Shepherds, graziers "i drovers . . . j Field hands and \ day labourers, farm I servants of both | Wood-cutters and other wood labour- ers, gamekeepers and others Namcr. Males. Females. 15,226 308 627 28,621 1,059 45,841 982 11,347 12,836 Entire Kingdom. Males. Females. Tot:il 300,473 8,681 4,811 388,312 6,757 122,630 1.462 396 228,115 298 709,214 352,901 423.103 10,323 5,207 616.427 7,055 1.002,115 248 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [r.AVELEYE. § 13. It has often been argued from the example of Ireland that the subdivision of land must tend to produce an excessive increase of the population. Arthur Young prophesied that the subdivision of the soil would con- vert France into a rabbit warren. Now the fact is, that in no other country, not actually in a state of decadency, is the increase of the population slower than in France. The same may be said of Flanders, where the population increases at a rate much inferior to that of the rest of the kingdom, viz. : — Population in Proportional 1846. 1866. Increase. Flanders West . Flanders East Entire Kingdom . 643,004 793,264 4,337,196 659,938 824,175 4,984,351 2 ■ 6 per cent. 3-8 per cent. 15 • 1 per cent. Yet in Flanders the soil is greatly subdivided, as shown by figures given above (§ 5). § 14. To prove the superiority of large farming, Arthur Young made the following calculation : — To cultivate a district of 4000 hectares, divided into farms of a single plough, GGG men and 1000 horses would be required ; whereas in farms of three ploughs apiece the same district would require only 545 men and 681 horses ; being a saving of 121 men and 319 horses, capal)le of other useful employment in the production of manufactured articles. Therefore the district with large farms will l)e better provided for than the one with small holdings, and consequently large farming is pre- ferable to small fiirming. Young's calculation is perfectly correct so far as it goes ; nevertheless only one thing is necessary to overthrow his conclusion, namely, that the smaller farms should yield more produce, and more valuable produce, than the large ones ; and this is precisch^ the case all over the continent of Europe, without a single exception that I Belgium.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 249 know of, wherever la petite and la grande propriSle are seen in competition. "At the present da}^" says M. Hippolyte Passy,* "on the same area and under equal circumstances, the largest clear produce is yielded hj small farming, which, besides by increasing the country population, opens a safe market to the products of manu- facturing industry." Which are the richest and most productive provinces of France ? Precisely those in which the small landowners are in the majority, especially Flanders and Alsace. In this respect I need but refer the reader to the works of M. Leonce de Lavergne. In the Eastern provinces of Prussia (Prussia proper and Posen) there are hardly any but large estates, worked by the owners themselves. In Westphalia and the Rhenish provinces there are to be found peasant pro- prietors and small farmers. The Eastern provinces are inferior to those of the West, even with respect to live stock, as appears from the following ta])le : — There are to every square mile in the — Provinces. Posen . Prussia Westphalia Eliinelancl Metres of Tvoad. 5,000 4,000 14,000 ) 17,000 ( Inhabitants. 3,000 6,000 Heads of Large Cattle. 2,980 3,5C9 4,024 In the western provinces agricultural wages are double what they are in the eastern ones ; and while in the latter there are nine inhabitants to every house, there are but five and a-half in the former. As regards Saxony, Dr. Eugel's well-known statistics have shown that small farms keep twice as much live stock as large ones.f As to Italy, Mr. Kay expresses himself as follows in his ' Notes of a Traveller ' : — " In 1836, Tuscany contained * Vide ' M6moire de k I'Acad^mie des Sciences morales et politiqucs duns la Seance dn 4 Janvier, 1845.' t Vide ' Zeitschrift des Statistischen Bureau's des K, Sachsischcu Miuiste- ruims des Inneru,' No. 1, February, 1857. 250 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Laveleye. 130,100 landed estates. In the dominions of the Pope, from the frontier of the Neapolitan to that of the Tuscan state, the whole country is reckoned to be divided into about COO landed estates. Compare the husbandry of Tuscany, the perfect system of drainage, for instance, in the straits of the Arno, l)y drains between every two Ijcds of land, all connected with a main drain — being our own lately introduced furrow, till draining, but connected here with the irrigation as well as the draining of land — com- pare the clean state of the growing crops, the variety and succession of green crops for feeding cattle in the house all the year round, the attention to collecting manure, the garden-like cultivation of the whole face of the country — compare this with the desert waste of the Roman Maremma, or with the Papal country, of soil and produc- tiveness as good as that of the Yale of the Arno, the country about Foligno and Perugia — compare the well- clothed busy people, the smart country girls at work about their cows' food, or their silkworm leaves, with the ragged, sallow, indolent population lounging about their doors in the Papal dominions, starving, and with nothing to do on the great estates ; nay, compare the agricultural industry in this land of small farms, with the best of our large farms districts, with Tw^eedside or East Lothian, and snap your finger at the wisdom of our St. Johns and all the host of our bookmakers on agriculture, who bleat alter each other that solemn saw that small farms are incompatible with a high and perfect state of cultivation." In Lombardy, in the province of Como, where la petite culture prevails, the value of the cattle i)er hectare in cultivation is IGl francs; whilst in the province of Mantua, with its large farms and fine pasture land, it is but 94 francs.* In Portugal there are in the large farming province of Alemtego but 329,277 inhabitants on an area of 2,454,062 hectares, with an annual production — ex- clusive of cattle— worth 54,702,500 francs, or 22-72 francs per hectare. On the contrary, in the small farm- * Vide my ' P^tudes d'Kconomie Rurale en JLombardie,' ]\ 112, and Signor Tacini's bcautifnlbonk, ' La Propriolk fondiaria in Lonibardia.' I'ei.gium ] 7.V V Anion 8 COUNTRIES. 251 ing province of ^linbo, there are on an area of 749,094 liectares, 915,400 inlialjitants, producing — ex- clusive of cattle — 37,750,250 francs per annum, or 50*34 francs per hectare, being more than twice the production of Alemtego.* In Spain, compare Estremadura, the Castiles, or even Andalusia, with the kingdom of Valencia, and with Lower Catalonia. Where small farming prevails, the land is a garden ; w^here the estates are large, a desert. In Belgium, the small farm provinces, the Flanders, own more cattle, yield more produce, are more carefully cultivated, and have more agricultural capital than those in which large estates are predominant, as will be seen from the subjoined table. Here I have compared East Flanders with Namur ; and it is to be noticed that in the former province the land is poorer than in the latter. Heads of cattle per 100 hectares Working cai^ital per liectare Produce per liectare Eent per hectare Average selling price of land per hectare Number of Inhabitants per 100 hectares Namur. 35 francs 250 „ 300 50 „ 1,804 138 Flanders E. 68 francs 450 „ 600 93 „ 3,218 263 § 15. Let us carry out the parallel drawn by Arthur * With reference to Portugal, see the excellent work, ' Compcndio de Economia rural,' by Senhor A. Eebello da Tilva, at ])reseiit Colonial Minister of Portugal; and J. Forrester's ' Portugal and its Capabilities,' in which we find the following passages: — "The Minho is justly termed the garden of Portugal." " The Alemtego is the largest, and perhaps naturally the richest, province of Portugal. Once the granary of Portugal, it is now the worst cultivated and most thinly populated of the entire kingdom The reason of this change may be traced to the following iact. The fecundity of this pro- vince has been proverbial from the remotest times ; and people of substance relinquishing the North, came here, and united manysmall farms in a few extensive estates, which have descended from father to son undivided, undimin- ished, and through mismanagement and neglect are at this moment so many waste lands in the possession of proprietors who themselves have not the means of cultivating them, and who will not allow others to do so. Hence, there being no emj^loymeut for agricultural labourers, the Trausteganos have dispersed themselves over the other provinces, leaving the feudal lords in full possession of their land, their pride, and their poverty" (p. lOJ). Of the north of Portugal it may also be said, Jafifiutdvi perdidcrv Lusiianhum. 252 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Laveleye. Young between the results of small and largo farming, by placing spade and plough side by side before us. Throughout Flanders, and especially in the Waes country, the spade is often used to prepare the soil before sowing. To dig up one hectare with the spade, at the rate of 5 ares per diem, 20 days are required, and an outlay of 30 francs ; whilst the same work done with the plough would cost no more than 6 or 7 francs, perhaps less. Thus, spade work costs five times as much as plough work, which is an enormous balance in favour of the latter. Yet the Fleming persists in calling the spade a gold mine (De Spa is de Goudmyn der Boereri) ; and in Lom- bardy they have a proverb to the same effect : Se Varatro ha il vomero di ferro, la vanga ha la punta d'oro. How is this to be accounted for ? Is it routine or miscalcula- tion ? Neither ; the peasant only means to say that a large increase in the returns is well worth a larger outlay. In Lombardy, it has been computed that in two fields of the same quality, and manured in the same way, one Ijeiug worked with the spade and the other with the plough, the returns of the former were to those of the latter as G6 to 28. Assume the produce to be but double, it will make up for twice the excess of expense. In Flanders, this difference is not very considerable for cereals ; but the Fleming does not grow corn alone, In the same year in which corn comes up in the rotation he has a second crop (recotte derobe'e), which of itself is worth three or four times the excess of 25 francs in the cost of s]3ade work ; and if after this he lifts such crops as flax, chicorj^, tobacco, and colza, returning from GOO to 1200 francs per hectare, the excess in the pre- liminary outlay dwindles down to a mere nothing. Young, and most English writers on agriculture after him, reason just as if no other crops were grown than cereals ; a mistake with respect to the nature and objects of la petite culture which vitiates all their conclusions. I am fully aware that these second croj)s may be derived also from the plough, and so they are indeed by Belgium.] 7^" VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 253 many Flemish farmers ; but then, in the first place, the land is better prepared by the spade for receiving the seed ; and secondly, to weed and to gather crops of this kind much more labour is required, and therefore a larger population by whom the spade-work too may be done. All these things go hand in hand, there being an intimate connection between such economic factors as large population, minute labour, rich produce, small rural industries like (lax steeping and peeling, preparation of chicory, tobacco and hops, oil pressing, &c. It is a system which must be looked at as a whole ; and it is one by which a country, one might say by nature inca- pable of cultivation, has become the garden of Europe. Thus the example of Flanders shows that, as far as the production of wealth and even the clear produce are concerned, the spade ought to get a verdict in an action against the plough. I admit at once that it would be well for the spadesman, could he have his work done for him b}^ horses and steam engines, that his work is harder and his returns smaller than is good for man. But would he be happier, wealthier, better, under a different land system, under which he would be a lal)ourer for hire without prospect of elevation ? Especially would he be so on the barren sands of Flanders ? § 16. The system of tenure usual in Belgium is a lease. In the middle ages, there also existed the form of tenure known by the name of metayage, of which, however, traces are now to be found only in some of the polders along the coast of the Grcrman Ocean. The cultivation of land by the intervention of a bailiff or steward, so common in Eastern Europe, is a rare exception in Bel- gium. The leases are, as a rule, very short — nine years at most, as a rule ; very seldom indeed for so much as eighteen years. On the other hand, yearly tenancy and tenure-at-will are also very exceptional. All who devote attention to agriculture, even the agricultural societies, though consisting almost exclusively of landowners, admit that the leases are too short. The tenant is not en- 254 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Lavei.kve. couraged to improve ; and if he does make improvements, he can hardly be said to reap the benefit of them. The landlords will not grant lon^'cr leases, because they want, in the first i)lace, to keep a hold upon their tenants ; and secondly, to raise the rents when the leases expire. It may l)e said that throuirhout Belgium such increases of rent take place regularly and periodically. The following table gives an idea of this continuous increase of rents since 1830 : — Inckease of Rents from Price PER Hectare. Provinces. 1830 1835 1840 1846 1850 to to to to to 1830. 1856. 1835. 1840. 1846. 1850. 1856. Per cent. ►'er cent. I'er cent. Per cent. Per cent. Fr. c. ¥t. c. Antwerp .... 7-06 10-22 6-32 8-33 15-38 47-50 75 Brabant .... 7'62 12-48 5 05 2-41 17 -(^5 66-27 100 Fliinilcrs, W. . . 8-10 6-93 5-20 4-05 16-90 60-00 83 ' riauders, E. 13-96 11-39 2-85 21-81 71-40 106 Hainaut .... 8-94 15-58 7-48 1-05 14-58 69-79 110 Liege .... 7-50 14-72 811 7-41 16-09 62 35 101 Limbourg 10-28 13-02 1-90 17-00 46-80 62 Luxembourg 5-14 7-73 4-17 3-03 ! 14-71 28-78 39 Namur .... 9-87 15-35 7-66 10-00 16-36 36-77 64 Average of Kingdom 9-10 12-74 5-90 2-94 17-14 57-25 82 Since 1856, rents have risen even more in proportion than during the preceding period. It may be affirmed that, since 1830, the value of land and the rents have doubled. This is a further jn'oof of the proposition so clearly set forth by Mr. Mill, that while the rate of profit and of interest has a downward tendenc}^ in a progressing community, rent, on the contrary, tends to rise in- cessantly. Thus, the landowners actually reap all the benefit resulting from the progress made by the entire community in various directions. Part of this j)rogres- sive increase in rent may ]je traced to improvements made 1)}^ the farmers in the cultivation of the soil. By raising the rent, the landlord lays hold of this advance in the value of the land. The increase of the revenue the landlord derives from his land is not the result of improvements executed by r.ELciuM.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 255 himself; and the fact adverted to is a general one, which may be met with everywhere. In whatever cases land- lords have actually made improvements, they have got the interest of the outlay in the shape of an additional augmentation of their revenue. For these reasons, I think that the increase of rent, being due to the progress of society at large, and not to the exertions of the landowners, ought not in justice to benefit the latter alone. It would be but fair to divide this benefit. For a portion of it the tenant should come in ; and this he wonld get if he had a longer lease. Another part of it should fall to the share of the community at large, in the shape of an increase of the land-tax. At the present day, the land-tax (imjwt fonder) in Belgium is permanently fixed, amounting to about 16 million francs (640,000/.). It ought, on the contrary, to increase in some proportion to the augmentation of rent, so, however, as not to affect the revenue, which is the reward of improvements; but some portion of that general advance of rents, which is the result of the general progress of the countrj^, ought to be laid under contribution. All this applies with equal force to the British Isles, but sul)ject to some important restrictions, because, in the first place, English and Irish landlords do not put on the screw of a continual increase of rent with anything like the harshness habitual with Belgian landowners. In the second place, the local rates in England are high, and are rising progressively. Thirdly, rents have been raised in England much less in proportion than they are in Belgium, Nevertheless, as regards the increase of rent, the land system of Belgium is superior to that of England. In both countries part of the clear profit of civilization is sublimated, so to speak, and deposited in the shape of increased rent in the landlord's exchequer, even though he be an absentee or a do-nothing. But where there are a great many landowners a large proportion of its inhabitants must come in for a share in the increased rent. If, on the contrary, they are few in number, they mono- 256 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Lavelete. polize the whole of the social benefit. In the former case the working of the economic law of increasing rent will be harsher than in the latter ; yet it will be acquiesced in when many benefit by it, while it must sooner or later arouse opposition where it tends to enrich a few families only. The system of rack-renting, which is so much censured in England, is generally practised in Flanders ; nevertheless, the tenant Ijears with it in all meekness, notwithstanding the sufferings it entails on him. In the United Kingdom the landlord would scruple to shear his tenants as they are shorn in Flanders, yet he does not escape reproach ; and this is easily explained by the fact that, for one landowner in England there are two hundred and fift}^ in Flanders. Still, on the whole, the system of tenure of land in Flanders is anything but worthy of imitation. There are too many tenant farmers, and too few peasant proprietors ; the leases are ex- cessively short, and the rents excessively high. Arthur Young has said: Give a farmer a 7iine years lease of a garden and he will make a desert of it. It is to the honour of the small farmers of Flanders, and of la petite culture, that they have falsified this maxim. § 17. Among the various systems of tenure of land in the Belgian and Dutch Low Countries, there is none more interesting to the student of agriculture than the Beklem-regt, in the province of Groningcn. This is a kind of hereditary lease, something like fixity of tenure. The landlord can never raise the tenant's annual rent. The tenant, on the contrary (called the Beklem-meyer), may bequeath his right of occupation, dispose of it, mortgage it, provided only he does not diminish the value of the land. The Beklem-rec/t is indivisible, and can be held only by one person. Whenever it changes hands the landlord is entitled to a fee called jiropinen^ which amounts to one or two 3'cars' rent, and is fixed beforehand. This sj^stem dates from the middle ages, and is still constantly practised in Groningen, even on lands recently reclaimed, on polders, and on lands put in cultivation in the turf-bog region. It arises in liELOiuM.] 7.V VARTOUS COUNTrfJES. 25? the following manner: — Some landowners lacing in want of money, and not wishing to mortgage their lands, give hereditar}^ leases of them for a sum of money, thus remaining nominally proprietors; they never part with the fee-simple. Moreover, when the land is sold, the fee-simple and tlic Bd:!em-regt are disposed of separately, and a higher price is thus realized. All Dutch economists are alive to the advantages of the Beklem-regt, of which the principal ones are as follows : 1st. It gives the tenant absolute security for the future, thus encouraging him to make improvements. 2nd. The tenant purchasing the right of occupation has less to pay for it than he w^ould for the fee-simple, and yet acquires the same security. The higher the rent, the less money he pa3's. In Ireland, on the con- trary, no real right is obtained by purchasing the good- will or tenant right, and the new tenant must pay the same rent as others. In G-roningen, an hereditary right of occupation is acquired, and the rent to be paid is moderate and invariable. 3rd. The Beklem-regt, being indivisible, prevents compulsory or injurious subdivision. If the division is ))eneficial, the landlord consents to it in consideration of a share in the prohts to be gained by it. 4th. The BeUem-rcgt precludes the immoderate in- crease of the population, because, on the one hand, it limits the number of farms, and on the other, because the farmer himself being in good circumstances, his sons are not likely to allow themselves to fall into distress. 5th. By this mode of tenure a number of well-to-do quasi-proprietors are made to reside in the country, cultivating the laud with capital and science, whereas if the landlords were to hold the land themselves they would go and live in the towns, and let their estates to tenants at ruinous rents. Thus, instead of tenants with the fear of losing their holdings always before their eyes, and ground down by ever-increasing rents, this system, derived from the middle ages, has created a class of semi-proprietors, s 258 SYSTEMS UF I. AM) TENUItK [[.avkkkvi:. iiidopcndont, iirond, simple, l)nt withal cajxcr foi" en- li^likMiiueiU, ai)])reeiatiiig the advantages of education, .practising husbandry not by blind routine and as a mean occupation, l)ut as a noble ])rofession by which they accpiire wealth, inlluence, and the consideration of their fellow-men ; a class ready to submit to any sacrifice to drain their lands, improve their farm-buildings and implements, and looking for their well-])eing to their own ^energy and foresight alone. Systems of tenure of land similar to the BeUem-regt used to exist in the Channel Islands and in Brittany, by the name of domaine congeahle, in Lombardy by the name of eontratto dl livello, and in Portugal by that of aforainento.^ As long as the hereditary tenants cultivate the land themselves the Be/deni-rec/t is at- tended only with beneficial effects ; but as soon as they sublet it becomes subject to the drawbacks of common leases, with the difference that in that case the sub- tenant must pa}^ a double rent, viz., the fixed one to the landlord, and a variable one to the hereditary tenant. Could the (joodicill in Ireland be converted into Beldeni-irrit or afommento^ the country might perhaps be saved by it. But then the Irish peasants would, in the first place, have to respect the indmsihdity of their leaseholds and of the farms for which these are granted. Moreover they would have to pay to tlie landlords themselves, not to the outgoing tenants, the price of the hereditary leases for whicli they would come in. One nujst add, however, that it would in all probability be ver}^ difficult to make them understand and appreciate this mode of tenure. ]^]ven in the provinces adjoining Groningen, where the wholesome effects of this system are seen and appreciated, it is not adopted. Lawyers, ins})ired with the ideas of uniformity and sim- plification of the French Kevolution, are moreover opposed to a system which formerly used to prevail in a great part of Enro])e. It has likewise disnpi)eared in many countries Ij}" degenerating from its original form, or by reason of being coupled with improper regulations. In * Vide the note on edecked with splendid corals and gold. They do not work themselves to death. On the ice in winter, at the kermesses in summer, they enjoy themselves with the zest of men whose minds are free from care. The Belgian farmer, we have shown, is neither as rich as his Dutch neighbour, nor can he enjoy himself in the same way. One reason is that in Holland the townspeople have at all times invested their savings in pnl^lic securities, and generally left landed property' alone, which has thus remained entirely in the hands of the peasants. In Belgium, on the contrary, the nobility have retained large landed property, and capitalists have eagerly bought estates. Hence a good number of the peasants have become mere tenants. To meet with the ideal of rural life, you must look for it in Groningen or in Upper Bavaria. § 22. Pliny's saying, latifundia perdidere Italiam, has sounded like a warning voice across centuries. The latifundia of the Roman aristocracy first devoured the small estates, then the small pro[>rietors, and, when the Barbarians made their appearance, the empire had become a solitude. 2G8 SrSThWS OF LAND TENUL'K [F avelkve. Tlic Estado-^ of the g-rnndees of Spain have also de- stroyed the small landowners, whose place has been taken by bandits, smugglers, beggars, and monks. Tiberius Gracchus was the oidy Roman who under- stood the economic situation of his countr}'. Had the laws proposed by him been adopted, the decline of the Repuldic might perhaj^s have been prevented. it is the glory of England to have remained free from the consequences usuall}' attending the large-property system. Great Britain possesses a class of landowners and tenants alive to the requirements of agriculture ; and her gigantic commerce has provided employment for the small freeholders whose lands have been swallowed up. But on the Continent the case is vastly different; and the reason of this is to be found in the facts noticed with reference to Belgium. Here large farms are, as a rule, not so well cultivated as small ones, and this is easily accounted for. To work a farm of 200 hectares with as much ca])ital as I^lemish small farmers do, 100,000 francs (4000/.) would be required. Now a man who commands such a sum will not become a farmer ; he will either go and live in a town, become a functionary, or employ his capital in business ; hence the working capital of large farms is, as a rule, insufficient, and therefore the returns from these are smaller, aud they let at less rent. Thus an additional stimulus is given to subdivision. This Ijeing the case in Belgium, it must a fortiori ha so in countries in which husbandry is more behindhand. In Eastern Europe, e.g., m Hungary, Poland, and Prussia, large estates are farmed by the proprietors themselves, in the absence of tenants of sufficient capital. Even in England, would not the land be more care- fully cultivated were there a number of })easant pro- prietors? and, supposing there were 200,000 small farmers more than there are now, might there not be 500,000 fewer paupers less to be supported ? I onl}^ put the question, not feeling myself competent to decide it. '^ 2;]. Free, trade in hind . — I l)orrow this title from an Bklgium.] JN VAL'TOUS COUNTIUES. 209 interesting work published by Mr. W. Fowler, M.P. Ill our western world it seems to me necessary that there should be no obstacle to land chaiigiiig hands, in order that it may be distributed in conformity with the laws of political economj^ and become the proi)ert3' of those who can turn it to the best account. To this end, the first reqnisitc is that all those restrictions should be done away with by which landed property is rendered immovable in the possession of certain families; for example, primogeniture, entails, &c. In the second place, every one ought to be able to purchase a lot of land without heavy expenses, and with perfect sccurit}^ If the purchase of an estate involves law-suits, risks of title, or considerable costs, then the rich only can indulge in the luxury. The continuance anywhere of so intolerable a state of things can only be accounted for by the fact that it is the interest of lawyers and of the wealthy to maintain it ; the former for the sake of the legal business it creates, the latter because it keeps the land-market to themselves. As regards the transfer of land and the law of mortgage, Belgium may be considered a model countr}^ The following is a synopsis of the laws in force in this respect : — -Since the passing of the Act of December 16, 1852, modifying the then existing law, the sale of land takes })lacc by a deed executed before a notary, or else by one under a private seal recognised in law. Deeds under private seal used to give rise to irregularities, and to serious dangers whenever the authenticity of the signature was contested. By the following compulsory forms of law the purchaser obtains perfect security with regard to mortgages. His notary is Ijound to ()l)tain a certificate (etat negatif) from the Eegistrar or Keeper (Conservateur) of Mortgages, showing that there are no outstanding charges against either the seller or the former owners. The notary is personally responsible for neglect to take this precaution, and the Kegistrar of Moj'tgages would also be liable to an action for damaiies were he to omit to uivc notice of anv in- 270 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENIWE [Lavet.eyk. cuuibrances. If tlicre Ije any incunibraiiccs of this kind, tliey may be (lediicted from the selling }3i'ice, and in that case the purchaser assumes the seller's liability ; or else the purchaser may pay o(F the creditor, who then gives him a discharge of the debt. The law of 1851 (1852?) has done away entirely with hi/potlieques tacites ou legales. All unregistered mortgages are invalid against the purchasers of an estate. Along with the certificate against incum})rances an etat des mutations must be obtained by the uotary, i. e.^ a statement of all the changes of hands the propertj^ has undergone since a fixed date prior to the sale, and establishing the title of the vendor. The notary must moreover take the precaution to obtain an extract from the matrice cadastrale, or otherwise a copy of the official survey. Notice is given of every transfer of landed property to the administrateur du cadastre by the offices of registration and succession duties, as well as by his owai surve^'ors, who make periodical circuits and ascertain, de visu, what modifications the land has undergone. A good surveyor knows the " parcels " of his district just as well as a shepherd does his sheep. The notary draws up the deed of sale, which is signed by the parties, two witnesses and himself. The minute or original of the deed is brought to the office of the Registrar {receveur de renregistrement), who puts an abstract or summary of it on his register. By this formality the purchase and its date are fully authen- ticated ; but the primary object of it is to secure the Government duty, which amounts to 4 per cent., plus 30 centimes additionneL% altogether to 5 fr. 20 c. per cent, of the selling price. After this the deed undergoes transcription. It is then no longer the minute that is lodged with the registrar of mortgages, but a duplicate duly executed. The registrar transcribes it in full ; this transcription establishes the legal transfer of the i)roperty as far as third parties are concerned. Under the Code Civil, transcription was not required to validate a transfer. Under the present law, the purchaser who has l)een tlie iirst to have his V.r.Lr.wM.] /N VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 271 deed transcribed is the leg;al proprietor. The tran- scription is subject to a duty of 1 fr. 30 centimes per cent., with some centimes additionneU. The notary's lees vary accord i up; to the value of the property transferred. The essential features of the process may be summed up as follows: — 1st. A deed of transfer is executed before a public officer (the notary), who is responsible for its proper legal form. The original remains in the notary's hands and forms the title-deed ; and thus individuals are secured against the loss of their title. 2nd. This document is transcribed on a public register, ;vith a statement of the mortgages, if any, on the estate transferred. An extract from this register may be had for a few francs, and thus any one may readily ascertain to whom an estate belongs, by what right it does so, and what incumbrances, if any, there are on it ; and all this without any uncertainty or obscurity. 3rd. The official survey contains a plan of each town- ship {commune), with the parcels, their areas, annual values and peculiarities marked on it ; and in every commune in the kingdom there is to be found a copy of the plan of its territory, which may be referred to by the inhabitants, and from Avhich they may claim an extract. In Belgium the transfer duties (which are very high, about seven per cent, of the selling price) are levied on the property sold •, but this tax is a bad one, impeding free trade in land. In Prussia, Avhere the same legis- lation exists, the tax amounts to no more than one-and- a-half per cent., and the notary's fees are very low. If the Government requires the amount of the tax, it had better impose it on land directly, by increasing the land- tax. It falls on the ow^ners of land in either case, but in the latter there w^ould be the compensatory advantages arising from unimpeded sale of their land. In other respects the system is perfect. The cadastre^ or official surve}', ascertains the areas, boundaries, and properties of estates ; the notary puts the deed of transfer into its 272 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Laveleyk. proper legal shape, and the transcription on a pul)lic register fixes the date of the transfer and pnblishes it to the world. There is in short absolute authenticity combined with full publicity, being just the two things needful. It is the duty of the state to make these formalities compulsorj^ a public and not merely a })rivate interest being at stake. It is of the highest public interest in the first place that landed property should easily get into those hands by which it can 1)e turned to the best account ; secondly, that the title to property in land should be secure, and incontestable; and, thirdl}^, that there should be no legal obstacles to the subdivision of land when the natural economy tends to it, so that the number of small landowners should not be artificially reduced by im- perfection in the law. The Belgian system is only an improvement on that of the French law, which has been successively adopted by almost all continental countries, on account of its conspicuous usefulness. As long as England does not introduce security, pu])licity, facility of exchange, in fine, free trade into everything connected with property in land, there will ever l)e an insuperable obstacle to the establishment of an agrarian system in keeping with the wants of modern society. A reform in this particular branch of English law is, in my opinion, the most urgent of all. § 24. We have seen that much larger gross returns are everywhere obtained from the land by small than by large farming. This is certainly a great, but not the greatest, i)oon accruing from it. The larger the number of landowners is in a country, the more free and independent citizens there are in- terested in the maintenance of public order. Propert}^ is the essential complement of liljcrty. Without ))roperty, man is not truly free. Whatever rights the i)olitical constitution may confer upon him, so long as he is a tenant he remains a dependent being. A free man politically, he is socially but a bondsman. Belgium.] IN VARTOUS COUNTJiJR'S. 273 In Belgium most tenaut-farinei's enjoy both the municipal and parliamentary franchise. But this right, so far from raising them in the social scale, is but a source of mortification and humiliation to them, for they are forced to vote according to the dictate of the land- lord, instead of following the dictates of their own in- clinations and convictions. How can they feel any attachment to a constitution which, in conferring a new right, really at the same time rivets a new chain on them ? The electoral franchise is but a mockery and a snare to the cultivator without either proprietorship or a long lease. It may be thought a matter for surprise that, in Flanders, feelings hostile to social order nevertheless do not manifest themselves, and that agrarian outrages are never perpetrated as in Ireland, although I think it certain that, in consequence of excessive competitions, the Flemish farmer is much more ground down Ijy his landlord than the Irish tenant. The fact that in Flanders, as in all countries in which landed property is distributed among a large number of owners, the ideas called socialist* in the bad sense of the word do not obtain, is to be accounted for as follows : — The Flemish tenant, although ground down by the constant rise of rents, lives among his equals, peasants like himself who have tenants whom they use just as the large landowner does his. His father, his l)rother, perhaps the man himself, possesses something like an acre of land which he lets at as high a rent as he can get. In the public-house peasant proprietors will boast of the high rents they get for their lands, just as they might boast of having sold their pigs or potatoes very dear. Letting at as high a rent as possil3le comes thus to seem to him to be quite a matter of course, and he never dreams of finding fault with either the landowners as a class or with property in land. His mind is not * I think it is to be regretted that a disparaging meaning should attach to this word. Are not those who devote themselves to social science, socialists? When, in 1848, Proudhon was asked in the Committee of Inquiry, "What is socialism?"' he replied, "A general desire for improvement." "Then we are all of us socialists," remarked the chairman of the Committee. 274 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Laveleye likely to dwell on the notion of a caste of domineering landlords, of " bloodthirsty tyrants," fattening on the sweat of impoverished tenants, and doing no work them- selves ; for those who drive the hardest bargains are not the great landowners, but his own fellows. Thus the distribution of a number of small properties among the peasantry forms a kind of rampart and safeguard for the holders of large estates ; and peasant property may, with- out exaggeration, be called the lightning conductor that averts from society dangers which might otherwise lead to violent catastrophes. The concentration of land in large estates among a small number of families is a sort of provocation of levelling legislative measures. The position of England, so enviable in many respects, seems to me to be in this respect full of danger for the future.* § 25. The idea that all men are equal, placed at the head of all modern constitutions, and announced as an axiom throughout the world is a new idea, the wholesome or baneful effects of which it is as yet impossible to foretell. The gospel proclaimed the equality and fra- ternity of all men ; but it was to Christians a heavenly ideal, which they did not feel called upon to realize in this Avorld. The Eeformation, the United States Consti- tution, and the French Revolution, made of it a terrestrial ideal, of which the consequences must be logically followed up ; it only remains to be seen to what extent these consequences are to be carried. Tocqueville, in his book on Democracy, has admirably shown the effect of the equalitarian principle in politics ; but he has not pointed out with equal clearness the economic consequences it is likely to entail ; and these precisely absorb, at the present day, the attention of all those who can see and understand. The idea that all men have equal rights, though pro- claimed everywhere, has not yet taken root enough to become a living and earnest conviction, resolute on * Vide Mr. CliiTc Leslie's remarkable Article on the I^and System of England in ' Frascr's Magazine,' February, IHHT. Belgium.] IN VABIOUS CO V NTH IKS. 21 r^ action. To the upper strata of society this idea is like a vague threat hanging over them ; to the lower one.s, like a light of hope iu a distant future ; but being incessantly repeated at workmen's congresses and meet- ings, it is likely to diffuse itself through all classes, especially those whose interest it is to believe it to be true. Now suppose this idea universally and ardently em- braced ill a country in which all the land is in few hands, what sentiment is it likely to give birth to among the masses ? They will say, " If we are equal, how is it that a caste has perpetual possession of all the land, and that we are perpetually doomed to support this caste by tlie produce of our labour ? Has God made the land only that a privileged few shall enjoy it ? Property is said to be the creature of labour. How is it, then, that we ever behold idleness and opulence on one side, and labour and destitution on the other? According to the laws of nature, he who works ought to reap the fruits of the earth, w^hilst he who lives in idleness should suffer 1 lunger ; but does the perfection of social laws consist in keeping the drone in aljundance and the bee in dis- tress ?" I will not carry the argument further ; it will be readily understood. This was precisely the language held by the peasants who revolted in Germany when Luther spoke of evangelical equality to the feudal society of the sixteenth century. These ideas may be drowned in blood as they were on that occasion, as they were in France at the time of the Jacqueries; but they will always revive and redouble the danger to society in countries where inequality appears like an institution conspicuous to the sight of all. It is a grave symptom of the emergency that the upper classes themselves no longer remain inaccessible to these ideas. A distinguished member of the British Par- liament, to whom I pointed out that certain measures proposed for Ireland looked remarkably like " confisca- tion," replied to me, " No doubt they do ; but why should thev not ? Is it not just that every one should have his T 2 276 SYSTA'MS OF LAND TENURE [Laveleye. turn ?" And really, if but a few are chosen to sit down to the feast of life, why should these guests be always the same ? This is in its crudity the idea which involuntarily rises in the mind. It is all very well for lawyers and economists to prove its absurdity, but one and the same argument produces a different effect on the man who is seated at table and the man who waits u|)on him ; what may seem absurd to the man who has the good side of the present regime may appear perfectly right and proper to him who has come in for the bad side. Travelling in Andalusia this year, I lighted upon peasants harvesting the crops on the lands of Spanish grandees, which they had shared among themselves. "Why," said they, "should these large estates remain almost uncultivated in the hands of people who have neither created nor improved them, but are ruining them by spending elsewhere the net produce they yield?" I am convinced, that were land more divided in those districts of Andalusia, where ideas of communion prevail at the present day, these would no longer find any adherents. In Belgium, socialism, though spreading among the working classes in manufacturing districts, does not penetrate into the countr}', where the small landowners block up its way. Therefore I think the following propositions may be laid down as self-evident truths : — There are no measures more conservative, or more conducive to the maintenance of order in society, than those which facilitate the acquirement of property in land by those who cultivate it; there are none fraught with more danger for the future than those which concentrate the ownership of the soil in the hands of a small number of families. Belcuum.] in various COUyTUIEti. 277 APPENDIX. ON THE AFORAMENTO IN PORTUGAL. In the following note are collected some liiglily interesting particulars of this mode of tenure, for which I am indebted to a Portuguese economist, ]\Ir. Venancio Deslandes. The aforamento is very much like the Beldem-regt, in Gronin- gen, i.e., an hereditary lease by which the i-ight of occupation is granted indefinitely in consideration of an annual rent fixed once for all, which the landlord can never increase. This right passes on to the heirs, who, however, cannot subdivide the estate, the aforamento being essentially indivisible ; therefore one of the heirs must take it as liis share, and indemnify the others. Where this cannot be done, and the heirs do not agree, the aforamento is sold, and the purchaser then holds it subject to the same conditions as tlie seller. If there be no next of kin and no legatee, the aforamento expires, and the landlord re- enters into possession. Again, if the hereditary tenant allows the land to deteriorate so as to reduce its value to one-fifth over and above the capitalized rent, the landlord resumes the right of possession without any compensation to the tenant. Besides the yearly rent the landlord was formerly entitled to levy a duty, whenever the land changed hands, which was called luduosa, if the cliange took place in consequence of a death, and landemium, if in consequence of a sale. The new civil code in force since July, 1867, N\hich in many instances betrays like its French prototype a hostility to everything pertaining to tlie ancient regime, has done away with these dues as feudal charges. Another and severer blow has been dealt to the aforamento system, by the new code prohibiting a holder from bequeathing the sole right of occupation to the one of his children he might designate. The division of all property into equal shares being 278 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Laveleye. ninde compulsory, and tlio aforamenio being indivisible, a con- flict arises between the two ]>rinciples. The aforamenio is then sold, and taken from the family who had held it perhaps for centuries. The aforamenio dates from the earliest times of the Portuguese monarchy. It was introduced by monastic orders, especially the Benedictines, on the lands they owned, and since then has gradually become general throughout Portugal north of the Tajo. Even down to this day, contracts of this kind are made between private parties ; and if townships let common lands to the inhabitants, this is often done by aforamenio. Private persons let land at fixed rents, and in consideration of the fixity of tenure they grant, the payment of a certain sum of money is stipulated for, which represents the price of per- petual enjoyment by the tenant without increase of rent ; by submitting to an immediate sacrifice, he gains perfect security for the future. The people used to have, and have even at this day, a great predilection for this kind of contract ; both farmers and landlords agree in appreciating the great advantages it offers. These are especially evident in the province of IMinho, so celebrated for the ]ierfection of its husbandry, the well-being of its inhabitants, and the magnificent appearance of the country. There all lands are held by aforamenio, and by this system of hereditary tenure its prosperity is accounted for. I met with aforamenio very frequently in the environs of Lisbon, especially in the magnificent country adjoining the Ointra Road. Unfortunately legislation, prompted by French ideas, has declared war against this excellent system of tenure, with a view to carry out what is called the liberation of the land, i.e., the reconstitution of absolute property, and the adoption of the common kind of lease. This is an error ; for eveiy institution is excellent which is calculated to give security of possession to him who cultivates the land. (jkrmany.J /iV VAHKjVti COUNTJilES. 279 V. THE AGRARIAN LEGISLATION OF PRUSSIA DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. By R. B. D. Morier, C.B. In treating of the agrarian legislation of Prussia during the present centur}^, it is important to guard against a prevalent misconception, to the effect that this legislation is something " sui generis," and different in kind from that of any other European State. The contrary is the case — legislation similar to that we are about to describe has in some form or other marked the history of every German State during the last sixty years, and analogous legislation has marked our own historj', and we may add that of every other State of Teutonic origin. For every Teutonic community has been evolved out of- a germ identical in its rudimental construction with that of every other, and therefore containing within itself the laws of a similar growth. The history of this growth is recorded in the history of the occupation of land ; for, in contradistinction to the citizens of the antique world, the Teutonic race is essentially a race of landfolk. I. The original Teutonic community is an association of freemen, a " Gemeinde," a commonalty or commons (not common people in contradistinction to nncomnion people, that is a privileged class, but a body of men having property in common), amongst whom the pri- vate right of property in land is correlative to the public duty of military service and participation in the legisla- tive and other political acts of the community. These pul)lic duties are of a comparatively simple kind ; the 280 SrSTEM OF LAN]) TENURE [Mokiek. ajxricultural relations of the community, on the other hand, are of a comparatively complicated kind. The district, or Mark (i.e., the geographical area marked out and appropriated by the community), consists of three distinct parts; first, the Common Mark (the Folcland of the Anglo-Saxons), owned jointly l3y the community ; secondly, the Arable Mark (Feldmark), cut out of the Common Mark, and apportioned in equal lots to the members of the community (the Anglo-Saxon Boc land) ; and, lastly, the Mark of the tofcnshij) (Dorf, thorp, villa), also divided into equal lots, and individually appro- priated. ^ The individual marksman, therefore, stands in a three- fold relation to the land occupied by the Gemeinde. He is a joint proprietor of the common land ; he is an allottee in the arable mark, and he is a householder in the town- ship. In the first case he owns "de iudiviso," and his rights are strictly controlled by those of his co-marksmen. His cattle grazes on the common pasture, under the charge of the common herdsman ; he hews Avood in the forest, under the control of a communal ofldcer. In the Arable ]\Iark he has a distinct inheritance, and can call a certain number of square roods his own ; but he must cultivate his lot in concert with his associates, and the community at large determines on the mode of its cultivation. The whole Mark is divided into as many parts or Fields (" Fluren, " "Campi ") as the rotation of crops and the alternation between fallow and plough requires. Usually into three such " commonable " Fields, each Field lying fallow once in three years, the com- nnmit}" having rights of pasturage on the fallow as well as on the stubbles of the land under the |)lough.* To olwiate the possibility of the individual allottee finding * It is tliese common rights of pasturage on the Amble Mark w liicli it is of importance to note, for it was from these rights, and not from the right of pasturage on the comvion pastinr, that median-al agriculture derived its distinctive character. The obligatory cultivation on the " '^I'hrce Field system," the common temporary enclosure of the commonable Field (not of the individual parcel), whilst the crop is growing, the removal of that en- closure after harvest, the prohibition against permanent aud imlividnal enclosures, aiv all of them results which flowed from the common right of pasture on \hc /'"Uair aiid sluhhjps. Germany.] 7.V VAIilOUS COUXTRJKB. 281 himself every tliinl year without any land under culti- vation, which wouhl be the case it' the lots lay in undivided blocks, each lot is distributed in single parcels over the three Fields of the arable mark, a suljdi vision which renders cultivation in common still more necessary. In the Common Mark, therefore, and in the Arable Mai% the individual is everywhere controlled by his peers, and by the minute customs and usages of the community ; he is contained by and tethered to the association. In his dwelling-house and its appurtenances in the township the reverse is the case. Here he is absolute lord and master. His fenced-in court-house or manor (curtis, hof, mansus, manoir, manor) is in the fullest sense his "own " (eigen). Over his family, over the dependants (" Horige " — " liti ") and slaves (servi) domiciled within it he can dispose as seems good to him. To them he is a lawgiver and a law enforcer. Within his pale (septum) neither pu))lic nor communal ofiBccr can enter otherwise than with his sanction. It lies outside the community, and constitutes an " immunity " — " immunity " and " community " thus come to be opposed to each other. " Immunitas est quod non communitas, immunis quod non communis." In the eleventh century this is still the rule applicable universally to the homestead of every freeman. "Omnis domus, omnis area pacem infra septa sua habeat firmam. Nullus invadat, nullus effringat, nullus infra positos temere inguirere, aut violenter opprimere pra'sumat. Si fugiens aliquis septum intraverit securus inibi sit."* In the familiar saying "Every Englishman's house is his castle," we have a distant echo from those flir-off" times. These two distinct aspects of the early Teutonic free- man as a " lord " and a " commoner " united in the same person — the one when within the pale of his homestead, the other when standing outside that pale in the economy of the Mark — should not be lost sight of. In them are reflected the two salient characteristics of the Teutonic race, its spirit of individuality, and its spirit of associa- * Juramentuin imcis circa an. 1085, quoted in v. Maurer's ' Kiulcituna: ziir Cioschiclitc dcr Mark, Hof, Dorf iiiid Stadl Vartassung' p. 241. 282 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Mokikr. tron ; and as the action aiul reaction upon each other of these two laws have determined the social and political history of the race, so, as the sequel will show, they have in an especial manner affected and determined its agricultural history. Lastly we should note a strange peculiarity apparently dating back to this period, viz., that the personal " status " of the occupant communicates itself to the walls of his domicile, and, as it were, adheres to them, sometimes reacting back upon the new occupant, and determining his status. The occupier privileges the manor occupied by him, and the manor thus privileged invests the later occupier with those privileges. In the same way the servile tenement renders the occupier servile. This is the first period of the Teutonic community. Its characteristic features are, that there are two distinct communities — an agricultural community and a political communit}^ — inseparably identified with each other, the rights conferred by the one being correlative to the duties imposed by the other. We may describe it as the period of land-ownership and equal possession, in which the freeman is a " miles " in virtue of being a I'uxni-oioner* II. The second period can be described as the period of land tenure, and of unequal possessiori, in which the feudal tenant is not a " miles " in virtue of being a \iin([-owne?\ but a ]a.nd-holder in virtue of being a " miles." The transition from the one state to the other is necessarily influenced b}^ a great variety of circumstances in the different communities ; but there are certain fea- * For the liistory of the constitution of tlie Mark wo refer our readers to the numerous works of Ludwig George von Maurer. It would be impossible to cite our authorities for the statements made in the text in detail, for we have given the barest outline of a vast amount of learned investigation. The main features of the constitution of the Mark may be considered as having been now fairl}' won back to the domain of history, thanks to the labours of Maurer and many otiicrs, over the entire area of the primitive Teutonic settle- ments in (icnnany and Scandinavia. It may seem pedantic, in treating of legislation in the nineteenth century, to go back to the institutions of the first century, but the agricultural features of the early Teutonic community have so indelibly engraved themselves on the entire subsequent history of Teutonic agriculture, especially in Germany (as any one who lias seen tlic map of a German Gcmeinde can testify), that we have found it imimssible to disjiense witli tliis introduction. Germany.] JX VARIOUS COi'XTEIBS. 283 tures connected with this transition common to all the commnnities. i. Intertribal wars, the consequent subjugation of other communities, the appropriation of the land in the common marks of those communities, the unequal division of the lands so appropriated according to the amount of fighting work done by the associates, are among the earliest and most effective causes which break up the original equality of property, and lead to the accumula- tion of wealth in a few hands. The lines paid as blood- money (Wergeld) in accordance with a criminal system entirely based on fines, appears as another important cause leading to the same results. 2. The cessation of the political independence of the individual community without, however, as yet a cessa- tion of the political functions of the members of the com- munity. This process takes place in two waj^s, first by the gradual colonization of the Common Mark by com- munities sent forth from the original townships, in which case each new township receives an Arable Mark cut out from the Common Mark, but the common mark itself con- tinues to be owned "de indiviso " b}^ all the townships ; secondly, by the agglomeration of a number of marks into a loose kind of confederacy^ which, by degrees, assumes a greater consistency, and becomes in time a national unity. In both cases the several communities retain in their own hands the management of the affairs of their own township, but national affairs are transacted in general assemblies. In both cases, however — and this is a point which it is of importance to note — a sort of embryo suzer- ainty or over-lordship is claimed, in the one case by one or other of the more important marks of which the con- federacy is composed ; in the other case by the original or mother township (Mutter Dorf), as it was termed, over the daughter townships. 3. The separation between executive and legislative functions, the establishment of permanent executive organs, and the gradual hereditariness of the executive office. Hitherto, the assembly of the community has 284 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [SIohiek. been all in all. In case of war, it elected a chief, a king or Herzog, whose attribntes wqvq pnrely jnilitary, and ceased when peace was concluded. When the assembly sat as a court to try civil or criminal cases, it likewise elected its president. From the earliest times, however, in both cases, the choice appears to have been limited to a certain number of families, who, in some especial man- ner represented the blood of the tril^e, and little by little, though the forms of election continue, office becomes practicalh^ hereditary. How this rule oljtained in the case of the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish kings is wtII known ; but it is necessary to note that this tendency is universal throughout the Teutonic Kosmos, and applies to all its institutions. Thus, as the king of the nation is " de jure " elective " de facto " hereditary, so also is the president of the court of the township, the }\\(\^QOv Sc]Lult]teiss,\\Q who apportions unto a man his debt or guilt, i. e., who fixes and exacts the Wergel'd. This is a matter of extreme importance, as it is to the hereditariness of this office and its identification with one particular manor in each township, so that whosoever owns the manor exercises the office, and whoever exercises the office owns the manor, that we apparently ow^ the origin of the manorial rights which afterwards become the key-stone of the entire land system in feudal times, and to this day affect in an important manner the agrarian relations of many important countries in Europe, England included. Our space docs not admit of our entering upon this subject here, and it must therefore suffice' to say that from the earliest times known to us — and we are now speaking of times antecedent to the establishment of the feudal system — we note in every Teutonic township one manor (Flof), which thus becomes par excellence the manor, raised above its fellows. This manor, afterwards variously described as the " Salhof," " Frohnhof," " curtis dominicalis," "curtis judicialis," "curia publica quae dieitnr Frohnhof," receives dues and services from the other manors in the township, even where these manors are the allodial property of freemen. That these dues and seiTices were of the natuie of public charges, and at a Germany.] IN VARIOUS COUNTBTES. 285 time Avlicn all payments were made in kind represented the emoluments of the principal executive oflicer of the township seems now established beyond a doubt.* The foregoinn; indications will suffice to point out the predisposing causes in the pure Teutonic society which led when that society came to conquer the Roman world to the estaljlishmentof the feudal system, a system made up of Teutonic and Roman elements, viz., on the one hand of the Teutonic idea of the correlation between pos- session of land and military service, of the Teutonic ten- dency to change public office into private right, and to transmit such rights by inheritance ; lasth^ of the Teutonic peculiarity of regarding " unfree" service rendered person ally to the sovereign as in its nature honourable, though in- volving political disabilities (Thaneship, Dienstmanu- schaft, Horigkeit, ^linisterialittit) ;t and, on the other hand, of the ideas of the Roman law regarding " bene- ficial uses," the difference between " possession " and " dominium," as well as the Roman practice connected with the agricultural colonisation of the provinces. The application of the /^wc/a/ J system in Germany was necessaril}^ a much slower process than in the Roman Provinces, where it was, as it were, called into life by the exigencies of conquest. In the one case, the raw material that it had to work up consisted of free allodial^ * Confer Landau Der Salhof, do. Die Tevritorien. t Confer Freeman's account of Thaneship in his ' History of the 'Korman Conquest.' X The etymology of alodium and feodum throws great light on the entire question of " ownership " versus " tenure." The syllable od, in Old High German at, in Anglo-Saxon ead, signifying " possession," " wealth," " treasure," is common to both. Allod, alodium, or, in its earliest form, alodis and alaudes, is that wliich is altogether my possession, or possession in all its fulness. [Compare Kleiuod, a jewel, i.e., a small possession, or rather a possession dear to me, the diminutive being used to express endearment, as in the exactly analogous case of jewel, YxQ.nc\\ joynu, i.e., (jaudiculum, a little joy.] Feodum, if derived from Old High German 7?/; ?f (modem German, Vieh), cattle, and od, possession, meant originally possession in cattle. The early Teuton's land, i.e., his lot in the Arable Mark and in the township, is altogether his own : it is possession in all its fulness. When he becomes acquainted with Roman " beneficial " possession, as distinct from " dominium," lie expresses it by a distinction drawn between the land itself and tjie wealth which is on the land, and derived from the land, but sejiarable from it ; viz., cattle (which, as in the English word chattel, becmes in time synonymous 286 SVSTJ'JMS OF LAND TfJmiBE [Morier. proprietors, who deemed themselves the equals of the kill":, and whose personal status was legally higher than that of his proudest Thanes ; in the latter case it consisted principally of conquered Romans and Provincials, who were glad to get back their lands on any terms. In Germany, tlierefore, it was an economical necessity rather than a political convulsion which brought about the change. As population increased, more and more town- ships were settled on the common lands, the proportion between pastoral as compared with agricultural wealth decreased ; and the ordinary freeman was gradually reduced to little more than what his lot in the arable mark brought him in. Simultaneously with this dimi- nution of his means rose the cost of his equipment for the field, and the strain put upon his resources by having to maintain himself during the long summer and winter campaigns which were now- the rule. Soldiering under Charlemagne against the Saracens in Spain, or the Huns on the Danube, was different work from an autumn raid across the lihine, after the harvest was got in. Accordingly, as early as Dagobert's time, we find the possession of five allotments to be the minimum qualification required for a fully-armed "miles." Hence, partly by his poverty — partly by the pressure, often amounting to force, brought to bear upon him by the Lords who wished to increase their demesne lands, the free owner was little by little reduced to the condition of an unfree holder. By "commending" himself ("comendatio," "traditio") to a superior lord, that is, by surrendering the " Domi- nium directum" of his "allodium" and receiving back with moveable as distinct from immoveable property). Thus the idea of usufruct comes to be translated by the idea cattle possession . This ori<;inal conce]5tion oi feodum remains the same, even if with Diez we have to consider /t'0(/«m as derived directly from Pro : feu, Italian fw, i.e.. Old Hi;j;li German, fihii, and look upon the d as inserted for tlic sake of eui)lioriy, as in ladico for laico, instead of seeing in it a remnant of the Old Hi<:li German 6t. The idea of allodial ownership was lost in England from the moment the whole of the soil came to be regarded as a demesne of the Crown, the only allodial owner left being the sovereign. For the etymologies in this Note we are indebted to Professor Max M tiller. Germany.] IN VARTOrs COUNTRIES. 287 its "domiiiiiiin utile," the Ireeinan lost his personal rights, but obtained in return protection against the State, ^.6^, against the public claims that could l)e made upon him in virtue of his Ijeing a full member of the political community. According to the nature of his tenure, he had to render military service (no longer as a national duty but as a personal debt) to his superior, and in return was maintained by his lord when in the Held : or, if his tenure was a purely agricultural one — and it is with these Ave are concerned — he was exempt from military service, and only rendered agricultural service. In this way, as generation followed upon generation, the small free allodial owners disappeared and w^ere re- placed by unfree holders. But the memory of their first estate long lived amongst the traditions of the German peasantr}-^, and it required centuries before the free com- munities, who, out of dire necessity, had, by an act of their own, surrendered their liberties into the hands of the lords of the manor, sank to the level of the servile class settled upon their demesnes proper by the lords of the soil. The glimpses we obtain of the Bauer in the 12th and 13th centuries* exhibit him to us as still a jovial high-handed fellow, who holds his own with the folk from the castle, and is quick at retort both with his cudgel and his tongue. In the peasant's war which followed on the Reformation, he made a desperate attempt to recover his lost liberties ; and in the record of grievances upon the basis of which he was ready to treat, he showed how accurate was his recollection of the past, and how well he knew the points on which the territorial lords had robbed him of his just rights. The Thirty Years' War gave the final blow. With exceptions here and there the tillers of the soil became a half servile caste, and were more and more estranged from the rest of the communitj", until, with the humani- tarian revival at the close of last century, they became to philanthropists objects of the same kind of interest and * C;V. Freitag ' Neue Bilder ,aus dem Leben des ^deutsclit'ii Volks,' cap. ' A us dem Leben des deutsclicn Baners.' 288 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE [Mokieu inquiry which negroes have been to the same class of per- sons in our clav. Before we leave this second period we must allow our- selves a general observation, which is of importance both as regards this period and the next. We described the earliest form of the Teutonic com- munity as the union between an agricultural and a political community. The second period is marked by the divorce between these two bodies. This divorce is accomplished when the power of the king has fully established itself, the result as regards Germany of the conquest of the Roman provinces and the foundation of the Frankish monarchy. Instead of the self-administered marks of a former age, the ancient " Gaue " now become " Gau Grafschaften," i.e., counties governed by the " comites " of the king with a hierarchy of subordinate officials, " Vice comites," " Cent- grafen " (Counts of the Hundred), &c. For a short while there is a real revival of the Eoman Empire, and the structure which the genius of Charlemagne builds up and superposes over the Teutonic as well as over the Latin foundations of his monarch}^, simple as are its classic outlines, contains all the appurtenances required for the government of a great centralized commonwealth. After his death the structure, it is true, remains stand- ing, and its external outlines can still be descried, but shooting upward from the ground and sidewards from every nook and crevice, the vigorous Teutonic vegetation, whose luxurious growth even the original architect had scarcely been able to restrain, spreads over the building and produces that marvellous but not unpicturesque monstrosity known as the Holy Roman Empire. The Teutonizing of the Roman forms of administration was effected by a process precisely similar to that which liad obtained in regard to the executive offices in the old free community. It was the same inveterate Teutonic tendency to treat public office as private property, and therefore as something that could be transmitted by inheritance, a hereditament, which ruled in the one case and the other. Thus ns the office of king and Herzog, aERMANY] IN vAnrous copnthtes. 2k9 fi'(3in boiiig elective had become liereditary, so the Gau Graf, from being a prefect named Ijy the Emperor to exercise royal preropjatives in his name, hecomes a hereditary subregulus; the royal authority is decentralized, and the royal prerogative adscripted to the glelje, or rather identified with the person who is lord of the glebe. In the same Avay that the great territorial lords gradually possess themselves of the rights of the Gau Graf and transmit them to their posteiity as part of their real estate, the lesser lords possess themselves of the attributes of the Cent-Graf, and so on down to the owners of t/ie manor in the township. Now each of these offices, from the highest to the lowest, represents a jurisdiction, and each of these jurisdictions therefore conies to be identi- fied with the possession of real estate. (Consequently in the frightful chaos w^hich resulted out of the feudal system we have nevertheless got a clue which enables us to un- ravel many difficulties. The idea of dominion, the rights of the "dominus" (Frohnherr, lord) are made up of public and private ingredients, but in inverse proportions to what they w^ere in the first period. It is the turning topsy turvy of the ancient principle. Then private rights imposed public duties ; now public duties breed private rights. When the system has once been firmly established it is easy to note the different relation in which the commu- nity, the larger community of the mark as Avell as tlie smaller communit}^ of the tovi^nship, comes to be i)laced in towards its executive officers. For a long period after the community has, by the consolidation of the kingly authority, ceased to be a political community in the sense of an independent and international unit, it continues in the general assemblies of the " Gau " to ad- minister its local aff'airs, and in the same way the asseml)ly of the township continues under the guidance of its quasi elected, but really hereditary magistrate, to administer its own affairs, and to sit as a civil and criminal court. Dur- ing this intermediate stage the sovereign authority is still as it were emanating from below, and therefore the only jurisdiction to which freemen have to submit, is to that of u 290 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Mouier their own peers. The president of the court is one of themselves, and in so far as he exercises executive au- thority, it is authority delegated by them. With the establishment of the feudal system, the sovereign authority begins to flow from the contrary direction : it comes now from above, and no longer from below; it is delegated by the king, and no longer by the commons. The owner of the manor now no longer exercises his functions as "primus inter pares;" he has obtained a jurisdiction over his former peers, and has become invested with a " dominium." From henceforth the township is administered partly as a political unit, partly as a private demesne, from the manor house. Public and private rights, public and private dues, get mixed up in inextricable confusion. The divorce between the agricultural and the political community even in regard to local affairs (except in the most limited sense) is complete ; but the point which it is important to note is, that the agricultural community in Glermany remains intact. The " Bauern Gemeinde " of the 19th century is in its essential points the micro- cosmic reproduction of the " Landes Gemeinde " of the 1st century, apart from the political rights and the cul- tivation in common. It is a corporation of free, allodial owners who are allottees in an arable mark, and co- partners in common lands. It is an administrative unit, managing its own private affairs, like any other body corporate, with some slight remnants of a jurisdiction which in Prussia is still exercised under the surveillance of the manor. It is at this point that the agricultural history of England and Germany part asunder. In England the agricultural community, though traces of it are to be found much later than is generall}' supposed, traces which may even to this day be deciphered, from a very early period ceases to be conterminous with the self-governing body. Not the agricultural, but the ecclesiastical com- munity, the parish, becomes with us the administrative unit, and the lord of the manor, except in regard of the freeholders who make up the court baron, finds himself rfrniMAW.] 7.V VAUIOV^ <'<)U\T1! I i:S. 291 face to face, not witli a compact association and a recog- nized corporation, but with isolated individuals. III. We have now arrived at the third and hist period. It is tliat witli wliich wc liave to deal in treating of the agrarian legislation of Prussia during the present century. It is marked by the demolition of the feudal edifice, and the removal of the materials of which it was built. It can be described as the return to free oiunerskip u'ith unequal possession. The three principal incidents of the process can be classed as follows : — 1. Abolition of villeinage in so far as it affects the personal "status" of the villein. 2. Abolition of villein and other feudal teimres, and substitution in lieu thereof of allodial ownership. 3. Removal from the land thus allodially owned of all charges, whether of a public or private character, derived from the feudal forms of tenure and from the feudal organization of society. The three great efforts made by the legislation of Prussia in 1807, in 1811, and 1850, respectively corre- spond to these three incidents. From this it will be abundantly manifest that a similar process of legislation has marked the history of ever}' state in which the feudal system has been established. In England personal villeinage dies out at a com- paratively early date, we hardly know^ how, so noise- lessly does it disappear. In the same noiseless way villein tenure loses its servile incidents and assumes the form of copyhold tenure, which tenure can by 15 and 16 Yict. c. 51 be commuted into freehold tenure at the instance of the lord of the manor or of the copyholder. By the statute 12 Car. 11. c. 24 all forms of freehold tenure were prac- tically reduced to the simple one of tenure b}' common socage.* * For all practical jmrposcs tenure by common socage is as good as allodial ownership, and therefore the statute of Charles H., taken in combination with the statutes of the present reign, enabling the transmutation of cojiyhold into freehold tenures, must be considered as the Eni^lish equivalent of what we u 2 292 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Mokier. It is not in any wa}" our purpose, by calling attention to these analogies, to detract from the merits of the so-called Stein Hardenberg legislation. Those merits are of a trauscendant kind, but it is to the accidents that accompanied the legislation, to the scale on which the measures were framed, to the spirit in which they were carried out, and not to the essence of the legislation, that those merits belonp;.* have described as the second main incident of the Prnssian ai^rarian legislation. For the purpose, however, of strict accuracy, it should be noted that in England, and in England alone, the feudal structure of society still exists on the statute book with the further exceptional circumstance that the sovereign is lord paramount, and therefore, strictly speaking, the only real landowner, all his subjects being only tenants. Hence the inveterate use of the terms freelwld tenure, and freeholder, when the idea intended to be conveyed is that of allodial ownership. * We have felt it the more necessary to insist upon these points because, in a celebrated passage of a celebrated speech, Mr. Bright gives the received erroneous English account of the Prussian legislation in question. We most heartily sympathize with the object which Mr. Bright has in view, viz., the numerical increase of the lando\\Tiiiig class in Ireland. No one can have lived abroad during the last twenty years without convincing himself that, in the present transition state of society, it is of vital importance that its one perma- nent conservative force, viz., landownership, should be so distributed as to exercise its steadying and restraining influence over a large area instead of a small area, over all classes instead of over one class. It is therefore with the greater regret that we notice the inaccuracy in question ; but where so import- ant a precedent is invoked on so important a matter, and by so great an autho- rity, it appears to us of real moment that it should be correctly stated. Mr. Bright is reported to have said : " If in this country fifty years ago, as in Prussia, there had arisen statesmen who would have taken one-third or one- half the land from the landowners of Ireland, and made it over to their tenants, I believe that the Irish landowners, great as would have been the injustice of which he might have complained, would, in all probability, have been richer and happier tlian he has been.'" Now what the statesmen did in Prussia fifty, or rather sixty, years ago, was just the reverse. They took half or a third of the land possessed by the tenants of Prussia, and handed it over in full possession to the landlords of Prussia. The land occupied by these tenants was land on which, except in case of devastation and in virtue of a judgment passed hy a Court of Law, the lord of the manor had no right of re-entry. What the law of 1811 did was to force the lord of the manor to sell his manorial overlordshij) to the cojiyholder for one-half, or one-third, of the copyhold. By this process he was put in possession of more land than he was possessed of before. What he was deprived of was labour. The tenant lost one-half or one-third of the land he possessed before, but obtained the "dominium directum," as well as the "dominium utile," over the remaining half or two-thirds ; what was, however, much more important, he got back the free use of his own labour, Tlic landlord sold labour and bought land ; the tenant sold land and bought labour. All the essential features of the transaction would have remained the same even if the "dominium directum " of the landlord had not been passed over to the peasant, for an ovcrlordship of this kind dejOTved of its material contents would have been Germany.] IN VARIOL'!^ UOUNTRIES. 293 The Legislation of 1807. In order to estimate what were the changes practically effected by the decree of 9th October, 1807, it is necessary to realize what was the state of things which that decree was intended to supersede. At the period in question the entire land of Prussia (then, it must be remembered, consisting of the few provinces left to the King of Prussia by the peace of Tilsit) was distributed amongst three classes of society, carefully kept asunder, not by usage only, but by strict legal enactment — noljles, peasants, and burghers. In other words, it was held Idv knights' tenure, villein tenure, and a sort of civil tenure which had grown up out of the privileges of town municipalities. These classes w^ere distinct castes — their personal status was reflected in the land held by them, and conversely the land held deter- mined the status of the holder. The noble could follow no avocations but those of his caste. He could administer his estate, and serve the king either in a civil or military capacity. He could not occupy himself with trades or industries. He could acquire noble's land, and there- with manorial rights over land held under villein tenure ; but he could not acquire burgher land or the "dominium utile " — i.e., the possession of peasant land. The burgher had a monopoly of trades and industries, which with some very limited exceptions, such as the business of wheelwrights and smiths, were confined to the towns, and could not be exercised in the country. He could not acquire nobles' land or peasants' land. The niilitary profession was closed to him, as well as the higher civil emplo^^ments. The condition of the peasant differed widely in the a mere meaningless form, like ihe dominium eminens of the Crown in England. Tiiere was no injustice done of the kind supposed by Mr. Briglit, any more than the act 15 and 16 Vict. c. 51 creates an injustice by coni]^)elling the lord of the manor to sell his copyhold rights to the copyholder. The only difference bi.'tweeu the two transactions consists in the payment, in the one case being made in money, and in having, in the other, been made in land. One-half and one-third was a rough and ready calculation by which, in all probability, the lords of the manor, in some cases, got more than their share, the peasants less, and vice versa. 294 sySTKM.'S OF LAM) TESi'HE [:Mokier. different provinces, and in tlie dili'erent parts of the same province. It was a mirror in which ahnost every phase of mediaeval history was reflected. There was this feature, however, common to all peasant holdings, that they were not isolated farms, bnt nnited in a "com- monalty," and that these " commonalties " stood under the Jurisdiction of the manor. Tlie rural area of Prussia was consequently divided in^o two kinds of districts. The Gutsbezirk, or manorial district proper, consisting of the demesne lands, cultivated by the manorial proprietor, and in which he exercised the functions of a police magistrate directl}^ ; and the township of the peasant community, with its arable mark and its common mark, in Avhich a Schulze (contracted from Schultheiss),* usually a hereditary office, or one inseparable from a i)articular Hof, exercised the police authority in the name of, and under the supervision and control of the lord of the manor. The community like- wise managed its private affairs like any other corpora- tion, but also under the guardianship of the manor. The different communities held \y\ different kinds of tenure — varying in an ascending scale from those in which the allottees were in a state of personal villeinage with unlimited services to those in ^vhich they were free settlers, who, tliough under the jurisdiction of the manor, and paying dues to it in virtue of that jurisdiction, were yet owners of their lots. These distinctions generally may be traced to the original difference in the nature of the land held, adverted to in the first part of this essay. In the one case, the communities had originall}^ been slave communities, settled upon the demesne lauds proper of large proprietors, and had gradualh' emerged to the comparatively higher level of villeinage — or they were communities of freemen or dependants, "liti," settled in the same way, who had gradually sunk to a state of villeinage. In the other case, they were originally the allodial owners of the land held Ijy them who had surrendered their rights oi" full ownership to the manorial lords on distinct stipulations, or they liad retained the * See supra, p. 284. Germany.] 7.V VA/i/OUS OuUNTRIES. 295 ownership of tlioir land, and were only subject to the jurisdiction of the manor. But there was another distinct class peculiar to Prussia, who owed their origin to the fact that the German race was in these ])arts a conquering race, and settled upon territory taken from another race. These were the free colonists colonized " more Teutonico," principally on the demesne land of the Crown. Contractors, termed "lo- catores," obtained grants of land, and brought with them, chiefly from Holland, communities of agriculturists, who, according to the old system of the mark, received their individual lots and likewise rights of coproprietorship in a certain amount of common lands. The contractor received a larger grant, free of services and dues, and was infeoffed in the office of Schulze. The colonists received their grants for ever, and were only bound to pay fixed and moderate dues in kind or money. These tenures may be considered as ready-made copyholds. The " tenants " were to all intents and purposes freeholders, with only a kind of shadowy "dominium directum" in the background. The status of villeinage differed according as the villein was Leibeigen {i.e., as his lord had rights of pro- perty in his body), or only " erbunterthilnig," i.e.., in a state of hereditary subjection to the manor, "adscripti gleba3." In its worst form the villein could be held to unlimited service, and could be deprived of his holding, and located in another. At his death, the whole or the largest portion of his personal estate fell to the lord. His children could not marry without the lord's consent, and could be kept an unlimited number of years as personal servants (Gesinde) in the service of the manor. He could receive corporal punishment to heighten his productive power, and to enforce respect, but his life was protected. This extreme form was, however, the exception to the rule. It occurred mostly in the more remote provinces.* * Stringent legislative enactments had been passed by Frederick the Great, regulating the personal "status" of the villeiu, and limiting the rights of his lord ; but usage was stronger than law, and the greatest diversity in the " status " of the villein in the different parts of the monarchy is a cliaracteristic leaturc of tlie agricultural system of Prussia at the commencement of the centiirv. 296 .'SltiTlwMS OF LAXIJ TENCH II [Moriek. The milder form (liffercd fmm the former in the services to be performed and the dues to Ije paid, being limited by local custom, and in a oreater freedom in the disposal of the holdino-. The villein knew what work he and his team would have to perform in the course of the year, the number of years his children would have to serve in the household of the lord, the tax he would have to pay on their marriage, the amount of the mortuary dues which at his death the lord would have a right to. He could also buy his freedom at a fixed price, and, with the permission of his lord, dispose of his holding. The free peasant differed from the villein in having no personal dues to pay, and in his services and dues being usually recorded in writing in the grants made to him, and therefore bearing more directly the character of a legal contract. He could not, however, acquire by purchase or inheritance other than peasant land, nor could he change his position by changing his country life for a city life ; nor could he in the country exercise any trade or calling but that of agriculture. The land cultivated by the peasant therefore w^as divided into two principal categories : 1. That in which he had rights of property ; 2. That in which he had only rights of usufruction. In both cases services were rendered, and dues were paid in kind or money to the manor. But in the first case these services and dues may be considered as having had a pnblic, in the latter case, a private origin. As regards the land in which the peasant had only rights of nsufruction, it was divided into two principal categories : 1. Land in which the peasant had hereditary rights of nsufruction, and could transmit his holding to his descendants and his collaterals, according to the common law of inheritance ; 2. Land in which the occupier was only a tenant for life, or for a term of years, or at will. In neither case, however, could the landlord re-enter on this land. The lords of the manor had been deprived (lEHMANY.] IN VARIOUS Cui'XTRlKS. 297 of this rip;lit,* if it ever existed, 1)y various edicts of the former Hohcnzollerii kings. Frederick the Great im- posed a line of a hundred ducats on any landlord who ap- propriated to his own use any land held by his })easants. At last, under his reign, a general law was passed on the subject. (Allgemeines Land Recht 11. 7, §§ 14-16.) The manors were respectively held by the Crown, by corporations, lay and ecclesiastical, and by individual nobles. But whoever was the occupant, the functions of the manor in the body pohtic remained the same. The term implied a house with farm buildings {tlie manor in the community, the other manors having sunk to mansi, " messuages ") : demesne lands cultivated by the labour of the peasants under its jurisdiction : rights of various kinds over the persons of these peasants and the lands occupied by them : correlative duties in the way of main- * No point connected with the media3val history of land tenure presents more difficulties than this question of what the manorial right of Overlord shi/p really amounted to, and whether or not it invested the Lord with a Kight to possess himself with the tenant's land. Wherever in the Teutonic Kosmos we meet with a manor and dependent "mansi," we are encountered by this difficulty and by the difference between the "terra tenentium" and the " dominium villenagiura," tenant land and demesne land. If the description of tlie origin of manorial rights given in the early part of this essay is correct, it would follow that what in feudal language are called " tenants " were (excei)t in the case of servile townships settled on the lord's " allodium ") originally allodial owners, whose dues and services to the manor were of the nature of public taxes, which could not invest the lord with rights of property over the lands of the proprietors. It is, however, certain that with the establisl)ment of the feudal system this original character was lost siglit of, and that the lords universally claimed the right to possess themselves of tenant land. Two forces came to the assistance of the tenant in his resistance to this encroachment — 1. Wiierever the royal authority was gaining the upper hand, the Crown sided with the tenants against the lords. A statute of William the Conqueror quoted in the work of Professor Nasse later on referred to (we have no means of verifying the quotation), affords in this respect a remarkable analogy to the edicts of Frederick the Great and his predecessors alluded to in the text. It forbids the lords "removere colonos a terris dummodo servitia persolvent;" and it adds that if " domini terrarum non i)rocurent idoneos cultores ad terras siias colendas justiciarii hoc faciant." This clearly refers to tenant's land. On the other hand, Bracton defines "demesne land" (domininm villenagium) as " item dicitur quod quis tempestive et intempestive resumere possit pro volunfate sua et revocare." 2. The Law Courts were the second force which came to the aid of the tenants ; and here again Germany furnishes cases exactly analogous to the celebrated decisions in the reign of Edward III. and Edward IV., by which " customary tenure" was created, and the tenant obtained an action of trespass against the lord. 298 SYSTEMS UF LAXJJ TEXCRE [Morikk. tainiiig paupers, furnishiiiii' wood for the building and repair of the peasants' farm-buildings, in some cases fur- nishing the stock of the farm, the building and endowing schools, the ro])airing of churches, &c., and, lastly, a police magistracy, and a court of first instance in civil and criminal matters, the so-called " Patrimonial Gerichts- barkeit " (courtleot and customary court). It did not imply the right of re-entry on the lands occupied by the peasants. The judicial functions were not exercised by the lord of the manor in person, but b}^ his steward, who required to be a properly-trained lawyer. Where the manor was the ])roperty of the Crown, or of a corporation, the rights of the manor were exercised by a bailiff. Each manor had its own usages and customs, which amounted to a kind of microscopic customary law. The manors situated on the demesne lands of the Crown were immeasurably in advance of those in private hands, both as to the position of the peasants and as to economical results. Justice would not be done to the intricacy of these relations, did we not add that besides the rights above described, there were innumerable cross rights, servi- tudes, and easements, between the lords and the peasants (such as rights of pasturage Ijy the lords on the common lands of the peasants, similar rights enjoyed by the peasants in the forests of the lords, &c.), as well as between the peasants of the same community " inter se," and between peasant communities belonging to different manors, and so on ad infinitum. Lastly, the entire burdens of the state, as far as they rested on real estate, were borne by the peasant laud. Chaotic as this picture appears to us, it must not be supposed that chaos reigned in the monarchy of Frederick the Great. On the contrary, nothing could be more regular than the working of the wheels within wheels of this wonderful machinery — nothing more remarkable than the ledger-like beauty wiili which the productive forces (ii;i;MANy.] IN VARIOL'S COLL\TJlJJ'J,S. 299 of tlie country were iiiveiitoriefl, and tlie (l(?l)tur and creditor account of its agricultural resources kept. The HohenzoUerus had bron<2;ht with them ironi Niirenibero; business liabits, which liave not a little contributed to the lireatness of the Prussian monarchy, and Frederick the Great in this, as in other respects, showed himself the representative man of his race. He was a strong advocate of the feudal system, such as he understood it, not from any medieval turn of mind, but because it supplied him with a machinery which, in his hands, could be made to produce great results. The political power of the Prussian nobility had long since been broken. They were docile instruments in the hands of the Crown. Sufficiently numerous to supply the army with its officers, and therefore really rendering knights' service in return for knights' fees, yet not so numerous but that an indefatigable administrator like Frederick II. could thoroughly acquaint himself with the resources and capabilities of each of them, they represented so many responsible centres of administra- tion, whom the king made accountable, not only for the j^ublic taxes and charges, but equally for the cultivation and agricultural economy of the monarchy. Frederick the Great knew exactly what every acre of land, what every pair of hands, and what every 3"oke of oxen, in his dominions were capable of producing, and he took care not only that they should produce it, but that they should be maintained in a state in which they should continue capable of producing it. He also knew the economical value of justice between man and man, and therefore, desi)ite the tremendous strain put upon the peasant class during his reign, and the scrupulous maintenance of the manorial system, the peasants felt that the great king was their friend ; and their material condition was undoubtedly raised under his reign. But this very improvement onl}'^ served to hasten the changes which had become unavoidable. Ujider the weak sovereign who succeeded Frederick, it was seen that the feudal system had long since l)een dead — that it had only been galvanised into apparent vitality by the genius of 300 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Morier. one man, and that the process of decomposition was only the more rapid for the temporary interruption. The Battle of Jena and the Peace of Tilsit sealed the fate of the institution. The edict of October 9, 1807, was its death-warrant. Let us look with our own eyes at this great landmark in the history of a great people. " We, Frederick William, by the grace of God, &c., &c. Be it known unto all men that, " Whereas, owing to the universal character of the prevailing misery, it would surpass our means to relieve each person individually, anrl, even if we could, the objects we have at heart would not be fulfilled (loquitur the mediaeval Father of his people) ; " And, " Whereas, it is not only conformable to the ever- lasting dictates of justice, but likewise to the principles of a sound national economy, to remove all hindrances in the way of the individual attaining to that measure of material well-being which his capacities may enable him to attain (loquitur Adam Smith) ; " And, " Whereas, the existing restrictions, partly on the possession and enjoyment of landed property, partly in connection with the personal condition of the agricultural population, in an especial manner obstruct our bene- volent intentions, and exercise a baneful inHuence, the one by diminishing the value of landed property, and impairing the credit of the landed proprietor, the other by diminishing the value of labour ; we are minded that both shall be restrained within the limits which the puljlic welfare requires, and therefore we decree and ordain as follows : " Free Exchange of Real Property. "§ 1. Every inhabitant of our dominions is, as far as the State is concerned, henceforth free to acquire and own landed property of every kind and description. The noble, therefore, can acquire not only noble land Germany.] 7.V VABWUS COUNTRTES. 301 but burgher and peasant land, so also the burgher and the peasant can acquire not onl}^ burgher and peasant land, i.e., land not noble, but likewise noble land.* Every such transfer of real estate must, however, continue, as before, to be notiiied to the authorities. " Freedom in regard to Choice of Occupation. "§ 2 Every noble, without derogation to his rank, is henceforth free to exercise the trades and callings of the burgher — the burgher may become peasant, the peasant burgher. " In how far Rights of Pre-emption still exist. "§ 3. (This paragraph is technical, and does not alter the principle of the measure.) " Division of Property. " § 4. All owners of real property, in its nature sale- able, can after due notice to the provincial authority, sell the same piecemeal and in detail as well as in block. Co-proprietors can in the same way divide amongst them property owned in common. '•'• Free poiuer of Granting Leases. " § 5. Every proprietor, whether or not his property forms part of a fief or of any other kind of entailed pro- perty, is free to grant leases of any duration so long as the moneys received in payment of such leaseholds are used to pay off mortgages, and in the case of an entailed pro- perty, are capitalized for the benefit of the estate. " Extinction and Co7isolidation of Peasant Holdings. " § 6. When a landed proprietor is of opinion that he cannot restore to their former condition or keep up the several peasant establishments on his property, he may, * §§ 6 and 7 restrict tins right, wliich was only fully establislicd liy the ' Edict for the bettor (Jnltivation of the T/ind,' of the 14th Sept(>m])er, 1811. 302 SVSTE.\fS OF LAXD TEXUnE [MoniKU. if the holdings have not got the character of hereditary tenures (z. e., Anglice, if they are not of the nature of copy- hold or perpetual leaseholds), after the particular case has been inquired into by the Government of the province, and with the sanction of that Government, consolidate such holdings into one large peasant holding or incor- porate them with demesne land. " Special instructions as to the cases in which this pro- cess shall be permitted will be sent to the provincial G-overnments. "§ 7. If, on the other hand, the tenures are of a here- ditary kind, no change whatever can be effected without the previous acquisition by purchase, or in some other legal manner of the rights of the actual possessors. Such cases likewise require the formalities specified in § 6 {i.e., the previous sanction of the Government). " Facilities for Mortgaging Entailed Estates to pay Losses occasioned hy War. "§ 8. (The provisions of this paragraph are of a tem- porary kind.) " Of the cutting off of Entails. " § 9. Every entailed estate, whatever the nature of that entail, can be freed from the entail by the consent of the famil3\ " Aholition of Villeinage. " § 10. From the day of the publication of this edict no new relations of villeinage, either by birth, marriage, or acquisition of a villein holding can be created. "§ 11. From the same date all peasants holding by hereditary tenures, cease, they and their wives and their children, to be villeins. "§ 12. From Martinmas 1810, every remaining form of villeinage in all our dominions shall cease, and from that date there shall be none but freemen in our dominions, such as is already the case in our domains in Cermany.] in rAU/OUS fOrXTrUES. 303 all our provinces.* It is to be understood, liowev(n*, that these freemen remain subject to all obligations flowing from the possession of land or from particular contracts to which, as freemen, they can be subjected. "So Given at Memel, 9th October, 1807. FrIEDERICH WlLllEE^r, schrotter, Stein, schrotter ii." Such, with a few abbreviations and some unimportant omissions, is the text of the measure by which Prnssia thoughtfully and deliberately stepped out of the media3val past into the modern present. Not the least interesting feature of the measure is its direct affiliation with the teaching of Adam Smith and its impregnation with the spirit of the Kantian philosophy. The three persons more immediately concerned with the framing of the measure — Schon, Schrotter, and Auerswald— had all of them been students atKonigsberg and pupils of Kraus, the great expounder of Adam Smith at that university, and one of that brilliant professorial body who, under the inspiration of Kant, were calling attention to the fact that man was a rational being, and that reason might be profitably consulted even in matters of State. It is this, we conceive, w'hich has left so in- delible a mark upon the Stein and Hardenberg legislation. At a moment of universal chaos, when the old land- marks had been overthrown by the breaking up of the waters of the deep, when Europe was torn asunder by the wild passions evoked by the French Revolution, when to one party to be a reformer was to be a sans- culotte, to the other party to maintain authority was to trample on the rights of man, a body of statesmen were found calm enough to take reason as their guide, and bold enough, in the teeth of the violent opposition of the privileged classes, to legislate a priori, and on general principles. * Strange to say, this was an error ; villeinage had at that time not ceased in all the domains of the Crown. 304 SYSTEMS OF LAXD rENURE [:\roRii.:R. The interest which attaches to the edict of L807 is greatly enhanced b}' an acquaintance with the deliltera- tiousof the commission from which it emanated. In that commission two parties had been hotly opposed to each other. The party of the pure economists, whose great object was to establish the most absolute IVeedom of exchange, both in land and labour, and who had an almost superstitious belief in the results which would flow from the application of capital to land as a conse- qnence of this absolute freedom, and a party who, though equally zealous in their desire for reform, feared the disintegration which might result from this process, and were imbued with the Prussian traditions of the supremacy of the State over all the relations of its members, and impressed with the necessity of keeping intact the social foundations of the Prussian monarchy. The disciples of Adam Smith, on the whole, carried the day, as the wording of the edict, every sentence of wliich breathes the spirit of free exchange and the libera- tion of productive forces, amply proves. On one point, however, connected with paragraphs 6 and 7, the opposite views, and this by the direct interposition of Stein, ob- tained a partial victory. The point at issue in connection with this paragraph is one of great importance, as it involved one principal element of the controversy which raged in the commis- sion, and is concerned with a principle on which opinion is at the present more than ever divided. It may, in its most abstract form, be thus stated. Should it be the object of the State to stimulate the community it repre- sents to the production of the maximum of producible wealth irrespectively of the instruments ))y which it is produced, in other words, irrespectively of the distril)ution of that wealth ; or should it have an eye to the distribu- tion of that wealth as well as to its production ? In the particular case under discussion it took this form : Should the State l)y its legislation stimulate the creation of large farms worked with corresponding capital, or should it, on the contrary, endeavour tf) retain the actual peasant cul- Germany.] /.V VATiTOUS COUNTRIES. SOn tlvators, and only raise their personal status and increase? their material well-l)eina; ? Tlie economists were imbued with the ideas of Arthur Young, and the English farming system was the ideal they had in view. Why, asks Schon, waste the productive force of four proprietors and sixteen horses to do tlmt wdiicli one proprietor and six horses can do better? Because, was tlie answer probably returned, though the actual answer is not recorded, in a countr}" like Prussia, whose existence depends on its fighting power, the wealth of the countr}^ could not for national purposes take a better form than that of the three additional proprietors and the ten additional horses. The moment was singularly adapted for a change from the one system to the other. The whole country was suffering from the devastation caused by the French invasion. Whole villages were lying in ashes, whole tracts were depopulated. The landlords were bound to restore the farm-buildings of the peasantry to their for- mer state. Now, therefore, was the moment for consolida- tion. Give them the right of re-entry on the peasant land, or, at all events, allow them to amalgamate small holdings into large. Paragraph G of the edict admits the principle, thus abrogating the very stringent laws above referred to against the extinction of peasant holdings ; but confines its application to exceptional cases, the Provincial Government, and not the individual landlord being the judge in each particular case. In the Instruction to the Provincial Governments, the rule was laid down that the permission to extinguish peasant holdings should only be given in regard to so- called new land : i. e., land created peasants' land, that is, let out in peasant tenures during the last fifty years ; and that even in this case the permission should only be granted upon the condition that half the land proposed to be changed into demesne land should be made into comparatively large peasant holdings, and either given in fee simple to peasant holders, or let on perpetual leases.* * It was necessary to call atti'Utioi; to this conflict between the statesmen X 306 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENUBE [IMorier The Legislation of 1811. The edict of 1807, great and incisive as had been its operation, was of a negative kind. It removed dis- abilities, undid llie shackles which bound the peasant to the glebe, allowed such rights ns existed to be used freely, and pulled down the walls which separated from each other the different classes of society. But it created no new forms of property ; it proclaimed freedom of exchange, but it did not provide the title-deeds required as the first condition of exchange. Peasants' land could now be held iudiscriminately by all the citizens of the State ; but it was still held under the old forms of tenure ; there were still two "dominia." The lord was still owaier of the peasants' land, but had no right to its possession. The peasant was free, but was not master of his labour. The legislation of 1811 stepped in to remedj^this state of things, and applying to the monarch}^ generally the principles which during the last three years had proved in the highest degree successful when applied to the State and tlie economists because it has been much commented uiion and because the great name of Stein is immediateh^ connected witli it. Much misconcep- tion however exists on the subject. The prevalent idea is tliat it was by the direct interposition ot" the Prussian Government acting through the instru- mentahty of the instruction referred to in the text that the all-important class of peasant proprietors has been kept up. But this is wholly erroneous. The restrictions of the edict of 1807 remained in vigour for only a very short time, having been set aside by the edict of 1811. The ])oint is one of great import- ance inasmuch as one of the most valuable precedents in favour of peasant jirojirietorship would lose its value if it could be established that tliese Pruss'au peasant proprietors had been artificially maintained by means of State iuterfereuce. One of the commonest arguments used in England against small properties is that they canuot maintain themselves by the side of largo properties, and that where free exchange in land is the rule, the large iirojierties will invariably swallow up the small ; consequently, that if small jiroprietors are a desideratum, there nnist be a law of compulsory division of projierty as in France, or some special State interference "ad hoc" as is supposed to exist in Prussia, in order to keep them up. The exanii)le of Prussia, on the contrary, tends to establish exactly the reverse, for there, with the most absolute rights of alienation on the part of the peasant proiirietors, and with their imn)ediate i)roximity to large and mostly entailed estates, they have fully maintained their position. Strenuous atteiujits were made in 1824 and 1834 to curtail the liberty of alienation and dismemberment conferred by the edict of 1811, but the result of careful inquiries made into the subject by the Government triumphantly established the fact that none of the ill ellccts had arisen out of this freedom of exchange which its enemies supposed. Germany.] ]N VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 307 domains, it set itself to substitute allodial ownership lor feudal tenure. Its work was in the highest degree positive. The legislation of 1811 mainly consists of two great edicts, both bearing the same date, that of the 14th of September. The one entitled, " Edict for the Regulation of the Relations between the Lords of the Manor and their Peasants." The other, " Edict for the better cultivation of the land." The first is concerned with the creation of new title-deeds for the peasant holders, and with the commu- tation of the services rendered in virtue of the old title- deeds. The second surveys the whole field of agrarian reform, and introduces general measures of amelioration. The preamble to the " Edict fur the Regulation of the Relations between Landlord and Tenant" recites how "We, Frederick William, by the grace of G-od, King of Prussia, having convinced ourselves, both by personal experience in our own domains, and by that oF many lords of manors, of the great advantages which have accrued both to the lord and to the peasant by the transforma- tion of peasant holdings into property, and the commuta- tion of the services and dues on the basis of a fair in- demnity, and having consulted, in regard to this weighty matter, experienced farmers, and skilled persons of all kinds belonging to all our provinces, and to all ranks of our subjects, ordain and decree as follows :" The edict then branches off into two main parts. The first dealing with peasant holdings in which the tenant has hereditary rights ; the second with holdings in which the tenant has no hereditary rights. PART I. All tenants of hereditary holdings, /. e., holdings which are inherited according to the common law, or in which the lord of the manor is bound to select as tenant one or other of the heirs of the last tenant, whateoer the size X 2 308 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Morier. of the holding, sliall l)v tlic present edict become the pro- prietors of their holdings, after paying" to the landlord the indemnity fixed by this edict. On the other hand, all claims of the peasant on the manor, for the keeping in repair of his farni-ljuildings, &c., shall cease. We desire that landlords and tenants should of them- selves come to terms of agreement, and give them two years from the date of this edict to do so. If within Ihat time the work is not done, the State will undertake it. The rights to be commuted may be thus generally classed : — I. Rights of the landlord. 1. Right of ownership (" dominium directum"). 2. Claim to services. 3. Dues in money and kind. 4. Dead stock of the farms. 5. Easements, or servitudes on the land held. II. Rights of the tenant.* 1. Claim to assistance in case of misfortune. 2. Right to gather wood, and other forest rights, in the forest of the manor. 3. Claim upon the landlord for repairs of buildings. 4. Claim upon the landlord, in case tenant is unable to pay public taxes. 5. Pasturage rights on demesne lands or forests. Of these different rights only a few, viz., the dues paid in kind or money, the dead stock and the servitudes are capable of exact valuation. The others can oidy be approximately estimated. To obtain therefore a solid foundation for the work of commutation, and not to render it nugatory by difficulties * It is worthy of remark that the tenant's " dominium utile," or right of possession, is not recorded as a set-off against the dominium directum of tlie lord of the manor. 'J'hc fact is, tliis right of possession is soraetliing so self- understood, that it never seems jjresent to the mind of the legislator. The " dominium directum '" is something (piite diflerent, for it represents an aggrega- tion of all kinds of different rights. These rights he has to sell to the peasant, ^ and the peasant buj's them with the only thing he possesses, viz,, liis land. Germany.] IN VARIOUS COUNTIilKS. 309 impossible to be overcome, we deem it necessary to lav •down certain rules for arriving at this estimate, and to deduce those rules from the general principles laid down by the laws of the State. These principles are : 1. That in the case of hereditary holdings, neither the services nor the dues can, under any circum- stances, be raised. 2. That the}'' must, on the contrary, be lowered if the holder cannot suljsist at their actual rate. 3. That the holding must be maintained in a condition which will enable it to pay its dues to the State. From these three constitutional principles, as well as from the general principles of public law, it follows that the right of the State, both to ordinary and extraordinary taxes, takes precedence of every other right, and that the services to the manor are limited by the obligation which the latter is under to leave the tenant sufficient means to subsist and to pay taxes. We consider that both these conditions are fulfilled when the sum-total of the dues and services rendered to the manor do not exceed one-third of the total revenue derived by a hereditary tenant from his holding. Therefore, with the exceptions to be hereafter described, the rule shall obtain : That in the case of hereditary holdings ihe lords of the manor shall be indemnified for their rights of owner- ship in the holding, and for the ordinary services and dues attached to the holding, when the tenants shall have surrendered one-third portion of all the lands held by them, and shall have renounced their claims to ail extraordinary assistance, as well as to the dead stock, to repairs, and to the payment on their behalf of the dues to the State when incapable of doing so. The edict then goes on to lay down the rules to be observed in applying this principle. These rules presuppose the existence of the agricultural community referred to in the earliei* part of this Pajjer, viz., equal allotments in an arable mark : the division of the arable Mark in which these several allotments are 310 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUEE [Morier. sitiiatod into three " Commonahle Fields " or " Fliiren :" a coinnion system of enltivation obligatory on the com- munity, in order to secure the community's right of pasture on tlie fallow and stubbles : and common rights of property in common lands occupied "de indiviso,'-' mostly pasture lands, woods, &c., but sometimes also in arable common lands. As the rule, the lord of the manor is to accjuire pos- session of one of the three Fields, or of one-third portion of each field, and of one-third portion of the common lands. AVe have no space to enter into the details of the arrangements which provide for the cases differing from these. As noted above, the lords and the peasants are left free to make what arrangements they please, as long as the proportion of one-third is maintained, z>., the in- demnity may take the form of a payment of capital, or of a corn or money rent. Yet the rule to be followed (and a departure from this rule must have a distinct motive) is that the indemnity must be paid in land where the holdings are over fifty " morgen,"* but in the shape of a corn-rent where the holdings are under that size. As a matter of practical convenience to both parties, the absolute separation of proprietary rights suffers some few exceptions : the first and most important is that the lord retains the right of pasturing the manorial sheep on two-thirds of the fallow and stu))bles of the arable mark \] the peasant also continues to enjoy the right of collecting as much firewood in the demesne as he re- quires for his personal use : for this right and for the acquisition of his house and farm-buildings as well as his garden-plot (his allotment in the mark of the town- ship), he continues to render services to the lord of the manor at times {e. //., harvest) when extra hands are wanted. These services are, however, restricted to a maximum of ten days of team-work, and ten days of * Tl:c rrussiaii acre is alnnit (■([ual lo two-tliinls of an Entzlish acre, an Imndrrd Kii;_'lisli acres heinir equal to ISSi Tnissiaii acres. t ('oinpare lioiicis' " History of Agriculture and Prices in iMiL'land,'" Vol. I. p. 31. ' Germany.] JN VARfOUS COUNTRIES. 311 hand-labour for a team-peasant, and ten days man's work and ten days woman's worlv for a band-peasant. Several paragraphs of the edict are taken up with provisions lor so a])portioning the burdens on the holdings that nothing shall prevent their dismemberment and being sold or exchanged in single parcels. Among these provisions is one preventing the peasant from mortgaging his estate above one-fourth of its value. Where corn rents are not paid j)unctually, the lord of the manor can exact services instead. PART II. The class of holdings treated of in the second part, are those held at Avill, or for a term of j^ars or for life. In these cases the landlord gets an indemnity of one-half of the holding under much the same conditions as in the case of the hereditar}^ holdings. When the conditions differ, they do so in favour of the lord of the manor. By the edict, of which the above are the main provisions, entirely new conditions of land occupation were inaugurated, and corresponding changes became necessary in the other branches of the agricultural system. The "Edict for the better Cultivation of the Land," published on the same day, had these changes in view. Fully to understand what these changes were, and what was the nature of the agricultural reforms to be introduced into Prussia, the picture of the peasant com- munity as a microcosmic reproduction of the old community of the mark must be kept in mind. The peasant occupier's tenement is situated, apart from his land, in a village or township •, his estate is made u}) of a number of single lots or parcels (Grundstiicke) dis- trilnited over the three main divisions or Fields (Fhiren, Campi) into which the arable mark is divided. Often intermixed with these peasant parcels, and subject to the same obligatory cultivation, are parcels of demesne lands. In addition to his individual rights of possession in the arable mark, controlled by the common rights of 312 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Moriek. pa.-turage on the stiil)l)les, he has common rights in tlu' common pasture, whicli common rights he shares with the lord of the manor. Besides these rights he has rights of pasture, (fee, in tlie forest lands of the demesne proper. The sum total of these individual and common rights make up the peasant holding, correlative to which are the services to be rendered to the manor. As long as these services were calculated on the sum total of the rights enjoyed by the tenant, it was of paramount importance that no dismemberment should take ])lace. Consequently, even in the case of free- holders, none but exceptional dismemberments were allowed. Apart then from the relations between landlord and tenant, or rather inseparal)ly implicated in those re- lations, and therefore requiring simultaneous regulation, are the common riglds of the peasants themselves, and the impediments which these common rights throw in the way of individual cultivation, and the free use of the rights of property al)out to be granted. The ruling idea of the " Edict for the better Cultivation of the Land," as of its predecessor, and indeed of the whole legislation connected with the names of Stein and Hardenberg, is to enfranchise not the owner of land merely, but likewise the land owned by him, and to remove every impediment in the way of the soil finding its way out of hands less able to cultivate it into those better able to cultivate it. Conformably to these princii)les, the edict in question, in the first place, removes all restrictions still existing in the way of free exchange in land, in so far as private rights (viz., rights arising from entails, servitudes, &c.) are not alfected. By this proviso the restrictions contained in paragraphs 6 and 7 of the edict of 1807 were removed, the dif- ference between tenant's land and demesne land ceased, and the lord of the manor could freely acquire the former without the previous sanction of the State. On the other hand, by the perfect liberty granted for dis- memberment (the maxim being laid down that it was better both \\)V the cultivntor and for the land cultivated Germany.] 7.V VARIOUS COUNTltlES. 313 tliut the former should administer a, small unencumbered estate rather than a large encumbered one), the advocates of the " petite culture " were conciliated. The passage in the Edict is worth quoting in exte.nso, as it contains very explicitly what we have described as the ruling idea of the legislation we are discussing : an idea, it is true, which only attained its full develo[)ment forty years later, but which, nevertheless, in spite of the obstacles thrown in its way by the successors of Stein and Harden berg, took sufficient root even at this early period to enable us to judge of its fruits. It is the idea of ownership versus tenancy, and of absolute freedom of exchange and disposal ; and special importance attaches to it as representing principles opposed both to the French system of compulsory division, and to the English system of tenancy, primogeniture, and strict settlement. The passage we refer to runs on as follows : " The proprietor shall henceforth (excepting always Avhere the rights of third parties are concerned) be at liberty to increase his estate, or diminish it by buying or selling, as may seem good to him. He can leave the appurtenances thereof (the ' grundstiicke,' or parcels distributed in the three Fields) to one heir or to many, as he pleases. He may exchange them or give them away, or dispose of them in any and every legal way, without requiring any authorization for such changes. " This unlimited right of disposal has great and mani- fold advantages. It affords the safest and best means for preserving the proprietor from debt, and for keeping alive in him a lasting and lively interest in the im- provement of his estate, and it raises the general standard of cultivation. "The first of these results is obtained by the power it gives to the actual proprietor, or to an heir upon entering on his estate, to sell such portions as will enable him to provide for his heirs or co-heirs, as the case may be, or for any other extraordinary emergency, leaving what remains of the property unencumbered with mortgages or settlements. " The interest in the estate is kept alive by the freedom 314 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Morier. left to parents to divide thoir estate amongst tlieir children as tliey think lit, knowing' that the benefit of every improvement will be reaped by them. "Lastly the higher standard of cnltivation will be secured by land — which in the hands of a proprietor without means would necessarily deteriorate — getting into the hands of a proprietor with means, and therefore able to make the best of it. Without this power of selling portions of his property, the ]n-oprietor is apt to siidv deeper and deeper into del3t, and in proportion as he docs so the soil is deprived of its strength. By selling, on the other hand, he becomes free of debt and free of care, and obtains the means of properly culti- vating what remains to him. By this unhindered move- ment in the possession of land, the whole of the soil remains in a good state of cultivation ; and this point once attained, increased industry and exertion will make it possible to attain a yet higher point, whereas a back- Avard movement, except as the result of extraordinary mischances from without, is not to be apprehended. " But there is yet another advantage springing from this power of piecemeal alienation which is well worthy of attention, and which fills our paternal heart with especial gladness. It gives, namely, an opportunity to the so-called small folk (Kleine Leute), cottiers, gardeners, boothmen, and day laljourers, to acquire landed property, and little by little to increase it. The prospect of such acquisition will render this numerous and useful class of our subjects industrious, orderly, and saving, inasmuch as thus only will the}^ be enabled to obtain the means necessary to the purchase of land. ^Jany of them will be able to work their way upwards, and to acquire property, and to make themselves re- markable for their industry. The State will acquire a new and valualjle class of industrious proprietors ; by the endeavour to become such agriculture will obtain new hands, and by increased voluntarj^ exertion more Avork out of the old ones." The edict next enacts, as a supplementary measure to the " Edict for the Regulation of the delations between Germany.] IN VAI{T()US COUNTRIES. 315 Lords of tlio Manor," that in the case of hereditary lease- hokls (Erbpiichtc) the services and fines may be com- muted into rent-charges, and these rent-charges redeemed by a capital payment, calculated at four per cent. It next proceeds to deal with the common rights of the peasants and of the lords ; and here it fairly owns its inability to carry out the principle of the free owner on the free soil. The great mass of the peasant holdings are dispersed in small open " commonable " intermixed fields over the area of the arable mark ; and the common rights of pasturage over the arable mark necessarily chain down the individual cultivator to the modes of cultivation compatible with these common rights. To disentangle this complicated web must be the work of time and of special legislation. The edict therefore announces a future law on the subject, and for the present confines itself to making provisions b}^ which one third part of such " commonable " fields can be freed from the common rights of pasturage and placed at the absolute disposal of individual proprietors. The rights of pasturage in the forest lands of the manor are more easily disposed of; the advantageous terms on which full rights of property are obtainable by the peasants render it possible to make stringent regulations in regard to the exercise of those rights, in the interest of the landlord and for the preservation of the forests. To guard against the possibility of a return to the double ownership system, the edict laj^s down the rule that though a landed proprietor may settle labourers on his estate, and pay for tlieir services in land, such contracts are never to l)e made for more than twelve years. The edict concludes hj expressing it to be his Majesty's wish and will that ngricultnral societies should be formed in every part of the country, for the purpose of collecting and diffusing knowledge. The expenses of these societies, and the salaries of their secretaries, will be paid out of the Exchequer, and the societies them- selves will be placed in communication with a central office in the capital, whose business it will also be to 316 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Morier. establisli and maintain model farms in various parts of the country for tlie diffusion of agricultural knowledge. Besides this more or less unofficial machinerj^ provision is made for official agricultural boards to be established in each district ; but these arrangements, having been superseded by subsequent legislation, need not be re- ferred to. The two edicts of the 14th September, 1811, may be considered as the culminating point of the legislation wdiich goes by the name of Stein and Hardenberg. Two important laws, it is true, immediately connected with the foregoing, were pu})lished in 1821, the one having reference to the regulation of common rights, the other to the commutation of servitudes into rent-charges, and to the redemption of the latter. Our space does not admit of our describing the former of these tw^o laws, all-important as is the question of these common rights, and of the way they were dealt with, to a correct appre- ciation of the agricultural system of Prussia. The latter law w^as superseded by the much more drastic and complete measure passed in 1850, and need not there- fore be more particularly dwelt upon here. That which it is of importance to bear in mind is that these laws were the necessary complements of the fore- going legislation, and that unless this legislation had been itself cancelled, it was impossible for these laws not to have been passed. They were carried, as it were, by the momentum of the Stein and Hardenberg legisla- tion ; but the impelling force which had imparted its momentum to that legislation had died out long before, and other forces had taken its place. " Le nomme" Stein* had alread}', previously to the edicts of 1811, been driven out of the service of the Prussian crown by the mandate of Napoleon. Belong- ing to the class of statesmen to whom recourse is in- stinctively had in times of trouble, and from whom men * " Le nomni6 Stein cliercliaiit a exciter dcs troubles en Alleniagne est declare cnnemi de la France 11 sera saisi de sa personne partout oil il pourra etre atteint de nos troupes ou colics de nos allies. " En notre camp imperial de Madrid le Ui D^cembre, 1808. — Napoleon." Germany.] 7.V VARTOUS COUNTRIES. 317 who desire a quiet life, and who consider that suffieient unto the day is the evil thereof, instinctively shrink when the storm has passed by, he did not return to office when the French were driven from the soil of Germany. We are not here concerned with his general schemes of political reform, intimately as they are connected with his agrarian legislation. It is sufficient to note that what may be termed his structural reforms, with tlie exception of the reform of the mnnicipalities, re- mained in their draft form. The representative and self-governing institutions, which were to replace the jurisdiction of the manor and the "status pupillaris " in which the peasant community stood towards the manor, were never called into life, and are at this very moment occupying the attention of the Prussian legislature. What he did succeed in carrying through was the reform of the Prussian administration, and the creation of the ablest and the most patriotic bureaucracy which ever weakened the plea for self-government by the plea of good government. It was against the serried ranks of this bureaucracy that the manorial reaction tried the edge of its sword. At first on the prosaic ground of vested interests, later on with the picturesque accom- 'paniments of a medijBval revival. The completion of the great work of agrarian reform was prevented and kept in al)eyance for upwards of a generation. Some of its features even were grievously disfigured, but the massive torso itself could not be moved from its place. Konigs- berg and Stein had engraved their mark indelibly on the histor3^ of Prussia. The most directly retrogressive step was the declara- tion of the 20th of May, 1816, which limited the action of the " Edict for the Regulation of the Relations between Lords of the Manor and their Peasants" to farms of a com- paratively large size, without abrogating the provisions of the " Edict for the l)etter Cultivation of the Land " which did away with the constitutional difference between peasant's land and demesne land, and established the principle of free trade in land. By the combined effec 318 SYSTEMS 01 LAM) TENURE [Mokieb. of these two ]3riiici|)les the " so-called small folk," whom the latter edict so ostentatiousl}^ took mider its protec- tion, i. e., the great mass of small holders, who did not cultivate with teams, were i)laced at a huge disad- vantage, for where their tenures were hereditary, they continued burdened with feudal services and dues ; where they were not hereditary, they wx're evicted wholesale. By a later declaration, in 1836, twenty-five Prussian acres is fixed as the miniuium of a holding having the rii>ht to be enfranchised. THE LEGISLATION OP 1850. The legislation of 1850 was in the highest degree prolific ; but we need only concern ourselves with the two great laws of the 2nd of March. 1. The Law for the Redemption of Services and Dues and the Ivegulation of the Relations between the Lords of the Manor and their Peasants. 2. The Law for the Establishment of Rent Banks. The former of these laws abrogated the "dominium directum," or overlordship of the lords of the manor, without compensation; so that from the day of its publication all hereditary holders throughout the Prus- sian monarchy, irrespectively of the size of their holdings, became proprietors, subject, however, to the customary services and dues, which by the further pro- visions of the law were commuted into fixed money rents, calculated on the average money value of the services and dues rendered and paid during a certain number of years preceding. By a further provision these rent-charges were made compulsorily redeemable, either by the immediate })ayment of a ca])ital equivalent to an 18 }'ears' })urchase of the rent-charge, or hy a payment of 4J or 5 per cent, for oQ-^^ or 41 J^^ years, on a ca})ital erpii valent to 20 years' ])urchase of the rent-charge. The law for the establishment of rent banks provided the machinery for this wholesale redemption. By it the State, tlirough the instrumentality of the rent banks, constituted itsell' the broker between the peasants by Germany.] IN VARTOUS COUNTRIES. 319 whom the rents had to be paid, and the landlords who had to receive them. The bank established in each district advanced to the latter in rent debentures, paying 4 per cent, interest, a capital sum equal to 20 years' purchase of the rent. The peasant, along with his ordinary rates and taxes, paid into the hands of the district tax collector each month one twelfth part of a rent calculated at 5 or 4i per cent, on this capital sum, according as he elected to free his property from encumbrance in 41yL or 56y^^ years, the respective terms within which at compound interest the 1 or the h per cent., paid in addition to the 4 per cent, interest on the debenture, would extinguish the capital. The account given of these rent banks in Mr. Hutton's pamphlet, p. 18, is so clear and exhaustive, that it would be lost labour to attempt to improve on it here. The legislation of 1850 was no more than the efficacious application of the principles contained in the edict of 1811. At first sight, two new principles appear to have been introduced, viz., the absence of compensation for the "dominium directum," and the elimination of the principle of payments in land. But if we look at the matter more closely, these differences amount to little. The " dominium directum," as before observed, deprived of its material contents, i. e., of the services and dues, was absolute!}^ valueless to the overlord, whilst, on the other hand, the immediate and simultaneous entrance into full proprietary rights on the part of the many thousands of holders who w^ere affected by the law of the 2nd of March, was calculated to exercise a moral effect of the greatest magnitude. As regards the non-commutation in land, it wall be remembered that the edict of 1811 laid down the rule that the services of holdings less than fifty Prussian acres in size should be commuted in rent-charges only. Now it is probable that most of the holdings over this size had been redeemed prior to 1850, so that practically the law of the 2nd March had only to deal with the smaller kinds of holding, for which the commutation of services 320 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Morier. by a rent-cliargc had lieen provided by the ediet of 1811. It was not by the newness of the principles, therefore, bnt by the inconipnral»lysnpcrior machinery for a])plying the principles, that the legislation of 1850 established its superiority over that of 1811, and obtained such much larger results in comparatively so short a time. Such in very rough outline is a sketch of the agrarian legislation of Prussia during the present century. Neither the space nor the time at our disposal have allowed us to do more than attempt to point out its chief incidents, and connect these with the general agricultural history of the Teutonic race. The identity of this history in the earlier stage of the several Teutonic communities, has already been dwelt upon. Given this identity, it necessarily followed that at some time or other in the development of each Teutonic community, the same pro- blems presented themselves for solution. According as they have been solved in one way or the other, the entire social and political condition of the several com- munities has been modified. The organic change common to all, and which constitutes, as it were, the turning point in their several histories, is that from cultivation in common to cultivation by mdividuals, or, to use two old English terms, from "champion country" to "se- verall." To the student of English history, the word which corresponds to this change is " enclosure," the true significance of which has, however, not always been seized by either English or foreign writers on the suljject.* The great " enclosing " movement in the sixteenth century is usually descril)ed as if it had merely had for its o])ject to turn arable land into pasture. Its importance as a joint effort on the part of the lords of the manor to withdraw their demesne lands from the " communion " of the townshi}) has been overlooked. That this object was in itself highl}^ desirable, and the " conditio sine qu^ non " of any improvements in agriculture is undeniable ; * An inv.alualilc contrilmtinn to the history of tliis compUcatcd subject has been nia(i nrtment of England, by ]Vlr. Marshall, York," 1815. Three great countries — England, France,* and Ger- many — began tlieir political life from a similar agricul- tural basis. In each of them the great conflict between immunity and community, between demesne land and tenant land, between the manor and the peasant, has had to be fought out. In England the manor won ; the peasant lost. In France the peasant won ; the manor lost. In Germany the game has been drawn, and the stakes have been divided. Each system can be defended and passionately pleaded for. Each has much to be said for and against it. We have not been able to do more than call attention to the general analogies of the question, hoping that some abler pen than ours may be tempted to take up the subject, and examine the land history of the United Kingdom in connexion with the land history of kindred nations. Should our hope be realized, we shall feel that in an infinitesimal degree we shall have fulfilled our duty as members of the Oobden Club, and at least trimmed the lamp of international knowledge. * -;;,- * * * * Considering the obje'ct for which this volume of essays has been written, it*inay seem incumbent upon us before We come to a close to estimate how far the precedent afforded by Prussia is available for the purposes of Irish legislation. We confess ourselves, however, unequal to a task which would presuppose a far different acquaintance with the agricultural relations of Ireland than any we possess. All we can do is to hazard a review of the Irish land question from the standing ground which we can conceive a man, penetrated with the wisdom of the principles upon which the legislation of Prussia is founded, might occupy. * C'f course we do not class France as a Teutonic country, though its land institutions were of distinct Teutonic origin. It is probably that the Celto- Romanic elements which so soon overpowered the Teutonic elements of French society contributed to the solution of the conflict in the way peculiar to France. Y 2 324 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENVBE [iVToRiER. 1. Tlie first tiling ^vhicll siicli a man would do would be to point out the impossibilit}' of directly applying that legislation to the present state of Ireland. Turning as it does upon what the Germans call the " con- stitutional" diderencc between "demesne" land and " tenant's " land, in the niedian-al acceptation of those terms, it could be applied directly only where that difference existed. 2. He would express in no measured terms his con- demnation of a system of tenancy-at-will. Here we can speak ex catliedra^ there being a remarkable paper extant in which Stein expresses his opinion on uncertain tenures. 3. He would probably set aside primogeniture, entails, and strict settlements. On large estates held by corpora- tions he would look with no friendl}^ eye. The " dead hand " fills him with peculiar horror. He everywhere wishes to see the living hand grasping the living soil. 4. He would insist on every rood of Irish land having a parliamentary title, and being transferable by a cheap and simple system of registration. His land and mort- gage register deposited in each township with its accurate map of the district, would play an important part in his system. 5. When he came to examine the popular cry for fixity of tenure, he would, we are inclined to think, reject it absolutely. He would declare that it must lead to one of two things, either to the stereotyping of the system of double otfmershi]^, against which the whole legislation of Prussia is an emphatic protest, or to the eventual undivided ownership of the present tenants, i.e.^ to the dispossession " en bloc " of the present proprietors. In the first case all the evils of double ownership would be aggravated by the peculiar tendencies of Irish agri- culture. The tenant not having the passion for his land or the pride in it which ownership alone can give, would sublet and sul)divide. The landlord, knowing that the rent due to him being a first charge on the estate, his interests, limited as they were, were safe, would look on with in(lin"erence and not interfere. In a word, the ianillord would l>e div(M'ced from the soil without tiie GiaiMANY.] IN VARIOUS COUXTPJES. 325 tenant Ijeino; married to it, and the evils of an illicit union would be the natural result. But the exi)erience of Prussia would have taught our imaginary critic that where a variable rent is changed into a fixed rent charge, even where the possibility exists of a periodical revision, and of an increase at some future period in the amount of the rent charge, the almost certain consequence is the redemption of the rent charge by a i)ayment of cai)ital, and he believes that this result would inevitably follow in Ireland. For supposing the periodical revision were to take place every twenty or thirty years, what landlord would hesitate to sell this reversionary right, and what tenant would hesitate to buy it by any sacrifice in order thus to enter into full proprietary rights ? But the dis- possession of the present proprietors and the substitution of the actual tenants as the sole proprietary class, would mean economically the withdrawal from the soil of the class having the largest capital and enjoying the largest credit ; and the reproduction in another shape of the present evil of a class monopoly in the ownership of land. One object of Prussian legislation was that everi/ class should participate in the rights and duties which flow from property iu land, and this object would be equally defeated whichever was the monopolizing class. 6. Having rejected fixity of tenure and tenancy-at- will, he would look to leases as the " tertium quid." He would require written contracts, in a form established by law, but varying according to the modes of cultivation in the various districts. In the absence of such written contract, the presumption of the law would be in favour of the lease enjoined by the legal contract of the district, the landlord having a right of eviction if he could prove that the tenant had refused the legal contract. 7. He would next examine the question of improve- ments effected by tenants, and would establish Boards of Arbitration, on the model of the Prussian General Com- missions, but with juries composed equally of landowners and tenants to decide questions of fact. These boards should determine what the value of such improvements amounted to in each case. This amount would con- 326 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENl'BE [Morier. stitiite a first cliarne upon tlie estate, and be registered as such in the Laud and Mortgage Register. It would be left to the landlord and tenant to determine in what way the debt should be extiuguished \ but a limit of time wiihin which the charge should be liquidated might be fixed. Where the value of the improvements approached or exceeded that of the fee-simple of the land, it would be a question left to the parties, assisted by the B(mrd of Arbitration, to decide whether the landlord should buy up the tenant's right, or the tenant the landlord's. 8. He would not be inclined to look with favour on Ulster tenant right, at least where that right iiiq^lied a payment for the " good-will," in excess of the value of the improvements made by the tenant or his predecessors, as he would consider this another form of double ownership. The Board of Arbitration would carefully discriminate between the value of improvements and the value of the good-will "per se ;" ancl would treat the former in the wa}^ already suggested, whilst it would consider the latter as a servitude on the estate, to be redeemed in the manner most favourable to the landlord. 9. Having done his utmost to place the relations of landlords and tenants on a satisfactory footing, and having removed all difliculties in the way of free alien- ation, he would next occupy himself with the creation of farmer proprietors, i.e., of a middle-class proprietary. Remembering the colonisation of waste lands bj'" Frederick the Great, he would see what was to be done in the way of diminishing competition for land already under culti- vation, b}^ organized settlements on uncultivated lands, keeping in view the flict that land, which it does not pay to reclaim for the object of rent^ will yield sufficient returns when tilled as property. He would, in the next place, by means of rent-banks, and on the Prussian system of amortisation, facilitate every transaction by which a landlord might desire to sell his property to his tenants ; the rent-bank advancing the capital sum to the landlord, and recouping itself out of a percentage added to the rent. By means of the same machinery the ^tate, acting through the bank, would buy up all the Gkumanv.] /X VAllIUCS COUNTniEH. 327 land .that came into tlie market, and sell it to ocaipiers. The object of the State not being to make money, but to create proprietors without loss to itself, the principle of competition would not be allowed to act in these sales. 'I'wo conditions would have to be laid down : 1st, that the farm should be of sufficient size fidly to maintain the proprietor and his family, according to the highest scale of comfort known in the district ; 2nd, that the intended proprietor should possess the necessary capital to work it. Where these conditions were fulfilled, the actual occupier would have the right of pre-emption. Where they were not fulfilled, he would have to be bought out, and the iarm would be given to the candidate who fulfilled the conditions. Where several such candidates presented themselves with equal claims, the choice of the candidate would be decided by lot. On enterina: into possession, the future proprietor would have to sign a bond, by which he engaged, until he had paid up in full, neither to let nor sublet, to keep the farm-buildings in repair, &c. On his failure to fulfil these engagements, the bank would have a right to evict him on repayment of the rates already paid by him. 10. All these objects, he believes, would be attainable by use of the credit of the State, and without any cost to the taxpayers. Any spare sums of money derived from church property, or other sources, he would emplov in establishing agricultural schools and model-farms in every part of the island, and in imparting an elementary knowledge of agricultural science to the national schoolmasters. Such w^e believe is the kind of programme which our imaginary legislator, arguing from a general kind of Prussian analogy, and with only a general knowledge of the Irish Land Question, might recommend. It must not be forgotten, however, that being, under the hypothesis of the case, a foreigner, he is, on the one hand, unacquainted with the political difficulties of the question, and, on the other hand, possessed of that belief in the omnipotent and beneficent action of the State^ which it would not be easy to impart to an Englishman. 328 IsySTL'MS OF LAXD TENURE [Lksme. yi. THE LAND SYSTEM OF FRANCE. T. E. Cliffe Leslie. TuE object of this essay is to describe the Land System of France in respect of the distribution of landed pro- perty in that country, Avith the rural organization in which it results, and to examine its causes and effects. In considering its causes, laws and customs relating to property (including succession and transfer), and to tenure, of necessity form prominent objects of inquiry ; but their operation is so bound up with that of economical causes and conditions, that we should miss in place of obtaining clearness by separating what may be termed the legal from the economical class of subjects of dis- cussion. It ought, too, to be premised that although political causes, in that narrow sense of the word which relates merely to the constitution and action of the State, do not fall within the scope of the present essay, yet the fact of their existence ought not to be altogether ignored. There arc such causes, and their disturbing iniluence is powerful. A striking illustration of the potency of this class of causes is afforded in the fact that M. Leonce de Lavergne, in his celebrated work on the ' Rural Economy of Great Britain,' refers the i)rogress of English agri- culture during the last two hundred years, in the main, directly or indirectl}^, to political institutions, political liberty, and ])olitical tranquillity. The inllucnces and effects of the French land system cannot then be fairly esti- mated without taking into consideration matters excluded by the non-political character of these pages. On the other hand, it will be pertinent and material to their purpose to show that much which is commonly ascribed FuANCE.] IN VAJi IOC'S CUUNTlilES. 320 in tliis country to political causes (in that wider sense which comprehends all the institutions of a country, especially those relating to property in land), as the chief agencies regulating the division of the soil in France, and the modes of its cultivation, are in realit7 traceable to tlie natural play of economic forces, aided, indeed, by the law of France, but not the part of it supi^osed. The contrast between the land systems of France and England, two neighbouring countries at the head of civilization, may, without exaggeration, be called the most extraordinary spectacle which European society offers for study to political and social philosophy. The English census of 1861 returned 30,76G landowners and 249,461 farmers.* The latest official statistics in France,! on the other hand (following an enumeration of 1851, now in arrear of the actual numbers), reckon no less than 7,845,724 "proprietors/' including the owners of house property in towns — a number which may be assumed to denote the existence of eight million such proprietors now. Of these, according to the computation of M. de Lavergne, about five millions are "rural proprietors," of whom nearly four millions are actual cultivators of the soil. The official tables themselves return no fewer than 3,799,759 landowners as cultivators, of whom 57,639 are represented as cultivating by means of head-laljourers or stewards, as against 3,740,793 cultivating their land de leur mains. This last figure is again subdivided into 1,754,934 landowners cultivating only their own land ; 852,934 who, in addition to their own, farm land be- longing to others as tenants, and 1,134,190 who work also as labourers for hire. But these figures, as already remarked, are now in arrear ; and we maj^ accept as a close approximation to the actual situation the following- estimate by M. de Lavergne : — " Of our five millions of small rural proprietors, three millions possess on the average but a hectare | a-piece. Two millions possess * Fanners :— Men, 224,006 ; W'ouieu, 22,9 U). Graziers, 2,449. t 'Statistiqiie de la France. Agriculture, 18Ci8 ' (Kesultats Generaux de I'Enquete De'cennale de 1862). X Not quite two acres and a half. 330 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Leslie. on the average six hectares Two million inde- pendent rural proprietors, a million tenant farmers or metayers, and two million farmers and servants them- selves, as well as the million farmers, for the most part proprietors of land ; such is apj)roximately the composi- tion of our rural pojiulation."'"^ It would hardly diminish the contrast of such statistics to our oAvn, Avere we, in place of less than thirty-one thou- sand landowner, returned in our own census, to adopt the figure which M. de Lavergne has introduced into his ' Rural Economy of Great Britain,' on the authority of a statement made by an unoCQcial member of the House of Commons during a del^ate — a figure whi(ih has often since been reproduced in England on the authority of M. de Lavergne himself— namely, that there are 250,000 owners of land in the country ; although it ought to be noticed that there is reason to believe an error respecting the meaning of the technical term " freeholders " was involved in this calculation, and moreover that it includes a number of suburban freeholds, and by consequence an urban, not a rural class of proprietors, far less actual cultivators of land of their own. Four millions of landowners cultivating the soil of a territory only one-third larger than Great Britain, may probably appear to minds familiar only with the idea of great estates and large farms almost a reductio ad ahsurdum of the land system of the French. Those, on the other hand, who have studied the condition of the French cultivators not merely in books, but in their own country, and who have witnessed the improvements which have taken place in it and in their cultivation year after year, will probably regard the number with a feeling of satisfaction. One thing, at least, is established by it, that property in land is in France a national possession ; that the territory of the nation belongs to the nation, and that no national revolution can take place for the destruction of private property. Ihit the inquiry proper to the present pages leads us to examine, in the first place, the causes of so wide a * ' Economie Iturale de la France,' last edition. Feanci:.] i.V VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 331 distribution of landed property in France, and, secondly, its economic rather tlian its political etlects. Its economic effects will prove on examination to be in fact its principal cause. The notion commonly entertained in England appears, however, to be, that, originating' in the confiscations of the French Eevolution, the subdi- vision of the soil has been not only perpetuated but increased in a geometrical progression by the law of succession established by the Code Napoleon. That it did not originate with the Revolution, and that au immense number of peasant properties existed in France long prior to 1789, is indeed well known to all students of French social history; and those who have not con- cerned themselves with that side of histoiy will find the fact fully substantiated in the introduction to M. de Lavergne's ' Economic Rurale de la France.' The point which calls for notice here is that, centuries before the Revolution of 1780, one of the causes of the subdivision of laud in France (one which we shall find to Ije the chief cause in our own time) was its acquisition by purchase in small parcels by the French peasantry. " I have in my hands," saj's M. Monny de Mornay, in his general report on the results of the recent Enquete Agricole, " contracts of purchase by peasants of parcels of land of less than twenty ares (that is to say, less than half an acre) commencing prior to the close of the six- teenth century." It was not the lack of landed property that left the peasantry of France in destitution, and drove them to furious vengeance two hundred years later; it was the deprivation of its use by atrocious misgovern- ment, and the confiscation of its fruits by merciless tax- ation and feudal oppression. But in England, also, the number of small landholders at the close of the sixteenth century was still very large, though it had once been much larger ; even at the date of the French Revolution it was considerable; and in 1815 (at which date it is calculated that there were 3,805,000 landowners in France), it was, althougli it had steadily declined, a more significant figure than it is now. In France, on the con- trarv, the number has increased to about four millions f 332 SYSTEMS OF LAND TFXUIiE [Lv.^iak. eiigngcd in the actual ciiUivaliuii ol' the soil, in addition to nearly a million otlier small rural proprietors, who are the owners, at least, of a cottage. We are not here engaged to inquire into the causes of the diminution, the disappearance, one may say, of small landowners in England ; but the contrast l)etween the movement which has been steadily adding to thenumljer in France, and that which has extirpated them in England adds interest to an investigation of the nature and causes of the French agrarian economy. The results of such an investigation can hardly fail, moreover, to throw an indirect light upon the agrarian economy of England. As already observed, the French law of succession, wldch limits the parental power of testamentary disposi- tion over propertv to a part eqnal to one child's share, and divides the remainder among the children equally, is the cause commonly assigned in England for the continuous subdivision of land in France. And of an incontestable mischief in the operation of the French law, as regards the subdivision of separate parcels, there will be occasion to take notice hereafter. But a point of much greater importance is, that the real effects of the French law of succession cannot be understood without taking into account a process of subdivision taking place in France from a ditferent cause, one really indeed traceable in part to the structure of French law, but not the law of succession ; namely, continual purchases on the ])art of the peasantry of small estates or parcels of land. On this subject notaries in many dilferent parts of France have given the writer surprising information in recent years ; and it has indeed for many years been a subject of such common remark in the country, that even mere railway passengers through it can hardly have foiled to have come upon evidence of it. M. Monny dc Morna}' states with respect to it, in the chapter of his report on the division of land : — "The fact which manifests itself most forcibly is the profound and continuous alterations in the dis- tribution of the soil among the different classes of the population. In the greater number of departments the estates of 100 hectares might now be easily counted ; Fi?ANCE.] 7.V VAIilOVR COUNTRIES. 333 and taken alto<2;etliei' tliey form but an insignificant part of the national territory. The proportion cannot be stated in fignrcs, because it varies from one deparl merit to another ; one must confine oneself to saying that the west and south have preserved more large estates than the north and east." The north and east, he might have added, are the wealthiest and best-cultivated zones, though the south is now rapidly improving in cultiva- tion and wealth, and, as will presently be shown, the process of subdivision keeps step with this improvement. After referring to the disappearance of estates of even moderate size, M. de Mornay proceeds : — "All that has been lost to the domain of large estates, all that is lost day by day to that of estates of middle size, small property swallows up. Not only does the small pro- prietor round his little property year by year, but at his side the class of agricultural labourers has been enriched by the rise of wages, and accedes to landed property in its turn. In the greater number of depart- ments 75 per cent, at least of them are now become owners of land. Peasant property thus embraces a great part of the soil, and that part increases incessantly. The price of parcels of land, accordingly, which are within reach of the industry and thrift of the peasant, increases at a remarkable rate. The competition of buyers is active, and sales in small lots take place on excellent terms for the seller, when the interval has been sufficient to allow fresh savings to reaccumulate." This is in some degree an official statement, and official statements in France are sometimes suspected of exaggerating the prosperity of the nation at large ; but it is confirmed by a superabundance of unofficial and unquestionable authority not on the side of Imperial G-overnment. In one of several passages to the same effect, in his 'Economic Rurale de la France' and other works, M. Leonce de Lavergne, for instance, says : " The small proprietors of land, wdio, according to M. Rubichon, were about three millions and a half in 1815, are at this day much more numerous ; they have gained gromid, and one cannot l)ut rejoice at it, for they have 334 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUBE [F-eslte. won it l)y their industry." And in a very recent com- munication* to the present writer, },!. de Lavergne observes : " The best cultivation in France on the wliole is that of the peasant proprietors, and the subdivision of the soil makes perpetual progTess. Progress in both respects was indeed retarded for a succession of years after 1848 by political causes, but it has brilliantly resumed its course of late years. All round the town in which I write to you (Toidouse) it is again a profitable operation to buy land in order to resell it in small lots. .... I have just spent a fortnight near Beziers. You could not l)elieve what Avealth the cultivation of the vine has spread through that country, and the peasantry have gotten no small share of it. The market price of land has quadrupled in ten years. But for the duty on propert}' changing hands (Vimpot des mutations), and the still heavier burden of the conscription, the prosperity of the rural population of France would be great. It advances in spite of everything, in consequence of the high prices of agricultural produce." Along with the subdivision of landed property thus taking place, there is also, as we shall see, a movement in the land market towards the enlargement of peasant properties, the consolidation of small parcels, and even in some ))laces towards the acquisition of what in France are considered as large estates ; as, in like manner, contem- poraneously with the suljdi vision of farms, and the more minute cultivation of the soil, there is also a counter- process of enlargement of little farms, and in some places even a development of li grande culture on a splendid scale. But it demands our inquiry first, what are the causes, economic and legal, of the continual subdivision by purchase of the soil in France ? The reader will bear in mind with respect to it, that it is l\v no means a mere sulxlivision of existing peasant properties ; that small i)roperties are gaining ground in tlie literal sense, and increasing the breadth of their total territory as well as their total number. And the continuous acquisitions of land by purchase on the part of the French peasantry * November fl, lS(i!l. Franck.] in various COUNTRTES. 335 and labouring; classes can be palpably shown to be a perfectly natural and beneficial movement ; one proceed- ing, in the first place, from the natural tendencies of rural economy, from the mutual interest of buyers and sellers, from the growing prosperity and development of France, as its agriculture improves, as it is opened up hy rail- ways, roads, internal and foreign trade, manufactures, and mines, and as both country and town become wealthier; proceeding again, in the second place, from, or at least promoted by, a sound and natural legal system ; facilitating dealings with land as the interests, inclinations, happiness, in a word, the good of the com- munity direct. One obvious consideration presents itself foremost, though too much stress must not be laid on it, that France has aptitudes of soil and climate for several kinds of agricultural produce — the vine, for example — for which la petite culture^ in the form of manual cultivation (a form to which we shall see hereafter that la petite culture is by no means confined), is almost exclusively appropriate. Too much stress must not be laid on this fact, as just said ; for the amount of cultivated territory under such kinds of produce does not amount to one-fif- teenth of the whole ; but it is a fact worth mentioning, on one hand as an indication, so far as it goes, of the chimerical nature of notions prevalent in England, even among excellent farmers, of the ruinous consequences to agriculture of the subdivision of the French soil, and on another hand as presenting a particular example of a general fact of immense importance in the inquiry ; namely, that the class of productions for which la j^etite culture is eminently adapted (whether exclusively, or in common with the large system of farming) is one for which the demand steadily increases with tlie growth of wealth, trade, and agriculture, and the prosperity of the inhabitants of both town and countrj^ including the small cultivators themselves. M. Le'once de Lavergne, in his ' Rural Economy of Great Britain,' after remarking — and the remark is in itself one of no small importance and instructive sugges- 33() SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Leslie. tion — that, "Capital being more distributed in France than it is in England, it is expedient that the farms should be smaller, to correspond with the working capital," proceeds : — " The extent of farms, besides, is determined by other causes, such as the nature of the soil, the climate, and the kinds of crops prevailing. Almost cver3'\Yhere the soil of France ma}' be made to res})ond to the labour of man, and almost everywhere it is for the advantage of the community that manual labour should be actively bestowed upon it. Let us suppose ourselves in the rich plains of Flanders, or on the banks of the Ehine, the Garonne, the Charente, or the Ehone ; we there meet with la petite culture, but it is rich and productive. Every method for increasing the fruit fulness of the soil, and making the most of labour, is there known and practised, even among the smallest farmers. Notwithstanding the active properties of the soil, the people are constantly renewing and adding to its fertility by means of quantities of manure, collected at great cost ; the breed of animals is superior, and the harvests magnificent. In one district we fnid maize and wheat ; in another, tobacco, flax, rape, and madder ; then again, the vine, olive, plum, and mulberry, which, to yield their abundant treasures, require a people of laborious habits. Is it not also to small farming that we owe most of the market-garden produce raised at such great ex|3enditure around Paris ?" And further on (notwith- standing the favour wdiich, in his love for political liberty and order, M. de Lavergne regards everything in the economy of England) he observes : " Our agriculture may find in England useful exam])les ; but I am far from giving them as models for imitation. The south of France, for example, has scarcely anything to borrow from English mctliods ,• its agricultural future is never- theless magnificent." This passage was written sixteen 5'ears ago; and a communication to the writer cited above shows how the predictions it contains respecting the south of France, and the great future before la petite culture, are now being realized under the eyes of its author. But it is not in tlie soutliern half alone of FuANCK.] 7,V VARIOUS COUNTRIES. ?,Z1 France that the peasant cultivator finds a perpetually growing demand for all the most remunerative kinds of his produce. The ' Enquete Agricole,' for instance, shows a great increase in the cultivation of the vine in the east, the west, and the centre, as w^ell as the south ; while in the north — where the vine is, on the contrary, giving way before the competition of the plant of more favoured skies — the demand for the produce of the market-gardens, the dairy, and the orchard, afford more than a compensation. It deserves, moreover, passing remark that the little gardens and orchards round the cottages of the peasantry form, by reason of their care- ful and generous cultivation, the greater portion of the class of land which in French agricultural statistics obtains the denomination of Terrains de qiialUe supe'rieure. For dairy-husbandry, la petite culture, wath its minute and assiduous attention, has such eminent aptitude, that even with respect to England, M. de Lavergne remarks : *' Although everything tends to proscribe small farming, though it has no support, as in France, from a small proprietary and a great distribution of capital, though the prevailing agricultural theories and systems of farm- ing are opposed to it, yet it persists in some places, and everything leads to the belief that it will maintain its ground. The manufacture of cheese, for example, which is quite a domestic industry, is well adapted to it." He adds, wlmt is not to be left out of account, for it is not an account merely of ponnds, shillings, and pence : " There is nothing so delightful as the interior of these humble cottages; so clean and orderly, the very air about tliem breatlies j3eace, industrj^ and happiness ; and it is pleasing to think that they are not likely to be done away with."* The raising and fattening of cattle for the market is another great department of husbandry which la petite culture has almost to itself in France; although it must be confessed that it is — though a marked improvement is visible — not as yet generally carried on with the same skill as in Flanders; and the art of house feeding, which * ' liiinil Economv of (!iT;it P>i-it;iin.' 338 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [[.est-ie. is the basis of the Flemisli s^'stem of small fariniiio:, is still in its infancy in ii^duy French districts : a fact, however, ^vhich only opens a brighter future for la petite culture within them. And we may a fortiori — by reason on the one hand of the hold small farming has already established over both the territory and the mind of France, and, on the other hand, of the more recent development of manufactures, means of communication, and commerce — apply the language which ^Ir. Caird has used with respect to England : — " The production of vegetables and fresh meat, forage, and pasture for dairy cattle, will necessarily extend as the tow^is become more numerous and more populous. Tiie facilities of communi- cation must increase this tendenc}^ An increasingly dense manufacturing population is yearly extending the circle within which the production of fresh food, animal, vegetable, and forage, will be needed for the daily and weekly supjjly of the inhabitants and their cattle; and which, both on account of its bulk and the necessity of having it fresh, cannot be brought from distant countries. Fresh meat, milk, butter, vegetables, &c., are articles of this description ; and there is a good prospect of flax becom- ing an article in excessive demand, and therefore worthy of the farmer's attention. Now all these products require the employment of considerable labour, very minute care, skill, and attention, and a larger acreable a]3plication of capital than is requisite for the production of corn. This will inevitably lead to the gradual diminution of the largest farms, and the gradual concen- tration of the capital and attention of the farmer on a smaller space."* Thus the very productions for which Id petite culture \s specially adapted are the things getting new markets with every new railway, road, manufacture, mine, and increase of national wealth ; and that ascent of rural prices in France which M. Victor Bonnet has shown to be the result of its economic development is in effect an ascent in the economic scale of peasant property and the little farm. It follows that the subdivision of the French soil, which has been the subject of sincere regret * Caiixt's ' Endiiih Asiricultiire.' Frante.] /N VARTOUH f'OUNTlllh::^. 3:^.0 and pity on the part of many eminent Englisli writers and speakers, as well as of much ignorant contempt on the part of prejudiced politicians, is really both a cause and an effect of the increased wealth of every class of the population, the seller and the buyer of land, the landowner, the farmer, and the labourer, the country and the town. Instead of being, as has been supposed, a cause of low wages, it has been a consequence of high wages, which have enabled the labourer to become a land-buyer — and even a cause of high wages by diminish- ing tlie competition in the labour market, and placing the labourer in a position of some independence in making his bargains with employers. Instead of diminishing agricultural capital, as many English agriculturists urge, it is, in the language of Adam Smith, both cause and effect of " the frugality and good conduct, the uniform, constant, and uninterrupted effort of ever}' man to better his own condition, from which public as well as private opulence is derived, and which is frequently powerful enough to maintain the natural tendency of things towards improvement, in spite both of the extravagance of Government and the greatest errors of administra- tion." But, assuming it to be demonstrable that the sub- division of land in France is in the main the result of natural and beneficial economic causes, it is certain, nevertheless, that it could not take place without the co-operation of legal causes, that is to say, of a legal system which renders dealings in land simple and safe, and, by comparison with the English system, inexpen- sive. In the absence of natural economic tendencies towards the subdivision of land Ijy its purchase in small lots, the best-constructed legal system of transfer would only tend to its accumulation in few hands ; but, on the other hand, under such a legal s^- stem as our own, whatever the natural tendencies of the market, the expense, diffi- cult}^ and risk of buying very small estates would make them an altogether unsuitable and impracticable invest- ment for the savings of the peasant and the labourer. Even under a law of succession like the French, there could be z 2 ;;40 SYSTEMS OF LAND TESURE [Leslie. no such poor man's land market in England ; the properties ])artitioiied by inheritance would be rapidly added to the domain of the great landowner and the millionaire, able to run the risk of litigation and lo procure the best legal assistance. In France, every sale and every mortgage of land is immediately inscribed in a public registry iu the chef-lieu of the arrondissenient ; and any one has a right to enter and inspect the register, to satisfy himself re- specting the title to any estate or parcel of land, and the charges, if any, upon it. The director of the registry is, moreover, bound to deliver for a trifling charge a state- ment of the title to every estate or parcel to any one demanding it. The private charges for the assistance of the notary in effecting a purchase vary indeed consider- ably, and are very much heavier in proportion on very small parcels than on large estates. Every sale of land is moreover burdened with the much-com}>lained-of duty of above G per cent.* But the transaction is simple, expeditious, and secure ; and the fact that, in spite of lieavier relative cost, high taxation, and the competition of public loans and other investments, the peasant is the great bu3'er of land in Fmnce, only strengthens the con- clusion that the subdivision of land bj^ the purchase of small estates is a natural and healthy tendency of the market, springing from the high \)ro^tii o^ la petile culture, and at the same time from the happiness and independ- ence which the possession of land is found by the experience of the people at large to confer. It shows, too, the error of a common impression in England, that it is much better for a cultivator to rent a larger farm than to larni a small estate of his own. If there be any truth in p]nglish political economy, the buyers of land in France are the best judges of their own interests ; and we have the practical testimony of the whole nation that the small estate is the better investment of the two for capital and labour. But, moreover, under a sound system of title, and of registration of mortgages, the peasant pro- prietor is not debarred from increasing the size of his farm ; he can raise money expeditiously and safely on * (if. O'OC. ppi" loot'., inclusive of tin* iJcrirm- tie ijik rrr. FuANCK.] J\ I'AJiJuL'ti COLLW'J'JIJJ-:,^. 341 his own little property, and farm a(lj()iiiin<;- land as a tenant, shonld he lind it to his advantage. 'J'hc French land s^'stem gives the small bn3'er of land the benefit of being able to raise capital on nnexceptional)le secnrity, and that bv a process which creates no impediment to its subsequent sale. And such a system, so far from tend- ing to increase the encumbrances on land, tends neces- sarih', in the first place, to bring land into the hands of those Avho can make most of it, and secondly, to enable them to develop its resources by additional capital, and thereby to liberate it from any charges upon it. The amount of debt on the peasant properties of France has been enormously exaggerated. M. de Lavergne estimates it at 5 per cent, on an average on their total value ; and the marked improvement in the food, clothing, lodging, and appearance of the wdiole rural population is of itself unmistakable evidence that they are not an impoverished class, but, on the contrary, one ra])idly rising in the economic and social scale. M. de Lavergne himself arrived at the conclusion that the great estates of England were more heavily encumbered acre for acre than the i^easant properties of Fmnce ; and Mr. Caird concludes his description of English agriculture thus : " There is one great barrier to improvement which the present state of agriculture must force on the atten- tion of the legislature — the great extent to which landed property is encumbered. In every county where we found an estate more than usually neglected, the I'cason assigned was the inability of the proprietor to make improvements on account of his encumbrances. We have not data by which to estimate with accurac}^ the proportion of land in each county in this position, but our information satisfies us that it is much greater than is generally supposed. Even where estates are not hopelessly embarrassed landlords are often pinched by debt, which they could clear off if they where enabled to sell a portion, or if that portion could be sold without the difficulties and expense which must now be submitted to. If it were possible to render the transfer of land nearly as cheap and easy as that of stock in the funds, 342 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Leslie. the value of English proi)ei'ty would be greatly increased. It would simplif}' every transaction both with landlord and tenant, 'i'hose only who could afford to perforin the duties of landlords would then find it prudent to hold that position. Capitalists would be induced to purchase unimproved pro})erties for the purpose of improving them and selling them at a prolit. A measure which would not only permit the sale of encumbered estates, but facilitate and simplify the transfer of land, would be more benelicial to the owners and occupiers of land, and to the labourers in this country, than any connected with agriculture that has yet engaged the attention of the legislature." Such a measure the owners, occupiers, and labourers of France have long had the benefit of; and the fact that in spite of new opportunities of migration and of steadily rising wages, even the labourer in France is a great land buyer, proves the profitableness of la petite culture^ as well as the wealth of the very humblest and poorest class of the French peasantry. Imagine the English agricultural labourers great buyers of land, and at the same time lending no small sums to the State ! One ought too to bear In mind at the same time the different histories of the two countries, and the condition in which the tyranny, misgovernment, and wars of pre- ceding centuries had left the rural population of France half a century ago, not to speak of later political disasters. Far from objecting to the subdivision of land which has resulted from the legal facilities for its transfer and mortgage, the highest French authorities are urgent for the removal of the obstacles created by the high duties on both sales and successions. "Instead of placing obstacles in the way of changes of ownership {umtations*)^ the true policy would be to encourage them. In addition to the direct taxation on land {Vimpot fancier')^ landed pro- perty is subject to the much heavier Imrden on changes of ownership. The value of immovable ])roperty annually sold may be estimated at 80,000,000/. ; that which cliangcs hands by succession at 00,000,000/.; * The term mn/a/ioi/s is aiiplied to all changes of ownership, whether by purchase or inlieritance. France.] y.V I'Ah'/OrS VOrNTRlK^. 343 the duties cliarged upon both auiouuting to s,()()0,000/. Such taxation is contrarj^ to every principle, falling as it does on capital and not on revenue."* AVe are not here concerned with the policy of duties on succession ; but there is one incontrovertible injustice in their incidence in France which deserves notice: naniel}^, that the successor pays duty on the entirc value of the property, without any deduction for encumbraneeSy so that it sometimes happens that he actually pays more than the full value of his inheritance. This monstrous system of valuation offers of coui*se a great obstacle to raising capital for the improvement of land; while it adds not a little to the encumbrances already upon it; the sort of encumbrances added (sums borrowed to liquidate the duties) being moreover entirely unpro- ductive to the owners. There are, then, two causes of the subdivision of land in the structure of French law — the law of transfer and the law of succession. But the fact that the subdivision promoted by one of these — the law of transfer — is in per- fect accordance with the interests of all parties concerned ; and the natural tendencies of agriculture in a country of growing w^ealth suggests a very important conclusion respecting the other, namely, the law of succession. It enables us to perceive why this latter does not produce the practical mischiefs many English writers, not un- naturally, have assumed. The fact is^ that (except as regards its operation upon seixirate parcels, where the property consists of such — a mischief easily curcd in the opinion of the highest French authorities) the French law of succession tends in the main to the same result as the natural course of agriculture and free trade in land, namely, the subdivision of land. Secondly, the opera- tion of a good law of transfer tends to cure whatever mischiefs really arise from the partitions effected by the law of succession ; there being a steady flow of small lots through the land market towards those who can turn them to the best account. Lastly, it is established * ' Economic Rurale de la France,' par M. de Lavergnc. 344 SYSTEMS OF LASD TENUBE [Lesuk. Ijcvond dispute that peasant property arrests an ex- cessive imrtition of land among cliildren by imposino; a check upon ])()pulation. "Tlie law of succession," observes M. dc Lavergne, "" is still the object of some attacks, Avhich do not succeed in shaking it. It cannot be said of a country which contains 50,000 properties of more than 200 hectares that the soil is subdivided to excess. It is enough to read the advertisement columns of the daily papers to see that lands of several hundred, and even several thousand, hectares are still numerous. I'here are even too many of them, in the sense that the majority of the owners would be gainers by dividing them."* Of smaller properties, again, of only six hectares o-n the average (of "which he reckons two millions), the same authority adds : — " The owners of these live in real comfort. Their properties are divided by inheritance ; but many of them are continually purchasing, and on the whole they tend more to rise than to fall in the scale of wealth." In place af suggesting a radical change in the law of inheritance, he, like most French economists, suggests only a modification of it in the case of a number of separate parcels, together with a great reduction of the duty on their exchange, which at present is the same as on a sale. Eational opponents in England of the French law of partition (that is to say, those who are in favour of a greater liberty of bequest, as distinguished from those who defend our own bar- barous system of primogeniture and entail) ought ta take into account that the French law of succession really effects, in the main, the very results wdiich the testamentary i)owers thc}^ advocate would produce ; as is evident from the fact that the vast majority of French parents do not exercise the limited power they already possess over a part equal to one child's share. But the main point is that already adverted to — that a good law of transfer corrects a defective law of inheritance. Not only is there a continual enlargement of little peasant properties by the purchase of adjoining plots, as well as a continual accession to the number of small plots * ' licojiomic Iiuralu clc la P^'iaiice.' France.] JN VAIUOUS COUNTRIES. 345 through the natural play of the market; but there in even a natural flow of large capitals toward the land. Hence M. Monny de Mornay remarks that, notwith- standing the great diminution of the total domain of large proi)erty, and the i)erpetual increase in the number of little estates through the purchases of the peasantry and the labouring class, there has been for some years a current of ideas and tastes on the part of unemployed men of fortune, and of capitalists enriched by the trade of towns, towards investment in landed property.* The truth is that large and small property compete on much fairer and more natural terms in France than in England, and large buyers of land as well as small, in the former country, are free from burdens on the pursuit of their interests and happiness Avith which both are loaded in the latter. It follows in natural sequence that large and small farms — la grande and la petite culture — like la. grande and la petite propriete^ really compete ou fairer terms in France than in England ; and the former and not the latter is the place to see them on their trial, and to judge of the natural tendencies of rural economy in respect of each. The fact is that, while la petite culture is gaining ground and growing more prosperous as well as more perfect and more minute, large farming too has made great progress in France. Not only is there a great domain, within which la petite culture has exclusive or special advantages, but there is a common domain, for example, in the production of cattle, cereals, and roots, where both may co-exist and prosper ; and there is, again, a domain within which la grande culture has its own superior advantages. There were no less than 154,167 farms in France of 100 acres — a number not far short of the total number of farms in England — at the date to which the latest agricultural statistics go back. There were, again, 2,849 steam threshing machines in 1862, as against 1,537 in 1852 ; and it is natural to infer that the chief employment of these was on the larger farms. In the production of sheep, again, la * ' Enquete A.i^vicole.' 34(; SYSTE3IS OF LAND TENURE [Leslie. petite culture lias not shown itself successful in France ; though it is proper to remark that the decline of sheep bctAveen 1852 and 1862 is attributed by the highest authorities, in the main, not to the subdivision of the soil (the decline in their number being a new phenomenon and subdivision an old one), but to a number of wet seasons followed by disease, to a contraction of the area of sheep-walks by the reclamation of waste land and the division of commons ; to an extension of the surface under wheat ; and to an improvement in quality as distinguished from quantity. Nevertheless, it appears certain that minute farming under French methods does not give sheep an adequate range, and tends to other productions. Again, both in Belgium and in France the cultivation of the sugar beet, in combination with sugar factories, is found to tend to la grande culture^ and no finer larger farms are to be seen in Scotland than many in France, of which beet is the principal produce. In the departments immediately surrounding Paris large farming is to be seen in the highest perfection, of which the reader who has not visited them will find a description in M. de Lavergne's ' Economic Rurale de la France.' Yet, after noticing several magnificent examples, he adds, " While la grande culture marches here in the steps of English cultivation, la petite develops itself by its side, and surpasses it in results." The truth is, as we have said, that the large and the small farming com- pete on fair terras in France, which they are not allowed to do in England ; and the latter has, to begin with, a large and ever-increasing domain within which it can defy the competition of the former. The large farmer's steam-engine cannot enter the vineyard, the orchard, or the garden. The steep mountain is inaccessible to him, when the small farmer can clothe it with vineyards, and the deep glen is too circumscribed for him. In the fertile alluvial valley, like that of the Loire, tlie Garden of France^ his cultivation is not sufficiently minute to make the most of such precious ground, and the little cultivator outbids him and drives him from the garden ; while, on the other hand, he is ruined by attempts to reclaim Fraxck.] in various COUNTRIES. 317 intractable wastes which his small rival converts into tetrains de qualite superieure. Even where mechanical art seems to summon the most potent forces of nature to the large farmer's assistance, the peasant contrives in the end to procure the same allies by association, or individual enterprise finds it prorital)le to come to his aid. It is a striking instance of the tendency of la petite culture to avail itself of mechanical power, that the latest agricultural statistics show a larger number of reaping and mowing machines in the Bas Ehin, where la petite culture is carried to the utmost, than in any other depart- ment. Explorers of the rural districts of France cannot fail to have remarked that la petite culture has created in recent years two new subsidiary industries, in the machine maker on the one hand, and the entrepreneur 0:1 the other, who hires out the machine ; and one is now constantly met even in small towns and villages, old- lashioned and stagnant-looking in other respects, with the apparition and noise of machines of which the large farmer himself has not long been possessed. Admitting, therefore, fully an important truth in Mr. Wren Hoskyns' remark, that " The machinery doctrine of ' most produce by least labour ' is, as applied to the soil, the doctrine of starvation to the labourer and dispossession to the small proprietor ; and instead of belonging to the advance of knowledge, is a retrogression towards the time when a knight's fee included a whole wapentake, or hundred, and a count was territorial lord over a county : — "* re- garding, with Mr. Wren Hoskyns, machinery as made for man, not man for machinery, and the hapi)iness and prosperity of a large rural population as the true object of agriculture and land systems, we see no reason to believe that the progress of machinery is incompatible with the persistence of la petite culture, still less with that of la petite propriete in France. But if large and small farming compete on fairer terms in France, as elsewhere on the Continent, than in * ' Land in Enj^land, Land in Ireland, and Land in Other Lands.' By Chandos Wren Hoskyns, M.P. 318 SYSTEMS OF LAM) TJ'jyCBE [Leslie. England, and their relative position is accordingly very different, it ought to he added that it is onl}^ in the hands of proprietors that eitlier la grande or la petite culture is lairly tried in France. It is not in the part of the French land system against which English criticism has been directed — the part Avhich differs from the English, namely, the snljdivision of landed |)roperty and peasant proprietorship— that its weak point really lies ; it is, on the contrary, in the part which resembles the English — the system of tenure. The British Islands are far from being the only country in which the question of tenure demands and indeed engages the earnest attention of statesmen and economists ; though on the Continent the problem of tenure finds more than half its solution in the system of proprietorshi]). In France there are two kinds of tenure, naniel}" (1), by lease, usually for three, six, or nine years (a lease for even eighteen years being quite the exception) ; and (2) metayage^ according to which the proprietor and the metayer divide the produce, the capital being furnished by the one or the other in proportions varying in different localities. It seems to be supposed by many writers that the metayer, if he has only half the motive to exertion wdiich may be supposed to influence a tenant who has the whole of the produce subject to a fixed rent, enjoys at least the advantage of permanence of tenure. But such is far from being the case in France ; very commonly the contract of metayage is but for one, two, or three years. The truth is, the system of short tenures common throughout most of Western Europe has a common barbarous origin. It belongs to a state of agri- culture which took no thought of a distant future, and involved no lengthened outlay, and which gave the land frequent rest in fallow ; and it belongs to a state of commerce in which sales of land were rare, changes of proprietorship equall}^ so, and ideas of making the most of landed property commercially non-existent. It is right to observe, however, that in many parts of France, although the stated period of tenure is commonly short, the farm really remains commonly in Franc K.] 7.V VAnifX'S COl'NTETES. 340 the same famil}' from latlier to son from generation to generation, provided only the rent is paid. Now, indeed, with greatly rising prices of agricultural produce, there is a steady and general augmentation of rents ; and complaint is much oftener made by tenants of the rise of rents than of the shortness of leases ; first, because the tenant is seldom turned out if he farms at all decently and lives in moderation, as he usually does ; and secondly, because the tenant has very often already some laud of his own, has almost always, if no land, some money saved to buy it. He is not, therefore, in apprehension of being turned .out naked on the world ; on the contrary, he would sometimes hesitate to accept a long lease, having in view setting up altogether for himself as a proprietor. Again, although no legal customs of tenure for unexhausted improvements would seem to exist in France, where the Code has swept away all customary laws, j^et a custom of compensation for some unexhausted improvements in fact prevails. In the case of manure, for example, laid on by the out- going tenant, he customarily gets compensation, calcu- lated in proportion to the time during which its un- exhaustecl forces ought to yield profit. Again, where the farming is a joint concern between proprietor and tenant, under the form of cattle-lease called cheplel, if the value of the joint property has been increased by the tenant, he is entitled at the expiration of the lease to half the additional value. For improvements, how- ever, in the nature of drainage and irrigation no right of compensation of any kind exists ; and the absence of it furnishes in part the explanation of destructive droughts even in the best-cultivated parts of France. Under peasant proprietorship, in parts both of Germany and France itself, the most perfect system of irrigation may be found. Peasant proprietorship, coupled with and in a great measure caused by, a good system of land transfer, is in truth the g'reat redeeming feature of con- tinental land systems, which in point of tenure are as defective as our own. A good law of transfer corrects, as we have seen, a defective law of succession, and it 350 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TEXUnE [Leslie. also goes flu* to remedy defective laws and ciistoins of tenure. It is, moreover, peasant proprietorship alone that prevents the questions of Ijoth tenure and landed jiroperty from assuming the formidable shape on the Continent which they do already in Ireland, and will do ere long in England. The 'Report of the p]nquete Agricole' suggests additional powers of lease in the case of husbands owning in right of their wives, and of guardians, and again a reduction of the duty on leases, with, moreover, a legal presumption of a lease for twelve years in the absence of a written one. But such measures would give about as much satisfaction, and go as far towards allaying agrarian discontent in France as they would in Ireland, were there not a large diffusion of landed proprietorship, and a facility for both tenants and labourers of passing from that status to the status of proprietor, or of combining both. It is fortunate for France not only that peasant pro- prietorship already exists on a great scale, but that the tendeucj^ of the economic progress of the country, as already shown, is to substitute more and more cultiva- tion by peasant proprietors for cultivation by tenants ; and to give more and more to those Avho remain tenants or labourers the position and sentiments also of proprie- tors. The increasing demand for, and rising prices of the produce of la petite culture make it more and more a profitable investment of the peasant's savings and labour ; and those very rising prices, and the rising wages, which also follow the development of the re- sources of the country, put both the small tenant and the labourer in a condition to become buyers in the land market. All improvements in the law of property, and in fiscal legislation respecting it, will tend in the same direction, since the costs attending changes of ownership and exchanges of land fall heavier on small than on large properties. All the highest agronomic authorities in France, instead of objecting to the increasing sub- division of landed property, are urgent for the removal of all legal impediments to its division, as well as those which lay dispr()})()rtionate cost on its acquisition in FiiANCK.] JN VAItlors corNT/UFS. 351 small portions, as in those wliicli retain it in common ownership. The question of common ownership is one which ought not be entirely ignored in a sketch of the French* land s^'stem, however brief, although but a very few words can be devoted to it here. Upwards of four million and a half hectares of land in France belong in common to various bodies, corporations, communes, and villages. Of this area, it is true that a considerable part is in forest, managed by the State, much of which it would be inexpedient to divide and deforest. But the remain- der is in great part simpl}^ so much land almost lost to the country. In a review of the ' Reports of the Enquete Agricole,' ut the end of last year, M. de Lavergne pronounced that an effective law for the division and sale of the common lands would do more for the increase of the agricultural wealth of France than all other administrative measures taken together ; for in addition to the cultivation of land, now almost waste, that would follow, the communes themselves would obtain funds by the sale for the making of country roads, in which the southern half of France, especially, is for the most part lamentably deficient. An act was actually passed in 18G0, to facilitate the division of the common lands, but it has produced but little effect. An impediment to the division of the village commons in France, which has come under the writer's observation, arises from a kind of departure of the beneficial from the legal ownership. An entire commune, made up of several villages having each its common land, is the body whose authority is requisite for a division. It may be the interest of the villagers, and their wish, to divide their own common among themselves, but the rest of the commune would often prel'er to see the villager driven or induced to bring his own land, with the communal rights attached, into the land market, where they themselves might become buyers. They are not desirous of giving the villagers an additional inducement to stay where they are. If land existed in such ample 352 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUnE [Lf.st.tk. aljuiKlancc that every peasant could liave a sufficiency of land of his own to make a comfortal)le subsistence, or could at least have the advantage and comfort of a cottage and garden, the joint possession b}^ each village of an additional common domain might be regarded as a great benelit ; but such is not the situation of matters in Western Europe. Nevertheless the French comnmnal lands, even as they are, give the French peasantry an advantage which the British peasant has been deprived of ; and they also provide a fund for the future augmen- tation of the possessions of the French peasantry, to which there is nothing now corresponding in England. It is not, however, the object of the present writer to compare the land system of France to that of Great Britain. Those who institute such a comparison will remember that it would be in a great measure imperfect and even delusive if confined to a survey of the present state of agriculture and of the peasantry of France,— forward already as is the former, happy as is the latter, in many parts of that country. The history of the two countries, the comparative state of their agriculture and peasantry a hundred years ago, as well as now, must be taken into account. Fmnce has had only three quarters of a century of anything like liberty, and less than half a century of tranquillity and industrial life. Nor in any such comparison should the respective effects of the land systems of the two countries on the town as well as on the country be overlooked. Whoever reflects what the French rural population would be, on the one hand, under a land system like that of Ireland, or even England ; and what its town population would be, on the other, if instead of being a third it were more than a half of the whole nation, and if instead of having a political counter- poise in the country, it found there only greater politi- cal ferment and discontent than its own, must surely pronounce that the land system of France is not only the salvation of that country itself, but one of the principal securities for the tranquillity and economic progress of Europe. Russia.] IN VAIilOUS COUNTJRIES. 35.3 YIL THE RUSSIAN AGRARIAN LEGISLATION OF 1861. By Julius Faucher, of Beblin. Member of the House of Deputies of the Prussian Landtag. The bondage of agricultural labour, taken off from the Russian people by the legislation of 180 1, was of comparatively recent origin. It is true that, already at the dawn of recorded Russian history, we meet with the existence of slaves of the czar as well as of the nobles of his court, but these slaves were prisoners of war and their offspring, the personal property of their masters, and quite different from the peasantry, which formed the bulk of the Russian people. The noblemen who owned those slaves were themselves no landed proprietors in their own right, nor even vassals owing allegiance for the tenure of land, but servants of the crown, whom the crown had to feed. This, not as a rule, but often, was managed in the form of an allotment to them of crown-land, to be tilled by their slaves, either for a number of years or for life ; or, but rarely, with revocal)le permission to leave the fruit of it to their descendants. Such nobles as did not own slaves were sometimes paid by the czar's abandoning to them the yield of the taxes, due to the czar by the peasantry of one or more villages. But such an arrangement did not legally impair in the slightest degree the personal liberty of these peasants. They remained the free children of the czar, entitled legally to break off their household, and to separate from their village community whenever they liked, and to join another. The jield of the taxes of the place, not that of so many distinct persons, was given in lieu of a salary. 2 A 354 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Fauciier. The Russian peasants of those times were nobody's servants, but the czar's, like everybody else in the empire. Nor is it for tracing the origin of the bondage, now destroyed, that it is necessary to refer to the more remote parts of Russian history. There are other things to be understood concerning Russian village life before a judgment on the probable practical Ijcaring of the Act of 1861 can be formed. Tlie free village of old has to furnish the key to the future of the free village of to-da}'. The division of the Russian people into Great Russians and Little Russians, signifies far more than a mere split of the language into two dialects, which, hj the way, differ but little from each other. Let us state at once the salient point. Little Russia, with Kiew for its centre, is the mother-country ; and Great Russia, with Moscow for its centre, is the colony, the one great colony whose limits are not yet fixed. Little Russia is Sclavonic, pure ; the Great Russians are a mixed race, a majority being Sclavonians, undoubtedlj", and who, more by dint of high culture than by the sword, were the conquerors, with a minority of the former inhabitants of the country, the Finnic tribes or Tchudes. And now the consequence of it, on which we intend to lay stress. The colony, which afterwards became the dominant part of the empire {colonization never being completed, that is to say, never yet having occupied the whole disposable soil), did not yet find time to undergo such changes in the form of the tenure and the tillage of land as have occurred in other places, where originally the same form prevailed as that which the Great Russians con- tinued to preserve while constantly applying it anew, as colonists, on virgin soil. It may l)e stated at once, that this form was that of the joint husbandry of a whole village. The village, not the family, was the social unit. Supplanting the famil}^ for purposes of colonization, the village, b}^ necessity, })artook to a certain extent of the character of a family. It stood under patriarchal rule. Movable property alone was individual, immovable, the land at least, was common. AVith the alien not belonging to the village, KiTssiA.] /.V VARIOUS COVNTRIKS. 355 not the individual, the village only, had to do. The village always had a mother-village, and the mother- village again had a mother-village, and so on. The name of mother-village in general, or of mother-village to another district village, is still attached to many Russian towns and villages; but even where the tradition of it is now lost, it may be taken for granted that such a relation once existed. Nor are the most recent times void of examples of the foundation of a daughter-village by a mother-village, though the interference of the masters, which the Russian villagers in the meantime had got, had given to the colonizing movement a somewhat diflercnt shape. The colonizing masters sometimes made up the new villages of selected families from a whole number of older villages in the same master's possession. But whenever this has taken place, it was done in disregard of the traditional feelings of the people. Though the Russian peasants by no means cling to the soil which has given birth to them, they cling to their fellow- villagers. They would not have aggregated voluntarily from different villages to form a new village. And they like to have even the mere traditional remembrance of a common mother-village, as children, who are still children, like to have still a mother. I have been witness (in the Government of Moscow, in the summer of 1867) to the fact that a whole village, which had been destroyed by one of the numerous conflagrations of that year, and which had lost everything; whose inhabitants, besides, not feeling at ease where they were, resolved to return to the mother-village of their village, situated two hundred and fifty miles off, and which they, or rather their ancestors, had left nearly fifty j-^ears ago. They collected money for this purpose from the neighbouring gentr}^ and even the neighbouring villages, which fully appreciated the resolution, con- tributed their share. This colonization by whole villages giving birth to other villages, and sending them off and planting them often at a ver}^ great distance, was necessitated by the diflQculties colonization had to encounter in those tracts 2 A 2 35G SYSTEMS OF LAND TEXUBE [Faucher. and in those times. When tlie Sclavonian colonization in a north-easterly direction (which was the work of a people already settled, not nomads, as is sometimes conjectured) commenced, the Russians as yet had no government worth the name which could protect the advanced posts. It is w^ell known that later, feeling the want of such a government, and notnnderstanding at all how to manage to get a national government, the heads of the villages all over the vast places already colonized (chiefly due north of the Dnieper, where Nowgorod and Tskoff had become trading emporinms with the north, in the same way as Kiew was the trading emporium with the south) were agreed upon inviting the "Waracgers, whose attacks they had just repelled by a general popular rising, to return in peace and to govern them. But when this took place, we find the Russians already widely spread among the Finnic tribes of the north- east. It seems that they liad alread}^ lined the whole net of rivers with their villages, being eager fishermen, as the Russians are to the present day, like all Sclavonians, and preferring, as passionate gardeners, which they still also are, the black alluvial soil of the river-banks. The interstices of this network of settle- ments, however, was still peopled with Tchnde huntsmen, among whom an isolated household of alien-born colonists, probably, would not have been safe. Nor would the Russians themselves, being no hunters, have been safe from the bears and wolves which the Finnic hunters, up to the present day, are never afraid to encounter in single combat, even without fire-arms. Thus the closely-packed village, in which block-house borders on block-house along the two sides of tiie broad village street, shut up at the two ends b}' stockades or block-houses placed across, was the only possible, end- lessly repeated, form of settlement.* A clearing of the forest by common labour of the colonists had furnished the acreage and the l)uilding material for the block- * The Sclavonic and Teutonic names for a villaj^o (Russian, — derewnia; Scandinavian, — Imp; German, — dorf; Anglo-Saxon, — thorpe) have the root in common with troops, troupe, troupcau, and signify aggregation for pro- tection's sake. KusrfiA.J IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 357 houses. The enclosed space of the village street was the common -workshop in summer, for carpentry, for making the hemp and flax ready for spinning and weaving, and for bleaching the cloth, &c. The cattle stands, threshing-lloors and barns were attached to the single block-houses, showing the stage at which village- labour and village property ceased and individual labour and individual property began. As a further consequence of colonial isolation, the village, as a rule and as far as possible, was self-sustaining. In order to be able to form an idea of the past, present, and future of the Russian people, it is of high importance to bear this original character of the Russian village settlements, easily traceable from the present stafe, strictly and continually in mind. The most prominent feature of a settlement, which, in the beginning and perhaps for a long time was unable to enter into com- mercial relations with other settlements, will be, that just the amount of acreage necessary to furnish the food and the clothing material for the villages will be tilled, and not more. For to till more wonld be far from correct management. It would merely be taking away time and labour-power from other work, just as necessary where everything that is wanted is to be done on the spot. This also indicates the corollary to be expected. AYhere the huslmndman is not more of a husbandman than is just wanted to produce what a single family consumes, and yet is not a savage, but already accus- tomed to a certain degree of comfort, we must expect to see him a handicraftsman, too, of very variegated sldll — a kind of jack-of-all-trades. As said before, the possibility of constantly throwing off the surplus of the increasing population of the village })y founding a daughter-village on virgin soil, was cal- culated to take away every stimulus to change the system, which, at the same time, was so extremely fitted to the exigencies of that primitive colonization. While all the other Sclavonian nations, the Little Russians not excepted, followed, to a certain extent, the ways of central and western Europe (a process which partly was 358 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURI': [Faucheu. quickened by conquest, those farther west being almost invariably the conquerors of those farther east), the Great Eussians alone kept the original form of settled life of the Sclavonian race intact. Their place on the utmost north-eastern wing of the race, putting them at the same time out of reach of western conquest, with nothing but huntsmen, and nomads, and virgin soil all round them, made expansion^ not change^ their law of progress, just as it seems to have been the case with the Chinese whom they now are facing. The village, at once the smallest and the largest compass of the social thought of the bulk of the people, now became the prototype of the empire, which beginning with Rurik's election to the czardom, became destined (after passing through vicissitudes of all kinds, — self- created confusion as well as foreign invasion) to inherit the fruits which the unassisted and unguided, modest and silent, but continuous colonizing labour of the ancient free Russian villagers has 1)orne. The villagers — who in their village governed themselves by patriarchal rule — after they had become conscious, by means of sad experiences, inroads of eastern nomads, and plundering excursions of northern and western adventurers, that the merely sentimental link between mother-village and daughter-village was not that national solidarity of which the hostile foreigner has to beware, considered, after the constitution of czardom, all Russia, as far as it already went, simply as one great village, likewise under patriarchal rule, likewise on a soil the common property of all, likewise sufficing to itself, and likewise having to do with aliens onl}^ in common : and this is still the conception which the Russian people entertain of their state. The savage drama of the political history of the country, the extirpation of resisting tribes chiefly in the west, the sanguinary feuds between the princes of the Imperial House, the partitions and repartitions of the empire, even the struggles which accompanied the intro- duction and spread of the Greek Church, all this had no bearing on what will always remain the most interesting phenomenon connected with the rise of llussiA.] IX VARIOUS C'OUNTlilKH. 359 Russia, namely, the growth of a very niimerons new people^ spreading over a very extensive area in a compa- ratively very short time, in Europe itself, without the remainder of Europe even becoming aware of it! What is recorded by Nestor shows merely that, a military government and taxation having been intro- duced, and a professional priesthood established (likewise borrowed from abroad, after a vain attempt to turn the native heroism to account for the same purpose), the same fights about the legalized pre}^ had begun in Russia which constitute the political part of every other nation's history. Protection from plunder by the foreigner had everywhere to be bought from legalized plunderers at home,— and everywhere has the extent to which it was to be legal been fought for, — and every- where did the plunderers contest the prey amongst them- selves. What is not recorded in written records, but is shown by the results to which it has led, is the cementing process which now took place, and which marks the second stage in the mighty colonizing movement, going on imperceptibly in the north-east, without even the colonists themselves being conscious of its extent and significance. While Little Russia, the true mother-country on the Dnieper, and the tracts of land on the north-west of it, bordering on Poland, and inhabited hj minor Sclavonian tribes of mongrel character, now comprised under the name of Ruthenes, Russians, or Rusniaks, remained the theatre of civil as well as of foreign wars, the colony in the north and north-east, as whose starting point the country round Nowgorod has to be considered, enjoyed a comparative repose, and had all the advantages of national and ecclesiastical unification. The foundation of village by village must have gone on unabated as well as the pushing forward of the north-eastern frontier of the settle- ments ; for the geographical horizon rapidly widens in the records of the historian. As a distinct race the race of the Great Russians had first been formed at Nowgorod, on originally Finnic soil, by mixture with the Finnic tribe of the locality. Along the Newa, and the large 360 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENURE [Fauchek- lakes and water-courses of which it forms the mouth, the Finns had resisted farther encroachment. Their most warlike and proud tribes were settled there ; but farther east, where the same race occupied the whole country north of the Oka, and even farther south, and as far in an easterly direction as the river Ob, in Siberia, they were too thinly spread, and too little civilized, to form an obstruction to the constant advance of the great Russian village colonies. They continued for some time to fill the interstices of the network of river villages, living the life of huntsmen or lonely settlers, as l)efore ; but with the national unification and Christianization of the Great Russian invaders, the time of the total absorp- tion of the al^original people had arrived. They were turned into subjects of the grand prince or czar, and the prince, his relative and vassal who presided over the district, and they gradually disappeared, and are still so disappearing, among the villagers. For these latter henceforward refused altogether to respect the hunting- grounds left free between their villages. Simultaneously now with the extension went on the densification of the network of settlements. The erroneous notion is often met with in Western Europe, that the whole of Russia without exception is but thinly peopled. It is true that ver]/ lar(je parts of Russia are very thinly i)eopled, of which more anon, but the centre of the empire, on the Upper Wolga, on the Oka, and between these two rivers, a lump of land by no means despicable, shows the villages as close to each other as anywhere in Western Europe ; and if the same figure of density of population is not found in the tallies, it is not a lesser village popula- tion, ]jut a lesser population of the towns, which are few and far between, and sometimes very small, that accounts for it. The Church assisted the colonizing movement in another way. Pilgrimage had been introduced. One has to think of a people living in close confinement during a long winter, followed by a short and hot summer with protracted daylight, whose allurements pro- duce a feeling of restlessness; of a i)eoplc, moreover, Russia.] 7.V VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 361 living ill villages, every one of these villages looking back upon luiotlier, often very distant, village as a mother that claimed a visit; of a people, finally, living in com- munity of household interests, among whom the pilgrim, who sets out on his journey with the consent of his fellow-villagers, need not fear of seeing his interests neglected. Besides, migrations of long files of emigrants ou their way to the new settlement having been of 3'early occurrence from times immemorial, and these having been aljle to appeal on their way at every village on the roadside to the remembrance of a similar migration of the more aged and influential villages, hos- pitality to pilgrims could not but become at once a cogent rule. It is so still. Bread and the summer drink of the country, kwass, a kind of very thin, unfer- mented beer, are never — not by the poorest peasant — refused to the traveller ; and if payment for it be offered, its acceptance is invariably refused with indignation. The short nights, and the clothing — adapted even to severe colds— permit a night's rest in the open air, if no other is to be had. Thus the institution of religious pilgrimage — convenient pretext for the migratory pro- pensities of mankind — could find nowhere a more congenial soil than in Russia. It was but natural that the place of worship to which the religious pilgrimages were directed, and the mother-settlement, which a long- preserved attachment, transmitted in fireside tales from generation to generation, longed to see, in very many instances coincided. For the spread of convents, usually the ostensible places of destination of pilgrimage, followed the spread of settlements. The neighbourhood of a mother-village which had already many daughter- villages, was just the place to erect a convent. It will now be easy to imagine how colonization must have been pushed by the increased restlessness which the united church with its pilgrimages had brought over the whole nation, and by their becoming conscious, partly through the medium of their own feet and eyes, partly through the recitals of travellers passing their houses, of the immensity of the territory already under 362 Si'STEMS OF LAND TENURE [Faucher. tlioir g-rasp, and the iDoundless extension of unoccupied land in an easterly direction. The pilgrims were to them what American emigration agents now are to p]nglish, Irish, and German villagers. The pilgrims' refectory in the convent, where the pilgrims from far and near met, was their newspaper. The seats of the princes, whose number sometimes was very great, and the seats of the convents could not but gradually assume the character of larger or smaller emporiums of commerce. The swarms of peasants, which thc}^ periodically attracted, provided for it. The creation of a number of centres of commerce was the real and palpable result of the establishment of Church and State among the villagers of the great plains of Eastern Europe. But it would be a mistake to liken the Russian cities, even at the present day, to the cities of Western Europe. They never became, to a similar extent, the exclusive seats of industry. They remained pre- eminently marts of exchange whose lot it was to intro- duce division of labour l)et\vecn village and village, not division of labour between agriculturist and artizan, but between the peasants of one village, who continued to till the soil for their own sustenance, and who now began to apply the remainder of their time, instead of to all work, to some distinct occupation, and the peasants of other villages, who did just the same. Village industry is still the great industry of Russia. It would be very rash to condemn this as misguided activity. It must not be overlooked that in Russia the time for work in the open air is shorter, and. the time for work in the house is longer, than in Central and Western Europe. It will then easily l)e understood that the settlement, which first was compelled by colonial isolation to sustain itself, and had the disposal of a long winter to provide jjy house-industry for all the wants of the settlers, was not easily induced to give up the advantage derived from house-industry in winter, when the gradual introduction of division of labour between village and village, through the medium of marts and exchange, rendered house-industry more profitable. KussiA.j JX VARIOUS (JOUNTRIES. 363 We arrive now at institutions of still stranger appear- ance, when measured by the standard of Central and Western Europe, and yet easily intelligible, if it be but kept in mind that one thing binds the other in the web of civilization. Immovable property being the com- mon property of the village, and even the title-deed of movable property being derived at some previous time from repartitions by common consent, it was but natural to the villagers to consider the whole of the trade which had sprung up between them and others likewise as com- mon property. Was the son of the village, who had been permitted to set out, first on a pilgrimage, or a journey to court, then — the occasion having brought about the discovery of gain to be made by selling and buying, as a commercial traveller — alone to reap the benefit of his journey, which he could not have made had not his village been a common household? Thus the habit sprung up and became a law in the eyes of the villagers, that whoever of them, being abroad, got orders for articles to be produced by the house-industry of his village, did not get these orders for himself as speculator and emploj'er of labour, but for the village as a whole, and that the orders were to be distributed among the villagers by common consent. And thus things are still managed to a large extent. Thus the second — in recorded history the first — stage of Russian peasant life shows us the peasant as an artizan^ at least where division of labour had changed him into an artizan, and a member of a society of " adven- turers," who at the same time continued to produce the food necessary to feed them and their families, and partly the raw material for their branch of industry by the common husbandry of the village, which still formed the social unity of the country. The Mongol invasion, though it lasted two hundred and twenty-five 3^ears, appears to have had no influence whatever on the life led by the villagers nor even on the spread of their settlements. The business of the Mongols was with the grand prince, the other princes, and with the clergy. They humiliated the princes and 364 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [!■ auciier. made tlicm pay triljuto, tluit is to say, give up part of the taxes they received IVoiu the villagers ; but as tor the clergy, they even took off taxation from them. The state in which the country emerged from the dominion of the nomads shows that it cannot have suffered much ; perhaps it had even benefited. For it would seem as if, in the time immediately before the conquest, there had already been attempts on the part of the single princes to prevent the people from leaving their state or province for the purpose of erecting new settlements elsewhere. With the nomads the old liberty returned. It is very pro1)able that colonization continued unabated even under Mongol rule. The immunities and lavours bestowed by these shrewd Asiatics upon the priestly order cannot but have assisted colonization. For the church was not merely indirectly, through pilgrimage, but directly, through hermits and gardening convents, a colonizing agency. The priestly order, recruited from the peasantry, remained faitliful to their habits and propensities. AVith the withdrawal of the Mongols into Asia began the disenfranchisement of the great bulk of the peasantry, but it progressed very gradually. Records are insufficient, but the state of things met with at a later and better- known period admits of pretty safe conclusions. The main lesson drawn from the experience of a foreign dominion was, that the bond of unity of the emi)ire had to be drawn tighter. The rule of numerous princes, vassals of the grand prince, who now officially adopted the oriental name of Czar, or rather Zar, had to be done away with, at all events. Iwan I IF. commenced the struggle, Iwan I v., the Terrible, brought it to a successful issue. This struggle favoured the growth of a petty nol)ility, formed partW of the courtiers of the late princes, whom czars leil in possession of the yield of the taxes of such villages as had been allotted to them b}^ their former masters, without insisting upon regular service on tiieir part, merely reserving tiie right to summon tliem when wanted. Such is still the relation of the whole Jvussian noljilitvto their czar. It consisted, furtlier, of the czar's Russia.] 7.V VAIiWUS COUNTIiTES. 305 own servants, which were partly taken from among the villagers themselves, likewise endowed with the yield of the taxes of one or more villages, — and lastly, of the proprietors of such villages, mainly situated in the Avestern parts of Russia, which had been formed of slaves, and had always been the property of their masters. Tillages not being disposed of in such a way seem to have remained free villages or crown villages till the later years of the reign of Iwan lY., who seems to have commenced the practice, largely resorted to in later times, of turning crown villages into villages belonging to the czar, not as sovereign of the countr}', but as landed proprietor. Such villages, peopled by prisoners of war and their offspring, the slaves of the czar, must have existed always, just as similar villages, mentioned above, were in possession of single noblemen. But there can be little doubt that Iwan lY. in designating by a legisla- tive act which villages w^ere henceforward to be con- sidered as state property (Siemschina), and which as property of the czar (Opritchina), did so for purposes of appropriating what was not his own. He appropriated in this way even cities. The lawlessness of his proceed- ings is proved by the amends which were made for them in later times, w^hen at least all the cities and other pro- perty were again excluded from the Opritchina or apan- age of the imperial house. Tlie changes effected amounted to this, that a very great number of villages, having been formerly free communities, merely paying taxes to the state, had been turned into estates of the czar and the nobility, on which the peasantry had to pay rent. The amount paj^aljle remaining unaltered, and the person to whom it was to be paid remaining the same, the peasantry, perhaps, did not even become aware of the change. The}^ may still have considered their village as a little socialistic and patriarchal republic, just as the bees in the hive are not aware that they have other masters besides their queen. But the time was now fast approaching when every 3()(J SYSTEM'S OF LAND TENLlil<: [Faucher. doubt lliat tlieir old liberty was gone should be removed from them. Popular poetry in Russia has kept alive, in rhjiiied wails, the memory of St. George's day, as the day when Boris G-odsmow, the usurper, published his ukase, by which the Russian i)easant was forbidden to quit his village without permission and })assport, either from the proprietor of the estate, into which the village had been turned, or, where it was still a free village, from the authority to which it was submitted. The ukase, besides, ordained that every peasant, not being provided with such a passport, and being found wander- ing about the country, should be taken into custody, his personal identity and his whereabouts should be ascer- tained, and that he should be sent back in irons to his village, where punishment might be inflicted upon him for having left it without permission. Boris Godsmow is represented to have acted thus, in compliance with the wishes of the petty landed nobility — his main supporters. They had represented to the Government that the liefs they held in exchange for service done, or service they were bound to do, were valueless if the peasants Avere permitted to emigrate. Modern writers, even Russians themselves, and still more French and Germans, have not shrunk from justifying Boris Godsmow and his nobles, by asserting that this was the only means of putting an end to the nomadic pro- pensities of the Russian people, which the Mongol invasion had fostered anew. But where is the slightest evidence of nomadic ])ropensities among the peasantry of Northern Russia, before that time, at that time, and after that time ? Not even the Cossacks — fugitives, as they were, from oppression in the southern ste})pe — bore even the slightest resemblance to real nomads. To colonize and to nomadize are two very different things. Just as well one may talk of nomadic propensities among the English, or the Spaniards, or the Dutch, or the Germans. The truth is, that just towards the end of the long reign of Iwan tlie 'J'errible the colonizing movement in an easterly and southerly direction had assumed new propor- Russia.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. ;'>o7 tions. The Khanats of Kasaii and Astrachaii had been conquered ; Siberia had been discovered by the Cossacks, and a large part of it conquered ; the steppe and the black country in Southern Russia had acquired a safety uidvuown before. The commerce of the West, the fur- trade of Nowgorod with Germany, which was more a trade of the Finnic hunters, than of the Russian village- artizans, and of Kiew with the Byzantine Empire, had almost ceased, Iwan III. having crushed the former by imprisoning German merchants, and the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks having crushed the latter. Instead of it, commerce with the lilast, with Central Asia, had commenced on a large scale, lirst introduced by the jMongols, then favoured by the conquest of the two Khanates and of Siberia. Here it was the produce of the industry of the Russian villagers that was sold ; and the further eastward they went with their settlements the more they benefited by it. The whole nation was astir with colonizing projects ; and the records of the dates of foundation of the older settlements in the East show how many of them were carried out. But then the proprietors of the villages, now private estates, and the czar himself, as proprietor of the apanage estates, lost the advantage of increasing popu- lation on their estates and of an increasing rent from them. They, besides, lost the power of raising the rent. What I am about to add is mere probability, but it is probability ; a certain approach had taken place between the Russian Government^ isolated after the fall of Constantinople from all other Governments, and one at least of the Governments of Western Europe. The English had found the way to the White Sea, and already Iwan lY. had exchanged embassies with Queen Elizabeth ; and Boris Godsraow continued amicable relations with the Queen, and even attempted to bring about a marriage of his son with one of her relatives. His ambassador, Mikulin, took even an active part in the streets of London in the C{uelling of Essex's insurrec- tion. Mikulin had to report to the czar on English legislative institutions. In the year 1601 (Stat. 43, 3G8 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENUIiE [Faucher. Queen Eliz.), the great poor law, crowning the efforts of the Tudor age in dealing with the difficulty of pilgrims and vagabonds — the banc of the country, down from the time when Henry YII. abolished vassalage — had become the law of the land in England. It had been preceded by Stat. 14, Queen Eliz., which ordained that the abode of persons who could not or would not do work was to be fixed to the parish in which they were born, or in which they had resided during three years, and, in case of vagabonds, during one year. Might not Boris Godsmow, whose legislative acts in the matter date from 1592, 1597, IGOl, and IGOG, belea- guered by his nobilit}^, and getting the convenient pre- text of a famine (which broke out, engendering swarms of beggars and a typhus-epidemic, which these beggars carried all over the country), and informed by his ambassador of the wise counsel, under similar circum- stances of the advisers of the English queen, have tried a Muscovite version of contemporaneous English legislation ? Indeed, it looks very much like it. Pronenessto imitation, and reckless boldness in trying it, is a Russian characteristic to this day, of which more anon. The decisive blow had fallen. It did not at once bring about its final results — compulsory labour of whatever kind the master demands from his slave— but it contained it in germ, and the development was rapid. The first and most important consequence was, that colonization was checked for a long time, and only re- commenced when the masters, having become masters in full, themselves found it profitable. The whole seventeenth century shows the heart in the prostrated ))ody of the Russian peasantry still palpitating. The enshrined spirit of liberty asserts itself in religious sectarian movements, in agrarian risings, in l)old I)rigandage, under the seductive form of free Cossack life. It was reserved for the eighteenth century to con- summate the worst. The harmless and gentle villagers, who for the love of wife, child, l)rother, sister, and neighbour, had conquered tiie uncongenial eastern plain RnssTA.] IN VARfOrS COUS TRIER. 360 of Europe for civilisation, now disappear, as working a.o:onts, from the historical records of their country ; they have become mere tools to work with, mere matter to be worked upon. They are now " mujiks " — bodies — " tcliornoi narod " — black people : something like niggers, as it would seem. A large part of them are bought and sold with the land ; without the land, they are merely let out, and feel themselves most favoured when they arc let out to themselves* And yet it would be wrong to liken their fate, even when it was worst, which is during the time from Peter I., the Great ( !), to about the accession of Alexander L, to that of the black slaves in the colonies of Western Europe. Patriarchal feelings and patriarchal habits never became extinct, either with the Russian serf or with the Russian master. The harmless and gentle character of the villagers is the harmless and gentle character of the nation, which has but the fault of bearing good luck not so well as bad luck, and of becoming drunk with transitory pride, with still more transitory anger, and with zeal, more transitory with them than anything else. The attempts to relieve the fate of the peasantry began with the government of the Emperor Nicholas. The state of things with which he had to deal had received a finishing stroke by a set of imperial decrees of the Emperor Paul in the year 1797. These decrees, which at least had restored to the peasantry the right of electing their village heads, were left intact by Nicholas, except as far as the " |)rivate peasants," that is to say, the serfs of private proprietors, or of the czar as private proprietor, of estates were concerned. The most im- portant change of the Emperor Nicholas was intro- duced by a ukase issued in 1842, which permitted to the proprietors of private estates to transform, by treaties, their serfs into farmers, the Government vouch- ing for the former serfs fulfilling the conditions under- taken by them in the treaties. The idea was to see * The household serfs, being considered as the offspring of the slaves of the middle ages, loere sold without land, and, as it appears, in spite of the law, numliers of peasants, tof), under pretext that they were household serfs. 2 M 370 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Faucheb. Avhat forms of treaties would prove the most popular and acceptable to both sides, and then, if still need be, to frame a general compulsory measure, in which the contents of the poj^ular form or forms of treaties were to be embodied. But very little use was made of the expedient, as has been asserted, from the difficulty of settling things with the mortgage holders. The Emperor Nicholas, besides, hj ukase issued in 1848, abolished the interdict to private peasants of buying immovable property. He further reinforced the law interdicting the sale of peasants without land, by forbidding its evasion hy transforming peasants first into household slaves, and also the sale of land without peasants, if, by such sale, the village-acre was curtailed in such a way as to amount to less than four and a half djessatines (twelve acres) for every male villager. Finally, he issued regulations defining more distinctly than the law did before, how much labour, or how much payment in lieu of labour, in a variety of cases and places, the peasant-serfs owed to their masters. But all this did not amount to much, when compared with what the position of the peasantry once was, and with what it since has become. When the Emperor Alexander II. announced his resolve to do justice to the peasantry, he found still nearly one half of them — forming with their families more than one third of the population of the empire — to all practical purposes slaves, tilling a soil which did not belong to them, without being paid for their labour, during about three days in the week, while they had to sustain themselves and their families by their labour during the other three days, likewise by tilling a soil which did not belong to them, and not in the way the}^ chose to do it, but as they were permitted, or rather ordered to do it. I'lie serfs, though their number had comparatively declined, formed still the largest group among the Russian peasantry. Next in numbers stood the crown peasants^ the rcnniant of the old free peasantry, turned into copyholdei-s from the crown, and governed by servants of the crown. Their position has not been I^ussiA.] IX VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 371 toiicliod by the art of 1801, but by a recent special act, wliicli lias been framed to bring the position of this part of the peasantry into better accordance witli that of the enfran(^liised private peasants. It mnst not be passed over that, at least to the eye of the foreign travelling observer, there is no marked difference of well-beins: visible l)etween the villa.a'cs of crown peasantry and those of private peasantry. There are Russian authors — but such as belonged and still belong to the political opposi- tion in the empire, like Golowin and Dolgorukow — who pretend that the crown peasants had and have far more to suffer than the private peasants. Dolgorukow, in particular, whose work, ' The Truth al)out Russia,' was published but shortly before the act of 18G1, gives a revolting description of the abuse which the fnnctionaries of the crown, entrusted with the administration of the crown villages, make of their power. The crown peasants had then and have still to pay copyhold- fee to the crown, part of them by each head of the male population, part of them in shape of a real land-tax, and were then still burdened with a certain amount of com- pulsory lal)our, which, road-making excepted, now has been superseded by fees. The fees levied by the head yield ten millions of roubles, the land-tax thirty millions of roubles. The highest fee on the head is 2r. 86k., the lowest 2r. 15k. The cop,yhold-right is always a right of the village as a whole. The sale of it by the villagers was not permitted, yet they might so far dispose of it, as to barter their position with other crown peasants, or even with private peasants, on certain conditions. And they might let out the land for fifty years to other persons; an arrangement evidently designed to facilitate the erection of industrial establishments in the country. The minor groups consisted, before 1861, firstly, of freeliolders living in farm-yards separated from every village. They are to be met with in Great Russia, in the southern governments, in the so-called country of the black soil. They are supposed to be the Russianized remnants of the original inhabitants of the countrj^, the Tchudes, who in the south, on the fertile soil, were not 2 R 2 372 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Faucher. merely or pre-eminently huntsmen, but am'iculturists too. This is very ])robal)le. It is said that a far greater number of them would still exist, had not Peter I. recklessly deprived tliem of their freehold right, and compelled them to l)ecome crown peasants. They are further to be met with in the Western Ruthene provinces ; and there they are the offspring of the lower Polish nobilit}^ (shlachta), who invaded these provinces and settled down in them, and afterwards were unable to prove their noble descent. Another group was formed by the serfs who had l)ought immovable property since 1848. There were further Russian bojars, whose nobility was not proved, or was lost, and who therefore were con- sidered as glelja3 adscript!, though on their own property ; and Cossacks, whose freedom and right to their property had been recognized. All these groups, together with a very small amount of Russian peasantry tilling the property of other persons, without being serfs, nameh', of persons not entitled to have serfs, because not being noblemen, and yet landowners, were evidently exceptions, and not the rule. The remainder was not of Russian nationality. The measures adopted l)y the Emperor Nicholas for initiating and stimulating a voluntary abandonment of serfdom on the part of the masters, as a rule, having proved abortive, and yet great numbers of the masters themselves having become fully conscious of the increas- ing personal danger to which they were exposed, so long as they had to deal with the peasantry as with their serfs, this much was considered as a settled thing, when the Emperor Alexander II. ascended to the throne, by himself as well as by his people, that at all events serfdom was now to be entirely and forcibly eradicated from agrarian legislation in Russia. In this primary and unconditional postulate all the world agreed. But nobody, not even the most strenuous advocate of unlimited rights of proi)erty in land, conferred by superannuation on the proprietor in legally acknowledged possession, could hide from himself, that merely to sever the link between master and serf, and to make this measure at KussiA.J IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 373 the same time sever the link between the serf and the land^ would be, besides an historical injustice, a political blunder involving the most direful consequences. For what was to become of the enfranchised serf? An agricultural labourer ? Would this be the use he would make of his freedom, that he remained what he had been, with this difference, that his master, now called his emploj'er, could — in his idea, far worse than to whip him — turn him out of doors with wife and child, at the slightest sjanptom of even a justifiable disoljedience ? A farmer ? And, if a farmer, a farmer of what ? Merely of the land necessary to provide the food and clothing for the family ? But, being unable to pay any rent out of the produce of this land, he would have to do other work to enable liim to i)ay the rent. What work ? Tillage industrj^ ? Field labour on the proprietor's land ? Would not he thus legally be the same labourer as above, onh' with notice to quit l)y the year, instead of l)y the week, for practically it would be by the year in both cases; and in both cases the security of his sustenance, which with serfdom was perfect, would l)e superseded l)y a constant apprehension of losing his sustenance, and render him as resistless as farmer against rack-rent, as he would be resistless as labourer against depression of wages and maltreatment. Practically, in Ijoth cases his position would be exactly the same ; for the rack- rent in the one case would be but another form of the depression of wages in the other. Everybody — econo- mist as well as socialist — understood that the economical, or social law, as the reader likes, which regulates the relations between employer and labourer, and between proprietor and farmer — a law which the economist trusts, and which the socialist curses, at all events was not applicable, wdiere the threat of the loss of a homestead and of a sustenance hitherto enjoyed by the future labourer or farmer under very different arrangements was thrown into the balance to the employer's or pro- prietor's advantage, and to the labourer's or farmer's disadvantage. It could not but have rapidly brought about a probably fearful state of the country. It would 374 SYSTEMS OF LAX J) TENVIlE [Faucheu. have soon filled tlie countiy Avith swarms of peasantry, wandering to and fro, now begging:, now endangering the safety of the roads, and finally of tlie conn try-seats. The pretext of Boris Godsniow would have been turned into a reality. The resolve of doing away altogether with serfdom involved, therefore, in everybody's eyes in Russia, at once a second resolve, naniel}^, that of settling the land question between the late master and his late serfs in such a way as to ]^revent the bulk of the peasantry from becoming sudclenly and simultaneously unsettled and homeless, and as to make the new relations between emplo3'er and labourer, or between proprietor and farmer, take their issue from positions duly balancedbetween them. But this being agreed upon by almost unanimous consent, a tldrd still more precarious problem at once emerged, so to speak, from the deep sea of agrarian history in Russia, and forced itself on the anxions atten- tion of the native statesmen and writers on public affairs. If the land was to be divided between the master and his serfs, was the single former serf to be invested with freehold property, in accordance with what had taken place under similar circumstances further west in Europe, or was regard to be had to the old national custom of common village property and joint village husbandry — the " Mir," as the language has it, in an expression not to be translated into a language of Western Europe? This custom was still alive and paramount in the horizon of peasant thought, though now in the disguise of a common household, not by connuon consent, and free to act as the members of the household liked, but of a common household placed under the supreme will, in the last instance, of a resident or absentee-master, hekMiging to another sphere of society than the mendjcrs of the house- hold themselves, and being either the czar himself or somebody else, who lorded it over the Mir, in the eyes of the peasantry at least, alwaj's in the name of the czar? The land, (piestion hetu^een peasant and peasant was there- fore a third (piestion embodied in the primary one of the total al)()lition of the bondnue of iiiiricuUnral labour. Russia.] IN VABIOUS COUNTRIES. 375 It finally appeared that local administration and local jurisdiction, yes, even that amount of local legisla- tion which can never totally be dispensed with, could not remain, with an enfranchised peasantry, what they had been before, when a good deal of the duties of administration, jurisdiction, and legislation, as far as the serfs were concerned, simply devolved on their master, whose supreme will was the Alexander's sword for cutting many a Grordian knot. The necessity to supersede indi- vidual will in affairs which from private affairs had become public affairs by collective will, was the fourtli of the proljlems by which the Russian reformers had to be prepared to see their legislative abilities tried, after the removal of tlie stain of slaver}^ from their national escutcheon had once become their firm resolve. The moment has now arrived to mention the most prominent features of party division in Eussia, with regard to the reform of agrarian legislation. They may be described as the economist and imperial party, on the one side, and the socialist and national, on the other, the former, at the same time, being reproached with aristo- cratic leanings, the latter very ostensibly professing democratic ones. It would be verj^ erroneous to com- pare them in any way to Conservatives and Liberals in the sense of Western Europe. They would, both of them, repudiate it themselves with rather contemptuous laughter. The faith, the very sincere faith, of the socialist and national — which, with them, does not merely mean Russian, but Pansclavonian — party is, tliat it is all over with the particular form of civilization which is dominant in Western Europe. According to them, the future belongs altogether to the Russian " Mir " and to the Sclavonian race. Communism in land is designated by them as the particular Sclavonian sulistratum of civilization. According to them, the nations of AYestern Europe, who, all of them, in times dating back very far, knew of institutions similar to the Russian Mir, com- mitted a fatal blunder already at the beginning of their career, and condemned themselves to unavoidable decay setting in sooner or later, by allowing land to Ijecome 376 SYSTEM!^ OF LAXD TENi'liE [Fauoheu. the object of individual rltiht of ])ropcrty, which, among the Western nations, was estaljlished by the formation of a feudal aristocracy first, and the revival of Roman law afterwards. Land, they ara'ue, havinp; never been pro- duced, but found, derives the vahie which we now find adhcrino; to the l)are acre exclusively from social, not from individual efforts. Rent paid to individuals has therefore no foundation in justice, but only such rent as is paid to meet the public expenditure of the smaller or larg-er community, the parish, the county, the state. The position of this party in regard to the land question, as a question between noble proprietor and peasant, was therefore to make light of the inherited or purchased rights of the proprietor, to insist upon as much land being taken from him as possible, and of his being treated in fiitnre simph' as one of the peasants of the village. Of course they were aware that they could not entertain the hope of seeing such a scheme carried out in our times; and those of them who were called upon to take an active part in framing the new legislation did not even attempt it, strong as their influence was. But notice is to be taken of the existence and collaboration of a political party and of statesmen who, as far as they consented to leave to the noble proprietor rights of [property, singled out from the common ones of the village, did so from reasons of expediency, and not from inclination or conviction. It had its very sensible influence on the quantitative side of the arrangement elfected. The confiscation of rent, on which the Sclavonian socialists ]»nt the construction of a restoration of the original and inalienable right of property of the com- munity in the soil, rests evidently on a theor}- on which they nmst be prepared to act, if it be shown to them that its sincere adoption involves the necessity of not merely ap])lying it to the settlement of the affairs of the living generation, but of a constantly repeated ap- plication. They are, however, fully aware of this, and do not shrink iVom asserting that they are not merely prepared, but really engaged in so acting. And they Russia.] 7.V VAlilOUS COUNTRIES. 377 point, for proving this, to tlieir arduous and uncon- ditional defence and recommendation of the Mir, which is their solution of the second problem of the land question, namely, of the questiou between peasant and peasant. Propert}^ in the soil being considered the property of all, it becomes evidently necessary to decide on what title to rest the claim of the individual to work a certain parcel of tliis soil. The rei)ly of the Sclavonian socialists is very plain; they say, let the title be composed of his free will and of his evident ability. What ? the stronger or more intelligent man, or the man with more working capital, is to get more than the others ? The reply is, this is not what, in the first place, we are meaning. Before all other considerations, we have in view the man with a larger family . In Western Europe the difference in the number of children between one family and the other is a more frequent cause, particularly with the class of small landed proprietors and of small farmers, of the increasing difference between wealth and poverty, than laboriousness and parsimony here, idleness and spendthriftiness there. The great bulk of every peo})le, under the influence of custom and neighbours' gossip, are pretty nearly alike as to economical habits. Yet poverty, as well as wealth, is on the increase in the West, with the peasant population in France and Germany, and with what is left of that class in England. We ascribe it to the blessing not being known there of our "Mir." In a Western village with divided soil a family gets poorer by being blessed with numerous children in rapid succession. For during the first fourteen years of his life the child is a mere burden, and while the family which the soil has to feed grows, the soil they possess and are able to till does not grow ; and even when, fourteen years or more later, they are enabled to till more soil, by the growing maturity of tlieir progeny, in numbers of cases it has become too late, and they are not any longer in the position to buy or farm more soil. In our " Mir " the family is not impoverished by the birth of a child, but, on the contrarv, r'/?/'/cV^tY/. For with the number of children 378 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENURE [Faucher. increases the share of the lamily in the village house- hold. Of all that is held in common and produced in common they jiartake a head's share more. The hirtk of a male child thus is our new title to the right of husbandly on a unit-sliare of the soil of the empire ; and here you have the constantly repeated a])plication of the theory in Avhich we believe. The " Mir " is merel}' a commodious instrument for effecthig it. As far as the surplus of ])rogeny in one family is countcrl)alanced by the sterility of other families in the Mir, the title acquired in the Mir by the birth of a child involves no cur- tailment of the titles of the other members of the "Mir." A'oluntary emigration into the cities is further calculated to prevent any rapid decrease of the size of the unit- share. It is true that with the birth of the child the increase of the family's ability for working the soil is but yet prospective. But w hat else takes place, save that a debt is incurred, which the child growm up will have to repay in similar manner ? Those who have fewer mouths of children to feed have to do work for those who have more such mouths to feed. We are levj'ing a kind of rate, not appearing in public accounts, for counter- acting the effects of such inequalities between family and family for which nobody is responsible. For we do not consider an^'body responsible for the number of his children. We do not believe in the doctrine of the necessity of self-imposed restraint as means to and result of a higher stage of civilization. It is against nature ; it cannot be right. Our village rate for assisting numerous families, to prevent inequality of wealth to creep into our villages, invented not by theorist, but by our people themselves in times beyond the dawn of history, is the result of an instinctive forethought, for the absence of which you in the West are punished by your poor-rates. A^'hat our people pay at once, w^hen it can he both given as \xc\\ as received with a good grace, yours have to pay afterwards, when it is burden- some to give and degrading to receive — when it, besides, is unable to cnre an already hereditary evil. The " Mir " ()[' the village, of course, is only a stage in the ai)plication ItussiA.] IN VARIOUS COUNTIilES. 370 of the theory of communism in land. Should the increase of the population of the village have increased in such a way as to reduce the unit-share too much, we mean to resort to the old expedient of our people, colonization. We have still uncultivated land enough, and very good land too. And if we had not, we would know how to procure it. Of the new village, the nation, the empire, has to take care, as the village does of its child. I have let the Pansclavonian socialists speak on this particular land question between peasant and peasant so extensively, selecting from what I have read and heard what appeared to me their most plaimble — by no means convincing — arguments, because it is the question they have most at heart. In fact, it is the national pride Avhich one has here to deal with. I have tlie impression — I cannot help it — that the Sclavonian nations, being 30 very late and backward with their reformatory era, must absolutely have something for themselves. Their young men, and, in Russia itself, perhaps still more the youno- ladies — who are verv busv and enthusiastic, and undoubtedly of a general education more reseml^ling man's highest education than is the case in any other country, England, America, and Sweden not excepted — rushed in swarms into the political arena, as soon as the death of the Emperor Nicholas, the humiliation of the Empire in the Crimean war, and the declared willingness of the Emperor Alexander 11. to unfetter the forces slumber- ing in this great nation, had sounded the death-knell of the German tutelage under which the nation stood before. In their youthful national enthusiasm, they looked round to what was either truly Sclavonian or altogether new. The German youth did just the same after the war of liberation from the French; and the time from 1815 to 1820 in Germany bears a striking resemblance to what took place in Russia during the first five years of Alexander's reign. The Russian youth now discovered the very old Russian Mir and the ver}- new French socialism, and had what they wanted. Now Russia need no longer lower her head before anAdjody. She was 380 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENURE [Fauciikk. as far advanced as the boldest French radicals, and 3'et could proudly tell them that, what with the French had ended as a dream, with the Russians had begun with a reality — a reality A\hich the}' had always possessed, although in a mutilated form, despised and maltreated ; and that they possessed it still There was no arguing with them, for they would not argue. They would believe what they liked to believe, were sharp-witted enough — for they are sharp-witted — to find out the most plausible arguments in favour of their belief, and not sober enough — for the,y are not sober — really to busy themselves with examining the arguments against it. It was not the I'ault of the llussian socialists, when the occasion has not been made use of to introduce the great Eussian Mir all over the empire, to make it com- pulsory on the enfranchised peasantry, and to make it perpetual. However, as they profess the firm con- viction that at least all the Sclavonian people still prefer common, to individual, husbandry, they could not but admit that to leave it optional with the enfranchised peasants, if they would continue the arrangement which they had established when free, and, as serfs, were compelled to uphold, was all they reasonably could insist upon. As to the new organization of local administration, jurisdiction, and legislation, which was concomitant with the measure, it is manifest that the socialist democratic party T am speaking of repudiates anj^ other macliinery but that of election by the people to all the representa- tive as wtII as executive charges and appointments of local self-government, uitJt salaries, as far as pretexts and money for them can be got, and without ?a\y but the most obvious disabilities. Here the necessit}^ to secure as many interested advocates among the people them- selves of peaceful co-operation with the Government and the aristocracy for steering the dangerous measure into port clear of the rocks, which mark the jia^-sage of every serious social reform, has greatl}- assisted the views and the wishes of the Russian social democrats; and Russia is perhaps at i">resent that country in l^^urope which, in Russia.] IN VAIUOUS COUNTRIES. 381 the inferior parts of its political organization, comes up nearest to the ideal of democracy. The stratagem to have the part of tlie lousiness more odious to the peasants done by elected but paid — very well paid — peasants, and the part more odious to the proprietors likewise by elected, but paid — very well paid — members of the class of pro- prietors, has been considered as a particularly lucky stroke of policy on the part of the late minister Milintine, the statesman who enjoyed the confidence of the Kussian social democrats, though he did not quite belong to their numl)er. Time only can sliow if it really will prove lucky. The Pansclavonian socialists were the movement party in the affair ; the more aristocratic Russian patriots, who still are looking to Western Europe as a teacher, who have begun to make political economy a favourite study, and who meditate, before all other things, the transition of their state, cautiously and by degrees, to parliamentary government — not much in favour with the Russian socialist democracy — were willing enough to do everything that was needed to re-establish the personal liberty of the great bulk of their people, but disinclined to sacrifice the interest of the class of noble landowners to any such extent as to impair their fitness for constituting a native and independent political gentry. For, without this being accomplished, parliamentary government and local self-government in Russia, ac- cording to them, would be )jut a dream or a sham. I must confess that from what I, as a foreigner, know and saw of the country and people, 1 very stronglj^ share this conviction. The abolition of serfdom must undoubtedly, as a secondary advantage, largel}^ con- tribute to the growth of such an independent gentry among the class of landowners ; for he who owns serfs, be he ever so well educated, is neither independent nor a gentleman ; but then neither his authority with the people of his neighbourhood, nor the weight and freedom of movement his wealth imparts to him, must be curtailed. Thus the movement party, for whom these considerations had no meaning, was faced by a resisting party, as far as the no))le proprietors' interests and the 382 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TEXVRE [Fauciifr. European stamp of agrarian arrangements were con- cerned, among the Russians themselves. The nightmare of an essentially German rule — severe, as is always the rule of a minority, and of a minority of foreign nationality too — having been taken from the country, and the reform of agrarian legislation having, by common consent and the imperial will, been declared to be the first and foremost business of the awakened nation, the older, more sober, and wealthier of the educated Russians cast their looks, in the first in- stance, in the same way on England as the younger ones did on France. They saw the soil of England divided into huge lumps of landed property, as huge as their own, but very much better cultivated, and yielding splendid rent. This rent they saw paid by farmers living on iarms sometimes of consideralole size, in most cases at least of a respectable size, which, however, with the fertility of the soil, the propitious climate, per- mitting the greatest numljer of working days in the open air in the whole world, with the dense net of mag- nificent roads of all kinds, and, above all things, with a town population standing in the relation of two and more to one to the rural population, are equal in agri- cultural importance to very considerable Russian estates. They saw these i'armers bringing the whole movable capital with them, to an amount per acre quite beyond Russian conceptions, and sometimes even risk- ing a part of their own capital. Thus far a most enviable prospect arose before their view. But then they saw a great numl)er of agricultural labourers, not exactly badly paid, in a great number of counties pretty well paid, in some places, in the south-west, indeed, insufficiently paid, l)ut, there could be no doul)t, even where pretty well paid, not ivell off. The}^ could not help seeing the figures of the poor-rate in rural parishes, and then the dwellings and the clothing ! The English agri- cultural lal>ourer's cottage decidedly did not come up, in the majority of cases, to the standard of the blockliouse of the Russian serf, either in size or in the furniture filling the house. 'J'he clothing, cotton and cotton again, Russia.] IX VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 383 or the smockfrock and rude shoes ; and in Russia, stout linen, woollen clotli, the sheepskin coat, and always excel- lent boots, almost up to the knee ; the food about on a level with that in b^ngland, perhaps a little more meat, but less milk, butter, eggs, and river-lish ; in Russia, good, though coarse, bread in profusion; in England, better and finer bread, but in limited quantity. In England, peas and potatoes ; in Russia, little except potatoes for making fat cakes, but, besides peas, grits of buckwheat, a very wholesome food, in great quantities, and lentils and beans. The drink in both cases tea, in Russia always of a superior quality (Congo teas) ; a great diflerenceonly in the beer, which cannot be better than in England, or worse than in Russia. But then to the Russian kwass everybody is as welcome as to water. It is not to be wondered at, when, after all, even many of those Russians, who constructed the new era of their state and their social institutions into an approach to the forms of Western Europe, yet did not quite shut their ear to the insinuations of their countrymen of the doctrine of Sclavonian socialism, and from the com- mencement were ready to let the Mir at least have its trial by the side of other experiments, all the more as it was the existing form in so large a part of the empire, apart from the serfdom, which had merely been super- posed on the Mir. This resolve was naturally strengthened by their eye now falling on the farmers of small farms, particularly in Ireland. For the transformation of the serfs into labourers at one stroke had at an early period become out of the question. The original project in this quarter had been to transfer to the enfranchised serfs the full pro- perty of the blockhouses in which they lived, with but a small patch of garden attached to each, without any pay- ment on the part of the peasants, and to leave the pro- prietor in possession of the whole acreage. Such a settle- ment, at all events, would have been clear and easy enough, and it was fancied that the gift of personal liberty and a house, without debts, at the same time, would be enough to content the peasants. But the strenuous 384 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TEXURE [Faucheb. opiiosition of the democratic party to such a solution of the problem, the bad o-race with which it was received by the Iniperial Glovernincnt, who looked upon the creation of an order of peasant-proprietors, or, at least, of peasant-farmers, as essentially contribntino: to the stal)ility of the throne, as necessary for the business of recruitinp: the army, and as a guarantee of an uninter- rupted increase of the population, and lastly and princi- pally, the undenial)le disinclination of the serfs themselves to part with what the}^ had still considered as a kind, at least, of right of property, in spite of serfdom, and of ever so many personal experiences, which ought to have taught them that they had no such right, had early rendered it impossible. Thus, at least, the tran- sitional transfornration of the serfs into small farmers had already become inevitable in the immediate future. But what had been the experience where small indi- vidual farms are the rule ? Why, abject misery, semi- barbarism, and, before all things, agrarian riots and agrarian crime ! Thus even with this party the revival of the independent " Mir," as first form of the new peasant life, from which, as from an embryonic state, higher forms of agrarian organization were gradually to issue, soon became a settled affair. Their afterthought was, and is, of course, to get rid of it as soon as possil)le. An attempt to secure this possibility by a provision which made it optional with the projirietor after the lapse of a certain number of years, to turn the copy- hold — which was henceforward to form the legal and original link between the proprietor and the villagers, continuing, as free men, to work in common — into tenure at will, was likewise frustrated by the opposi- tion of the Government. For the reasons indicated above, they had to be content with the provision, as a final compromise between the two opposed parties, that it should be made optional iritli the peasants^ either to accpiirc the freehold of the land allotted to them, by paying a legally settled price for it in instal- ments, and with the assistance of (rovernment, or to dis- solve the Mir. Russia.] TN VARIOUS COUNTRTES. 385 Thus the whole plan, under the contending influence of opposed ideas as to the future agrarian organization to be desired, assuiued this general shape. The retention of the sj^stem of common husbandry by the enfranchised serfs of a village, as the cradle of an estate of peasant pro- prietors, created by tlieir own free efforts, by the side of large noble proprietors of land, so that jjoth classes of proprietors will have to show of what stuff they are made. Events will prove whether the result of this competi- tion between the two systems will be a constantly increasing peasant proprietary, owing to further pur- chases of land effected by the peasantry, or the absorp- tion of property in the hands of the nobles, who will then have to turn it to account l)y free labour, instead of by the labour of serfs, or by letting their land probably in farms of larger size to the most intelligent and enter- prising of the peasant class. The " Mir " or copyhold, which evidently will retain the weakest part of the peasantry, would serve all the while as a safeguard against the spread of pauperism of the West European character, as a kind of agricultural workhouse under the manage- ment of the inmates themselves, but not, as will be seen, without control ; a workhouse endowed with a not incon- siderable amount of soil, for which rent is to be paid. Now as to the main provisions in which this general idea has been embodied. It is unnecessary to dwell upon that part of the legis- lation which had for its object to restore personal liberty. The Russian people have thus acquired rights which in Europe are general rights, so far, at least, as they are valid against any private person. The provisions concerning the partition of the land between tlie proprietor and the peasants are the first point of interest. The proprietor of a village is bound to hand over to the villagers, in hereditary copyhold against payment of rent, an amount of land, the exact size of which depends on local circumstances, and on friendly agreement Ijctween the proprietor and the peasants ; but there is a minimum fixed on the male 2 c 38G SYSTEMS UF LAND TEXUllE [Favciier. s head of the villap;e popnhition. To understand that thi "v\"as possible, the law revived or rather reinforced b}' the Emperor Nicholas has to be kept in mind, that no pro- prietor was to be allowed to sell hind without peasants, unless enough was left to the village to amount to 4J djessatines (about 1 2 acres) per male head of the popu- lation. But in the same way as a minimum is fixed, a maxi- mum also is fixed. For this purpose, European Eussia (Finnland, the German Baltic provinces, and the kingdom of Poland were not affected b^^the measure) was divided into three zones : the steppe, the country of the black soil, and the provinces belonging to neither. These three zones were again subdivided into respectively 12, 8, and districts. In the steppe districts, the mini- mum and maximum were made to coincide ; the legal share on the male head was fixed at 3 djessatines in the most densely-peopled district, and at 8 djessatines in the most thinly-peopled. In the two other zones, the minimum was made to form a third ])art of the maximum. The maximum, in some cases amounting to 7 djessa- tines, shows the lowest fignre in the district in Moscow, w^here 3 djessatines were fixed as maximum, and con- sequently one djessatine, amounting to not quite three acres, was deemed sufficient to form the minimum. The ground built upon or enclosed as yard or garden en- tered into the calculation. The real extent of the grant will have been, in most cases, that of the " Nadel," that is to say, of the land which the peasants had under cul- tivation for sustaining themselves and their families while when serfs. It was settled that where the Nadel exceeded the new legal maximum, and the proprietor preferred to insist upon the maximum being respected, the land to be transferred I'rom the Nadel to the proprietor's own share was, in the first instance, to be selected from among such land as was not mannred, snrh pasture-land as had not the advantnge of being iniuidated in spring, if possible from wooded land, if such (which, however, was rare) had formed part of the Nadel, and especially it was to l>e RiTRsiA.] JX VMUOrFi fOUXTniES. ?.S7 taken from the parts of the acreage forming- the Nadel most distant from the village, or separated from it by the proprietor's own land, ^fanured land was to be cut off from the Nadel onl_y as far as no land not manured could be found for making up the proprietor's legal share. Pasture land improved by inundation in spring was not to be cut oft' at all, except with the consent of the pea- sants, and even then the proportion of such land to the whole acreage must not be altered. If such pasture land, for instance, had formed the tenth part of the Nadel, and 100 djessatines were to be taken from the Nadel, not more than 10 djessatines of such pasture-land must form part of the land to be cut off. Kitchen gar- dens, and hop and hemp fields, were likewise not to be transferred from the Nadel to the proprietor's share without the consent of the peasants. Where the Nadel was le.ss than the new legal minimum, the land by which the minimum was to be completed was to be adjacent to the Nadel, and consisting of soil really worth tilling. Only where such soil adjacent to the Nadel was not to be found, or where the proprietor's dwelling was erected and his garden laid out upon it, or where all the adjacent land was manured or inundated, retained before by the proprietor, land not adjacent to the Nadel might be taken to make up the minimum. But then, at all events, the land nearest to the village was to be taken for the purpose, and a cattle-path to the village was to be let free, without entering into the account as landed property. It will be seen from this what precautions were taken to prevent the proprietor from mutilating the self-sus- taining completeness of peasant husbandry from the beginning. The animus of those who had the paramount influence in framing the details of the measure is clear ; they wanted a stable " Mir," or, if the peasants should prefer to dissolve it, a stable peasantry founded on individual property. For the first two years a provisional agreement (by way of experiment) was admissible. During the next six vears the proprietor, but not the peasants, had the 2 c 2 383 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENURE [Faucheu. right of insisting upon a clefinitive settlement, the expenses being borne l)v the pi'0])rietor. Minor details, all strictly in keeping with the general spirit of the measure, and whose number and variety is very great, cannot be mentioned here. Great part of them has reference to the dilferent forms of husbandry in use in the different parts of Russia. Others refer to the erection of new and the pulling down of old houses. Part of them had merely a transitory character. For the space of nine jq^vs after the new regulations had become the law of the land, it was rendered obl'uiatory on the peasantry to keep the land in copyhold against payment of rent. Only this much was allowed, that by free agreement between the proprietor and the peasants, on the proposition of the latter, a reduction of the peasant's share to one-half of the maxinnim, where this at first had been exceeded, could be effected. But this was then to be the definitive size of the peasant's share. It Avas further allowed, that if the peasants in common should have purchased, in the way which will be described beneath, a part of the lantl, transferred to them first as copyhold, before the nine jT'ars were elapsed, such part not being less than one-third of the maximum, the peasants should have the riglit to renounce retaining the copyhold of the remainder. If, finall}^, the pro[)rietors should resolve to make a present to the peasants of so much land as formed one-fourth of the maximum, and the peasants should agree to accept it, then, too, the peasants might renounce the remainder in copyhold, even before the obligatory nine years were elapsed. This, in the interest of arriving as quickly as pos- sible at the establishment of a proprietary peasantry holding common or individual property, was rather an ingenious provision, but in form very Russian ! First, the peasants are compelled to remain as copyholders, peasants, for the space of nine j^ears after they had ceased to be serts. Thus, it was hoped to get them accustomed to peasant life under freedom, by means of a little coercion, as the only pardonable and transitor}^ remnant of serf- ItussiA.] IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 389 dom, namely the coercion of coiitinuino- to till the soil as copyholders instead of as serfs. If they shonld feel the burden of the coini)uIsory payment of the copyhold -fee too extensive, an escape is left tiiem by their becoming proprietors of a smaller amount of land. And the pro- prietor of the estate, too, is stimulated to secure to him- self a less curtailed estate, by assisting the peasants in becoming freeholders. Should a decrease of the (male) population of the village take place during the first nine years amounting to at least one-fifth of the whole, and not proceeding from peasants emigrating from the village and disconnecting themselves, with the consent of the other villagers — liable each for all and all for each — from their joint liability, but arriving from otlter causes, then, the peasants should likewise be entitled to renounce a corresponding part of the copyhold enforced upon them. Here the disconnection of single peasants from the joint liability, with the consent of the others, in spite of the compulsor}' nature of the copyhold, demands explain- ing. The explanation, which consists simply in the con- dition that the peasant thus liberated must already have become a peasant proprietor^ is furnished by another provision of the law, which follows here. Should, namely, a peasant be the proprietor of at least double of the maximum per head of land, not form- ing part of the common copyhold, and being situated at no greater distance from the village than 15 versts (10 miles), then he was to be tree to renounce to his share in the copyhold the land which was allotted to him of the common copyhold continuing to form part of it, and he himself continuing a member of the political commune. In such villages where the institution of the Mir was unknown, and the Nadel divided into hereditary lots (in the West, with the Little Russians and Ruthenes), every peasant who should have become the proprietor of land amounting to double the maximum per head, should be entitled to renounce to his hereditary lot in the copyhold in the same way, the lot becoming cop^diold of the others in couiinon ; and also if he had purchased 390 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Faucher. s iL'h an amount of land from the proprietor of the estate liimself out of the commou copyhohl hind. But in both cases it would Ije necessary that either the other villagers remaining liable for the whole amount of copyhold rent, and the proprietor of the estate too, should consent to let him free, or that the proprietor of the estate should renounce to so much copyhold rent as corresponds to the contribution to it of the peasant desirous to quit, or that the peasant pays down the capitalized value of the rent, calculated at 6 per cent., due by him. It is the law, only destined to compel the peasants to remain peasants at least for the space of nine j^ears, which has let him off because he has given other security for his remaining true to his order ; as far as private interests are affected, an agreement or payment is still necessary. The anxious efforts of the Government to make a freehold peasantry proceed from the measure of emanci- pation of the serfs become here again visible. After the lapse of nine years — a time now fast approaching — the copyholders with joint liability still left may renounce to such part of the copyhold land as any one of its members has renounced before. It will only then become more clearly discernible to what extent henceforward landed property of large size, landed property of small size, and copyhold will enter into the agrarian state of the country. There was one wa}^ left for the proprietor of the estate and the peasantry on it agreeing to avail them- selves of it, viz., a partition of the land, leaving the whole acreage in the hands of the proprietor, and the houses, kitchen gardens, and some pasture land onl)^ as copyhold, with option to purchase it, in the hands of the peasants, namely, on an application from both parties to Government to confer upon the village the character of a market town. It appears that there has been little resort to it, or, perhaps. Government has been tardy in lending assist- ance. In attempting to prevent as much peasant husbandry as possible from being discontinued, the legislature did not forget the emergency of the peasants' temporarily PiUssiA.] IX VARIOUS COUNTRIES 391 failing to meet their liabilities. It was, of course, neces- sary, in the case of arrears of rent, to place a corres[)onding" amount of land again at the disposal of the proprietor of the estate. But it was provided that during the first nine years, either the .joint copyholders, or where heredi- tary lots are the custom, any single member of the com- munity, not being himself in arrears with rent, might step into the dormant copyhold right, afier every third year's harvest had taken place. After the lapse of the nine years, the right of the peasants to step into quies- cent copyhold titles can be exercised but once, three years after the seizure. If it then be not exercised, the land will return definitivelv to the proprietor of the estate. The money paid down by peasants resolved to give up their share in the joint copyhold, as capitalization of their running liabilit}^, was ordered to be reserved as guarantee-fund for the combined copyholders discharging their liabilities. But it was made optional with the proprietor of the estate to have the money paid out to himself on his renouncing to the amount of rent thus capitalized. Now as to the way of fixing the form and amount of the compulsory copyhold-fee — by far the most difficult part of the whole proceeding. It was assumed — -with what right a foreign observer is unable to say — that a sudden and absolute transition in the form of a compulsory rent from the form of labour to the form of money was inadmissible, if it was every- where to be rendered possible for the villagers to dis- charge their liabilities. It was deemed to the interest of the preservation of an order of peasants as numerous as possible, to acquiesce not merely in a remnant of co- ercion in general, but even in a remnant of compulsory labour, the law prescribing in lieu of what amount of money it should stand. In both cases as well where labour was chosen as the form of the rent, as where money was chosen, the maximum of peasants' land on the male head of the village population was made the legal starting-point 392 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Fauciier. of the calculation. The rent due Ibr a share coming up to the maximum was laid down, in the form of labour, as amounting to forty da3's of man's labour and thirty days of woman's laljour. AVhere the actual sliare did not come up to the maximum, the amount was to be reduced in proportion. Three-fifths of the days were to be summer days, and two-lifths winter days. For each half summer day in addition to the three-fifths, a winter day falls out. The number of working days due by the whole community of copyholders, during either of the two half-yearly periods is to be divided by the number of weeks ; and the proprietor of the estate cannot claim more working days in the course of a week than fall within a week. The number of working days falling within a single week is to be divided l)y three, and on no day of the week can lie claim more than a third part. He is, however, entitled to add the odd days of both divisions, but never more than one working day per week, and one working day per day. Two working daj's of a horse are to be considered equal to one working day of a man. The men discharging the labour incumbent upon the commuuity are to be taken from among the men between 18 and 55 years, and the woman from among the women between 17 and 50 years. It is per- mitted to the ])easants to fill their place with a hired labourer. It will be seen that care has been taken to keep as close as possible, in framing the law, to the custom which prevailed in the times of serfdom, of the proprietor leaving three days of the week to his serfs, and claiming the other three for himself. He has still his three days per week, only he has far less labourers to dispose of. For instead of having to claim aljout one hundred and thirty days, he has to claim but forty, and respectively thirty. This, especially, is what has reduced the value of llussian estates after the abolition of serfdom. For the rent in money, too, where this form is adopted, does not make up for the working daj^s of the serfs lost by the proprietor, being merely the equivalent 'of the number ol' working days now forming the rent of iJussiA.] 7.V VARTOUS COUNTRIES. 393 a share. The transition from kibonr-rent to money- rent was made optional with the peasants, with the Avhole community, or with every single family — in the sense of the repartition for tilling purposes of the land by the members of the community among themselves, tjaglo — only two years after the law had become valid, and they being not in arrear with working days. Four- fifths of the peasants having effected the transition from labour-rent to money-rent, it was made optional with the proprietor of the estate to compel the remaining fifth. The money-rent, to which the traditional name of every tax on the peasantry, signifying very diflerent things in dif- ferent times, " obrok," was preserved, was fixed on the male head of the population, to which the number of shares corresponds, but without exact proportion to the size of the land-share. The situation of the land in the empire was considered of higher importance, as soon as its value was to be expressed in moiiei/, than either the exact size or the quality of the soil, which, moreover, had been made to compensate each other as much as possible, by the legal maximum of the shares varying with the zones and their districts, and having generally, casteris pari- bus, been made smaller on more fertile soil. And it was certainly correct political economy, as soon as the money value — the value of exchange — of rent was in question, to pay attention to that element in the formation of land-rent which the German Von Thiinen, fifty years ago, has discovered and traced with ability, in the distance of land from the market, the place of exchange. Consequently it was laid down as law that the " ol)rok " was to amount for the maxim nm-share at a distance from St. Petersburg!! of not more than 25 versts (15 miles) to 12 rnbles (list. 18 sh.) on the male head, in the districts of Petersburgh, Moscov, Zaroslaw, Wladimir, Nijar-Nowgorod, and close to the banks of the Wolga, to 10 rubles (list. 12 sh.) ; in a series of other districts to 9 rubles (list. 8 sh.) ; and, where the lowest figure was applied, to 8 rubles (list. 5 sh.). However, to a certain extent, the size of the share for which the " obrok " is to be paid was made to 394 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Faucher. enter the calculation, namely, by the following ari*aiio-e- ment. In the first zone, one half of the maximum " obrok " has to 1)e ]iaid for the first djessatine of the real share, including the space of house and garden ; for the second djessatine one fourth of the maximum "obrok" is to be paid ; and th(3 remaining fourth is to be considered as the equivalent of so much djessatines as the maximum consists of besides the two first djessatines. This leaves Ijut a small part of the " obrok " as representing the rent of such djessatines as the real share may contain less than the maxinmm, and so much only is taken off from the " obrok." The regulation of the way of calculating the reduction varies a little for the two other zones. The average maximum share being about 12 acres in size, its rent in the form of labour being set down at seventy working daj^s, made up of male and female, of summer and winter labour, and the average rent in the form of money being list. 8s., it follows that the legislator has estimated the rent of ail acre in Russia at Is. Ad., and the wages of agricultural labour at 5^. a day. Both estimates are far from coinciding with the prices actually obtainable in the open market. Wages almost everywhere are much higher, so that it is advantageous to the ])easantry to pay " ol)rok," instead of working for the proprietor. Land is both much dearer and much cheaper. Land under actual tillage by peasants as a rule is dearer ; so that such peasants as pay " obrok " have been gainers of wealth by the measure, beside the amount of freedom they have acquired. There is another " obrok " to be paid by the peasantry for the houses, stables, barns, gardens, improvements on pasture land, &c., in one word, for the fixed capital, which forms part of the copyhold-grant. For this purpose four classes of villages were formed. Such as are exclusively devoted to agriculture, and which offer no peculiar advantage to their inhabitants, have to pay 1^ rubles on the male Jiead ; such as are carrying on branches of industry, particularly market-gardening, culture of hemp and l)eet-root for sale, &c., have to pay 2i rubles; such as enjoy evident local advantages, lIussiA.] 7.V VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 395 being situated in the neighbourhood of Petersburgh or Moscow, &c., have to pay ?>h rubles; and the fourth class consists of villages whose local advantages are so great, for instance villages in suburban relation to towns of 20,000 inhabitnnts and more, that not merely a higher house-obrok but also a higher land-obrok is founded on justice. Here the provincial committee is entrusted Avith settling the amount of liabilities, a limit being, however, drawn by law. The " obrok " is to be paid six months in advance, if the proprietor insists upon it. Otherwise an agreement may be come to, which is then binding upon both parties, like the amount of the obrok itself, for the space of twenty years, after the lapse of which a new arrange- ment may take place. The obrok is collected in the same way as the public taxes, by the elected functionaries of the local self-government. The promise of the Govern- ment was to enforce it with all possible rigour. The most important, however, of the main provisions of the Act of 1861 is that which refers to the right of the peasants to purchase the copyhold on which they are living. They were compelled io accept the copyhold ; but, in compensation, the proprietor of the estate is com- pelled to accept their money, if they are able and willing to buy either each his own share, dissolving the community, or together the whole of the grant, continuing the com- munity. The legal price is 16f fold the amount of the " obrok." They are entitled to purchase the farm-yard alone or together with the land, the " obrok " for the one, as has been seen, being separated from the "obrok" for the other. This option, left to them, has been the subject of much controvers3\ The proprietors would have pre- ferred to see the whole village do either the one or the other. Where the community is not dissolved, and not inclined to purchase the land in common, each single peasant may yet assert his right of purchasing his own share, but on condition that he pays one fifth more than the purchase-money otherwise would amount to. Government has undertaken to assist the peasantry in purchasing the land, by advancing, on the security of the 396 SYSTE3IS OF LAND TENURE [Faucheb. "obrok" collected by tlieir agents, part of the necessary sura, amounting to four-fifths where the whole grant is pur- chased, and to three quarters where a part of it of certain size is purchased, in form of Ijonds of the Imperial Bank, bearing live percent. interest,or titles to rent, guaranteed by Governniei)t, wliich afterwards are to be taken in ex- change for such bonds of thel)auk. They are to be paid over at once to the proprietor of the estate or to his creditors. Only such peasants, of course, can receive the benefit of Governmental assistance who have alread}^ turned the labour-rent into " oljrok." But Government, always in the interest of securing the existence of a numerous order of peasants, has placed another condi- tion on their assistance. The purchase-money is only advanced in behalf of such peasants as consent to pur- chase the dwelling-houses and farm-yards vnth the land. This also will tend to lessen the number of cases — appre- hended by the proprietors — of a part of the peasants in a village purchasing the houses and farm-yards icith the land, and a part without it. As yet it is impossible to judge of the fidl practical Ijcaring of this great agrarian reform among one of the most numerous and influential nations of the eaith, holding in possession such an immense territory. A considerable number of peasant proprietors, partly indi- viduals, partly communities, have already sprung up. In my opinion, the difference between single and common property is greater, and of greater imi)ortance, than that between freehold and copyhold. Should the "Mir "pre- vail, colonization undoubtedly will be flivoured by it, as it was in olden times, and as seems to have been the case thousands of years ago in China, where the most populous nation of the eartli has derived its strength in colonization from similar agrarian institutions. But inte- rior social progress will be weak, as it always has been in liussia, and as it has been in China. And the country will continue to be in danger of despotic political and social institutions. For nations who are in the habit of sacrificing so much of their individuality as to become, in their daily life, the slaves of a majority, are always at IliTssrA.] 7.V VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 397 Ijut one step's distance from becoming the slaves of a master. Had the ancient Russian villages not been conimnnists, they would not have l)ecome slaves; not the law, but their individual weakness, which knew not how to resist the abuse of the law, has cost them their liberty. From the little I have seen of the Russian peasants, I do not think that the Mir will continue for any length of time to 1)6 popular with them. I have a presentiment that they will shortly and strongl}' disavow by their acts that they are what the philosophers who pretend to speak in their name represent them to be. I fancy that I have discovered very great resemblances between them and the peasantry, of mixed (xerman and Sclavonic l)lood, in the Eastern provinces of my own country — Prussia. If I am right in this, then anything rather than communistic habits and leanings are to be expected from them as free men ; and I hope it will be so, in the general interest of civilized humanity. y.)S SYSTEMS OF LAND TEXFJiE [Vmw.n. VIII. FARM LAND AND LAND-LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. By C. M. Fisher. CounseUor-at-Law, United States. INTRODUCTION. This Essay is intended to convey some general idea of the actual distribution of land in the United States ; the proportion of landowners to population ; the laws which relate to land as to facilities of transfer, descent, &c. ; as well as some information as to the fitness of the Irish emigrant for becoming the owner and cultivator of land. In a country so vast as the United States, there must necessarily be few individuals whose opportunities for observation can be sufficiently extensive to enable them to speak positively upon all the foregoing points, as re- lating to the country at large. It will also be seen that in America the enormous amount of lands eminently suited for agriculture, must necessaril}^ influence the oj^eration and working of the laws aiTecting land ; and to the former fact, perhaps, more than to the laws, must be attributed the great prosperity of the country, which, to the man of observation, must be apparent in the driving of the ploughshare over Avide fields ])etween the two great oceans of this half-continent, and from the inland seas of the north to the tropics ; in establishing, according to the census of 1860, above 2,4-40,01)0 farms, and in creating cities rivalling some of the proud capitals of Europe which had been founded a thousand years ago. These, with towns and villages, numbered at the above date 28,000, and contained at that time a fraction less than r),000,000 of houses ; pointing, in a significant way, to the industry of our population. Amkuica.] in vjnrars cocNTRri'JS. 390 THE LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. The agricultural area of the United States, by the Inst census, in 18G0, embraced 16.1, 110,720 acres of im- proved land, and 244,101,818 acres of land unimproved. Tn other words, for every two acres of improved land there were, at the period in question, three acres of land connected therewith not under cultivation ; while the gross aggregate of uncultivated territorv, fertile and waste, swells to l,46r),9()0,862 acres. This fact determines the agriculture of the country. Land is abundant and cheap, wdiile labour is scarce and dear. Even in the older-settled States there is much land that can be purchased at extremely low rates ; and, l)y a recent Act of Congress known as the Free Homestead Law, every citizen of the United States, or any foreigner who shall declare his intention of becoming a citizen, can have a farm of 1 60 acres without charge. As good land as any in the world is offered to actual settlers on these easy terms. Under such circumstances it is evident that the high- farming system of agriculture which is practised in some older and more densely-populated countries, where labour is abundant and the land mostly under cultiva- tion, cannot, as a general rule, be j^rofitably adopted at present in this new country. It has l:)een said that American agriculture is half a century behind that of Great Britain. In one sense this is perhaps true. Our land is not as thoroughly under-drained, manured, and cultivated as that of England, Scotland, or Belgium ; but we can, and do now, produce a bushel of wheat at much less cost than the most scientific farmer of England can by the best approved method of cultivation, evtm if he paid nothing for the use of his land. The following Table exhibits the amount of improved, unimproved, and cash value of farm lands, the aggregate population, and the number of farmers and farm-labourers in each State, as collected from all the official records of most recent date procurable. The total population is, I believe, now estimated to 400 SYSTEMS OF LAST) TENURE [FiSHEK. be upwards of 40,000,000, and at the i)ei'iod when the next census will be taken, isTO, next year, the expecta- tion is that the population will be found to number even 42,500,000. TABLE. Amount of La.uls unimproved. Cash V due ^^S^^S'^'" I ""Z^"' C-'-alue. ^ population. j,/^f^^^_ Number Name of State. improved lands in 1860. of Farm Labourers Acres. Acres. $ Alabama . 6,385,724 12,718,821 175,824,622 964.201 . . 14,282 Arkansas . 1,983,313 7,590,393 91,649,773 435,450 48,475 8,350 California . 2,468,034 6,262,000 48,726,804 379,994 20,8.36 10,421 Connecticut . 1.830,807 673,457 90.S30,005 460,147 30,612 11,489 Delaware . 637,065 367,230 31,426,357 112,216 7,284 4,122 Florida 654,213 2,266,015 16,435,727 140,424 7,534 1,329 Georgia 8,062,758 18,587,732 157,072,8031,057,286 67,718 19,567 Illinois 13,096,374 7,815,615 408,944,0331,711,951 153,646 47,216 Indiana 8,242,183 8,146,109 356,712,175 1,350,428 158,714 40,827 Iowa , 3,792,792 6,277,115 119,899,547 674,913 88,628 27,196 Kansas. 405,468 1,372,932 12,258,239 107,206 15,572 3,660 Kentucky . 7,644,208 11,519,0.53 291,496,9551,155,684 110,937 36,627 Lonisiaua . 2,707,108 6,591,468 204,789,662 708,002 14,996 5,483 Maine . 2,704,133 3,023,538 78,6«8,525 628,279 64,843 15,865 Maryland . 3,002,267 1,833,304 145.973,677 6fs7,049 27,696 12,920 Massachusetts, 2,1.55,512 1,183,212 123,2.55,9481,231,066 45,204 17,430 Miciiigau . 3,476,296 3,554,538 160,836,495 749,113 88,657 35,884 Minnesota . 556,250 2,155,718 27,505,922 172.023 27,921 Mississippi 5,065,755 10,773,929 190,760,367 791,. 305 46,308 7,972 Missouri . 6,246,871 13,737,939 230,632,126 1,182,012124,089 39,396 New Hampshire 2,367,034 l,377,i591 69,689,7(;i 326,073 35,302 10,152 New Jersey . 1,944,441 1,0.39.084 180,2.50,338 672,035 30,325 18,429 New York. 14,. 358, 403 6.616,555 803, 343,. 593 3, 880, 735 254, 786 11 5, 728 North Carolina 6,517,284 17,245.685 143.301,065 992,622 85,198 19,119 Ohio . . . 12,625,394 7,846,747 678,1.32,991 2,339,511223,485 76,484 Oregon . 896,414 1,164,125 15,200,593 52,465; 7,861 1,260 Pennsylvania . 10,463,296 6,548,844 662,050,707 2,906.215180,613 69,104 Ehode Island . .335,128 186,096 19,. 550,. 553 174,620 6,875 3,510 South Carolina 4,572,060 ll,623,8."-)9 139, 6.52,. 508 703,708 35,137 6,312 Tennessee . 6,795,337 13,873,S2S 271,358,985 1,109,801103,835 25,990 Texas . 2,650,781 22,693,247 88,101,320 604,215, 51,569 6,. 537 Vermont . 2,823,157 1,451,257 94,289,045 315,098 38,967 14,022 Virginia . 11,437,822 19,679,215 371,761,661 1,. 506, 31 8 108,958 30,518 Wisconsin . 3,746,167 4,147.420 131,117,164 775,881, 93,859 31,472 Colorado \ Territory ./ 34,277 195 Dakota \ Territory ./ 2,115 24,333 96,445 4,837 495 Nebraska Territory . j 118,789 512,425 3,878,326 28,841 3,982 455 Nevada \ Territory . j 14,132 41,086 302,340 6,857 140 74 New Mexico ■> Territory ./ 149,274 1,265,635 2,707,386 93,516 5,922 5,461 Utaii Territory 77,219 12,692 1,333,355 40,273 3,8.32 670 Washington \ Territory . | District oH Columbia ./ 81,869 284,287 2,217,842 11,594 1,653 257 17,474 16,789 2,989,267 75.0801 246 89 America.] LX VARfOrS COUNTRIES. 401 The laws of the United States and the various States of the United States do not differ very materially as to the method of conveying real estate. Manj' of the States have Ijy special legislation defined certain words, so as to simplify the mode or form of making deeds of conveyance, and perhaps it will not be out of place to recite at length the usual form of such a deed. " This Deed, made the rlay of , in the vear , Between (here insert the names of the parties) Witnesseth : that in consideration of (here state the consideration) the said doth (or do) grant unto the said_ All &c. (here describe the property, and insert covenants or any other provisions). " Witness the following signature and seal (or signatures and seals.)" By the same legislation it is provided as follows : Every such deed, conveying lands, shall, unless an exception be made therein, be construed to include all the estate, right title or interest whatever, both at law and in equity, of the grantor in or to such lands. Whenever, in any deed, there shall be used the words, " The said grantor (or the said ) releases to the said grantee (or the said ) All his claims upon the said lands," such deed shall be construed as if it set forth that the grantor hath remised, released and for ever quit claimed, and by these presents doth remise, release and for ever quit claim unto the grantee, his heirs and assigns, all right, title, and interest whatsoever, both at law and in equit,v, in or to the lands and premises granted, or intended so to be, so that neither he nor his personal representative, his heirs or assigns, shall at any time hereafter have, claim, challenge or demand the said lands and premises, or any part thereof, in any manner whatever. A Deed of Lease may be made in the following form, or to the same effect : — "This Deed, made the day of in the year Between (here insert the names of parties) Witnesseth : that the said doth demise unto the said his 2 D 402 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Fisher. personal representatives and assigns, All &c. (here describe the property) from the day of for the term of thence ensuing, yielding therefor during the said term the rent of (here state the rent and mode of pajTiient). " Witness the following signature and seal." When a deed uses the words, " the said covenants," such covenant shall have the same effect as if it was expressed to be by the covenantor, for himself, his heirs, personal representatives and assigns, and shall be deemed to be with the covenantee, his heirs, personal representa- tives and assigns. A covenant by the grantor in a deed, " that he will warrant generally the property hereby conveyed," shall have the same effect as if the grantor had covenanted that he, his heirs and personal representatives will for ever warrant and defend the said property unto the grantee, his heirs, personal representatives and assigns, against the claims and demands of all persons whom- soever. A covenant by any such grantor, " that he will warrant specially the property hereby conveyed," shall have the same ellect as if the grantor had covenanted that he, his heirs and personal representatives will for ever warrant and defend the said property unto the grantee, his heirs, personal representatives and assigns, against the claims and demands of the grantor, and all persons claiming or to claim b}^ through, or under him. The words " with general warranty," in the granting part of any deed, shall be deemed to be a covenant by the grantor "that he will warrant generally the property hereby convej^ed." The words " with special warranty," in the granting part of any deed, shall be deemed to be a covenant by the grantor " that he will warrant specially the property hereby convej'cd." A covenant by the grantor in a deed for land " that he has the right to convey the said land to the grantee," shall have the same effect as if the grantor had covenanted that he had good right, full power and absolute authority to convey the said land, witli all the buildings thereon and the privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging, AiiKRicA.] 7.V VARTOUS COrNTRTES. 403 unto the grantee, in the manner in which the same is conveyed, or intended so to be by the deed, and according to its true intent. A covenant by any such grantor " that the grantee shall have quiet possession of the said land," shall have as much effect as if he covenanted that the grantee, his heirs and assigns, might, at any and all times thereafter, peaceably and quietly enter upon and have, hold and enjoy the land conveyed by the deed, or in- tended so to be, with all the buildings thereon, and the privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging, and receive and take the rents and profits thereof, to and for his and their use and benefit, without any eviction, interruption, suit, claim or demand whatever. If to such covenant there be added " free from all incumbrances," these words shall have as much effect as the words, " and that freely and absolutely acquitted, exonerated, and for ever discharged, or otherwise by the said grantor or his heirs, saved harmless and indemnified, of, from, and against any and every charge and incumbrance whatever." A covenant by an}^ such grantor, "that he will execute such further assurances of the said lands as may be requisite," shall have the same effect as if he cove- nanted that he, the said grantor, his heirs or personal representatives, will at any time, upon any reasonable request, at the charge of the grantee, his heirs or assigns, do, execute, or cause to be done or executed, all such further acts, deeds, and things for the better, more perfectly and absolutely conveying and assuring the said lands and premises hereby conveyed, or intended so to be, unto the grantee, his heirs and assigns as his or their counsel, shall be reasonably devised, advised or required. A covenant by any such grantor, " that he has done no act to incumber the said lands," shall have the same effect as if he covenanted that he had not done or executed, or knowingl}^ suffered any act, deed, or thing, whereby the lands and premises conveyed, or intended so to be, or any part thereof, are, or will be charged, affected, or incumbered in title, estate, or otherwise. 2 D 2 404 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Fisher. In a Deed oi" Lease, a covenant by the lessee " to pay the rent," shall have the effect of a covenant that the rent reserved by the deed shall be paid to the lessor, or those entitled under him, in the manner therein men- tioned : and a covenant by him " to pay the taxes," shall have the effect of a covenant that all taxes, levies, and assessments upon the demised premises, or upon the lessor on account thereof, shall be paid by the lessee, or those claiming under him. In a Deed of Lease, a covenant by the lessee that " he will not assign Avithout leave," shall liave the same effect as a covenant that the lessee will not, during the term, assign, transfer, or set over the premises, or any part thereof, to any person, Avithout the consent in writing of the lessor, his representatives or assigns : and a covenant by him that " he will leave the premises in good repair," shall have the same effect as a covenant that the demised premises will, at the expiration, or other sooner determination of the term, be peaceably surrendered and yielded up unto the lessor, his represen- tatives or assigns, in good and substantial repair and condition, reasonable wear and tear excepted. No covenant or promise by a lessee that he will leave the premises in good repair, shall have the effect if the buildings are destroyed by lire, or otherwise, without fault or negligence on his part, or of binding him to erect such buildings again, unless there be other words, showing it to be the intent of the parties that he should be so bound. A covenant by a lessor " for the lessee's quiet enjoyment of his term," shall have the same effect as a covenant that the lessee, his personal representatives and lawful assigns ])aying the rent reserved, and per- forming liis or their covenants, shall peaceably ])ossess and enjoy the demised premises for the term granted, without any interruption or disturbance from any person whatever. And if in a Deed of Lease it be provided that " the lessor may re-enter for default of days in the payment of rent, or for the breach of covenants," it America.] IX VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 405 shall have the effect of an agreement that if the rent reserved, or any part thereof, be unpaid for such number of days after the day on which it ought to have been paid, or if any of the other covenants on the part of the lessee, his personal representative or assigns, be broken, then, in either of such cases, the lessor or those entitled in his place at any time afterwards, into and upon the demised premises, or any part thereof, in the name of the whole, may re-enter, and the same again have, repossess, and enjoy, as of his or their former estate. All deeds are valid between the parties, whether re- corded or not, but void as to creditors and other pur- chasers, unless recorded in the town, county, or district in which the land intended to be conveyed may be situated. The records touching a lot or parcel of land, exhibited by the books of the registry office where situated, and of which authenticated certificates are readily procurable for a small fee, are always held to be good evidence of ownership, even in the absence of the Deeds of Convey- ance themselves. The ordinary fee charged for preparing simple leases or deeds is from one to two dollars (say from 45. to 85.), and fifty cents (or 2s.) for recording a deed. The laws governing the distribution of land belonging to the estates of intestates are not exactly the same in each State, j'ct, upon examination of the laws of the various States, it will be found that there is but slight difference, and the distribution or division of such estates is made between and among the children, both male and female, in equal proportions, and the representatives of a deceased child— such representatives of a deceased child taking only such portion as the parent would have taken if living. And when the estate is inconsiderable, or when it cannot be divided without great injury, that is to say, when partition would materially lessen its value, the Court having jurisdiction may decree the whole or any part of the land to one of the heirs, who would be called upon to pay such sum of money to the others as Commissioners appointed l^y the Court should 406 SYSTEMS OF LAXD TEXUHi: [Fisher. deem to be jast and fair. AYhen it is considered ad- visable that the land be so decreed to any one of the heirs, the eldest male is to be preferred to the others, and the males to the females. I believe this to be a Avise discretion, which is ])ossessed by the varions Probate Courts ; and it is generally a matter of agreement among all interested in the estate — which of the heirs shall take the land, and how much money the heir so taking shall pay to the others for their shares. The widow, if any, is entitled to the use of one- third of all the real estate during her lifetime, which may be set out or apportioned to her by Commissioners whom the Court appoint for that purpose. She is also entitled to such proportion of the personal estate as the Court may assign to her, for her own absolute use ; and this assignment is not to be less than one-third of the value of all that may remain^ after the payment of the debts of the intestate. This method of distributing estates tends to prevent large holdings, as at the death of any large holder his estate w^ould, in almost all instances, be divided amongst those who might come after him ; and, in cases of small farms, by the provisions of the law already referred to, injurious subdivisions are avoided. Again, although all the children of a landholder would share in the division of the estate, yet if the old homestead were insufficient to provide each with a form, those who might receive their share in money would have the wherewithal to assist them to acquire new lands in the great West, or in other ways to make homes for themselves. In Virginia, and in other parts of the South, very large grants of land were made before the organization of the United States, and at a time when lands were of inconsiderable value, which grants have Ijcen farmed as plantations, and with slave labour. Before the late war, although the children of an intestate shared equally in the distribution of such an estate, yet it was customary for some of them, by purchase, to become the owner of the whole estate, or else it was sold in block to any purchaser who might be found, and the proceeds equally divided. Amekica.] in various ('OUNTRIES. 407 With slave labour, such products us cotton, tobacco, rice, &;c., could only be grown with advantage upon large plantations ; and the Southern States, with these large holdings, and only slave labour for their cultivation, although more favoured by nature, have, it appears to my mind, not made the rapid progress of the Western and Middle States, with their smaller holdings of land. Since the abolition of slavery and the substitution of free and skilled white labour, I incline to the opinion that smaller holdings will hereafter be found the rule in the South, and in fact I am aware that many large plantations have recently been parcelled into several farms, with a view to their being worked in accordance with the altered circumstances of the South. Foreigners may buy and hold land in the United States, upon being naturalized (or upon filing in the office of the clerk of the proper Court, a declaration of intention of becoming naturalized), the same as a native, born citizen ; and in some few States, such as Georgia, Wisconsin, &c., aliens may hold land. Of the emigrant settlers, those from Ireland, in many instances, make good and thrifty farmers, and acquire considerable property ; but still a large proportion of the Irish are always to be found among the labouring popu- lation. Their qualifications for making good settlers are not so rare as might be generally supposed by an eye- witness of the agricultural performances of many small Irish tenant-farmers in their native land. In America, industry and hard work, when directed to the cultivation of land, offer greater rewards than in Ireland, and this flict appears to have a marked effect upon many an Irish emigrant. Again, a description of husbandry which an English well-to-do farmer might consider slovenkv, is, perhaps, as well calculated to make profit out of a newly -cleared farm as a more careful system would be ; and so even a comparatively ignorant man may, by turning his attention to farming, surely reap a good return and ultimate independence, provided he devote himself with diligence to the work. And with such examples before him the newly-arrived emigrant is 408 SYSTEMS OF LAND TESU1U-: [Fishf.r. constantly stimulated to exertion in a similar direction. I could point to many instances in the State of Vermont, and in others, where a comparatively ignorant and pen- niless Irish emio-rant had, almost immediately after arrival, arranp:ed for the purchase, on time, of a lot of land ; then worked as a labourer until he had got too-ether a few dollars to purchase implements, seed, and a little food, the latter in the shape of a barrel of flour, some salt pork, tea, &c., forming sufficient for one season, and who had, withoutany other aid, managed to struggle on until a succession of liarvests found him a rich man in comparison with his former condition. The feeling of " be- coming one's own landlord," of " owning the fee-simple of land," is one that has been spoken of, in my hearing, l)y this class of persons, and appears to me to be calculated to afford, and does afford, great individual gratification, and must at the same time act as a strong incentive to exertion in the right direction ; and I would say further, that I Ijelieve it to be the first great ambition of every Irish emigrant to become the owner of real estate. Even many who continue to work as labourers for j^ears after their arrival in the country, will constantly speak of a time when the,y hope to have a farm of their own, a hope which, it may be, from the cultivation of habits which debar the accumulation of capital sufficient, or from other causes, they are delayed or prevented from realising ; and then, after time elapses, perhaps, influenced by a feeling of contentment with the present, they may, and, I regret to say, occasionally do, augment that no incon- siderable class called " loafers," who live a hand-to-mouth sort of existence. In the Eastern and Middle States the farms are not large. The average I believe to consist of from fifty to two hundi'cd acres of land, and many of even less extent. Land in most States is valued l)y properly-appointed assessors once in five years, for the purposes of taxation ; and before the late war the tax upon land was liglit, being raised for local and school purposes o\\\y. Even now, I believe it is not more than one per cent, upon the appraised value of land. Amkiuca.] in various COUNTRIES. 409 The following extracts from the statutes of some of the variolas States, in regard to descent and distribution of land, may be taken as a sample of the statutes of the others upon the same subjects. Extract from General Laws, United States. Ordinance of Congress {sitting imder the Articles of Confedera- tion) for the Government of the Territory of the United States north-west of the River Ohio. jKissed 13 Juhf, 1787. 1. Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That, &c. 2. Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates both of resident and non-resident proprietors in the said territory, dying intestate, shall descend to, and be distributed among their children, and the descendants of a deceased child in equal parts, the descendants of a deceased child or grandchild to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them ; and where there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin, in equal degree ; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, their deceased parent's share; and there shall in no case be a distinction between kindred of the whole and half blood ; saving in all cases to the widow of the intestate her third part of the real estate for life. State of Massachusetts. Extract from Laivs relating to Descent and Distribution of Meal Estate. Chap. 91. Section 1. — When a person dies seised of land, tenements, or hereditaments, or of any right thereto, or entitled to any interest therein, in fee simple or for the life of another, not having law- fully devised the same, they shall descend, subject to his debts (except as provided in chapter one hundred and four), in manner following : First. — In equal shares to his children and the issue of any deceased child by right of representation ; and if there is no child of the intestate living at his death, then to all his other lineal descendants ; if all the descendants are in the same degree of kindred to the intestate, they shall share the estate equally; otherwise they shall take according to the right of representation. Second. — It he leaves no issue, then to his lather. Third. — If he leaves no is-rne nor father, then in equal shares 410 SrSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Fisiiek. to his mother, brothers, and sisters, and to the children of any deceased brother or sister by ri^dit of representation. Fourth. — If he leaves no issue, nor father, and no brother nor sister, linng at his death, then to his mother to the exclusion of the issue, if any, of deceased brothers or sisters. Fifth. — If he leaves no issue, and no father, mother, brother, nor sister, then to his next of kin in equal degree ; except that when there are two or more collateral kindred in equal degree, but claiming through different ancestors, those who claim through the nearest ancestors shall be preferred to those claiming through an ancestor who is more remote. Provided, Sixth. — If a person dies leaving several children, or leaving one child and the issue of one or more others, and any such surviving child dies under age and not having been married, all the estate that came to the deceased child by inheritance from such deceased parent shall descend in equal shares to the other children of the same parent, and to the issue of any such other children who have died, by right of representation. Seventh. — If at the death of such child who shall have died under age and not having been married, all the other children of his said parent are also dead, and any of them Lave left issue, the estate that came to such child by inheritance from his said jiarent shall descend to all the issue of the other children of the same parent ; and if all the issue are in the same degree of kindred to the child, they shall share the estate equally ; otherwise they shall take according to the right of representation. Eighth. — If the intestate leaves a widow and no kindred, his estate shall descend to his widow ; and if the intestate is a married woman and leaves no kindred, her estate shall descend to her husband. Ninth. — If the intestate leaves no kindred, and no widow or husband, his or her estate shall escheat to the Commonwealth. Section 2. — An illegitimate child shall be heir of his mother and any maternal ancestor, and the lawful issue of an illegitimate person shall represent such person and take by descent any estate which the parent would have taken if living. Section 3. — If an illegitimate child dies intestate, without lawful issue, his estate shall descend to his mother. Section 4. — An illegitimate child whose parents have inter- married and whose father has acknowledged him as his child, shall be considered legitimate. Section 5. — The degrees of kindred shall 1 e computed according to the rules of the civil law ; and the kindred of the half blood shall inherit e(|ually with those of the whole blood in the same degree. Amkuica.] IX VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 411 Section 6. — Any estate, real or personal, given by the intestate in his hfetime as an advancement to any child or other lineal descendant, shall be considered as part of" the intestate's estate, so far as it regards the division and distribution thereof among his issue, and shall be taken by such child or other descendant towards his share of the intestate's estate ; but he shall not be required to refund any part thereof, although it exceeds his share. Section 7. — If such advancement is made in real estate, the value thereof shall be considered as part of the real estate to be divided ; if it is in personal estate it shall be considered as part of the personal estate ; and if in either case it exceeds the share of real or personal estate respectively that would have come to the heir so advanced, he shall not refund any part of it, but shall receive so much less out of the other part of the estate as will make his whole share equal to those of the other heu's who are in the same degree with him. Section 8. — All gitts and grants shall be deemed to have been made in advancement, if they are expressed in the gift or grant to be so made, or if charged in writing by the intestate as an ad- vancement, or acknowledged in writing as such by the child or other descendant. Section 9. — If the value of the estate so advanced is expressed in the conveyance, or in the charge thereof made by the intestate, or in the acknowledgment by the party receiving it, it shall be considered as of that value in the division and distribution of the estate ; otherwise it shall be estimated according to its value when given. Section 10. — If a child or other lineal descendant so advanced dies before the intestate, leaving issue, the advancement shall be taken into consideration in the division and distribution of the estate ; and the amount thereof shall be allowed accordingly by the representatives of the heir so advanced, as so much received towards their share of the estate, in like manner as if the advance- ment had been made dii'ectly to them. Section 11. — Nothing contained in this Chapter shall affect the title of a husband as tenant by the courtesy, nor that of a widow as tenant in dower, nor her right to any part of the real estate of her husband given to her by law in lieu of dower. Section 12. — Inheritance or succession, "by right of representa- tion," takes place when the descendants of a deceased heir take the same share or right in the estate of another person that their parent would have taken if living. Posthumous children are con- sidered as living at the death of their parent. 412 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Fisher. Massachusetts. Homestead Law. — Chap. 104. Section 1. — Every honseliolJor having a family shall be entitled to an estate of homestead, to the extent in value of eight hundred dollars, in the farm or lot of land and buildings thereon owned, or rightly possessed by lease, or otherwise, and occupied by bim as a residence ; and such homestead and all right and title therein shall be exempt from attachment, levy or execution, sale for the payment of his debts, or other purposes, and from the law of conveyance, descent, and devise, except as hereinafter provided. Section 2. — To constitute such estate of homestead and to entitle property to such exemption, it shall be set forth in the deed of conveyance by which the property is acquired, that it is designed to be held as a homestead ; or after the title has been acquired, such design shall be declared by writing, duly signed, sealed, acknowledged, and recorded, in the registry of deeds for the county or district where the property is situated. But the acquisition of a new estate of homestead in either of said modes, shall operate to defeat and discharge any estate or right of homestead previously existing. Pennsylvania. Law regulating Descent and Distrihuiion of Real Estate. The real and personal estate of a decedent, whether male or female, remaining after payment of all just debts and legal charges, which shall not have been sold or disposed of, by will, or otherwise limited by marriage settlement, shall be divided and enjoyed as follows, viz. : — Where such intestate shall leave a widow and issue, the widow shall be entitled to one-third of the real estate for the term of her life, and to one-third of the personal estate absolutely. Where such intestate shall leave a widow and collateral heirs, or other kindred, but no issue, the widow shall be entitled to one -half part of the real estate, including the mansion-house and buildings appurtenant thereto, for the term of her life, and to one-half part of the personal estate absolutely. Where such intestate shall leave a husband, he shall take the whole personal estate, and the real estate sliall descend and pass as hereinafter provided, saving to the husband his right as tenant by the courtesy which shall take place, although there bo no issue of the marriage, in all cases where the issue, if any, would have inherited. The real estate of such married woman, upon her decease, shall America.] TN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 413 be distributed as provided for by the intestate laws of this common- wealth now in force. * * * Subject to the estates and interests hereinbefore given to the widow or surviving husband, if any, the real estate of such intestate shall descend to and be distributed among his issue, according to the following rules and order of succession, viz : — If such intestate shall leave children, but no other descendant, being the issue of a deceased child, the estate shall descend to, and be distributed among, such children. If such intestate shall leave grandchildren, but no child or other descendant being the issue of a deceased grandchild, the estate shall descend to, and be distributed among, such grandchildren. If such intestate shall leave descendants in any other degree of consanguinity to him, the estate shall descend to, and be distributed among such descendants. If such intestate shall leave descendants in different degrees of consanguinity to him, the more remote of them being the issue of a deceased child, grandchild, or other descendants, the estate shall descend to and be distributed among them as follows, viz. : — Each of the children of such intestate shall receive such share as such child would have received, if all the children of the intestate who shall then be dead, leaving issue, had been living at the death of the intestate. Each of the grandchildren, if there shall be no children, in like manner shall receive such share as he or she would have received if all the other granchildren who shall then be dead, leaving issue, had been living at the death of the intestate, and so on in like manner to the remotest degree. In every such case, the issue of such deceased child, grandchild, or other descendant, shall take, by representation of their parents, respectively, such share only as would have descended to such parent, if they had been living at the death of the intestate. It is the true intent and meaning of this Act, that the heir at common law shall not take in any case, to the exclusion of other heirs and kindred standing in the same degree of consanguinity with him to the intestate ; and it is hereby declared, that in every case which may arise, not expressly provided for by this Act, the real, as well as the personal estate, of an intestate shall pass to and be enjoyed by the next of kin of such intestate, without regard to his ancestor, or other relation, from whom such estate may have come. Wisconsin. Law relating to descent of Real Estate. — Chap. 92. Section 1. — When any person shall die, seised of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, or of any right thereto, or entitled to 414 SYSTEMS OF LAND TEXUBE [Fisher. any interest therein, in fee-simple or for the Hfe of another, not having la^yfully devised the same, they shall descend, snhject to his debts, in manner following : — 1. In eqnal shares to his children, and to the lawful issue of any deceased child by right of representation; and if there be no child of the intestate living at his death, his estate shall descend to all his other lineal descendants ; and if all the said descendants are in the same degree of kindred to the intestate, they shall share the estate equally, otherwise they shall take according to the right of representation. 2. If he shall leave no issue, his estate shall descend to his widow during her natural lifetime, and after her decease to his father ; and if he shall leave no issue or widow, his estate shall descend to his father. 3. If he shall leave no issue nor father, his estate shall descend to his widow during her natural life, and after her deceased in equal shares to his brothers and sisters, and to the children of any deceased brother or sister, by right of representation : provided, that if he shall leave a mother, she shall take an equal share with his brothers and sisters. 4. If he shall leave no issue, nor widow, nor father, his estate shall descend in equal shares to his brothers and sisters, and to the children of any deceased brother or sister, by right of represent- ation : provided, that if he shall leave a mother also, she shall take an equal share ^^ith his brothers and sisters. 5. If the intestate shall leave no issue, nor widow, nor father, and no brother nor sister, living at his death, his estate shall descend to his mother, to the exclusion of the issue, if any, of deceased brothers or sisters. 6. If the intestate shall leave no issue, nor widow, and no father, mother, brother, nor sister, his estate shall descend to his next of kin in equal degree, excepting when there are two or more collateral kindred in equal degree, but claiming through dif- ferent ancestors, those who claim thi'ough the nearest ancestor shall be preferred to those claiming through an ancestor more remote : provided, however : — 7. If any person shall die, leaving several children, or lea"sang one child, and the issue of one or more other children, and any such surviving child shall die under age, and not having been married, all the estate that came to the deceased child by inherit- ance from such deceased parent shall descend in equal shares to the other children of tlic same parent, and to the issue of any such other children wlio shall have died, by right of representation. 8. If, at the death of such child who shall die under age, and not having been married, all the of her fhildien of his said parent shall also be dead, and any of them shall have left issue, the estate America.] TN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 415 that came to said child by inheritance, from his said parent, shall descend to all the issue of other children of the same parent, and if all the said issue are in the same degree of kindred to said child, they shall share the said estate equally ; otherwise, they shall take according to the right of representation. 9. If the intestate shall leave a widow, and no kindred, his estate shall descend to such widow. State of Illinois. Extract of Laiv relating to descent of Estates, Section 46. — Estates, both real and personal, of resident or non-resident proprietors in this State, dying intestate, or whose estates, or any part thereof, shall be deemed and taken as intestate estate, and after all just debts and claims against such estates shall be paid as aforesaid, shall descend to, and be distributed to his or her children, and their descendants in equal parts ; the descendants of a deceased child or grandchild taking the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them ; and when there shall be no children of the intestate, nor descendants of such children, and no widow, then to the parents, brothers, and sisters of the deceased person and their descendants in equal parts among them ; allowing to each of the parents, if living, a child's part, or to the survivor of them, if one be dead, a double portion ; and if there be no parent living, then to the brothers and sisters of the intestate and their descendants. When there shall be a widow and no child or children or descendants of a child or children of the intestate, then, the one- half of the real estate, and the whole of the personal estate shall go to such widow, as her exclusive estate for ever ; subject to her absolute disposition and control to be governed in all respects by the same rules and regulations as are or may be provided in cases of estates of femes sole ; if there be no children of the intestate or descendants of such children, and no parents, brothers, or sisters, or descendants of brothers and sisters, and no widow, then such estate shall descend in equal parts to the next of kin to the intestate, in equal degree, computing by the rules of the civil law ; and there shall be no representation among collaterals, except with the descendants of the brothers and sisters of the intestate ; and in no case shall there be a distinction between the kindred of the whole and the half blood, saving to the widow, in all cases, her dower, as provided by law. Section 47. — When any feme covert shall die intestate, leaving no child or children, or descendants of a child or children, then the one-half of the real estate of the decedent shall descend and go to her husband, as his exclusive estate for ever. Section 51. — Where any of the children of a person dying 410 SYSTEMS OF LAND TENURE [Fishek. intestate, or their issue, shall have receive 1 from such intestate in his or her hfetime, any real or personal estate, by way of advance- ment, and shall desire to come into the partition or distribution of such estate with the other parceners or distributees, such advance- ment, both of real and personal estate, shall be brought into hotch- pot with the whole estate, real and personal, of such intestate ; and every person so returning such advancement as aforesaid, shall, thereupon, be entitled to his or her just proportion of said estate. Section 52. — If any man shall have one or more children by any woman whom he sljall afterward marry, such child or children, if acknowledged by the man, shall, in vu'tue of such marriage and ackno\\iedgment, be thereby legitimated, and capable in law to inherit and transmit inheritance, as if born in wedlock. Section 53. — If any single or unmarried woman, having estate either real or personal, in her own right, shall hereinafter die leaving one or more children, deemed in law illegitimate, such child or children shall not on that account be disinherited ; but they and each of them, and their descendants, shall be deemed able and capable in law to take and inherit the estate of their deceased mother, in equal parts among them, to the exclusion of all other persons : provided, that if there shall be no such child or children, or their descendants, then and in such case the estate of the intestate shall be governed by the rules of descent, as in other cases where illegitimates are excluded. Section 54. — In all cases where any person shall die intestite, leaving real or personal estate in this State, and a child or children, commonly called posthumous children, shall be born unto him after his decease, within the usual time prescribed by law, such child or childi'en shall come in for their just proportion of said estate, in aU respects as though he, she, or they had been born in the life- time of the intestate. Section 128. — Where any heir of an intestate has received money, goods, chattels, or real estate from such intestate, if the amount so received shall be charged to such heir by said intestate, the same shall be taken into computation in making distribution of the estate upon being brought into hotchpot as aforesaid : provided, that an heir who has received from the intestate more than his share shall in no case be required to refund. State of Kansas. — Chapter 80. Extract of Law relating to Descents and Distribution. Section 5. — One half in value of all the real estate in which the husband at any time during the marriage had a legal or equit- able interest, which has not been sold on execution or other judicial Amekica.] in VABTOU^ COUNTRIES. 417 sale, or to ^Ylncl^ the wife has made no reHnfjnishmeut of her rights, or which may not be necessary for the payment of the dehti? of the deceased hnshand, shall, under the direction of the Court, be set apart by the executor as her property in fee-simple, upon the death of the husband, if she survives him. Continuous cohabitation as husband and wife, is presumptive evidence of marriage for the purpose of giving the right aforesaid. Section 6. — Such share shall be so set off as to include the ordi- nary dwelling-house, and the land given by law to the husband as a homestead, or so much thereof as will be equal to the share allotted to her by the last section, unless she prefers a different arrangement. But no different arrangement shall be pennitted where it would have the effect of prejudicing the rights of creditors. Section 7. — The share thus allotted to her may be set off" by the mutual consent of all the parties interested, when such consent can be obtained, or it may be Sc;t oft' by referees appointed by the Court, Section 8.— The application for such admeasurement by referees may be made at any time after twenty days and within ten years after the death of the husband, and must specify the particular tracts of land in which she claims her portion, and ask the appoint- ment of referees. Section 9. — The Court shall fix the time for making the appoint- ment and direct such notice thereof to be given to all the parties interested therein as it deems proper. Section 10. — The referees may employ a surveyor, if necessary, and they must cause the widow's share to be marked off" by metes and bounds, and make a full report of their proceedings to the Court as early as practicable. Section 11. — The Court may require a report by such a time as it deems reasonable ; and if the referees fail to obey this or any other order of the court, it may discharge them, and appoint others in their stead, and may impose on them the payment of all costs pre\iously made, unless they show good cause to the contrary. Section 12. — The Court may confirm the report of the referees, or it may set it aside, and refer the matter to the same or other referees, at its discretion. Section 13. — Such confirmation after the lapse of thirty days, unless appealed from according to law, shall be binding and conclu- sive as to the admeasurement, and she may bring suit to obtain possession of the land thus set apart for her. Section 14. — Nothing in the last section shall prevent any person interested from controverting the general rights of the widow to the portion thus admeasured. Section 1 5. — The widow's portion cannot be aff.ected by any will 2 E 418 ."SYSTEMS OF LAXD TENURE [Fisher. of lior Imsbaucl if sliu ohjects thereto, and relinquishes all rights confcrrctl upon her hy the Will, Section 16. — Subject to the rights and charges hereinbefore con- templated, the remaining estate of -which the decedent died seised, shall, in the absence of other arrangements by Will, descend in equal shares to his children. Section 17. — If any one of his children be dead, the heirs of such child shall inherit his share, in accordance Avith the rules herein prescribed, in the same manner as though such child had outhved his parent. Section 18. — If the intestate leaves no issue, the whole of his estate shall go to his wife ; and if he leaves no wife nor issue, the whole shall go to his father. Section 19. — If his father be previously dead, the portion which would have fallen to his share by the aljove rules shall be disposed of in the same manner as though he had outlived the intestate, and died in the possession and ownershij) of the portion thus falling to his sliare, and so on through each ascending ancestor and his issue, unlf'ss hehs are sooner found. Section 20. — If heirs are not found in the male line, the portion thus inherited shall go to the mother of the intestate, and to her heirs, following the same rules as above prescribed. Section 21. — If heirs are not thus found, the portion uninherited shall go to the wife of the intestate, or to her heirs, if dead, according to like rules ; and if he has had more than one wife, who either died or survived in lawful wedlock, it shall be equally divided between the one who is living and the heirs of those who arc dead, or between the heirs of all, if all are dead, such heirs taking by right of representation. Section 22. — If, still, there be p»roperty remaining uninherited, it shall escheat to the territory. Section 23. — Illegitimate children inherit from the mother, and tlie mother from the children. Section 2-1. — They also inherit from the father whenever they have been recognized by him as his children ; but such recognition must have been general and notorious, or else in writing. Section 25. — Under such circumstances, if the recognition of relationship has been mutual, the father may inherit from his ille- gitimate child. Section 2(3. — But in thus inheriting from an illegitimate child, the rule above established must bo inverted so that the mother and her heirs take preference of the father and his heirs, the father having the same right of inheritance in regard to an illegitimate child that the mother has in regard to one that is legitimate. Section 27. — Property given by an intestate, by way of advance- ment to an heir, shall be considered part of the estate, so far as America.] IN VARIOUS COUNTBTEfi. 419 regards the division and distribution thereof, and shall be taken by such heir towards his share of the estate, at what it would now be worth if in the condition in which it was so given to him. Section 28. — But if such advancement exceeds the amount to which he would be entitled, he cannot be required to refund any portion thereof. Section 29, — All the provisions hereinbefore made, in relation to the widow of a deceased husband, shall be applicable to the husband of a deceased wife. Each is entitled to the same rights or portion in the estate of the other, and like interests shall in tlie same manner descend to their respective heirs. The estate of dower and by courtesy are hereby abolished. Section 30.— Children of the half blood shaU inherit equally with children of the whole blood. Children of a deceased parent inherit in equal proportions the portion their father or mother would have inherited, if hving. State or Georgia. — Chap. 3. Article 1. Extract of Laivs relcding to InheritahJe ProiJerty and the relative rights of the Heirs and Administrator. 2451. Upon the death of the owner of any estate, in realty or negroes, which estate survives him, the title vests immediately in his heirs-at-law. The title to all other property owned by him vests in the administrator of his estate for the benefit of the heirs and creditors. 2452. The following rules shall determine who are the heirs-at- law of a deceased person : — 1. The husband is sole heir of his intestate wife. 2. If the intestate dies without children, or the descendants of children, leaving a wife, the wife is his sole heir. 3. If there are children, or those representing deceased children, the wife shall have a third part, unless the shares exceed five m number, in which case the wife shall have one-fifth 25art of the estate. If the wdfe elects to take her dower, she has no farther interest in the realty. 4. Children stand in the first degree from the intestate, and inherit equally all property of every description, accounting for advancements, as hereinafter explained. Posthumous children stand upon the same footing with children in being upon all questions of inheritance. The lineal descendants of children stand in the place of their deceased parents ; and in all cases of inheritance from a lineal ancestor, the distribution is per stirpes and not per capita. 5. Brothers and sisters of the intestate stand in the second 420 SYSTEMS OF LAND TEXUIiE. [Fisher. degree, and inherit, if there is no ^Yido^v, or child, or representative of child. The half-blood on the paternal side inherit ec^ually with the whole blood. If there is no brother or sister of the whole or half-blood on the paternal side, then those of the half-blood on the maternal side shall inherit. The children or grandchildren of brothers and sisters deceased shall represent and stand in the place of theii- deceased parents, but there shall be no representation farther than tins among collaterals. 0. The father, if living, inherits equally with brothers and sisters, and stands in the same degree. If there be no i'ather, and the mother is alive, and a widow, she shall inherit in the same manner as the father would. If the mother is not a wndow, she shall not be entitled to any portion of such estate, unless it shall be that of the only or last surviving child of the mother, in which event she shall take as if married. 7. In all degrees more remote than the foregoing, the paternal and maternal next of kin shall stand on an equal footing. 8. First cousins stand next in degree ; uncles and aunts inherit equally with cousins. 9. The more remote degrees shall be determined by the rules of the canon law, as adopted and enforced in the English courts prior to the fourth day of July, a.d. 1776. 2453. Whenever any feme covert, having a child or children by a former marriage, is, or becomes, entitled to property, by inhe- ritance, at any time, or devise, antecedent in date to her last marriage, and not in trust, the possession of which is not obtained prior to such marriage, such property shall not belong to the husband of such feme covert, but shall be equally divided between all the children of such feme covert, h^dng at the time when pos- session is obtained, and such feme covert. The portions of such feme covert, and her children by her last husband, shall alone be subject to be reduced to possession by, and the title vest in, such husband. 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By Various Writers. 8vo., ios. 6d. "As a manual of principles and a text-book of arguments, this should be in the hands of every one who wishes to serve the rising cause of political progress." — Daily News. ESSAYS ON REFORM. By Various Writers. 8vo., loi-. 6^/. "Ought to be in the hands of all who are interested in the subject of Reform." — Daily A'ezvs. ESSAYS ON CHURCH POLICY. By Various Writers. Edited by the Rev. W. L. Clay, M.A. 8vo., gs. ESSAYS ON A LIBERAL EDUCATION, By Various Writers. Edited by the Rev. F. W. Farrar, M.A., F.R.S. Second Edition. 8vo., los. (xi. THE RUSSO-INDIAN QUESTION. Historically, Strategically, and Politically Considered ; with a Sketch of Central Asiatic Politics and a Map of Central Asia. By Captain F. Trench, F.R.G.S., 20th Hussars. Crown 8vo., 'js.^d. MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON. MACMILLAN & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. LAURENCE BLOOMFIELD IN IRE- LAND ; or, The New Landlord. By William Ali.ingham. New and Cheaper issue, foolscap 8vo., 4J. 6d. " At the present political crisis, when the Irish Land Question is imperatively claiming attention, politicians, and even statesmen, could employ their time much worse than in reading carefully, though it were for the second time, ' Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland.' " — Guardian. ON COTTAGE CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN. By C. W. Strickland. With Specifications and Plans. 8vo., ^s. 6d. CHILDREN OF THE STATE. The Training of Juvenile Paupers. By Florence Hill. Extra foolscap 8vo., cloth, t)S. MODERN INDUSTRIES: A Series of Reports on Industry and Manufactures as represented in the Paris Exposition in 1867. By Twelve British Workmen. Crown 8vo., IS. LETTERS ON SOME QUESTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. Reprinted from the Times, with considerable additions. 8vo., 7^-. 6d. Also, Additional Letters. 8vo., 2s.6d. LORD LIVERPOOL'S LIFE AND AD- MINISTRATION. Compiled from Original Documents. By Professor YoNGE. 3 vols., 8vo., with Portrait, 42^-. MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON. 4 i6, Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London. December, 1 869. Macmillan e- Co:s General Catalogue of Works in the Departments of History, Biography, Travels, and Belles Lettres, with some short Accoiint or Critical Notice conce7'ning each Book. SECTION I. HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, and TRAVELS. Baker (Sir Samuel W.).— THE NILE TRIBUTARIES OF ABYSSINIA, and the Sword Hunters of the Hamran Arabs. By Sir Samuel W. Baker, M.A., F.R.G.S. With Portraits, Maps, and Illustrations. Third Edition, 8vo. 2\s. Sir Samuel Baker here describes tivelve inojiths' exploratio)!, during which he examined the 7-ivers that are tributary to the Nile f ran Abyssinia, including tli€ Atbara, Settite, Royan, Salaam, Angrab, Rahad, Dinder, and the Blue Nile. The interest attached to these portions of Africa differs e)itirely from that of the White Nile regions, as the whole of Upper Egypt aftd Abyssinia is capable of development, and is inhabited by races having some degree of civilization; while Central Africa is peopled by a race of savages, whose futtire is more problematical. THE ALBERT N'YANZA Great Basin of the Nile, and Explo- ration of the Nile Sources. New and cheaper Edition, with Portraits, Maps, and Illustrations. Two vols, crown Svo. i6j. ^^ Bruce won the source of the Blue Nile ; Speke and Grant won the Victoj-ia source of the great White N^ile ; and / have been permitted to succeed in completing the Nile Sources by the discovery of the great reservoir of the equatorial xvattrs, the Albert N^yanza, from which the river issues as the entire White Nile.'''' — Preface. A GENERAL CATALOGUE. Baker (Sir Samuel W.) {continued)— CAST UP BY THE SEA ; or, The Adventures of Ned Grey, By Sir Samuel W. Baker, M.A., E.R.G.S. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. cloth gilt, Is. dd. " A story of adventure by sea and land in the good old style. It appears to ns to he the best book of the kind since ' I\Iastenna)i Ready, ' a)id it runs that established favourite very close. " — Pall Mall Gazette. " A'b book ivritten for boys has for a long time created so much interest, or been so successful. Every parent ought to provide his boy tvith a copy." Daily Telegraph. Baxter (R. Dudley, M.A.).— THE TAXATION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. By R. Dudley Baxter, M.A. 8vo. cloth, 4J. 6d. The First Part of this work, originally read before the Statistical Society of London, deals with the Amount of Taxation ; the Second Part, which J107V constitutes the main portioii of the work, is almost entirely nr^v, and embraces the important questions oj Rating, of the relative Taxation of Land, Personalty, and Industry, and of the direct effect of Taxes 7ipon Prices. The author trusts that the body of facts here collected 7nay be op permanent value as a record of the Mst progress and present condition of the population of the United Kingdom, inaependently of the transitory circumstances of its pi'csent Taxation. NATIONAL INCOME. With Coloured Diagi-ams. 8vo. 3^. 6iJ'loi?iacy, Fast and Freseiit ; (4) T/ie Ohligations of Treaties. Blake.— THE LIFE OF WILLIAM BLAKE, THE ARTIST. By Alexander Gilchrist. With numerous Illustrations from Blake's designs, and Fac-similes of his studies of the " Book of Job." Two vols, medium 8vo. 32^'. T7iese volumes contain a Life of Blake ; Selections from Jiis Writings, including Foems ; Letters ; Annotated Catalogue of Pictures and Draiviiigs ; List, luith occasional notes, of Blake's Engravings and Writings. There are appended Engraved Designs by Blake : (i) The Book of fob, hvenfy- one photo-lithographs from the originals; (2) Songs of Innocence and Experience, sixteen of the original I^lates. Bright (John, M. P.).— SPEECHES ON QUESTIONS OF PUBLIC POLICY. By Joiix Bright, M. P. Edited by Professor Thorold Rogers. Two Vols. 8vu. 25^. Second Edition, with Portrait. " / have divided the Speeches contained in these volumes into grottps. The materials for selection are so abundant, that L have been constrained to omit many a speech which is worthy of careful perusal. L luwe iiaturally given prominence to those subjects with which Mr. Bright has been especially identified, as, for example, India, America, Lreland, and Parliamentary Reform. But nearly every topic of great public interest on lohich Mr. Bright has spoken is represented in these volumesP Editor's Preface. AUTHOR'S POPULAR EDITir)N. Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth. Second Edition. 3^. 61/. GENERAL CATALOGUE. Bryce. — THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. By James Bryce, B. C.L., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. \Reprintmg. CAMBRIDGE CHARACTERISTICS. See Mullixger. Clay.— THE PRISON CHAPLAIN. A Memoir of the Rev. John Clay, B.D., late Chaplain of the Preston Gaol. With Selections from his Reports and Correspondence, and a Sketch of Prison Discipline in England. By his Son, the Rev. W. L. Clay, M.A. 8vo. I5J-. " Peru books have appeared of late years better entitled to an attentive perusal. . . . It presents a complete narrative of all that has been done and attetnpted by various philanthi-opists for the amelioration of the condition and the improx'ement of the morals of the crimittal classes m the British do7ninions. " — London Revikw. Cooper. — ATHENE CANTABRIGIENSES. By Charles Henry Cooper, F. S.A., and Thompson Cooper, F.S.A. Vol. I. 8vo., 1500—85, i8j-. Vol. II., 15S6— 1609, iSj. This elaborate iooi-k, xnhich is dedicated by permission to Lord Macaulay, contains lives of the eminent men sent forth by Cambridge, after the fashion of Anthony d, IVood, in his famous "Athena: Oxonienses." Dilke.— GREATER BRITAIN. A Record of Travel in English- speaking Countries during 1866-7. (America, Australia, India.) By Sir Charles WENT^voRTH Dilke, M.P. Cheap Edition. Crown 8vo. 6j. " Mr. Dilke has written a book which is probably as well worth reading as any book of the same aims and character that ever was written. Its merits are that it is written in a lively and agreeable style, that it implies a great deal oj physical pluck, that 710 page of it fails to show ati acute and highly intelligent obseit'er, that it stimulates the imagination as well as the Judgment of the reader, and that it is on perhaps the most interesting subject that can attract an Englishman who cares about his country." Saturday Review. HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, &^ TRAVELS. EARLY EGYPTIAN HISTORY FOR THE YOUNG. See "Juvenile Section." Forbes. — LIFE OF PROFESSOR EDWARD FORBES, F.R.S. By George Wilson, M.D., F.R.S.E., and Archibald Geikie, F.R.S. 8vo. with Portrait, 14^. " I^rom the first page to the last the book claims cai-eful reading, as beitig a full but not overcrozvded rehearsal of a most instructive life, and the true picture of a mind that was raj-e in strength and beauty^ — Examiner. Freeman. — history of federal government, from the Foundation of the Achaian League to the Disruption of the United States. By Edward A. Freeman, M.A. Vol. I. General Introduction. History of the Greek Federations. 8vo. '2\S. " The task Mr. Freeman has undertaken is one of great magnitude and importance. It is also a task of an almost entirely novel character. A'o other work professing to give the history of a political principle occurs to us, except the slight contributions to the history of representative govern- ment that is contained in a course of M. GuizoCs lecttires .... The history of the develop7nent of a principle is at least as important as the history of a dynasty, or of a race.'' — Saturday Review. French (George Russell). — shakspeareana GENEALOGICA. 8vo. cloth extra, \^s. Uniform with the "Cambridge Shakespeare." Part I. — Identification of the dramatis personce in the historical plays, from King fohn to King Henry VIII. ; Notes on Characters in Macbeth and Hamlet ; Persons and Places belonging to Wanvickshire alluded to. Part II. — The Shakspeare and Arden families and their connexions, zvith Tables of descent. The present is the first attempt to give a detailed de- scription, in consecutive order, of each of the dramatis personae in Shak- GENERA L CA TALOG UE. speare^s i in mo rial chronicle-histories, and some of the characters have been, it is beliez'cd, herein identified for the first time. A clue is furnished which, follovjcd up tuilh ordinary diligence, may enable any one, with a taste for the pursuit, to trace a distinguished Shakstiearean worthy to his lineal representative in the present day. Gladstone (Right. Hon. "W. E., M.P.).— juventus MUNDI. The Gods and Men of the Heroic Age. Ciown 8vo. cloth extra. With Map. lo.f. dd. This nrci) zvork of Air. Gladstone deals especially with the historic clement in Homer, expounding that element, and furnishing by its aid a full account of the Homeric men and the Homeric religion. It starts, after the introductory chapter, with a discussion of the sevei'al races then existing in Hellas, including the influence of the Phccnicians and Egyptians. It contains chapters on the Olympian system, -with its sez'eral deities ; on the Ethics and the Polity of the Heroic age ; on the geography of Homer ; on the characters of the Poems ; presenting, in fine, a vieiu of primitive life and primitive society as found in the poems of Homer. "GLOBE" ATLAS OF EUROPE. Uniform in size with Mac- millan's Globe Series, containing 45 Coloured Maps, on a uniform scale and projection ; with Plans of London and Paris, and a copious Lidex. Strongly bound in half-morocco, with flexible back, 9^-. This Atlas includes all the countries of Europe in a series of 48 Alaps, draivn on the same scale, with an Alphabetical Index to the situation of more than ten thousand places, and the 7-elation of the various maps and countries to each other is defined in a general Key-map. All the maps being on a uniform scale facilitates the comparison of extent and distance, and conveys a just impression of the relative magnitude of different countries. The size suffices to shmu the provincial divisions, the railways and main roads, the principal rivers and mountain ranges. ^'This atlas," -writes the British Quarterly, "will bean invaluable boon for the school, the desk, or the traveller'' s portmanteau. " HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, &- TRAVELS. 7 Guizot. — (Author of "John Halifax, Gentleman.")— M. DE BARANTE, A Memoir, Biographical and Autobiographical. By M. Guizot. Translated by the Author of "John Halifax, Gentleman." Crown 8vo. 6s. 6d. " The highest purposes of both history and biography are aus'cvered by a memoir so lifelike, so faithful, and so philosophical.^^ British Quarterly Review. HISTORICAL SELECTIONS. Readings from the best Authorities on English and European History. Selected and arranged by E. M. Sevvell and C. M. Yonge. Crown 8vo. 6s. IVJien you 7ig children have acquired the outlines of history from abridge- ments and catechisms, and it beco?nes desirable to give a more enlarged vieiu of the subject, in order to render it really useful and interesting, a difficulty often arises as to the choice of books. Two courses are open, either to take a general attd consequently dry history of facts, stcch as RusselVs Modcrti Europe, or to choose some -ujork treating of a particular period or subject, such as the works of Macaulay and Froude. The former course usually renders history uninteresting ; the latter is unsatisfactory, because it is not sufficiently comprehensive. To remedy this difficulty, selections, continuous and chronological, have in the present volume been taken from the larger works of T)-eeman, Milman, Palgrave, and othei's, which i7iay serve as distinct landmarks of historical reading. " IVe kno7.u of scarcely anything," says the Guardian, of this vohime, " zuhich is so likely to j-aise to a higher level the average standard of English education.'''' Hole. — A GENEALOGICAL STEMMA OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE. By the Rev. C. Hole, ]\LA., Trinity College, Cambridge. On Sheet, \s. The different families are printed in distinguishing colours, thus facili- tating reference. GENERAL CATALOGUE. Hole {contbiiud) — A BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Compiled and Arranged by the Rev. Charles Hole, M.xV. Second Edition. i8mo. neatly and strongly bound in cloth, 45-. 6(/. One of the 7>iost comprehensive and accurate Biographical Dictionaries in the luorld, contai)iing more than \%,QOO persons of all countries, with dates of bi7-th and death, and znhat they were distinguished for. Extreme care has been beslozved on the verification of the dates ; and thus ttumej'ous errors, current in prrjious works, have been corrected. Its size adapts it for the desk, portmanteau, or pocket. "An invaluable addition to our manuals of reference, and, from its moderate price, cannot fail to become as popular as tt is useful.'''' — Times. Hozier. — THE SEVEN WEEKS' WAR ; Its Antecedents and its Incidents. By. H. M. Hozier. With Maps and Plans. Two vols. 8vo. 28j. This work is based upon letters reprinted by permission from " The Times. " For the most part it is a product of a personal eye-zuitness of some of the most interesting incidents of a war which, for rapidity and decisive results, may claim an almost unrivalled position in history. Irving.— THE ANNALS OF OUR TIME. A Diurnal of Events, Social and Political, which have happened in or had relation to the Kingdom of Great Britain, from the Accession of Queen Victoria to the Opening of the present Parliament. By Joseph Irving. 8vo. half-bound. i8.r. " We have before us a trusty and ready guide to the ez'cnts of the past thirty years, available equally for the statesman, the politician, the public writer, and the general reader. If Mr. Irving's object has been to bring before the reader all the most notrworthy occurrences which have happened since the beginning of Her Majest/s reign, he may justly claim the credit of having done so most briefly, succitictly, and simply, and in such a manner, too, as to furnish him with the details necessary in each case tc HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, &> TRAVELS. 9 comprehend the event of which he is in search in an intelligent manner. Reflection will serve to show the great value of such a work as this to the journalist and statesman, and indeed to every one who feels an interest in the progress of the age ; and we may add that its value is considerably in- creased by the addition of that most important of all appendices, an accurate and instructive index." — Times. Kingsley (Canon). — on the ancien regime as it Existed on the Continent before the French Revolution. Three Lectures delivered at the Royal Institution. By the Rev. C. Kingsley, M.A., formerly Professor of Modern History in the University of Cambridge. Crown 8vo. 6j. These three lectures discuss severally (i) Caste, (2) Centralization, (3) The Explosive Forces by which the Revolution was superinduced. The Preface deals at some length with certain political questions of the present day. THE ROMAN AND THE TEUTON. A Series of Lectures delivered before the University of Cambridge. By Rev. C. Kingsley, M.A. 8vo. 12s. Contents: — Inaugural Lecture ; The Fo7-esf Children; The Dying Empire; The Human Deluge ; The Gothic Civilizer; Dietrich'' s End; The Nemesis of the Goths ; Paulus Diaconus ; The Clergy and the Heathen : TheMonka Civilizer ; The Lombard Laws ; The Popes and the Loiubards ; The Strategy of Providence. Latham. — black and white : a Journal of a Three Months' Tour in the United States. By Henry Latham, M.A., Barrister- at-Law. 8vo. los. 6d. " The spirit in which Mr. Latham has written about our brethren in America is commendable in high degree." — Athen/EUM. 10 GENERAL CATALOGUE. Law.— THE ALPS OF HANNIBAL. By William John Law, M. A., formerly Student of Christ Church, Oxford. Two vols. 8vo. 2\s. " No one can 7-ead the work and not acquire a conviction that, in addition to a thorough grasp of a particular topic, its writer has at command a large store of readittg and thought upon many cognate points of ancient history and geography.''^ — QUARTERLY Review. Liverpool.— THE life and administration of ROBERT BANKS, SECOND EARL OF LIVERPOOL, K.G. Compiled from Original Family Documents by Charles Duke VONGE, Regius Professor of History and English Literature in Queen's College, Belfast ; and Author of " The History of the British Navy," " The History of France under the Bourbons," etc. Three vols. 8vo. ^2s. Since the time of Lord Burleigh no one, except the second Pitt, ever enjoyed so long a tenure of power ; with the same exception, no one ever held office at so critical a time .... Lord Liverpool is the very last minister who has been ahlefidly to carry out his ozon political viezvs ; who lias been so strong that in matters of general policy the Opposition could extort no concessions from him which were not sanctioned by his own deliberate judgment. The preserit work is founded almost entirely on the correspondence left behind him by Lord Liverpool, and now in the possession of Colonel and Lady Catherine Plarcourt. " Full of ii formation and instruction.''' — FORTXIGHTLY REVIEW, Maclear. — See Section, "Ecclesiastical History." Macmillan (Rev. Hugh). — HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS ; or, Rambles and Incidents in search of Alpine Plants. By the Rev. Hugh Macmillan, Author of "Bible Teachings in Nature," etc. Crown '8 vo. cloth. 6s. " Botanical knowledge is blended with a love of nature, a pious en- thusiasm, and a rich felicity of diction not to be met with in any works of kindred character, if we except those of Hugh Miller."— DAILY Telegraph. HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, ^ TRAVELS. ir Macmillan (Rev. Hugh), {amtinucd)— FOOT-NOTES FROM THE PAGE OF NATURE. With numerous Illustrations. Fcap. 8vo. '^s. " Those who have derived pleasure and profit from the study of fiozoers a ud ferns — subjects, it is pleasing to find, nozv everywhere popular — by descending lower into the arcana of the vegetable kingdom, will find a still more interesting and delightful field of research in the objects brought under review in the follo7ving pages." — Preface. Martin.— THE statesman's year book FOR 1869. By Frederick Martin. (Sixth Annual Publication.) A Statis- tical, Mercantile, and Historical Account of the Civilized World for the Year 1868. Forming a Manual for Politicians and Mer- chants. Published annually. Crown 8vo. los. 6d. " Everybody who knotvs this zvork is aware that it is a book that is indis- pensable to writers, financiers, politicians, statesmen, and all who are directly or indirectly interested in the political, social, industrial, com- mercial, and financial condition of their fellaiv-creatures at home and abroad. Mr. Martin deserves zoarm commendation for the care he takes in making ' The Statesman's Year Book' complete a /id correct." Standard. Martineau. — BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 1852— 186S. By Harriet Martineau. Third Edition, with New Preface. Crown 8vo. Ss. 6d. A Collection of Memoirs under these sez'eral sections: — (i) Royal, (2) Politicians, (3) Professional, (4) Scientific, (^^ Social, (6) Literary. These Memoirs appeared originally in the columns of the " Daily News." Masson (Professor). — ESSAYS, BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL. See Section headed" '^ov:^9.\\-^\i Bei.les Lettres- GENERAL CATALOGUE. Masson (Professor) {continued)— LIFE OF JOHN MILTON. Narrated in connexion with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of his Time. By David Masson, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Rhetoric at Edin- burgh. Vol. I. with Portraits. 8vo. \%s. Vol. II. in the Press. It is intended to exhibit ]\Iiltons life in its connexions with all the more notable phenomena of the period of British history in which it was cast — its state politics, its ecclesiastical variations, its literature and speculative thought. Commencing in 1608, the Life of Milton proceeds through the last sixteen years of the reign of fames I. , includes the whole of the reign of Charles I. ana the subsequent years of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate, and then, passing the Restoration, extends itself to 1674, or through fou7-teen years of the new state of things under Charles IL The first volume deals with the life of Milton as extending from 1 608 to 1 640, which zvas the period of his education and of his minor poems. Morison. — the life and times of saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux. By James Cotter Morison, M.A. New Edition, revised. Crown 8vo, 7j. 6(/. " One of the best contributions in our literature tozvards a vivid, intel- ligent, and worthy knowledge of European interests and thoughts and feelings during the twelfth century. A delightful and instructive volume, and one oj the best products of the modern historic spirit.'" Pall Mall Gazette. Morley (John).— EDMUND burke, a Historical Study. By John Morley, B.A. Oxon. Crown 8vo. 7j-. bd. " The style is terse and incisive, and brilliant with epigram and point. It contains pithy aphoristic sentences which Burke himself 'would not have diso7V}!ed. But these are not its best features: its sustained paiver 0/ reasoning, its wide sweep of observation and reflection, its elevated ethical and social tone, stamp it as a work of high excellence, and as such we cordially recommend it to our readers.'" — Saturd.vy Review. HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, &- TRAVELS. 13 Mullinger.— CAMBRIDGE CHARACTERISTICS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. By J. B. Mullinger, B.A. Cro^\'n Svo. 4J-. 6d. " It is a very entcriaini/ig and readable book" — SATURDAY Review. *' T/ie chapters on the Cartesian Philosophy and the Cambridge Platonists are admij-able." — Athen^um. Palgrave. — HISTORY OF NORMANDY AND OF ENG- LAND. By Sir Francis Palgrave, Deputy Keeper of Her Majesty's Public Records. Completing the History to the Death of V/illiam Rufus. Four vols. Svo. £^ 4?. Volume I. General Relations of Mediaroal Europe — The Carlovingian Empire — Tlie Daiiish Expeditions in the Gauls — And the Establishment of Polio. Volume II. The Three First Dukes of Normandy ; Polio, Guillaitme Longue-Ep^^i ««^ Richard Sans-Peur — The Ca?-loz'ingian line supplanted by the Capets. Volume III. Richard Sajis-Peur — Richard le-Bon — Richard III. — Robert Le Diable — William the Con- queror. Volume IV. William Rufus — Accession of Henry Beauclerc. Palgrave (W. G.). — a narrative of a year's JOURNEY THROUGH CENTRAL AND EASTERN ARABIA, 1862-3. By William Gifford Palgrave, late of the Eighth Regiment Bombay N. I. Fourth and cheaper Edition. With Maps, Plans, and Portrait of Author, engraved on steel by Jeens. Crown Svo. 'js. ()d. " Considering the extent of our previous ignorance, the amount of his achievements, and the importance of his contributions to our knoxvledge, we cannot say less of him than was once said of a far greater discoz'erer. Mr. Palgrave has indeed given a neiv zuorldto Europe." — Pall Mall Gazette. 14 GENERAL CATALOGUE. Parkes (Henry). — AUSTRALIAN VIEWS OF ENGLAND. 13y Henry I'arkes. Crown 8vo. cloth. 3^. dd. " The follaiuing letters were 'cvritten during a residence in England, in the years 1 86 1 and 1862, aiid -were published in the Sydney Morning Herald o>t the arrival of the monthly mails .... On re-pernsal, these letters appear to contain vieivs of English life and impressions of English notabilities 7vhich, as the views and impressions of an Englishman on his return to his native country after ati absence of twenty years, tnay not be 'without interest to the English reader. The xuriter Md opportunities of mixing with different classes of the British people, and of hearing opinions on passing events from opposite standpoints of obsai'atioti.^' — Author's Preface. Ralegh.— THE life of sir Walter ralegii, based upon Contemporary Documents. By Edward Edwards. To- gether with Ralegh's Letters, rdw first collected. Witli Portrait. Two vols. 8vo. 32J-. " Mr. Ed-wards has certainly 'written the Life of Ralegh from fuller information than any previoiis biographer. He is intelligent, industrious, sympathetic : and the 'world has in his two volumes larger means awarded it of knoiving Ralegh than it ever possessed before. The new letters and the nrwly-edited old letters are in themselves a boon." — Pall Mall Gazette. Robinson (Crabb). — diary, REMINISCENCES, AND CORRESPONDENCE OF CRABB ROBINSON. Selected and Edited by Dr. Sadler. With Portrait. Tlirce vols. Svo. cloth. 36^. 71/;-. Crabb Robinson'' s Diary extends oz'er the greater part oj three- quarters of a century. It contains personal reminiscences of some of the most distinguished characters of that period, including Goethe, Wi eland, De Quincey, lVo?-ds'worth ('with 'whom Mr. Crabb Robinson 7vas on terms oj great intimacy), Madame de Stael, Lafayette, Coleridge, Lamb, Milman, i^c. &'c. : and includes a vast variety of subjects, political, literary, ecclesi- astical, and miscellaneous. HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, &^ TRAVELS. 15 Rogers (James E. Thorold). — HISTORICAL GLEAN- INGS : A Series of Sketches. Montague, Walpole, Adam Smith, Cobbett. By Rev. J. E. T. Rogers. Crown 8vo. 4J-. 6cl. Professor Rogers^ object in the follaivbig sketches is to present a set of historical facts, grouped round a principal figure. The essays are in the form of lectures. Smith (Professor Goldwin). — THREE ENGLISH STATESMEN : TYM, CROMWELL, PITT. A Course of Lectures on the Political History of England. Ry GoLUWi.v Smith, M. A. Extra fcap. 8vo. New and Cheaper Edition. 5^-. " A work zvhich neither historian nor politician can safely afford to neglect.'" — Saturday Review. Tacitus. — THE HISTORY OF TACITUS, translated into English. By A. J. Church, M.A. and \V. J. Brodribb, ]\I.A. With a Map and Notes. 8vo. \os. 6d. The translators have endeavoured to adhere as closely to the original as ■was thought consistent with a proper observance of English idiom. At the same time it has been their aim to 7-eproduce the precise expressions of the author. This work is characterised by the Spectator as " a scholarly and faithful translation. " Taylor (Rev. Isaac). — WORDS AND PLACES; or Etymological Illustrations of History, Etymology, and Geography. By the Rev. Is.\AC Taylor. Second Edition. Crown Svo. 1 2 J. ^d. " Mr. Taylor has produced a really useful book, and one 'which stands alone in our language." — Saturday Review. THE AGRICOLA AND GERINIANIA. Translated into English by A. J. Church, M.A. and W. J. Brodribb, M.A. With Maps and Notes. Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. The translators have sought to produce such a version as may satisfy scholars who demand a faithful rendering of the original, and English i6 GENERAL CATALOGUE. readers "wJio are offended hy the baldness and fiigidity ivhich connnonly disfigure translations. The treatises are accompanied by introductions, votes, maps, and a chronological summary. The Atheneeum says of this work that it is " a version at ojice readable and exact, which may be perused with pleasure by all, and consulted with advantage by the classical student. ^^ Trench (Archbishop).— gustavus adolphus : Social Aspects of the Tliirty Years' War. By R. Chenevix Trench, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. Fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. " Clear and lucid in style, these lectures will be a treasure to many to whom the subject is unfamiliar.^'' — Dublin Evening Mail. Trench (Mrs. R). — Edited by Archbishop Trench. Remains of the late Mrs. RICHARD TRENCH. Being Selections from her Journals, Letters, and other Papers. New and Cheaper Issue, with Portrait, Svo. 6.r. Cojitains notices atid anecdotes illustrating the social life of the period — exte?tding over a quarter of a century (I'jf)') — 1827). It includes also poems and other miscellaneous pieces by Mis, Trench. Trench (Capt. F., F.R.G.S.).— the russo-INDIAN QUESTION, Historically, Strategically, and Politically con- sidered. By Capt. Trench, F.R.G.S. With a Sketch of Central Asiatic Politics and Map of Central Asia. Crown Svo. 7^-. (>d. " The Russo-Indiait, or Central Asian question has for several obvious reasons been attracting much public attention in England, in Russia, and also on the Continent, within the last year or hvo. . . . I have thought that the present volume, giving a short sketch of the history of this question from its earliest origin, and condensing much of the most recent and inter- esting information on the subject, and on its collateral phases, might perhaps be acceptable to those who take an interest in it." — Author's Preface. ins TORY, BIOGRAPHY &^ TRAVELS. 17 Trevelyan (G.O., M.P.). — CAWNPORE. Illustiated with Plan. liy G. O. TreV'ELYAn, M.P., Author of "The Com- petition Wallfih." Second Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. "In this book we are not spared one fact of the sad story ; but our feelings are not harrowed by the recital of imaginary outrages. It is good for tis at home that we have one who tells his tale so ivell as does Mr. Trevelyan.'''' — Pall Mall Gazette. THE COMPETITION WALLAH. New Edition. Crown Svo. 6^. " The eaiiier letters are especially interesting for their racy descriptions of European life in India Those that follow are of more serioiis import, seeking to tell the truth about the Hindoo character and English influences, good and bad, upon it, as well as to suggest some better course of treatment than that hitherto adopted.^'' — Examiner. Vaughan (late Rev. Br, Robert, of the British Quarterly). — MEMOIR OF ROBERT A. VAUGHAN. Author of "Hours with the Mystics." By Robert Vaugiian, D.D. Second Edition, revised and enlarged. Extra fcap. Svo. 5^-. " It deseri'es a place on the same shelf with Stanley'' s ' Life of Arnold,' and Ca7-lyle's ' Stirling.' Dr. 'Vaughan has performed his painful but not all unpleasing task with ex(ptisite good ia,<:te and feeling."- — NoNCON- KORMLST. Wallace.— THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO: the Land of the Orang Utan and the Bird of Paradise. A Narrative of Travels Avith Studies of Man and Nature. By Alfred Russel Wallace. With Maps and Illustrations. Second Edition. Two vols, crown Svo. 24-r. "A carefully and deliberately composed narrative. . . . We advise our readers to do as ive have done, read his book through'^ — TiMES. Ward (Professor).— THE HOUSE OF AUSTRIA IN THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. Two Lectures, v;ith Notes and Illus- trations. By Adolphus W. Ward, M.A., Professor of Histcny in Owens College, Manchestei". Extra fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. " Very compact and instructive." — FoRTNlcniTLY REVIEW. 18 GENERAL CATALOGUE. V^arren.— AN ESSAY ON GREEK FEDERAL COINAGK By the Hon. J. Leicester Warren, M.A. 8vo. 2s. 6d. " The present essay is an attempt to illustrate Mr. FreemaiCs Federal Goz'erninent by evidence deduced fro/n the coinage of the times and countries therein treated of." — PREFACE. Wilson. — A MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON, M. D., F. R. S.E., Regius Professor of Technology in the University of Edinburgh. By his Sister. New Edition. Crown 8vo. bs. " An exquisite and touching portrait of a rare and beautiful spirit." Guardian. "Wilson (Daniel, LL.D.). — PREHISTORIC ANNALS OF SCOTLAND. By Daniel Wilson, LL.D., Professor of History and English Literature in University College, Toronto. New Edition, with numerous Illustrations. Two vols, demy 8vo. 36^. This elaborate and learned ivork is divided into four Parts. Part /. deals with The Primeval or Stone Period : Aboriginal Traces, Sepulchral Memorials, Dwellings, and Catacombs, Temples, Weapons, &°c. ^c. ; Part II., The Bronze Period : The Metalluigic Transition, Primitive Bronze, Personal Ornaments, Religion, Arts, and Domestic Habits, with other topics ; Part III., The Iron Period : The Introduction of Iron, The Roman Itwasion, Strongholds, &'c. 6^d. In the new Preface, the state of Ireland, with special reference to the Church measure, is discussed. ' ' // is vital ivith the national character. . . . It has something of Pope's point and GoldsmitJC s simplicity, touched to a more fnodern issue." — Athen^um. Arnold (Matthew). — poems. By Matthew Arnold. Two vols. Extra fcap. 8vo. cloth. 1 2J-. Also sold separately at 6j'. each. Volufne I. contains Narrative and Elegiac Poems ; Volume II. Dra- matic and lyric Poems. The two volumes comprehend the First and Second Seiies of the Poems, and the New Poems. NEW POEMS. Extra fcap. 8vo. 6^. 6a. In this volume "will befound"'Empedocles on Etna ; " " Thyrsis " (written in commemoration of the late Professor Clough) ; " Epilogue to Lessings Laocoon ;" " Hein^s Grave;" ^' Obermann once more!''' All these poems are also included in the Edition {two vols. ) above-mentioned. B 2 GENERAL CATALOGUE. Arnold (Matthew) {continued)— ESSAYS IN CRITICISM. New Edition, with Additions. Extra fcap. 8vo. 6s. Contents : — Preface ; The Fj/nclion of Criticism at the present time ; The Literary Lnfluence of Academies ; Maurice de Gucrin ; Eugenie de Gueriii ; Heinrich Heine ; Pagan and 3Iediceval Religious Sentiment ; youbert ; Spinoza and the Bible ; Marcus Aurelius. Barnes (Rev. W.).— poems OF RURAL life in com- mon ENGLISH. By the Rev. W. Barnes, Author of " Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect." Fcap. 8vo. 6s. " In a high degree pleasant and novel. The book is by no means one 7vhich the lovers of descriptive poetry cafi afford to lose.'" — Atmen^UM. Bell.— ROMANCES AND MINOR POEMS. Ey Henry Glassford Bell. Fcap. 8vo. 6.r. " Full of life and genius.^' — CoURT CIRCULAR. Besant. — STUDIES IN EARLY FRENCH POETRY. By Walter Besant, M.A. Crown. 8vo. '8^. 6d. A sort of impression rests on most minds that French literatui e begins with the '^ siicle de Louis Quatorze ;^^ any previous literatitre being for the most part laiknozvn or ignored. Few know anything of the enormous literary activity that began in the thirteenth century, was cat-ried on by Rulebeuf Alai-ie de France, Gaston de Foix, Thibault de Champagne, and Lorris ; was fostered by Charles of Orleans, by Margaret of Valois, by Francis the First ; that gave a crffivd of versifiers to France, enriched, strengthened, developed, and fixed the French language, and prepared the way for Corneille and for Racine. The present work aims to afford information and direction touching the early efforts of France in poetical literature. " In 07ie moderately sized volume he has contrr;'td to introduce us to the very best, if not to all of the early French poets. " — Athen.^^.UM. POETRY &- BELLES LETT RES. Bradshaw.— AN attempt to ascertain the state OF CliAUCER'S WORKS, AS THEY WERE LEFT AT HIS DEATH. With some Notes of their Subsequent History. By Henry Bradshaw, of King's College, and the University Library, Cambridge. [/« the Press. Brimley.— ESSAYS BY THE LATE GEORGE BRIMLEY, M.A. Edited by the Rev. W. G. Clark, M.A. With Portrait- Cheaper Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3j-. bd. Essays 07i literary topics, such as Teiuiysoiis '^ Poe/iis,'^ Carlyle''s "Life of Stirling,'" "Bleak House,''' &^c., reprinted from Fraser, the Spectator, and like periodicals. Clough (Arthur Hugh). — THE poems and PROSE REMAINS OF ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH. With a Selection from his Letters and a Memoir, Edited by his Wife. With Portrait. Two vols, crown 8vo. 2IJ. Or Poems sepa- rately, as below. The late Professor Clough is well knatvn as a graceful, tender poet, and as the scholarly translator of Plutarch. The letters possess high interest, not biographical ottly, but literary — d'iscussing, as they do, the most important questions of the time, always in a genial spirit. The '^Remains" include papers on "Retrenchment at Oxford f^ ofi Professor F. W. Nezuman^s book " The Soul f on Wordsivorth ; on the Formation of Classical English ; on some Modern Poems {A/attheto Arnold and the late Alexander Smith), &'c. dr^c. THE POEMS OF ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH, sometime Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. Witli a Memoir by F. T. Palgkave. Second Edition. J"cap. 8vo. 6^-. "From the higher mind of cultivated, all-i/uestioning, but still conser- vative England, in this om' puzzled generation, -we do not knoio of any utterance in literature so characteristic as the poems of Arthur Hugh Clough." — FkASKk's ?klAGAZI.N'lC. 32 GENERAL CATALOGUE. Dante.— DANTE'S COMEDY, THE HELL. Translated by W. M. RossETTi. Fcap. 8vo. cloth. 5^-. " The aim of this translation of Dante may be summed up in one word • — Literality. . . . To follow Dante sentence for sentence, line for line, word for word — neither 7nore nor less — has been 7ny strenuous endeavour. " — Author's Preface. De Vere. — THE INFANT BRIDAL, and other Poems. By Aubrey De Vere. P'cap. 8vo. 7J. 6d. "Mr. De Vere has taken his place among the poets of the day. Pure and tender feeling, and that polished restraint of style luhich is called classical, are the charms of the volume." — Spectator. Doyle (Sir F. H.). — Works by Sir Francis Hastings Doyle, Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford : — THE RETURN OF THE GUARDS, AND OTHER POEMS. Fcap. 8vo. 7^. " Good wine needs no bush, nor good verse a preface ; and Sir Francis Doyle'' s verses run bright and clear, and smack of a classic vintage. . . . His chief characteristic, as it is his greatest charm, is the simple matiliness ■which gives force to all he writes. It is a characteristic in these days rare enough. " — Examiner. LECTURES ON POETRY, delivered before the University of Oxford in 1868. Extra crov/n 8vo. y. 6d. Three Lectures : — (i) Inaugural ; (2) Provincial Poetry; (3) Dr. JVezvman's "Dream of Gerontius." " Pull of thoughtful discritnination and fine insight : the lecture on ^ Provi}icial Poetry^ seems to us singularly true, elocjuent, and instructive." Spectator. Evans. — brother fabian'S manuscript, and OTHER POEMS. By Sebastian Evans. Fcap. 8vo. cloth. 6s. " In this volume loe have full assurance that he has ' the vision and the /acuity divine.^ . . . Clez'cr and full of kindly huwour." — Globe. POETRY 6^ BELLES LETTRES. 23 Furnivall. — LE MORTE D'ARTHUR. Edited from the Harleian M.S. 2252, in the British Museum. By F. J. FuRNiVALL, M.A. With Essay by the late Herbert Coleridge. Fcap. 8vo. 7j. bd. Looking to the interest shaivn by so fnany thousands in Mr. TennysorC s Arthurian poems, the editor and publishers have thought that the old version would possess considerable interest. It is a repriitt of the celebrated Harleian copy ; and is accompanied by index and glossary. Garnett. — idylls and epigrams. Chiefly from the Greek Anthology. By Richard Garnett. Fcap. 8vo. 2j. dd. "A charming little book. For English readers, Mr. Gametes transla- lations will open a ne^v world 0/ thought.''' — WESTMINSTER Review. GUESSES AT TRUTH. By Two Brothers. With Vignette, Title, and Frontispiece. New Edition, \vith Memoir. Fcap. 8vo. 6s. " The follozving year was memorable for the coinmencement of the ' Guesses at Truth. ' He and his Oxford brother, living as they did in constant and free interchange of thought on questions of philosophy and literature and art ; delighting, each of them, in the epigratntnatic terseness which is the charm of the ' Pensees ' of Pascal, and the ' Caracteres ' of La Bruyere — ap'eed to titter thetnselves in this form, and the book appeared, anonymously, in two volumes, in 1827." — Memoir. Hamerton. — a painter's camp. By Philip Gilbert Hamerton. Second Edition, revised. Extra fcap. 8vo. ds. Book I. In England; Book II. In Scotland; Book III. In France. This is the story of an Artist's encampments and adventures. The headings of a few chapters may serve to convey a notion of the character of the book: A Walk on the Lancashire Moors ; the Author his ozvn Housekeeper and Cook ; Tents and Boats for the Highlands ; The Author encamps on an uninhabited Island ; A Lake Voyage ; A Gipsy Journey to Glen Coe ; Concerni/ig Moonlight and Old Castles ; A little French City ; A Farm in the Autunois, ^'c. dr=c. " His pages sparkle with happy turns of expression, not a fezu tvell-told anecdotes, and many observations which are the fruit of attentive study and 24 GENERAL CATALOGUE. wise reflection on the complicated phenomena of human life, as zvell as of unconscious nature.^'' — WESTMINSTER Review. Helps. — REALMAH. By Arthur Helps. Two Vols. Crown 8vo. 16^-. Of this work, by the Author of ^^ Friends i>z Council,'''' the Saturday Review says: " Underneath the form {that of dialogue) is so much shrewd- ness, fancy, and above all, so much wise kindliness, that we should think all the belter of a man or woman who likes the book." Herschel. — THE ILIAD OF HOMER. Translated into English Hexameters. By Sir John Herschel, Bart. 8vo. i8j. A version of the Iliad in English Hexameters. The question of Homeric translation is filly discussed in the Preface. "It is admirable, not only for many intrinsic fneiits, but as a great man'' s tribute to Genius.''^ — ILLUSTRATED London News. HIATUS : the Void in Modern Education. Its Cause and Antidote. By OuTis. Svo. 8j. 6d. The main object of this Essay is to poifit out hcnv the emotional element which underlies the Fine Arts is disregarded and undeveloped at this time so far as (despite a pretence at filing it up) to constitute an Educational Hiatus. HYMNI ECCLESL-E. 6>,f " Theological Section." Kennedy. — LEGENDARY FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. Collected and Narrated by Patrick Kennedy. Crown Svo. 'js. 6d. "A very admirable popular selection of the Irbh fairy stories and legends, in which those who are familiar with Mr. Croker's, and other selections of the same kind, will find much that is fresh, and full of the peculiar rmiacity and humour, and sometimes even of the ideal beauty, of the true Celtic Legend." — Spectator. POETRY Gr- BELLES LETTRES. 25 Kingsley (Canon). — Seeaho "Historic Section," "Works OF Fiction," «//vo. I2s. *^* A Nrcv and Cheap Edition in one vol. iSmo., beautifully printed on toned paper, price 2s. bd. THE VICTORIES OF LOVE. Fcap. 8vo. ^r. dd. The intrinsic merit 0/ his poem will secure it a permanent place in literature. . . . Mr. Patmore has fully earned a place in the catalogue of poets by the finished idealization of domestic life.'" — Saturday Review. GENERAL CATALOGUE. Rossetti. — Works by Christina Rossetti : — GOBLIX MARKET, AND OTHER POEMS. With two Designs by D. G. RossKTTi. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 5j-. '■''She handles her little niai~vel with that rare poetic discrimination luhich neither exhausts it of its simple wonders by pushing symbolism too far, nor keeps those ivonders in the 7nercly fabulous and capricious stage. In fact she has produced a true children's poem, which is far more delightful to the mature than to children, though it xoould be delightful to all." — Spectator. THE PRINCE'S PROGRESS, AND OTHER POEMS. With two Designs by D. G. Rossetti. Fcap. 8vo. 6s. " Miss Rossetti^ s poems are of the kind which recalls Shelley's dtfnition of Poetry as the record of the best and happiest moments of the best and happiest minds. . . . They are like the piping of a bird on the spj-ay in the sunshine, or the quaint singing zvith which a child amuses itself when itjorgets that anybody is listening." — SATURDAY REVIEW. Rossetti (W. M.).— DANTE'S HELL. ^"^^ "Dante." FINE ART, chiefly Contempoiaiy. By William M. Rossetti. Crown 8vo. lo.f. 6d. This volume consists of Criticism on Contemporary Art, reprinted from Fraser, The Saturday Review, The Pall Mall Gazette, and other pub- lications. Roby.— STORY OF A HOUSEHOLD, AND OTHER POEMS. By JvLvRY K. Roi5Y. Fcap. 8vo. 5j-. Shairp (Principal). — KILMAHOE, a Highland Pastoral, with other Poems. By John Campbell Siiairp. Fcap. 8vo. 5.f. ' ' Kilmahoe is a Highland Pastoral, redolent of the warm soft air of the Western Lochs and Moors, sketched out with remarkable grace and pic- turesd. " The vigorous words of one who has acted vigorously. They combine the fervour of politician and poet." — Guardian. Trench. — Works by R. Chenevix Trench, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. See also Sections " Philosophy," "Theology," &c. POEMS. Collected and arranged anew. Fcap. Svo. 7j-. Gd. ELEGIAC POE^klS. Fcap. Svo. 2s. 6d. 30 GENERAL CATALOGUE. Trench (Archbishop), {coutinued)— CALDERON'S LIFE'S A DREAM : The Great Theatre of the World. With an Essay on his Life and Genius. Fcap. 8vo. 4J. dd. HOUSEHOLD BOOK OF ENGLISH POETRY. Selected and arranged, with Notes, by R. C. Trench, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin. Extra fcap. 8vo. 5^. dd. This vohime is called a " Household Book,^'' by this name implying that it is a book for all — that there is 7iothing in it to prevent it from being confidently placed in the hands of every member of the household. Speci- mens of all classes of poetry are given, including selections from living authors. The Editor has aimed to produce a hook ^^ which the emigrant, finding room for little not absolutely necessary, might yet find room for in his trunk, and the traveller in his knapsack, and that on some narrow shelves w/iere there a7-efe-tt' books this might be one." " The Archbishop has conferred in this delightful volume an important gift on the whole English-speaking population of the world." — Pall Mall Gazette. SACRED LATIN POETRY, Chiefly Lyrical. Selected and arranged for Use. Second Edition, Corrected and Improved. Fcap. 8vo. " The aim of the present volume is to offer to members of our English Church a collection of the best sacred Latin poetry, such as tJiey shall be able entirely and heartily to accept and approi'e — a collection, thatisjin which they shall not be evermore liable to be ofiended, and to have the current oj their sympathies checked, by coming upon that which, howezn spiritual mother:" — PREFACE. POETRY &* BELLES LETT RES. 31 Turner. — SONNETS. By the Rev. Charles Ten.nyson Turner. Dedicated to his brother, the Poet Laureate. Fcap. 8vo. 4J. 6(/. " 77/1? Sonnets are dedicated to Mr. Tennyson by his bivther, and have, independently of their merits, an interest of association. They both love to ivrite in simple expressive Saxon; both lave to touch their imagety in epithets rather than in formal similes ; both have a delicate perceptiott of rythmical movement, and thus Mr. Turner has occasional lines -which, for phrase and tnusic, ?night be ascribed to his brother. . . He knozus the haunts of the 7uild rose, the shady nooks where light quivers through the leaves, the ruralities, in short, of the land of i/nagination." — Athen/EUM. SMALL TABLEAUX. Fcap. 8vo. /^. 6d " These brief poems have not only a peculiar kind 0/ interest for the student oj English poetry, but are intrinsically delightful, and will reward a careful and frequent perusal. Full of naivete, piety, love, and knozuledge of natural objects, and each expressing a single and generally a simple subject by means of minute and original pictorial touches, these sonrtets have a place of their own." — Pall Mall Gazette. Vittoria Colonna. — life and poems. By Mrs, PIe.nry RoscoE. Crown 8vo. iiust undeniably for the present give place to the Book of Praise. . . . The selection has been made throughout with sound judgJHOit and critical taste. The pains involved in this compilation tnust have been immense, emb7-acing, as it does, every writer of note in this special p7-ovince of English literature, and ranging oz'er the most xvidely divergent tracts of religious thought." — Sati;rday Reviiav. GOLDEN TREASUR V SERIES. 37 THE FAIRY BOOK ; the Best Popular Fairy Stories. Selected and rendered .mew by the Author of "John Halifax, Gentleman." "A delightful selection, in a delightful external form ; full of the Physical splendour ajid vast opulence of proper fairy &/«."— Spectator. THE BALLAD BOOK. A Selection of the Choicest British Ballads. Edited by WillL'VM Allingham. " His taste as a Judge of old poetry will be found, by all acquainted 'with the various readings of old English ballads, true enough to justify his undertaking so critical a task." — Saturday Review. THE JEST BOOK. The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings. Selected and arranged by Mark Lemon. " The fullest and best jest book that has yet appeared:'— 'Aa.'VXJKDXY Review. BACON'S ESSAYS AND COLOURS OF GOOD AND EVIL. With Notes and Glossarial Index. By W. Aldis Wright, M.A. " The beautiful little edition of Bacon's Essays, nozo before us, does credit to the taste and scholarship of Mr. Aldis Wright. . . . It puts the reader in possession of all the essential literary facts and chronology necessary for reading the Essays in co7inexion with Bacon's life and times:' — Spectator. " By far the most complete as well as the most elegant edition we Possess." — Westminster Review. THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS from this World to that which is to come. By John Bunvan. " .4 beaut fnl and scholarly ;v/;7///."— SPECTATOR. 38 GENERAL CATALOGUE. THE SUNDAY BOOK OF POETRY FOR THE YOUNG. Selected and anangetl by C. F. Alexander. " ^ well-selected volume of sacred poetry^'' — Spec TATOR. A BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS of all Times and all Countries. Gathered and narrated anew. ISy tlie Author of " The Heir ok Redclvffe." "... To they oil itg, for lohoni it is especially intended, as a viost interesting collection of thrilling tales well told ; and to their elders, as a useful hand- book of reference, and a pleasant one to take tip when their wish is to while away a weary half-hour. IVe have seen no prettier gift-booh for a long time." — Athen^um. THE POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BURNS. Edited, with Biographical Memoir, Notes, and Glossary, by Alexander Smith. Two Vols. ' ' Beyond all question this is the most beautiful edition of Burns yet out." — Edinburgh Daily Rkvik'.v. THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. Edited from the Original Edition by J. ^V. Clark, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. ''' I\ Put Hated and modified editions of this English classic are so much the rule, that a cheap and pretty copy of it, rigidly exact to the original, will be a prize to many book-buyers." — E.xaminer. THE REPUBLIC OF PLATO. Translated into English, with Notes, by J. LI. Davies, M.A. and D. J. Vaugha.n, M.A. ^ A dainty and cheap little edition." — Examiner. GOLDEN TREASURY SERIFS. 39 THE SONG BOOK. Words tind Tunes from tlie best Poets and Musicians. Selected and arranged by John Huli.ah, Professor of \'^ocal Music in King's College, London. "^ cJtoice collection of the sterling songs of England, Scotland, and Ireland, ivith the music of each prefixed to the 7C'ords. Ihnv much true wholesotne pleasure such a book can diffuse, and will diffuse, ive trust, through many thousand families.'" — Examiner. LA LYRE FRANCAISE. Selected and arranged, with Notes, by GusT.WE Masson, French Master in Harrow School. A selection of the best French songs and lyrical pieces. TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS. By an Old Boy. ^' A perfect gem of a book. The best and most healthy book about boys for boys that a'cr was 7t';7//t7?.''— ILLUSTRATED Times. J LONDON' : R. CLAV, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTTUS, BREAD STRKKT HILL. UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY r<, ii **'•■ AA 001 122 834 3 CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UMveLy of CaUfoma,Sa. Diego