452 . STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL chap. 



access to land in their native villages ; — it is the advocates 

 and beneficiaries of this inhuman system, the members of 

 this " cruel organization," who, when a partial restitution 

 of their unholy gains is proposed, are the loudest in 

 their cries of " robbery ! " But all the robbery, all the 

 spoliation, all the legal and illegal filching has been 

 on their side, and they still hold the stolen property. 

 27iey made laws to justify their actions, and 2ve propose 

 equally to make laws which will really justify ours, 

 because, unlike their laws which always took from the 

 poor to give to the rich, ours will take only from the 

 superfluity of the rich, not to give to the poor individu- 

 ally, but to enable the poor to live by honest work, to 

 restore to the whole people their birthright in their 

 native soil, and to relieve all alike from a heavy burden of 

 unnecessary taxation. This will be the true statesmanship 

 of the future, and will be justified alike by equity, by 

 ethics, and by religion. 



The Teaching of the Priests. 



And now, what has been the conduct and teaching 

 of those priests and bishops who profess to be followers of 

 Him who declared that a rich man shall hardly enter into 

 the kingdom of heaven, and who gave this rule as 

 being above all the Commandments, " If thou wilt be 

 perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the 

 poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." Have 

 they ever preached to the squires and nobles restitution 

 of some portion of the land so unjustly obtained by their 

 ancestors ? Have they even insisted on the duty of those 

 who hold the land to allow free use of it to all their 

 fellow-citizens on fair terms ? Have they even set before 

 these ^men the inevitable and now well-known results 

 of land-monopoly, and the deadly sin of using their 

 power to oppress the poor and needy ? It is notorious 

 that, with some few noble exceptions, they have done 

 none of these things, but have ever taken the side of the 

 landed against the landless, and too often, whether in the 



