82 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



tion that the great vantage ground that you have now in com 

 peting with us, is in the low cost of your manual labour. And 

 this, if not due to technical protection, has certainly resulted, 

 in a great degree, from that general policy in your past his 

 tory, of sustaining privileged classes ; from your constitution 

 and laws and customs making, or, if you please, permitting, 

 the accident of birth to give such advantages to some as it 

 does. I do not consider property as the representative of 

 industry and intelligence merely; it might be more truly 

 defined as the representative of power, and often of the 

 power of rascality and low cunning : the State, therefore, 

 instead of giving artificial privileges to the rich, should, if to 

 either class, give it to the poorer, because the weaker.&quot; 



&quot;The State should grant no artificial distinctions; but 

 there are certain privileges and distinctions which a man may 

 naturally acquire, and the State should guarantee him perma 

 nent possession of these.&quot; 



&quot; Granted, with the qualification that he must acquire 

 them, and hold them in no way which, on the whole, shall be 

 adverse to the greatest good of the greatest number. Now 

 position, socially, is relative: if you elevate one man, you 

 degrade others. Superior necessitates inferior. The aristoc 

 racy of the few makes necessary the peasantry of the many. 

 Is that the Queen s Head ?&quot; 



&quot; Yes, sir.&quot; 



&quot; Our discussion must be interrupted, then.&quot; 



&quot; Excuse me,&quot; said our friend from behind us, reaching 

 forward and putting his hand on my shoulder &quot; excuse me, 

 but did I not hear you speaking of selfishness and revenge as 

 first laws of nature, just now ?&quot; 



&quot; Something of the kind.&quot; 



&quot; You will allow me to remind you that they are the 

 natural laws of brutes, and of man in his first stages of prog- 



