138 PEASANT PKOPEIETOES 



the whole, the French peasant is less hopeless and more inde- 

 pendent than the English labourer ; he possesses greater 

 weight in the social scale. Arthur Young was no friend 

 to peasant proprietors, but he says of those in the Isle of 

 Axholme : ' Though they work like negroes, they are 

 very happy respecting their mode of existence.' The lot 

 of the French peasant is indisputably hard, his fare meagre, 

 his cottage filthy, his standard of life and education often 

 lamentably low. On the other hand, a peasant proprietary 

 increases the number of those who have something to lose 

 and nothing to gain by revolution, encourages habits of 

 thrift and industry, gives the owner of land, however small 

 his plot, a stake in the country, and a vested interest 

 which guarantees his discharge of the duties of a citizen. 

 Combined with the partage force, it checks population, for 

 ' la plupart des Normands n'ont pas lu Malthus, mais ils 

 pratiquent instinctivement ses conseils.' 



No one will deny that the system of peasant proprietors 

 is socially advantageous. It affords a training to the rural 

 population for which we in England have found no substi- 

 tute. It checks the centralisation of pauperism, the over- 

 growth of population, and the migration into towns. The 

 element of stability which it contributes to the State is 

 more valuable to the French than ourselves. There the 

 towns are inflammable as touchwood, while the country 

 ignites more slowly. Yet even here it is useful to have a 

 class of slow-thinking men, who will answer political fire- 

 brands with ' Cela est bien, mais il faut cultiver notre 

 jardin.' But, while conceding the advantages of a peasant 

 proprietary, it is impossible to ignore the inseparable diffi- 

 culties which beset its establishment in England. The 

 poverty and misery or the wealth and happiness of French 

 peasants are often exaggerated in the interests of poli- 



