112 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



feudalism, which followed, those who cultivated the 

 soil were serfs, attached to the soil and sold with it, 

 as the cattle of the farm. 



In the contemporary period, the orator found in 

 Europe and America (not including slaves), four 

 classes of cultivators of the soil. The first in the list 

 were serfs or the farm laborers of Russia, living in 

 conditions but little better than that of the vassals 

 under the feudal system; the second, those cultivating 

 farms "at halves," that is for half the annual product; 

 the third, the tenants of farms by lease, the condition 

 generally of farmers in England; and the fourth, those 

 who own the soil they till, which, he said, was the 

 prevalent condition of the cultivators of the soil in 

 the non-slaveholding states of this country, especially 

 those of New England. He then said: 



I cannot but express my conviction that this con- 

 dition is the most favorable to the prosperity of the 

 state and the happiness of the individual. It will 

 immediately be perceived that it is not inconsistent 

 with the possession of some very ample landed estates 

 by individuals. In a country like ours, where every 

 man's capacity, industry and good fortune are left free 

 to work their way without prejudice, as far as possible, 

 there will be among the agricultural as well as among 

 the commercial population, fortunes of all sizes, from 

 that of the man who owns his thousand acres, his 

 droves of cattle, his flocks of sheep, his range of pas- 

 tures, his broad fields of mowing, and tillage, down to 

 the poor cottager who can scarce keep his cow over 

 winter. There will always be, in a population like 

 ours, opportunities enough for those who cannot own 

 a farm, to hire one, and for those who cannot hire one, 

 to labor in the employment of their neighbors who 

 need their services. And when we maintain that it is 



