266 Land reform 



have had of you; Emptiness of pocket, of stomach, of 

 head and of heart. Behold there is nothing in us, 

 nothing but what Nature gives her wild children of 

 the desert. Ferocity and Appetite; Strength grounded 

 on Hunofer."^ 



Dr. Arnold, referring to the destruction of the 

 feudal tyranny of the nobility and great men, writes: — 



"In my opinion this blessing is enough to com- 

 pensate the evils of the French Revolution ; for the 

 good endures while the effects of the massacres and 

 devastations are passing away. ... I am sure that we 

 have too much of the oligarchical spirit in England 

 (both in Church and State), and that these one-eyed, 

 the political economists, encourage this by their lan- 

 guage about national wealth."^ 



The Revolution of 1789 did not therefore, as is so 

 often stated, create a peasant proprietary, which, in 

 fact, existed before the outbreak. What the Revolu- 

 tion did was, first, to free the peasant from his bonds 

 and then, through the provisions of the Civil Code, to 

 put hope into his life by securing to him the fruits of 

 his own industry and thrift. From that time the 

 career of the French tillers of the soil has been one 

 of increasing comfort and prosperity. 



A writer who knows France well, and has closely 

 studied the condition of the rural population, speaks of 

 the "unique position of the French peasant, no other 

 country in the world showing his compeer. . . . From 

 generation to generation the rural population of 

 France has been materially and morally progressive. 

 At the present day 63 per cent of the inhabitants of 



^ Carlyle's " French Revolution." 



' " Life and Correspondence of Dr. Arnold," by Arthur Penrhyn 

 Stanley. 



