OTHER SCHEMES OF LAND REFORM 281 



If we turn to France, we see that a different result 

 from a similar agitation was secured, solely because 

 the land tenure of that country differed from that of 

 ours. During the period of the Corn Law agitation 

 in England, a sliding scale of duties existed in France. 

 The French Cobden of the time, Bastiat, and his 

 school, preached the doctrine of free imports with an 

 earnestness equal to that of Cobden and his col- 

 leagues, but their preaching was vain before above 

 five millions of proprietors. From the same cause, 

 the able speeches of the modern " Free Trader," M. 

 Yves Guyot, are received with acclaim in England, 

 while his arguments fall on deaf ears in France. 



There is nothing whatever surprising in all this. 

 The owner of ten acres of land is as keen on the 

 rights of property, and as watchful of the interests of 

 his industry, as the owner of ten thousand acres. We 

 see a landed aristocracy, in continental countries, which 

 is not exposed to the disfavour and hostile criticism 

 to which that order in England is subjected. The 

 reason is, that it is not a class apart, separated 

 from other classes of cultivators by a gulf which, 

 under our present system, is well-nigh impassable. In 

 these countries the landed aristocracy is intermingled 

 with a landed democracy, and the two interests are not 

 antagonistic, but identical. Hence it is that the rural 

 economy of these countries is in the hands of a body 

 diverse in character, but united in interest. Even the 

 comparatively few labourers who are simply wage- 

 receivers are in the same boat, because they can get 

 land if they like to save and strive in order to do so. 

 These classes, as a body, came to the conclusion that 

 it was necessary to defend agriculture from foreign 

 attacks, and for that purpose they not only proposed. 



