442 LAND REFORM 



and the slaughter of a few hundreds of his adherents may 

 not seem to be an act of very great significance in the 

 history of a mighty empire, yet ancient historians regarded 

 the event as epoch-marking, as the turning-point in the 

 history of Rome, as the beginning of the period of civil 

 wars."^ 



If some scholar, in sympathy with the subject, who could 

 consult, in their own language, the many ancient writers on 

 agriculture and note their statements and forebodings, would 

 deal with the subject, he would find an almost complete 

 analogy between the growth of the Roman land system and 

 that of our own. He would find a similarity even in details, 

 the methods employed and the spirit that animated the con- 

 tending parties. The final issue with the Roman people was 

 that they were conquered and humiliated mainly by the hardy 

 races from the North. 



What the final issue with England will be remains to be 

 seen. It would be seen should we unhappily be involved in 

 a great war. The conditions of a struggle between England 

 and a first-class power (or perhaps two powers) would be 

 such as have never yet been seen. On the one side there is 

 a nation with 77 per cent of its population urban, and tha 

 great bulk of its people propertyless men who have little 

 or no personal stake in the country. A nation dependent 

 month by month on outside sources for its supply of food, 

 and — what is almost as bad for a country that relies on com- 

 mercialism — dependent on the same sources for raw material. 

 On the other side there is a self-feeding nation (or nations) 

 with a teeming rural population owning the land it tills ; a 

 nation which, being thus self-contained and secure of the 

 industry on which it mainly depends, could afford to carry 

 on a waiting contest. 



Giving full weight to the fact that we have the finest navy 

 and the finest income-tax payer in the world, is there a 

 responsible statesman, soldier, or sailor who holds that a 

 country, against such odds, could come out of a great war with 

 success, or even without humiliation ? If there be such he has 



* Dr. Greenidge, "A History of Rome," 1904, Vol. I, p. 143. 



