26 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



power, and the class of the landless, feeling that 

 a share in the land was not only a part of man's 

 natural heritage, but a sure way to earthly hap- 

 piness ; and there sprang up " land reformers," 

 moved sometimes by ambition, sometimes by 

 nobler passions, to lead the people to the Prom- 

 ised Land. 



It is an eternal illusion of human society, 

 this faith that, by some spell of words or abra- 

 cadabra of legislation, the land and the people 

 are to be united in holy marriage and live 

 happily ever afterwards. One may hear its cry 

 from the valley of the Jordan, when Jerusalem 

 knew the glory of Solomon ; from the crowning 

 hill of the Athens of Pericles ; from the Cam- 

 pagna, when the Roman legions tramped out 

 to the conquest of the world. From out the 

 dim records of more alien civilizations — in Asia, 

 in Africa, and America — its echo comes. And 

 as young communities, springing from European 

 stocks, invade new continents, the cry of " the 

 land for the people " rises bitter, clamant again 

 — yea, though there be a square mile and more 

 of land for every man there. It is cause for 

 sorrow, for pity, this old and yet ever-young 



