FUTURE OF THE BRITISH PEASANT. 179 



than their predecessors. There is, doubtless, still room for 

 great improvements in the condition of our peasantry : 

 but it is pleasant to know that, in the comparatively short 

 period of eight years, this section of our labouring popula- 

 tion gives unquestionable evidence of moral, intellectual, 

 and material PROGRESS." 



It is eminently gratifying to note that the improve- 

 ment recorded in this excerpt from comments of over 

 thirty years ago, has, though slowly, nevertheless, 

 steadily continued, and that whilst the friends and well- 

 wishers of our peasantry forty years ago were few and 

 far between, they now constitute a host of well-wishers, 

 and that a small but resolute band of influential public 

 men are seeking to better their condition. 



The present writer repeats that he looks upon the 

 efforts of the parliamentary Small Holdings Committee 

 to create an army of agricultural proprietors as con- 

 ducing to bring round the ladder which offers the mere 

 labourer the opportunity of rising from his humble 

 position to a position of comparative opulence. Whether 

 by means of land banks or more direct State aid, the 

 farm labourer must, in every way, be encouraged to 

 use the steps of this ladder : and it cannot be too much 

 emphasised that freehold possession alone, and not 

 mere leaseholds, will bring about the desired results. 



But the present writer contends very strongly that 

 the freehold dwelling must be added to the freehold 

 land for cultivation ; and, as already pointed out, the 

 State should equally assist to enable the cultivator to 

 obtain this freehold dwelling by the payment of easy 

 instalments of the purchase money, elastically adjusted 

 to meet his moderate earnings. Large sums of public 

 money have been advanced to assist the Irish cultivators. 

 Is it too much to ask that the same generosity should 

 be shown to the Englishman, the Welshman, and the 

 Scotchman ? It has often been said that the English- 

 man's house is his castle, an expression which is used 

 to denote the strength and independence of the 



