CONSTITUTION OF PROPERTY. 105 



is the real evil with French property ; not so much its 

 subdivision. In many cases a still greater division might 

 be the remedy for this evil. The majority of our large 

 proprietors would be gainers if they held less land, and 

 had more money. Those who have less than 5000 to 

 6000 francs of net revenue would almost all benefit by 

 renouncing land altogether ; and among the small pro- 

 prietors there is also a large number who would do well 

 no longer to attempt a problem which they will never be 

 able to solve. That this liquidation, if it took place, 

 would be profitable to the large, the middle-sized, or the 

 small properties, it is impossible to say beforehand, and 

 in reality it signifies very little. 



The debt on land in England is less injurious than in 

 France ; not that it is less, for it is on the contrary more, 

 being estimated at as much as half the total value of the 

 land ; but because it is borne by richer families. After the 

 payment of interest on their debt, the English proprietors 

 have a larger net revenue than ours, and their very 

 large movable property contributes, together with the 

 greater 'value of their land, to place them in a much 

 more advantageous position. Nevertheless, public atten- 

 tion on the other side of the Channel has been drawn 

 to the evils of mortgage debt it is now being seriously 

 considered and if ever measures be taken to diminish 

 the burden, the revolution which will grow out of it will 

 be rather unfavourable than otherwise to large property. 

 It is, in fact, the larger properties which are most bur- 

 dened ; and a liquidation, by bringing commercial and 

 manufacturing fortunes to be invested more largely in 

 land, would to that extent diminish the present extent 

 of exclusively territorial fortunes. This revolution has 

 already begun in Ireland, and progresses rapidly in con- 

 sequence of a special Act of Parliament. 



