CONCLUSION. 233 



and even-handedness by making land, alone of all 

 other forms of property and capital (that fall under 

 its occasional operation by intestacy or disputed 

 right), an exception to the general rule of fair and 

 equitable division ? In the freest of all free countries, 

 where freedom is ' the law of the land,' why should 

 not ' the land ' itself be free ? Why is it that so feAv 

 will take the pains to understand the question enough 

 to see that ' primogeniture ' is a thing which families 

 may make for themselves if they please, like heir- 

 looms ; but which the Law has no more to do with 

 than with the descent of my Lady's Jewels to the 

 next ' my Lady/ though under the Statute of Distri- 

 bution of the effects of Intestates, they would have 

 been treated as personalty, and divided accordingly. 



Again and again be it understood, that it is not the 

 compulsory division of land by law, as in France and 

 most other continental states, that is here advocated ; 

 but simply the application to it of our own existing 

 law applied to every other form of capital, favouring 

 neither its aggregation nor partition, but leaving it to 

 assume its natural proportions and relation to the 

 wants and habits of society, like any other article in 

 which Industry invests its savings. Wrap yourself in 

 the triple armour of Custom, Prejudice, or Feudalism, 



