586 Agricultural Labour Early Last Century. [Oct., 



THE AGRICULTURAL LABOURER IN 

 THE EARLY I9th CENTURY. 



J. L. Hammond. 



In the Middle Ages England as a rural society differed little 

 from the other parts of western Europe. The unit of government 

 was the manor. The origin of the manor is the topic of some 

 of the most famous of the controversies of scholars and his- 

 torians. With those discussions we need not trouble ourselves;, 

 it is sufficient for our purposes to note that the men and women 

 living in the villages contained in the manor had certain duties 

 and certain rights. They had to perform certain services in 

 return for which they enjoyed a certain status. Nothing is more 

 important or more interesting in the history of the different 

 nations of Europe than the circumstances under which this 

 ancient society was dissolved. Why, and under what conditions 

 did the peasant survive in certain countries, and why, and under 

 what conditions did he disappear in others? The most illu- 

 minating discussion of these historical changes is to be found 

 in the address that Professor Ashley gave to the International 

 Congress of Historical Studies a few years ago. He showed in 

 that address how closely related are these social changes to the 

 t\^e and form of government which was in existence at the time. 



France and England. — The contrast can be put most 

 effectively by noting the difference between France and England. 

 In France in the eighteenth century the bulk of the French 

 peasants were customary tenants of one kind or another. They 

 retained a number of obligations from the old feudal system, 

 but subject to these services they held the land they cultivated 

 with some degi'ee of independence. The noble was a courtier 

 rarely living on his estate, and the actual government of the 

 district was in the hands of an official of the Crown known as 

 the intendant . The Revolution had two consequences of great 

 importance to the peasant. First and chief it released him with 

 a stroke of the pen from all dues and services that he owed to 

 his lord. That is, he became the unqualified owner of his 

 holding. He was no longer obliged to carry his corn to the 

 lord's mill to be ground, or to pay all kinds of tribute on all 

 kinds of occasion. Further, though rich men bought a great deal 

 of the land that was confiscated when the Church and the 

 emigrant noblemen were dispossessed, a certain amount of that 

 land came into his hands. 



