The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1848-04-06
r-,n,.-rhs Condition of the People.

of the people for selt-governhleh,,-a' 'a, asan
- - ,,resont nbvsical, intellectual, and mora
op,d;t;on Anv information upon these points can
IL, e,iI 70 ba Interesting. With the view of Civ
;,r e,,ob information as may be within our reach
30 hove extracted from an article in the New York
Herald and published upon the first page of this
,ner some interesting statistics, Oft the general ac-
curacv of which we have no doubt having care
fuIIv compared them with other and authentic sour
ces of information.
We all hope for great things from France and
the French revolution but we must be careful moi
to let our sympathes run away with our better
judgments, and indulge in dreams which never
can be realized only to sink into the deeper despon-
dency when we see our magnificent fancy-work
fade away and give place to unexpected and UNI
pleasant facts
The equal distribution of PROF erty among peo-
pie has been in theory, evidence of its general
prosperity, and rapid advancement. This theory
is certainly supported by the facts as we see them
developed in this country, but in France its adop-
ton does not seem to have been attended with
equally happy effects In 1889, when the National
Assembly was convoked and the first revolution be-
gan three fourths of all the real prop erty in the
kingdom belonged to the church and the nobility
'o,ooo
this monopoly of the earth, accompanied as it was
with an almost entire exemption from taxation,
and the enjoyment of many privileges under the
name of siegnorial rights, which imposed the most
weighty burdens upon the ,ople, reduced the az
ricutural classes to condition of the worst kind
of serage. BY the confiscation of the property of
the church and of the engrant nobility all this
PROF orty was brought into market, and by the
adoption of the :" law of SUGGESTIONS which dis
trbuted the property equally among the heirs of
the deceased and placed under certain restrictions
the making of donations and testlments, lin short,
by the same laws which govern us in Louisana,)
the revolutionary Government secured thereafter
general distribution of the soil The or 3idtion of
this law produced the end desired. In 1915 the
properties subject to the land tax were lO,OS3,
Isl, which We're estimated to belong to ,S33, Geo
proprietors while in 1886 the number of PROF er-
ties had increased to l0,S93, 523, and the proprie
tors to 5.500,Cc0. This, according to the theory,
should have been evidence of a general improve
ment in the condition of the agricultural popula-
ton, and of the establishment of something like
equality of condition. But when we come to ex-
anime more closely the statements, it apr that
5,2G5,41 of these . PROF critics " taxed less
which supposing the tx to amount to but
tenth of the rent, and that is a moderate estimate,
would show that these estates were of so little
value to be worth the rent of less than 50 30
year. OF the whole number of the properties
above mentioned, 1895, 027 assessed at less
than fifty francs a year. The general equality "
among the agricultural population does not seem to
have been established for any beneficial purpose
except in name The condition of things is thus
described by an English tourist:
The population of the country to be arranged thus
around The cnltvaters individually have not much to
spare beeauss as their husbandry sort of gardening it
less superuity of produce Thus is found numerous but
io his surplus produce only sous and expends only
sous: The radesmen with the farmer; they
district with town OF 10000 inhabitants in the centre Of
it. baering the superuity Of the for the and
alton and growing they increase in numbers
the country by the division and subdivision Of property
the towns by the division and subdivision of trades and
ety. no improvement nor hope of it,
The Eng lishman, however, may be preiudiced,
and we should hesitate about giving his statement
credence, were it not more than confirmed by NJ
LATTE, the Finance Minister of the revolution of
1880. IT, says he, g the manufacturers of our
great cities well instructed and as skifu as
man at this day should be, our agrcuItursts are as
ignorant and as poor as in the ages of feudality
And we have the INDECENT France of the fourteenth
century to consume the products of the rich and III
genious France of the nineteenth. considerable
portion of the population neither bread nor meat
but are nourished by few coarse vegetables, and
covered by few miserable rags
The agrcultursts, thus described form a very
large majority of the people and the g ingenious
artzans " of the large cities are in the same con.
dition with the manufacturing population of every
other part of Europe condition which has too
often been described as one of unremittine toll.
suffering and want, in order to support short.
sckly and miserable existence, and swell the enor-
nous profits Of capital.
Such is the physical state of the great mass of
the French People. The state of education is the
next point of Importance. In 1890, the number of
the inhabitants under instruction was in 81 in
1880, in 20. The late government made extraor-
binary exertons during part of its existence to
establish system of public schools, and from the
success with which il met, in spite of all the oppo
sition of the PEOPLE and the clergy, we may now,
perhaps assume that person in six Of the popu
lation has received the rudments of an education
that Is can read and write. The higher branches |
OF educaton-those of which only the few can |
enjoy the immediate benefits-are carried to as
great perfection III France as in any nation in the
world.
From a people thus suffering from poverty we
have no right to expect any miraculous display of
when it becomes suddenly pos
sessed of power; ought to look for the high
est manifestations of wisdom from nation so mad |
equately instructed. The leaders of the revolu-
ton men of sublime benevoIence and roman
tic virtue. They aspire not only TO the political
but the social regeneration of their country
They seek well to remove this burden of want
and lgnorance-to reconstruct society by anchor
atlng the condition of the laboring classes and to |
ditf'lse knowledge and virtue among the masses
as to change the oppressive and corrupt system of
government adopted and maintained by the fallen |
dynasty But can they infuse either their knowledge
or their good intentions into the masses the people'
They have done much by keeping the turbulence
Of Paris IN check, but can they guide direct, and
he whole M