Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1851-09-25

Now what Is the province and object of
Just Government if it be not to protect mans
natural rights. And if every man has natural
right 10 the EARTH it is the duty of the Govern
ment to protect that right, by forbidding en-
croachments upon it-by limiting the spirit of
Land Monopoly that is, by establishing the
principle of Land Limitation. And the Legis.
ature which shall enact land limitation law,
so far from committing wrong against any por-
ton of the community, will only protect the nat
ural rights of the whoLe, against the unnatural
wrongs of part-wlll only incorporate natural
Justice into law, and ordain the teachings of
the human and divine constitution of things in
to a statute. And the government which refuses
to protect my natural right to the soil, and your
natural right to the soil, by refusing to limit the
encroachments of the wealthy upon that right
is unjust, leaves the weak 10 become the prey
of the strong, is government of the landed few
over the Iandless many, and is an Ollgarchy IN
fact though Republican in name. And care
not though you confront me with precedent and
usage, and the forms Of law time halowed with
the dust of centuries, till you legtimatize bias
phemy, humanize inhumanlty and republicanize
despotism by the lapse of ages, and blot out the
handwriting of God inscribed on the constitu-
ton of man, by an act Of legislation, you can
not annul the right of all men to the soil, nor
absolve the Government from its obligation to
protect them in the enjoyment of that right,
The history of land ownership and its fruits,
from the earliest ages to the present period,
shows that there is SPECIAL necessity for the
adoption of land limitation law, in order to
preserve to the people their rights and liberties
In the Patriarchal age-in the time of Abra-
ham and Lot-the unappropriated land was con.
sidered free to the first comer and occupancy
was the only valid title The Patriarch was the
head of the family or tribe, whose members were
related by blood, marriage, or adoption, and the
possessions Of the Patsiarch were iho property
Of all !; and this tenure being adapted to the in
telligence, wants and condition of the race at
that time, Land Monopoly had less opportunity
and scope 10 work out injurious results.
Then came the age of conquest, when empires
were founded by arms-when the Monarch as.
sumed the right to be Head and Lawgiver of
the Nation, without performing the duties of pa
rent and legislator, and the people and their
lands were the subjects of spoliaton by success
sive conquerors and rulers.
Then followed the Feudal age, when the mil
ltary chieftain parcelled out the lands obtained
by arms, 10 his feuds or vassals, on condition of
military, personal or mental service. But as the
king was the head of the feudal system, and as
the Dukes, Earls, Barons and Lords held their
lands of him by the tenure of Knight service,
and were bound to keep in their service large
number Of inferior knights, squlres, bowmen and
yeomen, whose fidelity it was necessary to Sc
cure, to repel the lnroads of rival nobemen, and
sometimes even the encroachments of the King
himself, they were obliged to treat those retain
ers and their dependents with great lenlty. So
that Land Monopoly, even here could not work
its worst results. The magnfcence of the Lord
was measured by the number of retainers who
lived on his bounty and fed at his table, and not
as now among our Republican Lords, by the
Jewels on their persons, the splendor of their
equpage and the number of their horses and
farms. There were also large tracts of charity
lands belonging to the numerous religious houses
for the support of the poor, the feeble and the
forloln, which modified, to greater or less de-
gree, the evils of Land Monopoly. So that in
the Patrarchal, the Barbarian and the Feudal
ages, the Freemen-for speak not of slaves
were so connected by relationship, or by the
mutual dependencies Of Patrons and Clients
Lords and Vassals, that the deprivation of the
right of the masses to the soil did not work out
the worst results of Land Monopoly in personal
and domestic degradation and restitution, as it
has done under the auspices of civilization in
the old world, and as it promises to do-unless
prevented by Land Reform. under the banner of
Republican civilization, and Republican christi
anty, in the neU.--S N. Booth.