, 1879-07-27

the soil is carried T cnss o! !tcn WHO arc :'ot
the owners or the soil, and not the a"tna1 eait-
vators OF the soil; aud under which fhe actaa' cut
tiyators Of the soil nre never. and ca never nops
to become. It's owucrs. It Il system unoe1 "u'ea
the lund il cultivated by men who have this one
caim upon ft.-taat In case Of old age or aosolnte
dcstitu:ion they should be supported without ex-
pense und almost witaout labor on the land. Sach
is the land system Of tnls country, and' as nave
eaid, it is one woich prevails In no other country
IN the wor;d.'.. -:
The Spectator of July u. in; describing
this speech, said:
''Iias the Spectator, has Ar. BRIGHT even. ever
said anything radical about the Tenure than Is
contained in that short paragraph: Lotd AAnT-
lNaToE, however, was even more definite tnan tn's'
lie declared openly, plainly. in so many woras'
TINT one OF the blots on our system Is our system
of the entail and settlement OF land, and be sur-
yiycd the u,1erance. That is to say, be went be-
yond the Farmers Alliance, and condemned
straightforwardty the system upon which. and the
order of society 1t produces, our whole tenure
dcpenda. Without prmogcniturc and settlement
that ia, without a, system intended to keep the
arlstocracy wealthy, and bind them 20 the existing
tenure-the Land laws would have no rdtson detrs,
und would, within five years, perish OF universal
contempt and hostility. Without settlement,
land transfer would be easy, and Lord HART
INGToH suggested that it was 'unwise' TO
prevent the existence Of sma1l properties
By making It 90 expensive. Primogentture,
and entaIl and difficulties OF transfer being con-
demucd, 1t remained to do something for the ten
ant and Lord HAnT1Noros openly declared that
he would make the Agricultural Holdings act COM
pulsory and tnat he considered the Law OF Dis
trantthat las: grand legal privilege OF the landlord
class-aB n question OF the ordinary law OF debtor
and creditor which, in the belief Of many, nets
dctrimentally both on landlord and tenant and
which should be the subject at least Of careful In
vestlgation. This is all that reasonable land re-
formers have ever demanded It is more than they
eycrhoped to obtain. without au agitation rs yisor-
Gus as that which broke down the Corn laws And
it s all offered, not By hr. BRIGHT, or Mr. CHAa-
nEnLA1s, any politician bidding for support, but
by the Lender OF the Liberal party himself. the
head Of the Whig as1srocracy, who many men be-
licyed. would upon this subject break away from
their usual following, and declare that they were
Liberals only as to laws, and not as regards the
order Of society."
This speech has attracted great attention
in England, and the Saturday Repieao admits
that the possessors Of large estates are now
driven to the defense Of system which will
henceforward be vigorously assailad. It
even admits that there are evils which may
be remadied, but claims that the revolution
which might be beneficial will also be sweep
ing In bringing about this great political
and social revolution in England, this Sc
verest Of all blows against the perDetuation
of tile aristoc7acy, the cheap food furnished
to the impoverished people of England has
had direct effsct in precipitating an aeite-
ton which has hitherto never been SUCCESS
fut