APPENDIX.

FROM the Author of the "Social Condition of Europe:"

I.

INNER TEMPLE, LONDON, Oct. 14, 1850.

DEAR SIR,-Your last letter found me rambling in the North of England, where in reality I am now writing this note to you.

Peasant proprietorship does not at all necessarily supersede payment of rent. Peasant proprietorship, when existing under a wisely regulated system of land laws, simply means a system, by means of which an owner of land cannot tie up the land by his settlement or will, so as to prevent it being sold after his own death.

Under such a system, there are certain to be estates of all sizes, from the greatest down to mere garden plots. There is nothing under such a system to prevent land dividing or accumulating.* There are certain to be estates of all sizes,

* Objection has been made against modification of the feudal laws, on the ground that such interference with the existing law would do away with the aristocracy of the land; but this objection is answered by the fact, that in the countries where these are abolished, and free trade in land has ensued as a consequence, the accumulating tendency is the prevailing. Such modification removes from the state what is evil, and, at the same time, leaves the valuable part-the condition apart from its defects. "In France and Norway," says Professor Hearn, "where, by an exactly opposite error to ours, the land is compulsorily divided among the children, and the father

little and big, in all parts of the country, subject to such a system. The great advantage of such a system is, that it secures the existence of a fair proportion of small estates, and consequently makes it possible for the peasants to acquire land in all parts of the country, and thus offers the peasant an incentive to industry, economy, and foresight. But on the large estates, which are always found existing under such a system, the relation of landlord and tenant goes on pretty much as under any other system, with this exception, that the tenant is better able to obtain a lease on good terms from his landlord, as the competition for leasehold farms under such a system is not quite so great as under a system like our present one.

Under such a system as the one I advocate, tithe could be raised just as at present, from both large and small estates. The tithe returns would become considerably increased, however, as the returns of land cultivation would be necessarily augmented.

This is one of the great advantages to be acquired by such a system.

Some of the countries in which the lands are very much

thus deprived, in a great degree, of the power of bequest, the consequences are by no means such as might have been anticipated. There appears in those countries a decided tendency to accumulate, and in no instance do we find that excessive subdivision which we should naturally apprehend. It seems as if the centripetal tendencies were sufficiently powerful to counteract the evil results of the centrifugal.-See the Cassell Prize Essay on the Condition of Ireland, by W. E. Hearn, LL.B., Professor of Greek, Queen's College, Galway, p. 93.

* The reader will say here-After abolition, or modification of the feudal laws, large estates would continue. On these properties the relation of landlord and tenant would continue. The tenant on election occasions will be controlled as at present. This objection is not valid; because, under the improved system, the terms would be better, and hence restraint less than under the present system of land laws.

divided have poor houses, as, for instance, Holland and some parts of Switzerland.

I think the present agitation in Ireland is aiming to effect an impossible and useless result. It is impossible to force* the relations of landlord and tenant.

I hope that these few remarks will answer your principal objections.-Believe me, dear sir, very sincerely yours,

The Rev. Wm. Brown.

Written on Circuit :

:

II.

JOSEPH KAY.

6, PUMP COURT, TEMPLE, Dec. 1, 1852.

DEAR SIR,-Nothing has been done in England, since the publication of my book, to facilitate the sale of land. The first chapter of my first volume explains the exact state of the law relating to the conveyance of land in this country. I do not think I could say anything to farther explain the subject. It is impossible to render the sale of land much simpler, until the power of the landowner over the ownership of his land, after his own death, is lessened, and until a system of general registration is established, by means of which a buyer

* The advocates of tenant-right do not design to force the relations of landlord and tenant, but to obtain protection for certain tenant-rights which are not respected by the men whose teeth are as swords, and their jawteeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. These men have severed the friendly relation which heretofore existed between landlord and tenant. It rests with the Parliament, by wise legislation, to unite them again. Any modification of the feudal laws introducing free trade in land would be deficient, unless there would be combined therewith a protective law of tenant-right for Ireland in general, and Ulster in particular.

of land may, at the expense of one shilling,* find out the exact state of the title to, and the incumbrances on, property.Believe, me ever, dear sir, very truly yours,

Rev. W. Brown.

III.

JOSEPH KAY.

Sketch on the Feudal Land Laws.

"In Great Britain and Ireland, in Russia, and in some parts of Austria alone, as many of my readers are aware, the land is still divided, and, so to speak, tied up, in few hands and immense estates; and in these countries alone the old laws relating to landed property, which emanated from the feudal system, and which tend to prevent the sub-division of estates, still continue in force. These laws effect this by means of extraordinary powers which they confer upon owners of land. They enable an owner of land to prevent the sale of the land by himself during his own life, by his creditors, and by any successor, or other person, for many years after his own death.

"They enable an owner of an estate in Fee Simple (that is, of an estate which the owner can sell, so as to give the purchaser full powers of selling it to whomsoever he pleases), not only to dispose of his land during his own lifetime, and to leave the whole estate in it to any one he pleases after his death, but to do very much more. They enable him, if he has not been prevented by the settlement or will of a former proprietor, to grant by his settlement, or to leave by his will, different interest in his land to a number of persons, and so to arrange the succession to the ownership of the property by his settlement or will, that no person or persons shall be able

* A few years ago a friend of mine sold a small property at about £700. The searches necessary cost fifty,five pounds.

to sell any portion of the land, until some person, who was an infant at the time of making the settlement, or at the death of the person having made the will, has grown up, married, and had a son, and until the son has attained the age of twenty-one years, and not even then, so as to confer a right to the immediate possessors of it, unless all those who have any interest in the land, prior to that of the last mentioned son, are dead, or join in the sale."

The reader who desires to know the Land Laws of Ireland, besides the first volume of Mr. Kay's Work, will require to consult the Work of Blackstone, Burtin's Real Property, and Stephen's Commentaries.

Now that war has ceased, the occasion would be most favourable for considering the laws bearing on our social condition. May we not hope, in the next Session of Parliament, a Commission will be appointed to consider the Land Laws, with a view to a wise modification.

Such a measure would only be the counterpart to the Lord Devon Commission.

Printed at the "Banner of Ulster" Office, Donegall Street, Belfast.