B 3 fi72 3TD 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS 
 IN PRUSSIA, 
 
 WITH REFERENCE TO 
 
 <: 
 
 THE LAND QUESTION IN ENGLAND : 
 
 AND AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE VIEWS OF 
 
 RICHARD COBDEN, 
 
 AND 
 
 J. S. MILL'S ADVICE TO LAND EEFORIEES. 
 
 fsiiVES^SiTV j BY 
 
 c^^Jo^^^OL, H. A. OUVRY, C.B., 
 
 HEKBEB OF THE COBDEIT CLUB. 
 
 " Woe unto them that join honse to house, that lay field to field, till there be 
 no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth." — Isaiah, v. 8. 
 
 LONDOK : 
 KERBY AND ENDEAN, 190, OXFORD STREET. 
 
 1873. 
 
 (All rights reserved.) 
 
,65 
 ^9% 
 
 GENERAL 
 
 lOITDOTf : 
 
 PJtHTTBD BT KEEBT AND ENDEAIT, 
 
 190, OXFOED STREET. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The object of this small volume is to furnish a 
 trustworthy account of the real nature of the 
 Stein- Hardenberg Reforms, concerning which 
 much misapprehension exists in England- 
 It is generally supposed that Stein took the 
 part of the people against an oppressive aris- 
 tocracy, but this is a great eiTor. The truth is 
 that he was essentially an aristocrat, and looked 
 upon the people as (to use his own expression) 
 the " swinish multitude ''■' (Appendix A) . 
 
 ' The reason why he worked for the emanci- 
 pation of the Prussian peasant was simply 
 because he wanted to make use of him as an 
 instrument for the re-establishment of German 
 independence. | Had the Prussians been victorious 
 
 102222 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 in their wars with the French, most certainly we 
 never should have heard of the Stein Reforms. 
 
 The rising tide of democracy in England is 
 now a great fact, and as the lords of the manors 
 and large landed proprietors thought fit to 
 deprive the body of the people of their just 
 right to the soil in the great agrarian revolution 
 at the commencement of the sixteenth century, 
 when enclosures were first made (B), there is now 
 no element of any sufficient weight to bar its 
 course. 
 
 The question as to the best form of govern- 
 ment has been ably discussed in a German work 
 lately published (C) ; but whatever difference of 
 opinion there may be among the several classes 
 of politicians, one thing is very certain, that the 
 l^old ecclesiastical and political system of tutelage, 
 in which the power of the State was vested in 
 one person, and having for its motto " every- 
 thing for the people, but nothing by the people," 
 has died a natural death, and can never be 
 resuscitated. \ 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I The old faith in divine right has faded away 
 before the new light of modern thought ; 
 unreasoning faith and blind acceptation of tradi- 
 tion has paled before the increased intelligence 
 and discoveries of modern science, and hence- 
 forward the task of the legislator will be to fit 
 and accommodate all old institutions so as to 
 meet the new state of things which must in the 
 near future rule in Europe; and with us in 
 England the first and most important considera- 
 tion will be,; how the people are to be restored 
 to the soil from which they were driven by cruel 
 oppression in former times; for without a class 
 of small proprietors firmly planted on the lard 
 there can be no guarantee for the stability and 
 greatness of the nation. ; The food produce of 
 the land has always proved to be much greater 
 under small cultivation, but were this not so, 
 that would be of secondary consideration, for the 
 question is far less of the absolute quantity that 
 the soil can be made to produce than of the 
 far more important one of forming a sound, 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 healthy, and moral population. If it really can 
 
 be proved that cultivation on a large scale is so 
 
 far superior that it must be resorted to, then the 
 
 system of co-operation may be brought into play, 
 
 which would entirely meet the requirement, and 
 
 at the same time give the people the benefit of 
 
 small proprietorships and a stake in the country, 
 
 by property in the land, and thus form them 
 
 into a class of good conservative citizens, for 
 
 when persons have no property they become 
 
 dangerous to the State, as Schiller most justly 
 
 observes : 
 
 " The maTi of property bereft 
 Will rush to murder and to theft." 
 
 Thinking men (who are not large landed pro- 
 prietors) begin to see that there is a natural law 
 by which the land of a country belongs to the 
 State in trust for the good of the whole com- 
 munity, and should never be regarded as a mere 
 chattel. These views, are gaining ground 
 universally, even in Australia, where a land 
 reform league has been formed to prevent the 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 alienation of the land, and to repurchase all that 
 has already become private property. The 
 following are the views published at Melbourne 
 in an Electoral address — Argus, Jan. 3rd, 
 1868 :— 
 
 " On the land question I am of opinion that 
 the State should be the sole landlord, and 
 that it is contrary to the soundest economic, 
 social, and political principles for the State to 
 alienate the land. I do not see any subject of 
 political activity equal to this for thoroughly 
 meeting the ^ condition of the people ' question, 
 and aiding to solve the problem of what will 
 enable the State to contribute its share towards 
 helping the ^ poor who are getting poorer, ■* not by 
 degrading eleemosynary giftSy but by offering to 
 earnest and willing humanity the most favourable 
 possible surroundings for its sphere of labour and 
 utility.'' 
 
 According to the doctrine of the great founder 
 of the Median faith, no sooner does Ormuzd, the 
 principle of beneficence, propose a new scheme 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 for the happiness and improvement of mankind, 
 than his opponent Ahriman immediately creates 
 an opposition. 
 
 Ahriman is no vain imagination of the en- 
 thusiast, he lives and works at the present day 
 as actively as of old; the father of evil, the 
 source of darkness and impurity still violently 
 and persistently opposes all the efforts of the 
 children of light who are constantly striving for 
 the perfection of the human race. That Ormuzd 
 will, in the end, conquer there can be little doubt, 
 but still it would be useless to deny that his op- 
 ponent has great power, and that the victory will 
 only be gained after a long and painful struggle. 
 
 If we review the great French Revolution, we 
 find that this principle of evil, represented by the 
 atheistic Red Republicans of the Marat stamp, 
 opposed and impeded all the sound and whole- 
 some reforms of those children of light, the 
 Girondists, and succeeded in establishing an un- 
 natural restlessness and intoxication, which gave 
 rise to an almost unexampled orgy of crime and 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 folly. Naturally, a violent reaction took place ; 
 under tlie influence of whicli the new birth mis- 
 carried, and freedom in Europe submitted to the 
 despotic rule of a soldier of fortune. 
 
 Who can doubt that a Republic adminis- 
 tered by the people is_, theoretically, the most 
 perfect form of government, but then it re- 
 quires a people who are fit and prepared to 
 govern themselves ; when this condition is want- 
 ing, experience has shown that it is the very 
 worst. 
 
 Cicero has truly remarked, " Respublica, res 
 est populi cum bene ac juste geritur, sive ab uno 
 rege, sive a paucis magnatibus, sive ab universo 
 populo ^^— -i.e., a Republic is the affairs of the 
 People administered with justice and wisdom, 
 whether by a single ruler, a few magnates, or by 
 the people themselves. 
 
 If the affairs of the people be administered in 
 an unjust and tyrannical spirit, such a state of 
 things is no republic but a tyranny, and this 
 tyranny remains the same whether it be acted 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 under tlie auspices of a King, an oligarchy, or the 
 people themselves. 
 
 If we apply these sound principles to our- 
 selves in England, and compare our Republic, 
 nominally under one ruler, with the Republic of 
 France, nominally under the rule of the people, 
 and then examine well the state of liberty, 
 justice, and wisdom of rule which prevails in 
 each country, I venture to think that there are 
 very few who would wish to change our condi- 
 tion for that of our neighbour. 
 
 No person, who has a grain of common sense 
 in his composition, would have the folly to assert 
 that the People of England are, even nearly, fit 
 or prepared for a Republic administered by 
 themselves ; those therefore who shout for such a 
 Republic do not really understand the meaning 
 of the word, and may be classed among the 
 retrograde obstructives who preach doctrines sub- 
 versive of all progress, some of them even going 
 so far as to meditate an attack on the rights 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 of property, on a belief in God, and even on 
 civilization itself. 
 
 No sooner is any sound and wholesome reform 
 proposed than these obstructives come forward, 
 and, in particular, disturb public meetings with 
 insane and revolutionary propositions utterly 
 undesired by the people and impracticable in 
 themselves, thus playing the game of the Tory 
 absolutists, and obstructing all true Reformers in 
 their efforts for the public good. 
 
 That eventually there may be established a 
 great European Republic I most sincerely hope 
 and believe; and when the people of Europe are 
 prepared for it, nothing more desirable can well 
 be imagined. But until that time comes, it 
 behoves all good Reformers to hold to the form of 
 government which they possess, and to make the 
 best of that ; as a distinguished statesman re- 
 cently observed, we may safely leave the other to 
 our posterity. 
 
 Land Tenure Reform is now the great question 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 in this country; the stone has been set rolling, 
 and if the people are wise they will not let it 
 rest till a thorough radical reform has been 
 accomplished. 
 
 H. A. OUVRY. 
 
STEIN AND HIS EEFOMS 
 
 IN PEUSSIA. 
 
 Before we proceed to examine the nature of the 
 great reforms of Baron Stein, it will first be 
 necessary to take a very cursory review of the 
 state of Germany during the latter half of the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 The history of man_, like the great ocean, has 
 its periods of ebb and flow, although the tides of 
 the one may be measured by centm^ies, that of 
 the other merely by a few hours. For a more 
 or less lengthened period, nations seem to rest 
 inertly, as far as regards political change ; being 
 solely busied with the cares of obtaining the 
 common necessaries of life, they j)n^rsue a dull, 
 torpid existence, in the mere enjoyments of 
 sense, till suddenly a wave of thought seems to 
 
 LI 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFOEMS. 
 
 pervade the mass^ the Promethean fire is lighted 
 afresh, the spirit with which the atmosphere is 
 charged fills every bosom, and the spark soon 
 kindles into a glowing flame. 
 
 These are the epochs when great events take 
 place_, when thrones are demolished, kingdoms 
 are set up or cast down, ancient fetters broken, 
 and great reforms accomplished. A period of 
 rest then again ensnes, the people take to the 
 new state of things, and those who are in com- 
 fortable circumstances fondly hope that all 
 things will endure for ever. But this can never 
 be ; in the affairs of mankind striving towards 
 perfection, the eternal law of nature rules that 
 ebb and flow shall continually succeed each 
 other, and that, after each period of stagnation, a 
 fresh impulse shall set all again in motion, 
 so that a new and improved state of things may 
 rise from the ruins of old and obsolete insti- 
 tutions. The middle of the eighteenth century 
 was marked by one of these great epochs. 
 \ The state of Germany in the first half of the 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 eighteenth century has been described by native 
 historians as a deplorable example of decay, 
 serfdom^ and debasement; between the privi- 
 leged classes and the working multitude the 
 chasm was so immeasurable,, that there was indeed 
 nothing in common among them but the air 
 they breathed. All feeling of nationality was 
 extinct^ public opinion was tyrannically sup- 
 pressed, the nobles were depraved, and the 
 citizens callous. With regard to the lower 
 classes — the peasants, they were the poorest of 
 the poor, from whom soldiers were enlisted by 
 means of a mixture of fraud and force ; un- 
 manned by a boundless oppression, they were 
 regarded as something beyond the pale of 
 humanity. Even in the year 1750, expressions 
 were made use of in public edicts with reference 
 to the lower classes, which educated persons 
 of the present day would hesitate to employ 
 when speaking of the very beasts of the field. 
 The so-called abodes of learning partook of the 
 general wretched and barbarous state of society, 
 
 B 2 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFOEMS. 
 
 inasmuch as we find that the teachers in the 
 German Universities vied with the students in 
 swaggering^ duellings intoxication^ and other dis- 
 graceful excesses. Ignorance^ neglect, and 
 vulgarity characterised the lecture-room^ the 
 pulpit_, and the public offices. The jurispru- 
 dence was worthy of the prevailing theology, 
 evidenced by the monstrous atrocity of the 
 penal code. So recently as 1749, a poor old 
 man was burnt alive for sorcery at Wartzburg. 
 
 Such was the state of the people in Prussia^ 
 that when Frederick the Great ascended the 
 throne in 1740, he expressed his opinion that the 
 people were fit for nothing but to eat, drink, and 
 fight. The opinions of that great monarch are 
 fully expressed in a letter to Voltaire, from 
 his camp in 1741, the substance of which is as 
 follows ; — 
 
 '^ Religion, the ancient idol which credulous 
 men venerate, is sustained solely by prejudice, 
 caprice, and ignorance. Truth fulminated 
 against the monster in Greece, and Lucretius, 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 by his talented writings attacked it at Rome. 
 You also Lave used your efforts to render man 
 incredulous by removing the veil from that silly 
 dream which has ruled for so long a time ; but 
 man_, weak and stupid man_, still clings to his 
 old superstition. Believe me it is a waste of 
 labour to employ sound sense^ and use argu- 
 ments to beasts of burden who drag the plough. 
 When the war is over come to Berlin^ and let us^ 
 Epicurus-like^ enjoy the present life and the 
 
 goods of this world Men are not fit 
 
 to receive the truth. I look upon them as a 
 mere herd of deer in the park of a great lord ; 
 their only function is to people and fill up 
 the enclosure." 
 
 When we reflect on the state of Germany 
 in general and Prussia in particular at that time^ 
 it really seems as if Frederick was not far 
 wrong ; his father had drilled his subjects into a 
 mere herd of animals ; all their feelings and 
 noble aspirations rigorously nipped in the bud ; 
 the very idea of freedom thoroughly rooted out 
 
STEIN AND HIS KEFORMS. 
 
 of their hearts by an irresponsible despotism ; 
 how was it possible that Frederick should find 
 himself at the head of anything but a nation of 
 slaves ? 
 
 It might have been well for his country 
 if Frederick had paid attention to that which 
 ^^oltaire pointed out to him in his answer to the 
 above letter which we have quoted. " I fear 
 your Majesty will get to despise mankind too 
 much/^ But the King had formed his opinion, 
 and did not believe that his subjects were 
 capable of improvement. This was his error, 
 and the result of it was shown when his system 
 broke down, and fell before the energy of a 
 people v/ho had inscribed liberty and the rights of 
 man on its banners. 
 
 Prussia had inherited a simple despotism from 
 Frederick the Great ; all independent spirit had 
 been effectually stamped out of the nation ; the 
 isolation of classes was complete, and all the 
 higher offices — civil and military — were declared 
 to be the inalienable right of the nobles. 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 The army^ officered entirely from the nobility, 
 made themselves conspicuous by a brutal con- 
 tempt for the whole burgher class, and had no 
 sympathy with the people. This evil was ren- 
 dered much more oppressive under the infamous 
 government of Frederick II. ; for, although 
 Frederick the Great was essentially a despot, 
 still he was a conscientious and able one, who 
 used his power for the good of the State ; while 
 Frederick II., a slave to sensuality, took little 
 heed of state affairs, which were managed by an 
 incompetent bureaucracy. If we add to this that 
 the feudal laws were in full vigour, and the land in 
 the possession of large proprietors to whom the 
 peasants were vassals, we may form some idea of 
 the miserable state of servitude of the Prussian 
 nation when Frederick William III. came to the 
 throne. 
 
 Frederick William III. although a good man 
 who wished to rule well, was essentially a weak 
 prince. Infirm of purpose and diffident of his 
 own judgment, he had inherited most of the 
 
8 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 prejudices of liis race, and hated tlie idea of any 
 change. Like all weak men, he was ruled by 
 his subordinates ; and these — such as Luchesini, 
 Lombard, &c. — were of the lowest sensual grade, 
 and in their characters the immorality prevalent 
 in the court of Frederick II. was fully exempli- 
 fied; without principle, firmness, or patriotism, 
 they were the very worst kind of men to be at 
 the helm during the storm which was about to 
 break over the Prussian nation. 
 / Heinrich Frederic Karl, Baron von Stein, 
 w^as born in Nassau in 1757. He was the 
 youngest of four sons, and the ninth of ten 
 children. His family belonged to the old 
 nobility of Western Germany. The family 
 estate was small, and had been for a lengthened 
 period much involved. His father, Karl Philipp 
 von Stein, was a type of the old German barons, 
 brave and honourable, mediocre in intellect, and 
 whose chief occupation was the chase. His 
 mother was a very superior person, and appears 
 to have exercised a lasting influence on her son. 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 9 
 
 She is described as being most conscientious in 
 tlie discharge of her duties_, of great firmness and 
 determination in the ordering of her household ; 
 clear in her judgment ; but of a somewhat hasty, 
 and at times violent, temper, which was, how- 
 ever, softened by her strong religious feeling. 
 
 Stein,, from an early period, was destined for a 
 political career, and he applied himself with great 
 diligence to his studies from his youth up. His- 
 tory, especially English history, was his favourite 
 study. At the age of sixteen he was sent to the 
 world-renowned University of Gottingen, where 
 he remained four years, and when his studies 
 were completed in 1777, he travelled and visited 
 different courts in Germany, and thus made him- 
 self acquainted with the more important political 
 questions of the day. 
 
 It was during these travels, from 1777 — 1780, 
 that Stein became aware of the rottenness of the 
 whole German administration, and had a presenti- 
 ment of its speedy dissolution. 
 
 In his twenty- seventh year, Frederick the 
 
10 STEIN AND HIS EEFORMS. 
 
 Great employed him on a diplomatic mission, 
 which he skilfully conducted; in 1786 he was 
 created a privy councillor, and paid a visit 
 to England, where he remained nine months, 
 returning much impressed, and with a hearty 
 admiration of the political, social, and industrial 
 relations of the country. In 1787 he refused the 
 post of ambassador to the Hague and St. Peters- 
 burg, notwithstanding the splendour of such a 
 position, which would have tempted most men, 
 for he felt that his usefulness lay in Germany, in 
 his Fatherland ; and as duty was always the first 
 consideration before which all personal or selfish 
 views were bound to succumb, he never hesitated 
 for a moment in his decision. 
 
 Towards the end of 1792 the consequences of 
 the great French Revolution, and the coalition 
 which was directed against it, occupied the 
 attention of Stein. He; had little sympathy with 
 the Revolution eveu at first, before its destructive 
 energies had been developed. \His leaning was 
 essentially aristocratic, and his ideas of freedom 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 11 
 
 did not square with tlie entliiisiastic theories of 
 Kousseau, and still less with those of Voltaire. 
 Philosophic and impracticable ideas of equality 
 and fraternity^ as well as the French scheme of 
 the universal rights of man, clashed with his 
 political and private views. He considered that 
 difierent degrees and classes of society were 
 necessary for its natural and proper constitution. \ 
 ^ The complete annihilation of the class privi- 
 leges of the nobility and clergy seemed to him a 
 monstrous error/ however zealous he may have 
 been afterwards in abolishing those which he con- 
 sidered obsolete and unjust. The shameful humi- 
 liation and abolition of Royalty, coupled with the 
 bloodthirsty rule of the Republic which quickly 
 followed, made Stein one of the most decided op- 
 ponents of the Revolution. That he thought so 
 little of the energy and duration of the " abomi- 
 nable French nation '''' is a strong proof of the 
 fact that the most able men are frequently 
 among the most shortsighted in human affairs. 
 It is to be presumed that the sudden and un- 
 
12 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 expected advance of the Frencli legions under 
 CustinC; and the fall of Mainz^ which opened the 
 way for the stranger into the heart of Germany 
 must have considerably shaken him in his views. 
 His brother^ Colonel Stein^ had foreseen the 
 danger months previously, and had lamented the 
 folly and ignorance of the Government in leav- 
 ing a place of such consequence undefended. 
 
 Stein made himself very active in the service 
 of his country : he became President of tlie 
 Tipper House, and on the death of Struensee was 
 appointed Finance Minister 27 Oct. 1804. 
 
 As the chief object of this small brochure is 
 to give a brief popular account of the Reforms of 
 Stein with regard to the Land, we shall not fol- 
 low the course of events in Europe during the 
 next few years, which, indeed, are sufficiently 
 well known ; enough for our purjDOse is the fact, 
 that Prussians humiliation commenced on the 
 fatal field of Jena, 14 Oct. 1806. The news of 
 the unfortunate battle was imparted to the 
 citizens of Berlin on the 17 Oct. by Count 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 13 
 
 Schulenburg in the now liistorical words — " The 
 King has lost a battle. Calm is now the first 
 duty of a citizen. I request this of you.^"* 
 
 Having issued this important recommenda- 
 tion, the very next day this noble Governor 
 deserted his post and fled_, without having made 
 the slightest effort towards the defence of the 
 city. It is a remarkable fact that the citizens 
 of Berlin not only followed out the above advice 
 to the letter, but in many instances greeted the 
 entry of the French Emperor with cries of ^^ Yive 
 TEmpereur.^" Such was the state of servility 
 into which the Prussian j)eople had been drilled 
 by the tyranny of the aristocracy, that the French 
 were in a great measure looked upon as deliverers 
 by the town population, who regarded the defeat 
 which their army had sustained as a just chas- 
 tisement of the arrogance of the nobles and a 
 righteous judgment on the officer caste. 
 
 Stein, exasperated at the vacillation of the 
 King, who still wished to retain his old ministers, 
 positively refused to enter into the Cabinet with- 
 
14 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 out Hardeuberg, or with Beyme. The King 
 hesitated for a time, but at length on the 
 3rd January, 1807, he brought things to a 
 crisis in a violent autograph letter to Stein 
 which concluded with the following words : — 
 " From all this, I have observed with the greatest 
 sorrow that I have not been mistaken in you 
 from the beginning, and that you are to be re- 
 garded as a perverse, refractory, obstinate, and 
 disobedient servant of the State, who, vain of his 
 own talents and far from having the good of the 
 State in view, is merely led by caprice, and acts 
 only from passion, personal hatred and bitterness. 
 Such officials are exactly those whose mode of 
 proceeding is the most disadvantageous and 
 dangerous for the maintenance of the State. It 
 pains me truly that you have rendered it neces- 
 sary for me to speak in such plain language to 
 you. However, as you give yourself out to be a 
 lover of truth, I have given you my opinion in 
 plain German, and I feel myself called upon to 
 add, that if vou do not choose tc correct vour 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 15 
 
 disrespectful and offensive behaviour, the State 
 cannot reckon much on you for further service." 
 
 Stein was lying on a sick bed when he re- 
 ceived this letter. He immediately replied, 
 " Since your Majesty looks upon me as a ^ per- 
 verse, refractory, obstinate and disobedient ser- 
 vant of the State, vrho, vain of his own talents 
 and far from having the good of the State in 
 view is merely led by caprice, and acts only from 
 passion, personal hatred and bitterness,^ and as 
 I also am fully convinced that ' such officials 
 are exactly those whose operation is most disad- 
 vantageous and dangerous for the maintenance of 
 the State,^ I must request your Majesty to 
 accept my resignation/^ 
 
 On the 4th January, the King answered him, 
 " Since the Baron von Stein has pronounced his 
 own sentence under yesterday ^s date I have 
 nothing more to add." Thus Stein saw that he 
 was dismissed, although he never received any 
 official document to that effect. 
 
 In this manner, a most efficient public servant. 
 
16 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 the man of the greatest capacity in the whole 
 State^ was lost to Prussia at the very moment 
 when he might have proved a prop to the falling 
 edifice^ which received its last blow on the raft 
 at Tilsit on the 9th July^ 1807^ when the hu- 
 miliating peace was concluded by which Prussia 
 Avas robbed of all her lands beyond the Elbe 
 on the west^ together with Magdeburg and all 
 her Polish possessions on the east. Prussia thus 
 lost 2983 square (German) miles of territory, 
 with 4,476,000 inhabitants — more than the half 
 of her possessions, as she retained only a space 
 of 2173 square miles, with 5,707,000 inhabitants ; 
 besides this, she remained disarmed and subject 
 to the arbitrary will of Napoleon. 
 
 Thus the proud State of Frederick the Great 
 was partitioned and trodden under foot, and the 
 diadem of the Hohenzollerns lay shattered at the 
 feet of a soldier of fortune. The King, indeed, 
 bore his fate with great equanimity and dignity, 
 but he stood alone, helpless, and without ad- 
 visers, deserted by all who could afford him aid 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFOEMS. 17 
 
 and support towards re-establisMng his afifairs, 
 for Napoleon had insisted on the dismissal of 
 Hardenberg as the first condition of peace. 
 Bitterly indeed must the King have repented his 
 foolish conduct in dismissing Stein_, — now the only 
 man in his dominions who was capable of raising 
 the country from its ashes. Fortunately^ that ^ 
 good man never allowed his private injuries to 
 interfere with the duty he owed to his fatherland. 
 He had retired to his estate in Nassau^ but his 
 great merit and capacity did not escape the acute 
 observation of the Emperor of Russia^ who offered 
 him the place of Count Romanzow^ who -was 
 retiring from the post of Minister of the Russian 
 Board of Trade. Stein would have accepted 
 this offer under certain conditions, but the nego- 
 ciation finally fell through on account of the 
 war and other political reasons. In the mean- 
 time Hardenberg used all his influence with the 
 King to get Stein reinstated in his position, 
 and we find that during the leisure of his re- 
 tirement he occupied himself in drawing up a 
 
 c 
 
18 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 plan for the thorougli reorganization of the 
 Prussian administration, and a great general 
 reform in her social relations. One of the prin- 
 cipal points of which was — 
 
 The cy^eation of a free peasant class, by means 
 X of the emancipation of the land and soil. 
 
 Stein^s recall and reinstatement was decided 
 on as soon as Hardenberg's dismissal had become 
 inevitable. Napoleon, as well as the Emperor of 
 Kussia, pointed out Stein as the only statesman 
 on whom the King of Prussia could still rely ; 
 but he, who was then at the summit of his power, 
 could not foresee that he was preparing a post 
 for his most dangerous and irreconcilable enemy, 
 to whose influence his later fall may be ascribed. 
 At this time a pressing letter from Hardenberg 
 set before Stein the strong desire of the King 
 to place him at the head of the German govern- 
 ment. The letter described the desperate con- 
 dition of the State and of the King, and dwelt 
 upon his dignified conduct in misfortune, pointing 
 out to him that it was his sacred duty to forget 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 19 
 
 the injuries tliat lie had suffered_, and to place 
 all personal considerations in the background 
 when the fate of the kingdom was at stake. 
 Still more pressingly and affectionately wrote to 
 him the Princess Louisa von Radzowil, sister of 
 Prince Louis^ who was killed in the war. The 
 affecting description of the situation and the 
 patience of the King ; the reliance on Stein^s 
 noble sense of self-sacrifice,, as well as of his 
 talent and power to save the State, must have 
 made a profound impression on him. He did 
 not hesitate one moment in his decision ; with- 
 out any reflection on the past, or asking any 
 conditions or guarantees for the future, he at 
 once acceded to the in^dtation of his King, his 
 Fatherland, and his duty. His answer to the 
 King was conceived as follows : — " The gracious 
 commands of your Majesty, which invite me 
 again to undertake the ministry of home affairs, 
 have been received by me through the Cabinet 
 Minister Hardenberg, dated Munich, the 10th of 
 July, on the 9th of August. I accept the appoint- 
 
 c 2 
 
20 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 ment at once^ unconditionally, and I leave to 
 your Majesty the decision of every relation, 
 vrhether of business or of persons vrith whom 
 it may seem good to your Majesty that I 
 should work. At this time of universal mis- 
 fortune, it would show a great want of moral 
 courage were I to allow any personal feeling to 
 j)revent my coming again into ofiSce, and so 
 much the more as your Majesty himself has given 
 so distinguished an example of constancy ."'^ 
 
 Such is the record of Stein^s true nobility of 
 soul, and perhaps in the whole history of states- 
 manship there is no other example of a statesman 
 having performed so much in so short a time as 
 Stein^ while he was Prussian Minister from the 
 30th September 1807, to the 24th of November, 
 1808. 
 
 Thus recalled^ and placed at the head of affairs. 
 Stein at once proceeded zealously to organize a 
 reform of the internal political affairs of the 
 State. He was convinced that his countrymen 
 were capable of rising from the depths of degrada- 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 21 
 
 tion into which they had sunk, and that it was in 
 his power to accomplish a national regeneration, 
 and place Germany as a centre of European 
 civilization ; in short, he believed in himself and 
 in the power of his will to accomplish this task. 
 The chief point of the programme which he laid 
 before the King, with regard to the internal 
 administration, may be thus briefly stated : — 
 
 " That which the State has lost in extent 
 must be made up for by unremitted and in- 
 creased energy. The old state of affairs has 
 past away; all must be reconstructed if Prussia 
 is to rise from her ruins, and again assume her 
 place among the states of Europe. Among the 
 remnants of the former great powers of the State 
 there are hostile elements ; these must be elimi- 
 nated, in order to make a compact unity. The 
 different classes of the nation are in direct oppo- 
 sition, because one is favoured to the detriment 
 of the other. \ Union affords strength : if this 
 is to be secured, equal rights must be enjoyed 
 by all classes alike. \ 
 
22 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 " The duties to the State appertain to all in- 
 habitants in an equal degree. Every individual 
 should be personally free and acknowledge no 
 master except the King^ governing according to 
 law ; there should be a national representation in 
 parliament. No one in the State, whether in- 
 dividual or corporative, ought to be allowed to be 
 judge in his own cause. Education ennobles a 
 people, and according to its degree, so does a 
 country take its place and rank among civilized 
 nations ; it is the true condition of all profitable 
 progress and order, of all power and prosperity. 
 The State must promote it. The land and soil 
 of the country must be accessible to all purchasers 
 alike. The possession and acquirement of the 
 land by the people, must be facilitated by stringent 
 legislative measures. 
 
 Such were the measures recommended by 
 Stein. They speak for themselves ; we, however, 
 shall only go into the history of the last men- 
 tioned point. 
 
STEIN AND HIS KEFORMS. 23 
 
 Emancipation of the Peasant Class. 
 Law 9— 28 Oct. 1807. 
 
 Stein^s object in the first place^ as soou as he 
 found that he had the power,, was to re- construct 
 the State from the foundations. 
 
 More than three-fourths of the whole popula- 
 tion were not in the enjoyment of personal 
 liberty, inasmuch as they were serfs to the great 
 landed proprietors^ and the land which they 
 tilled, and on which their maintenance depended, 
 was not at their own disposal. They had the 
 use of it indeed, under certain conditions, but 
 this was not sufficient ; a free class of peasant 
 proprietors was the desideratum, to which the 
 efforts of legislation were to be directed if any 
 permanent national benefit was to result. 
 
 It would be foreign to our purpose here to 
 enter into minute details, regarding the different 
 forms of villeinage which existed at this time in 
 Prussia, by making distinctions between those 
 
24 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 peasants in whose bodies the lord had a right of 
 property, and those who were subject to the 
 manor by inheritance, or who were what is called 
 " adscripti glebse /^ sufficient is it to say that the 
 lowest kinds of villeins were entirely subject to 
 their masters ; at their death, the bulk of any 
 property they may have had went to their lord ; 
 their children could not marry without his 
 consent, and were generally kept as servants 
 without any remuneration save food; corporal 
 punishment was also allowed, though not extend- 
 ing to life. 
 
 The greater part of the peasants, however, were 
 above this lower kind, and had certain fixed 
 dues to render, and had the power of purchasing 
 their freedom at a fixed price. 
 
 The free peasant paid no dues in person, and 
 he held a kind of lease, in which there were con- 
 ditions. He could not purchase other peasants^ 
 land, or practise any trade or profession except 
 agriculture. 
 V Upon the whole, the status of the peasant in 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 25 
 
 Prussia when Stein undertook his reforms^ was 
 very similar to that of the English peasant at the 
 commencement of the sixteenth century _, to which 
 circumstance we shall have occasion to refer 
 hereafter. 
 
 The following are the principal points of the 
 edict of the 9th Octoher, which^ translated into 
 English^ is taken from an essay published by 
 the Cobden Club. 
 
 '^'^We^ Frederick 'William_, by the Grace of 
 God, &c., &c. Be it known unto all men 
 that : — 
 
 " Whereas, owing to the universal character of 
 the prevailing misery, it would surpass our means 
 to relieve each person individually, and, even if 
 we could, the objects we have at heart would 
 not be fulfilled" (loquitur, the mediaeval father 
 of his people) : — 
 
 " And, whereas it is not only conformable to 
 the everlasting dictates of justice, but likewise to 
 the principles of a sound national economy, to 
 remove all hindrances in the way of the individual 
 
26 STEIN AND HIS REEORMS. 
 
 attaining to that measure of material well-being 
 whicli his capacities may enable him to attain " 
 (loquitur^ Adam Smith) : — 
 
 " And whereas the existing restrictions, partly 
 on the possession and enjoyment of landed pro- 
 perty, partly in connexion with the personal 
 condition of the agricultural population, obstruct 
 in an especial manner our benevolent intentions, 
 and exercise a baleful influence, the one by 
 diminishing the value of land and impairing the 
 credit of the landed proprietor, the other by 
 diminishing the value of labour : we are minded 
 that both should be restrained within the limits 
 which the public welfare requires, and therefore 
 we decree and ordain as follows : — 
 
 " Abolition of Villeinage. 
 
 " ^ 10. From the day of the publication of this 
 edict no new relations of villeinage, either by 
 birth, marriage, or acquisition of a villein-holding 
 can be created. 
 
 ^^ § 11. From the same date, all peasants hold- 
 
STEIN AND HIS KEFORMS. 27 
 
 ing by hereditary tenures, cease, they and their 
 wives and their children, to be villeins. 
 
 '^ § 12. From Martinmas 1810, every remain- 
 ing form of villeinage in all our dominions shall 
 cease, and from that date there shall be none 
 but freemen in our dominions. It is to be 
 understood, however, that these freemen remain 
 subject to all obligations flowing from the pos- 
 session of land, or from particular contracts to 
 which, as freemen, they can be subjected. 
 
 ^' Free Exchange of Real Property. 
 
 ^^ § ] . Every inhabitant of our dominions, as 
 far as the State is concerned, is henceforth free 
 to acquire and own landed property of every 
 kind and description. The noble, therefore, can 
 acquire not only noble land, but burgher and 
 peasant land, so also the burgher and the peasant 
 can acquire not only burgher and peasant land, 
 i.e., land not noble, but likewise noble land. 
 Every such transfer of real estate must, however. 
 
28 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 continue, as before, to be notified to the autbo- 
 rities. 
 
 " Freedom in regard to Choice of Occupation. 
 
 " § 2. Every noble, witbout derogation to his 
 rank, is henceforth free to exercise the trades 
 and callings of the burgher — the burgher may 
 become peasant, the peasant burgher. 
 
 " In hoiv far Rights of Pre-emption still exist, 
 
 " § 3. (This paragraph is technical, and does 
 not alter the principle of the measure.) 
 
 " Division of Property. 
 
 '^ § 4. All owners of real property, in its 
 nature saleable, can after due notice to the 
 provincial authority, sell the same piecemeal and 
 in detail as well as in block. Co-proprietors 
 can in the same way divide amongst them 
 property owned in common. 
 
 " Free power of Granting Leases. 
 " § 5. Every proprietor, whether or not his 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 29 
 
 property forms part of a fief or of any other kind 
 of entailed property^ is free to grant leases of any 
 duration^ so long as the moneys received in pay- 
 ment of such leaseholds are used to pay off 
 mortgages, and in the case of an entailed 
 property, are capitalized for the benefit of the 
 estate. 
 
 ^'Extinction and Consolidation of Peasant Holdings . 
 
 " § 6. "When a landed proprietor is of opinion 
 that he cannot restore to their former condition 
 or keep up the several peasant establishments on 
 his property, he may, if the holdings have not 
 got the character of hereditary tenures [i.e., 
 Anglice, if they are not of the nature of copy- 
 hold or perpetual leaseholds), after the particular 
 case has been inquired into by the Government 
 of the province, and with the sanction of that 
 Government, consolidate such holdings into one 
 large peasant holding, or incorporate them with 
 demesne land. 
 
 " Special instructions as to the cases in which 
 
30 STEIN AND HIS EEFORMS. 
 
 this process shall be permitted will be sent to the 
 provincial Governments. 
 
 " § 7. If, on the other hand_, the tenures are 
 of a hereditary kind_, no change whatever can be 
 effected without the previous acquisition by 
 purchase, or in some other legal manner, of the 
 rights of the actual possessors. Such cases like- 
 wise require the formalities specified in § 6 [i.e., 
 the previous sanction of the Government). 
 
 "Facilities for Mortgaging Entailed Estates to jjay 
 Losses occasioned by War. 
 
 " § 8. (The provisions of this paragraph are of 
 a temporary kind.) 
 
 " Of the cutting off of Entails. 
 
 " § 9. Every entailed estate, whatever the 
 nature of that entail, can be freed from the 
 entail by the consent of the family.''^ 
 
 Thus the greater part of the population 
 was freed from servitude, and converted into 
 a great free peasant class, by which, for 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 31 
 
 the first time, the body of the people 
 obtained an interest in the State. The pro- 
 ductive power of the land was also greatly 
 increased by its being freed from restrictions^ 
 and the consciousness among the people of 
 possessing a free right of property^ created at 
 once a new and active power within the nation. 
 
 By this edict also the partition walls of 
 class privilege were broken through^ and the 
 free traffic in^ and power of partitioning^ land 
 put an end to the obstructive permanency 
 which had hitherto been the rule^ and gave a 
 due opportunity to talent and capital to exercise 
 their legitimate rights and privileges. 
 
 But notwithstanding this decree^ the peasant 
 was not wholly master of the soil he cultivated : 
 the proper direction however had been clearly 
 pointed out, and the way was plainly indicated 
 to further consequences. It was very apparent 
 that this decree was only the forerunner of 
 further legislation^ which however did not take 
 place till four years afterwards. 
 
32 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 At this time it may be well imagiued that 
 Stein had made many enemies. The French 
 authorities were watching his proceedings, and 
 they soon saw that their interests would be 
 seriously affected. The ^^ Junkerpartei/^ as the 
 Prussian nobility were called, hated him cor- 
 dially, and only waited an opportunity for active 
 opposition. To their shame be it said, they 
 called themselves '^ the Peace party /^ the party of 
 the French, and did not hesitate to prefer what 
 they considered their private interests to those of 
 their country. A German historian remarks, — 
 " Too selfish to sacrifice their privileges for the 
 good of the Fatherland, too cowardly openly to 
 oppose the popular measures, they did not hesi- 
 tate to take shelter under the wing of a foreign 
 despot, and surrender the independence of their 
 country rather than their own privileges. Peace 
 and the French alliance was their battle-cry; 
 their secret object to overthrow Stein and his 
 reforms. The emancipation of the peasants, the 
 abolition of class privileges in civil and military 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 33 
 
 affairs^ was gall and wormwood to them. The 
 King, however, although a weak man, was not a 
 wicked one, and he had sufficient penetration to 
 see through the artifices of Stein^s adversaries, 
 whose representations concerning the evil ten- 
 dency of the new measures were supported hy- 
 men of the highest rank and position, and, we 
 regret to say, also by many moving in the 
 learned circles of Berlin, who concealed their 
 secret egotism under the mask of an outward 
 show of patriotism. This ignoble crew pushed 
 their enmity so far as to enlist Naj)oleon on 
 their side. For the time, however, all their 
 efforts failed, and Stein continued his endeavours 
 to strengthen the force of the nation, hoping 
 thereby to free it from the oppressive tyranny 
 of the French incubus. In a remarkable memo- 
 rial which at this time, early in August, 1807, 
 Stein laid before the King, the following noble 
 passage occurs : — 
 
 *' It should seriously be considered that the 
 power to be assailed is great, and the spirit 
 
 D 
 
34 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 which conducts it a mighty one. The struggle 
 once commenced will be undertaken^ less in view 
 of a probability of success than from a certainty 
 that^ without it_, there can be no solution of the 
 difficulty^ and that it would be more in accor- 
 dance with the duty we owe to our contempo- 
 raries and posterity^ more glorious for the King 
 and nation to succumb sword in hand than to 
 remain continually chained in captivity. To 
 follow out the path which we propose to tread, 
 we must make ourselves familiar with privations 
 of every kind,, as well as with death. If we 
 have made this essential resolution and prepara- 
 tion^ let us commence^ in God^s name, when 
 favourable circumstances offer ; a.nd above all, let 
 us not forget that, by courage and intrepidity, 
 great results may be obtained with very small 
 means. But for this end, all those inert, 
 wretched beings whose sense for all noble feeling 
 is so blunted as to make them incapable of any 
 devotion or self-sacrifice, must be dismissed : such 
 wretches only paralyze and destroy all that they 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 85 
 
 come in contact with ; peaceful enjoyment being 
 the sole object of their mean and pitiful natures/'' 
 - Again, on the 11th August^ Stein wrote to 
 the King : — 
 
 ^' No ruler can be doubtful for a moment 
 concerning the question whether it is better 
 tamely and patiently to await the sentence of an in- 
 famous tyrant^ or to renew the sanguinary struggle 
 for honour^ independence, and the throne/' 
 
 Here it may be instructive as well as amusing 
 to examine the arguments used to combat Stein''s 
 reforms, which we think will plainly show how 
 prejudice and self-interest_, real or fancied^ can 
 blind the mind and pervert the judgment even of 
 otherwise highly gifted men. Field-Marshal 
 Count York von Wartenburg, who played one of 
 the most conspicuous parts in the war of deli- 
 verance, has left the following on record, and the 
 document is all the more valuable from the fact 
 that some of his objections to Stein's plan for 
 placing the peasant firmly on the soil are being 
 urged at the present day in England against a 
 
 D 2 
 
36 STEIN AND HIS REFOEMS. 
 
 similar proceeding which is in progress^ prompted 
 by similar motives. 
 
 " The man (Stein) ^ to our misfortune, has been 
 in England, and it is from thence that he has 
 imbibed his ideas of statesmanship, and now he 
 thinks to apply the institutions of a country 
 which are founded on centuries of naval supe- 
 riority, commerce and manufactures, to our poor 
 clod-breaking Prussia. No sooner does he make 
 his appearance at Memel than out comes an 
 edict that every citizen^ without distinction, shall 
 be permitted to purchase a manor, and that 
 noblemen may be permitted to exercise a trade 
 or profession at their own discretion ! Why, 
 such a humiliation, or I may say,, insult to the 
 nobility, is utterly against the feelings both of the 
 King and of the people of Prussia. Will the 
 greengjocer, I ask, or the tailor, or the specu- 
 lator who may acquire a property^ and who 
 would only look upon it as a mercantile trans- 
 action, be fit persons to serve their King in mis- 
 fortunC; and will they be inclined to risk life 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 37 
 
 and property for his sake ? Will the peasants on 
 such a manor evince the attachment to such 
 parvenu masters as they have been wont to do to 
 the ancient hereditary possessors ? They may, 
 indeed, welcome such masters with triumphal 
 arches, amid ill-suppressed laughter and ridicule, 
 but such parvenus never can have the same 
 influence over the minds of their dependents, 
 neither will they command the same love and 
 respect. 
 
 ^' Another thing : this talk about the so-called 
 slavery of the peasant ; what is it but mere phi- 
 lanthropic clap-trap, as all men know right well , 
 also their assumption that an estate should be 
 like a dollar in money, which multiplies itself by 
 circulation ; but then through the stamp dues, 
 the State would be a loser. This is certainly 
 not in accordance with the old national paternal 
 views of the King, but must rather have been 
 hatched in the counting-house of some banker or 
 learned professor, who comes forth preaching a 
 very ill-digested sermon from Adam Smith. 
 
38 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 Unfortunately our talented minister is under the 
 tliumb of rabble of this kind (geschmeiss). Do 
 we not see what things come to light out of his 
 coterie? Why, do we not hear the democratic 
 absurdity that all places in the State are to be 
 filled according to the votes of the people ? 
 Only conceive how our beautiful country will be 
 cut up by this scheming system ! The King^s 
 domains too are to be alienated, no excep- 
 tion is to be made even with regard to these, and 
 so the King is to be made a mere pensioner. 
 The speculator who acquires a property will only 
 think of the present, and will proceed to cut 
 down the splendid oak and beech forests because 
 they do not pay so well as arable land ; the old 
 ancestral trees will be seen no more, and birch 
 and American poplars will take their place as 
 being Quicker in growth. ' 
 
 "Another hobby which this minister rides is the 
 population : from the family of every honest 
 citizen and mechanic who employs and main- 
 tains a number of workmen a swarm of small 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 39 
 
 families will crop up^ every clodhopper will raarry 
 his wench and beget a fresh race of famishing 
 paupers. And the land too, if they have their 
 way, will be cut up into small holdings, every 
 inheritance will be divided ; and thus, instead of 
 a prosperous noble possessor, or a proprietor of 
 half a hide of land, we shall have a swarm of 
 gardeners or cottage proprietors at the best ; and 
 when all the large villages are replaced by ham- 
 lets, and the free landed proprietor fences in his 
 couple of acres with a hedge and takes up his 
 fowling-piece to go shooting on his estate — then, 
 I say, we shall witness the beau ideal at which 
 they are driving. Yes, indeed, the population 
 will most certainly increase — the calculation is 
 just; but would not such a population (and we 
 may thank God that we have not yet got one 
 like that of England or France) resemble the 
 vermin begotten in old wood shavings ? 
 
 "Then again, this violent abolition of the feudal 
 service of the peasants, without any compensa- 
 tion to the proprietor ! What division will it 
 
40 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 not create among classes, and thus play the 
 game of the enemy. But it never can be 
 carried into execution literally; without modifi- 
 cation it would be a direct attack on the rights 
 of property. Frederick William will hardly be 
 wilJing to blot out the fundamental principle of 
 Prussia,, suum cuique,"^ from the star of his Order 
 and substitute that of St. Crispin in its place. 
 For the rest, the views of the minister are well 
 known : he wishes to show the peasant an El 
 Dorado looming in the distance ; to enjoy it he 
 has nothing to do but chase the French out of 
 the land. This is the aim of all the secret 
 societies in Germany, which Napoleon has already 
 smelt out, and for which we owe him no reproach 
 if the King should not be compromised in them. 
 The person of the monarch and the security of his 
 house should always be placed above all other con- 
 siderations by a Prussian Minister of State" 
 
 * Suum cuique — i.e., give to every man his own. St. 
 Crispin was the patron of thieves. 
 
STEIN AND niS REFORMS. 41 
 
 Such were the arguments used by a German 
 Tory in the year 1807 : we shall have occasion 
 to refer to them hereafter when we are consider- 
 ing the Tory arguments against a land reform 
 which are used in England at the present day. 
 Human nature seems never essentially to change : 
 the language of prejudice and selfishness always 
 takes the same tone of bitterness whenever oppo- 
 sition is made to unjust claims and pretensions. 
 
 The efforts of Stein to effect a general rising 
 in order to shake off the foreign yoke^ and 
 his constant memorials to the King urging him 
 to give his consent to his projects^ which were 
 never relaxed for a moment^ excited the jealousy 
 of the Tory French party^ who did all in their 
 power to work his ruin. For this purpose they 
 did not scruple to enlist Napoleon on their side, 
 so that it is hardly to be wondered at, that Stein^s 
 fall was at hand. On the 24th November, 1808, 
 on its being represented to the King that so long 
 as Stein remained in office it was impossible to 
 expect anything from the good offices of Napoleon, 
 
42 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 Stein^s dismissal was signed. The King knew his 
 worth, and expressed to him in the letter of dis- 
 missal, " how painful it was to him to find himself 
 compelled to part with a man of his character, 
 who had the most just claims to his confidence 
 and that of the nation/^ 
 
 Thus ended the one yearns tenure of Stein's 
 ministry. After his dismissal he went first 
 to Berlin with the intention of proceeding from 
 thence to Breslau, there to await events and 
 a favourable opportunity of again making himself 
 useful to his country. At the beginning of 
 January, however, the French ambassador, St. 
 Marsan, arrived in Berlin, bringing with him the 
 following declaration of Napoleon against Stein: — 
 
 " One Stein (le nomme Stein) having sought 
 to raise disturbances in Germany, is declared 
 an enemy of France and the Rhenish Confede- 
 ration. 
 
 " The property which the aforesaid Stein may 
 possess, whether in France or in the Rhenish 
 Confederacy, will be sequestrated. 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 43 
 
 '^ The said Stein will te arrested in his person 
 wherever he may be found by our_, or the 
 Confederate,, troops. 
 
 " Given under our hand in the Imperial 
 Court of Madrid, Dec. 16th, 1808. 
 
 (Signed) " Napoleon.''^ 
 
 Let us pause here for one moment to reflect 
 on this infamous and tyrannical proceeding. To 
 what humiliating depths of debasement must 
 Prussia have sunk when her King was obliged to 
 acquiesce against his will in such a deplorable 
 abuse of power ! Here was a French monarch, 
 passing judgment, without any trial, on the sub- 
 ject and Prime Minister of an independent 
 German Prince, seizing arbitrarily on his pro- 
 perty, and compelling the whole of the German 
 Princes of the Rhenish Confederation to carry 
 out his iniquitous decree. It was the old story, 
 V(B victis ! How profound the feeling of humilia- 
 tion, how bitter must have been the cup to 
 the King, when he saw his Prime Minister — 
 
44 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 perhaps the only man in his dominions to whom 
 the nation had to look for the regeneration 
 of the country — condemned without a hearing, 
 and banished as though he had been a common 
 malefactor. 
 
 Stein bowed to the inevitable, and secretly 
 left Berlin, January 6th, 1809, not, however, 
 without the privity of the French ambassador. 
 He passed the frontier into Austria, on the 12th 
 of January, with a heavy heart, and four years 
 were destined to pass before he was again enabled 
 to return to his country under very different cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 The next step with regard to the land reform 
 occurred under the ministry of Hardenberg. 
 The following is a translation of the legislation 
 for that purpose, on Sep. 14th, 1811, which 
 we extract from the essavs of the Cobden 
 Club :— 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 45 
 
 Legislation with Regard to the Land Question, 
 September 14tli, 1811. 
 
 The edict of 1807, great and incisive as had 
 been its operation, was of a negative kind. It 
 removed disabilities, undid the shackles which 
 bound the peasant to the glebe, allowed such 
 rights as existed to be used freely, and pulled 
 down the walls which separated from each other 
 the different classes of society. But it created 
 no new forms of property : it proclaimed freedom 
 of exchange, but it did not provide the title- 
 deeds required as the first condition of exchange. 
 Peasants^ land could now be held indiscriminately 
 by all the citizens of the State, but it was still 
 held under the old forms of tenure ; there were 
 still two dominia. The lord was still owner 
 of the peasants^ land, but had no right to its 
 possession. The peasant was in a measure free, 
 but was not master of his labour. 
 
 The legislation of 1811 stepped in to remedy 
 
46 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 this state of things, and applying to the 
 monarchy generally the principles which during 
 the last three years had proved in the highest 
 degree successful when applied to the State 
 domains, it set itself to substitute allodial owner- 
 ship for feudal tenure. 
 
 Its work was in the highest degree positive. 
 
 The legislation of 1811 mainly consists of two 
 great edicts, both bearing the same date, that of 
 the 14th of September. The one entitled, 
 " Edict for the Regulation of the Relations 
 between the Lords of the Manor and their 
 Peasants.^' The other, " Edict for the better 
 Cultivation of the Land.^^ 
 
 The first is concerned with the creation of new 
 title-deeds for the peasant holders, and with the 
 commutation of the services rendered in virtue 
 of the old title-deeds. 
 
 The second surveys the whole field of agrarian 
 reform, and introduces general measures of 
 amelioration. 
 
 The preamble to the '^ Edict for the Regula- 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 47 
 
 tion of the Relations between Landlord and 
 Tenant '' recites how '^ We^ Frederick William, 
 by the grace of God King of Prussia^ having 
 convinced ourselves, both by personal experience 
 in our own domains, and by that of many lords 
 of manors, of the great advantages which have 
 accrued both to the lord and to the peasant by 
 the transformation of peasant holdings into 
 property, and the commutation of the services 
 and dues on the basis of a fair indemnity, and 
 having consulted, in regard to this weighty 
 matter, experienced farmers, and skilled persons 
 of all kinds belonging to all our provinces, and to 
 all ranks of our subjects, ordain and decree as 
 follows -:'— 
 
 The edict then branches off into two main 
 parts. 
 
 The first dealing with peasant holdings in 
 which the tenant has hereditary rights ; the 
 second with holdings in which the tenant has no 
 hereditary rights. 
 
48 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 Part I. 
 
 All tenants of hereditary holdings (i.e., hold- 
 ings which are inherited according to the com- 
 mon law^ or in which the lord of the manor is 
 bound to select as tenant one or other of the 
 heirs of the last tenant), whatever the size of the 
 holding, shall by the present edict become the 
 proprietors of their holdings, after paying to the 
 landlord the indemnity fixed by this edict. 
 
 On the other hand, all claims of the peasant 
 on the manor, for the keeping in repair of his 
 farm buildings, &c., shall cease. 
 
 We desire that landlords and tenants should 
 of themselves come to terms of agreement, and 
 give them two years from the date of this edict 
 to do so. If within that time the work is not 
 done, the State will undertake it. 
 
 The rights to be commuted may be thus gene- 
 rally classed : — 
 I. Rights of the landlord. 
 
 1. Right of ownership (" dominium directum ''). 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFOKMS. 49 
 
 2. Claim to services. 
 
 3. Dues in money and kind. 
 
 4. Dead stock of the farms. 
 
 5. Easements^ or servitudes on tlie land held. 
 
 II. Rights of the tenant. 
 
 1. Claim to assistance in case of misfortune. 
 
 2. Right to gather wood, and other forest rights, 
 in the forest of the manor. 
 
 3. Claim upon the landlord, for repairs of 
 buildings. 
 
 4. Claim upon the landlord, in case tenant is 
 unable to pay public taxes. 
 
 5. Pasturage rights on demesne lands or forests. 
 
 Of these different rights only a few — viz., the 
 dues paid in kind or money, the dead stock, and 
 the servitudes, are capable of exact valuation. 
 
 The others can only be approximately esti- 
 mated. 
 
 To obtain, therefore, a solid foundation for the 
 work of commutation, and not to render it 
 nugatory by difficulties impossible to be over- 
 
 E 
 
50 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 come, we deem it necessary to lay down certain 
 rules for arriving at this estimate, and to deduce 
 those rules from the general principles laid down 
 by the laws of the State. 
 These principles are : — 
 
 1. That in the case of hereditary holdings, 
 neither the services nor the dues can, under 
 any circumstances, be raised. 
 
 2. That they must, on the contrary, be lowered 
 if the holder cannot subsist at their actual 
 rate. 
 
 3. That the holding must be maintained in a 
 condition which will enable it to pay its 
 dues fo the State. 
 
 From these three constitutional principles, as 
 well as from the general principles of public law, 
 it follows that the right of the State, both to 
 ordinary and extraordinary taxes, takes pre- 
 cedence of every other right, and that the services 
 to the manor are limited by the obligation which 
 the latter is under to leave the tenant sufficient 
 means to subsist and to pay taxes. 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 51 
 
 We consider that botli these conditions are 
 fulfilled when the sum total of the dues and 
 services rendered to the manor do not exceed one- 
 third of the total revenue derived by an hereditary 
 tenant from his holding. Therefore, with the 
 exceptions to be hereafter described,, the rule 
 shall obtain : 
 
 That, in the case of hereditary holdings, the 
 lords of the manor shall be indemnified for their 
 rights of ownership) in the holding, and for the 
 ordinary services and dues attached to the 
 holding, when the tenants shall have surrendered 
 one-third portion of all the lands held by them, 
 and shall have renounced their claims to all 
 extraordinary assistance, as well as to the dead 
 stock, to repairs, and to the payment on their 
 behalf of the dues to the State when incapable of 
 doing so. 
 
 The edict then goes on to lay down the rules 
 to be observed in applying this principle. 
 
 These rules presuppose the existence of the 
 agricultural community referred to in the earlier 
 
 E 2 
 
52 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 part of this Paper — y\z., equal allotments in an 
 arable mark ; tlie division of the arable mark in 
 which these several allotments are situated into 
 three " Commonable Fields '' or " Fluren/^ a 
 common system of cultivation obligatory on the 
 community^ in order to secure the community's 
 right of pasture on the fallow and stubbles : and 
 common rights of property in common lands 
 occupied " de indiviso/^ mostly pasture lands, 
 woods, &c., but sometimes also in arable common 
 lands. 
 
 As a rule, the lord of the manor is to acquire 
 possession of one of the three fields, or of one- 
 third portion of each field, and of one-third 
 portion of the common lands. 
 
 We have no space to enter into the details of 
 the arrangements which provide for the cases 
 differing from these. 
 
 As noted above, the lords and the peasants are 
 left free to make what arrangements they please, 
 as long as the proportion of one-third is main- 
 tained — i.e., the indemnity may take the form of 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 53 
 
 a payment of capital, or of a corn or money rent. 
 Yet the rule to be followed (and a departure from 
 this rule must have a distinct motive) is that the 
 indemnity must be paid in land where the 
 holdings are over fifty " morgen/^ * but in the 
 shape of a corn rent where the holdings are under 
 that size. 
 
 As a matter of practical convenience to both 
 parties^ the absolute separation of proprietary 
 right suffers some few exceptions ; the first and 
 most important is, that the lord retains the right 
 of pasturing the manorial sheej) on two-thirds of 
 the fallow and stubbles of the arable mark ; the 
 peasant also continues to enjoy the right of col- 
 lecting as much firewood in the demesne as he 
 requires for his personal use ; for this right, and 
 for the acquisition of his house and farm buildings 
 as well as his garden-plot (his allotment in the 
 
 * The Prussian acre is about equal to two-thh'ds of an 
 English acre — a hundred English acres being equal to 
 158^ Prussian acres. 
 
54 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 mark of the township), he continues to render 
 services to the lord of the manor at times {e.g.j 
 harvest) when extra hands are wanted. These 
 services are_, however _, restricted to a maximum 
 of ten days of team-work, and ten days of hand 
 labour for a team-peasant, and ten days man's 
 work, and ten days woman^s work for a hand- 
 peasant. 
 
 Several paragraphs of the edict are taken up 
 with provisions for so apportioning the burdens 
 on the holdings that nothing shall prevent their 
 dismemberment and being sold or exchanged in 
 single parcels. Among these provisions is one 
 preventing the peasant from mortgaging his 
 estate above one-fourth of its value. 
 
 Where corn rents are not paid punctually, 
 the lord of the manor can exact services instead. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 The class of holdings treated of in the second 
 part are those held at will, or for a term of years 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 55 
 
 or for life. In tliese cases^ the landlord gets an 
 indemnity of one-half of the holding under 
 much the same conditions as in the case of the 
 hereditary holdings. When the conditions differ, 
 they do so in favour of the lord of the manor. 
 
 By the edict, of which the above are the main 
 provisions, entirely new conditions of land occu- 
 pation were inaugurated, and corresponding 
 changes became necessary in the other branches 
 of the agricultural system. 
 
 The " Edict for the better Cultivation of the 
 Land,'^ published on the same day, had these 
 changes in view. 
 
 Fully to understand what these changes were, 
 and what was the nature of the agricultural 
 reforms to be introduced into Prussia, the picture 
 of the |)easant community as a microcosmic 
 reproduction of the old community of the mark 
 must be kept in mind. The peasant occupier^s 
 tenement is situated, apart from his land, in a 
 village or township ; his estate is made up of a 
 number of single lots or parcels (Grundstiickc) 
 
 ^ 
 
56 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 distributed over the three main divisions or Fields 
 (Fliiren_, Campi) into whicli the arable mark is 
 divided. Often intermixed with these peasant 
 parcels, and subject to the same obligatory culti- 
 vation, are parcels of demesne lands. In addition 
 to his individual rights of possession in the arable 
 mark, controlled by the common rights of 
 pasturage on the stubbles, he has common rights 
 in the common pasture, which common rights he 
 shares with the lord of the manor. Besides these 
 rights, he has rights of pasture, &c., in the forest 
 lands of the demesne proper. The sum total of 
 these individual and common rights makes up the 
 peasant holding, correlative to which are the 
 services to be rendered to the manor. As long^ 
 as these services were calculated on the sum total 
 of the rights enjoyed by the tenant, it was of 
 paramount importance that no dismemberment 
 should take place. Consequently, even in the 
 case of freeholders, none but exceptional dismem- 
 berments were allowed. 
 
 Apart then from the relations between landlord 
 
STEIN AND HIS KEFORMS. 57 
 
 and tenant J or rather inseparably implicated in 
 those relations_, and therefore requiring simul- 
 taneous regulation, are the common rights of the 
 peasants themselves_, and the impediments which 
 these common rights throw in the way of indi- 
 vidual cultivation, and the free use of. the rights 
 of property about to be granted. 
 
 The ruling idea of the '' Edict for the better 
 Cultivation of the Land/^ as of its predecessor, 
 and indeed of the whole legislation connected 
 with the names of Stein and Hardenberg, is to 
 enfranchise not the owner of land merely, but 
 likewise the land owned by him, and to remove 
 every obstacle which prevents the soil finding 
 its way out of hands less able to cultivate it 
 into those more competent to do so. Conform- 
 ably to these principles, the edict in question, in 
 the first place, removes all restrictions still existing 
 in the way of free exchange in land, in so far as 
 private rights (viz., rights arising from entails, 
 servitudes, &c.) are not affected. By this 
 proviso, the restrictions contained in paragraphs 
 
S8 STEIN AND HIS KEFORMS. 
 
 6 and 7 of the Edict of 1807 were removed, tlie 
 difference between tenant^s land and demesne 
 land ceased, and the lord of the manor could 
 freely acquire the former without the previous 
 sanction of the State. On the other hand, by 
 the perfect liberty granted for dismemberment 
 (the maxim being laid down that it was better, 
 both for the cultivator and for the land cultivated, 
 that the former should administer a small unen- 
 cumbered estate rather than a large encumbered 
 one), the advocates of the ^' petite culture " were 
 conciliated. The passage in the edict is worth 
 quoting in eoctenso, as it contains very explicitly 
 what we have described as the ruling idea of 
 the legislation we are discussing ; an idea, it is 
 true, which only attained its full development 
 forty years later, but which nevertheless, in spite 
 of the obstacles thrown in its way by the suc- 
 cessors of Stein and Hardenberg, took sufficient 
 root even at this early period to enable us to 
 judge of its fruits. It is the idea of ownership 
 versus tenancy, and of absolute freedom of 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFOKMS. 59 
 
 exchange and disposal; and special importance 
 attaches to it as representing principles opposed 
 both to the French system of compulsory division, 
 and to the English system of tenancy, primo- 
 geniture, and strict settlement. The passage we 
 refer to runs on as follows : — 
 
 '^The proprietor shall henceforth (excepting 
 always where the rights of third parties are con- 
 cerned), be at liberty to increase his estate or 
 diminish it, by buying or selling, as may seem 
 good to him. He can leave the appurtenances 
 thereof (the ' Grundstiicke/ or parcels distributed 
 in the three Fields) to one heir or to many, as he 
 pleases. He may exchange them, or give them 
 away, or dispose of them in any and every legal 
 way, without requiring any authorization for 
 such changes. 
 
 " This unlimited right of disposal has great 
 and manifold advantages. It affords the safest 
 and best means for preserving the proprietor 
 from debt, and for keeping alive in him a lasting 
 and lively interest in the improvement of his 
 
60 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 estate^ and it raises the general standard of 
 cultivation. 
 
 " The first of these results is obtained by the 
 power it gives to the actual proprietor^ or to an 
 heir upon entering on his estate, to sell such 
 portions as will enable him to provide for his 
 heirs or co-heirs, as the case may be, or for any 
 other extraordinary emergency, leaving what 
 remains of the property unencumbered with 
 mortgages or settlements. 
 
 " The interest in the estate is kept alive by 
 the freedom left to parents to divide their estate 
 amongst their children as they think fit, knowing 
 that the benefit of every improvement will be 
 reaped by them. 
 
 " Lastly, the higher standard of cultivation 
 will be secured by land — which, in the hands of 
 a proprietor without means, would necessarily 
 deteriorate — getting into the hands of a pro« 
 prietor with means, and therefore able to make 
 the best of it. Without this power of selling 
 portions of his property, the proprietor is apt to 
 
STEIN AND HIS KEFORMS. 61 
 
 sink deeper and deeper into debt^ and in proportion 
 as he does so the soil is deprived of its strength. 
 By selling;, on the other hand, he becomes free 
 from debt and free from care, and obtains the 
 means of properly cultivating what remains to 
 him. By this unhindered movement in the posses- 
 sion of land, the whole of the soil remains in a 
 good state of cultivation ; and this point once at- 
 tained, increased industry and exertion will make 
 it possible to attain a yet higher point, whereas 
 a backward movement, except as the result of 
 extraordinary mischances from without, is not to 
 be apprehended. 
 
 " But there is yet another advantage spring- 
 ing from this power of piecemeal alienation 
 which is well worthy of attention, and which 
 fills our paternal heart with especial gladness. 
 It gives, namely, an opportunity to the so-called 
 small-folk (kleine Leute), cottiers, gardeners, 
 boothmen, and day-labourers, to acquire landed 
 property, and little by little to increase it. The 
 prospect of such acquisition will render this 
 
62 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 numerous and useful class of our subjects 
 industrious, orderly, and saving, inasmuch as 
 thus only will they be enabled to obtain the 
 means necessary to the purchase of land. ]\iany 
 of them will be able to work their way upwards, 
 and to acquire property, and to make themselves 
 remarkable for their industry. The State will 
 acquire a new and valuable class of industrious 
 proprietors ; by the endeavour to become suchj 
 agriculture will obtain new hands, and by 
 increased voluntary exertion more work out of 
 the old ones." 
 
 The edict next enacts, as a supplementary 
 measure to the " Edict for the Regulation of the 
 Relations between Lords of the Manor," that 
 in the case of hereditary leaseholds (Erbpachte)' 
 the services and fines may be commuted into 
 rent-charges, and these rent-charges redeemed by 
 a capital payment, calculated at four per cent. 
 
 It next proceeds to deal with the common 
 rights of the peasants and of the lords ; and here 
 it fairly owns its inability to carry out the prin- 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS, 63 
 
 ciple of the free owner on the free soil. The great 
 mass of the peasant hoklings are dispersed in 
 small open ^^ commonable ^^ intermixed fields over 
 the area of the arable mark ; and the common 
 rights of pasturage over the arable mark neces- 
 sarily chain down the individual cultivator to the 
 modes of cultivation compatible with these com- 
 mon rights. To disentangle this complicated 
 web must be the work of time and of special 
 legislation. The edict therefore announces a 
 future law on the subject, and for the present 
 confines itself to making provisions by which one- 
 third part of such " commonable ■'^ fields can be 
 freed from the common rights of pasturage, and 
 placed at the absolute disposal of individual pro- 
 prietors. The rights of pasturage in the forest 
 lands of the manor are more easily disposed of ; 
 the advantageous terms on which full rights of 
 property are obtainable by the peasants render it 
 possible to make stringent regulations in regard 
 to the exercise of those rights, in the interest of the 
 landlord and for the preservation of the forests. 
 
64 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 To guard against tlie possibility of a returD to 
 the double ownership system^ the edict lays down 
 the rule that^ though a landed proprietor may 
 settle labourers on his estate^ and pay for their 
 services in land^ such contracts are never to be 
 made for more than twelve years. 
 
 The edict concludes by expressing it to be 
 his Majesty^s wish and will that agricultural 
 societies should be formed in every part of the 
 country^ for the purpose of collecting and 
 diffusing knowledge. The expenses of these 
 societies^ and the salary of their secretaries, will 
 be paid out of the Exchequer, and the societies 
 themselves will be placed in communication with 
 a central office in the capital, whose business it 
 will also be to establish and maintain- model 
 farms in various parts of the country for the 
 diffusion of agricultural knowledge. Besides this 
 more or less unofficial machinery, provision is 
 made for official agricultural boards to be estab- 
 lished in each district ; but these arrangements, 
 having been superseded by subsequent legislation, 
 need not be referred to. 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 65 
 
 The two edicts of the 14th September, 1811, 
 may be considered as the culminating point of 
 the legislation which goes by the name of Stein 
 and Hardenberg. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the malicious joy of the 
 aristocratic French party when Stein's dismissal, 
 on the 24th November, appeared in the Gazette. 
 Count York, whose characteristic letter we have 
 already quoted, again committed his views to 
 paper in a communication to Lieut.-Colonel von 
 Oppen, and melancholy it is indeed that such 
 a disgraceful record of narrow-mindedness and 
 ignorance should have come down to us on the 
 part of one who was otherwise a good man and 
 an excellent officer. 
 
 " Our foreign relations begin to take a more 
 favourable aspect ; and our home affairs a more 
 rational turn. One silly head has been already 
 crushed ; the other vile brood* will stifle in 
 their own venom. I hope things will soon improve. 
 
 * Nattergeschmeiss — lit., excrement of vipers. 
 P 
 
66 STEIN AND HIS EEFORMS. 
 
 If calm reason holds sway as we hope, and fortune 
 turns in our favour, I trust that the withered 
 stem, animated afresh, will yet blossom and bear 
 fruit.'^ 
 
 "We need not feel surprised at the narrow- 
 minded and ignorant sentiments of a man of such 
 a stamp as York. They are common to all coun- 
 tries alike. France had her Stein in Turgot 
 some thirty years before this period, and he ex- 
 perienced the same fate. 
 
 We may be here pardoned a short digression 
 in order, for the sake of comparison, to consider 
 the preamble of the French edict for the emanci- 
 pation of the peasant in 1776. 
 
 " Almighty God, in giving wants to mankind, 
 in rendering necessary for him the resources of 
 labour, has bestowed on every individual alike 
 the right to labour as a property, and this 
 property is the most sacred and absolute of 
 all. 
 
 " We regard it as one of the first duties of our 
 justice and an act the most worthy of our bene- 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 67 
 
 ficence, to guard our subjects against all attacks 
 on this inalienable right of man. 
 
 " '^ It is our will therefore^ to abolish all those 
 institutions which prevent the indigent from, 
 living by his own labour, and which tend to de- 
 press a sex which, on account of its weakness, has 
 more wants and less resources, and which seem, 
 in condemning it to inevitable misery, to en- 
 courage seduction and vice ; — which extinguish 
 emulation and industry, and render useless the 
 talents of those whose circumstances prevent 
 them from entering into a corporation ; which 
 deprive the State and the Arts of all the enlighten- 
 ment which may be brought to it by strangers ; 
 which retard the progress of these arts. . . . ; and 
 finally which, by the facility that they give to 
 members of corporations to form leagues, to con- 
 strain the poorer classes to submit to the rule of 
 the richer, become an instrument of monopoly, 
 and favour manoeuvres, the effect of which is to 
 raise to an unnatural proportion the commodities 
 most necessary for the subsistence of the people/^ 
 
 f2 
 
68 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 This was a direct attack on the privileged 
 classes, who, putting themselves under the aegis 
 of the principle of the rights of property which 
 they declared to be violated by this edict, com- 
 menced an attack in which they found most zea- 
 lous auxiliaries in all those who looked on a 
 change in the law as a violation and suppression 
 of all laws ! Narrow-minded Conservatives ! 
 much more dangerous than the most dangerous 
 innovators, whom we see at all epochs, who pro- 
 fane and imperil rights by defending, under that 
 sacred name, the most intolerable abuses. 
 
 These Conservatives, however, triumphed for 
 the time. Turgot^s edict was reversed and he 
 himself dismissed. The nobility, the parlia- 
 ment, the proprietors, all leagued against him, 
 and though he bore his fall with equanimity it is 
 said that he could not restrain his tears when he 
 heard of the reversal of all his hopes. France 
 was doomed to fifteen years more slavery, and 
 then came the deluge when all privileges, all 
 property was swept away, and centuries of 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 69 
 
 tyranny and oppression ended in a sea of 
 blood. 
 
 What a lesson to other nations. Had Turgot''s 
 reforms, and very moderate ones they were, been 
 accepted, the French Revolution would never have 
 occurred, for it would not have been necessary. 
 
 It is an error to maintain that this person or 
 that caused the Revolution — Voltaire, Rousseau, 
 or the Encyclopedists — '' No persons ever cause a 
 revolution; they make themselves, just as storms 
 occur from accumulated vapours, or diseases from 
 corrupted juices and neglect ; when the element 
 of discontent manifests itself, the usual course is 
 to meet it by perverse and wrong measures, 
 by which the symptoms are increased and 
 strengthened instead of allayed ; then come men 
 who take advantage of the crisis, either from 
 selfishness or the reverse, as they happen to be 
 self-seekers, idealists, or patriots. When the 
 storm bursts those in office lose their heads, and 
 cowardice, the associate of an evil conscience, 
 confuses the understanding. Thereupon follow 
 
70 STEIN AND HIS KEFORMS. 
 
 false measures by which the danger is increased^ 
 the flight of those whose duty it is to be at their 
 post_, or the wavering of some who^ instead of 
 acting with decision_, remain weak and helpless. 
 
 All this follows in quick succession under 
 the influence of the tempest of God which 
 sweeps over the devoted land ; for every revolu- 
 tion is the assize of the Almighty. His kindness 
 is shown in the punishment that He inflicts ; for 
 under the terror caused by the angel who directs 
 the storm^ all injustice and obsolete usages 
 crumble and fall with a mighty crash ; and 
 though many, both good and bad, are crushed 
 and destroyed under the ruins, a new and more 
 perfect edifice arises, and an epoch is marked in 
 the progress of man towards perfection. 
 
 As the present notice of Stein and his Reforms 
 is meant to be a popular account for the infor- 
 mation of all those who may be interested in the 
 inevitably forthcoming land reforms in England, 
 we think that we cannot do better than complete 
 the Stein-Hardenberg legislation by an addition 
 
5TEIN AND KIS EEFORMS. 71 
 
 of tliat of 1850. We quote from the Cobden 
 Essays above alluded to. 
 
 The Legislation of 1850. 
 
 The legislation of 1850 was in the highest 
 degree prolific ; but we need only concern our- 
 selves with the two great laws of the 2nd 
 March. 
 
 1. The Law for the Redemption of Services 
 and Dues, and the Regulation of the Relations 
 between the Lords of the Manor and their 
 Peasants. 
 
 2. The Law for the Establishment of Rent 
 Banks. 
 
 The former of these laws abrogated the 
 " dominum directum/^ or overlordship of the 
 lords of the manor, without compensation; so 
 that from the day of its publication, all hereditary 
 holders throughout the Prussian monarchy, irre- 
 spectively of the size of their holdings, became 
 proprietors, subject however to the customary 
 services and dues, which, by the further provisions 
 
72 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 of the lawj were commuted into fixed money rents, 
 calculated on the average money value of the 
 services and dues rendered and paid during a 
 certain number of years preceding. By a 
 further provision these rent- charges were made 
 compulsorily redeemable, either by the immediate 
 payment of a capital equivalent to an 18 years^ 
 purchase of the rent-charge, or by a payment of 
 4J or 5 per cent, for 56-pV or 41yV years, on a 
 capital equivalent to 20 years' purchase of the 
 rent-charge. 
 
 The law for the establishment of rent banks 
 provided the machinery for this wholesale redemp- 
 tion. By it the State, through the instrumen- 
 tality of the rent banks, constituted itself the 
 r)roker between the peasants by whom the rents 
 had to be paid, and the landlords who had to 
 receive them. 
 
 The bank established in each district advanced 
 to the latter in rent debentures, paying 4 per 
 cent, interest, a capital sum equal to 20 years' 
 purchase of the rent. The peasant, along with 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 73 
 
 his ordinary rates and taxes, paid into the hands 
 of the district tax collector each month one- 
 twelfth part of a rent calculated at 5 or 4^ per 
 cent, on this capital sura, according as he 
 elected to free his property from encumbrance in 
 41 -jV or 56-fV years, the respective terms within 
 which, at compound interest the 1 or the |- per 
 cent., paid in addition to the 4 per cent, interest 
 on the debenture, would extinguish the capital. 
 
 The account given of these rent banks in Mr. 
 Hutton^s pamphlet, p. 18, is so clear and exhaus- 
 tive, that it would be lost labour to attempt to 
 improve on it here. 
 
 The legislation of 1850 was no more than the 
 efficacious application of the principles contained 
 in the edict of 1811. At first sight two new 
 principles appear to have been introduced — viz., 
 the absence of compensation for the " dominum 
 directum,^'' and the elimination of the principle of 
 payments in land. But if we look at the matter 
 more closely, these differences amount to little. 
 The " dominum directum,^^ as before observed. 
 
74 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 deprived of its material contents — i.e., of tlie 
 services and dues, vras absolutely valueless to the 
 overlord, whilst, on the other hand, the im- 
 mediate and simultaneous entrance into full 
 proprietary rights on the part of the many 
 thousands of holders who were affected by the 
 law of the 2nd of March, was calculated to 
 exercise a moral effect of the greatest mag- 
 nitude. 
 
 As regards the non-commutation in land, it 
 will be remembered that the edict of 1811 laid 
 down the rule that the services of holdings less 
 than fifty Prussian acres in size should be com- 
 muted in rent-charge only. Now it is probable 
 that most of the holdings over this size had been 
 redeemed prior to 1850, so that practically the 
 law of the 2nd March had only to deal with the 
 smaller kinds of holdings, for w^hich the commu- 
 tation of services by a rent- charge had been 
 provided by the edict of 1811. It was not by 
 the newness of the principles therefore, but by 
 the incomparably superior machinery for applying 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 75 
 
 tlie princij)les, that the legislation of 1850 es- 
 tablished its superiority over that of 1811, and 
 obtained such much larger results in compara- 
 tively so short a time. 
 
 We have now given a general outline of the 
 whole of the Stein- Hardenberg land reforms, as 
 well as the subsequent legislation with regard 
 to the land question in Prussia up to the present 
 time. 
 
 Besides these important reforms it is well 
 known that Stein reorganized the whole system 
 of administration in Prussia ; he saw clearly 
 that the real intrinsic strength of a nation lies in 
 a moral and independent population, and thus 
 the ground principle of his system was to improve 
 the abject state of the people and raise them 
 from the wretchedness in which they had so long 
 languished, and this he effected by his land 
 reform, whereby a large class of peasant proprie- 
 tors was created, who, having property and 
 consequently a stake and interest in the State, 
 were fai' more valuable citizens than feudal 
 
76 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 slaves who could not call even their souls their 
 
 '^^ own. 
 
 \ It is not our purpose to enter into the merits 
 of his general reforms in the Administration ; 
 it is well known that^ substantially, they remain 
 law in Prussia at the present day. 
 / In 1814 Stein entered Paris with the Allies, 
 and from that time his power may be said nearly to 
 have ceased, for his views of constitutional liberty 
 were anything but pleasing to the despots of the 
 Vienna Congress, and his weak and ungrateful 
 master the King of Prussia, whom he served so 
 faithfully, at once seems entirely to have for- 
 gotten him ; the orange had been sucked, and 
 now the rind was to be cast away. Absolutism 
 was far more to the taste of an hereditary 
 Prussian Monarch, and to this he returned as 
 soon as he could ; quite forgetting all the bitter 
 lessons of adversity, he preferred his fancied 
 \ interests to the general good of the people. 
 
 Napoleon had fallen, and deservedly — but alas ! 
 all hope of progress and liberty which was ex- 
 pected, and which might have accrued, from the 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 77 
 
 Freucli Revolution;, sunk with him to the ground,, 
 and poor Europe relapsed once more into the 
 stagnation of absolutism. ^ 
 
 Saint Augustine truly said, " Deus patiens quia 
 (Eternus " (God is patient because He is eternal), 
 but wretched man is obliged to be so without the 
 eternity here below to console him ; he must learn 
 that the Divine will has decreed that the march of 
 progress should be slow, and he must submit 
 himself to the law. Nature cares not for indi- 
 viduals, but it preserves the species ; this seems 
 hard on the individual indeed, but it is inevitable, 
 and many see in it a strong proof of a future, 
 when all inequalities, all inconsistencies, shall be 
 reconciled, and " death swallowed up in victory."" 
 Never had man such oj)portunities as Napoleon, 
 and never did man more abuse and throw them 
 away by his insane and ignoble lust for power. 
 All things doubtless will eventually come right, 
 but that such an opportunity as that granted to 
 Napoleon should have been so lost, and the course 
 of human progress retarded for full sixty years, is a 
 most disheartening reflection for those who have 
 
78 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 lived during the reaction caused by his selfish- 
 nesSj and who^ from their age, may not live to 
 see the coming emancipation of nations from the 
 iron rule of seif-seeking despotism. 
 
 So long as France waged war against Abso- 
 lutism — 
 
 *' Who of all the Despots banded. 
 With that faithful chief competed, 
 Who could brood o'er France defeated, 
 Till lone tyranny commanded, 
 Till goaded by Ambition's wing 
 The Hero sunk into the King ? 
 Then he fell — so perish all 
 Who would men by man enthrall." 
 
 The German, Heine, says in a work (formerly 
 suppressed but just now published), "It was not 
 merely Frenchmen and the Emperor who suc- 
 cumbed at Waterloo. The French indeed fought 
 for their hearths and homes, but they were at 
 the same time the sacred cohorts who represented 
 the Revolution ; the Emperor fought not only for 
 liis throne, but also for the flag of the Revolution 
 which he bore — he was the standard-bearer of 
 the democracy, while Wellington on the con- 
 trary bore the ensign of the aristocracy." 
 
STEIN AND HIS KEFORMS. 79 
 
 There is some truth in this, but it is not all 
 correct, for if Napoleon had conquered he would 
 most certainly have g-one back to absolutism ; 
 the cause of his fall was his having betrayed 
 the cause of the Revolution : we deny that he 
 fought for the people at WaterloOo He fought for 
 his own selfish ends, and well it was for the 
 world that he was conquered. The people of 
 Europe, however, were too ignorant to understand 
 the situation, and thus they fought and con- 
 quered under the auspices of those who (not one 
 w^hit better than Napoleon) were merely desirous 
 of getting power firmly into their own bands. 
 The people were, in fact, very mucli like those 
 dogs whicli we see carrying a whip wbicli is 
 frequently to be used over their own backs. 
 
 Lord Byron saw tbis plainly when, on July 
 7th, 1815, he wrote to Moore :—^'' Every hope of 
 a Eepublic is over, and we must go on under the 
 old system/' Napoleon was only put down at the 
 cost of sixty years further absolutism for Europe, 
 and which is by no means extinct at the present 
 day on the Continent. 
 
80 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 But happily the dark clouds of superstition 
 and ignorance in Europe are being gradually 
 dispersed by the bright sun of science which is 
 now very apparent above the horizon ; men begin 
 seriously to think ; and from thought to action 
 the interval is not very great. 
 
 The Land Question in England. 
 
 There are certain inalienable natural rights, 
 and among them the greatest is the right to 
 labour and to inherit the land. Latterly the 
 people of England_, who have been long languish- 
 ing in darknessj have seen a great light — a light 
 has arisen upon those who have long been wan- 
 dering in the valley of the shadow of death. 
 With regard to the land the people of England 
 stand alone in the face of Europe. Richard 
 Cobden, in one of his annual addresses to his 
 constituents at Rochdale, remarked : — " The 
 English peasantry has no parallel on the face 
 of the earth — you have no other peasantry like 
 that of England ; you have no other country in 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 81 
 
 which it is entirely divorced from the land. There 
 is no other country in the world where you will 
 not find men turning up the furrow in their 
 own freehold. You will not find that in England/^ 
 This is our starting-point — the people are divorced 
 from the land. If this be true, it follows that 
 they must have been at one time married to the 
 land; and we will now shortly narrate the his- 
 tory of the divorce. 
 
 How the People of England became Divorced 
 from the Land. 
 
 At the Norman Conquest a fresh survey and 
 partition of the land was made by the Conqueror, 
 who remodelled the land laws, and finally estab- 
 lished that feudal system of which even now the 
 traces remain ; and it was maintained in full 
 vigour into the sixteenth century, at the com- 
 mencement of which the great agricultural 
 reforms, commencing at the latter end of the 
 fifteenth century, were in full operation. 
 
 The feudal system was by no means so 
 
 G 
 
82 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 tyrannical as has been generally supposed — it was 
 very similar to that of Prussia in 1807, when Stein 
 commenced his great work. 
 
 England, it may be said, was separated into 
 a vast number of townships ; there was a lord 
 of the manor, and a custom of the manor which 
 varied in some respects in different counties, but 
 generally speaking, the rights of the lord as well 
 as of the peasant cultivators, were had the right 
 of use in the land, were clearly defined. So long 
 as the peasants performed their feudal services, 
 the chief of which consisted in the gratuitous 
 cultivation of the manor farm, the lord could not 
 deprive them of the use of the soil by the culti- 
 vation of which they obtained a livelihood. The 
 villani, or villeins, were sometimes very well- 
 to-do persons, and far happier and more indepen- 
 dent than the wretched real serfs of the present 
 time with their miserable pittance of from 8s. to 
 10s. per week. 
 
 Each township formed a little community ; 
 outside the town was distributed in parcels the 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 83 
 
 arable land in a circle,, and beyond tbis was the 
 common pasture^ and beyond this again the con- 
 stant pasture and woods. No live hedges were 
 to be seen as at the present day^ and few ditches ; 
 so jealous were the peasants of their rights that 
 it was necessary to put up temporary fences to 
 protect the growing crops^ and these fences were 
 invariably demolished on St. Peter^s day (13th 
 August, O.S.). The whole village community 
 regularly turned out on that day and demolished 
 them, after which the stubble land remained the 
 property of all alike until the next seedtime, 
 when the dead fences were erected afresh. 
 
 But in the fifteenth century certain changes 
 in the conditions of the world manifested them- 
 selves ; a foreign trade sprung up, particularly in 
 wool, for the production of which the English cli- 
 mate was most favourable, and a great impulse 
 was likewise given to this trade by the discovery 
 of vast quantities of silver in the American mines, 
 which, in the shape of money, afforded a far more 
 convenient medium for exchange than the 
 
84 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 system hitherto of barter of commodities. Sheep- 
 farming became the rage^ and from this time may 
 be dated the commencement of the divorce of 
 the British peasant from the land. 
 
 Knowledge is power, bnt how deplorable it is 
 to see that, not only in England but in all conn- 
 tries, the higher and more intellectual classes have 
 always used that weapon to oppress and enslave 
 the proletariat. A light broke upon the lords 
 of the manor ; they discovered that the system of 
 farming the land in common was a most wasteful 
 method of cultivation, and that the land, ivhen 
 permanently enclosed, would produce full double the 
 quantity for harvest ; and also that sheep-farming 
 under the new circumstances was much more 
 2)rofitable for themselves than the continued cul- 
 tivation of the land in common by the peasantry ; 
 and henceforward their endeavours were directed 
 to the expulsion of the people from their manors 
 in order to lay down the land in grass. The 
 lords of the manors would not admit that the 
 peasant had any vested right in the land ; on the 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 85 
 
 contrary they said that the laud was theirs_, and 
 that the peasant only cultivated it so long as 
 they pleased on sufferance ; as long as it was to 
 the interest of the landlord the peasant was pre- 
 served on the land — when this interest ceased he 
 was regarded as only fit to be exterminated. The 
 truth of this can be proved by numberless writ- 
 ings of the time which are still extant ; " to 
 drive poor people from their dwellings they con- 
 sider no crime^ but say the land is theirs^ and 
 then cast them out like vermin/^ says one of 
 these,, and Latimer^ in a celebrated sermon before 
 Edward VI.j said that " the great lords made 
 dowerless slaves of the godly English yeo- 
 manry/^ So great was the exasperation of the 
 people at the continued tyranny of the landlords 
 immediately after the death of Henry VIII. that 
 the Protector Somerset caused a Royal Commis- 
 sion to investigate the grievances of the people. 
 But the weak Government of those days was 
 no match against the power of the provincial 
 nobility and gentry ; the matter was brought be- 
 
86 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 fore Parliament, but the people obtained no re- 
 dress. Frequent insurrections took place, which 
 succeeded at first, but finally they were all sup- 
 pressed ; for an ignorant poj)ulace, however much 
 in the right, never can succeed permanently 
 against intellectual power. All history shows 
 this, and we see it most prominently exemplified 
 in the peasant wars of the sixteenth century in 
 Germany. Right, justice, virtue, goodness and 
 piety, when leagued with ignorance, always suc- 
 cumb to the tyranny and injustice which know 
 how to enlist intellect on their side. 
 
 It is the fashion with many historians to call 
 these insurrections of the peasantry rebellion, 
 when the truth is they were merely standing up 
 for their own rights against tyranny ; the cause 
 of freedom and right no doubt will conquer 
 finally, but not before numerous individuals have 
 perished in the struggle. This rooting out the 
 poorer class from their holdings has continued 
 down to our own times, and when the high- 
 handed proceedings of the middle ages could no 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 87 
 
 longer be resorted to_, legal chicanery stepped in 
 to complete that which mediaeval oppression had 
 left unfinished. This was done by means of the 
 iniquitous enclosure acts_, a species of legal 
 robbery of which^ in May 1845, Lord Lincoln 
 observed in the House of Commons : '^ This I 
 know_, that in nineteen cases out of twenty^ 
 committees sitting in this House on private 
 bills neglect the rights of the poor ; " in most 
 cases judgment may be said to have gone by 
 default, as it is called, because the poor pro- 
 prietors could not fee expensive counsel or 
 pay witnesses. 
 
 Such is a brief relation of the divorce of the 
 English people from the land and soil which 
 robbed them of their inalienable rights to its 
 cultivation, deprived the nation of that inde- 
 pendent class which is so necessary towards 
 maintaining the greatness of an Empire, and 
 is now causing such discontent and demoraliza- 
 tion. But there is always a certain Nemesis 
 which follows sooner or later any breach 
 
88 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 of the natural law. The Greeks had a pro- 
 verb : — 
 
 0(f)e OeoiV akeovcri yLvKoi, dXeovcri §e XeTrrd, 
 
 which an American poet has utilized in one of 
 liis effusions without acknowledgment : 
 
 " The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding 
 small," 
 
 and there is great truth in the saying. 
 
 But in judging of the conduct of the English 
 lords of the manor during this great agricul- 
 tural revolution we must be just and not too 
 severe upon them. It must be recollected that 
 the English movement commenced nearly three 
 centuries ago^ while the German reform happened 
 in our days. The difference of enlightenment 
 between the two periods must be taken into con- 
 sideration^ and then perhaps we shall see the 
 reason why justice was done to the peasant in 
 Germany, while in England he was treated with 
 the greatest injustice and cruelty. The diffe- 
 rence in the times affords some, though anything 
 but a suflQcient, excuse for the English lords of 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 89 
 
 the manor ; gross ignorance of the rights of man 
 may mitigate though it cannot excuse their con- 
 duct; it was partly a blunder, which, politically 
 speaking, is really often more pernicious than a 
 positive crime. 
 
 The selfish error of lords of the manor in driv- 
 ing the population from the land, is shown by all 
 history to be a sin against the natural law for the 
 wellbeing and happiness of a nation, and as a con- 
 sequence, against political economy. We hear per- 
 sons talk of true and false political economy, but 
 this is an incorrect mode of expression ; there 
 can be no such thing as a false political economy, 
 because then it would not be political economy 
 at all. Political economy is an exact science 
 admitting of no variation any more than the laws 
 of nature, and the only question here is, what is 
 the law of political economy with regard to the 
 land ? Let us examine this question more 
 closely, taking the examples of history as well as 
 the light of nature for our guides. A profound 
 German writer on Political Economy says : 
 
90 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 " The essential characteristic of a desert is uni- 
 formity ; a yast expanse of land with no con- 
 siderable elevations or deep hollows to vary the 
 same dead level,, so that no accumulation of at- 
 mospheric moisture can be retained. The parti- 
 cles of sand of nearly equal size which form its 
 surface are easily set in motion by every con- 
 siderable wind of the heavens^ so that no vegeta- 
 tion can take firm root ; and in this state we see 
 a true type of the economical and political re- 
 sults of an extreme equality in the division both 
 of the land and national income of a nation. 
 The opposite extreme is when a middle class of 
 small proprietors has disappeared^ and a nation 
 may then be described as consisting of a few 
 rich^ and a numerous proletariat. Such a state 
 may be termed a Plutoligarchy which always has 
 a reverse side of pauperism^ with all the oppres- 
 sion of an aristocracy without its advantages ; men 
 are reckoned as of no account^ capital alone is 
 held to be of any value. By this state of things 
 the independence of a people is destroyed^ as they 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 91 
 
 have neitlier capital nor land, and are conse- 
 quently constrained to bring tlieir labour to 
 market to those few who have the command of 
 employment and who can make their own terms. 
 Thus all self-dependence is eliminated from the 
 people^and one of the greatest of moral temptations 
 arises, for the homeless poor will be as prone to 
 hate the law as the rich to hold it in contempt. 
 
 " Hence arises the highly contagious power of 
 Communism^ its danger to order and freedom. 
 
 ^' There is a terrible example in history of six 
 persons who possessed half the Roman domi- 
 nions in Africa ; Nero caused them all to be 
 murdered.^^ "^ 
 
 A Plutoligarchy — a state to which we are 
 now very fast approaching in England — will 
 always be weak abroad ; the great multitude 
 who have nothing to lose will generally care 
 little for the continuance of political inde- 
 pendence,, if^ indeed, they will not rejoice in the 
 
 * Pliny, " Hist. Nat.," xviii. 7. 
 
92 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 fall of their oppressors^ hoping to better them- 
 selves from the catastrophe. The joy with 
 which the French were welcomed as deliverers 
 in Berlin in 1807, is a proof of this. 
 
 Such are the opposite extremes ; the parcelling 
 out of the land into exclusively small holdings, 
 and the division of the country among a few 
 large proprietors. Now, what does political 
 economy teach ? It teaches that harmony in 
 a State can only be lastingly secured when the 
 land is fairly divided into large, medium, and 
 especially into small peasant holdings. History 
 also teaches that the excrescence of a Pluto- 
 cracy — the sure sign of declining life in a 
 nation — has always been a stumbling block to 
 the legislator from the most ancient times. 
 
 If we look to the history of the Hebrew 
 kings we find the prophets denouncing Pluto- 
 cracy, thus : Amos vi. 1 — '' Woe to them that are 
 at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of 
 Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to 
 whom the house of Israel came.'' And Micah 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 93 
 
 ii. 2 — '^ And theij covet fields, and take them 
 by violence ; and houses, and take them aivay ; so 
 they oppress a man and his house, even a man and 
 his heritage.'^ And again^ Isaiah v. 8 — " Woe 
 unto them that join house to house, that lay field 
 to field, till there he no place, that they may be 
 placed alone in the midst of the earth.'' 
 
 And in later times if we refer back to ancient 
 Greece we see that " Men of fortune extended 
 their estates without bounds, not scrupling to 
 exclude the rightful heirs, and the lohole property 
 coming into the hands of the few, the rest were 
 poor and miserable. These finding no time 
 or opportunity to learn and exercise the liberal 
 arts_, were obliged to drudge in mean and 
 mechanic employments for their daily bread, and 
 consequently looked with envy and hatred on the 
 rich. There remained not above seven hundred 
 of the old Spartan families,, of which, per- 
 haps, one hundred had estates in land. The 
 rest of the city was filled with an insignificant 
 rabble without property or honour, who had 
 
94 STEIN AND HIS EEFORMS. 
 
 neither heart nor spirit to defend their country 
 against wars abroad, and who were always 
 watching an opportunity for change at home/^^ 
 If any further historical testimony were neces- 
 sary to prove the truth of the position, we have 
 only to take France and Prussia — France before 
 the great revolution, and Prussia before her over- 
 throw in 1807. If the landed proprietors in 
 England are not convinced by these precedents, 
 then indeed they would not be convinced even 
 though one arose from the dead. The greater 
 part of the landlords, however, are far from 
 owning that they are convinced of that which 
 appears to them to be against their own interest ; 
 on the contrary, some of the highest intellects 
 among them maintain that the present state of 
 land tenure in England is quite right and 
 proper, and especially a very able writer in 
 the Quarterly Review has openly spoken against 
 a reform in the land laws. We shall here quote 
 
 * Plutarch — Agis. 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 95 
 
 his words, and refer our readers to a late 
 article in the organ of the Tories, the Quarterly 
 Beview, entitled '' The Proletariat on the "Wrong 
 Scent/' by which it is plainly to be seen that the 
 land monopolists have seriously taken the alarm 
 at the prospects of a movement which they con- 
 ceive will interfere with what they consider their 
 just rights and privileges. 
 
 Speaking of the great R-eforms of the Baron 
 Stein which we have sketched, Mr. Greg 
 says : — 
 
 " We will admit that, since the promulgation 
 of the new system in Prussia by which feu- 
 dalism was broken up and large estates began to 
 be superseded by smaller ones, the improvement 
 in agriculture and in the condition of the 
 peasant class has been marked, vast, and unde- 
 niable. 
 
 " We will concede, moreover, that much of this 
 amelioration is the effect, and the natural and 
 necessary effect, of the change from Proletarism 
 to proprietorship, and that ceteris paribus land 
 
96 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 will always yield more to the hand, of the 
 owner than to hired labour. 
 
 '' But all this is but the first eflfect of the tran- 
 sition, the question for a philosophic statesman 
 regards a future day and a secondary conse- 
 quence. 
 
 ^' When the old system shall have been 
 altogether superseded by the new ; when the 
 whole of the land shall be in the possession 
 of peasant proprietors ; when industry, science, 
 and the due subdivision of the land shall have 
 brought it all into that state of minute and per- 
 fect cultivation which we observe in many parts 
 of Lombardy, of Flanders, and of Switzerland, 
 and which two generations of peasant proprietor- 
 ship suffices to effect — What then ? No new 
 estates can be created, for you have reached the 
 limit at wdiich subdivision is compatible with 
 good agriculture or with comfortable subsistence; 
 no more individuals can be supported by the 
 soil, for its utmost yield has been extracted from 
 it; manufacturing establishments have been 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 97 
 
 superseded by articles produced at home ; 
 foreign commerce has languished and died under 
 the gradual extinction of exchangeable articles 
 and available surplus for luxurious expenditure^ 
 and the Civil and Military services have been 
 reduced to a minimum because only a small 
 revenue can be raised by direct taxation from a 
 nation which consists of one vast class of yeo- 
 manry/^ — Greg^s Essays, 143. 
 
 " One vast class of yeomanry !" This is a 
 mere assumption and not reasoning. Have we 
 not seen Prussia, which has partitioned fully one 
 half the land among the people,, great and pros- 
 perous — a nation which, from a vicious system 
 of government, founded on a false idea of political 
 economy, had sunk into a state of the greatest 
 degradation and misery — a nation which old 
 Fritz himself, after he had drilled it into a per- 
 fect state of automatonism, admitted was nothing 
 more than a mere aggregation of slaves, — and 
 one able man arose, and by the simple expedient 
 of planting the people on the soil from which 
 
 H 
 
9S' STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 they Lad been divorced,- — by simply turning serfs 
 into landed proprietors_, — succeeded in raising 
 this country from her ashes ; and his success is 
 described by Mr. Greg as '' marked^ vast^ and 
 undeniable •/' and though seventy years have 
 flown since this success^ and the nation has 
 risen to the pinnacle of earthly power and 
 greatness^ we are told that this is only the first 
 eff'ect of the transition ! and that the question 
 for a philosophic statesman regards a future 
 day^ and a secondary consequence ! 
 
 Where, we ask, is the one vast class of Yeo- 
 manry in Prussia which should be there ac- 
 cording to Mr. Greg^s theory? 
 
 In a late essay published by the Cobden Club, 
 by Mr. Grant Duff, on the teaching of Richard 
 Cobden, he says : '^ Free trade applied to land 
 — nothing more nor nothing less^"* — this was all 
 Cobden proposed ! Now these were the last 
 words of Richard Cobden with regard to the 
 and ; he had before said that " divorce from 
 the soil was a national calamity and a disgrace."" 
 In his last speech he said : 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 99 
 
 " The Englisli peasantry has no parallel on 
 the face of the earth ; you have no other country 
 in which it is entirely divorced from the land. 
 There is no other country in the world where 
 you will not find men turning up the furrow 
 on their own freehold !" Is it not clear from 
 this that Cobden thought that in England also the 
 " peasant should have his own freehold )' and 
 I would ask Mr. Grant Duff how this can possibly 
 be brought about by simple free trade in land ?* 
 
 Lord A. and manufacturer B. buy up a whole 
 county ; they take all the land^ and subject it 
 to the law of entail ; and where I ask is the 
 peasant to get his freehold ?t If, instead of the 
 artificial means by which Stein planted the 
 Prussian peasant on the soil^ he had simply 
 proclaimed free trade in the land^ where would 
 Prussia have been now ? If Cobden were alive 
 
 * Since this was written, Mr. Cobden's remarkable 
 letter has been published by Mr. J. Bright. Vide Ap- 
 pendix (D). 
 
 t Vide Appendix (F). 
 
 H 2 
 
100 STEIN AND HIS REFOKMS. 
 
 he would have seen how utterly futile such an 
 expedient would have been towards carrying out 
 his views. Cobden advocated free trade in land 
 as well as in everything else^ and so do we ; 
 but in Cobden^s time the land question was only 
 just_, as seamen say, heaving in sight ; people 
 were only becoming awake to the importance 
 of the question, which Cobden had examined 
 in all its bearings. Certainly he had too much 
 sound sense to complain that peasant proprietors 
 were wanted, which lie undeniably did, and then 
 at tlie same time deprecate the means of forming 
 them ; his letter settles this point. (Ap. D.) 
 
 A few persons take the wliole of the land, 
 as in Scotland,"^ and then say. Oh ! free trade 
 in land, — when the whole of it has been mono- 
 polized. No, without some artificial means, with- 
 out some Government help, nothing can be 
 effectually done to increase the small holders. 
 
 But then the question comes : What is to be 
 
 * Vide Appendix (G). 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORM^. 101 
 
 done^ and wlio is to do it ? Where are we to 
 find our Stein ? AYe have one well capable of 
 following in his steps, and that is John Bright. 
 We see that he has withstood the temptations 
 of rank and power, before which so many men, 
 even the most gifted, succumb. He knows, 
 to use the words of Stein, " dass nur Der sich 
 riihmen darf, einen guten Kampf gekampft zu 
 haben, den beharret bis ans ende."* 
 
 Stein believed that the souls of the departed 
 were permitted to look down and still take an 
 interest in the affairs of this world ; may we 
 not fancy the spirit of the good Cobden joyfully 
 looking down on the present aspect of the land- 
 question agitation in England ? 
 
 Many think that it is too late, that the time 
 has gone by never to be recalled ; that we should 
 have made the reform a la Stein in the reign 
 of Henry VIII. ; and that to again create a 
 
 * He alone can boast of having fought the good fight 
 
 who remains till the end of the battle. 
 
102 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 yeoman class is quite a hopeless task. If this 
 be true, then all we can say is, that the country 
 is very far down on the inclined plane which 
 leads to destruction. But we have better hopes. 
 We think better of the stamina of the English 
 people. On their efforts all depends,, for from 
 the landlords they have nothing to hope. Neither 
 can they rely on a House of Commons consti- 
 tuted like the present one. An assembly con- 
 sisting of landowners and the rich will never 
 restore the land which has been wrested from 
 the poorer cultivators. No palliative remedies 
 will have any permanent effect here ; the cottage 
 and allotment system would be useless. The 
 only remedy is an extension of the svffrage to 
 the agricultural labourer ; then we may hope 
 to have men returned to Parliament pledged 
 to a thorough land reform a la Stein, and not 
 till then. 
 
 There would be no io justice whatever in this. 
 In Prussia there are large, medium, and small 
 proprietors, and there is not that overwhelming 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 103 
 
 preponderance of yeomanry which no doubt 
 would be pernicious, exactly as we see it is at 
 this moment in France. 
 
 The first steps for a comprehensive land re- 
 form in England would be the abolition of the 
 laws of primogeniture and entails, the removal 
 of all impediments to the transfer of land, and 
 the utilization by the legislature of all wastes 
 to form small properties. This, together with 
 the acquirement by purchase of such other land 
 as might be thought requisite, and the division 
 of it into small holdings, would again plant the 
 people on the land from which they have been 
 so unjustly driven ; and then again we may see 
 our beautiful country dotted with the peacefhl 
 homes of small peasant proprietors, and England 
 once more " merry" (a sad misnomer now) ; and 
 if we have not so many large landed proprietors, 
 at any rate we shall have established a happy and 
 moral class of contented yeomanry, which will 
 form a most important addition to the material 
 and intrinsic strength of the nation. 
 
104 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 Here we rniglit have brooght this short 
 sketch to an end^ but as there is no life of Stein 
 in the English language, we trust our readers 
 will excuse us if we complete our sketch by 
 following up the career of that remarkable man 
 to its close. 
 
 On the 31st March, 1814, the allies entered 
 Paris, and the great war of deliTcranee from the 
 yoke of Napoleon was at an end. On the 9th 
 April Stein arrived in Paris, At length the 
 day had arrived ; — the gloomy clouds which had 
 so long obscured the destiny of Prussia had all 
 melted away ; success beyond the hopes of his 
 wildest imagination had eome to cheer his heart 
 after years of the most bitter humiliation ; his 
 most heartfelt gratitude was due to Providence 
 which had vouchsafed such blessings to his 
 beloved Fatherland, and to Alexander, its chosen 
 instrument for carrying out its wise plans. 
 
 Such were Stein^s feelings, mixed up with a most 
 profound contempt for Napoleon and the French 
 nation. We see it proved in his letters which were 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 105 
 
 written at this period^ and from which the fol- 
 lowing is extracted : — 
 
 " Thank heaven for this happy event — the man 
 (Napoleon) lies prostrate^ for which we owe 
 eternal gratitnde to the Emperor Alexander. 
 The tyrant has closed his career as a coward. 
 As long as he conld shed the blood of others 
 with impunity he stinted not his hand^ but when 
 the day of trial came courage was wanted to face 
 death. To save his wretched life he spares 
 neither tears nor supplications ; to prolong his 
 miserable existence he descends to the meanest 
 arts ; — what a contemptible monster ! All hearts, 
 on the contrary, are captivated by the demea- 
 nour of the Emperor Alexander. His whole 
 proceedings may be described as a union of 
 wisdom, nobility, courage, and loftiness of soul. 
 This shameless, impure, and immoral French 
 race are already abusing his generosity, they 
 can only be ruled with an iron sceptre. How 
 disgusting it is to hear them, after having 
 covered themselves with crime, talking of their 
 
106 STEIN a:nd his reforms. 
 
 honesty/ goodness, and magnanimity, just as if 
 Europe had not been filled with blood and 
 mourning by their acts, and as if they had not 
 murdered three kings within two centuries, and 
 on all occasions evinced the most repulsive greed. 
 Napoleon went out hunting on the 9th ; he only 
 thinks of his ordinary pleasures. The same 
 meanness of spirit which he showed in his flight 
 from Russia, when he left his army a prey to 
 cold and hunger, makes his present position 
 endurable. The Archduchess (Marie Louise) 
 goes back to her father, Jerome to Stuttgart, 
 Joseph to Switzerland, so the whole pack of 
 ragamuffins is annihilated.^^ 
 
 This extract clearly shows how little Stein 
 was acquainted with human nature ; we shall 
 soon see how bitterly he was disappointed when, 
 his illusions dissipated, he found out the real 
 character of the TartufFe Emperor Alexander, as 
 he has been justly called, at the Vienna Con- 
 gress, where Germany was completely thrown 
 over, and went empty away. Stein's idea was 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 107 
 
 tlie formation of a united Germany^ but he soon 
 found that the Emperor Alexander was very far 
 from supporting his views, he being solely 
 intent on securing as much of the spoil as he 
 could lay his hands upon. The Congress of 
 Vienna may be compared to a swarm of hungry 
 vultures fighting over a carcase^ each trying to 
 gorge its utmost. 
 
 Stein was indefatigable in his endeavours t^^ 
 establish his views for a united Germany before 
 the Congress, but the opposing interests and 
 selfishness of Austria, Bavaria, and the whole 
 host of petty German princes, foiled all his plans, 
 till, as a last resource, he proposed the re-establish- 
 ment of a German empire as his sheet-anchor, 
 his last hope. All was, however, vain, although 
 the Emperor of Russia, and Wessenberg, one of 
 the Austrian plenipotentiaries, supported him. 
 Metternich, the Emperor of Austria, as well as 
 Bavaria and WUrtemberg, and {mirabile dictu), 
 the representatives of Prussia, decidedly opposed 
 his proposition. The memorial of Stein to the 
 
108 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 EmDeror Alexander for the establishment of an % 
 Empire was opposed by a counter memorial by 
 Humboldt^ who represented that the dignity of 
 an Emperor without corresponding power would 
 be merely an object of jealousy and discord, — 
 with corresponding power, would tend to circum- 
 scribe that of the large States, and especially 
 Prussia, who never would submit to such a 
 subjection. Hardenberg (!) also inclined to this 
 latter view. Stein had recourse to Wellington, 
 and tried to gain him over to his views for a 
 German Empire, but without success, and the 
 Emperor Alexander, seeing such a preponderance 
 of opinion against him, gave way, and decided 
 that a German Empire was impracticable. Thus, 
 finding all his efforts fruitless. Stein indignantly 
 withdrew from any further interference with the 
 L\Vienna Congress. 
 
 The return of Napoleon from Elba quickly 
 brought the work of the Congress to a close. 
 The news reached Vienna on 7th March, and the 
 Congress closed its sittings on the 9th June. 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 109 
 
 Stein had left Vienna on the 28t}i May, pro- 
 foundly disappointed at the failure of all his 
 plans_, and ^vith bitter feelings against Harden- 
 berg and Humboldt for the part \yhich they had 
 taken against him. The course of events during >v 
 the hundred days is well known. Stein declared 
 decidedly for the restoration of the Bourbons. 
 He had retired to Nassau for the benefit of the 
 baths, as his health had become affected : but he 
 proceeded to Paris on the 14th August, and at 
 once used all his energies to obtain better terms 
 for his country under the changed conditions of 
 parties, but all interests were against him. 
 England and Kussia considered that Prussia's 
 weakness was their gain, his memorials were 
 neglected and his projects defeated, all hope of 
 forming an United Germany lost, and tbe well- 
 merited independence of his Fatherland ship- 
 wrecked by the interests of the Great Powers, 
 joined to the lust for rule and selfish spirit of 
 the petty German princes. 
 
 Deeply disgusted, and with an especially bitter 
 
110 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 feeling against tlie Emperor Alexander, whose 
 selfishness and duplicity he now fully saw through, 
 Stein retired from the contest ; and here we may 
 say he disappears from the page of political his- 
 tory. He lived fifteen years from this period, 
 but exercised no influence on the further progress 
 ' of events. The Emperor Alexander oiBFered him 
 j a position in the Russian service, which was 
 declined. Feeling he could work no longer for 
 j his country, the rest of his life was passed in 
 \ retirement '\ but, notwithstanding the repeated 
 failure of his plans for the unity of Germany, his 
 faith in the final triumph of good over the prin- 
 ciple of evil, and a Divine superintendence of this 
 world, was never shaken. This is proved by his 
 own words in 1816, when in conversation with a 
 friend, he said, " Yes, my dear friend, we have 
 gained much, but many things should have been 
 very different from what they are. God rules 
 the world and will not desert the Germans if 
 they remain true to themselves. They will in 
 future be able to hold their own well against the 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. Ill 
 
 Frencli.'^ After a short silence he added : ^^ I 
 long to be at rest ; this world is so constituted 
 that we cannot for the most part progress on the 
 straight road^ and crooked paths are forbidden. 
 Yes_, the truth is that circumstances and con- 
 ditions urge and drive mankind ; they act and 
 purpose ; they do it^ but God decides.^' 
 
 Here we see the expression of Stein^s religious 
 views^ to which we shall have to allude in the 
 sequel. They do it^ but God decides. This is 
 exactly the " Les homines agissent, mais Dieu les 
 mhie'' of Bossuet. Men act_, but God leads them ; 
 which often quoted dictum^ if it be put to the test 
 of simple common sense^ will be found to be simple 
 nonsense. How can men possibly act if God 
 leads them ? If God leads men it is He that acts ; 
 man has no choice in the matter. But Stein 
 never got over what his mother told him^ and 
 never used his reason in these matters."^ If he 
 had possessed a little more living experience he 
 
 * Appendix (H). 
 
112 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 would have known that, in liuman affairs, justice 
 is really one of the very last of all considera- 
 tions. He hoped that the affairs of Germany 
 would at any rate meet with some kind of jus- 
 tice, some little equity ; but as a German his- 
 torian well remarks : '^ Thorichte Hoffnung, 
 gegriindet auf den unter dem Volke der Geduld 
 hartnackig heimischen ^ ideologischen ' Glauben ; 
 es sei nur eine misanthropische Grille, zu glauben, 
 dass nicht die arme heimatlose Gerechtigkeit, son- 
 dern vielraehr das hollische Kleeblatt Selbstsucht, 
 Schufterei und Gewaltsamkeit die Weltregiere.^^* 
 In the affairs of nations as well as in those of 
 individuals, to be weak is to be in the wrong. 
 No representations, no memorials, and no prayers 
 are ever efficacious unless supported by material 
 force — preces armaia are the only ones that 
 ever gain a response. Tjranny and cowardice 
 
 * Most insensate of all hopes ! founded on the fantastic 
 homebred faith that the world is governed by poor home- 
 less justice, and that it is merely a misanthropic caprice 
 to imagine that it is ruled by the hellish triad of egotism, 
 baseness, and brute force ! 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 113 
 
 are twin brothers, and it is in vain to supplicate 
 the former unless you have the power to threaten 
 the latter. There is a very profound truth as well 
 as intimate knowledge of human nature in the 
 scene from Moliere^s play of Les Precieuses Ridi- 
 cules, where Stein represents the 1st Porter^ and 
 the Emperor Alexander, Mascarille. Alas ! Stein 
 had no strong comrade for a 2nd Porter. 
 
 Emijeror (Mascarille). — There, take yourself off with 
 
 your chair. 
 Stein (Porter). — Please, your honour, to pay me my 
 
 fare. 
 Empero)' (Mascarille). — What, you rascal! ask for 
 
 payment from a man of my quality ? [_Gives him 
 
 a box on the ear.'] 
 Stein (Porter). — Ah ! that's the way we poor fellows 
 
 get paid. "Will your quality give me my dinner, I 
 
 wonder ? 
 Emperor (Mascarille). — I'll teach such low scoundrels 
 
 as you to know your place 1 
 
 And Stein did at last know his place ; too 
 late he saw that he had no force to back his 
 just demand. He fondly believed in the " direct 
 path " and in ^' worldly justice.^'' How different 
 
 I 
 
114 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 would it have been if his brother Porter, the King 
 of Prussia, had been in a position to have played 
 the part of the 2nd Porter in Moliere^s scene 
 thus : — 
 
 2nd Porter (King of Prussia) (taking one of tjie 
 poles of the chair, and confronting Alexander). — 
 I say, Mr. Emperor, pay ns our fare in less than 
 no time. 
 
 Emperor (Mascarille). — Eli ? what ? 
 
 27id Porter. — I say, stump up the fare — quick ! 
 
 JEmperor (Mascarille). — Ah! I see you can be reasonable. 
 There is some sense in the way you put it. 
 
 2nd Porter (King of Prussia). — Come, we can't wait — 
 the fare ! 
 
 E'iuperor (Mascarille). — Oh, certainly ! You speak like 
 a man, but your companion there is an ass who 
 does not know how to speak ! There, there is 
 your fare. Are you satisfied now ? 
 
 2nd Porter. — ISTo, you struck my comrade. {^Threatens 
 him with his 'pole.'\ 
 
 Emperor (Mascarille). — Stop, there's for the box on the 
 ear ! A person can get anything from me if he 
 only goes the right way to work about it. 
 
 If Stein had possessed sufficient penetration 
 to have seen through this constant peculiarity of 
 human nature, he would not have had to com- 
 plain in his bitterness that he had been completely 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 115 
 
 deceived in his trust in German sympathies, 
 English disinterestedness, and the magnanimity 
 of the Emperor Alexander. This last considera- 
 tion gave him the greatest pain ; he had looked 
 on Alexander as a miracle of noble self-denial 
 and disinterestedness, as a chosen and worthy 
 instrument of the Almighty for the emancipation 
 of Europe and the establishment of German 
 Unity, and now he discovered that he was 
 nothing more than a mere Russian autocrat, who 
 had no sympathy with the other European 
 Powers, and who cared for nothing but his own 
 interests. 
 
 Stein retired to an estate which had been con- 
 ferred on him in Prussian Westphalia, near^ 
 Dortmund, and spent his time in superintending 
 
 « 
 
 his property, and in local affairs. In 1819 he 
 was most painfully stricken by the loss of his wife, 
 who died on the 15th Sept., leaving him with two 
 daughters, who both married, in 1825, and 1827, 
 thus leaving him quite solitary. In 1828 he 
 was attacked by severe illness, from which he 
 
 I 2 
 
116 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 never completely recovered ; lie suffered much 
 at times from astlima^ and also complained of 
 great loss of memory, which, however, was not 
 apparent to his friends ; he became irritable about 
 small matters with regard to his property, and 
 enjoyed nothing but the contemplation of the 
 beauties of nature, contrasting them with the 
 wild excesses of mankind, and generally wound 
 up such contemplations with the words, "^ I wish 
 I were well out of it — the earth seems to me 
 like a large graveyard — first one and then 
 another friend disappears — I stand alone, and 
 the rising generation no longer understands me — 
 we are coming on troublous times — God is pre- 
 paring a fearful judgment on the world; if I 
 were young I would take my part in the struggle, 
 but old and decrepit as I am, I am doomed 
 to be a mere looker on." 
 
 In 1831 he felt that he had not long to 
 live ; he suffered from gout, and had several 
 apoplectic attacks. On 21st June he was over- 
 taken by a heavy storm of rain, and came home 
 
STEIN AND HIS KEFOEMS. 
 
 completely wet tliroiigh ; a cold accompanied bv 
 fever followed^ and lie told his medical attendant 
 that he thought his death was at hand. He now 
 ordered^ if Providence should decree his death, 
 that : 1st. His body should be embalmed to keep 
 it from corruption. 2nd. That the coffin should 
 be drawn by his own horses to the family vault. 
 3rd. Th^ a metal plate should be placed on the 
 lid of the coffin engraved with his name and his 
 age. On the 23rd June he appeared a little 
 better, but still maintained his conviction that 
 he would go off suddenly of pectoral apoplexy. 
 ^' I fear not death/^ said he, " I know what I am 
 worth in the eyes of God, I am a poor sinner and 
 can only obtain salvation through the merits of 
 my Redeemer.^^ Towards evening he became 
 very restless and impatient. He begged to hear 
 a discourse on death instead of the usual evening 
 prayers. On being reminded of Christian 
 patience, he sighed. " Ah, Christian patience,^' he 
 repeated, and for the rest of the day he remained 
 calm, patient, and amiable as ever. 
 
118 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 On Sunday 26tli^ one of EmmericVs sermons 
 was read to him, the text was : " Come all ye who 
 are heavily laden/^ Stein expressed his thanks for 
 the choice of the text, and said that EmmericVs 
 sermons always gave him the greatest comfort and 
 peace of mind. On the 28th his weakness sensibly 
 increased ; at two o^clock sudden and violent 
 fever with determination of blood to the head 
 and heart set in, and he expressed a wish that 
 the Sacrament should be administered to him. 
 
 At ten he took leave of all his depen- 
 dents. As his steward, Poock, approached the 
 bed, he caused himself to be raised up, and 
 clasping both his hands, said : " Farewell, my 
 dear Poock, I feel that my end is at hand ; you 
 have always been a faithful servant to me, and 
 have merited my gratitude ; it is my wish that you 
 should serve my children with the same honesty 
 and fidelity with which you have served me.-'' 
 Here Poock interrupted him. " I hope and wish 
 with all my heart that your Excellency will be 
 restored to health ; but if it should please God to 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 119 
 
 rule otherwise^ and call you to his heavenly 
 kingdom, I promise you that I will serve your 
 heirs and successors with the same fidelity and 
 devotion that I have your Excellency." 
 
 Stein then continued : " I have left my pro- 
 perty to my daughters, my wishes are that every- 
 thing should go on as far as possible as formerly, 
 and that the distribution of alms and subscrip- 
 tions should continue to be apportioned as here- 
 tofore. Tell my children this, and aid them in 
 carrying it out. Do you hear me? Forget it 
 not, it is my will. 
 
 " Further, I must tell you that it is my firm 
 belief that there is an eternal union between the 
 living and the dead, and it will afford me 
 pleasure when I look down on you from above, to 
 see you show to my children the same fidelity 
 and attachment that you have done to me." 
 
 Here the steward again interrupted him, " I 
 also believe in that eternal union, and I feel con- 
 vinced beforehand, that my conduct towards 
 the children of your Excellency will give you 
 
120 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 joy in another world.^^ As the steward retired. 
 Stein stretched out his hand to him and said, 
 '^ We shall meet again in another world ; bear 
 my remembrances to your wife and family. 
 Then all the other servants came in their turn. 
 His serene spirit rose superior to the weakness 
 of his body ; never had he been known to speak 
 so clearly and with such eloquence; he had 
 something to say to each individual, remem- 
 bering even their smallest merits, and bidding 
 them to be true and faithful to his children, 
 recommending them all to lead a religious and 
 moral life, and advising them to be true and 
 industrious in their calling. To one of the 
 young gamekeej)ers he said : '^ If a war 
 breaks out, mind you fight like a brave Prussian 
 for your king and country." He then forgave 
 them all, requested their forgiveness, and 
 dismissed them with the hope of a future joyful 
 meeting beyond the grave. 
 
 It was now three o^clock and the arrival of 
 the clergyman was announced. Stein caused him- 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 121 
 
 self to be raised up in his bed, and stretching out 
 his hand said : " Herr Pastor, I appear before you 
 as a poor sinner who desires to acknowledge his 
 sins and become reconciled to his Redeemer by 
 means of the Holy Sacrament/^ After he had 
 received it and had rested a moment, he begged 
 to be again lifted up, and extending his hand to- 
 wards the pastor, he exhorted him to increase in 
 the true faith ; that the Church being in danger 
 from France, it was necessary for her servants to 
 be on their guard. God had hitherto protected 
 her and would continue to do so.^^ After which, 
 amid the bitter tears of all those standing round 
 his bed, in a faint voice and nearly exhausted, he 
 turned to the physician and asked him if there 
 was any hope, and on receiving a tranquillizing 
 assurance, he was laid down and fell into a soft 
 slumber. About six o'clock in the evening he 
 turned on his left side, a bloodvessel had burst on 
 his lungs, and with one last deep inspiration the 
 spirit of this good man passed away, as he firmly 
 believed, to another and a higher state of existence. 
 
122 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 In judging of the character of Stein we must 
 not be carried away by our admiration for bis 
 perfectly good and child-like innocence of life ; 
 he lived in times of great trouble, and as he 
 never travelled or saw the world as it is outside 
 the narrow sphere in which he lived_, he 
 never got over the views in which he had been 
 sedulously educated. History certainly will 
 not give the verdict that he was a great man 
 — he acted according to his lights, he thought 
 that his views were just, and he endeavoured 
 with all the might of his strong will to further 
 them, and when he found that his success was 
 only partial; at tbe latter end of his life he fell 
 into a gloomy species of fatalism which anything 
 but squared with his orthodox religious persua- 
 ^**s^ions. We see this from a letter to Hovel in 
 1819. " 1 must admit to you that the result of 
 my experience in life, especially in the political 
 world, leads to the conclusion of the utter nullity 
 of all human knowledge and actions ;'■* and again 
 in another letter to Gagern, 1821 : " 1 have no 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 123 
 
 confidence in any of tlie immediate actors in the 
 events of the time, but an unconditional confi- 
 dence in Providence.''^ A German historian re- 
 marks that there was an utter want of the ab- 
 stract philosophic element as well as of a creative 
 poetical capability in Stein''s composition, which 
 was influenced by his early religious education 
 and by custom. Like all unrensoning sectarians 
 he was most bitter against all innovators. In 
 1818 he wrote to Eichhorn : " When will that 
 wretched rationalism cease in our Protestant 
 Church ? Why will people attempt to explain 
 the inexplicable, to unveil the mysterious with 
 their imperfect knowledge and limited powers ? 
 A Synodal administration would soon compel our 
 enlightened Protestant divines to retrace their 
 steps and keep within the bounds of simple 
 Christian doctrine. It is not an exegetic twaddle 
 of natural philosophy or a Christo-atheistic 
 cant, but the simple doctrine of Christianity 
 founded on faith, hope, and love which the 
 Germans want and require as a guide through 
 
124 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 life, and as a refuge and sheet anchor in the hour 
 of death/' 
 
 Stein was a royalist and an aristocrat, and it 
 is more than doubtful whether he would have 
 worked to emancipate the peasants had he lived 
 in other times. In fact, we have the most 
 positive proof of this when Stein gradually went 
 over to, and took part with, the reactionists in 
 1819. The following extract from a letter to 
 Niebuhr in 1821 fully bears out this view : — 
 
 '^ I hold, under the present state of the public 
 mind, that the freedom of the press is pernicious ; 
 it gives free play for editors avid of gain, to lay 
 all the most weighty affairs of Church and State 
 before the sivimsh multitude ; matters which can 
 only be decided by competent and talented in- 
 dividuals should not be mooted at tea-tables, 
 wine-shops, and beer-houses. Freedom of dis- 
 cussion can take place in Parliament, and in 
 earnest well-considered publications ; but the 
 licentious tribe of pamphleteers and newspaper 
 writers should be restrained at least till the 
 
STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 125 
 
 present wild generation has passed away, and 
 the new institutibns have taken firm root. 
 
 " The freedom of the citizen must rest on 
 a Church and State administration developed 
 from the history of the people, and not on the 
 rotten foundation of newspapers and pamphlets." 
 
 Further, on the appearance of the law for the 
 emancipation of the peasantry in Westphalia, 
 25th September, 1820, which was precisely what 
 he had himself advocated in Prussia, we see 
 with pain Stein, the admired creator of a free 
 peasant class, one of the most bitter opponents 
 of the carrying out of his own idea; and there 
 can be no mistake about this, for we have his 
 own words : — " To convert feudal service into a 
 money rent which is to cease after a stated time, 
 is a gross attack on the rights of property ;" and 
 again, " I reckon this law for the partition of the 
 peasant farms, and freeing them from their con- 
 nexion with the proprietors, ias one of the most 
 pernicious innovations''^ (to Niebuhr, 1822). 
 
 We could multiply these proofs ad infinitum 
 
126 STEIN AND HIS REFORMS. 
 
 from the voluminous correspondence of Stein 
 •wliicli is at our disposal, but we have proved 
 quite enough to show that his/ reforms were 
 the children of circumstances ; and that it is 
 beyond the shadow of a doubt that they never 
 would have been made had not Stein seen that 
 without them there was no hope for a united 
 Germany. He did not live to see the accom- 
 plishment of his dearest wishes ; but if his creed 
 be true_, his spirit is now looking down from 
 the realms above and rejoicing over the triumph 
 of his legislation, which, without doubt, has so 
 largely contributed to the glory and triumphs of 
 his beloved fatherland. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A. 
 
 When the reaction took place in Prussia^ 
 181 5-30; we find with sorrow that all Stein^s 
 liberal ideas vanished^ and he appears before ns 
 as a true aristocrat of the most absolute cha- 
 racter. Now that he wanted the services of the 
 people no longer^ he called them the " swinish 
 multitude/^ who were fit for nothing but to hew 
 wood and draw water as vassals of a great lord. 
 But we will let him speak for himself — - 
 20 Deer. 1821, in a letter to Niebuhr,— ^^ I hold 
 that, under the present circumstances of public 
 opinion, the freedom of the press with regard to 
 journals and periodicals is pernicious. A full 
 play is thereby given for disseminating the 
 shallow views of authors greedy of gain, and for 
 
128 APPENDIX. 
 
 mooting questions of the most serious importance 
 to tlie Church and State, and placing them in a 
 distorted sense before the tribunal of a swinish 
 multitude.'^ These last words appear in English 
 in a parenthesis, thus : — " vor den Richterstuhle 
 des grossen, eitlen, seichten Haufens (swinish 
 multitude)/'— Stern, 529. 
 
 B. 
 
 Vide—" The Agricultural Community of the 
 Middle Ages and Inclosures of the Sixteenth 
 Century in England/' Translated from the Ger- 
 man of E. NASSE, by Col. H. A. Ouvry. 
 2nd Edition. Williams and Norgate. 
 
 C. 
 
 The following extract will show the prevailing 
 opinion among the Conservative portion of the 
 German public. It is from the pen of Strauss, 
 and is translated from his recent publication, 
 " The Old and the New Faith /' 
 
 " According to the prevailing opinion at the 
 
APPENDIX. 129 
 
 present time in Germany with regard to tlie 
 different forms of an administrative Government, 
 the Republic per se takes the first place; but 
 under the circumstances and conditions of the 
 great European States, the time has not arrived 
 for the establishment of such a mode of Govern- 
 ment, neither can the period be accurately 
 determined as to when it will be advisable to do 
 so j therefore as tolerable a monarchy as possible 
 is preferable. 
 
 These views show a considerable advance in 
 comparison with those held some twenty years 
 ago, when a very considerable party in Ger- 
 many considered a monarchy as untenable, and 
 that the time had arrived to steer directly 
 towards a Republic. 
 
 The question however as to which form of 
 Government per se is the best, is always looked 
 upon in a false light. It is exactly as if we put 
 the question, what is the best kind of clothing ? 
 which cannot be determined without first ascer- 
 taining the conditions of climate, season, age, 
 
 K 
 
130 APPENDIX. 
 
 sex^ and state of health, &c. There is no such 
 thing as an absolutely best form of Government^ 
 because such form is essentially relative ; in the 
 United States^ with unlimited space at command^ 
 with no dangers to fear from neighbours, and 
 which at the worst is only threatened by party 
 strife from within, a Eepublic may be a most 
 excellent form of administration. In moun- 
 tainous Switzerland, the neutrality of which 
 moreover is secured by the self-interest of the 
 neighbouring States, a Republic may also suit 
 admirably ; but for Germany, wedged in between 
 a rapacious Russia, and an unsettled France 
 which is now brooding over revengCj it would be 
 destructive. 
 
 Now if we wish to ascertain how opinion goes 
 as to which form of Government is best cal- 
 culated to sustain the dignity, the nature and 
 destination of man most consistently, in this 
 sense we may say decidedly that it would not be 
 that of a Republic. 
 
 History as well as experience teaches us that, 
 
APPENDIX. 131 
 
 at least up to the present time^ in Republican 
 States, tlie destination of man, i.e., the har- 
 monious development of his talents and capabi- 
 lities^ does not appear to be better promoted or 
 advanced than under monarchies. The ancient 
 Republics, all will allow, must here be put out 
 of the question, as they were conditioned by a 
 slave class, and thus may rather be designated 
 exclusive aristocracies. In more recent times 
 Republics are only to be met with in smaller com- 
 monwealths, chiefly in towns and urban juris- 
 dictions, and if without absolute slaves, are for 
 the most part administered under the most 
 exclusive aristocratic forms. In modern times 
 we find Republics partly transitory, as in France, 
 where they form the resting places in violent 
 political crises ; and partly permanent — on a large 
 scale in North America, on a small one in 
 Switzerland. 
 
 No doubt these two Republics (the only 
 ones which are firmly planted) have certain 
 advantages which are common to each. In the 
 
 K 2 
 
132 APPENDIX. 
 
 first place^, the Republican form of Government 
 has obtained the favour of the multitude on 
 account of the lightness of the burdens which 
 are thrown on the citizen^ and the more favour- 
 able state of its financial conditions^ and also his 
 not merely passive^ but really active co-operation 
 in the Government. To this may be especially 
 added the freer scope given to individuals for 
 activity and for following out their own inclina- 
 tions. Yet this has its drawback inasmuch as 
 it opens wide the door for letting in revolutionary 
 political agitation, keeps the country in a per- 
 petual state of fermentation, and impels it on to 
 the inclined plane which unavoidably leads to a 
 continually coarser democracy, — in all cases the 
 very worst form of Government imaginable. 
 
 But while we do not despair of being able to 
 limit monarchies by introducing the participa- 
 tion of the citizens in the Government, and 
 allowing them every freedom so long as the 
 constitution is not endangered, in the two 
 above-mentioned Republics we miss that progress 
 
APPENDIX. 133 
 
 of the higher mental interests which we find in 
 monarchical Germany and relatively also in 
 England. Schools and colleges^ — and these also 
 well-established and conducted — are to be found 
 both in America and Switzerland ; but the higher 
 results are wanting. The Cantons which give 
 the tone in Switzerland are German ; in the 
 United States of America, after the English, we 
 see that the German element is the prevailing 
 one ; and notwithstanding this, science and art 
 in Switzerland, as well as in North America, 
 huve failed to develop those independent blossoms 
 which in Germany and England have been the 
 precursors of a plentiful harvest of good fruits. 
 Switzerland has no indigenous classical literature 
 whatever, and is obliged to come begging to 
 Germany, while all the high places in her 
 colleges are filled either by Germans or those 
 who have received a German education. The 
 literature of North America is in exactly the 
 same relation to that of England, and in so far 
 as this is not the case, we see that science and 
 
134 APPENDIX. 
 
 education take tlie form of the exact and prac- 
 tical_, and tend entirely towards utilitarianism. 
 In shorty to us Germans there appears to be 
 something vulgar _, something coarse, realistic and 
 prosaically insipid in the mental organization 
 of these two Republics : thrown among them, 
 we feel the want of the rarefied spiritual vital air 
 which we breathed at home ; and in America 
 especially we find the atmosphere vitiated by a 
 taint among the classes who take the lead_, which 
 is only to be met with in the most neglected 
 parts of Europe. Thus_, as we believe that these 
 defects, together with an absence of the feeling 
 of nationality, prevail essentially in the Repub- 
 lican form of Government, we are very far from 
 giving it the preference over that of the 
 monarchical. 
 
 It is very certain that the organization of a 
 Republic, even when on a large scale, is more 
 simple and comprehensible than that of a well 
 organized monarchy. The constitution of the 
 Swiss Confederation, not to mention the separate 
 
APPENDIX. 135 
 
 cantons^ holds the same relation to that of the 
 English as a water-wheel does to a steam -engine^ 
 or as a waltz or a simple air to a fugue or 
 a symphony. There is something enigmatical in 
 a monarchy, we may say something apparently 
 absurd ; but in this very fact of mystery lies its 
 advantage. Every mystery appears absurd, and 
 yet nothing is profound, either in a State, in life 
 or in art, without mystery. 
 
 That the mere accident of birth should exalt 
 one man over all others, and give him power to 
 rule over the destiny of millions, in spite of the 
 possibility of his possessing a limited capacity of 
 mind or a vicious disposition — that such an 
 accident alone should place him and his family 
 high above so many of his subjects who may be 
 far superior to him, both in intelligence and 
 goodness, appears on the face of the proceeding 
 to be incompatible with the original equality of all 
 mankind, and revolting to common sense ; and for 
 this reason such arguments have always been the 
 staple platitudes on democratic platforms. A 
 
136 APPENDIX. 
 
 little more patience and self-denial witli a 
 deej^er penetration will, however, enable ns to 
 see how this setting up an individual and his 
 family on an eminence where he cannot be 
 affected by party struggles or interests, where 
 all doubt is removed as to his authority, and all 
 change except the natural one of death is pro- 
 vided for — and even when this last event occurs, 
 a successor being ready to take his place without 
 election and without struggle, — how materially 
 the strength and happiness of a nation may be 
 permanently secured by the monarchical form of 
 government, and how far superior it is to that of 
 a Republic. 
 
 Another thing which favours the monarchical 
 form of government is, that the State is free from 
 the corruptions and disturbances which occur in 
 Republics on account of the constant change in 
 the higher administrative offices which takes place 
 periodically every few years. 
 
 But above all, in North America at a presi- 
 dential election, the unavoidable bribery and cor- 
 
APPENDIX. 137 
 
 ruption, the necessity of rewarding the lower 
 agents employed by giving them government 
 places^ and then afterwards being obliged to wink 
 at their unfitness for office,, with all the corrup- 
 tion thence accruing among the ruling classes, 
 has somewhat cooled the zeal of the German 
 public in their hopes of finding a political and 
 moral ideal on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 To find this on the other side of the Channel 
 would be alike futile, but still we have more and 
 much better things to learn from the English than 
 from the Americans, and, above all, from a due ap- 
 preciation of the benefits of an hereditary monar- 
 chical dynasty for a nation. We might be some- 
 what alarmed for the political soundness of 
 England on account of the Republican agitation 
 which has lately manifested itself — for that a Re- 
 public would certainly be " finis Britannite '' no 
 sane man would doubt — but behold ! the Prince 
 of Wales falls sick, his life is despaired of, and 
 although the nation was far from being satisfied 
 with regard to the conduct and mode of life of 
 
138 APPENDIX. 
 
 the successor to the throne, yet the general sym- 
 pathy rose to such a degree that even the Repub- 
 lican agitators felt constrained to convey an 
 address containing an expression of condolence to 
 the Queen. 
 
 What a sound political instinct do we see here 
 in the English people ! — how must the French 
 envy them, — the French, who have rooted out 
 their dynasty with such irreverent haste, and 
 who now, oscillating between despotism and 
 anarchy, can neither live nor yet die.^^ 
 
 D. 
 
 The following advice to Land Reformers is from 
 the pen of Mr. Mill. It speaks for itself. 
 
 Advice to Land Reformers. 
 
 Now, when the question of the constitution and 
 limits of property in land has fairly come to the 
 front, and a majority of Liberal politicians finds 
 it needful to include in their programme some 
 improvement in the existing arrangements on 
 
APPENDIX. 139 
 
 that subject^ it is time to consider wlncli_, among 
 the minor modifications that alone find favour 
 with the more timid or more cautious innovators, 
 deserve to be supported by those who desire 
 greater changes, and which are those that should 
 be opposed, either as giving a renewed sanction 
 to wrong principles, or as raising up new pri- 
 vate interests hostile to a thorough reform. 
 There are at present two proposals affecting pro- 
 perty in land which engage a considerable and 
 increasing amount of public attention : one, the 
 abrogation of the right of primogeniture, and the 
 abolition or great restriction of the power of 
 making settlements of land ; the other, that cor- 
 porations and endowed institutions should be 
 required to sell their lands, and invest the pro- 
 ceeds in the funds or other public securities. 
 The difference between these two projects affords 
 an illustration of the principles which, we think, 
 should guide the judgment of land tenure re- 
 formers in matters of this nature. The former 
 of the two is, in our opinion, entitled to their 
 
140 APPENDIX. 
 
 full support; the latter should be strenuously- 
 resisted by them. 
 
 Before proceeding farther_, it is right to explain 
 whom we mean by land tenure reformers. On 
 so new a question there are naturally many shades 
 of opinion. There are some with whose plans 
 we agree^ others from whom we differ ; we address 
 ourselves equally to both. There are those who 
 aim at what is called the nationalization of the 
 land ; the substitution of collective for individual 
 property in the soil^ with reasonable compensa- 
 tion to the landowners. Their doctrine is far 
 from being so irrational as is pretended ; they have 
 much to say for themselves. Nor is theirs a 
 wholly untried theory. It has the feudal tradi- 
 tions^ and the general practice of the East^ on 
 its side. Nevertheless^ for reasons which we 
 shall have many opportunities of stating, we are 
 decidedly of opinion that, whatever may possibly 
 be the case in a distant future, this scheme is 
 altogether unsuited to the present time. But, 
 short of this, there are modifications of the rights 
 
APPENDIX. 141 
 
 of landed property of a more or less fundamental 
 character^ wliicli have already numerous sup- 
 porters, and are likely _, as we believe, before long 
 to become widely popular. There is the principle 
 asserted by the Land Tenure Reform Association, 
 that, inasmuch as land in a prosperous country 
 brings in a constantly increasing income to its 
 owner, apart from any exertion or expenditure 
 on his part, it may and ought to be subjected to 
 special taxation in virtue of that increase. Again, 
 it is maintained that, inasmuch as the acknow- 
 ledged end for which land is allowed to be 
 appropriated, is that it may be made more pro- 
 ductive, the right of property ought not to ex- 
 tend to that which remains unproductive : and 
 that if large tracts of land are kept in a wild 
 state by their owners, either for purposes of 
 amusement, or because they cannot be let at a 
 rent (though they might amply remunerate a 
 labourer cultivating for himself) the State should 
 resume them, paying only their present value. 
 Again, there might be a limit set to the extent 
 
142 APPENDIX. 
 
 of territory wliicli could be held by a single pro- 
 prietor. Many other changes might be proposed, 
 more or less extensive, more or less expedient, 
 but all compatible with the maintenance of the 
 institution of landed property in its broad out- 
 lines. Now, the reforms which are proposed on 
 the subject of primogeniture, and of entails and 
 settlements, are of a different character. Instead 
 of limiting, they would increase the power over 
 the land of the existing generation of landowners ; 
 and accordingly, the supporters of more drastic 
 changes are much divided as to whether these 
 particular measures ought or ought not to be 
 supported. 
 
 Among the reasons for getting rid of the law 
 of primogeniture and the existing laws of entail 
 and settlement, the one which we oftenest hear, 
 and which carries most weight with many of the 
 assailants of those laws, is that, by keeping land 
 out of the market, they detain it in too few 
 hands, and that their abolition would increase 
 the number of landed proprietors. The long and 
 
APPENDIX. 143 
 
 obstinate prejudice which existed against peasant 
 properties^ grounded on the densest ignorance of 
 their actual operation in the countries where 
 they prevail, has given way before more correct 
 information. Those who fancied that peasant 
 proprietors must be wretched cultivators because 
 cottier tenants are so_, have learnt that some of 
 the best agriculture in the world is to be found 
 where such properties abound : those who thought 
 that peasant proprietorship breeds over-popula- 
 tion, and converts a country into a " panper- 
 warren/^ now know that its tendency is rather 
 towards the other extreme. Within a few years, 
 therefore, the existence of peasant properties has 
 come to be regarded by English philanthropists 
 as eminently desirable, and the removal of all 
 obstacles to it has become an aim of advanced 
 politicians ; and primogeniture and entail being 
 such obstacles, their abolition is advocated on 
 that ground. But it has come to pass that the 
 same thing which recommends this measure to 
 one class of land reformers, renders another class 
 
144 APPENDIX. 
 
 worse than indiflferent to it. Multiplication of 
 proprietors is not tlie kind of reform which finds 
 favour with a large section of the more thorough- 
 going land reformers. Many of them believe 
 that an addition to the number of private 
 owners of land is but an addition to the number 
 of the enemies of the larger changes which they 
 meditate. They think^ and in this they are 
 not mistaken, that the wide diffusion of landed 
 property in some Continental countries^ and 
 especially in France^ is in these countries the 
 great obstacle to any improvement in the condi- 
 tions of ownership : and they look with no good 
 will on anything which tends_, in ever so small a 
 degree, to approximate, in this respect, the 
 British state of things to the French. 
 
 We agree, to a considerable extent, with 
 the general views on which this judgment is 
 grounded ; but we do not think that the question 
 of abolishing primogeniture and entail is a case 
 for their application. Whether the creation of 
 a class of peasant-proprietors would be a good 
 
APPENDIX. 145 
 
 thing or a bad^ we are of opinion that the re- 
 forms in question would not have that effect ; 
 while they would produce benefits which, even 
 from the exclusive point of view of the land- 
 reformers, might well outweigh some amount of 
 the inconvenience they apprehend. 
 
 To what extent these measures would prac- 
 tically operate in causing land to be brought 
 into the market, it is very difficult at present to 
 foresee ; but there is no probability that, of such 
 as might be sold, much would come into the 
 hands of small proprietors. As long as the pri- 
 vate wealth of the country and its social con- 
 dition are what they are, the rich will always 
 outbid the poor in the land market. We are 
 speaking, of course, of rural land, of which alone 
 the possession is an object of desire to the 
 wealthy classes. Land in towns, or so close to 
 them as to be available for streets, might often 
 obtain a higher price in small lots ; such lots as 
 would enable prudent and economical working 
 people to become the owners of the houses they 
 
 L 
 
146 APPENDIX, 
 
 live in ; wliicli we hold to be an nn qualified 
 good : nor is it likely that even the most extreme 
 plans of land reform would disturb such persons 
 in the possession. The land of the country at 
 large outside the towns might possibly come to 
 be shared among a greater number of rich 
 families than at present ; but sales by the rich 
 to the rich do not really add to the number of 
 those whose interests and feelings are engaged on 
 the side of landlordism ; for the rich who wish 
 to be landlords are already as much wedded to 
 landlord privileges as they would be when they 
 actually became so. Reformers,, therefore^ either 
 moderate or extreme^ need have no fear that the 
 facilitation of the sale of land already appro- 
 priated should raise up additional obstacles to 
 their projects. 
 
 On the other hand^, the measures in question 
 would be attended with no small amount of posi- 
 tive benefit. In the first place, whatever trans- 
 fers of landed property might really be occasioned 
 by these changes would be in the direction of 
 
APPENDIX. 147 
 
 agricultural improvement. True it is tliat^ ac- 
 cording to the present ideas of landed property, 
 landlords are neither required nor expected to do 
 anything for the land ; but some landlords are 
 more disposed to do so than others ; and the 
 purchasers are almost always a more improving 
 class of landowners than those from whom they 
 purchase. It is the capitalist and man of 
 business who buys ; it is the needy and the 
 spendthrift who sell. The whole tendency is 
 thus to improve the cultivation and increase the 
 produce of the country. But there is a still 
 greater benefit than this^ and one which is often 
 not suflSciently appreciated. The prific\ple of the 
 laws of primogeniture and entail is radically 
 wrong j and to get rid of a bad principle, and 
 put a better in its place, is equivalent to a very 
 considerable amount of practical gain. The pre- 
 ference of one child above all the rest^ without 
 any superiority of personal claims, is an injustice. 
 The power given to an owner of property to 
 exercise control over it after it has passed into 
 
 l2 
 
148 APPENDIX. 
 
 the hands of those to whom it devolves on 
 his deaths is, as a rule (with certain obvious 
 exceptions), both an injustice and an absurdity. 
 Moreover, the end for which these institutions 
 are kept up ought to be their sufficient con- 
 demnation in the eyes of advanced reformers. 
 The purpose of their existence is to retain the 
 land, not only in the families which now possess 
 it, but in a certain line of succession within 
 those families, from eldest son to eldest son. 
 They are a contrivance for maintaining an 
 aristocratical order in unimpaired territorial 
 wealth from generation to generation, in spite of 
 the faults which its existing members may 
 commit, and at the sacrifice both of justice 
 between the heir and the other children, and of 
 the interest which all the existing members 
 of the family may have in selling the land. 
 The aristocratic spirit, more powerful than the 
 personal interest of each living member of the 
 body, postpones the private wishes of the existing 
 generation to the interest of the order in main- 
 
APPENDIX. ' 149 
 
 tainin^ an aristocratic monopoly of the land. The 
 possession of the land is the centre round which 
 aristocratic feeling revolves ; and the removal of 
 the two props of the monopoly, though its 
 immediate practical effect would probably be 
 small, should be welcome to all who wish to dis- 
 solve the connexion between landed property 
 and aristocratic institutions. 
 
 We think, then, that all land reformers, what- 
 ever may be their ulterior views, should unite in 
 supporting the abrogation of the law of primo- 
 geniture and the reform of the law of settle- 
 ment. We must reserve for another article our 
 reasons for thinking quite otherwise of the 
 proposal recently broached (and which has 
 derived importance from the strong advocacy of 
 the Times and from the interpretation put upon 
 a speech of Mr. Goschen) for requiring all cor- 
 porate bodies and endowed institutions to part 
 with their lands by sale to private individuals. 
 
 J. S. Mill. 
 
150 APrENDIX. 
 
 Should Public Bodies be required to Sell their 
 Lands ? 
 
 A considerable sensation seems to have been 
 excited by tlie quite unexpected appearance a 
 few weeks ago_, in tbe Times, of two articles 
 strenuously contending tbat corporate bodies and 
 endowed institutions should no longer be per- 
 mitted to withhold land from the market^ and 
 that the principle of the Mortmain Acts should 
 be so far extended as to compel all such bodies 
 or institutions to sell their lands and invest 
 the proceeds in Government securities. The 
 coincidence of this manifestation by the Times 
 with a speech of Mr. Goschen, some expressions 
 in which were supposed to point to a similar 
 conclusion^ has led to a suspicion that the 
 Government is throwing out feelers preparatory 
 to some actual proposal of the kind suggested. 
 And the papers that are bitterly hostile to the 
 present Government,, whenever its political and 
 social policy is other than that of keeping things 
 
APPENDIX. 1.51 
 
 as they are, liave not missed the opportunity of 
 upbraiding the Government with making an un- 
 worthy concession to the land tenure reformers, 
 who are represented as grasping at the oppor- 
 tunity of attacking landed property at its most 
 easily assailable point. 
 
 It is an odd supposition that reformers who 
 are asserted to have, and some of whom really 
 have, for their object the extinguishing of private 
 and hereditary landed property altogether, desire 
 to begin their operations by making a great 
 mass of landed property private and hereditary 
 which was not so before. Nothing could be more 
 opposed to the principles and purposes of thorough- 
 going land tenure reformers of every shade of 
 opinion than any further conversion of what is 
 still, in some sense, a kind of public property, 
 into private. The point on which they are all 
 agreed, whether they desire anything further or 
 not, is that, at all events, the appropriation of 
 the land of the country by private individuals 
 and families has gone far enough ; and that a 
 
152 APPENDIX. 
 
 determiued resistance should be made to any 
 further extension of it, either by the stealing, 
 euphemistically termed the inclosure, of com- 
 mons, or by the alienation of lands held upon 
 trust for public or semi-public objects. Far 
 from allowing any land which is not already 
 private property to become so, the most moderate 
 of these land reformers think that it may pos- 
 sibly be expedient, in districts where land not 
 already appropriated does not abound, to redeem 
 some part of that which is in private hands, by 
 re-purchasing it on account of the State, 
 
 Those countries are fortunate, or would be 
 fortunate if decently governed, in which, as in 
 a great part of the East, the land has not been 
 allowed to become the permanent property of 
 individuals, and the State consequently is the 
 sole landlord. So far as the public expenditure 
 is covered by the proceeds of the land, those 
 countries are untaxed ; for it is the same thing 
 as being untaxed, to pay to the State only what 
 would have to be paid to private landlords if 
 
APPENDIX. 153 
 
 the land were appropriated. The principle that 
 the land belongs to the Sovereign, and that the 
 expenses of Government should be defrayed by 
 it, is recognised in the theory of our own 
 ancient institutions. The nearest thing to an 
 absolute proprietor whom our laws know of is 
 the freeholder, who is a tenant of the Crown ; 
 bound originally to personal service, in the field 
 or at the plough, and, when that obligation was 
 remitted,, subject to a land tax intended to be 
 equivalent to it. The first claim of the State 
 has been foregone ; the second has for two 
 centuries been successfully evaded : but the ori- 
 ginal wrongdoers have been so long in their 
 graves, and so much of the land has come into 
 the hands of new possessors, who have bought 
 it with their earnings at a price calculated on 
 the unjust exemption, that the resumption of 
 the land without indemnity would be correcting 
 one injustice by another, while, if weighted with 
 due compensation, it would be a measure of 
 very doubtful profit to the State. But, though 
 
1 54 APPENDIX. 
 
 the State cannot replace itself in the fortunate 
 condition in which it would now have been if 
 it had reserved to itself from the beginning the 
 whole rent of the land_, this is no reason why 
 it should go on committing the same mistake, 
 and deprive itself of that natural increase of the 
 rent which the possessors derive from the mere 
 progress of wealth and population, without any 
 exertion or sacrifice of their own. If the Gros- 
 venor, Portman, and Portland estates belonged to 
 the municipality of London, the gigantic in- 
 comes of those estates would probably sufiice for 
 the whole expense of the local government of 
 the capital. But these gigantic incomes are 
 still swelling; by the growth of London they 
 may again be doubled, in as short a time as 
 they have doubled already : and what have the 
 possessors done, that this increase of wealth, 
 produced by other people's labour and enter- 
 prise, should fall into their mouths as they sleep, 
 instead of being applied to the public necessities 
 of those who created it? It is maintained. 
 
APPENDIX. 155 
 
 therefore_, by land reformers^ that special taxa- 
 tion may justly be levied upon landed property_, 
 up tOj thougli not exceeding,, tins unearned in- 
 crease j excess being guarded against by leaving 
 the possessors free to cede tbeir land to the 
 State at the price they could sell it for at the 
 time when the tax is imposedj but no higher 
 price to be claimable on account of any increase 
 of value afterwards^ unless proved to have been 
 the effect of improvements made at the land- 
 lord's expense. Now^ if the nation would be 
 justified in thus reasserting its claim to the 
 unearned increase of value, even when it has 
 allowed the legal right to that increase to pass 
 into the hands of individuals; how much more 
 ought it to prevent further legal rights of this 
 description from being acquired by those who 
 do not now possess them? The landed estates 
 of public bodies are not family property; the 
 interest that any individual has in them is never 
 more than a life interest, often much less; the 
 increase of value by lapse of time would go to 
 
156 APPENDIX. 
 
 enrich nobody knows whom, and its appropria- 
 tion by the State would give no one the shadow 
 of a moral title to compensation. But if these 
 lands are sold to individuals, they become here- 
 ditary, and can only be repurchased by the 
 State at their full value as a perpetuity. 
 
 Neither would this compulsory sale be at- 
 tended with any of the advantages in the form 
 of increased production, which would result 
 from facilitating the voluntary sale of land by 
 individual to individual. As long as, by the 
 theory and practice of landed proprietorship, 
 the landlord of an estate is a mere sinecurist 
 quartered on it, improvement by the landlord 
 is an accident dependent on his personal tastes. 
 But he who sells his land, voluntarily or from 
 necessity, is almost always below the average 
 of landlords in disposition and ability to im- 
 prove ; the tendency of the change of pro- 
 prietors is, therefore, in favour of improvement. 
 But there is no reason to think that public 
 bodies in general are worse than average land- 
 
APPENDIX. 157 
 
 lords in any particular ; it is matter of common 
 remark that they are less grasping : and, if 
 they do not come up to the most enterprising 
 landlords in what they themselves accomplish, 
 they leave more power of improvement, and 
 more encouragement to it, to their tenants, 
 than the majority of private landlords. It would, 
 therefore, be no g"ain, but all loss, to reinforce 
 the enemies of the reform of landed tenure by 
 the addition of a new class of wealthy hereditary 
 landholders, quartered upon land which is as 
 yet devoted more or less faithfully to public 
 uses. If public bodies are required to part with 
 their lands, they should part with them to the 
 State, and to that alone. 
 
 Whether it is desirable that such bodies 
 should be holders of lands ; whether it is wise 
 that their time and attention should be divided 
 between their appointed duties, certain to be 
 enforced with increasing strictness as improve- 
 ment goes on, and the management of a tenantry, 
 with the duties which, if private property in 
 
158 APPENDIX. 
 
 land continues to exist, are sure to be more 
 and more attached to it^, — is a question of the 
 future, which it may be left to the future to 
 decide. We do not think it can be properly 
 decided until the fermentation now going on 
 in the public mind, respecting the constitution 
 of landed property, has subsided into a definite 
 conviction respecting the end to be aimed at, 
 and the means of practically drawing nearer 
 to that end. But the time has come for an- 
 nouncing with the utmost decision, and we hope 
 to see land reformers uniting as one body 
 in the demand, that no private appropriation 
 of land not yet private property shall hereafter 
 take place under any circumstances or on any 
 pretext. J. S. Mill. 
 
 Examiner, Jan. 11th, 1873. 
 
 Mr. Bright has sent the following letter, written 
 by the late Mr. Cobden nine years ago, for repub- 
 lication in the Daily News : — 
 
APPENDIX. 159 
 
 "All ancient legislators^, especially Moses, 
 grounded the success of their ordinances con- 
 cerning virtue, justice, and morality upon securing 
 hereditary estates, or, at least, landed property, 
 to the greatest possible number of citizens/'' — ■ 
 Niebuhr. 
 
 " At the annual meeting of the Komsey 
 Labourers' Encouragement Association, the Hon. 
 William Cowper, -who presided in the absence of 
 Lord Palmerston, in alluding to the ' disadvan- 
 tages and privations to -svhich the agricultural 
 labourer is exposed,'' is reported to have said : — 
 ^ I do not allade to such imaginary grievances as 
 that of the tillers of the soil having any share in 
 the ownership of the land. Such a complaint as 
 that rests upon a fallacy and a delusion. If it 
 were possible to make the labourers the owners 
 of the land which they are tilling it would be a 
 retrograde movement in agriculture. The great 
 progress in agriculture of late years has been due 
 to the concentration and application of capital to 
 an amount of land which is sufficient to justify 
 
160 APPENDIX. 
 
 the favourable employment of that capital ; and it 
 would be going back to times of less prosperity 
 — it would be folio wiag the example of countries 
 less prosperous than England in agriculture — if 
 we were to aim at such an absurd and impossible 
 object. (Hear^ hear.)^ 
 
 "The above argument may be called generic, for 
 it expresses the views of the class which have pos- 
 session of the soil of this country. Lord Palmerston 
 gave utterance to similar opinions^ on Mr. Ma- 
 guire^s motion in the House^ when he deprecated 
 any change which should ^ reduce the occupiers 
 of the Irish soil ' to the condition of the French 
 peasant proprietors ; and it is not reported that 
 there was a roar of laughter at this grim joke. 
 
 " Now nobody has, I believe, proposed that we 
 should adopt in England the French law of suc- 
 cession; but it pleases those who are the advocates 
 of the land laws of this country to bring forward 
 the peasant proprietor of France as a sort of ' Old 
 Bogy "* to frighten us into the love of our own 
 feudal system. This compels those who desire 
 
APPENDIX. 161 
 
 any amelioration of the present system to meet 
 them on their own ground. I propose, with your 
 permission, and with the aid of such high 
 authorities as I shall cite, to offer to your readers 
 the materials for forming a judgment upon the 
 state and prospects of the peasant proprietary of 
 France. 
 
 " Two questions are presented to us in con- 
 nexion with this subject — What are the moral, 
 and what are the economical effects produced by 
 the division of the land of a country among its 
 whole people ? In France, Switzerland, Norway, 
 Germany, Belgium, the Channel Islands, and in 
 the United States the land is, as a rule, the pro- 
 perty of those who cultivate it. The same state 
 of things prevails more or less, or is being rapidly 
 developed, in Italy, Spain, Russia, Hungary, and 
 other countries. England is the only great 
 country where feudalism still rules the destinies 
 of the land, and where the owners of the soil are 
 constantly diminishing in number. I will, how- 
 ever, confine myself to France, because it is the 
 
 M 
 
1G2 APPENDIX. 
 
 country where the system under consideration 
 may be said to have origin ated^ and which 
 furnishes an example on the largest scale of 
 extreme and uniform division of land^ and 
 because^ being the country most often referred 
 to in condemnation of the system^ and from its 
 proximity and the high character of the authori- 
 ties to be quoted^ it affords the most satisfactory 
 materials for forming a correct judgment on the 
 matter. 
 
 " Now^ looking at the moral aspect of the 
 question alone^ nobody will deny the advantages 
 which the possession of landed property must con- 
 fer upon a man or a body of men — that it im- 
 parts a higher sense of independence and security, 
 greater self-respect, and supplies stronger motives 
 for industry, frugality, and forethought than any 
 other kind of property. But we have not to 
 weigh the various moral influences produced by 
 the ownership of different kinds of property. The 
 question really is between owning land or possess- 
 ing nothing; for in proclaiming that the whole 
 
APPENDIX. 163 
 
 class of agricultural labourers must for ever 
 abandon the hope or ambition of becoming land- 
 owners, they are virtually told that they can never 
 emerge from the condition of vreekly labourers ; 
 for the tillers of the earth can^ as a class^, rise to 
 wealth only by sharing in the possession of 
 the soil. Let us see to what proportion of 
 the agricultural population this proscription ex- 
 tends. 
 
 " By the last census tables of the occupations 
 of the people it appears that in England and 
 Wales there are^ in round numbers^ 15,100 landed 
 proprietors and 1,100,000 farm labourers. The 
 classification of the proprietors may be wanting 
 in accuracy, but it is enough to know that, 
 taking the whole United Kingdom, while the 
 owners of the soil are reckoned by thousands, its 
 cultivators must be counted by millions. The 
 farmers and graziers in England and Wales, 
 220,000 in number, have in a vast majority of 
 cases no property in the land they occupy, but 
 as it is not yet proposed to put them under the 
 
 M 2 
 
164 APPENDIX. 
 
 ban of perpetual exclusion from the class of 
 proprietors^ the moral aspect of the question does 
 not aflPect them to the same extent as the la- 
 bourers. Now, the whole question as between 
 the millions of peasant proprietors in France and 
 the millions of farm labourers in England is 
 summed up in a few words by M. Passy, in a 
 small volume entitled Des Systemes de Culture 
 en France, et de leur Influence sur I' Economic 
 Sociale, which should be read by all who take an 
 interest in this question. ^ As for the idea, so 
 often reproduced/ says he, ' that large farms con- 
 tribute more than small to the welfare of the 
 population employed on them, it scarcely deserves 
 notice. The whole difference between the two 
 systems is that, in the one case, there are few 
 masters and many hired labourers — in the other, 
 more masters and fewer hired labourers. Now, 
 should not that be a sufficient reason for pre- 
 ferring the latter ?' Bearing in mind that, in 
 speaking of small farms, M. Passy means small 
 freeholds, can we doubt, were his question put to 
 
APPENDIX. 165 
 
 the British peasant instead of the landowner, 
 what his answer would be ? 
 
 " But upon the moral aspect of the question 
 there cannot be two opinions, and therefore it does 
 not admit of controversy. On the Continent the 
 verdict on this view of the question is unani- 
 mously in favour of small landed properties ; and, 
 unless we in England are insincere in the argu- 
 ments we address to the working classes to induce 
 them to become depositors in saving banks, or to 
 enter the ranks of distributors and producers by 
 means of ' co-operation,^ we shall also admit that 
 to become a small freeholder would elevate the 
 labouring man in the scale of society. This has 
 been proved by experience on the largest scale in 
 France, where five millions of landed proprietors, 
 every one a voter, constitute the foundation of 
 the social and political edifice, and of whom rulers 
 and orators delight to speak as the pride and 
 safeguard of the State. If we would realize the 
 contrast presented by the abject condition of our 
 own peasantry, it is aff'orded by such incidents as 
 
166 APPENDIX. 
 
 that of the speaker at the above-named meeting 
 telling his patronized audience (and his audience 
 listening acquiescingly !) that for them the ac- 
 quisition of a plot of land was ^ an absurd and 
 impossible object/ or by a recent picture in 
 Punch, where^ on the occasion of a hint having 
 been uttered that land and votes might be 
 possessed by the same class in England as in 
 France, the British peasant was caricatured in a 
 form which conveyed the impression of a cross 
 between an Aztec and a New Zealander. 
 
 '^ But it is on the second or economical branch 
 of the subject — namely, the effect of small landed 
 properties on the progress of scientific agriculture 
 that the great controversy really arises. Can 
 what is called high farming be carried on suc- 
 cessfully where the land is cultivated by peasant 
 proprietors ? It might almost be a sufficient 
 answer to say that the highest standard of 
 agriculture is horticulture, which is always con- 
 ducted on a diminutive scale. This, however, 
 would be to evade the major part of the questioD; 
 
APPENDIX. 167 
 
 whether^ on small properties^ farming can be 
 pursued with the same economy as on large — 
 whether the net proceeds,, after deducting the 
 cost of production, can be as great in the one 
 case as the other. On this point the influential 
 public opinion of England has been resolutely on 
 the side of great farms. Not content with pre- 
 ferring our own system, we have, as is our 
 English wont, passed summary condemnation on 
 those who have not conformed to our standard. 
 
 Mr. M^Culloch, with his usual dogmatism, 
 took a prominent part, nearly forty years ago, in 
 denouncing the division of land as it is practised 
 by our neighbours, predicting that, if it were 
 continued for another half century, ' France would 
 become the greatest pauper warren in Europe.^ 
 Thii'ty years after this rash prophecy M. Passy 
 publishes a second edition of his Syst ernes de 
 Culture^ in which the important question is dis- 
 cussed in all its aspects. M. Passy was a peer 
 of France under Louis Philippe, and afterwards 
 filled the post of Minister of Finance. He is a 
 
168 APPENDIX. 
 
 considerable landed proprietor^ and ranks as one 
 of the most distinguished political economists of 
 France. It would be difficult to find a person 
 combining higher qualifications for his task_, and 
 the result of his investigations is a decided pre- 
 ferencCj on economical,, social^ and moral grounds, 
 of the French system to that of this country. 
 He shows, as indeed all the accredited French 
 authorities show, that the evils of the subdivision 
 of land, as it is practically carried out in France, 
 are much exaggerated, indeed, caricatured, by its 
 opponents ; that the enforced division of the 
 property of a deceased parent among his children 
 does not necessarily involve the partition of the 
 land ; that arrangements are often made by 
 which one of the family takes the estate, paying 
 to the co-heirs a compensation in money, or the 
 whole is sold and the proceeds are divided ; and 
 thus, as the government statistics prove, the 
 separate landed properties of France are not in- 
 creasing in number in proportion to the increase 
 of the population — in short, experience shows. 
 
APPENDIX. 169 
 
 as common sense might have foreseen^ that as 
 men do not cut up their cloth or leather 
 to waste, so neither will they, as a rule, sub- 
 divide that which is far more precious — the land 
 — into useless fragments. 
 
 " M. Passy gives us the following deductions 
 as the result of his investigations : — ^ 1. That in 
 the present state of agricultural knowledge and 
 practice, it is the small farms {la petite culture) 
 which, after deducting the cost of production, 
 yields from a given surface, and on equal con- 
 ditions, the greatest net produce; and, 2nd, that 
 the same system of cultivation, by maintaining 
 a larger rural population, not only thereby adds 
 to the strength of a State, but ajQPords a better 
 market for those commodities the production and 
 exchange of which stimulate the prosperity of 
 the manufacturing districts/ 
 
 '^ This conclusion, so opposed to the doctrine 
 current in this country, is confirmed by the 
 highest authorities in France, as well as by those 
 English writers who, whether as occasional 
 
170 APPENDIX. 
 
 residents in that country or as travellers — such 
 as Mill^ Inglis, Kay, &c. — have had the best 
 opportunities of forming a correct judgment on 
 the matter. And it should be added that these 
 views have been constantly gaining ground in 
 France during the last half-century, until they 
 have almost ceased to be a subject of contro- 
 versy in that country. And surely if any one 
 circumstance be more calculated than another to 
 impose a modest diffidence on even the most 
 conservative of British critics, it is the high 
 social and intellectual position of those French- 
 men who are the advocates of the sj'stem of 
 peasant properties. This task is not left to the 
 Red Republicans or the ultra-Democrats. Men 
 of exalted rank and noble birth, who might be 
 excused for feeling some repugnance to a social 
 organization which has to a large extent been 
 erected upon the ruins of their class — the de- 
 scendants of those whose families were scattered 
 or who perished on the scaffold during the 
 Revolution — have been among the most able 
 
APPENDIX. 171 
 
 and earnest champions of the present order of 
 things. Thus M. de Tocqueville^ writing in the 
 confidence of private friendship^ from the chateau 
 in Normandy bearing his name^ and surrounded 
 by a body of peasant proprietors occupying the 
 greater part of the ancestral domain of his 
 family _, yet speaks with hearty commendation of 
 the change. And the present state of things 
 finds a defender in a venerable French nobleman, 
 who is widely known and honoured in England 
 for the purity of his character and his high 
 intellectual endowments — the head of the ducal 
 house of De Broglie. The circumstance to 
 which I am referring — the elevated character and 
 eminent position of the advocates of the French 
 system — seems to have had its effect on the 
 conservative and philosophical mind of Dr. Chal- 
 mers, who visited France in 1838, imbued with 
 Mr. M^Culloch^s predilections against the division 
 of landed property. 
 
 " Dr. Chalmers records in his diary, which 
 has been published since his death, the con- 
 
172 APPENDIX. 
 
 versations he had on this subject with men of 
 the highest social and political position, whom he 
 describes as 'intelligent and truly Conservative.' 
 One of them, rran9ois Delessert, member of the 
 Chamber of Deputies, Parisian merchant, tells 
 him that he ' apprehends no harm from the 
 subdivision of property — speaks of the checks to 
 it — that it is greatly overrated — that family 
 arrangements often prevent it.^ But a con- 
 versation with a nobleman, already mentioned, 
 seems to have produced the greatest impression 
 on his mind, as will be seen by the following 
 extract from his diary : — ' June 21, 1838. — 
 Duke de Broglie made a very able defence of 
 the French law of succession, and said {inter alia) 
 that the minutely subdivided land on the Seine 
 was, before, not cultivated at all. At Lille, he 
 says, there is first-rate agriculture in large farms 
 from small properties pieced together. That in 
 the canton of Berne, one part, under the law of 
 primogeniture, has large properties, splendid 
 houses, admirable agriculture, but a population 
 
APPENDIX. 173 
 
 supported by a poor-rate. Another part, under 
 the law of equal division, has a worse agriculture, 
 and a better conditioned population without a 
 pauper among them.'' 
 
 " Dr. Chalmers closes his diary with these 
 words : — ^ A most interesting journey^ by which 
 my opinion of the actual state of property in 
 France,, and also my views of the eventual^ have 
 been made more favourable. Much, however, 
 must be left to time and experience. I have 
 been greatly enlightened by the conversation of 
 the Duke de Broglie.^ 
 
 " A few years after Dr. Chalmers''s tour in 
 France, the agricultural districts of that country 
 were visited by Mr. Henry Coleman^ professor of 
 agriculture in Massachusetts, who was on a 
 special mission from that State to report on the 
 condition of agriculture in Europe. It would 
 be difficult to find a witness more deserving of 
 attention on the subject under consideration. 
 The following are extracts from his published 
 letters : — 
 
174 APPENDIX. 
 
 '' ' At first I thought I should find nothing 
 in French agriculture worthy of much attention, 
 but my opinion has undergone a change^ and I 
 begin to think their agriculture not only good, 
 but advanced. They do not grow the same 
 productions as England j their work is not 
 executed in so neat a manner ; their implements 
 are primitive and somewhat rude ; their neat 
 stock is less improved, and, indeed, the whole 
 system is different ; but I am disposed to believe 
 that their farming is more economical, and that, 
 taken as a whole, the condition of the labouring 
 classes is superior to that of the English. . . . 
 I have never seen a more civil, clean, well-dressed, 
 happy set of people than the French peasantry, 
 with scarcely an exception, and they contrast 
 most strongly in this respect with the English 
 and Scotch. I seldom went among a field of 
 labourers in England or Scotland, especially if 
 they were women, without some coarse joke or 
 indecent leer. It is the reverse in France — the 
 address, even of the poorest (I do not at all 
 
APPENDIX. 175 
 
 exaggerate) is as polite as that of the best people 
 you find in a city ; so far from soliciting money, 
 they have refused it in repeated instances when, 
 for some little service_, I have offered some com- 
 pensation. Count de Gourcy told me, again and 
 again, that even the most humble of them would 
 consider it an offence to have it offered them. 
 I do not believe there ever was a happier 
 peasantry than the French, and they are 
 pre-eminent for their industry and economy/ 
 
 " But the most recent, and, at the same time, 
 the highest testimony on this subject remains to 
 be cited. M. Leonce de Lavergne is well known 
 as one of the most accomplished, laborious, and 
 conscientious writers on agriculture of the present 
 age. His work, contrasting the rural economy 
 of England, Scotland, and Ireland with that of 
 France, published in 1850, attracted much atten- 
 tion at the time in this country. He has since 
 published occasional articles in periodicals, and 
 has edited a French translation of Artiiur Young^s 
 Travels in France. But his most important work, 
 
176 APPENDIX. 
 
 On the Rural Economy of France since 1789^ 
 was published about four years ago. Now, in all 
 these works, he is the consistent, able, but 
 discriminating advocate of the division of land as 
 it exists in France, and as contrasted with the 
 system which prevails in this country. 
 
 " The Journal of the Royal Agricultural 
 Society of England (Vol. xxi. 1860), contains a 
 review of the latest work of M. de Lavergne, to 
 which I refer, not only because the Journal 
 is our highest authority on practical agriculture, 
 but because the review in question affords a 
 truly characteristic illustration of the English 
 mode of arguing the land question with 
 foreigners. After speaking in the very highest 
 terms of eulogy of M. de Lavergne^s ' admirable 
 book,^ of his ^ graphic descriptions/ his ' inex- 
 haustible fund of historical, legendary, and 
 economical illustrations,^ the reviewer adds : — 
 ^ We trust we have said enough of its singular 
 merits to induce all those who can read the 
 French language to procure the book itself and 
 
APPENDIX 177 
 
 read it througli. Let no one be deterred from 
 doing so by its forbidding title, as we have 
 rarely seen dry statistical facts and figures com- 
 prised in so alluring a form, and interspersed 
 with so many entertaining details and pictures 
 of scenery, manners and customs, &c. In one 
 word, M. de Lavergne has written a book which 
 has its place everywhere — in the study of the 
 learned, in the boudoir or drawing-room of the 
 wealthy, and especially in the travelling bag of 
 the tourist/ 
 
 " I was very curious to see how the organ 
 of our great agricultural society, after these 
 well-deserved compliments, would deal with the 
 accomplished Frenchman's views on the division 
 of the land. ^ M. de LaA^ergne,' says the 
 reviewer, ^ is not disposed to consider an extreme 
 division of landed property as an obstacle to 
 agricultural progress, and we shall presently 
 examine the arguments by which he attempts to 
 establish his opinion/ Accordingly, in the fol- 
 lowing page, the subject is again referred to, and 
 
 N 
 
1 78 APPENDIX. 
 
 we are told that ' M. de Lavergne greatly 
 appi^oves the equal division of property by inhe- 
 ritance^ and certainly adduces very cogent reasons 
 to support his views ; but this is a point, and 
 perhaps the only one, on which we do not agree 
 with him/ And how does the reviewer proceed 
 to ' examine the arguments^ of a writer who 
 is treating of a subject to which he has given 
 a life of study, in a work rich with valuable 
 statistics and historical facts, every page of which 
 bears evidence of his ability and practical know- 
 ledge ? While asserting a difference of opinion 
 on the one capital point upon which M. de 
 Lavergne possessed such superior sources of 
 intelligence, the reviewer might have been 
 expected to have adduced some facts or figures 
 in support of his views. Nothing more, how- 
 ever, is deemed necessary, in the present senti- 
 mental phase of the land question, than straight- 
 way to raise the cry of * our old nobility/ ^ Few 
 who can appreciate,^ says the reviewer, ^ the 
 social and intellectual influence exercised by the 
 
APPENDIX. 179 
 
 aristocracy of this countiy^ will concur with 
 M. de Lavergne on the subject of the privilege 
 of primogeniture.' Then follows half a page of 
 glorification of our ^ large landowners/ of their 
 services to agriculture by ' scientific discoveries 
 and costly experiments/ in the course of which 
 we are told that ^ there is not a single page 
 of English history in which the aristocracy is 
 not associated with its glorious records.^ And 
 this rhapsodical diversion from the real question 
 at issue terminates with a dogmatical repudiation 
 of M. de Lavergne^s views respecting the divi- 
 sion of land in France. Not one word is vouch- 
 safed to the case of the millions of agricultural 
 labourers in this kingdom. The moment the 
 aristocracy is thrown into the scale^ it is assumed 
 to outweigh reason, argument, logic, and facts. 
 What is this but a practical application of the 
 
 lines : — 
 
 *' * Let law and learning, trade and commerce die, 
 But leave us still our old nobility." 
 
 " We laugh at the Spaniards because, when 
 
 N 2 
 
] 80 APPENDIX. 
 
 challenged to defend their antiquated practices, 
 they deem it a sufficient answer to say, ' Cosas 
 d^Espana ;^ but where is the difference between 
 this and the above mode of arguing with an 
 enlightened foreigner ? 
 
 " I have said that M. de Lavergne is a 
 discriminating advocate of the French peasant 
 proprietors. He allows that there is room for 
 improvement in the working of his favourite 
 system, and that in some cases the morcellement 
 of the land is too minute for agricultural pur- 
 poses though it is not admitted that this is 
 the necessary or general tendency. 
 
 "There are family arrangements which con- 
 stantly tend to unite as well as to divide estates 
 — as, for instance, the accession of property 
 brought by marriage in a country where the 
 habit of giving marriage-portions to daughters is 
 universal. 
 
 " M. de Lavergne concedes to England, as a 
 whole, the more advanced position in scientific 
 farming, acknowledging that in the agricultural 
 
APPENDIX. 181 
 
 products common to both countries the average 
 yield of our crops will be superior to that of 
 France. This, however, is not attributable to 
 the size of the farms, but to the earlier develop- 
 ment of our mechanical and industrial resources 
 — an advantage which has given us the lead not 
 only in agriculture but in many branches of 
 manufacturing production. He vindicates his 
 countrymen from all discredit in this reepect by 
 pointing to the very different ordeals through 
 which the two countries have passed since 1788, 
 when Arthur Young made his agricultural tour 
 in France. It is calculated that in the wars 
 between 1792 and 1815 two millions and a half 
 of Frenchmen perished on battle-fields or in 
 hospitals. Laws of 'maximum' and every con- 
 ceivable violation of the rules of political 
 economy were perpetrated. Vast masses of 
 laud wrested from the nobility. Church, and cor- 
 porations passed suddenly into the hands of 
 individuals who had neither capital nor intelli- 
 gence to bring them into profitable cultivation. 
 
182 APPENDIX. 
 
 The energies whicli might have been employed in 
 clearing the wilderness_, draining the morass, 
 or restoring to impoverished soils their natural 
 fertility, were exhausted on a thousand battle- 
 fields, where the valour and genius exhibited by 
 Frenchmen showed what would have been 
 achieved had those qualities been devoted to the 
 more useful and enduring conquests of peace. 
 During those 22 years, while every institution 
 in France was again and again fundamentally 
 remodelled, and the monarchy, aristocracy, and 
 Church were overthrown — while, at last, foreign 
 armies, after marching through the country, were 
 twice in occupation of the capital, the whole termi- 
 nating with the exaction of enormous pecuniary 
 indemnities from the prostrate nation — during all 
 this time England, secure against internal revolu- 
 tion and foreign aggression, was pursuing an 
 undisturbed career of agricultural improvement. 
 What wonder if, under such favourable circum- 
 stances, she outstripped her neighbour in the 
 path of progress ? Ought it not rather to excite 
 
APPENDIX. 183 
 
 our astonishment that in less than a century the 
 peasantiy of France could bear any comparison 
 with our own in the enjoyment of the necessaries 
 and comforts of life ? Yet, so great were the 
 recuperative forces in the rural population of 
 France — arising, as is maintained by her highest 
 authorities, from the general difiusion of landed 
 property — that in less than a quarter of a century 
 after the peace of 1815 the English pedestrian 
 tourist, luglis, was enabled to pen this declara- 
 tion : — ' With a tolerably intimate knowledge and 
 distinct recollection of tlie lower orders in France, 
 I assert that, upon the whole, the peasantry of 
 France are the happiest peasantry of any 
 country in Europe/ I have trespassed too 
 long on your space, otherwise I could adduce 
 further testimory in favour of the system of 
 small landed properties, particularly from the 
 pages of Mr. Mill, who, by long study of the 
 best authorities, and by occasional residence in 
 France, has made himself thoroughly master of 
 the subject- But I have preferred, as far as 
 
184 APPENDIX. 
 
 possible, to call as witnesses those wlio are 
 technically versed in the science of agriculture. 
 The result of a general study of all the best 
 authorities is to show that there is an unanimity 
 of opinion in favour of the French system, on 
 moral grounds, as tending to elevate the character, 
 promote the intelligence, and stimulate the 
 industry of the peasantry. There is scarcely less 
 agreement on the economical view, expressed by 
 M. Passy, that small properties, ' after deducting 
 the cost of production, yield, from a given surface, 
 and on equal conditions, the greatest net produce.' 
 Those ^ equal conditions ' can, of course, only 
 be found by comparing corresponding specimens 
 of the two systems. The advocates of the petite 
 culture, while admitting that the average pro- 
 duction of England exceeds that of France, 
 contend that in Flanders (the very birthplace of 
 scientific farming), on the Rhine, in Guernsey, 
 Switzerland, the North of France, and other 
 parts, farms of 15 or 20 acres may be found 
 cultivated by their proprietors, which yield a 
 
APPENDIX. 185 
 
 greater net produce than the same extent of 
 surface on the best farms in England and Scotland. 
 M. de Lavergne says that the proprietors of 15 
 acres ' enjoy sometimes a real affluence/ This 
 is more than the average size of the separate 
 farming properties in Guernsey and Jersey^ where 
 the population are renowned for their com- 
 parative prosperity and happiness. As a proof 
 that this division of property promotes the ac- 
 cumulation of wealth, without tending to the 
 deterioration of the soil;, it may be stated that 
 farming land is worth nearly twice as much, 
 when let or sold, in Guernsey as in England. 
 It is contended, moreover, that at the present 
 moment the peasant proprietors are making more 
 rapid progress in improvement than the ordinary 
 renting farmer without a lease, owing to the 
 greater stimulus imparted by what Arthur Young 
 designated the ^ magic of prcjperty.' 
 
 " The partisans of the French system look to 
 ' co-operation ' as a means of remedying what- 
 ever defects or evils may be found to arise from 
 
186 APPENDIX. 
 
 a too minute subdivision of the land. This prin- 
 ciple, which has already been resorted to by our 
 own intelligent workpeople as a means of ele- 
 vating themselves to the class of shopkeepers 
 and manufacturers, is peculiarly adapted to meet 
 the case of the small agriculturists. It is a fallacy 
 to suppose that the little proprietor must neces- 
 sarily be a small farmer, in the usual sense of 
 the term. A number of adjoining properties 
 may be united into a large farm. In England 
 the ordinary tenant of a few hundred acres does 
 not keep his own steam-engine or thrashing- 
 machine. They are hired out from farm to farm. 
 There is no reason why the drilling-machine, the 
 horse-hoe, the roller, or the clod- crusher, should 
 not make its rounds in a similar way. Already, 
 we are told, the principle of association is applied 
 to cheese-making and other branches of agricul- 
 ture on the Continent. The practice will extend 
 and, with the increase of intelligence, it may 
 prove the solution of the problem, and remove 
 every difficulty in the ^vay of the successful 
 cultivation of peasant properties. 
 
APPENDIX. 187 
 
 " But I have said enough^ probably^ to assist 
 your readers to an appreciation of the question 
 before us. That question has been raised^ not by 
 those who desire some relaxation of our feudal 
 land code, but bv those who would deter us from 
 any change, by pointing to the terrible law of 
 succession in France. I offer no opinion for or 
 against that law. But if the peasant proprietors, 
 who are its offspring, are to be paraded at our 
 ' labourers^ encouragement associations/ to 
 frighten those thralls of the nineteenth century — 
 the essential innovation in whose fortunes, since 
 the days of the Gurths and Wambas of the 
 Middle Ages, is the transfer of their allegiance 
 from the castle to the " Union '' — is there no 
 danger that, like their rooks, they may learn to 
 look the scarecrow in the face, and that some 
 Romsey Hampden may find a voice and exclaim, 
 ' Let un come ! Who be afeard ?"* 
 
 " Jan. 22, 1864." 
 
 Times, Jan. 7th, 1873. 
 
188 APPENDIX. 
 
 F. 
 
 There is a great peer at this moment who 
 happens not to be a spending man^ and saves 
 about £100;000 a year — this is an under-state- 
 ment — which he invests in Scotch landed 
 property. He buys great bits of country as they 
 come into the market — a third of one county is 
 his already — and he uses his purchases for two 
 ends^ first to make enormous clearances in order 
 to protect deer, and secondly, to obtain influence 
 over elections. What does it matter to him if 
 he does not take the highest rent obtainable for 
 his territory ? What does it matter if he does 
 not get any price at all ? What does it matter 
 if it costs him half his savings annually to carry 
 out his own will ? If his entire Scotch property 
 cost him .£50,000 a year of sheer direct cash 
 loss, and he kept his absolutism, he would be a 
 more important man in the Empire than if he 
 Lad a Scotch rent-roll of £50,000, and no more 
 power over his tenants than he has over his 
 
APPENDIX. 189 
 
 tenants in the capital. He wants power, not 
 money, and free contract granted, he will have 
 power, and every millionaire with brains and 
 without philanthropies, every man with two 
 millions in his treasury, clear ideas of English 
 life, and the principles of the Pall Mall Gazette's 
 correspondent " F.,''"' may follow his example. 
 We say dehberately, that supposing Arran sale- 
 able — it is protected, we believe, by some entail- 
 ing statute — it would pay any man with two 
 millions to give double the survey value of the 
 island, and let every tenant live rent-free for 
 ever- — that is, to sacrifice a million — on condition 
 that his political orders should be implicitly 
 obeyed. He would be a bigger man in the 
 Empire, and philanthropy apart, a happier man 
 than if he kept his cash fortune entire. 
 
 G. 
 
 " It was perhaps in accordance with the Mal- 
 thusian maxims of the day (1816), that the 
 Marquis of Stafford, who had become by marriage 
 
190 APPENDIX. 
 
 Lord of Sutherland^ determined to transport the 
 whole population on his estate of 800^000 acres 
 from the interior to the seashore. In two or 
 three years the work was complete. To make 
 room for thirty-nine sheep-farmers and their five 
 or six shepherds, fifteen thousand herdsmen or 
 small farmers were either driven out of the 
 country,, or settled on the seashore, on lots of 
 two acres of unreclaimed land, at 2s. 6d. the 
 acre of rent, on seven years' lease. Though we 
 are told this was alone sufficient for their com- 
 fortable support — a statement as evidently 
 incorrect as the one that corn could not be 
 advantageously grown in the interior — they 
 were ordered to betake themselves to the herring 
 fishing. The trade of a fisherman, especially in 
 those northern seas, is uncertain, laborious, and 
 peculiarly dangerous to a novice. Yet the 
 people, poor, uninstructed, and ignorant of 
 the English language, had little choice of their 
 own destiny. In spite of their entreaties, pro- 
 testations, and passive resistance, they were 
 
APPENDIX. 101 
 
 compelled to build tlieir huts upon the shore, 
 and take the small lots provided for them. The 
 other proprietors imitated the example of the 
 * Lord of Sutherland/ and chased out their 
 tenants,, without however assigning any pro- 
 vision for their future support. Almost the 
 whole of the great county of Sutherland was 
 reduced to a wilderness^ tenanted only by sheep, 
 with one shepherd to the square mile." 
 
 ScHON well knew the religious fervour of Stein, 
 and probed his tender point in a letter, 16th 
 August, 1810, upon the question of paper money, 
 &c., &c. 
 
 It appears that Stein was a great admirer of 
 Wilberforce. 
 
 " ^ When the decrees of Providence are about 
 to be fulfilled, and Governments begin to totter, 
 we cannot say that such and such a person 
 occasions their decay. Every one carries fuel to 
 
192 APPENDIX. 
 
 the flame. Heaven is far above intellect, and 
 reasoning can only follow the event. Thus 
 says the pious Wilberforce as an observer of 
 what was then taking place, and as a prophet 
 of that which was to come. This is the only 
 explanation of the fact that the man, firm as 
 a rock, with a pure and noble will, (Stein) could 
 send a message, that occasioned much prosperity 
 indeed, but for the most part annihilated or 
 rendered insecure that which the Dane (Niebuhr) 
 and the Prussian (Schon) were on the point 
 of accomplishing. Both plainly said. Paper 
 money and people, specie and bank, land and 
 duty, rate and contract, can only lead to death. 
 The Dane, the mild Dane, was exasperated 
 to that degree that he warned the gentleman 
 (Stein), of course respectfully, but firmly, and 
 thus brought hate and enmity upon himself. 
 The Prussian also did his duty, and now ap- 
 parently the Dane and the Prussian are about 
 to return to their homes. Both, however, will 
 state openly what they have done.^^ 
 
APPENDIX. 193 
 
 This roused Stein thoroughly. On the 29th 
 August he answered : — 
 
 " Most probably Wilberforce would have made 
 answer to the Dane and Prussian who wish to 
 return to their homes, ^ that he only can boast 
 of having fought the good fight, who remains 
 till the end of the battle/ Wilberforce would 
 cry, ' Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you 
 like men,^ 1 Cor. iv. 20, and again, ' For the 
 Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power,' 
 1 Cor. iv. 20 ; and again, ' Let no man seek his 
 own, but every man another's wealth,' 1 Cor. 
 X. 24. 
 
 " Moreover, Wilberforce would have quoted 
 the whole passage relating to the love of a 
 sorrowing Fatherland and an unfortunate King, 
 and especially verse 4, ^Charity suffereth long 
 and is kind; charity envieth not/ and also 
 verse 7, ^ Beareth all things, believeth all things, 
 hopeth all things, endureth all things / and 
 further, ' Charity edifieth,' 1 Cor. viii. 1. And 
 
 o 
 
194 APPENDIX. 
 
 now as to the remark that paper money and 
 peoples^ &c., lead to death, I have to observe — 
 Is there any other course open in a case of 
 cancer or gangrene, than to have recourse to 
 the knife, hemlock, or caustic ? Would you 
 attempt a cure by putting on a simple dressing? 
 Paper money is an evil, and oppressive measures 
 to raise money are also evils. But the present 
 state of things is a more grievous evil still, and 
 to allow them to continue would be yet more 
 grievous. Who would ever reproach Frederick 
 the Great for having uttered base coin, when 
 the alternative was the destruction of the State ? 
 And by the same reasoning the present emission 
 of an excessive paper currency is to be defended, 
 particularly when we regard it as a means of re- 
 sisting the continued efforts of a foreign power .^ 
 Stein wrote thus on the 29th August, but in 
 the following September he was obliged to 
 acknowledge that Schon was right, and that the 
 issue of paper money was very questionable. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 195 
 
 Notwithstanding this, he still retained his re- 
 sentment against Schon and Niebuhr, and com- 
 plained that the latter wished to make himself 
 appear as a " martyr to truth/^ 
 
 THE END. 
 
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