generally not the case; the French peasant-proprietors and the
agricultural lower classes in Germany are (with small exceptions) now
worse off than the English farm-labourer; they work very much harder
and they get less to eat. The economic truth doubtless is that the
hired labourer may or may not be better off than the peasant-
proprietor, according to circumstances; and circumstances in England
just now are in favour of the hired labourer.

Then as to independence, it may fairly be questioned whether a good
agricultural workman, now practically liberated from the Law of
Settlement, and who can command a fair wage anywhere, is not really
more independent than a French peasant absolutely tied to a three-
acre plot for life.

The real difference between the advocates of the nationalisation of
the land and the Conservatives is this. The Conservative says, "Leave
everything to its natural course, and let us have no Government
interference. If the peasant-proprietor really can maintain himself
while paying as high a rent as the ordinary farmer, we shall soon
have plenty of them." Or, the Conservative has no objection to a
philanthropist starting a few picked peasant-proprietors as an
experiment. But he objects to starting any gigantic new scheme of
working the land, except as a matter of business; he objects to
Government philanthropy, which means giving away other people's
money.

Our farm-labourers, as a rule, know nothing of gardening, and few of
them can command L10 capital. I have sometimes looked round to select
a picked man, and wondered whether, if I put him in a selected five-
acre plot near a town, and also lent him the L200 or so capital