The Right of Property in Land

William Ogilvie, The Right of Property in Land, 1781.

PART II

SECTION I

Of Circumstances and Occasions favourable to a complete Reformation of the Laws respecting Property in Land, by the sovereign or legislative power.

45. If, indeed, we consider only how far the present state of property in land, even in the most flourishing and best governed nations of Europe, is removed from that more equitable and advantageous system, which tends to establish in every country the greatest number of independent freehold cultivators that the territory of the State can admit, we may almost be led to despair, that any great progress can be made towards so remote an improvement, however justly, and however much it may be desired. -- On the other hand, the actual system of landed property in the West of Europe is greatly changed, and in some respects greatly improved, from what it has formerly been. It has varied its form, with the prevailing character of successive ages;¹ it has been accommodated to the rude simplicity of the more ancient times, to the feudal chivalry of the middle centuries, and to the increasing industry and cultivation of later more tranquil periods: it may now therefore be expected to receive a new modification, from the genius and maxims of a commercial age, to which it is too manifest that the latest establishment of landed property is by no means adapted, and that from this incongruity the most pernicious and most flagrant oppressions arise.
That free discussion which every subject now receives gives reason to hope that truth and utility will always triumph, however slowly; and various examples may be offered to confirm these hopes. In politics, in agriculture, in commerce, many errors have been rectified in theory, and even the practice in some, though not in an equal degree, reformed. And shall it be reckoned, then, that in this, the most important of all temporal concerns to the greatest number of mankind, the most pernicious errors will be suffered to remain still unrefuted, or if not unrefuted still unreformed? It is not permitted to the friends of mankind to despair of aught which may tend to improve the general happiness of their species, any more than it is consistent with a magnanimous and genuine patriotism ever to despair of the safety of our country.
There have not been wanting in former times, nor will there fail hereafter to arise in the course of human affairs, occasions, conjunctures, and situations, in which a new and perfect system of property in land might be completely established at once; -- other conjunctures, other situations of much more frequent occurrence, are favourable, in a greater or a less degree, to partial reformation, and progressive improvement of the ancient system; and in many cases where public care cannot be effectually applied, the beneficence and even the interest of particular persons, well directed, may be made to produce no inconsiderable effects, and to furnish examples of that which the rulers of mankind ought to aim at producing in a large extent.
46. Conquering princes, and great revolutions effected by the prevailing force of arms, have not often made their appearance on the theatre of the world in modern times; but the longer that interval which has elapsed is, the greater probability there seems to be, that some new phenomena of this interesting sort, are about to be presented to the nations of the earth.
At the head of his victorious army, a conquering monarch has it in his power, no doubt, to re-establish in the subjected state, the inherent rights of mankind, and the system of natural justice, with regard to the property of the soil. He may even perceive it to be in all probability the best security of his new acquisitions, and certainly the.best foundation of his claim to immortal renown. It were an object, and a pretext which might even in the eye of reason and philosophy almost justify the ambitious desire of conquest in the breast of an heroic prince; or if it may not avail so far, no other pretext whatever can be admitted to do so.²
In proportion as the true principles of property in land are inquired into, canvassed, and established in theory, it becomes less improbable that heroes and conquerors, hitherto esteemed the scourges of mankind, may be led to adopt such a salutary reformation of landed property for their object; and in the same proportion it will become more easy for them to make such magnanimous and benevolent intentions generally understood, and to engage the concurrence and good wishes of all men in their accomplishment.
47. The establishment of new colonies, sent forth from the civilized and populous nations of Europe, may be supposed frequently to take place hereafter. The practice seems only in its commencement, and the mistakes incident to first trials are not yet corrected. Immense tracts of vacant, or half-peopled countries, both maritime and inland, still invite emigrants and planters from every quarter. The southern regions of Africa and America, the Banks of the River of the Amazons, and the whole Continent of New Holland have scarcely yet received the first settlements of any race of men by whom they may be cultivated and filled. Siberia alone, it is thought, might contain the whole inhabitants of Europe more at ease than in their present habitations. Princes, instead of imprisoning their subjects, may come to perceive that a well-regulated exportation of men, as of any other commodity, tends to secure and to increase the domestic produce. Even Britain will no doubt find inviting occasions (and just now perhaps has them) of sending forth new colonies, on better digested plans, with happier omens,

Et quae fuerint minus obvia Graiis.

In every such settlement there is opportunity of establishing the just and natural system of property in land, in the most advantageous form. The fundamental laws of such a colony ought to ascertain, in precise and explicit terms, the joint property of the whole community in the whole soil -- a right which in that situation of their affairs will be easily comprehended by all. They ought, further, to ascertain the permanent and indefeasible nature of this right, which no possession of individuals, nor any industry by them applied to any portion of the soil, can ever cancel or impair.
However extensive the tract of country may then be in proportion to the number of the first settlers, general rules should even then be established, having respect to a future period when the whole territory may be found too scanty for its multiplied inhabitants. By such precautions, occasionally enforced by practical examples, it seems not impossible to prevent the formation of those erroneous opinions of private right, and those habits of possession, which in countries long settled prevent the greater number of citizens from knowing or desiring to claim their natural rights in this most important point, and which would produce the most violent opposition to their just claims, if at any time they were advanced.
48. Whatever inclination a wise and benevolent sovereign may have, to communicate to all his subjects that prosperity which the reformation of property in land seems capable of diffusing, it may appear in most cases too hazardous for the public peace, and the security of his throne, to attempt the establishment of a wise and equitable system at once, and in the whole extent of his dominions; yet in some instances a fair opportunity is given, of making a complete change in the landed property of certain subordinate states, which, though held in absolute dependence by the sovereign, are not incorporated with, but considered as essentially distinct from, the great body of his dominions -- so distinct, that no innovation in the smaller realm, is likely to give any alarm, or create any jealous discontent in the other. Such is the subjection of Courland to the throne of Russia; such perhaps the dependence of Milan on the House of Austria; of Corsica on France, and of Minorca on Britain; not to mention all those dependent states which Britain and other European nations have brought under their yoke on the Continent of Asia, and in the islands of the East.
49. Great monarchs sometimes arise, who, having confirmed the authority of an absolute sovereignty by the vigour of their natural talents, and by unremitting application to the cares and occupations of their royal office, have attained such an ascendant over all ranks of their people, that without hazard they might avow themselves the patrons of the multitude, and supporters of natural justice, in opposition to all the confederated force of the powerful and the rich. Europe sees at least one prince, to whose magnanimity and talents a complete and total reformation of the system of landed property in his dominions might be thought no unequal task, and to whose benevolent zeal for the general good of his people the idea of such a reformation might present itself as no chimerical project. In looking back through the records of modern ages, it is difficult to fix on another prince equally capable of conceiving so sublime a scheme, and of prosecuting the measures requisite for carrying it into execution; unless, perhaps, that father of his people, who wished only to live, that he might convince the French nation how much he loved them as his children, and who hoped to see the day when every householder throughout his dominions should put a fowl into his pot on Sunday. Had the reign of this humane prince, to whom the condition of the lower classes was familiarly known, been prolonged in peace, he might probably have bestowed more particular attention on the means by which his paternal wishes were to be realized; the talents of his faithful minister would have been exerted in such schemes, with still greater alacrity, and perhaps with greater skill, than in those warlike preparations which busied the last years of his master's reign; and the effects due to the joint endeavours of such a sovereign and such a minister must have followed.
Many princes who might succeed perhaps in carrying such schemes into execution, may not be endowed with that magnanimous and comprehensive turn of mind, without which they cannot be formed; or are deficient in that courage, without which no trial will be attempted. Yet, if any plan may be concerted, by which it seems not unlikely that the happiness of mankind might be increased two-fold at once, where is the monarch who would not eagerly engage in such attempts, at whatever risk? Where, indeed, is that monarch who enjoys so much felicity himself in the possession of a throne, that in such a cause, with the hope of accomplishing so great an advantage to his people, and obtaining such distinguished glory for himself, he ought not to risk it all?

Mortemque pro laude pacisci