is the Church to exist afterwards?" or, to put the point in the
extremest fashion, and in the words addressed to the clergy in the very
first of the "Tracts for the Times," "Should the Government of the
country so far forget their God as to cut off the Church, to deprive it
of its temporal honours and substance, on what will you rest the claims
to respect and attention which you make upon your flock?" And the answer
is that, if the Church be worthy to exist, it will be able, like other
religious bodies, to stand upon the open and constant manifestation of
its own excellences.
Look around and see what the voluntary system has done. In England it
has planted a place of worship in every corner of the kingdom; in Wales
it has saved from spiritual starvation a populace neglected by the
Establishment; in Scotland it has founded a Free Church by sacrifices
which were the marvel and the pride of a preceding generation; and in
Ireland it has secured to the mass of the people the ministrations of
their own religion, despite every bribe, persecution, and lure. Is it in
England, where the Episcopalian system has most that is wealthy and all
that is socially influential on its side, that a State endowment is
needed to provide for its professors what the miners of Cornwall and the
labourers of Carmarthen, the hardy toilers in the Highlands, and the
poverty-stricken peasants of Connemara provide for themselves? If this
be so, then no greater indictment could be levelled against the process
of Establishment, no more certain proof could be afforded of the evils
which follow in its train, than that it produced such a mean coldness of
soul. But the supposition is so dishonouring to the great body of
church-goers that its use proves the straits in which the defenders of
the existing system find themselves.
Disendowment would undoubtedly reduce the larger salaries allotted to
the clergy, and probably increase the smaller. A parson would then be
paid according to his value to the parish, whether as preacher or
administrator, and he would not draw a thousand a year for doing
nothing, while his curate received eighty or a hundred for performing
the work. The Church would no longer be a rich man's preserve, wherein
younger sons could obtain comfortable family livings, while their duty
was done by ill-paid deputies. We should no longer see an Archbishop of
Canterbury, with a salary of L15,000 a year, begging upon a public
platform for worn-out garments for the poorer working clergy. A primate
is conceivable at a third the cost, and the money thus saved to the
Church alone would prevent the necessity for such a humiliating
proceeding as openly asking for old clothes for toiling clergymen. With
disendowment, in short, men would be paid according to their merits and
not their family connections--according to their work and not their
birth. And, further, the scandal of the sale of livings--the shame of
the public advertisement of cures of souls as eligible according as they
are in a hunting country, or near a fishing river, or close to "good
society"--would be done away with. Would all these gains count as
nothing to the Church, considered as a religious body?
The process of disendowment, then, is the necessary accompaniment of
disestablishment; it is possible; it is just; and its effects would make
for good. It is necessary, because if the Church is to be severed from
the State on the ground that it has failed in its mission, it would be
obviously out of the question to leave it possessed of the property
given to it to secure that mission's due performance. It is possible,
because Parliament is not merely supreme in all such matters, but has
shown within the past few years its capacity for disendowing a Church
having precisely the same rights and privileges as the English
Establishment. It is just, because no one sect has the right to property
granted it on the ground that it represented the religious sentiment of
the whole nation. And it would make for good in giving a more
distinctively religious character to the clergy, in paying them
according to their deserts and not according to the length of the purse
that purchased them their livings, and in freeing a religious system
from the ignoble associations of the auction mart.
Upon these grounds it is demanded that, with disestablishment,
disendowment shall come. Life interests will be respected; all modern
gifts to the Episcopalians as a distinct sect will be fairly dealt with;
further than this the Establishment is not entitled to demand, and
further than this Liberals will not be prepared to go.
XVI.--OUGHT EDUCATION TO BE FREE?
A question which is intimately connected in many minds with the Church
is that of national education. It stood next to it in order in that
early programme of Mr. Chamberlain which demanded "Free Church, free
schools, free land, and free labour."
This matter of free schools is not likely to create as much opposition
as it would have done even a short time since, for no question awaiting
settlement is ripening so rapidly. Experience is teaching in an
ever-increasing ratio that certain defects exist in our system of
national education which hinder its full development, some of which, at
least, could be avoided by the abolition of fees.
The progress which has been made in public opinion within only half a
century regarding the amount of aid that should be given to elementary
schools, encourages the hope that more will yet be given, and that very
speedily. It is but a little more than fifty years ago that a Liberal
Ministry led the way in devoting a portion of the national funds to this
purpose; and no one unacquainted with the history of that period could
guess the number and the weight of the obstacles thrown in the way of
even such a modest proposal as that Ministry made. The Tories, while not
particularly anxious that the mass of the people should be educated at
all, were decidedly desirous that such teaching as was given should be
under the direct control of the Church. Archbishops and bishops, Tories,
high and low, joined to continually hamper the development of any system
of national education which afforded the Nonconformists the least
privilege; but despite their every effort the movement spread. The
annual grant of L20,000, which was commenced in 1834, grew by leaps and
bounds. In a little more than twenty years it had become nearly half a
million for Great Britain alone; in thirty years it had increased by
close upon another quarter of a million; and in fifty years (and the
growth in the meantime had been mainly the fruit of the Education Act,
passed by the Liberal Ministry in 1870) it had touched three millions.
And that sum, vast as it was, represented only the amount granted from
the national exchequer, being supplemented by an even larger total
raised by local rates.
So far has the nation gone in the path of State-aided and rate-aided
education, and the question is whether it is not worth while to go the
comparatively little way further which is needed to make elementary
education free. For the fees which are now paid do not represent a
quarter of the amount which the teaching costs. And not only so, but the
existence of these fees is a continual hindrance to the working of the
Act. The effect of the fee is to keep out of the board schools thousands
of children who ought to be in them; and the attempt to enforce its
payment increases the odium which almost necessarily attends upon
compulsion.
"But," it will be said, "where a parent is too poor to pay, the fee can
be remitted." That is true, and the extent to which the system of such
remission is carried in some districts is one of the strongest arguments
in favour of free education. It is desirable to get the children into
the schools, but it is highly undesirable to do this by practically
pauperizing the parents. If elementary education were free to all, all
could partake of it without any appearance of favour on the one hand or
shame on the other. But the independent poor have now the choice of
making themselves still poorer by paying the fee for the education they
are bound to have administered, or of losing their independence by
asking the school board or the poor-law guardians for relief. And the
consequence, of course, is that many who have no independence to lose,
and are the least deserving of help, receive the assistance they are
never backward to ask.
"What is worth having is worth paying for" is a remark sometimes made
in this connection, but is it not as applicable to the State as to the
individual? For it is for no philanthropic but for a decidedly practical
reason that the country assists education. All men in these days admit
that the most cultivated people, like the most cultivated individual
man, has the best chance of success. With educated Germany, and educated
France, and educated America pressing us hard, it is a necessity of
existence for England to be equally educated. And seeing that the school
board rate and the Government grant mount higher and higher and the fees
become lower and lower, the only practical question is whether the State
had not better boldly step in, abolish fees which are a hindrance to
educational progress, pay the whole amount instead of three-quarters,
and provide free teaching for all.
If such a consummation were secured, the status of what are now called
voluntary schools would of necessity be materially altered. As at
present applied, the name "voluntary" affixed to the schools of the
National Society and similar bodies is very much a misnomer. It conveys
that the schools are supported by voluntary subscriptions; but this is
true in only a limited degree, for it is the Government grant--that is,
money taken out of the pocket of every one who pays taxes, direct or
indirect--which keeps them in existence. And, therefore, when Churchmen
complain, as some of them are occasionally ill-advised enough to do,
that they not only subscribe to their own schools but have to pay the
rate as well, ought it not to be enough to remind them that their
schools are supported not alone for educational but for sectarian
purposes, and that, if they wish to proselytize, they must pay, in
however inadequate a degree, for the privilege? The real hardship is
that those who do not believe in the clerical system of education have
to pay heavily by means of taxation to keep up establishments over which
they have not the least control, and which are used by the clergy for
denominational ends.
One result, then, of free education would be, not to destroy the
voluntary schools, but to put them under the control of those who really
and not nominally pay for keeping them up. If Churchmen demand schools
of their own, they must support them out of their own pocket and not out
of other people's, though it may be well that, under a stringent
"conscience clause" and with direct popular control, they should still
share in the taxpayers' grants. As matters stand, the national
schoolmaster is too often treated as if he were a mere servant of the
clergyman, an idea which, with free education and popular government of
all State-aided schools, would be bound to cease.
The cry raised by some clergymen when the Education Act was passed, that
the undenominational system would be fruitful only in producing "astute
scoundrels and clever devils," has died away. It is doubtful whether
anybody ever really believed it; it is certain that no man with a
reputation to lose would now repeat it. And, that being the case, the
excuse for keeping up at the public expense two rival sets of
schools--one sectarian and the other undenominational--has so largely
disappeared that the onus of proving its necessity lies upon its
advocates, and the burden of paying for it should be shifted upon the
right shoulders.
Of course it is said that this proposal of free education is only
another step towards Socialism, but no one should be frightened by
phrases. Socialism has as many varieties as religion--some as bad and
some as good--and from them must be selected those worth having. If,
upon consideration of the whole case, free education be thought to be
one of these, the fact that it is called Socialistic will not weigh to
its disadvantage with a single sensible man.
What, then, is it that is asked, and why is it demanded? It is asked
that elementary schools shall be freed from fees, and entirely supported
out of the public funds, local and imperial; that advanced and technical
education shall be made cheap and accessible, in order that those who
want to progress can do so with as few hindrances as possible; and that
all schools supported by public money shall be placed under popular
control, and the schoolrooms, out of educational hours, made available
for public use.
These things are demanded because by the present arrangements the
progress of compulsion is hampered, the deserving and independent poor
are inequitably dealt with, and the cost of collecting the fees is out
of all proportion to their value when received. Already the public pay
three-quarters of the cost of elementary education, and they do it for
the benefit of the community; if payment of the remaining quarter would
increase the efficiency of the system, even only to a corresponding
degree, it would be worth making. "Vested interests" might object; but
the national welfare must override them, though there is no intention of
dealing with them otherwise than fairly. Due allowance would be made for
the subscriptions which have been raised towards the erection and
support of the voluntary schools; but the nation has rights as well as
individuals, and, in considering any compensation which may be demanded
by the managers of such institutions, if free education be adopted, the
public money which has been expended upon them must be taken into
account equally with the private.
This much is certain: although England will not be able to hold her own
simply with "the three R's," and advanced and technical education
should, therefore, be widely spread, it is our duty to make "the three
R's" as widely known as we can. It is not a question of principle, but
of policy. Opposition to any education at all for the masses has
disappeared; the State and the parish already pay most of the cost; if
the system can be made more perfect by the abolition of fees, fees will
have to be abolished.
XVII.--DO THE LAND LAWS NEED REFORM?
Immediately the question of the land is touched, a whole host of
opponents to progress are roused to fierce and continuous action,
though, as all politicians in these days affect a belief in the
necessity for land reform, the question appears at first to be more one
of degree than of principle. But, at the very outset, it is necessary to
face the fact that there is an active propaganda going on which denies
that any reform, even the most sweeping, will be of avail, and asserts
that it is the very existence of private property in land which must be
done away with.
In what is termed "Land Nationalization" a very dangerous fallacy
exists. The first thing to be asked of any one who advocates it is to
define the term. It is vague; it is high-sounding; but what does it
mean? If it means that the State is to take into its keeping all the
land without compensating the present holders, it proposes robbery; if
it means that the process is to be accompanied by compensation, it would
entail jobbery. There are thousands who, by working hard, have saved
sufficient to buy a small plot on which to erect a house. Is that plot
to be seized by the State without payment? And if fair payment be given,
and the taint of theft thus removed, does a single soul imagine that a
Government department would be able to manage the land better than it is
managed at present? Are our Government departments such models of
efficiency and economy that such a belief can be entertained for a
moment? What may fairly be demanded of all advocates of the
nationalization or municipalization of the land is that they shall
clearly show that the process would be honest in itself, just to the
present holders, and likely to benefit the whole community. Unless they
can do all these things, generalities are of no avail.
The land, it is sometimes urged, has been stolen from the people; but it
cannot have been stolen from those who never directly possessed it: and,
whatever may be said of the manner in which the large properties were
secured centuries ago, much of the land has changed hands so often that
most, at least, of the present holders have fairly paid for it. There is
an old legal doctrine that the title of that which is bought in open
market cannot afterwards be called in question, and that applies to the
present case. And when we are told that there cannot exist private
property in land because that commodity is a gift of God to all, is it
not the fact that, in an old country like ours, land is worth little
except it be highly cultivated; that the labour, the manure, and the
seed are private property without the shadow of a doubt; and that it is
these we largely have to pay for when agricultural commodities are
bought? Upon the same ground it is sometimes contended that we should
have our water free because it falls from the heavens; but nature did
not provide reservoirs, or lay mains, or bring the pipes into our
houses; and for the sake of obtaining water easily we must pay for the
labour and appliances used in collecting and distributing it. And the
value of these illustrations, both as to land and to water, is to teach
an avoidance of sounding generalities and a resolve to look at all
questions in a practical light.
Recognizing, therefore, that private property in land has existed, is
existing, and is not likely to be abolished, the duty of progressive
politicians is to see how the laws affecting it can be so modified as to
benefit a considerably larger portion of the community than at present.
And three of the points which have been most discussed, and which now
are nearest settlement, are the custom of primogeniture, the law of
entail, and the enactments relating to transfer.
After spurning for many years the Liberal demand for the abolition of
the custom of primogeniture--by which the land of a man dying without a
will passes to the eldest son, to the exclusion of the rest of the
family--the Tories in 1887 themselves proposed it; and in the House of
Lords only one peer had sufficient courage to stand up in defence of a
custom which the whole peerage had sworn by until that time. It puzzles
any one not a peer to understand how a distinctly dishonest practice
could have existed so long, save for the utterly inadequate reason that
its tendency was to prevent large estates from being broken up, and that
there were those who imagined that large estates were a benefit to the
country. In actual working, however, it did not affect the largest
estates but the smallest, and primogeniture was thus a question touching
much more closely those of moderate means than the possessors of great
wealth. A large holder of land is an exceedingly unlikely person to die
without a will; a small holder frequently does so, with the result of
much injustice to and suffering among his family.
A practical instance is worth a hundred theories upon a point like this,
and here are some such which have come under my own notice within the
past few months. A man possessed of a small landed property died
intestate; his daughter, who had ministered to his wants for years, was
left penniless, the whole of the property going to the eldest son.
Another similarly circumstanced, whose stay and comfort during his old
age had likewise been a daughter, shrank, with the foolish obstinacy of
the superstitious, from making a will; his friends, recognizing that, if
he failed in this obvious duty, the daughter would be thrown without a
penny on the world, while the eldest son, who for various reasons had
not the least claim upon his father, would take everything, besought the
old man to act reasonably; and almost at the last moment he did. In a
third case, a fisherman, who for eighteen years had been paying for a
piece of land through a building society, was drowned in a squall; and
his savings, designed for the support of himself and his wife, were
swept straight into the pocket of his eldest son. Now in all these
instances, had the money been invested in houses, ships, consols--in
fact, anything but land--it would, in case of no will being made, have
been divided among the whole family in fair proportion. The accident of
it being put into land caused wrong and suffering in two cases, and
wrong and suffering were very narrowly avoided in the third. The
abolition of primogeniture, therefore, is much more needed by the
working and the middle classes than by the rich, whose lawyers very
seldom allow them to die without a will.
The law of entail is on its last legs, as well as the custom of
primogeniture, and the Tories, by Lord Cairns' Settled Land Act, and a
subsequent amending measure, have practically admitted that it is
doomed. Entail affects the community by giving power to a man to fetter
his land with a multitude of restrictions for an indefinite period; it
makes the nominal owner only in reality a life tenant; and by cramping
him upon the one side with conditions which may have become out of date,
and tempting him on the other to limit his expenditure on that which is
not wholly his own, the development of the land is impeded, and the
progress of agriculture hampered by force of law. Entail, like
primogeniture, has been defended on the ground that it tends to keep
large estates intact; but it is now so generally believed that a more
widespread diffusion of land is desirable, that it is only necessary
here to state the argument.
A more widespread diffusion of the land will not, however, be attained
unless the process of transfer is at once cheapened and simplified. The
lawyers reap too much advantage from the present system, and many a man
refrains from buying a plot he would like because the cost of transfer
unduly raises the price. If it were provided that all estates should be
registered and their boundaries clearly defined, there would be no more
difficulty and expense in transferring a piece of land than is now
involved in selling a ship. In these days buyer and seller are parted by
parchments; and many who would like a plot, but who do not see why they
should pay, because of the lawyers, ten, or fifteen, or twenty per cent.
more than its value, put their money into concerns in which
meddlesomeness created by Act of Parliament does not mingle.
Simpler and cheaper transfer would be a step towards the more general
ownership of land by those who till it. Let all artificial aids to the
holding together large estates by power of Parliament be abolished, let
transfer be cheapened and simplified, and then let him who likes buy.
Free trade in land is what we ask, and when it is attained land will be
able to be dealt with the same as any other commodity, and those who
want a piece can have it by paying for it.
But although it may not be desirable for the State to interfere in
England for the creation of a peasant proprietary, it is needful that
Parliament should do something tangible in the direction of securing
allotments for the labourers. Upon that point, as upon primogeniture and
entail, the Tories profess to be converted; but as their Allotments Bill
of 1887 appears in practice to be a sham, it is necessary that such
amendments should be introduced as may render it a reality.
XVIII.--SHOULD WASTE LANDS BE TILLED AND THE GAME LAWS ABOLISHED?