The Romans acted with regard to all conquered nations upon the maxim,
"To the victors the spoils." Britain was no exception. The Romans were
the first to discover or create an ESTATE OF USES in land, as distinct
from an estate of possession. The more ancient nations, the Jews and
the Greeks, never recognized THE ESTATE OF USES, though there is some
indication of it in the relation established by Joseph in Egypt, when,
during the years of famine, he purchased for Pharaoh the lands of
the people. The Romans having seized upon lands in Italy belonging to
conquered nations, considered them public lands, and rented them to
the soldiery, thus retaining for the state the estate in the lands, but
giving the occupier an estate of uses. The rent of these public lands
was fixed at one tenth of the produce, and this was termed USUFRUCT--the
use of the fruits.
The British chiefs, who submitted to the Romans, were subjected to a
tribute or rent in corn; it varied, according to circumstances, from one
fifth to one twentieth of the produce. The grower was bound to deliver
it at the prescribed places. This was felt to be a great hardship, as
they were often obliged to carry the grain great distances, or pay a
bribe to be excused. This oppressive law was altered by Julius Agricola.
The Romans patronized agriculture--Cato says, "When the Romans designed
to bestow the highest praise on a good man, they used to say he
understood agriculture well, and is an excellent husbandman, for this
was esteemed the greatest and most honorable character." Their system
produced a great alteration in Britain, and converted it into the most
plentiful province of the empire; it produced sufficient corn for
its own inhabitants, for the Roman legions, and also afforded a great
surplus, which was sent up the Rhine. The Emperor Julian built new
granaries in Germany, in which he stored the corn brought from Britain.
Agriculture had greatly improved in England under the Romans.
The Romans do not appear to have established in England any military
tenures of land, such as those they created along the Danube and the
Rhine; nor do they appear to have taken possession of the land; the tax
they imposed upon it, though paid in kind, was more of the nature of
a tribute than a rent. Though some of the best of the soldiers in the
Roman legions were Britons, yet their rule completely enervated
the aboriginal inhabitants--they were left without leaders, without
cohesion. Their land was held by permission of the conquerors. The wall
erected at so much labor in the north of England proved a less effectual
barrier against the incursions of the Picts and Scots than the living
barrier of armed men which, at a later period, successfully repelled
their invasions. The Roman rule affords another example that material
prosperity cannot secure the liberties of a people, that they must be
armed and prepared to repel by force any aggression upon their liberty
or their estates.
"Who will be free, themselves must strike the blow."
The prosperous "Britons," who were left by the Romans in possession
of the island, were but feeble representatives of those who, under
Caractacus and Boadicea, did not shrink from combat with the legions of
Caesar. Uninured to arms, and accustomed to obedience, they looked for a
fresh master, and sunk into servitude and serfdom, from which they never
emerged. Yet under the Romans they had thriven and increased in
material wealth; the island abounded in numerous flocks and herds; and
agriculture, which was encouraged by the Romans, flourished. This wealth
was by one of the temptations to the invaders, who seized not only upon
the movable wealth of the natives, but also upon the land, and divided
it among themselves.
The warlike portion of the aboriginal inhabitants appear to have
joined the Cymri and retired westward. Their system of landholding was
non-feudal, inasmuch as each man's land was divided among all his sons.
One of the laws of Hoel Dha, King of Wales in the tenth century, decreed
"that the youngest son shall have an equal share of the estate with
the eldest son, and that when the brothers have divided their father's
estate among them, the youngest son shall have the best house with all
the office houses; the implements of husbandry, his father's kettle, his
axe for cutting wood, and his knife; these three last things the father
cannot give away by gift, nor leave by his last will to any but his
youngest son, and if they are pledged they shall be redeemed." It may
not be out of place here to say that this custom continued to exist in
Wales; and on its conquest Edward I. ordained, "Whereas the custom is
otherwise in Wales than England concerning succession to an inheritance,
inasmuch as the inheritance is partible among the heirs-male, and
from time whereof the memory of man is not to the contrary hath been
partible, Our Lord the King will not have such custom abrogated, but
willeth that inheritance shall remain partible among like heirs as it
was wont to be, with this exception that bastards shall from henceforth
not inherit, and also have portions with the lawful heirs; and if it
shall happen that any inheritance should hereafter, upon failure of
heirs-male, descend to females, the lawful heirs of their ancestors
last served thereof. We will, of our especial grace, that the same women
shall have their portions thereof, although this be contrary to the
custom of Wales before used."
The land system of Wales, so recognized and regulated by Edward I.,
remained unchanged until the reign of the first Tudor monarch.
Its existence raises the presumption that the aboriginal system of
landholding in England gave each son a share of his father's land,
and if so, it did not correspond with the Germanic system described by
Caesar, nor with the tribal system of the Celts in Ireland, nor with the
feudal system subsequently introduced.
The polity of the Romans, which endured in Gaul, Spain, and Italy,
and tinged the laws and usages of these countries after they had
been occupied by the Goths, totally disappeared in England; and even
Christianity, which partially prevailed under the Romans, was submerged
beneath the flood of invasion. Save the material evidence of the
footprints of "the masters of the world" in the Roman roads, Roman wall,
and some other structures, there is no trace of the Romans in England.
Their polity, laws, and language alike vanished, and did not reappear
for centuries, when their laws and language were reimported.
I should not be disposed to estimate the population of England and
Wales, at the retirement of the Romans, at more than 1,500,000. They
were like a flock of sheep without masters, and, deprived of the
watch-dogs which over-awed and protected them, fell an easy prey to the
invaders.