As the opinion of contemporaneous thinkers on this important subject
cannot fail to interest the general reader, it is deemed proper to
insert here the following extract from a letter, written in 1849, to
show how powerfully the truths uttered in 1820, in the spirit of
prophecy, as it were, impressed themselves upon certain minds, and how
closely the verification of the prediction has been watched.
"I do not remember any political prophecy, founded on the spirit of
a wide and far-reaching statesmanship, that has been so remarkably
fulfilled as the one made by Mr. Webster, in his Discourse
delivered at Plymouth in 1820, on the effect which the laws of
succession to property in France, then in operation, would be
likely to produce on the forms and working of the French
government. But to understand what he said, and what he foresaw, I
must explain a little what had been the course of legislation in
France on which his predictions were founded.
"Before the Revolution of 1789, there had been a great accumulation
of the landed property of the country, and, indeed, of all its
property,--by means of laws of entail, _majorats_, and other legal
contrivances,--in the hands of the privileged classes; chiefly in
those of the nobility and the clergy. The injury and injustice done
by long continued legislation in this direction were obviously
great; and it was not, perhaps, unnatural, that the opposite course
to that which had brought on the mischief should be deemed the best
one to cure it. At any rate, such was the course taken.
"In 1791 a law was passed, preventing any man from having any
interest beyond the period of his own life in any of his property,
real, personal, or mixed, and distributing all his possessions for
him, immediately after his death, among his children, in equal
shares, or if he left no children, then among his next of kin, on
the same principle. This law, with a slight modification, made
under the influence of Robespierre, was in force till 1800. But the
period was entirely revolutionary, and probably quite as much
property changed hands from violence and the consequences of
violence, during the nine years it continued, as was transmitted by
the laws that directly controlled its succession.
"With the coming in of Bonaparte, however, there was established a
new order of things, which has continued, with little modification,
ever since, and has had its full share in working out the great
changes in French society which we now witness. A few experiments
were first made, and then the great Civil Code, often called the
_Code Napoleon_, was adopted. This was in 1804. By this remarkable
code, which is still in force, a man, if he has but one child, can
give away by his last will, as he pleases, half of his
property,--the law insuring the other half to the child; if he has
two children, then he can so give away only one third,--the law
requiring the other two thirds to be given equally to the two
children; if three, then only one fourth under similar conditions;
but if he has a greater number, it restricts the rights of the
parent more and more, and makes it more and more difficult for him
to distribute his property according to his own judgment; the
restrictions embarrassing him even in his lifetime.
"The consequences of such laws are, from their nature, very slowly
developed. When Mr. Webster spoke in 1820, the French code had been
in operation sixteen years, and similar principles had prevailed
for nearly a generation. But still its wide results were not even
suspected. Those who had treated the subject at all supposed that
the tendency was to break up the great estates in France, and make
the larger number of the holders of small estates more accessible
to the influence of the government, then a limited monarchy, and so
render it stronger and more despotic.
"Mr. Webster held a different opinion. He said, 'In respect,
however, to the recent law of succession in France, to which I have
alluded, _I would, presumptuously perhaps, hazard a conjecture,
that, if the government do not change the law, the law in half a
century will change the government; and that this change will be,
not in favor of the power of the crown, as some European writers
have supposed, but against it_. Those writers only reason upon what
they think correct general principles, in relation to this subject.
They acknowledge a want of experience. Here we have had that
experience; and we know that a multitude of small proprietors,
acting with intelligence, and that enthusiasm which a common cause
inspires, constitute not only a formidable, but an invincible
power.'
"In less than six years after Mr. Webster uttered this remarkable
prediction, the king of France himself, at the opening of the
Legislative Chambers, thus strangely echoed it:--'Legislation ought
to provide, by successive improvements, for all the wants of
society. The progressive partitioning of landed estates,
essentially contrary to the spirit of a monarchical government,
would enfeeble the guaranties which the charter has given to my
throne and to my subjects. Measures will be proposed to you,
gentlemen, to establish the consistency which ought to exist
between the political law and the civil law, and to preserve the
patrimony of families, without restricting the liberty of disposing
of one's property. The preservation of families is connected with,
and affords a guaranty to, political stability, which is the first
want of states, and which is especially that of France, after so
many vicissitudes.'
"Still, the results to which such subdivision and comminution of
property tended were not foreseen even in France. The Revolution of
1830 came, and revealed a part of them; for that revolution was
made by the influence of men possessing very moderate estates, who
believed that the guaranties of a government like that of the elder
branch of the Bourbons were not sufficient for their safety. But
when the revolution was made, and the younger branch of the
Bourbons reigned instead of the elder, the laws for the descent of
property continued to be the same, and the subdivision went on as
if it were an admitted benefit to society.
"In consequence of this, in 1844 it was found that there were in
France at least five millions and a half of families, or about
twenty-seven millions of souls, who were proprietary families, and
that of these about four millions of families had each less than
nine English acres to the family on the average. Of course, a vast
majority of these twenty-seven millions of persons, though they
might be interested in some small portion of the soil, were really
poor, and multitudes of them were dependent.
"Now, therefore, the results began to appear in a practical form.
One third of all the rental of France was discovered to be
absolutely mortgaged, and another third was swallowed up by other
encumbrances, leaving but one third free for the use and benefit of
its owners. In other words, a great proportion of the people of
France were embarrassed and poor, and a great proportion of the
remainder were fast becoming so.
"Such a state of things produced, of course, a wide-spread social
uneasiness. Part of this uneasiness was directed against the
existing government; another and more formidable portion was
directed against _all_ government, and against the very institution
of property. The convulsion of 1848 followed; France is still
unsettled; and Mr. Webster's prophecy seems still to be in the
course of a portentous fulfilment."
In the London Quarterly Review for 1846 there is an interesting
discussion on so much of the matter as relates to the subdivision of
real estate for agricultural purposes in France, as far as it had then
advanced, and from which many of the facts here alluded to are taken.
[Footnote 1: An interesting account of the Rock may be found in Dr.
Thacher's History of the Town of Plymouth, pp. 29, 198, 199.]
[Footnote 2: See Note A, at the end of the Discourse.]
[Footnote 3: For notices of Carver, Bradford, Standish, Brewster, and
Allerton, see Young's Chronicles of Plymouth and Massachusetts; Morton's
Memorial, p. 126; Belknap's American Biography, Vol. II.; Hutchinson's
History, Vol. II., App., pp. 456 _et seq._; Collections of the
Massachusetts Historical Society; Winthrop's Journal; and Thacher's
History.]
[Footnote 4: For the original name of what is now Plymouth, see Lives of
American Governors, p. 38, note, a work prepared with great care by J.B.
Moore, Esq.]
[Footnote 5: The twenty-first is now acknowledged to be the true
anniversary. See the Report of the Pilgrim Society on the subject.]
[Footnote 6: Herodot. VI. § 109.]
[Footnote 7: For the compact to which reference is made in the text,
signed on board the Mayflower, see Hutchinson's History, Vol. II.,
Appendix, No. I. For an eloquent description of the manner in which the
first Christian Sabbath was passed on board the Mayflower, at Plymouth,
see Barne's Discourse at Worcester.]
[Footnote 8: The names of the passengers in the Mayflower, with some
account of them, may be found in the New England Genealogical Register,
Vol. I. p. 47, and a narration of some of the incidents of the voyage,
Vol. II. p. 186. For an account of Mrs. White, the mother of the first
child born in New England, see Baylies's History of Plymouth, Vol. II.
p. 18, and for a notice of her son Peregrine, see Moore's Lives of
American Governors, Vol. I. p. 31, note.]
[Footnote 9: See the admirable letter written on board the Arbella, in
Hutchinson's History, Vol. I. Appendix, No. I.]
[Footnote 10: In reference to the British policy respecting Colonial
manufactures, see Representations of the Board of Trade to the House of
Lords, 23d Jan., 1734; also, 8th June, 1749. For an able vindication of
the British Colonial policy, see "Political Essays concerning the
Present State of the British Empire." London. 1772.]
[Footnote 11: Many interesting papers, illustrating the early history of
the Colony, may be found in Hutchinson's "Collection of Original Papers
relating to the History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay."]
[Footnote 12: In reference to the fulfilment of this prediction, see Mr.
Webster's Address at the Celebration of the New England Society of New
York, on the 23d of December, 1850.]
[Footnote 13: John Adams, second President of the United States.]
[Footnote 14: See note B, at the end of the Discourse.]
[Footnote 15: Oratio pro Flacco, § 7.]
[Footnote 16: The first free school established by law in the Plymouth
Colony was in 1670-72. One of the early teachers in Boston taught school
more than _seventy_ years. See Cotton Mather's "Funeral Sermon upon Mr.
Ezekiel Cheever, the ancient and honorable Master of the Free School in
Boston."
For the impression made upon the mind of an intelligent foreigner by the
general attention to popular education, as characteristic of the
American polity, see Mackay's Western World, Vol. III. p. 225 _et seq._
Also, Edinburgh Review, No. 186.]
[Footnote 17: By a law of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, passed as
early as 1647, it was ordered, that, "when any town shall increase to
the number of one hundred families or householders, they shall set up a
grammar school, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so far
as they may be fitted for the University."]
[Footnote 18: In reference to the opposition of the Colonies to the
slave-trade, see a representation of the Board of Trade to the House of
Lords, 23d January, 1733-4.]