The general advantage or good of a nation is that of the sovereign, of the magistrate1, and of the people, both in peace and war. Is this possession of lands by the peasantry equally conducive2 to the prosperity of the throne and the people in all periods and circumstances? In order to its being the most beneficial system for the throne, it must be that which produces the most considerable revenue, and the most numerous and powerful army.
We must inquire, therefore, whether this principle or plan tends clearly to increase commerce and population. It is certain that the possessor of an estate will cultivate his own inheritance better than that of another. The spirit of property doubles a man’s strength. He labors4 for himself and his family both with more vigor5 and pleasure than he would for a master. The slave, who is in the power of another, has but little inclination6 for marriage; he often shudders7 even at the thought of producing slaves like himself. His industry is damped; his soul is brutalized; and his strength is never exercised in its full energy and elasticity8. The possessor of property, on the contrary, desires a wife to share his happiness, and children to assist in his labors. His wife and children constitute his wealth. The estate of such a cultivator, under the hands of an active and willing family, may become ten times more productive than it was before. The general commerce will be increased. The treasure of the prince will accumulate. The country will supply more soldiers. It is clear, therefore, that the system is beneficial to the prince. Poland would be thrice as populous9 and wealthy as it is at present if the peasants were not slaves.
Nor is the system less beneficial to the great landlords. If we suppose one of these to possess ten thousand acres of land cultivated by serfs, these ten thousand acres will produce him but a very scanty10 revenue, which will be frequently absorbed in repairs, and reduced to nothing by the irregularity and severity of the seasons. What will he in fact be, although his estates may be vastly more extensive than we have mentioned, if at the same time they are unproductive? He will be merely the possessor of an immense solitude12. He will never be really rich but in proportion as his vassals13 are so; his prosperity depends on theirs. If this prosperity advances so far as to render the land too populous; if land is wanting to employ the labor3 of so many industrious14 hands — as hands in the first instance were wanting to cultivate the land — then the superfluity of necessary laborers15 will flow off into cities and seaports16, into manufactories and armies. Population will have produced this decided17 benefit, and the possession of the lands by the real cultivators, under payment of a rent which enriches the landlords, will have been the cause of this increase of population.
There is another species of property not less beneficial; it is that which is freed from payment of rent altogether, and which is liable only to those general imposts which are levied18 by the sovereign for the support and benefit of the state. It is this property which has contributed in a particular manner to the wealth of England, of France, and the free cities of Germany. The sovereigns who thus enfranchised19 the lands which constituted their domains20, derived22, in the first instance, vast advantage from so doing by the franchises23 which they disposed of being eagerly purchased at high prices; and they derive21 from it, even at the present day, a greater advantage still, especially in France and England, by the progress of industry and commerce.
England furnished a grand example to the sixteenth century by enfranchising24 the lands possessed25 by the church and the monks26. Nothing could be more odious27 and nothing more pernicious than the before prevailing28 practice of men, who had voluntarily bound themselves, by the rules of their order, to a life of humility29 and poverty, becoming complete masters of the very finest estates in the kingdom, and treating their brethren of mankind as mere11 useful animals, as no better than beasts to bear their burdens. The state and opulence30 of this small number of priests degraded human nature; their appropriated and accumulated wealth impoverished31 the rest of the kingdom. The abuse was destroyed, and England became rich.
In all the rest of Europe commerce has never flourished; the arts have never attained32 estimation and honor, and cities have never advanced both in extent and embellishment, except when the serfs of the Crown and the Church held their lands in property. And it is deserving of attentive33 remark that if the Church thus lost rights, which in fact never truly belonged to it, the Crown gained an extension of its legitimate34 rights; for the Church, whose first obligation and professed35 principle it is to imitate its great legislator in humility and poverty, was not originally instituted to fatten36 and aggrandize37 itself upon the fruit of the labors of mankind; and the sovereign, who is the representative of the State, is bound to manage with economy, the produce of that same labor for the good of the State itself, and for the splendor38 of the throne. In every country where the people labor for the Church, the State is poor; but wherever they labor for themselves and the sovereign, the State is rich.
It is in these circumstances that commerce everywhere extends its branches. The mercantile navy becomes a school for the warlike navy. Great commercial companies are formed. The sovereign finds in periods of difficulty and danger resources before unknown. Accordingly, in the Austrian states, in England, and in France, we see the prince easily borrowing from his subjects a hundred times more than he could obtain by force while the people were bent39 down to the earth in slavery.
All the peasants will not be rich, nor is it necessary that they should be so. The State requires men who possess nothing but strength and good will. Even such, however, who appear to many as the very outcasts of fortune, will participate in the prosperity of the rest. They will be free to dispose of their labor at the best market, and this freedom will be an effective substitute for property. The assured hope of adequate wages will support their spirits, and they will bring up their families in their own laborious40 and serviceable occupations with success, and even with gayety. It is this class, so despised by the great and opulent, that constitutes, be it remembered, the nursery for soldiers. Thus, from kings to shepherds, from the sceptre to the scythe41, all is animation42 and prosperity, and the principle in question gives new force to every exertion43.
After having ascertained44 whether it is beneficial to a State that the cultivators should be proprietors45, it remains46 to be shown how far this principle may be properly carried. It has happened, in more kingdoms than one, that the emancipated47 serf has attained such wealth by his skill and industry as has enabled him to occupy the station of his former masters, who have become reduced and impoverished by their luxury. He has purchased their lands and assumed their titles; the old noblesse have been degraded, and the new have been only envied and despised. Everything has been thrown into confusion. Those nations which have permitted such usurpations, have been the sport and scorn of such as have secured themselves against an evil so baneful48. The errors of one government may become a lesson for others. They profit by its wise and salutary institutions; they may avoid the evil it has incurred49 through those of an opposite tendency.
It is so easy to oppose the restrictions50 of law to the cupidity51 and arrogance52 of upstart proprietors, to fix the extent of lands which wealthy plebeians53 may be allowed to purchase, to prevent their acquisition of large seigniorial property and privileges, that a firm and wise government can never have cause to repent54 of having enfranchised servitude and enriched indigence55. A good is never productive of evil but when it is carried to a culpable56 excess, in which case it completely ceases to be a good. The examples of other nations supply a warning; and on this principle it is easy to explain why those communities, which have most recently attained civilization and regular government, frequently surpass the masters from whom they drew their lessons.
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1
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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3
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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4
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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5
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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6
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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7
shudders
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| n.颤动，打颤，战栗( shudder的名词复数 )v.战栗( shudder的第三人称单数 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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elasticity
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| n.弹性，伸缩力 | |
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populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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10
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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11
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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12
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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13
vassals
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| n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 )；（封建时代）诸侯；从属者；下属 | |
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industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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laborers
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| n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工 | |
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16
seaports
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| n.海港( seaport的名词复数 ) | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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18
levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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19
enfranchised
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| v.给予选举权( enfranchise的过去式和过去分词 )；（从奴隶制中）解放 | |
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domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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21
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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23
franchises
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| n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 ) | |
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enfranchising
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| v.给予选举权( enfranchise的现在分词 )；（从奴隶制中）解放 | |
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25
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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29
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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30
opulence
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| n.财富，富裕 | |
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31
impoverished
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| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
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32
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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33
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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34
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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35
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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36
fatten
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| v.使肥，变肥 | |
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37
aggrandize
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| v.增大，扩张，吹捧 | |
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38
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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39
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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40
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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41
scythe
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| n. 长柄的大镰刀，战车镰； v. 以大镰刀割 | |
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42
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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43
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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44
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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46
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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47
emancipated
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| adj.被解放的，不受约束的v.解放某人（尤指摆脱政治、法律或社会的束缚）( emancipate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
baneful
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| adj.有害的 | |
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49
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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50
restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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51
cupidity
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| n.贪心，贪财 | |
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52
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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53
plebeians
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| n.平民( plebeian的名词复数 )；庶民；平民百姓；平庸粗俗的人 | |
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54
repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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55
indigence
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| n.贫穷 | |
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56
culpable
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| adj.有罪的，该受谴责的 | |
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