where, perhaps, custom is far more powerful than competition. In England competition regulates the rent of land; but in many parts of Italy, according to an invariable custom, metayer rents are paid, that is, a fixed proportion, originally one half, of the produce is given for the use of the land. In England, again, the produce of the land is shared amongst three classes—landlords, farmers, and labourers; but throughout the greater part of the world the produce is shared only amongst two classes, the landlords and farmers being combined in one, like the ancient freeholders of England; or the farmers and labourers are merged into one class, like the small farmers of Ireland. On the continent of Europe peasant proprietors are very numerous, and in these cases the individual owns the land, cultivates it himself, and likewise provides the capital. It will be necessary to trace the consequences which arise from these various arrangements.
Inequalities of wealth necessarily follow the institution of private property.The greatest inequalities of wealth are sure to follow the institution of private property; and the wealthier a country is, the more striking is the contrast between the wealth and the poverty which have throughout the history of the world accompanied each other. Various schemes have been propounded with the view of causing the wealth which is produced to be distributed more equitably; but if the State confiscated the property of every individual in England to-morrow, accumulated the whole wealth of the country in one great fund, and divided all the land equally amongst the inhabitants, there would gradually arise the same inequalities of wealth which exist at the present time. The industrious would soon obtain those portions of wealth which were allotted in this national distribution to those who were indolent and deficient in industrial capacity. Men are differently endowed by nature, and those who possessed strength and ability would soon become wealthy, and those who were less strong and less able would quickly return to comparative poverty. If, therefore, private property is permitted, and if men can indisputably claim as their own the wealth which is distributed to them as the reward of their labour, there must result great inequalities of wealth. And these inequalities will be