The Moral Case for Family Farms

Richard Cobden called on Parliament to support small, family-owned farms.

January 22nd 1864

Queen Victoria 1837-1901

Introduction

In 1864, Richard Cobden MP published an open letter arguing that small-holdings owned by the farmer, with the absolute right of inheritance, were the best guarantee of public morality and national prosperity. He began with the claim of public morality, arguing that the Government’s policy of super-farms was a step back towards feudalism, and a blow to aspiration.

by Richard Cobden 1804-1865

Abridged.

“All ancient legislators, especially Moses, grounded the success of their ordinances concerning virtue, justness, and morality upon securing hereditary estates, or, at least, landed property, to the greatest possible number of citizens.” — Niebuhr.*

In France, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Belgium, the Channel Islands, and in the United States the land is, as a rule, the property of those who cultivate it. The same state of things prevails more or less, or is being rapidly developed, in Italy, Spain, Russia,* Hungary, and other countries. England is the only great country where feudalism still rules the destinies of the land, and where the owners of the soil are constantly diminishing in number.

Now, looking at the moral aspect of the question alone, nobody will deny the advantages which the possession of landed property must confer upon a man or a body of men — that it imparts a higher sense of independence and security, greater self respect, and supplies stronger motives for industry, frugality, and forethought than any other kind of property.

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* Barthold Georg Niebuhr (1776-1831) was a Danish-German statesman, banker and historian who is regarded as one of the fathers of modern historiography, especially concerning ancient Rome.

* Three years earlier, in 1861, Emperor Alexander II had abolished serfdom in Russia, and was embarking on just such as reform as Cobden wanted to see in England.

Précis

Richard Cobden raised the alarm over the rapid decrease in family-owned small-holdings, as large agricultural concerns took them over. Our Continental neighbours, he said, preferred small-holdings. Moreover, English politicians constantly urged virtues of responsibility and thrift on the public, and what better way to foster them was there, than to entrust farmers with their own plot of land?

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

In Cobden’s opinion, how would owning their land benefit farm workers?

Suggestion

It would teach them independence and self-respect.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Some farmers own their land. The number is going down. That is bad for the country.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IConsequence. IIFewer. IIIHarm.

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