The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886Various
History
The Quarterly Review, Volume 162, No. 324, April, 1886
Various
Periodicals
With the papers of the College we close this notice of the political
documents in the archives at the Frari. The other departments of the
Government had each their own series of papers, equally copious and
valuable. The heraldic and genealogical archives of the Avvogadori di
Commun, for example, the Charters of the German and Turkish Exchanges
and the records of the Mint and the public Banks, offer a wide and a
rich field for study; and in spite of the profound and extensive labours
of such scholars as Thomas, Checchetti, Barozzi, Berchet, Fulin,
Lamansky, Mas Latrie, and Rawdon Brown, it will be long before the
materials in the vast storehouse of the Frari are exhausted or even
adequately displayed.
Art. IV.--1. _Journal of a Residence in Norway during the years 1834,
1835 and 1836._ By Samuel Laing, Esq. London, 1837.
2. _Le Royaume de Norvege et le Peuple Norvegien._ Par le Dr. O. I.
Broch. Christiania, 1878.
3. _Official Reports of Prefects on the Economic Condition of the
Provinces of Norway in 1876-80._ Christiania, 1884.
4. _Publications of the Statistical Bureau, Christiania._
The advocates of a general redistribution of landed property in Ireland,
as well as those who are holding out to the agricultural labours of
other portions of the United Kingdom the Arcadian lure figuratively
known as the 'three acres and a cow,' will find in the work cited at the
head of this article the amplest materials for the justification of the
views they are pressing for adoption partly as a remedy for agricultural
distress, but essentially in application of the Socialist doctrine that
the people of a country have an inherent right to an absolute,
proportionate possession of its soil.
Mr. Laing's 'Journal' is, indeed, not a record of travel and adventure,
but a treatise, admirably written and replete with facts, in
demonstration of the great superiority of the Norwegian system of land
tenure over that of any other part of civilized Europe. His views have,
moreover, been to a great extent adopted in the numerous works that have
since been produced by British travellers who, after a rapid drive over
the main routes of Norway, have described in terms equally glowing the
happy and enviable condition of the _Bonde_ or yeoman farmer of that
country.
Considering there is much in common in regard to race, religion,
language, character, and civilization, between the inhabitants of that
interesting little country and its maritime neighbours--the populations,
more especially, of England and Scotland, it will be instructive, on the
eve of the agrarian revolution with which the United Kingdom is
threatened, to study and analyse the statements and conclusions of Mr.
Laing, and to trace the subsequent and present operation of the peculiar
land laws which he so highly extolled in the earlier part of this
century.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account