216 ESSAYS AND LETTERS
of conscience, and the incorporation into life of what has been made clear to conscience.
At the end of the eighteenth century and the com- mencement of the nineteenth, a clearing up of con- science took place in Christendom with reference to the labouring classes — who lived under various forms of slavery — and this was followed by a corresponding read- justment of the forms of social life, to suit this clearer consciousness : namely, the abolition of slavery, and the organization of free wage-labour in its place. At the present time an' enlightenment of men's consciences is going on in relation to the way land is used ; and soon, it seems to me, a practical application of this new consciousness must follow.
And in this process (the enlightenment of conscience as to the utilization of land, and the practical applica- tion of that new consciousness^), which is one of the chief problems of our time, the leader and organizer of the movement was and is Henry George. In this lies his immense, his pre-eminent, importance. He has helped by his excellent books, both to clear men's minds and consciences on this question, and to place it on a practical footing.
But in relation to the abolition of the shameful right to own landed estates, something is occurring similar to what happened (within our own recollection) with refer- ence to the abolition of serfdom. The Government and the governing classes — knowing that their position and privileges are bound up with the land question — pretend that they are preoccupied with the welfare of the people, organizing savings banks for workmen, factory inspec- tion, income taxes, even eight-hours working days — and carefully ignore the land question, or even, aided by compliant science, which will demonstrate anything they like, declare that the expropriation of the land is useless, harmful, and impossible.
Just the same thing occurs, as occurred in connection with slavery. At the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries, men had long felt that slavery was a terrible anachronism, revolting
