way, particularly in rural
districts, politicians (_i. e. agitators_) are here taking
more and more hold over the minds of the people. Political
unrest increases, and immature and extreme opinions are
being advanced more than is desirable. The quiet, temperate,
but progressive development to which Norway had previously
been accustomed, and with which the great bulk of the nation
had been well content, is in danger of being replaced by a
progress in fits and starts, accompanied by leaps in the
dark.'

No less painful and suggestive is it to find, in the Report from the
Prefect of Hedemarken, that 'the Christian earnestness of the people has
suffered under the influence of the many misleading writings and
tendencies which have in recent times found their way into every stratum
of society.' As at home, so in Norway, the question of Church
Disestablishment, with all its consequences, is approaching within
measurable distance of practical solution.[21]

Supported by official publications, we have now described the present
condition of the yeomen farmers of Norway, and from the facts and
figures we have marshalled, the following replies may confidently be
given to the Socialistic theories and conclusions of Mr. Laing:

1. Notwithstanding, or rather in part owing to, the existence of the
Allodial Right [which has proved in its results to be an exaggerated
form of primogeniture involving a greater multiplication of encumbrances
even than exists under the system of land tenure in the United Kingdom],
an excessive subdivision of the land has occurred and is still
proceeding in Norway, to the prejudice of estates which in 1836, and
even later, afforded moderate ease and contentment to their owners, and
relatively well remunerated labour to the workman and the cotter.

2. The dead-level of comfortable subsistence, attributed by Mr. Laing to
the parcelling-out of land into small estates, has been converted, by
the influence of irresistible economic laws, into one of general
distress and discontent among the rural classes.

3. The rates of pauperism and emigration prove that the agrarian
population has not, as prophesied by Mr. Laing, kept 'within the bounds
of possible modern existence.'

4. The taxation of landed property, for local purposes, has greatly
increased, particularly under the head of Poor Relief; and

5. The distressed condition of the yeoman farmer in Norway is stron