s than those held by the sword, and of which they were despoiled.
Though nominally forbidden to take part in the election of the
representatives of the Commons, yet they virtually had the power, the
creation of freehold, the substance and material of electoral right; and
consequently both Houses of Parliament were essentially landlord, and
the laws, for the century which succeeded the ascension of George I.,
are marked with the assertion of landlord right which is tenant wrong.

Among the exhibitions of this influence is an act passed in the reign
of George II., which extended the power of distraint for rent, and the
right to sell the goods seized--to all tenancies. Previous legislation
confined this privilege solely to cases in which there were leases,
wherein the tenant, by written contract, gave the landlord power to
seize in case of non-payment of rent, but there was no legal authority
to sell until it was given by an act passed in the reign of William III.
The act of George II. presumed that there was such a contract in all
cases of parole letting or tenancy-at-will, and extended the landlord's
powers to such tenancies. It is an anomaly to find that in the freest
country in the world such an arbitrary power is confided to individuals,
or that the landlord-creditor has the precedence over all other
creditors, and can, by his own act, and without either trial or
evidence, issue a warrant that has all the force of the solemn judgment
of a court of law; and it certainly appears unjust to seize a crop, the
seed for which is due to one man, and the manure to another, and apply
it to pay the rent. But landlordism, intrusted with legislative power,
took effectual means to preserve its own prerogative, and the form of
law was used by parliaments, in which landlord influence was paramount,
to pass enactments which were enforced by the whole power of the state,
and sustained individual or class rights.

The effect of this measure was most unfortunate; it encouraged the
letting of lands to tenants-at-will or tenants from year to year,
who could not, under existing laws, obtain the franchise or power to
vote--they were not FREEMEN, they were little better than serfs. They
were tillers of the soil, rent-payers who could be removed at the
will of another. They were not even freeholders, and had no political
power--no voice in the affairs of the nation. The landlords in
Parliament gave themselves, individually by law, all the powe