akhtene - glad to find at least one other member who agrees with me concerning Elessar's edict. And, more importantly, I think Tolkien would agree with us as well.
In the little background that Tolkien gives us, he describes the Hobbits as being a race with no written history, no real fixed abodes, and frankly, no country. The author even describes them as an "aboriginal" people.
Now considering how peaceful and comfort loving Hobbits are, this suggest to me a survival mechanism rather than a simple choice to be wanderers. a race of 3 foot tall folk in a land of giants would have to rely on flight far more than fight in order to survive. And if we are to believe Tolkien's assertation that the Men of Middle Earth are "us", then it's not hard to imagine the response of most Big Folk to these Little Folk: amused condescension at best, active predation of the weak at worst. It is only when the Halflings migrate and settle in a land that has been abandoned by most of the Big Folk that Hobbits begin to develop and flourish.
Aragorn, as a Ranger and a student of Gandalf's, was probably very aware of how weaker races such as the Hobbits fared during those lawless days of the Third Age. With the threat of Sauron gone, and the Race of Man establishing themselves as the dominant people of Middle Earth, I think that Elessar could anticipate a time when expansion and competition would bring conflict, and perhaps even conquest into The Shire. His edict was his attempt to prevent this, or at least delay it. If you look at our own history, you'll see that such edicts and treaties seldom hold up for long. I believe the only thing the King could give the Halflings was a little more time.
As to Child pointing out that the Bree Folk and Shire folk had always gotten along: well, that is a puzzler. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Bree survived the chaos of the Third Age at all, while the more "noble", militaristic cultures around them were wiped out. Perhaps the Bree-Folk survived by keeping a low profile and avoiding conflict as much as possible. A sort of Switzerland of Middle Earth.
This seems like a very Hobbitish response. So perhaps the friendship worked because, out of all the races of Men, the Bree-Folk were the most "Hobbit-Like".
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