1804. On the Shortnefs of Lcafet% 40^ 



A iingle iaftitution will difplay the fplrit of a Icglflaturc j a fingl^ 

 remark or enactment will unfold the characler ot a prince; and 

 a finglt literary work- will correct or eltabhfli the opinions of a.i 

 age. When the older Berniloif got a law piuTcd, that the Danifh 

 pcafants ftjould be frte, he cffedKd a rcvoluti(jn in the fenrini-jut^ 

 of the government of his country. When Henry IV. of France 

 cxprefled a wi(h that all the pealants and labourers in his domi- 

 nions might h.ive a fowl on the table on Sundays, he intimated> 

 in u peculiar and laconic manner, that benevolent concern v.hich 

 he took in the profperity, comfort, and happinefs of the people, 

 which, we have cauf- to know, had not bttn much the objedts 

 of attention of feme oi the princes before his time. AVhen the 

 ever memorable Frederick II., in the early part of his reign, ftem* 

 ed only intent on improving the liifcipline of his army, it did not 

 portend that, in the later periods of it, he would labour with fo 

 much affiduity in promoting the agricultural improvements of his 

 country, as to infure to his name the celebrity of a patriot \ and 

 it is only becaufe the more bviliiant renov/n of the warrior eclipfcs 

 the model! and lefs obtruding merit of the patriot, that he is not 

 as well known in the latter capacity as in the former When 

 the Britifli Legiflature abolifned the heritable jurifdidfions in Scot- 

 land, in the year 1748, and thereby diiTeminated the bleilmgs of 

 equal liberty among the people, I believe it was fcarcely forefecii 

 that the Lowlands would, in the courfe of half a century, bcconW 

 one of the belt cultivated countries in Europe. When Mr MirhbUs 

 pubh{hed his Eilay on Population, he demonftrated, I fuppofe, to 

 the fatisfadtion of every one, tliat the population of every coun- 

 try will be in proportion to the means of lubhilence provided for 

 the people, without the interpofitiot; of feme obvious and powerful 

 checks. 



I confider this queftion to be of fiich magnitude, that if I had 

 time and talents for tlie proper dilculhon, I would introduce it 

 with the words of Montelquieu, when he enters on the fubjedl of 

 commerce — * Fain would I glide down a gentle iheam ; but I ana 

 hurried along by a torrent. ' 



As, in the prefent circumflances of Great Britain, I confides 

 it entirely impoflible that the whole of the lands can be culti- 

 vated by the pwprietors; fo the anfwer to the latter branch 

 of the query naturally points out itfelf — * that a right of cul- 

 tivation, for a limited time, fhouid be affigned to others. ' 

 Large traffis of land can, in no country whatever, be cul- 

 tivated by the proprietors, but in thofe Ibtes where the greaf 

 body of the people are in the condition of villanaj.e or fer- 

 vitude, as in RulEa, cidevant Poland, and other kingdoms ii> 

 the north of Europe. This mode of cultivation, then, cannot 

 fioiEbly take place in Britain, where tlie pcopk are free. The 



1^ d St ouly 



