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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



under the native rulers produce as disastrous results, 

 before an English water company led its turbulent 

 stream gently into new and multitudinous channels, 

 irrigated the country, and caused the wilderness to 

 blossom as the rose. The practice brought assurance 

 to the Indian farmer, wealth to the undertakers, pro- 

 sperity to the district, and gratitude to the English 

 rule. So the Mahanuddy was a source of poverty to 

 the people of one province, while the Godavery was a 

 source of wealth to the people of another. In fact, the 

 tale of security and insecurity is well told by the mere 

 relation of the difference that has taken place in 

 twenty-three years between the revenues of Tanjore 

 and Orissa, which amount to no less than eight millions 

 sterling. 



Security is another name for good government, and 

 good government is as essential for agriculture as for 

 manufactures. The Sicilian starves on the most fertile 

 soil. Italy, once so famous for her agriculture, has 

 long ceased to support her own diminishing population. 

 The splendid wheat lands of Poland have not endowed 

 the Pole with any better thing than slavery, nor has 

 the wail of distress long ceased to be heard from the 

 luxuriant soil of Ireland. There was a time not re- 

 moved by many years from our own, when very little 

 care was bestowed by the East India Company upon 

 anything beyond the collection of a sum adequate to 

 pay the expenses of their governmental apparatus, and 

 yield a handsome dividend to the holders of India 

 stock. Had a different course been adopted, had the 

 reform now inaugurated been applied years ago, India, 

 instead of being a drag upon us, might have yielded us 

 a splendid revenue. 



Agriculture is, then, the soul and basis of an empire ; 

 yes, when there is security to capital, or in other words, 

 the fostering care of good government. 



But Napoleon III. has not only proclaimed his 

 adoption of this fundamental dictum of his uncle. 

 He has also made in our hearing the following an- 

 nouncement : 



" I represent before you [the people of France] a 

 principle, a cause, and a defeat. The principle is the 

 sovereignty of the people ; the cause, that of the 

 people; the defeat, Waterloo. The principle you 

 have recognised, the cause you have served, the defeat 

 you desire to revenge." 



Now, treating this declaration seriously, have we 

 not every reason to be alarmed? No, not in 

 the least ! As this " inscrutable " individual has failed 

 to "represent the principle," except in as far as he 

 may be regarded as the conqueror of the French people, 

 and to serve "the cause," may he not also find it con- 

 venient to wink at Waterloo ? Indeed, would not the 

 practical recognition of the two first conditions of the 

 declaration render the third impossible ? For, substi- 

 tuting liberal institutions for the Napoleonic principle 

 and cause, would not. the French people, by the time 

 they were inducted into them (indicating the possession 

 of a vast amount of common sense and sound think- 

 ing), thank us heartily for the drubbing we gave them 



at Waterloo, and the salutary check we then put to an 

 insane course of ambition, which had exhausted their 

 treasury, decimated their population, laid waste their 

 fields, and dragged them to an abyss of ruin from 

 which they are only now crawling ? 



We are, however, of opinion that it is altogether a 

 mistake— a misprint. The Emperor intended to say 

 that he "represented a defeat," pleasantly alluding to 

 the terrible defeat he has sustained in the fields of 

 France — a defeat which he seems burning to revenge, 

 the dictum of his uncle tingling in his ears — " Agri- 

 culture is the soul, the basis of the empire." 



The sovereignty of the people, and the cause of the 

 people, are quite consistent with this last condition in 

 its amended form. The two first cannot be obtained 

 without the last. The ti'iad is homogeneous and com- 

 plete. The defeat to be effaced is on the fertile fields 

 of " La belle France." The victory that has stung 

 the French to the quick, is the victory obtained by 

 English hearts and hands on English fields. So de- 

 cided is this triumph, that the psean of victory bursts 

 from the ranks of the enemy. It comes from a soul 

 warmed into admiration of noble work, and above 

 jealousy. The burden of the song is as follows : 



" Whilst France," says Monsieur Lavergne, " taken 

 as a whole, produces 100 francs per hectare,* England 

 produces 200. The animal produce of an English farm 

 is equal to at least the total produce of a French farm 

 of equal area ; all the vegetable production being addi- 

 tional. Taking only the three kinds of domestic ani- 

 mals — sheep, oxen, and pigs— and not taking poultry 

 into account, the English obtain from these four-times 

 more than we do in butcher's meat, milk, and wool. 

 Among the vegetable products, whilst the French soil 

 does not produce quite one hectolitre and a-half of 

 wheat per hectare, the English soil produces three, 

 and it gives, besides, five-times more potatoes for 

 human consumption." 



" How superior," cries the same writer, "are the 

 soil and climate of France ! In comparing with Eng- 

 land, not the fourth only, but the north-west half of 

 our territory— that is to say the thirty-six departments 

 grouped around Paris, inclusive of Brittany— we find 

 more than twenty-two millions of hectares, which sur- 

 pass in quality, as they do in extent, the thirteen 

 millions of English hectares." 



'Tis here is the victory. This is the defeat Napoleon 

 III. represents. 



The Napoleonic idea is working. There was a great 

 review of the Agricultural forces of the kingdom at 

 Paris in June last. And the British farmer went 

 to see the display with as much composure as the 

 British soldier went to dance at the festivals of Cher- 

 ourg. It is to be hoped that the results of the 

 audable intention to revenge this victory may be such 

 as to convince our French brethren that standing crops 

 are better than standing armies. E. R. S. 



* The hectare ia equal to 2^ English acres. 



