[ 954 J 
as'they are, and as they ftand incontrovertibly, it is 
clearly decucible, that Great-Britain mutt either con- 
tinue to import a confiderable portion of the firft 
article of fubfiftence, and thereby give an -annual 
bounty to foreign cultivation, or that 160,000: ad- 
ditional acres of land muft forthwith be brought into 
tillage; and 30,000 added yearly to that number, to 
provide for an annual increafe of 100,000 fouls in 
the population. Without fuch a refource, ftarvation 
or emigration muft enfue; for I will not fuppofe any 
legal or political {top will be put to the increafe of 
mankind. 
It then becomes a queftion ferioufly to be decided, 
whether Great-Britain, as a commercial ifland, ” de- 
pending greatly on the cheapnefs and excellence of 
her manufaétures, for the fupportand extenfion of her 
commerce, and of courfe the maintenance of her 
power, fhould depend in a great degree on foreign 
nations for her daily bread. If that important point 
is unanimoufly decided in the negative, the argument 
for bringing every inch of wafte, or unproduttive 
land, into an immediate ftate of inclofure and im- 
provement, is fupported by imperious neceflity; and 
it will become a duty, in the higheft degree incum- 
bent on the Jegiflature, to meet and provide for this 
growing demand. 
Tcould enlarge much on this fubje&, which I 
have greatly at heart, but a ftate of total blindnefs, 
and other infirmities, under which I labour, is 
rather 
