4 CORPORATE BRANCHES OF 



acting its own part in that alliance or corpo- 

 ration. 



It is only when those branches of national 

 industry go hand in hand together that the 

 social structure of any nation can be said to 

 rest upon a solid foundation. If more than a 

 due proportion of industry be bestowed upon 

 any one branch, the nation must get into an 

 unnatural condition, and, on that account, be 

 more liable to experience sudden changes of 

 fortune. This is the position of Great Britain 

 and Ireland at present. Our agricultural, 

 commercial, and manufacturing strength is not 

 in that state of equilibrium which is conducive 

 to political health, and to a uniform state of 

 general prosperity. 



In England, agriculture has hitherto been 

 considerably neglected ; while the manufactur- 

 ing and commercial interests, on the other hand, 

 have been prosecuted with more than salutary 

 assiduity. England is, therefore, at present in 

 a very unnatural position. She is depending 

 too much upon foreign agriculture for the pro- 

 ductions natural to her own climate, such as 

 corn, cattle, flax, &c. ; thus cultivating, as it 

 were, a soil which is not her own, and the pro- 



