136 THE LANDED INTEREST. 



rich and poor. The number may be about 

 12,000 in England alone, with an average 

 annual value of ^300. As their income is in 

 no way affected by the question of rent, their 

 position is one of perfect impartiality between 

 landowners and their tenants, and they are the 

 natural referees of the poorer inhabitants. In 

 proportion to the whole number of landowners 

 in England the removal of this numerous body 

 would strike out more than a fourth of those 

 receiving above ^"200 a year, and probably 

 much more than one-fourth of the resident 

 landowners. This, irrespective of the question 

 of religion, would be a change of great magni- 

 tude in its social effect, which deserves careful 

 consideration. 



CROWN ESTATES. 

 Her Besides the domain and Great Park attached 



Majesty's 



Woods, to the Royal Castle of Windsor, 14,000 acres in 



Forests, 



and Land extent, and excluding the Duchies of Lancaster 



revenue, 



and Cornwall, there are comprised in the Royal 

 patrimony upwards of 70,000 acres of land in 

 the kingdom let in farms to agricultural tenants, 



