SECT. XXI.] RESULTS OF THE INQUIRY. 287 



within the preceding twelve months, provided that they 

 previously resided thereupon for a period of three years* 

 We also propose that lessees who shall have sublet to the 

 emigrants shall be considered the landlords liable to the 

 charge ; and that the contribution thus payable by the 

 landlord shall be added to the portion of the national 

 rate allocated to each district ; and that the district at 

 large, in case of non-payment by the landlord, shall be 

 answerable for it. We are of opinion, however, that the 

 contributions from landlords should be required only with 

 reference to tenants in rural districts, and not from the 

 landlords of tenants in market towns ; we therefore pro- 

 pose that the national rate shall bear the full half of the 

 expense incurred by the emigration of the latter class. 



REMARKS. 



Montesquieu, Voltaire, and on the other side all 

 the theologians of the English Church, have de- 

 clared that celibacy, by impeding the increase of 

 population, is opposed to the laws of God. But 

 here we see a body of Commissioners, belonging 

 to these two schools, which moreover agree only 

 upon this point, coming forward to declare that a 

 Catholic country, in which the priesthood consists 

 entirely of men living in celibacy, is burdened with 

 over-population, and proposing means to relieve it 

 of a portion of this population. No words can ex- 



