2 1 4 History of the English Landed Interest. 



with the following laconic reply : " The Honorable Gentle- 

 man will be pleased to wait until the Society is formed, when 

 with his great sagacity he perhaps may discover that the best 

 and most solid interest of the kingdom is the only object." ^ 



The significance of the Premier's retort was not, however, 

 entirely appreciated until the list appeared. It was headed by 

 the two Archbishops, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Privy 

 Seal, and the Lord President of the Council, and it included 

 all the leading agriculturists in both Houses.^ As a promise, 

 however, of its coming usefulness, the names of its president 

 and secretary would no doubt have outweighed in the public 

 estimation all those of the great dignitaries which preceded 

 them. The nation, under the guidance of Sir John Sinclair 

 and Arthur Young, felt that, whatever direction reform might 

 ultimately take, it would be an intelligible and practical one. 

 Without Young, indeed, the machinery of its management 

 would probably have failed to work ; for who will venture to 

 assert that there would have been anything like so searching 

 and successful a sj^stem of investigation into the wants of 

 the Landed Interest had he not, in his private capacity as 

 itinerant agriculturist, initiated it, and, in his ofl6.cial capacity 

 as secretary to the Board, adapted it to public uses. His ap- 

 pointment, in fact, ensured its popularity ; and when the list of 

 subjects 3 on which the Ministry required enlightenment came 

 out, the public recognised his handiwork and were satisfied. 



It would be impossible to examine the arguments of all 

 those who, throughout this period, dipped their pens into the 

 ink in order to advertise their views on the agricultural 

 problems of the day. Never before had been experienced such 

 energy in all branches of human industry. The robust habits 

 bred out of sixty j^ears of warfare, had endowed every English- 

 man with an exuberant vigour. Trade, shipping, and manu- 

 factures employed a large surplus population, which as yet the 

 farmer was able to feed. The price of agricultural produce 

 rose rapidly ; the provisioning of the shipping beneficially 



^ Gentleman s Magazine, 1791, p. 763. 

 " Id. Ibid., p. 795. 

 2 Id. Ibid., p. 957. 



