18 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



inff his caiiHl. George IV. and many nobles, 

 speivt the products of other nien"s industry upon 

 p;i!aces. _ Who can ralculate the diflorence of ilic 

 .effects ofeach, upon the national industry and wealth 

 ibr a hundred years allerward? The canal em- 

 ploys thousands and millions, directly and indirect- 

 ly, m pmductivz \ni\us\ry, ibr ever aftei'wards^ the 

 palaces cn^afre thousands in consuniinfr idle, un 

 productive existence only; deslroyin<r the products 

 eC the industry of others, without rendering any 

 equivalent productive return. 



When we view tiic hordes of the idle rich and 

 the idle poor— the unemployed, and the wrouL"- 

 and unproduciively employed— the useless in all 

 prolessions— the tax-gatherers — soldiers and naval 

 sailors— the useless han<rers-on and dependants of 

 rsiobiliry — beiiijars^thieves-— convic's — gamblers 

 • — horee-jockeys — the army of government officers 

 and laborers — the govertmient aristocrats, (the 

 liind-holders)— the sick, &c. &c. we shall find, in 

 England at least, that it is not the industrious ma- 

 ny who support the idle few, but the really indus- 

 .trious productive lew, who support the "idle and 

 unproductive many. The reallv improving pro- 

 duciives in England and the United States, are 

 greater than in any other countries; hence their 

 present condition. M' all were any thing like pro- 

 ductively occupied, and industrious, the danger 

 wo«Id be of (ar too much production of lbod,'i^n- 

 •stead of too little, and constant unconsumed excess, 

 instead of deficiency, would then be the result, 

 were the observance of the law of ccciipntion not 

 duly proportioned; this being the means of duly 

 ■proportioned production, and "the check to undue 

 and excess of production of some things, and defi- 

 ciency of others. For the want of the observance 

 of the law of occupation, even now excess of pro- 

 duction often takes place in agriculture, and par- 

 ticularly in manulactures. Bnibre the establish- 

 ment of manulactures in the United States, atjri- 

 -eultural produce was sometimes almost wholly un- 

 saleable. 



With the law of orcupation, the law of primo- 

 geniture is wholly inconsistent, and consequently 

 'the law of subsistence is violated, and the true 

 principles of agriculture cannot be practised and 

 developed. How can any right, real improvement 

 of the soil, to the proper extent, take place in Eng- 

 land, with the law of primoiieniture and entail? 

 Under the operation of these laws, neither the len- 

 . ant nor landlord can do justice to the soil. The 

 tenant, at will or under lease, and in both cases at 

 exorbitant rent, with no permanent interest in 

 the soil, with all he does, being of no advantage 

 vwhatever to his children, but the contrary — will lie, 

 can he, ought he, to improve the soil? Will the 

 landlords do it7 No. In ninety-nine instances in 

 a hundred, they are unfilled by nature, and in all, 

 almost wholly unfitted by education, habits, pur- 

 suits, &c.; spending their means upon palaces, liv- 

 ing in London or abroad, horse-racing, hunting, 

 gambling, &c. Then how have the improve- 

 iments in England, as iar as they have gone, (and 

 much has been really and wonderfully done,) been 

 accomplished? By the force of the demand of the 

 non-agricultural population, by the vast demands 

 of the manufiicturing, mining and commercial 

 population. What would have been the results 

 had the occupiers been the owners of the soil, and 

 ithe owners the occupiers? 



Why have the owners of the soil in England, 



who have been the occupiers, not in general im- 

 proved their estates better, equally and proportion- 

 ately with the tenantry? ibr it is a fact that they 

 have not done so: because they are irerierally the 

 hereditary owners, rarely fitted by nature for the 

 occupation, and still less so by their education, as- 

 sociations, habits, and other pursuits. The he- 

 reditary owner of a moderate esta'e, in the midst 

 of large hereditary estates, is placed in a most pe- 

 rilous and dangerous situation; his habits are 

 those of the opulent arisiO(;racy by which he is 

 surrounded, and having no rent to pay, he fancies 

 himself a great deal more secure than he really is. 

 lie identifies himself far more with the rich own- 

 ers of the soil, than with the tenant occu[iiers. 



To investigate the real positive utility of, in 

 themselves, an idle, unproductive, hereditary aris- 

 tocracy, would be a curious and most important 

 inquiry. They promote literature, the fine arts, 

 certain forms of good manners and civilization, 

 morals and habits, cleanliness, &c. What more? 

 Are monarchies and aristocracies to restrain and 

 suppress the effects of ignorance? to govern society 

 by fear and subservience in the absence of know- 

 ledsxe, morals and principles? It would appear to 

 be so. 



The primary, and greatpource, and.cause, of the 

 real impediment to the right advancement and 

 prosperity of the national and individual int(^resls 

 in the United States, (and all other countries,) at 

 the present monieni, are the (Ze^/ic/eni proportions 

 of productive industry and occupation to the agri- 

 cultural portion of the community, and the loo 

 great proportion of the soil in cultivation to the 

 existing population. And though little suspected 

 or thought of, these are the main causes of the 

 present deranged state of all the commercial rela- 

 tions. No country, and the currency of it, can be 

 in a healthy and stable condition, until all the 

 manufacturing and other branches of productive 

 industry are duly proportioned to the agricultural, 

 and until the soil in due cultivation is duly propor- 

 tioned to the legitimate wants of the existing popu- 

 lation. 



The present condition of the United States, is a 

 transition one, from a purely agricultural state (the 

 worst possible a nation can be in, next to tlie pure- 

 ly savage and pastoral,) to varied occupation. 

 There are yet too many farmers and too few of 

 other productive professions; yet now sufficient 

 of the latter to press ujwn the existing deficient 

 means and defective system of subsistence, in- 

 duced by the excess of agriculturists and the defi- 

 ciency of a healthy productive non-agricultural 

 population. The remedy: More non-agricultural 

 produclives, to produce a consequent improved 

 system of agriculture upon the soil now occupied, 

 (^vide England) which will be in no degree pro- 

 moted by importing grain from countries which 

 ought to consume it at home. To encourage the 

 importation of food, (the defrauded surplus of un- 

 duly led populations abroad,) to lessen and check 

 the existance, growth and extension of home non- 

 agricultural industry and production, with a view 

 to increase, or in any otherwise to increase, the al- 

 ready by far too great extent of (he occupation 

 (Ibr cultivation it cannot be called) of the soil, 

 would betray the utmost extent of legislative ig- 

 norance of the true interests of society. 'I^ those 

 entirely unacquainted with agriculture, il^vvould 

 obviously appear, that the more of a population is 



