CHAP. xx. INCREASED PRICES. 105 



From what has been already stated of the effect 

 of the depreciation of metallic money on the 

 condition of the proprietors of the soil, it is 

 natural to proceed to that of the real cultivators, 

 the operative husbandmen. England presents a 

 picture of this class in society which, with the ex- 

 ception of a part of the Netherlands, is to be seen 

 in no other country on the globe, and to which 

 perhaps it is indebted for its peculiar advantages, 

 both social and political, in a greater degree than 

 to any other single cause. 



The system of cultivating lands on a kind of 

 partnership plan prevails almost universally ; the 

 landlord supplying the cultivator with the requi- 

 site stock of cattle and implements, and receiving . 

 a stipulated share of the produce, either in kind, 

 in labour, or in money, instead of what we de- 

 nominate rent. Whether this system be a con- 

 tinuation of that practised by the Greeks, after- 

 wards by the Romans, and handed down since 

 their dominion has ceased to the French, the 

 Spaniards, the Italians, and in some degree to the 

 Germans, under the names of the Metayer or 

 Meyer system, it has not, happily .for Great 

 Britain, been much if ever known in this island. 



It is not designed here to enter into an examina- 

 tion of the effect of the various modes in which 

 the owners of land have arranged with the culti- 

 vators in different countries. It is a large field of 

 inquiry, which would lead too far from the imme- 

 diate object under consideration. It is besides the 



