The Landowner 



should be enabled to obtain possession of the 

 land they rent by paying off its price in instal- 

 ments. These innovations would assist the 

 protective duties, and the empty fields would 

 once again be peopled with industrious men and 

 women eager to remain on the land. Further- 

 more, the odium that they enrich one section of 

 the population at the expense of another would 

 not attach to protective duties, and this is a 

 feature calculated to be serviceable in the 

 political fights. 



'* I may sum up my ideas as follows : there is 

 no question as yet of legislative measures for 

 the protection of the cultivation of corn ; and 

 English agriculture should therefore endeavour 

 to improve its situation by introducing agricul- 

 tural industry. Should this succeed, time will at 

 least have been gained to prevent further 

 retrogression. If, however, the English people 

 should adopt the idea of protective duties, the 

 introduction of these should be accompanied with 

 an agrarian reform that has other ideals than 

 the augmentation of the ground rents. Then 

 English agriculture will once again flourish." 



51 



