286 OUR ENGLISH LAND MUDDLE. 



however, I do not put forward any proposal for 

 a wild and excessive tariff, but for a policy of 

 putting a little breakwind around our farms, 

 seeking, in doing so, to avoid any increase in the 

 cost of general living. 



The English land, as I see it, has come to a 

 grave state of debility. It has suffered for 

 generations from wasting disease, bled of its 

 markets, its capital, its labour. The task of 

 restoring it to a natural vigour will call for 

 patience, courage, assiduous care, and perhaps 

 some slight sacrifice. But the task may always 

 be encouraged by the hope founded on know- 

 ledge that Nature is on the side of the patient, 

 and by the certainty that to restore the British 

 land to its true position in the Imperial 

 household will bring a harvest of benefits not 

 calculable only by the addition to the national 

 profits and the national ranks of happy workers, 

 but extending much farther in giving fresh 

 vigour to the British character and fresh security 

 to the Imperial position. 



THE END. 



