Synopsis of Chapters. xi 



PAGE 



economy of a State — The terms " magic of property " and 

 "demon of property " contrasted and criticised — The advantages 

 of a landed economy advocated, which includes both the small 

 freehold and the large tenancy — The probable effects of the 

 introduction of the petite culture into England contrasted with 

 the more economical cultivation at present practised on the 

 large English holdings — ^ Young's preference for corn husbandry 

 not being shared by other economists, a compromise between 

 the large tenancy and the small freehold shown to be possible 

 — The difficulties in the way of such an institution in England, 

 and the consequent dislike of most economists to the existing 

 landed system — ^The views of Lords Bacon and Kaimes regard- 

 ing entails — The other side of the question represented by an 

 illustration of the disastrous effects of the law of gavelkind in 

 Ireland, and by Dalrymple's rejoinder to a pamphleteer's attack 

 on the system of entails in Scotland 131-157 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE LAND TAXATION AND THE ECONOMISTS. 



The causes why our national fiscal system weighed so heavily on 

 the land — Locke's, Child's, Petty's, and Decker's views on the 

 relationship between agriculture and trade — The principal im- 

 posts of this epoch and their defects — The oppressive nature 

 of the land-tax, together with a detailed description of its 

 origin and history — Mercantilist prejudices against the Landed 

 Interest — The window-tax and its value as an estimate of the 

 numbers and wealtli of the population at this period — The bad 

 results to the national prosperity of the stamp, coal, and salt 

 duties : of the brick and tile tax, and of the various excises, as 

 well as Decker's proposed remedies — The canons of Adam Smith 

 and their application to the national fiscal system, especially 

 Avith regard to that portion of it affecting Landed Interests — 

 The growing dislike to existing taxation directs our financial 

 policy into fresh channels — The impossibility of deriving 

 further sources of revenue either from the land or its pi'oduce 

 induces the Treasury to borrow the communitj^'s spare com- 

 mercial capital at a high rate of interest — The failure even 

 of these funds to keep pace with the expenses of war times, 

 and the resort of the Government to a fresh property tax — The 

 advantages and disadvantages of the income tax to landed 

 property, and the unsuccessful attempts to differentiate its rate 

 of interest in a manner antagonistic to the landlords — The 

 general unpopularity of the tax, and its thorough and appar- 

 ently final abolition at the end of the French Wars — The 

 abnormal demands of the times proved to have led the un- 

 willing Pitt into disastrous fiscal schemes — The bad effects of 

 the succession duty on landed property foreshadowed . 158-187 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE STATE PROTECTION OF AGRICULTURE. 



The rival interests of corn and wool — Alteration in the economy of 

 sheep-breeding, and its effects on legislation — A retrospective 



