62 Parochial, National, and Miscellaneous Burdens* 



well be devised, against either an exorbitant assessment, or a 

 prodigal distribution (* 9 ). 



3. The system adopted in Scotland, by which there is a 

 schoolmaster appointed in every parish, one-half of whose sa- 

 lary is paid by the farmer, is certainly a wise regulation, and 

 becoming an enlightened nation. Why should not every in- 

 dividual in a country, be enabled to read and write, and to 

 understand arithmetic? The acquisition of these essential 

 branches of education opens his mind, improves his morals, 

 and fits him for being a better and more useful member of so- 

 ciety ; and the means of acquiring them, ought not to depend 

 on the charitable disposition of reluctant contributors, but 

 ought to be secured, to the poorest individual, by the muni- 

 cipal law of the land ( 2I ). 



2. National Burdens. 



The national burdens in general, as the duties on houses 

 and windows, and other assessed taxes ; or assessments for the 

 support of militia-men's wives and families, for the conveyance 

 of vagrants, or the prosecution of felons, do not fall heavier 

 upon the farmer, than upon other classes of the community. 

 But there was one impost which was severely felt by the ara- 

 ble farmer, while it continued, namely, the tax on horses em- 

 ployed in husbandry. The inequality of that tax was strong- 

 ly objected to ; for lands, when pastured, and necessarily sub- 

 ject to the least expense, paid no part of it. The burden conse- 

 quently fell exclusively on lands in tillage, which, as a ne- 

 cessary consequence, prevented the British farmer from rais- 

 ing the productions of arable land, as cheaply as the foreign 

 cultivator. 



3. Miscellaneous Burdens. 



There are likewise various miscellaneous burdens affecting 

 the farmer, as statute assessments for bridges, which are of such 

 public utility, that moderate rates for their maintenance, pro- 

 perly applied, cannot be objected to ; statute labour on the 

 highways, for keeping them in good condition, which is a mat- 

 ter of general interest ; constable dues, which are seldom of 

 much moment; charges of the churchwardens, including 

 the repairs of the church ; and, in some populous parishes, 

 a burial-ground-tax. All these are paid by the occupiers. 

 In some places also, there is a sewer's tax, chargeable on 

 the landlords, where it is not otherwise settled by express 

 contract ( ZI1 ). Adstriction to mills, however, is the seve- 

 rest burden, where it exists ; for not only is the expense of 



