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ruinous to them. Leases now entered into, according to 

 my proposition, with a variable amount of rent, regulated 

 by the price of wheat, could not prove injurious to either 

 landlord or tenant, were the term either long or short. 

 Were leases entered into on the terms T propose, it probably 

 would not be an uncommon occurrence to hear, as I heard, 

 a tenant who had recently entered on a large farm of poor 

 land, say to his landlord, Mr. Coke, " My best bank, Sir, 

 for the capital I possess, is my farm, a part of your estate." 

 Some years ago, a great portion of the stewards of 

 landed proprietors were composed of lawyers, land-sur- 

 veyors, and others, who knew little or nothing of the real 

 quality of land, or the proper cultivation of it. All the 

 object in view of such stewards was to increase the rental 

 of their employers, on which increase it was then a common 

 practice for them to receive a commission ; so that indus- 

 trious tenants under their control, whose farms appeared 

 neat, were liable to have their rents raised ; and the crafty, 

 or negligent, whose farms appeared unsightly, theirs not 

 raised, but perhaps lowered, which is exactly the reverse of 

 what just stewards between landlords and tenants, ought at 

 all times to do. 



My proposition for a Commutation of Tithes was in the 

 same mode as in estimating rents, by the value of a deter- 

 minate number of bushels of wheat, and I still think 

 that a fairer plan could not have been adopted ; every 

 farm in the parish being valued according to the quality 

 of the land, and not according to its state of cultivation. 

 Nor were the valuers to be influenced by any amount 

 that might have been paid as compensation. Not to 

 disturb any existing agreement, but an estimate to be 

 given to the land-owner and tithe-owner of the value 

 to be .paid for commutation, when such agreement 

 ceases ; the amount fluctuating with the average price of 

 wheat. With this plan of commutation, it would not have 

 been necessary to have a permanent Board of Commissioners. 

 It has often been asserted in the House of Commons, 

 and elsewhere, that permanent low prices of corn would not 

 affect the farmers that landlords only would be affected 

 by it, for they must lower their rents. This, I trust I shall 

 be able to prove, by the following statement, to be a most 

 mistaken notion. 



