NOTES, 



NOTE (A.) p. 1C. 



" THE importance of a country producing tmenty-five bushel* 

 <( per acre instead of eighteen, is prodigious ; but it is an idle 

 *' deception to speak of twenty-jive, for the superiority of Eng- 

 u lish spring corn (barley and oats), is doubly, greater than that 

 " of wheat and rye, and would justify me in proportioning the 

 " corn products of England, in general, compared with those of 

 <c France, as 28 to 18 ; and I am well persuaded, that such a 

 if ratio would be no exaggeration. Ten millions of acres, pro- 

 u duce more corn than fifteen millions^ consequently a territory 

 44 of one hundred millions of acres more than equals another of 

 *' one hundred and fifty millions. It is from such facts that we 

 <c must seek for an explanation of the power of England, which 

 <l has ventured to measure itself with that of a country so much 

 " more populous, extensive, and more favoured by nature, as 

 *' France really is ; and it is a lesson to all governments what- 

 *' ever, that if they would be powerful, they must encourage the 

 " only real and permanent basis of power, agriculture. By en- 

 * l larging the quantity of the products of land in a nation, all 

 " those advantages flow which have been attributed to a great 

 *' population, but which ought with much more truth to have 

 4< been assigned to a great consumption, since it is not the mere 

 " number of people, but their case and welfare, which constitute 

 *' national prosperity. The difference between the corn pro- 

 l( ducts of France and England is so great, that it would justify 

 ** some degree of surprise, how any. political writer could ever 

 " express any degree of amazement, that a territory naturally so 

 if inconsiderable as the British Isles in comparison with France, 

 " should ever become equally powerful ; yet this sentiment, 

 <c founded on mere ignorance, has been very common. With 

 tl such an immense superiority in the produce of corn, the more 

 * c obvious surprise should have been^ that the resources of Eng- 



