300 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



collected.'* It yields half a million sterling, which is only 

 one-tenth of the amount contributed by England. 



That beneficial expenditure which taxation promotes 

 elsewhere is, nevertheless, not neglected ; but it is England 

 which bears the heaviest charges, such as the cost of the 

 army and the maintenance of military ways. In this 

 respect Scotland is on a large scale what Jersey is on a 

 small. Spared the expense of the national defence, 

 which is the first care and heaviest charge of a nation, 

 she is free to devote all her resources to the develop- 

 ment of her prosperity. That spirit of order and eco- 

 nomy which regulates individual affairs is carried into 

 the public expenditure, and causes money to go much 

 farther. What is not done by means of taxation is 

 accomplished, both more speedily and at a more mode- 

 rate cost, by public spirit or private enterprise. Scot- 

 land is the cradle of economical science, and there its 

 lessons have found their best and most direct applica- 

 tion. A Scotchman trusts to his own resources, or looks 

 only to those whose interests are identical with his own ; 

 he does not waste his time in agitation and fruitless 

 proceedings ; having no favours to ask, he occupies 

 himself wholly about his own affairs, and conducts them 

 well, because nothing hinders or diverts his attention. 

 There is an absence of all those rivalries engendered 

 by ambition ; in private life each lives as he likes with- 

 out interfering with others, and, as often happens, when 

 any one requires the assistance of au other, matters are 

 easily arranged upon the principle of mutual interest. 



* This must be taken as rather a partial account of the immunities of Scotland. 

 In some recent discussions as to the amount of burdens affecting land, we have 

 seen those in the principal agricultural districts of Scotland variously stated at 

 from five and a half to thirteen and a half per cent on the rental ; thus fully 

 equivalent on the average to the sum set down above as exigible from the soil in 

 England. (See Pamphlet by Mr Aitchison of Alderston, March 1854). J. D. 



