332 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



ciently productive conveniently to maintain a human 

 population, is it not rather to be desired that the people 

 remove elsewhere \ It matters little whether a portion 

 of the produce is collected by the proprietor in the shape 

 of rent, or whether all the production goes to be divided 

 among those who till the ground : the proportion may 

 alter, but the real difficulty of the case remains. Sup- 

 posing the Highlanders had been recognised as proprietors 

 of their native soil, a change of locality would still, under 

 the circumstances, have been necessary for the majority. 

 This first question being disposed of, the second, that 

 of rent, next comes. ~* Is it advantageous, is it legiti- 

 mate, that such a country should produce a rent ? I 

 do not hesitate to answer that it is. Even the worst 

 lands make no exception to the general rule. All land, 

 to be really useful to the community, ought to produce 

 something over and above the expenses of production. 

 This surplus is for the support of those who do not till 

 the land ; that is to say, for those who give themselves 

 up to industrial and commercial pursuits, and to the 

 arts and sciences. Every country which has no net pro- 

 duce is condemned to barbarism. Although impelled 

 altogether by personal interest, the heads of the Scotch 

 clans have been instrumental in carrying out that great 

 social law which makes the payment of rent the very 

 principle of civilisation. Without rent there is no divi- 

 sion of labour ; no wealth, no comfort, no intellectual 

 development. Besides, we almost invariably find that 

 when the net produce is increased, so also is the gross. 



* By rent, I mean what is generally understood in France by the term the 

 net revenue of the proprietor. Another meaning for it is frequently implied, 

 especially in the writings of English economists, altogether ideal, invented by 

 Ricardo, and which has given rise to interminable discussions. I have been careful 

 to avoid giving it any other than its original meaning throughout this essay. See 

 the examination of Ricardo's theory in my Cours tf Economic Rurale. 



