86 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF cbap. V. 



lowest orders, seem now to be, in a great mea- 

 sure, gone, and nothing but the selfish princi- 

 ple remains, by which the great body of the 

 people can be bound to their country and its 

 support. 



Let us suppose the whole lands in Scotland, 

 usually in the possession of husbandmen, thrown 

 into the hands of 8000 great farmers ; and each 

 farmer to have one son who might be depended 

 upon, as having a joint interest with his father ; 

 there would, in this case, be only 16,000 of 

 this class, whom we could trust to join the 

 landholders in the defence of their country : all 

 the rest employed in husbandry being in a ser- 

 vile dependent state, no certain or effectual sup- 

 port could be expected from them. Suppose 

 again, that instead of 8000, the kingdom should 

 be divided into 30,000 farms ; in this case we 

 should have 60,000 men of this description to 

 join their masters, who, though not equally in- 

 terested with those before mentioned, would, 

 nevertheless, have such a stake in the country, 

 as would be a sufficient inducement to oppose 

 every attempt against the peace and safety of the 

 kingdom, whether from foreign or domestic 

 foes. 



Amongst the numerous causes which com- 

 bined to overthrow the French Monarchy, and 

 to involve the great nation in anarchy, despo- 

 tism, and blood, this defect was, perhaps, one 

 of the principal and most availing. All were 

 either extremely rich, or miserably poor. In 

 the hands of the higher orders, were all the ho- 

 nours, wealth, and power of the nation ; while 

 dependence, servility, and abject poverty, was 



