364 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap* XFI. 



with a formidable, an ambitious, and an impla- 

 cable enemy, for every thing we hold most va- 

 luable and dear. It must, therefore, be the duty 

 of every good subject to support Government, 

 and to contribute what he can to give energy 

 and success to every measure necessary for our 

 defence. 



In that part of the act which respects the far- 

 mers, humanity and sound policy are equally 

 discernible. Had the tenantry been kept under 

 the very unequal pressure of the former act, 

 numbers would have suffered, and been obliged, 

 most likely, to give up their farms. Rents must 

 have fallen, and, of course, the taxable income 

 of the kingdom must have been diminished. 

 But by the provisions of the income act, all these 

 evils will be prevented. The only difficulty 

 that remains is, to know how to ascertain the 

 farmer's income. Three fourths of the tenants 

 keep no regular and exact accounts, and are, in 

 a great measure, ignorant of the profits they 

 reap from their farms. And if the farmers 

 themselves do not know, how shall any other be 

 able to ascertain it ? 



A method, however, may be devised, by which 

 this may be easily done, and, at the same time, 

 all oppression, on the one hand, and all evasion, 

 on the other, effectually prevented. 



That the farmer's income may be rightly as- 

 certained, he ought to be considered in the same 

 light as a merchant or manufacturer, who has a 

 certain stock or capital, which he wishes to em- 

 ploy in business. Husbandry is the trade he 

 prefers. He takes a farm proportioned, as near- 

 ly as circumstances will permit, to the extent of 



