236 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



dergo to enable a few acres of land to change hands ; 

 to say nothing of those momentous occasions, death 

 and marriage, or the complete revision of the whole 

 matter whenever a mortgage is required, form alto- 

 gether a tribute of such oppressive magnitude, that 

 Protection for the land from foreign competition is a 

 dream indeed, compared to the reality of the much- 

 desired Protection from ' Law/ To fully develope and 

 expose the extent to which our antiquated system of 

 Tenures, our long entails strung with disconnected 

 life-interests, our conflicting institution of 'legal' 

 and ' equitable ' estates, our prolix conveyances, and 

 complicated settlements, operate as a charge upon the 

 land, an impediment to its exchange, a reduction of 

 its value, a drain upon the resources of the Owner, a 

 secret injury to the Tenant and the Labourer would 

 be to write the heaviest satire upon the struggle for 

 Protection that has ever yet been showered upon a 

 class powerful to achieve, if they only willed it, the 

 completest satisfaction for the repeal of the Corn- 

 laws which an important body could command, or an 

 intelligent community approve. Do what you will for 

 land, this lies at the bottom of, and completely sur- 

 passes in importance all other ' Improvements/ Free 

 the soil from the pestilent tyranny of parchment, that 



