CONCLUSION. 239 



chise seventy-nine eightieths of the inhabitants of 

 this country by * Act of Parliament,' and the ' Custom 

 of Conveyancers ? ' [for it is authoratively said 

 and there are no statistics to disprove it ! that the 

 owners of land do not number above two hundred and 

 fifty thousand, out of a population of twenty mil- 

 lions !] Instead of the soil being, as it was meant to 

 be, the first and best of Savings-banks for capitals of 

 every size ; to the Peasant and the Yeoman, as well 

 as the Duke and the Squire ; we assume the auda- 

 cious office of readjusting natural and common rights, 

 and pronounce for a system which agglomerates land 

 into hands that may monopolize, but after all cannot 

 themselves use it, and cut down the whole interest of 

 the rest of the * agricultural community' to the rank 

 and position of ' Tenant-farmers.' They do not, as a 

 class, penetrate the meaning or the mischief of it : 

 they are * to the manner born, ' and think it * all 

 right' if they could only get * Tenant-right ; ' (as if 

 the hirer of an article of limited supply, could have 

 any 'right' but what the owner may choose to 

 give him !) 



But then a LEASE ! What is the use of a Lease 

 for the purpose of investment, unless it be of long 

 duration ? Nay, it is often urged against leases, that 



