V A L 



When cardinal Richelieu acquired afcendancy, and effefted 

 a revolution in the French politics, he perceived the im- 

 portance of the Valteline, and adopted meafures, which 

 proved fiiccefsful ; io that in two campaigns the Spaniards 

 were driven from the Valteline, Chiaveana, and Bormio. 

 Under the adminillration of Richelieu, it was agreed, that 

 the Valteline (hould again be reftored to the Grifons, upon 

 the following conditions : no other rtligion but the Roman 

 Catholic to be tolerated ; the inhabitants to eleft their own 

 governors and magiilrates either from themfelves or from 

 the Grifons, but always from perfons of the Roman Catho- 

 lic perfuafion ; and the governors to be confirmed by the 

 Grifons. In return for thefe privileges, it was ftipulated 

 that the inhabitants fhould pay an annual tribute, the amount 

 of which was to be fettled by mediation. In confequence of 

 this treaty, concluded on the 5th of March 1626, the French 

 refigned the forts of the Valteline into the hands of the 

 pope, and evacuated the country. 



When Richeheu had completed the reduftion of the 

 Hugonots by the capture of Rochelle, he turned the whole 

 force of France againft the Houfe of Auftria ; and among 

 other enterprifes, direfted his attention to the Valtehne ; 

 but the Grifons, encouraged and aided by the Spaniards, 

 droue the French from the country ; the treaty of Milan 

 produced a clofe aUiance between the Spaniards and the 

 Grifons ; and the Valteline was reftored. 



This treaty, contrafted in the year 1635, fecured to the 

 Spaniards the paflage of the valley, which was the great 

 objedl of the war, and reftored the Valteline, Chiavenna, and 

 Bormio, to the Grifons, under the following conditions : an 

 zSt of oblivion ; the immunities of the fubjeft countries to 

 be confirmed as they exilled before the revolution of 1620 ; 

 no rehgion but the Catholic to be tolerated ; no perfon of 

 any other perfuaiion to be permitted to refide, excepting 

 the governors, dvuing the two years they (hould continue in 

 office, and the Proteftants poflefted of lands, who fhould not 

 be allowed to remain in the country above three months in 

 the year ; the privileges of the ecclefiaftics to be reftored 

 in their full latitude. 



Since the pacification of 1637, no material change took 

 place in the ftate of affairs. The fovereigns of Milan liave 

 always cultivated the friendfliip of the Griions ; and the 

 inhabitants of the Valteline endured a regular courfe of 

 tyranny under the government of a free ftate ; confirming a 

 faft notorious in the annals of ancient Greece, that no peo- 

 ple are more opprefted than' the fubjedls of a democracy. 



During the progrefs of the French revolution, Bonaparte 

 confirmed the union of the revolted provinces with the 

 Cifalpine republic ; fo that after a period of nearly three 

 centuries, the Valtehne, Chiavenna, and Bormio, were again 

 incorporated with the Milanefe under a republican govern- 

 ment ; but the expulfion of the late French emperor has 

 reftored the ancient arrangements in Italy, and the Valte- 

 line returns to its former poifelTors. Coxe's Switzerland, 

 vol. iii. 



VALTERIE, La, a town of Canada, on the St. Lau- 

 rence. N. lat. 45° 54'. W. long. 73° 10'. 



VALTESCHAND, or Walteschand, a town of 

 Holland, in Overiflel ; 12 miles N.E. of Covorden. 



VALTIERRA, a town of Spain, in Navarre. Near 

 it is a mine of fal gem ; 10 miles from Tudela. 



VALVA, in jincient Geography, a mountain of Africa, 

 being one of the moft confiderable in Mauritania Csefa- 

 lienfis. 



Valva, in Geography, a town of Naples, in Abruzzo 

 Citra, the fee of a biftiop ; 18 miles S.S.W. of Civita di 

 Chieti. 4 



V A L 



VALVANO, a town of Naples, in Principato Citra ; 

 6 miles N. of Cangiano. 



VALVASONE, a town of Italy, in Friuli, on the 

 Tajamento ; 14 miles W.S.W. of Udina. 



VALVASOR, or Valvasour. See Vavasor. 



VALUATION of Land, in Agriculture and Ruroi 

 Economy, the bufinefs of afcertaining its real worth. It 1:, 

 an undertaking which requires confiderable knowledge o! 

 the nature and application of all forts of landed property, 

 as well as of the various improvements of wliich they arc 

 capable by cultivation and different other means. 



It is neceftary, before entering upon it, that the nature ol 

 the tenure, title, and other matters (liould be well underftood. 

 The writer of the work on " Landed Property," however, 

 fuppofes, that the value of the fee-fimple, or pure freehold 

 tenure, being properly afcertained, that of any inferior fort 

 of holding may readily be found from it, by means of th- 

 general rules of calculation : but that the fee-fimple value 

 of lands is liable to fluAuation, and become different, by 

 general caufes ; and is influenced too, in many cafes, in a 

 much higher degree, by local circumftances. It is fng- 

 getted, that lands of the felf-fame quality are of five-fold 

 value in one fituation, comparatively with what they a»-e 

 worth in another : not merely, though principally, on ac- 

 count of the rental value, or the current price they will let 

 for to tenants in different fituations ; but through other 

 lefs permanent caufes : fuch as the quantity of land at mar- 

 ket, the number and importance of the demands for it in 

 the given diftrift ; as well as the fpirit which prevails in it 

 at the time, m regard to the temporary poifefllon of landed 

 property at the particular period. 



Thefe are circumftances that are conftantly worthy of 

 the attention of thole whofe views in the obtaining of land 

 are not confined to any particular fpot or diftrift. 



It is ftated, that the ufual method of coming at the fee- 

 fimple value of land, is firft to afcertain tlie fair rental 

 value or price by the year, and to multiply this by the 

 number of years' purchafe which the exifting demand for 

 land will bear, in the given fituation, at the time. Bui 

 that the number of years' purchafe, or the ratio between 

 the rent and the fale value of lands, varies greatly, as from 

 20 to 40, 25 to 30 being the more ordinary numbers. Cnn- 

 fequently, a parcel of land, the fair rental value of which is 

 100/., is, in common cafes, worth from 2500/. to 3000/. But 

 the real rental value, which is the only fure and firm ground- 

 work to proceed upon, whether in the purchafe or the ma- 

 nagement of landed property, cannot be eafily obtained. 

 Speaking generally of the lands of this country, it is, it is 

 thought, what very few men are able to fet down. It is true, 

 that, in almoft every diftrift, or almoft every townftiip, there 

 are perfons who tolerably well know the rate at which the 

 lands of their refpeftive neighbourhoods are ufually let. 

 But reciprocally interchange them into each other's dil- 

 trifts, and their errors would, it is faid, be egregious. Nor 

 can a mere provincialift, efpecially in a diftrift which is un- 

 enlightened by modem improvements, be aware of the 

 value even of his own farm, under the beft courfe of ma-; 

 nagement of which it may be capable : nor can he feej 

 through the double veil of ignorance and prejudice, thJ 

 more permanent improvements that may be made upon itJ 

 fo evidently as one who has a more general knowledge ol 

 rural fubjedts and concerns, and is in the habit of difcoverj 

 ing and profecuting fuch improvements. It is confequently 

 neceffary to have different perfons to accomphfti the bufinef* 

 in a complete manner in many inftances. 



The particular circumftances that require to be confidered 

 as giving value to land, are chiefly thefe : I. The quantity 



of 



