11 



mere occupation for their hands. And as for the 

 land which Mr. Lindsay proposes to recover from 

 the sea, it is obvious that it will only be a real ac- 

 cession to the resources of the kingdom, if it shall 

 be able to produce a certain quantity of grain for a 

 smaller sum of money than would suffice to procure 

 an equal quantity in any other way. If the scheme 

 do not promise this much at least, it is worth no- 

 thing. It could never, of course, be expected that 

 government should devote any part of the public 

 money to so preposterous an enterprize, as that 

 would be, of cultivating land, obtained either in 

 this way or in any other, at a greater expense than 

 the produce promised to repay. Mr. Lindsay, we 

 do not doubt, at least believes himself abundantly 

 able to prove that the plan he has laid before the 

 public does not involve any such absurdity as we 

 are here referring to. 



The late Lord Meadowbank, in his interesting 

 publication in 1815, has the following very spirited 

 and judicious remark : — " Were the Highland pro- 

 prietors to set about establishing a proper cultiva- 

 tion in their vast domains, they would soon be amply 

 rewarded by the rising value of their property ; 

 and would no longer suffer the disgrace of urging 

 emigration, by their short-sighted projects of im- 

 provement, that high-spirited and noble race of 

 men, who, by their intrepidity and self-devotement 

 to national glory, have raised their reputation to a 

 level with Spartan fame." I wonder what his 

 Lordship would now have said on the proposed 

 plan of emigration, while there is still such a want 



