398 
1,220,799 fquare acres, or 623,076 hec- 
tares; its population is about 264,935 
individuals. It is divided into three com- 
munal diftricts, 
Depariment of Iere.—This department 
is one of the three formed of Dauphiny. 
It is bounded on the north by the depart- 
ments of Ain and of Rhone ; on the eaft, 
by thofe of: Mont Blanc and the Upper 
Alps ; on the fouth, thofe of the Upper 
Alps and of Drome; this laft, together 
with thofe of the Loir and of the Rhone, 
bounds it on the weit. 
about 1,648,230 fquare acres, or 841,230 
he&tares; its population about 430,106 
individuals. It is divided into four com- 
munal diftritts. 
Department of Femappes.—This depart- 
partment is one of the nine formed of 
part of Hainault, and of the ¢i-devant 
Auiirian Flanders. Ic is bounded on the 
north by the departments of Dyle, the 
Scheld, aad the Lys; on the eaft, by thofe 
of Dyle, the Sambre and Meufe, and the 
Ardennes; cn the fouth, by thole of Ar- 
dennes and of the North; and on the 
welt, by this laft, joined with that of the 
Lys. Its fuperficies is about 737,990 
fquare acres, or 376,658 hectares ; its po- 
pulation is about 408,668 individuals, 
It is divided into three communal] difirists. 
( To- be continued.) 
——E ae 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
WHE fafhionable outcry of the prefent 
day againft farmers (a body of men 
entitled to the gratitude, rather than the 
reproach, of their country) calls to my 
recolleétion an adage ag common as it is wile 
—<‘* Place the faddle on the right 
horie.”” Nears 
The facility with which fuperficial ob- 
fervers may fall into this popular mifiake, 
is a kind of apology for them; but that men 
capable of deducing events from their 
‘caufes, fhould fuffer themfelves to be 
equally cuilty of error, by joining the for- 
mer in abufing the fuppofed authors of an 
evil too generally feit, is furely unworthy 
of them, and calls forth our juft dilap- 
probation, 
To place the fubjeét in a-clear light, 
and guard againft falfe conclufions, it may 
be neceflary to define what is underftoed to 
be the duty of a farmer. As connected 
with the landholder, he agrees to pay him 
a certain annual rent, for a fpecified por- 
tion of land; and it generally happens, 
that he flipulates to farm it in a particular 
way :—now, if he honeftly fulfils thefe en. 
gagements,he has dilcharged his duties as a 
On Letting Farms by Secret Propofals. 
Its {uperficies is , 
{ Dec. T> 
tenant. 
fame.light with the merchant, who turns 
his talents and his capital to the beft pof- 
fible advantage. ’ . . 
In his relation to the public, the farmer 
certainly has an important part to act, 
and ftands upon very delicate gréund ; 
from furnifhing the neceflaries of life, he 
is placed immediately in contaét with the 
confumers of them: fo that if any. diffi 
culty arife in procuring the ufual fupplies, 
he, being the moft obvious, is too generally 
accounted the’ only, caufe of the evil, 
when, in reality, others, perhaps ftill more 
important, may be difcovered by the judi- 
cious and candid obferver. 4 
The moft prominent of thefe feems in 
truth to be the landholder, excepting in 
cafes where farmers have obtained their. 
leafes ten or twelve years ago, when land 
was not of half its prefent value, but 
which are now daily expiring to be renew= \ 
ed upon the abominable and ruinous prin- 
ciple of fecret propofals. 
The proprictor having the power does 
not fail to ule it to his own advantage ; 
he or his agent, underftanding what the 
land is capable producing, takes good. 
care that its rental fhali keep pace with 
the times; for it is evident that when 
farms are offered to the public through 
the medium of propofals, a {pirit of com- 
petition is excited among the candidates, 
which, while it compels them to hold out 
terms fo nearly approaching to the amount 
of the probable produce of the farms, as 
hardly to leave themfelves a f{canty main- 
tenance, doubles, or éven triples, the rente 
roll of the landholder. . 
So hazardous indeed is it become for 
tenants to engage farms at the prefent ad-. 
vanced rate, that fome landholders, at. 
once with a view to keep up the price of 
land to the higheft poffible pitch, and. 
guard againtt their cwn lofs through the 
failure of their farmers, have even ftipu- 
lated to reduce their rents, in cafe the va- 
lue of produce fhould be diminifhed 
in the markets. J now leave to the deci- 
ficn.of impartial men, whether the farmer 
or landholder has the greateft flhare in cre- 
ating the high price of provifions, exclu- 
five of the aétual fcarcity which has, for 
fome time back, prevailed. 
But it may be faid, that the eagernefs . 
with which land ‘is fought after is the 
caule of the rife in the rent of farms; and 
indeed, as it muft be admitted, that com- 
petition will be in proportion to the num= 
ber of competitors, it may be afked, 
whence their preternatural increale ? 
f a ; Now, 
With regard to thofe which he 
owes to himfelf, he may be viewed in the 
Sg ee er ee 
i, 
d 
. 
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