ing the progress of agriculture in the Peninsula. "At the head of the former must be placed the "vast extent of the lands, belonging to the nobi"lity, clergy, and corporations. Mr. Townsend "mentions that the estates of three great lords— "the dukes of Osuna, Alba, and Medina Cœli, cover nearly the whole of the immense province "of Andalusia; and several in the other provinces "are hardly less extensive. These vast possessions "are uniformly held under strict entail; and,

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speaking generally, are all managed by stewards, "anxious only to remit money to their masters, who are frequently in embarrassed circumstances. The

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younger branches of the great families, though they inherit all their pride, inherit little or none "of their wealth. They are for the most part ex

ceedingly ill educated, and when not employed in government service, pass their days in a state of "slothful dependence."

Arthur Young refers to the Island of Sardinia in the following terms: "What keeps it in its present unimproved situation, is chiefly the extent "of estates, the absence of some very great proprie“ tors, and the inattention of all. The duke of "Assinara has 300,000 livres a year, or £15,000

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sterling; the duke of St. Piera has 160,000; the

* M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary, art. Spain.

"Marchese di Pascha has a very great property.

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Many of them live in Spain. The Conde de "Girah, a grandee of Spain, has an estate of two แ days' journey, reaching from Pinta to Oliustra. "The peasants are a miserable set that live in poor "cabins, without other chimneys than a hole in the "roof to let the smoke out.* In this magnificent island, which is nearly half the size of Ireland, the population scarcely exceeds 500,000. Since Young's time, some improvement has taken place, but it still appears to be in a miserable condition. It is even worse than Ireland. M'Culloch thus describes it: "The division of the island into "immense estates, most of which were acquired by

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Spanish grandees; the want of leases, and the "restrictions on industry, have paralysed the in"dustry of the inhabitants, and sunk them to the "lowest point in the scale of civilization. Since "1750, however, improvements of various kinds "have been slowly, but gradually gaining ground; "and within the last few years, several important "and substantial reforms have been introduced, "that will, it is to be hoped, conspire to raise this "fine island from the abyss into which it has been "cast by bad laws and bad government."†

The beneficial effects of a numerous proprietary

Young's Tour in France, vol. 2, page 267.

† M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary, art. Sardinia.

are equally evident, whether we look to the cold and sterile lands of Norway, to the carefully irrigated plains of Northern Italy, to the mountain fastnesses of Switzerland, or the swampy polders of Holland and Belgium. "In Norway the land "is parcelled out into small estates, affording a "comfortable subsistence, and in a moderate degree the elegancies of civilized life, but nothing 66 more. With a population of 910,000 inhabitants "about the year 1819, there were 41,656 estates." "In Norway the law of succession has prevented

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property from being accumulated in large masses. "The estates of individuals are in general small ; "and the houses, furniture, food, comforts, ways " and means of living among all classes appear to 'approach more nearly to an equality to one

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standard, than in any country in Europe. This "standard is far removed from any want or dis"comfort on the one hand, and from any luxury "or display on the other. The actual partition of "the land itself, seems in practice not to go below "such a portion of land as will support a family comfortably, according to the habits and notions "of the country; and it is indeed evident that a

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piece of ground without houses on it, and too "small to keep a family according to the national "estimation of what is requisite, would be of no

many important articles of consumption, by the removal or lessening of discriminating or protective duties, and by various arrangements giving greater facilities for the conducting of mercantile affairs. The year 1846 saw the abrogation of the protective duty on corn and other agricultural produce, and last year witnessed the partial relaxation of the navigation laws, which had heretofore been esteemed the chief support of the naval power of Great Britain. The change of opinion on these subjects has been great indeed, and the public are even prepared for further progress in the same direction; believing that all attempts to force trade out of its natural channels, are injurious to the well-being of the community; and that to remove all restrictions on buying and selling, to allow every one to buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest, is the surest way to promote our commercial prosperity. Are we to have a free trade in the products of the land, and not in the land itself? Are the utmost facilities to be given to the sale and transfer of all other articles, and is land alone to be considered as requiring an exception in this respect?

Let the principle of commercial freedom be fully and fairly carried out. Let it apply to land as well as to other property. Will not this principle meet the various difficulties of Ireland, more

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surely and more quickly than any other remedy which has been proposed? Are not all other remedies incomplete without this? Unless land be freely sold, how is English capital to be introduced for its culture? How are we to obtain a resident proprietary, unless those who prefer living in other countries be enabled to sell their Irish property, thus permitting it to fall into the hands of those who can give it their personal attention? not the local demand of a numerous gentry and middle class, necessary for the support of the fish-` eries of the western coast; and how can such be created, unless the great landed proprietors be enabled to sell portions of their estates? How can the large population heretofore dependent on con-acre be employed, unless capital for the payment of wages be supplied, by the introduction of new men to the ownership of the soil? How is outrage to be repressed? How are the laws to be enforced? How can the free institutions of the country be maintained, except through the agency of a numerous and educated middle class ? On the intelligent and effective working of a middle class, depend the social and political institutions of a free state; without such support, the freedom of England would soon be changed into anarchy or despotic authority. Can that freedom ever exist in Ireland, until a numerous middle class be raised