are peaceable, well conducted, independent, and “ industrious; and the district is absolutely free - from agrarian outrage. *

These examples are so apposite, so clearly shew the result of small proprietors cultivating their own ground that they might be considered as conclusive; yet the paramount importance of the subject induces the writer to quote the opinion of a most sccurate chserver and cne who was by no means prejudiced in broar of small properties, but who on the contrary loses no opportunity of expressing his proference for large farms Arthur Young, in his

The sathir is aware that summments of a contrary character have been mair respecting bifrat pus of and. Some of the evidence hire the Land Commissioners stated, that tenants having the security JË & perpetuity, æe of a lesse de a king er of years, were even less mènstvus than der regibus, vios irms were held at will and at s nach Lgher rent This may be true in some cases, and yet it surely does not perve tha: SOVITTY 8 3 ČSOVtragement to industry. Some other EXHANICOR MISt be sugit ir dis apparat contradiction. Peculiar or kek, sivatages MY M8 & M mach shore the ordinary level of the poogie suong vìm he res. I det luy, it is not likely that he wd be very missevis. The prevalent feeling of insecurity in Husni has produced to morral frus; and in those cases in which Avery My Ass the parts et 2 de cent to follow the evange dikë nghours; and as thee aivartageons position enades car was the same te begree of condes with less exertion,

checks more ay than those who are forced to labour by dh aussig á vocanding dies higher Nut. Many circumstances have wusing exaär de volba of the peasantry of the county of Baðs, sanen dat of the pessicy of most other evanties in

n among who? „Na's fa imi in estates of moderate Aqua, in de genes wine dhe pergrives, at certainly not the

"Tour through France," says, "In Bearn I passed through a region of small farmers, whose appearance, neatness, ease, and happiness charmed me; it "shows what property alone could, on a small scale, "effect; but these were by no means contemptibly "small; they are, as I judged by the distance from "house to house, from forty to eighty acres. Ex

cept these and a very few other instances, I saw "nothing respectable on small properties, except a "most unremitting industry. Indeed it is necesแ sary to impress on the reader's mind, that the "husbandry I met with, in a great variety of instances, on little properties, was as bad as can well "be conceived, yet the industry of the possessors

was so conspicuous, and so meritorious, that no "commendations would be too great for it. It is "sufficient to prove, that property in land is, of "all others, the most active instigator to severe "and incessant labour." Again he says, in reference to another district, "An activity has been here, that has swept away all difficulties before "it, and has clothed the very rocks with verdure. "It would be a disgrace to common sense to ask "the cause the enjoyment of property must have "done it. Give a man the secure possession of a "bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; แ give him a nine years' lease of a garden, and "he will convert it into a desert."

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One other instance is adduced, of a country which a short time since suffered the worst evils of the feudal system. The land in Prussia was vested in a small number of proprietors; the peasantry were serfs bound to the soil, of which they were hereditary tenants, or tenants for life or for a term of years, but which none but nobles or privileged persons could hold as property. "In 1807, however, the regulation which prevented peasants, "tradesmen, &c. from acquiring land was abolished; "and in 1811 appeared the famous edict, which "enacted that all the peasants who held perpetual "leases, on condition of paying certain quantities "of produce, or of performing certain services on แ account of the proprietors, should, upon giving

up one-third of the lands held by them, become "the unconditional proprietors of the other two"thirds. And with respect to the other classes of

peasants, or those who occupied lands upon life "leases, or leases for a term of years, it was "enacted that they should, upon giving up half "their farms, become the unconditional proprietors "of the other half. This edict certainly effected "the greatest and most sweeping change, that was ever peaceably effected in the distribution of perty in any great country. It was regarded at

66

pro

"the time, and in some respects justly, as a dan

gerous interference with the rights of individuals.

"But the abuses which it went to eradicate were "so injurious to the public welfare, and were, at "the same time, so deeply seated, that they could

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not have been extirpated by any less powerful means. It has given a wonderful stimulus to improvement. The peasantry, relieved from the bur"dens and services to which they were previously "subjected, and placed, in respect of political [and social] privileges, on a level with their lords, have "begun to display a spirit of enterprise and indus66 try, that was formerly unknown."...." The Prussian government has also succeeded in effecting the "division of a vast number of common properties, [formerly belonging to towns and villages] and "has thus totally changed the appearance of a great "extent of country, and created several thousand "new proprietors. The want of capital, and the "force of old habits, rendered the influence of these changes at the outset less striking than many

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66

anticipated; but these retarding circumstances "have daily diminished in power and it may be

safely affirmed, that the country has made a

greater progress since 1815, than it did during "the preceding hundred years.

The example of Prussia seems peculiarly in point. It forcibly demonstrates the evils resulting

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

mi de acid advancement

ered on in increase of small

Zazar kimseif has an in

if the land.

I strenger felling of loy f determination to uphold

de Ives in, than the anime possession of a mis la IEL He feels sure, le less upon offences

› CS IS Einst himself and i me le is ever ready to

Messes & real value; it is lg med ir the occasion, but

#pery. If he spend his

mar a improving it. he knows met and be his family; and mauragai, and his energy prompted Be respects himself; he ates is blerendent posten, and is careful not very impervidence. His children are

༤ གནས་ ང ”ལ་ ་ ་ ལ་ ་

beaugot up a bus of industry and self-respect, and act Bas grief a work ir themselves, and soengthened to withstand many of the dangerous tempistons of li They besitate long before they incur the danger of lowering their position, or losing their independence, by an improvident