larly strong, is at least healthy. Its characters, taking them generally, are natural as conceptions, though inadequately wrought out; and the idea is suggested throughout the whole book that the author has in him, to a respectable extent, the stuff of which a good novel writer is made. In the meantime he has merely sketched in his persons, but, with one exception, left them unfinished. Mr Spread, for instance, as the beau ideal of a wealthy British merchant, is admirable as a literary portrait, but quite useless as a character in the novel. The author describes what he is, but does not put him in action, to let him show his own paces and tell his own story. And this is generally characteristic of the book, which exhibits a remarkably clear conception, but as remarkable a poverty in execution. The exception we have alluded to is the Bachelor of the Albany.' 'Imagine a small, well-made man, with a smart, compact figure, excessively erect, his action somewhat martial, his eye gray, cold, peevish, critical, and contemptuous; a mouth small and sarcastic; a nose long and vulpine; complexion a pale dry red; hair stiff and silvery, and evidently under the severest discipline to which brush and comb could subject it, with a view to its impartial distribution on each side of a head which was carried so high, and with such an air, that it was clear the organs of firmness, combativeness, and self-esteem were superbly developed. With the exception of a plain, but rich robe-de-chambre, his morning toilette was complete: trousers of shepherd's plaid, seemingly made by a military tailor, and tightly strapped down over a pair of manifest Hoby's; a double-breasted cashmere waistcoat, of what mercers call the shawl pattern; the shirt-collar severely starched, and a little too exalted above a cravat of dark-blue silk, carefully folded, and tied with a simple, but an exact knot.' The habitat of this fine animal is well described. His chambers in the Albany (as all London readers know, a secluded and covered-in street of apartments for wealthy bachelors and fugitive married men in the neighbourhood of Piccadilly); his rigid and peculiar habits; the awful care of his servant, and the man's anxious and frightened glance round the room, to see finally that everything is in its place before the appearance of his master to breakfast-all this is in a high style of art. The visitor is his old friend Mr Spread, the wealthy merchant, and in this conversation is brought out the germ of the story. The following little incident occurring in the midst, illustrates amusingly the feverish impatience of the bachelor's character. The bell of the outer door rang, and Reynolds came in to receive his master's pleasure as to the persons who were to be honoured with, or be refused, an audience. "Should it be Mr Smith, sir""I'll see Mr Smith. You know him-a tall man?" "Yes, sir," said the valet. And it was Mr Smith. Barker proceeded to the antechamber to receive him, and presently Spread heard the bachelor speaking in his gruffest manner, obviously much exasperated by something that his visitor had either done or said. Then doors were opened abruptly and shut violently, after which succession of noises Barker returned in a sultry chafe, and it was some time before Spread could divine the cause of his agitation. 46 'Animals' friends-stupidity of servants-asses rascals-animals' friends-vagabonds-vice-presidentme-imagine " 'Spread looked as if he would like some more lucid explanation of what had occurred. "A scoundrel!-not the Mr Smith I wanted to see agent to a confounded society called the Animals' Friends." "Wanted you to subscribe ?" "Wanted me to accept the office of vice-president. Imagine, vice-president of the Animals' Friends!" "A very responsible office!" said Spread with mock solemnity. "They are going to send a deputation to the Pope, to interest his holiness to put down bullbaiting in Spain. You would be the second personage in the embassy." The drift of the story, as the skilful novel reader will at once observe, is to break through the habits of the fierce bachelor, and to break down his system. It was the glory of Mr Barker that he had neither wife nor child, neither a house, an office, nor a vote; he was dependent on nobody, and nobody was dependent on him; it was impossible to be more unattached than he was-impossible to have fewer ties, without entirely forsaking the haunts of men.' And just so it is the glory of our author to fling the shackles of circumstance over this haughty freedom; to bind Mr Barker hand and foot in the sympathies and relationship of society; to drive him forth of his beloved Albany; to compel him into the business of life, which he abominates; into parliament, which enrages him; and finally, into matrimony itself. Mr Barker sets out to visit his friend at Liverpool, and in the railway train he meets a youth who is destined to haunt the old bachelor like a spectre throughout the volume. The youth is as solitary in the world as a bachelor can be, and is going about trying to hunt up' an uncle, whom Mr Barker supposes, from his conversation, to be himself. The feelings with which he makes this discovery may be conjectured from the portrait of the young gentleman. His vis-a-vis was a raw youth, of eighteen or twenty, with a round rosy face, and a simple, good-humoured physiognomy; he was immersed in an immense rough coat, like a bear's skin, with enormous mother-of-pearl buttons, and a dozen pockets of all sizes and in all positions. In fact he looked something like a brown bear, or a great water-dog, sitting on its hind-legs; and he kept his neighbours in constant alarm, by sometimes pulling out a cigar-case, as if he meant to commence smoking; sometimes producing a three-barrelled pocket-pistol, and examining the priming; sometimes displaying a wonderful knife with a hundred blades; and every now and then giving a blast with a hunting-horn, which he had bought, he informed an elderly lady beside him, at a shop in High Holborn, adding that it was a great bargain, and that if she ever wanted a thing of the kind, he would recommend her to go to the same place. "Have a care, sir. I hope your pistol is not loaded," Mr Barker at length broke out in à surly tone, with a look still surlier, at the formidable simpleton in the enormous rough coat, who, in exhibiting the pistol to the plump maid, had repeatedly pointed it right at his head. The old lady had already, in her capacity of protectress-general, cautioned the youth twenty times against shooting himself, which was the least part of the danger to be apprehended. None of these remonstrances, however, proving successful, the cool man took a different course. He expressed a curiosity to examine the pistol; and the moment it was placed in his hands, he extended it out of the window, and a couple of sharp reports instantly proved that two of the barrels had been loaded. The innocent youth, far from taking offence, laughed loud, said it was funny, and called the cool man a famously sensible fellow-a compliment which that gentleman could not have returned with the slightest respect for truth. What a relief it was when, as the train approached the next station, the nephew in search of an uncle informed his companions that he was under the necessity of depriv ing them of his attractive society! He took leave in the most troublesome and obstreperous manner possible, elbowing everybody, then insisting on shaking their hands, then kicking their shins, then begging their pardons, then pressing his cigars on the gentlemen (Mr Barker particularly), and looking very much disposed to kiss the fat lady's-maid, who looked equally wellinclined to submit to his impudence. At length, after nearly crushing the quiet little girl in the corner into a mummy, and poking out the old lady's eye with the mouthpiece of the hunting-horn, he jumped out of the carriage with a whoop like a Cherokee Indian; and CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL. after committing twenty more outrages, while looking In the same conveyance he meets with a solitary Mr Barker is exhibited in various adventures of this kind, to his no small irritation and discomfiture, but always drawing on by degrees to the overthrow of his Albany peculiarities, and the consummation of his fate. The incidents, however, as might be expected from the author's want of artistical skill, are not well managed: it is in the conversations, and there alone, in which he shines; and for this reason it is hardly possible for the reviewer, when so much restricted in space as we are, to give a fair specimen of the book. Let us try, however, to present at least the anatomy of a scene at a wealthy miser's dinner-table. Mrs Spread, drawing her shawl well about her, took the interest of a curious observer of social phenomena in reviewing the array upon the table; and she thought, upon the whole, that it looked surprisingly well: the cloth was whiter than she had anticipated, the glass brighter, and the argentine and albata did their best to look silvery-what could albata and argentine do more? Then there was a splendid epergne, borrowed from the Prouts; it was stocked with evergreens-the certainly, but then they were fresh and healthy, and ivy, the arbutus, and the holly; they looked wintry, for Mr Barker they produced the very desirable effect of interposing between him and the polar Mrs Narrowsmith's hideous head-gear. Barker was very cold; and round to see how it was that no heat reached him. as he sat with his back to the fireplace, he turned There was a fire in the grate, but it had evidently been lighted not an hour before. It yielded a great deal of smoke, but no warmth whatever. directing Mrs Spread's attention to these agreeable incidents of a house-warming, the page put a finishing While he was touch to the piece, by running up and asking the bachelor-" Would he like to have a fire-screen?" Mrs Spread could evidently see that Barker would have The miser asked Barker to take wine-sherry. given the wine another appellation. In fact it was a mixture of the grapes of Cadiz and the Cape. Mr Narrowsmith was as roguish about wine, and as prac tised a garbler of the grape, as the most disingenuous vintner in Liverpool. miser justice, but it was a little overdone, and the 'Now the fish came-a magnificent turbot, to do the sauce was execrable. Mr Spread had been separated by some accident enthorpe and Mrs Marable. The one was a dissyllabic, from the fair East Indian, and sat between Mrs Crackthe other a monosyllabic lady. Mrs Marable. places ?" 66 I was very fond of skating in my young days." "Were you?" Then he tried Mrs Crackenthorpe. "Have you been lately in London ?" "No." "Your sister lives in London, if I remember right?" "You know my friend Upton, I think?" "Don't you think this room a little cool?" rowsmith?" said Mr Spread, giving the ladies up, and making one of those remarks indispensable at house"You find your new house comfortable, I hope, Narwarmings. voice; "warm and comfortable-very. Don't you think neighbour. "We found it not easy to warm the house we lived "Did she ever try coals?" growled Barker again. tion to something on his plate, which Mrs Narrowsmith name of all that is comical try to make out what it is!" scrap of paper in which the cutlet had been dressed, and had no great difficulty in reading nearly the whole NEWSPAPERS IN FRANCE. THE activity which now prevails in all social affairs, commercial, political, literary, by creating a demand for prompt and trustworthy intelligence, has helped to give to newspapers their present great importance. They have become almost a necessity of existence, a species of daily food, of which we should be exceedingly unwilling to be deprived. It is so natural to refer to a newspaper for information, that it is scarcely possible to imagine a time when the broad sheets had no existence. Two centuries ago, however, the world contrived to transact its business without their aid, and by some means or other a nation managed to learn what was doing among the powerful few who claimed the privilege of making war and levying taxes.* thought of publishing a gazette, or weekly collection of · In 1650, a competitor appeared in 'The Burlesque Gazette,' of which all the matter was versified. The editor was a courtier named Loret, who pleased himself naturally in poesy;' but after a time found the demands on his inventive powers more than he could well supply, as he tells us 'His pen would soon have been worn out, Mazarin, the Fronde, or any other party obnoxious to In common with many other valuable inventions, the editor, were pilloried in his facile rhymes. Colbert newspapers started in a very humble way: a little sheet was so irritated at his audacity, as to strike his name of coarse gray paper, published at uncertain intervals. off the pension list. Illustrious births, deaths, and marAccording to the historians, newspapers were first riages, the thousand little events of the court and city, printed in England to announce the defeat of the Spanish humorous and scandalous anecdotes, were all made to Armada: in France they originated in the correspond- do duty in verse, and sometimes in language far from ence of the celebrated genealogist D'Hozier. In the polite. For two years and a half The Burlesque exercise of his functions, he was obliged to keep up an Gazette' was issued in manuscript. Its popularity, active correspondence with different parts of the king-however, became so great during the stirring period of dom, and with foreign countries, which brought him the Fronde, as to induce the proprietor to print it. It many scraps of news. These he communicated to his lived fifteen years. friend Theophrastus Renaudot, physician to Louis XIII., who transcribed them for the amusement of his patients. The hand news, as they were called, grew, however, so much into vogue, that the physician was unable to supply the demand; when the idea of printing them occurred to him, and he petitioned Richelieu for the necessary authority. The minister at once foresaw the importance and utility of a sheet relating events under the dictation and in accordance with the supreme power, and unhesitatingly granted the privilege. The first number appeared on the 1st of April 1631, under the simple title of Gazette;' a word borrowed from Venice, in which city a journal had been published for several years, and sold for a gazetta-something less than a halfpenny. According to some authorities, the derivation is gazza, a magpie; as indicative of the chattering | style of newspapers. Renaudot addressed a portion of his preface to the king. Sire,' he says, it is a remark worthy of history, that during the reigns of sixty-three kings, France, so curious in novelties, should not have · *The substance of the above article is taken from a small work published last year at Paris. A second rival to Renaudot's 'Gazette' made its appearance in 1672, under the title of Mercure Galant,' by Danneau de Vize. In style and variety of intelligence, it partook somewhat of the character of modern newspapers. During the first six years it came out very irregularly; but afterwards, at stated monthly intervals, as a duodecimo volume of three or four hundred pages, which sold for three livres (francs). It was conducted with great talent, and survived, as the 'Mercure de France,' until the year 1815, having numbered among its friends and contributors Marmontel, La Harpe, Lacretelle, Chateaubriand, and many others of literary celebrity. During this period, the Gazette' first published by Renaudot had undergone various changes. To chronicle the great exploits of the reign of Louis XIV., and the magnificence of Versailles, the number of pages was increased from eight to twelve. In 1762, it was published twice a week, four pages with double columns, and the price fixed at fifteen livres a year, post paid. Advertisements for the first time make their appearance, the earliest examples consisting of an announcement of a new book or a map. Gradually the number increased; and they were inserted altogether in a budget, without any attempt at classification. An advertisement of six lines was charged thirty sous, and seven sous for each additional line. The fluctuations and transactions in the money market were first recorded in 1765. The Gazette' maintained its ground through the reigns of Louis XIV., XV., and XVI., meeting in the progress of events with numerous competitors. In 1792, it was published daily; and the same year became the Gazette Nationale de France,' headed with the words 'Liberty and equality,' while the price rose to thirty-six livres. In this year, also, theatrical amusements were first advertised. In 1793, the 'Gazette,' which, at its origin, almost worshipped Louis XIII., announced of his descendant, The tyrant is no more." The Journal de Paris,' the first daily paper in France, made its appearance in 1777. An article upon the Almanac of the Muses, a letter from Voltaire, a bookseller's advertisement, three or four facts relating to the government and the justiciary, two accidents, a bon-mot, and the announcement of the play, make up the contents of the first number, which concludes with a notice from the editor to the effect that, instead of four pages octavo, the Journal,' for the better service of the public, would consist of four pages quarto. Even with this addition, a whole number of The Journal de Paris' would find room, and to spare, in a single column of the Times.' The annual subscription for Paris was twenty-four francs, and thirty-one francs four sous for the provinces. So successful was the speculation, that the profits amounted to 100,000 francs yearly. With few exceptions, these papers constituted the whole periodical press of France down to the period of the Revolution: the existence of those which originated in the conflict of opinions was but short. Among these, The Spirit of the Gazettes' (monthly), The Ecclesiastical Journal,'The Sentinel of the People,' 'The Herald of the Nation,' were the principal. The severity of the censorship gave rise to several manuscript journals, chiefly of a scandalous character, issued whenever it suited the humour of the editors. The most redoubted of this class were those concocted by the writers who met at the house of Madame Doublet, including Piron, Sainte-Palaye, Mirabeau, Falconet, and others. Notwithstanding the non-political character of the sheets, they were often the cause of much uneasiness to the authorities. again to 95; in 1798, it fell to 17; 26 in 1799; and in 1800, 7 only: making a total in the twelve years of 750 publications. The number was probably greater, as it is scarcely possible to determine it with accuracy. Every party had its organ-royalist, republican, œ Jacobin. Robespierre brought out, The Defender of the Constitution: The Old Cordelier' was edited by Camille-Desmoulins: The Journal of the Mountain had numerous conductors. There were more than 100 with the prefix of Journal;' and as in an uproar such as the Revolution created it is difficult to gain a hearing, every one tried to cry louder than his neighbour; or, when this means failed, to sell cheaper, or to assume a more extraordinary title. There were 'The Journal of the Men of the 14th July, and of the Faubourg St Antoine: The Journal of the Sans-Culottes,' inscribedThe souls of emperors and those of cobblers are cast in the same mould:'The Journal of Louis XVI., and of his People:'Poor Richard's Journal: The Devil's Journal:' The Journal of the Good and Bad:''The Journal of Idlers,' which told everything in few words:" The Journal of Incurables:' and 'The Journal of Laughers.' The title of fifteen others commenced with Bulletin; seven were Gazettes; half-a-dozen each of Annals, Sheets, and Chronicles; eight Courriers, and as many Postilions; twenty Correspondence; from forry to fifty Friends and Defenders; besides an endless catalogue of Mirrors, Lanterns, and Enemies. Among the more grotesque or pointed titles wereThe National Whip:' For and Against:'The Listener at the Door,' motto- Walls have ears:''The Toesia of Fearless Richard :''The French Democritus,' motto At everything to laugh is folly: he laughs best who laughs the last The Evangelists of the Day: 'The Breakfast: Mustard after Dinner:'To-morrow:' All the World's Cousin:''Hang Me, but Listen to Me: Stop Thief-Stop Thief: I Don't Care a Kap; Liberté, Libertas, the Deuce.' Many others might be enumerated. This short list will, however, suffice to convey an idea of the press in France during the Revolution; years of liberty, as Malouet observes, speedily degenerated into libertinage. It was, in fact, not only the national assemblies, the parties into which they were divided, and the thousand clubs opened in every quarter of Paris, that maintained their organs; every ragamuffin believed he had a right to express his opi nion upon men and things, in virtue of the people's soveThe Revolution, which gave liberty and license to reignty principle, of which the immediate consequence thought, speech, and action, no matter of what cha-was, that every individual, every fraction of society, had racter, was not without its effect upon the press. The the right to interfere in the management of public whole kingdom was inundated with newspapers repre- affairs. With the exception of the Moniteur,' the form senting every passion that agitated the popular mind. of which was from the first such as it retains at present, No sooner had the States-General assembled in 1789, and of two or three other double-columned quarto than Mirabeau commenced the publication of his famous journals, all the newspapers of the Revolution were 'Letters to his Constituents; and a host of others published in octavo, sometimes duodecimo. Each num started up to record or discuss the acts of the legislators. ber contained from eight to twelve pages; the price Whole volumes would be required to give a faithful from nine to twelve francs a quarter. sketch of the revolutionary press: we give some of the The greater portion of these papers, however, pro more prominent titles. The Peep of Day, or Collection duced in a moment of excitement, had but an ephemeral of what Passed the Night before in the National As- existence. Some died a natural death, others fell be sembly,' by Barrère: The Evangelists of the Day: "The neath the blows of the Commune or Directory. Even Revolutions of Paris,' by the triumvirate Prudhomme, at the period when it seemed that everything could be Loustalot, and Tournon, with its famous epigraph-dared, the license of the press was often forced to The great only appear great to us because we are on our knees: let us rise.' The Journal des Débats et Décrets: The Parisian Publicist, Free and Impartial Journal,' by Marat, the friend of the people: The Acts of the Apostles,' a medley in verse and prose: The National Gazette, or Moniteur Universel, date of the first number, November 24, 1789 in short, during the first year of liberty, more than 150 journals started into existence. The following year, 1790, the number was 140: among the latter we may quote The Iron Mouth,' by the Abbé Fauchet: The Friend of the King: The Friend of the Citizens: The Village Sheet. A gradual diminution appears to have taken place in 1791, the number of new journals was 95; then 60, 50, 40, 35, 35, until 1797, when it went up submit to authority; opinions were, in common with human lives, at the mercy of the dominators of the day, The Commune of Paris decreed, that the poisoners of public opinion should be arrested, and that their presses, types, and instruments should be distributed among the patriot printers;' and appointed commissioners to seiz papers at the post-office. On the 18th Fructidor of the year 5, the editors and printers of thirty journals were incarcerated in the prison of La Force, by orders of the Directory, for conspiracy against the safety of the re public. In January 1800, the consular government, by an edict, reduced the number of political journals to thirteen, among which were several yet in existence. In the words of the edict, The minister of police sha permit, during the whole of the war, the undermen · 1 tioned journals only to be printed, published, and distributed- "The Moniteur Universel," "Journal des Débats," "Journal de Paris," "Gazette de France," and nine others.' Journals devoted exclusively to science, art, literature, commerce, &c. were exempted from this sweeping proscription; the press had, however, sunk into such a state of barbarism, that when the First Consul put his heel upon the hydra, scarcely a voice was raised in complaint. 6 1843, 61,000,000; and in 1845, more than 65,000,000. Paris alone supports 26 daily papers, besides 400 other periodicals on all sorts of subjects-science, art, literature, industry, &c. The provinces maintain about 300 political papers, of which 125 are ministerial, 70 opposition, 35 opposition dynastique, 25 legitimist, the remainder of no party. The 26 Parisian papers muster about 180,000 subscribers, distributed in the following proportions:-Four papers count from 500 to 2000 subscribers; eight from 2000 to 3000; nine, among which are the Charivari,' Le Quotidienne,' Le National,' 3000 to 5000; two, 'Les Débats' and 'L'Epoque' (since defunct), 10,000 to 15,000; two, 'La Presse' and Le Constitutionnel,' 20,000 to 25,000; and one, Le Siècle,' more than 30,000. The Moniteur' is distributed gratuitously to all the government functionaries, and has but very few paying subscribers. 6 Under the Consulate and the Empire, the press was remarkably tame: the politics of the day was a tabooed subject, not meant for public discussion, and the only writer of leaders' was Bonaparte. Journalists grew tired of echoing the Moniteur;' and feeling the necessity of free speech on some topic, began to turn their attention to non-proscribed subjects-literature, and the theatres. From this arose the feuilleton, which remains to the present day an eminent characteristic of French The development of the feuilleton has kept pace with newspapers; and liberty, banished from the top of the the increase in the number of newspapers, and French page, took refuge at the bottom. In the feuilletons, editors at the present day depend more perhaps on liteunder the disguise of a bad tragedy or a literary ephe-rary than on political readers. The feuilleton consists meris, the highest political questions were discussed in of about a fourth of each page, reserved for the publicaspite of the authorities. The Journal des Débats' tion of novels, romances, &c. by the first writers of the changed its title to Journal de l'Empire;' and such day. It is no longer a few timid lines stealing mowas the success of its feuilleton, that the paper at one destly along under the formidable political columns of time numbered 32,000 subscribers. This journal re- which they are the futile accompaniment, the elegant sumed its original title in 1814, gave it up again during embroidery;' on the contrary, it is the feuilleton which the hundred days,' to take it once more at the second now bears the politics on its powerful shoulders. entry of Louis XVIII. The Constitutionnel' was commenced in the brief period following Napoleon's escape from Elba in 1815, under the name of "The Independent:' three other names were adopted before that by which it is now known was decided on. From 1815 to 1830, the censorship, the severity of the laws against the press, and the excessive rate at which securities were fixed, left the press but little more free than it had been under the imperial despotism. The number of newspapers, however, gradually increased. In 1824, a comparative statement was drawn up privately for the use of the ministry the six government journals had a total of 14,344 subscribers, while the six opposition papers numbered 41,330. In the following year, the opposition had increased to 44,000, and the government diminished to 12,580. On the part of the opposition, The Constitutionnel' counted the largest number of subscribers. Previously to 1830, their ranks were further strengthened by the appearance of Le Globe,' La Revue Française,' Le Temps,' and 'Le National.' The revolution of July 1830 gave a new shock to the periodical press, and for a short time a whole avalanche of papers threatened to overwhelm Paris; but when order was again re-established, the greater portion perished. We give the titles of some of each of the parties into which society was divided. The democratic party was represented by La Tribune,' 'Le Reformateur,' Le Bon Sens le Monde.' The last was an unsuccessful speculation of the celebrated Lamennais, who had already failed to carry on 'L'Avenir,' notwithstanding the assistance of two such writers as George Sand and Montalembert. The Bonapartists expressed their opinions in La Revolution de 1830,' Le Capitole,' and Le Commerce;' the legitimists in 'Le Renovateur,' Le Courrier de l'Europe,' and 'La Nation;' the opposition, now called Conservatives, in La Paix,' La Charte de 1830,' and 'Le Globe;' and last, the tiers-parti in L'Impartial,' 'La Renommée,' and 'Le Temps; the latter was most ably conducted, but eventually failed, at a loss to the proprietors of more than a million of francs. During the past ten years, a great reduction has been made in the price of newspapers in France, in many instances to half the original charge. The Journal des Débats,' however, still maintains its high rate of subscription-eighty francs a-year. The effect of the reduction on the aggregate sale is seen in the stampoffice returns. In 1828, the number of stamped sheets issued was 28,000,000; in 1836, it was 42,000,000; in This brief sketch of the history of French newspapers may be appropriately concluded by the opinion of a French writer on the claim which society has on literature. 'Society,' he says, 'demands from treatises, science; from books, ideas; from reviews, profound study of the questions discussed, from special collections, to justify their title; from daily journals, the speediest publicity, the most impartial views on all debates, documents, and facts-the most rapid and dispassionate judgment on events, institutions, men, and things.' SMALL FARMING. under our notice: IMPROVEMENT.-In the cornyard of the The following paragraph in a newspaper lately came farm at Petty, Morayshire, there are 101 stacks of corn, each stack averaging 13 quarters of grain. Last year there were only 88 stacks in this yard, and of a much smaller size. About thirty years ago, the farm was tenanted by a number of small cotters, and their whole produce would scarcely average 10 small stacks.' This piece of information should not be suffered to pass without comment. It furnishes, in a few words, a thorough explanation of the advantages of large over small farming. A piece of land which, thirty years ago, under the cotter system of farmconducted on improved principles, produces 101 large stacks. ing, produced only ten small stacks, now when in one farm, It is evident that there is a gain of at least 91 stacks by the change. Who is it that makes this gain? First, the landowner, who receives a larger rent; second, the farmer, who has a larger proportion of the return for his trouble and outlay of capital; third, the public, who have ten times the quantity of food brought to market. But probably six families have been expelled in order to make room for one great capitalist farmer. Quite true; yet it is to be observed that all the grain which the six families could furnish was ten stacks. Suppose, then, we go back to additional ninety-one stacks? If the subsistence of cotter the former state of things, what are we to do for lack of the families were alone concerned, we might be contented to see no more than ten stacks sent to market. But this meagre condition of things will, unfortunately, not answer the demands now made for food. Twenty-eight millions of people require to have daily bread, and they must be thought of as well as the tillers of the soil. Mechanics, tradesmen, merchants, and all other dwellers in towns, although not owning a scrap of land, have a right to see that the territory of our island is not abused, and brought material of subsistence. Thus small farming, with its want back to that condition which would defraud them of the of capital to improve and make the very most of the land, is adverse to the general well-being; and from all that we have heard of old times, is not even advantageous to the parties who conduct it. |