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Show 224 OF THE RENT OF LAND. [ CH. III. the in1portation of foreign corn, on account of the greate1: quantity of ra\V produce that has been purchased by a given quantity of capital and labour at hon1e,., than could have been purchased by the same quantity of capital and labour from abroad, it is quite obvious that the population n1ust have been accelerated rather than retarded ; and certainly the unusually rapid increase of population which is known to have taken place during the last ten or fifteen years of the \Var so much beyond the average of the century, tends ~strongly to confinn this conclusion. 'fhe position here laid down tnay appear to be rather startling; but the reader will see hov1 it is lin1ited. It qepends for its. genei·al effects upon pern1anent i1nprove1nents being made by a capital which has only a temporary interest in the fruits of such improvetnents; and, in reference to restrictions upon itnportation, it depends upon the circu111stance that these restrictions by the increased demand for the products of don1estic agriculture vvhich they create, should have the effect of· occasioning · irnprovements which would otherwise not have taken place. But neither of these usual concon1itants are absolutely necessary. Considerable quantities of capital tnight be en1- ployed upon the land, and a temporary increase of de1nand for don1estic produce n1ight take place, \V'ithout permanent itnprovements in agriculture. All that is meant to be said is, that when, under such circumstances, permanent irnproven1ents in .agriculture are really 1nade, and rent is created, it is impossible to resist the conclusion, that to such SEC. r~.J OF THE RE N'l; OF LAN D. extent the interest of the state in the exchangeable value created by such capital,* is decidedly greater than the interest of the individual. This consjderation, combined \vith tbose before adverted to, n1ay n1ake it at least a rnatter of doubt, ,vhether even in the case of restrictions upon the in1portation of foreign corn, the interest of the state n1ay not son1etimes be the san1e as that of the landlords. But no such doubt exists respecting a restriction upon the itnportation of other con11nodities. And when \tVe add, that in a state of perfectly free intercourse, it is etninently the ·interest of those '\\rbo live upon the rents of land, that capital and population should increase, vv bile to those vvbo live upon the profits of stock and the wages of labour, an increase of capital and population is, to say the least of it, a much more doubtful benefit; it 1nay be most safely asserted, that the interest of no other class in the state is so nearly and necessarily connected ·vvith its ''realth anrl power, as the interest of the landlord. * I refer to exchangeable value and rate of profits, not t~ abundance of conveniences and luxuries. In almost all improvements in machinery, the state is ultimately more benefited than the producers, but not in reference to rate of profits and real value in exchange. Q |