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Show or~" 'THE HENT OF LAND. [CH. IlL will be estitnated. It 'vould ofte~1 happen, that after improven1ents had been taking place, rents would rise according to the accustoined and natural meaning attached to the term, 'v hi~e th~y n1jght fall according to the new n1ode of est1n1at1ng the1n adopted by lVIr. llicardo. . . . I need hardly say, that, 111 speaking of the In-terests of the land~ord, I ~1ean always t_o refer. to what I should call his real rents and h1s real Interests · that is, his power of conunanding labour, and th~ necessaries and conveniences of life, _,vhatever proportion th~se re11ts ~1ay form of the 'vhole produce, ~r whate\:er ~uant1t?' of lab_our they may have cost tn producing. But In fact, nnprovements in ao-riculture tend, in a tnoderate time, even accord~ o· to the concessions of Mr. Ricardo, to increase ~he proportion of the whole produce which falls to the landlord's share; so that in any 'vay ,ve can vie\v the subject, we must allow that, in- * This interpretation of the term rent is, I conceive, strictly consistent with my first definition of it. I call it that portion (not proportion) of the value of the produce which goes t~ the land~ord; £t,nd if the value of the whole produce of any gtven quantity of land increases, the portion of value which goes to the landlord may increase considerably, although thP- proportion which it bears to the 'whole may diminish. Mr. Ricardo has himself expressly stated, p. 503. that whatever sum the produce of land sells f~r above the costs of cultivating it, is money rent. But if it continually happens that money rent rises, and is at the same time. of o-reater real value in exchange, although it bears a less proportzon ~o the valae of the whole produce from the land in question, it is quite obvious that neither money rent nor real rent is regulated by this proportion. I SEC. IX.] OF THE RENT OF LAND. 217 dependently o.f the question of itnportations, the interest of the landlord is strictly and necessarily connected vvith that of the state. SECTION IX. On the Cunnexion C!f the Inte1·ests of" the Landlord and of" the State, in Cottntries which import Corn. The only conceivable doubt 'vhich can arise re-. specting the strictest union between the interest of the landlord and that of the state, is in the ques-~ tion of importation. And here it is evident, that at all events the landlor.d cannot be placed in a \Vorse situation than . others, and by son1e of the wannest friends of the freedorn of trade, he has justly been considered as placed in a much better. No person has ever doubted that the individual interests of the manufacturers of woollen, silk, or linen goods, n1ight be injured by foreign competition ; and few would deny that the importation of a large body of labourers "'rould tend to lower 'vages. Under the most unfavourable view, therefore, that Vle can take of the subject, the case of the landlord vvith regard to import~tion is not separated frotn that of the other classes of society. But it has been stated by no less an authority than that of Adam Smith, that the freest in1portation of corn and ra,v produce cannot injure the farmers and landlords;* and it is ahnost universally allovved, that from the bulky nature of raw pro- *Wealth of Nations, Book IV. ch. ii. p. 189. 6th edit. |
