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Show 218 OF THE RENT OF LAND,. [ CH. III. duce, it must necessarily be more protected frotn foreign co1npetition than almost any other comnlodity. The statement of Adan1 Sn1ith is unquestionably too strono·. The other is strictly true. Yet still it n1ust be a~kno\vledged, that the individual interests of landlords n1ay suffer from importation, though not nearly so 1nuch as the interests of son1e of the other classes of society. lVI y reasons for thinking that, in son1e cases \Vhich are likely to occur, the diIninution of rents \vhich would be sustained in this ,vay, would not be counterbalanced by proportionate advantages to the state, I have given at son1e length in the fifth edition of n1y Essay on the Principle of Population,* and to them I refer the reader. But I \Vill add a ren1ark, which, if just, is certainly very in1portant; nan1ely, that the en1ployrnent of capital upon the land in the \vay in vvhich it is not unfrequently ernployed, appears to n1e the only considerable case where practically, and as the business is really conducted, the interest of the individual and 0f the state are not proportioned to each other. If land \Vere always considered as a merchant-able instrun1ent bouo·ht and sold 1nerelv with a ' b v vie\v to the profit which n1ight be n1ade of it, and worked exclusively by the proprietors, every increase of value and po,ver \V hich the instrun1ent n1ight acquire from being used and i1nproved, would naturally ,enter into the co1nputation in deciding '* Vol. ii. Book III. chap. xii. SEC. JXl.] OF THE RENT OF J,AND. 219 whether a capital might be n1ore profitably employed on land, or in con1merce and n1anufactures; and the advantage to the state, from the employment of such capital, 'vould in general be proportioned in both cases to the advantage gained by · individuals. But, practically, this state of things rarely exists. A very large portion of the lands of most European countries is kept out of the market by the right of primogeniture, the practice of entails, and the desire of maintaining a landed influence; and that part \Vhich is purchased by the mercantile classes, and others who have acquired n1oveable property, ]s generally purchased rather with a vie'v to secure a revenue fro1n the wealth already gained, and a share in the influence of the old landholders, than to the means of n1aking or increasing their fortunes. The natural consequence of these habits and feelings ]n the great body of landholders is, that the ctiltivation of the country n1ust be chiefly carri~d on by tenants. And indeed it is allowed, ~hat not only the cornn1on routine of fanning is principally conducted by persons 'vho are not proprietors, but that even a very large part of the great pern1anent improvetnents in agriculture, and in the instrun1ents and n1ocles of cultivation \Vhich have so peculiarly distinguished the last thirty years, has been effected by the capitals of the san1e class of people. But if it be true, as I fully believe it is, that a very large part of the improven1ents which have taken place on the soil, has been derived fron1 the capital, skill and industry of tenants, no truth can |
