The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-09-09 00:00:00

rigIItONABLE IWTELLICENCIC.

&Nam de 11'illmiglihy entertained the Alirellioness of West-
reeath, Cot. Fremantle, His. Foamy. and select party, at dinner,
oi Tuesday, at her Nurse.
The Doke of St. Alkin's and the Ladies fleiuclerk, arrived. on
Monday. at their houie, in S. Jae cti a square, t---1 their seat,
Batton. Surrey.
The Doke and Pechess of lwinster left town on Tuesday, for
Ityndmair..
Earl Stair has left Thomas's Iterkeley.mmare, for
Erightern.
fur l'ointeris of Dartmouth has left Blackheath for Lord Bagot'a
Staffordshire.
rie Countries of Cimarron has lei. town for the Ea?! of Egre-
mont's mat, Petrowth. Sussex.
Lord Nugent has lent town on a visit to the Earl and Countess of
Jersey. a! theirmat, Middleton Park, 4 tifor.l.liire.
Tier Earl of Carnarmei has left his seat, Iligh f tare, Berke, on a
tour thy-m.4h Scotland.
The Marquisor Il'orcestcr has arrived at Holding'. Hord, Do-
TET•strett. from Perla.
The I limourable Colonel Leyrester Suudiope left town on Tut a-
day, tor Paris.
Arrivals at the Royal lintel, St Jatnet's..treet :—!ine. George
Edwards. from a tour: W. E. Powell, Fe; , ALP., from ditto ;
sing Mr. Man*, from ditto. Ikparture.:—J. Thompson.
tat ; the lion. Mr. Twistleton and Jatimi Vogt., Esq., 101
Lard hurdler s seer, Belvedere, Kea.
Tb Carl and Counter* and the I.adic. Aside:v. 'taro, have ar-
med in Paris.
Coghlin left nodose!: Hotel, St. James's. place, yester•
day, fur Tunbridge Wells.
Departures from Kirkham's lintel, Lower Brook-street t.—J.
Howard, Esq., fee Oxford 4 George Esq., for Brighton
Riclisnl Tyrrell. Esn., tor his seat in St-And-shire Ale. and
Airs Berkeley, their seat in Worcestershire.
Sir J.cob and body Aatley arrived yesterday at their house in
Hereford..trei r, May-fair, from the Continent.
Arrir.dh at the Bath Hotel, Arlington-street t--Air. and Mrs.
Northey, from Susses; arid Mr. and Mimi Wormer, from Bath.
repariires:—Major and Mrs. like Revd family, fur the Continent ;
Ni. Colour:, for hie scat, Seetou, Kent.

ON THE CUSTOM OP PRIMOGENITURE.

Fru= tM keshiagh neriewl

Fortunately this is a question—and in the whole science
of political economy there is probably none of greater prw-
twal importance—which we are not forced to argue on
inertly speculative principles, but which we can bring to the
test of actual experiment. We have long been witnesses of
the wheels of the custom of pihnogeniture as applied to the
succession to lauded property ; anti in Fran* i law was
'meted soon after the Revolution, which abolished all the
previously existing institutions nod customs respecting the
succession to property, and established a nearly equal sys-
tem cf division emong the different children. This law
has now been in force for ur wards of thirty years; and a
sufficient time has in consequence been afilereled for observ-
ing its operation and effect. It is proper that the result of
this most interesting and Ogaotic experiment should be
generally known. Nor do we we how our pages could be
better employed than in communicating to our renders and
the public the information we are possessed of on this sub-
jee.t. It will. if we are not greatly mistaken, go far to put
down most of the objections that have been made to the
custom of primogeniture, and will at all events show the
mischief of attempting to enforce a system of equal IitICCCS`

•__
Accenting to the law of succession now established in
Trance a person with one child is allowed to dispose of a
moiety of his property as he pleases, the child inheriting
the other moiety as a matter of right ; if a person has two
children, he is only allowed the absolute disposal of a third
of his property ; and if lie has more than re,., three-
fourths of the property must he equally amongst
the cliihlren, one-fourth only being left at his own disposal,
either to increase the portion of his favourite child, or to
leave to a stranger. When the lather dies intestate, the
property is equally divided amongst all the children, with-.
out reeved to sex or seniority.
It has been said, ire favour of the equal partition of
!elided property among all the members of a fan ily, that
such is the mode in which the fortunes of merchants and'
manufacturers, anal generally of all the monied classes, are
actually distributed amongst their children, and that no
bad effects have been found to result from it. But there is,
hardly any analogy between the cases. The children of al
merchant or banker who have shared equally in the pater-
nal property, may, if they please to form themselves into a
myelin carry on the filminess with equal advantage as
their father. Hut this can never be the case with the
family of a landed proprietor. Fanning cannot be ad-
vantageously carried on by joint-stock companies. When
an estate is divitliel into equal po. :ions to each child, the
paternal home will be downed by all but the eldest son,
and in general there will be as many separate mansions
end families as there are children. !tut the degradation
in the ideas of all elasse. respecting the Wele in which
gentlemen ought to live would probably be the worst effect
of the establishment of a system of equal inheritance. The
institution of primogimituie, by giving the great bulk
of the father's property to the eldest sou, not only
compels the younger children to become industrious, but
it also stimulates them to exert themselves to the utmost
to emerge from the depressed condition in which they are
placed, and to rise to an equality with their elder brother.
We arc also disposed to thick that the state and magnifi-
cence in which our greet landed proprietors live act as pow-
trial Me mires to the indite try and enterprise of the mei--
tactile and manufacturing classes, who never think they
have accumuleted a sufficient fortune until they are able to
emulate the splendour of the landlords; whereas, had these
pest propertira been frittered down by the scheme of equal
ihriesion amovilhildren, the standard of competence would
hare teell ItilVald universally, and there would, in COIllie•
eptence, have been less exertion among all classes of the com-
munity.
The Marquis Gander, the very intelligent translator and
meteor of the Wealth 4 Naliuns, in arguing in favour of
the law of equal succession, contends that the passion which
impels every rich man to extend his fosseesions, sad to
aJd thld to field, will clways effeetuelly ore 'balance the
principle of subdivision. Rut the rule established by the
etireitsi French law, that the estates of individuals having
families mug be divided at their death, will naturally in-
duct the greater number to amass moniiel fortunes in pre-
ference to land. The facts too thut M. Gamier has stated
pine the very opposite of his theory ; for they show that,
Ails there is a very great demand in France for small
latches of ground, there is very little demand for moderate
sitel farms. Thus, M. Gander informs us, and his au-
tkerley is unquestionable, that a farm which would bring
yearly rent of 4,000 or 5,000 francs (160!. or 2000 will
Nast:llas a whole for above 23 years' purchase; while, if
it were divided into a number of small lots, it would most
probably sell fur 40 years purchase.--(Riehesse des No-
bs,. mine vi. p. 179. Ed. 102'2.) This fact is pregnant
information; and with information, we regret to say,
flow Sivathe most unfavourable view possible of the state
,t
'o3.ll;turlee. It proves that agriculture is net prosecuted in
knletn as it is prosecuted in England, for the sake
realizing a profit on the capital etnployed in carrying it
u•'llut in order to acquire the means of existence! With
141:1 3 strong natural inducement to subdivide properties,
a law forcing their subdivision, the prospect be-
hanet is e- mainly far from flattering. And no French-
itho is nut perversely blind to the real interests of hie
c~nnitry, can doubt that it is the duty of the Government
7..urt thrimel r. to the utmost to counteract this destruc-
t:X(ln. If it is suffered to run its full length, proper-
li."lll,' Perpetually heisening, until, to use the words of
ea,,,"4lupr "you mire at the litnit, beyond which the
cultivate it as y ou phase, will feed no more mouths:
simple tan usures which instigate to marriage will
4.enfal tre. Vim then is the consequence but the most
nosginable! By persevering in this system you
7 exc. the populousness of Chins, where the
carcares of digs, eats, rats, and every' spec. ice of filth
41 term.
w,mcm noun are sought with avidity to sustain the life of
de4s, ouru only to be starved. Small properties much
hi.,7 Pr, ure the greatest source of misery that can pawl-
nZt:ited j and this has operated to such an extent
tee, "in France, that a law ought undoubtedly to be
to render all division te....10w a certain number of
ers., •
gmt'ifll....Lhfisl."--(l"rare/s in France, 1. p. 413.)
si.7" W
hoa as NIT• Young's opinion in 1709, how much
mast he have had for coining to the same coo-
-1 velem almost all :he large estates Gbell existing
.„."1.4, nu, have been broken up, anal the succession to
-Lou piache, ,
tinan • retulated by the principle of equal di-
, :11, g the children ? Had an assembly been held
"Petri rie
ealS Tose of devising the means by which they
der,, efiic sally depress France, and bring her into
y "id VI 01 situation as Ireland, we do not believe
ave hit upon any 'chow so well calculated
ee thci, -
object, and to extinguish every Cern; of

J
)t:
De.--

future improvement, u the institution of the law in:
question.
The effect that this splitting of estates has already had
on the populatian of France is most striking. In despite
of all the massacres of the revolution, and of the bloody
wars in which France was subsequently eiteagell, and in
despite too of the loss of her for •ign trade, and of the decay
lof many branches of her manufacturing industry, her
population l.as regularly increased since the Revoiutiott.
In 1180, Nicker estimated the population of France, ex- I
elusive of Corsica, at 21,678,000; and, inclusive of that :
island, at 121,800,000. In 17i.9, Poinclles, from a coin- I
parison of the registers of births, deaths, and marrieges,
estimated the inhabitants of France, including Corsica, at
23,065,000 individuals of all sexes and ages. A committee'
of the National Asrembly bestowed a good deal of atten-
titli on the same suljet•t, and the result of their inquiries
gives a population of C6,1r1,000 ; though, from the cir-
cumstance of the taxes being diminished to the Foorer
classes in proportion to the number of their children, there
is reason to suspect that this estimate may have been sow-
what too high. In 1903, however, the population of old
France amount( it, according to an actual enutiteratim, to
no less thaa 27,70,000 ; and at this moment it rather ex-
creels thirty millions ! This is a great and an extraordinary
increase; and as tht re has been no increase of manufac-
tures, it is one which could not possibly have taken place
hut for the division of estates caused by the Revolution
and the law of equal inheritance.—(Purhet Slat. lam.
p. 226.)
The agricultural class in France consists of—.
1,121,000 proprietors argil their families, living wholly or
mostly on the net proceeds of land, with an
ineeme of from two to twenty thousand francs
a year for each family 001. sterling to nun/. a
year).
1!,058,000 proprietors and their families, of the class of
ratants, livi'tg pertly by their labour, with an
income of from 64 to 444 francs a year
(2!. los. to 17/. 11s. sterling) for each family.
.1;941,000 agricultural labourers, who are nut proprie-
tors.

Therrfore one-half of the pepulat7on of 'France is corn.
posed of pittitriettss, great or swan and one-oats of agri-
cultural labourers; and altogether two-thirds are employed
ih atHeulture.
In no country of Europe is there such a vast body of
proprietors ; anti in no ciViliZol EUtopeali country, with
the tingle t xeeption of Ireland, is there so large a propor-
tion of the population dirt ctly engaged in the eultivauon,
or rather, we shoul.i say, the torture of the soil. And yet
the system is only in its infancy. Should it be supported
in its present vigour for another half century, ha grunde
turfi.,4 witl eettainly be the great' st paupt:r wuren in
Europe, and will, along with Ireland, have the honour of
furnishing hewers of wood and drawars of water for all the
Act countries of the world.

In countries where capital is accumulating in masses, and
where there are no vicious laws or habits to force the in-
terminable div;tion and subdivision of landed properties,
the newest and most powerful machinery is applied to the
cultivation of tlei soil, amp the division of rural employ-
ments is carried to its fullest extent. But wherever
property is very much fi Ounce! down, such methods of
facilitating production eau be but very partially introduced.
In the greater number of French, as of Irish farms, it is
impossible either to adopt a proper system of retatiou in
cropping, or to erect thrashing machines; and in many
instances the homes are the joint property of several sets of
farmers! IVhatever increased supplies of food may be
required in a country occupied by small farmers, must be
chiefly produced by an increase of animal exertion; and
raw produce must, therefore, rise in price with every in-
crease of population, or as soon as it becomes necessary to
cultivate any portion of inferior soils. There is, in such
cases, no principle of improvement in operation to counteract
the effect lof increasing sterility. It is neither checked by
improved machinery, nor by any expedients for saving
labour. But bring allowed to exert its full effect, society
very soon becomes clogged in its progress, and its future
advancement is rendered extremely problematical.
The custom of equally dividing the paternal property,
whether freehold or leasehold, among all the children of a
family, has been long acted upon in Ireland. Sir John
Davies, in his valuable tract, entitled Diseonerie of Me
Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued by Me Eng.
dish, men' ions this as one of the customs that had mainly
tended to perpetuate the barbarism and poverty of that
country. " The custom of eavel-kinil," rays he, "did
breed another mischief ; for thereby ever man being born
to land, as well bastard as legitimate, they all held them-
selves to he gentlemen. And though their portions were
never so small, and themselves never so poor, for gavel-
kind must needs in the end make a poor gentility, yet did
they scorn to descend to husbandry or merchandise, or to
learn any mechanical art or science. Besides, these poor
gentlemen were so affected to their small portions of land,
that they rather chose to live at home by theft, extortions,
and coshering, than to seek any better fortunes abroad."—
(p. 17Y, Ed. 1747).
We have to) reason to dilate on the probable consequences
of the French law of succession on the political interests of
the country ; but it would be very easy to show that they
must be fatal in the extreme. Far from joining in the out-
cry that has so frequently been raised against the magnitude
of the property in the hands of the aristocracy, we consider
the existence of a numerous and powerful body of landed
proprietors, without artificial privileges, but possessed of
great natural influence. as essentially contributing to the
improvement and stability of the public institutions of
such densely peopled countries ns France and England ;
and as forming the best attainable check to arbitrary power
on the one hitiol, and to popular frenzy and licentiousness
on the other. It would ha the height of absurdity to sup-
pose, that an agricultural population, feeding on potatoes,
and with Out any means of rising in the world, should be
very deeply imbued with a just actin. of their own rielits or
of those of others. An agricultural population, spread over
• wide extent of country, has no point of re-union. Men
only feel their own consequence—they can only act in a
collective capacity, and with vigour and effect—after they
have been condensed into mess's and collected into cities.
It is comparatively easy to animate the inhabitants of •
large town with the same spirit; there is a sympathy in'
their joys and in their sorrows; and the redress of an injury'!
done to a single individual becomes, in mimic measure, the
bushiest of the whole. But with agriculturists, the ease is
different; they can always be trampled down piecemeal ;
they cannot act collectively; and must therefore submit
themselves, with comparatively little resistance, to the yoke
of the oppresser. Of all the arguments in favour of the
minute division of landed property, that which supposes it
would contribute to keep alive a feeling of manly Uide-
pendence, seems the most futile and preposterous.

Mr. John Poole is the reported author of the now farce
which is announced to be acted very shortly at the Hay-
market theatre. _

INDIANS AT Ili •FIIINOTON.-(FrOLTI the National
Journal of August 14.)—" The deputations of Indiana
now at the seat of Government visited General Mason's
cannon foundry on Wedneslay evening last, where they
had an opportunity of acting a thirty-two-pounder cast,
and of inspecting the boring machinery. It was highly
interesting to witnrn the deep impressions made upon
' these red men of the woods by this exhibition of tire
-and melted iron, and by the music of the augurs, as
they made their slow and difficult prom's through the
body of tl:e cannon. 'f he whole was a scene of wonder
to them; and that peculiar faculty of concealing their
emotions, which the Indians exercise when strange
sights are displsyed to their view, furnished but a thin
veil over the inward workings of surprise. One of the
interpreters requested them to look well to all they raw,
as they might some of these days have occasion to make
guns too. " Impossible," replied one of them. " that
can never be." After the foundry and its operations
had been well scrutinised, they were invited into the
second story of the boring mill, where refreshments
were served out to them, cautiously prepared in the form of
sangstree, lemonade, Ike. While this weaker sort of drink is
better for the Indians themselves, it nerves. at the same
time, to impress them with a greater respect for thins., who
present it. Whiskey, or other strong liquor, on the con-
trary, though they prefer it, leads them to feel a disrespect
and contempt for those who serve it upon them. They,
left the foundry about six tielerk, to visit the Secretary at
War, at his residence, followed by at least 2,000 men,
so nett, and children, attracted by the strangeness of their
costume. if an almost entire nudity, with painted heads
r and faces, may be called costume."

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