The National Register.
London, England, 1814-11-20 00:00:00

for, in my opinion, and that of the public at large, all the
. evidence condemns the principle, for this plain reason,
that they all declare that the rents have, been doubled
during the war, and that the cultivator must he ruined if the
price of wheat is less than 10 shillings per bushel. Fly this
it is evident, that bread cannot be sold at less than one
shilling the loaf, and butcher's meat in proportion; lu con-

sequence, the present price of labour must continue, which
will act against our manufactures in the foreign market ;
therefore it is indispensably necessary, that rents should be
zednced, or our mechanics turned into► paupers, whose list

is far too great ; or to evade so disgraceful an alternative,
they must emigrate with their arts to enrich rival nations

One of the witnesses asserts, that the land-owners have spent

All the extra rents they have received in the advance of all
the necessaries they purchase. This we may aver frir truth,
as before stated, in princely luxuries; if the calm rent has
been spent, we may presume, that the old rents received,
prior to the war, remain untouched by any of the expellees
of the war ; therefore, it seems Conclusive, that they have
no claim whatever to any advance of rents prior to those

received in 1792; as proof is plain, they have paid
nothing to support the war. As honourable men, as I hope
they are, they cannot object now to receive the amount of
their old rents to support a permanent peace. Peace of
mind has not been disturbed, nor their luxury of living in
any way retrenched, as amongst the other classes of society ;
we may assert, they can utter no complaint on that head.
'.f"ey have no risk to run, no loss of capital, like the culti-
vator or the manufacturer of raw matcria:s ; both of whom
are exposed to great losses in the exercise of their different
vocations. by which their fortune and even subsistence are
rnelaugeted, and their peace of mind disturbed. This can-
not be the case with the land-owners. Their minds are free
from any dread of ruin their returns are sure; the rent of
lands must be paid, for the farmer cannot remove his
in a growing state, it is a fixture of the soil till its na:eral
In the event of the rent not being paid, they will
seize the teal produce of the land, which has been brought
forward by the labour and capital of the farmer ; therefore
all doubts and fears, on their part, arc as vapours. But the
agents of these gentlemen raise another plea to justify the
legal imposition of double-rents. They claim the improve-
ments which the farmer has made on the land at his sole
expense and risk of capital. The improvement of lands, in
many counties, mist he admitted, and increase of produce
has been the result : hut what has heels the effects of tloye
improvements ? The consumers have received a most glo-
rious benefit, they have been taxed five pence per loaf more
than they used to pay before those improvements were
thought of! But upon a moral principle of equity, who is
most intitled to the benefits of the imprnvement of a farm ?
surely, the cultivator has the first claim, for it is ev:dent it
was by hi.; skill, industry, and risk of capita!, that the itn-
provenient of the land took its rise first. !gain, as thug
gentlemen claim the improvements to themselves, I should
be glad if you could inform me what part they have taken in
the improvement of their different estates, as to any pecu-
niary aids, they have afforded the cultivators during the last
20 years. Perhaps New might imagine, that making the
cultivator of their estates pay two years' rent in one, was ail
sure principle of improvement ; cert.:inly it was one of ad-
vantage to. themselves, but it was must hostile to the im-
provement of the land. By 20 years' experience it.appeais,
• that the farmer transferred the extra tent laid on him hy his
landlord to the consumers, which is a fact not to be disputed.
By these Meal's the land-holder shifted the whole weight of
the extra expense of the state from their own shoulders to.