Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, No. 411, January 1850Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 67, No. 411, January 1850
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
probably, do the female population of the Orkney islands, whom Sir
Robert Peel reduced to penury some years ago, by a single stroke of
his pen, through the article of straw-plait. From Lerwick to the
Scilly Isles, the poor industrious classes were made the earliest
victims. The tiller of the land is liable to the operation of the
same rules. By the outlay of capital, he forces an additional crop,
but, the value of produce having fallen, his returns, estimated in
money, are just the same as before. If the maintenance of rents
throughout the United Kingdom depends simply upon the supply of
dupes, we are afraid that the Whig landlords will speedily find
themselves in a sorry case.
We by no means wish to treat this question as if Scotland alone were
concerned. The English agriculturist, who knows that strict economy
is the rule in northern farming, will readily acknowledge that our
observations have even greater force when applied to his own case.
It would have been presumption in us, had we passed beyond the
limits of our own field of illustration, which, however, will bear
comparison with any other. On the whole, we think it will hardly be
questioned, that, if high farming in the Lothians or on the Border
is a losing trade, it cannot be made profitable elsewhere within the
boundaries of Britain.
We are told that this is a landlord's question; and we find Messrs
Bright and Cobden, with more than their usual malignity, chuckling
over the prospects of the downfall of a class which they honour
with their rancorous hatred. They do not affect to disguise the
pleasure which they derive from knowing that, at this moment,
the rents are being paid from the farmer's capital; and, so far,
they bear important testimony to the truth of the calculations we
have submitted. It is not our business at present to diverge into
ethics, else we might be tempted to hazard a few observations on
the brutal and un-British spirit which pervades the whole of their
late harangues. All that we shall do now is to remark that they are
trying, by every means in their power, to persuade the tenantry of
Britain that this is a mere landlords' question; and we are bound
to confess, that such writers as Lord Kinnaird have materially
contributed towards fostering this delusion. A very little
consideration, however, will show the utter fallacy of such an
opinion; and we feel convinced that the good sense of the tenantry
of Scotland will interfere to prevent them from being led astray by
the devices of their inveterate enemies.
So far as we can gather from the opinions enunciated by the leaders
of the Manchester school, at their late gatherings, their view
resolves itself into this. Abolish the rents, and agriculture will
go on as before. Little argument is necessary to show, that the
proposition, even were it admitted, is by no means in favour of the
farmer.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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