I HAVE been reflecting ever since our last interview, Mrs. B., whether there were no means of averting or at least alleviating the misery resulting from an excess of population, and it appears to me that though we have not the same resource in land as America; yet we have large tracts of waste land, which, by being brought into cultivation, would produce an additional stock of subsistence. MRS. B. You must remember that industry is limited by the extent of capital, and that no more labourers can be employed than we have the means of maintaining; they work for their daily bread, and without obtaining it, they neither could nor would work. All the labourers which the capital of the country can maintain being disposed of, the only question is, whether it be better to employ them on land already in a state of cultivation, or in breaking up and bringing into culture new lands; and this point may safely be trusted to the decision of the landed proprietors, as it is no less their interest than that of the labouring classes that the greatest possible quantity of produce should be raised. To a certain extent it has been found more advantageous to lay out capital in improving the culture of old land, rather than to employ it in bringing new land into tillage; because the soil of the waste land is extremely poor and ungrateful, and requires a great deal to be laid out on it before it brings in a return. But there is often capital sufficient for both these purposes; and of late years we have seen not only prodigious improvements in the processes of agriculture throughout the country, but a great number of commons inclosed and cultivated. CAROLINE. not help regretting the inclosure of commons; they are the only resource of the cottagers for the maintenance of a few lean cattle. Let me once more quote my favourite Goldsmith: Where, then, ah! where shall poverty reside, "To 'scape the pressure of contiguous pride? "If to some common's fenceless limits stray'd, "He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade, "Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth deride, "And e'en the bare-worn common is deny'd." MRS. B. You should recollect that we do not admit poets to be very good authority in political economy. If, instead of feeding a few lean cattle, a common, by being inclosed, will fatten a much greater number of fine cattle, you must allow that the quantity of subsistence will be increased, and the poor, though in a less direct manner, will fare the better for it. Labourers are required to inclose and cultivate those commons, the neighbouring cottagers are employed for that purpose, and this additional demand for labour turns to their immediate advantage. They not only receive an indemnity for their loss of right of common, but they find purchasers for the cattle they can no longer maintain, in the proprietors of the new inclosures. When Finchley Common was inclosed, it was divided amongst the inhabitants of that parish; and the cottagers and little shopkeepers sold the small slips of land which fell to their share to men of greater property, who thus became possessed of a sufficient quantity to make it answer to them to inclose and cultivate it; and the poorer classes were amply remunerated for their loss of commonage by the sale of their respective lots. CAROLINE. But if we have it not in our power to provide for a redundant population by the cultivation of our waste lands, what objection is there to sending those who cannot find employment at home, to seek a maintenance in countries where it is more easily obtained, where there is a greater demand for labour? Or why should they not found new colonies in the yet unsettled parts of America? MRS. B. Emigration is undoubtedly a resource for an overstocked population; but one that is adopted in general with great reluctance by individuals, and is commonly discouraged by governments, from a mistaken apprehension of its diminishing the strength of the country. CAROLINE. very great extent; I meant only to provide abroad for those whom we cannot maintain at home. MRS. B. Under an equitable government there is little danger of emigration ever exceeding that point. The attachment to our native land is naturally so strong, and there are so many ties of kindred and association to break through before we can quit it, that no slight motive will induce a man to expatriate himself. An author deeply versed in the knowledge of the human mind says, "La seule bonne loi contre les emigrations, est celle que la nature a gravé dans nos cœurs." On this subject I am very willing to quote the Deserted Village: "Good heaven! what sorrows gloom'd that parting day "That call'd them from their native walks away!" Besides, the difficulties with which a colony of emigrants have to struggle before they can effect a settlement, and the hardships they must undergo until they have raised food for their subsistence, are so discouraging, that no motive less strong than that of necessity is likely to induce them to settle in an uncultivated land. Some capital, too, is required for this as well as for all undertakings; the colonists must be provided with implements of husbandry and of art and supplied with food and clothing until they shall have |