he formerly wielded, and which he lost by his retirement from the sphere of his successful labours. The hopes he would fain rest on his successor are dashed aside by repeated examples of riches misapplied. The inheritance of wealth has rarely proved the source of pure and unalloyed happiness. It exposes the feeble to temptation; it casts on stronger natures a heavy load of responsibility.

369

CHAPTER XVII.

MR. CHAPLIN'S MOTION FOR A ROYAL COMMISSION ON

AGRICULTURAL DEPRESSION.

cultural

in Parlia

ment.

I KNOW not what kindly motive it was which induced The agriMr. Chaplin to pay me the compliment of asking me question to second the motion for the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the causes of, and the remedies for, the distressed condition of British agriculture which he recently submitted to the House of Commons in an able speech; but it so happens that while he is specially identified with the proprietors of land, I am connected perhaps more closely than any other member of the House by tradition and family ties with that less distinguished, but interesting and fast disappearing class, the yeomen farmers of the northern counties. I felt the greater satisfaction in seconding the motion for a Royal Commission, because I was anxious that the farmers and the landed interest generally should be assured that they had friends on both sides of the House, and that any reasonable proposal for their welfare would receive the full and impartial consideration of Parliament.

The case for a Royal Commission was very fairly stated in the Economist' newspaper. We are,' said the writer, in the midst of the most extended and

BB

The

farmer's

severe agricultural distress which has prevailed in this country for perhaps thirty years, and it becomes necessary to investigate the development of an industry, which is the largest and most powerful and diffused of any in the United Kingdom.'

If the difficulties of the British farmer were such difficulties only as are incidental to a succession of rainy seasons, competi- it would be absurd to ask for a Royal Commission.

in face of

tion.

The Meteorological Office would be the proper authority to consult, and we know how little their science can do for us in the way of prediction; but the landed interest of this country is now, for the first time, brought face to face with a most extensive and vigorous competition. It is a competition which it is the interest of the consumer to encourage, and one with which the Legislature will be too wise to interfere, but it is also a competition which must have very serious effects on the agriculture of this country, and which may possibly result in throwing some of our inferior lands permanently out of cultivation.

It cannot be said that English agriculture, under the conditions which have until lately prevailed, has been unsuccessful or unskilful. Monsieur Léonce de Lavergne, in his able work on English Agriculture, has done full justice to the ability and enterprise of our farmers. Our land, though on the whole inferior, has yielded more wheat per acre than that of any other country, and, taking sheep and cattle together, more animals are raised for the butcher in England than in any part of the Continent. The practical skill of the British farmer has been conspicuous in the manage

ment of sheep. The improvements in the breed were commenced in Leicestershire by Mr. Bakewell, and the results in the increased production of mutton are signally illustrated by M. de Lavergne. He says that assuming that France and the United Kingdom each possess an equal number of sheep, which number he took at 35,000,000-it is actually 32,500,000each country would obtain from its flocks an equal quantity of wool, but the weight of mutton, assuming 8,000,000 sheep to be slaughtered annually, would be, in France, 39,600,000; in England, 99,000,000

stone.

The United States, however, have lately poured into our markets such copious and increasing supplies of wheat and animal food, that it has become evident that our old-established systems of cultivation, however perfected they may be by the expenditure of the capital of the landlord, and by the skill of the occupying tenantry, must undergo a very serious change. It is most important, therefore, that the landed interest of this country should be informed, through the inquiries of the proposed Commission, as to the probable course of trade with the United States in agricultural produce. What are the articles in which it is hopeless to undertake a competition with the superior natural resources of the great Continent of the West? What are the articles in which our soil and climate and vicinity to our own markets give us the greatest advantage? What steps should be taken to relieve a landowner, whose resources are exhausted, of the responsibility of

Wheatgrowing capabili

ties of the

United States.

ownership? Are our arable lands rented too high? What additional securities should be given to tenants ? Are the usual conditions in leases too stringent? On all these subjects we may look for valuable suggestions from the report of the Commission. And first as to

the mode of cultivation.

The recent development of foreign importations has been so remarkable, and it has so direct a bearing on the subject of Mr. Chaplin's motion, that I shall venture to offer a few details extracted from the mass of information on the subject, which has been placed in my hands by Mr. Lee Higginson, of Boston, Mr. Clutton, Mr. Dunlop, and others. The natural resources of the United States for the growth of wheat are unbounded. So long ago as 1871, after a most extended journey through the United States, Mr. Dunlop informs me that he felt convinced that as growers of wheat the Americans would run us hard. Their success is due, not to superior husbandry, nor yet to the stimulus of ownership, not to superior science, not to the more advantageous distribution of the land in respect to the acreage occupied by individual holders. The one pre-eminent advantage of America over the United Kingdom consists in an almost boundless tract of fertile soil. In the greater part of their wheat-growing country, the cultivation is done in the rudest fashion. The straw is left to rot on the ground, and so long as the ground retains its primitive fertility, no rotation of crops is necessary, and no manure is required. When the land becomes exhausted, which it does in four or five years, it is