CHAP. XX.

INCREASED PRICES.

105

From what has been already stated of the effectof the depreciation of metallic money on thecondition of the proprietors of the soil, it isnatural to proceed to that of the real cultivators,the operative husbandmen. England presents apicture of this class in society which, with the ex-ception of a part of the Netherlands , is to be seenin no other country on the globe, and to whichperhaps it is indebted for its peculiar advantages,both social and political, in a greater degree thanto any other single cause.

The system of cultivating lands on a kind ofpartnership plan prevails almost universally; thelandlord supplying the cultivator with the requi-site stock of cattle and implements, and receivinga stipulated share of the produce, either in kind,in labour, or in money, instead of what we de-nominate rent. Whether this system be a con-tinuation of that practised by the Greeks, after-wards by the Romans, and handed down sincetheir dominion has ceased to the French , theSpaniards, the Italians , and in some degree to theGermans , under the names of the Metayer orMeyer system, it has not, happily for GreatBritain , been much if ever known in this island.

It is not designed here to enter into an examina-tion of the effect of the various modes in whichthe owners of land have arranged with the culti-vators in different countries. It is a large field ofinquiry, which would lead too far from the imme-diate object under consideration. It is besides the