191

LAND OCCUPIED P.Y FARMERS

is tied up for ever, by irritant and resolutive clauses, fromthe alienation of that property which cannot be affected byhis debts, and restricted even in the management of his en-tailed estate, to the injury of agriculture ? Must the farmeralso, in a nation in which the principles of commerce areso well known, be bound to a kind of entail, and to irritantclauses, to the injury of his family and of his creditors in par-ticular, and of improved agriculture in general ? This is cer-tainly a case that calls, for the interposition of the legisla-ture.

There is not the least danger to be apprehended bv pro-prietors from regulating the present law, or rather the prac-tice of the country, (for statute law is silent upon the sub-ject), regarding assigning, and subletting, and leaving thequestion to the stipulations of the parties. There can be nogood reason for permitting the right in the case of liferentsand long leases, and refusing it to a lease of ordinary dura-tion.

It would be easy to obviate any objection to granting thisright which the most jealous landlord could urge—to de-monstrate the equity of permitting assignation and sublettingunder certain conditions—and to prove the advantages thatwould result from such permission, both to the public at large,and also to the parties concerned.

Until a transference of the lease be permitted, it is invain to expect that the capitals of merchants and manufactu-rers will be employed extensively ill agriculture, and thatoperative manufacturers, in a time of stagnation of trade •should find relief in the labours of cultivation.

It would be doing injustice to the great body of farmers,and to the interests of agriculture in general, not to call theattention of the legislature to this important question.

Sect. 4_ Be n /.

The price paid by the occupier to the owner of theland, is called its rent. It varies, not only according to the