Notes

1 The bulk of mankind in every country are ignorant of the difference between their own laws and those of other nations; too ignorant to understand, and to value aright what is truly excellent in their own code, or to perceive what improvements it may still admit, and what innovations ought to be desired. In no article are they more ignorant than in respect to property in land, the established rules of which are in every country accounted permanent and immutable, as being fixed by the destination of nature.

In most countries the proprietors of land will ever retain a more than equitable authority over those who cultivate their fields, and not unfortunately for both, did they but remember that the situation of a proprietor is more allied to that of a prince than that of a merchant, and requires some degree of those generous sentiments, and that benign demeanour, which ought to adorn the highest station.

It cannot be denied, that all over Europe, those who are employed in cultivating the soil lead a very wretched life; and that it seems very practicable to render their condition much better than it is, without rendering that of their landlords and superiors any worse.

It cannot be doubted that much more beneficial establishments of property in land than those which obtain in Europe, or almost any that are known to have obtained elsewhere, may be devised, and are capable of being instituted, and receiving form and consistence from human laws.

The present system of property in land is not adapted to times of commerce, order, and tranquillity, but to warlike and turbulent ages, when the entire dependence of great bodies of men on their leaders, and the confidence of leaders in their respective bands, were requisite for their common safety.

In the present advanced state of industry, security, and commerce, the relations and ties which arose out of this mutual dependence, with all their concomitant pleasures and advantages, are unknown; and the landholder, who now abuses that power wherewith an obsolete establishment has invested him, to the exacting the last farthing his lands can produce, and effectuating in combination with others a monopoly of that valuable and necessary commodity, is, though perhaps he knows it not, of all citizens the most pernicious. He reaps the greatest emoluments from the institutions of society, and contributes least to the increase of plenty, or preservation of order.

It were unjust to censure the proprietors of land, however, for retaining and exercising, as they do, a right whose foundations have not been inquired into, and whose extent no one has ever yet controverted. It is the situation in which they find themselves placed that prompts their conduct, nor can they readily conceive either the injustice or the detriment which the public suffers, by permitting such rights to be exercised. On the other hand, the farmers and cultivators have no clear perception of the injustice and oppression which they suffer. They feel indeed, and they complain, but do not understand, or dare not consider steadily, from what cause their grievances take their rise. The oppressive rights of the one order, and the patient submission of the other, have grown up together insensibly from remote ages, in which the present state of human affairs could not be foreseen.

2 "God gave the earth in common to all men, but since He gave it for their benefit, and the greatest conveniences of life they were capable to draw from it, it cannot be supposed that He meant it should always remain common and uncultivated. He gave it for the use of the industrious and rational; and labour was to be his title to it." (Mr Locke on government, page 167 of Mr Hollis's edition.) Nor yet that it should be appropriated in such a manner as that, when not more than half cultivated, the farther cultivation and improvement should be stopped short, and the industry of millions willing to employ themselves in rendering the earth more fertile should be excluded from its proper field, and denied any parcel of the soil, on which it could be exercised, with security of reaping its full produce and just reward.

3 Even in those countries where the extensive rights of the proprietors of land are most firmly established and guarded, as in Britain, by laws which they themselves have framed, the magistrate, when any public occasion requires it, as in constructing new roads, canals, and streets, building bridges and fortifications, obliges the proprietors, for a reasonable compensation, to part with as much of the soil as may be requisite for the intended works. -- There is nothing wanting to complete the prosperity of Europe, but a rule, or familiar method, according to which the landholders may be made, for a like compensation, to part with such portions of the soil as are wanted from time to time, for the accommodation of particular citizens, desirous to employ their industry and their stock in the cultivation of the earth, with full security of reaping the due reward.

4 If the original value of the soil be the joint property of the community, no scheme of taxation can be so equitable as a land-tax, by which alone the expenses of the State ought to be supported, until the whole amount of that original value be exhausted; for the persons who have retained no portion of that public stock, but have suffered their shares to be deposited in the hands of the landholders, may be allowed to complain, if, before that fund is entirely applied to the public use, they are subjected to taxes, imposed on any other kind of property, or any articles of consumption.

How preposterous, then, is the system of that country which maintains a civil and military establishment, by taxes of large amount, without the assistance of any land-tax at all! -- In that example may be perceived the true spirit of legislation, as exercised by landholders alone.

Without regard to the original value of the soil, the gross amount of property in land is the fittest subject of taxation; and could it be made to support the whole expense of the public, great advantages would arise to all orders of men. What then, it may be said, would not in that case the proprietors of stock in trade, in manufacture and arts, escape taxation, that is, the proprietors of one-half the national income? They would indeed, be so exempted; and very justly, and very profitably for the State; for it accords with the best interests of the community, through successive generations, that active progressive industry should be exempted, if possible, from every public burden, and that the whole weight should be laid on that quiescent stock, which has been formerly accumulated, as the reward of an industry which is now no longer exerted.

A just and exact valuation of landed property is the necessary basis of an equal land-tax, and the tenant in mortgage ought to sustain a proportional share of the burden, in the actual landholder's stead.

To keep a land-tax equal, the valuation ought to be renewed from age to age.

If that valuation returns periodically after long intervals, of half a century or more, instead of repressing the progress of improvement in agriculture, it will tend to excite the utmost diligence in that pursuit.

If in any country there is reason to apprehend that the encumbered state of the finances will constrain the rulers of the State, in a short time, to have recourse to this great fund, the expectation of a new valuation will damp the progress of agriculture; and the intelligent friends of the public good ought to desire that a scheme which cannot be avoided should take place without delay.