Without insisting further in favour of leases, it may only be added, that this salutary tenure prevails almost th•ougn the whole of Scotland, and perhaps one half of England. if it is true, as stated by Mr Arthur Young.
" 71/201 the unprovementa winch have taken Idace ut 1am/, hacc bfen almost owing to the cmytom rf grantm,;. ha.ses, and Mat, in tlymc counti, X, Win re it i‘r alluvial is grant them, agliculture continue.? much ali-rior to what it m to found where they are usual," the question con ( erning their utility is at an end; and the culpability of el cry proprietor who refuses to invest his tenant such a security, is completely ascertained. The proprie tor who acts in such a way lessens the value of his estate. in the first instance, and ultimately injures the interests of the community, in so far as the iinprolenient of agri culture is thereby retarded. 'Lie subject is of such importance as to desci ye the attention of the legislature. Assuredly no object is more worthy of notice front the guardians of the state, than one which affects its vital interests; and though a commendable delicacy prevails against any interference with the management of private property, yet there are certain bounds within which that delicacy ought to be confined, and beyond which the conduct of proprietors should be investigated and restricted. Tho.,e who pet slat in a refusal of leases, or, which is the same thing, impede the progress of im provements, deserve to be as persons unfriendly to the national welfare.
The benefit of leases has been strikingly exemplified in the low-country districts of Scotland. There the one or two estates excepted, are secured in possession either for 19 or 21 years, and sometimes for a longer period. Hence a rapid improvement of the coun try has taken place, and great and substantial undertak ings have been executed, which no man in his senses would have planned, had the security of a lease been withheld. Excellent farm-houses and offices have been erected, open fields have been enclosed, wet lands have been drained, and unproductive wastes brought into a high state of cultivation. From these circumstances, the rentals of proprietors have increased at an amazing rate, without their being subjected to any expense in procuring the increase, Since I 79C), the rent of land in Scotland has increased in a two-fold degree above that of England; solely because the system of connexion betw een the proprietor and the occupier is formed upon more liberal terms in the one country than in the other.
Were the liberal system of Scotland to be imitated in England, there is no doubt but that the consequent ad vantages would be greater; because soil, climate, mar kets, and other local circumstances, are more favourable to agriculture in the latter than in the former country. To grant leases is one step towards procuring these advantages, but inure is still required; namely, that a kind of discretionary management be intrusted to the tenant. It this be not done, his mind will be fettered, and his operations confined to the beaten path of ancient. usage.
After all, though long leases can alone lead to im provements of permanent duration ; yet, nevertheless, towards the close of every lease, there must be an un improving period, during, which melioration on the part of the teoant will cease, and where the compulsion of regulation must be substituted to enforce improvement. A compulsion of this kind, however, generally proves a weak and inefficient substitute for the inure powerful motive of private interest, and seldom accomplishes the benefit intended to be produced.
To remedy this detect, lord Karnes, who probably was the first man in Britain who considered farming in the view of its proper moral excitements, suggested the in definite, or perpetual lease. I lis lordship proposed that the lease should extend to an indefinite number of years, consisting of fixed periods, at the end of each of which a rise of rent should take place, with permission for the tenant, at the period of each of these rises of rent, to give up his farm if he shall see proper, and granting a similar power to the landlord, upon proper terms, to re sume his land if he shall think fit. The particulars of this contract, and the grounds on which they rest, arc as follows.