moment in more places than one in this country—(hear, hear)—or if he can make any other improvement or discovery, he shall be free to do so. We will let him the land, with a shedule of the state of tillage and the condition of the homestead, and all we will bind him to will be this, 'You shall leave the land as good as when you entered upon it. (' Hear, hear,' from both sides of the house. If it is in an inferior state it shall be valued again, and you shall compensate us; but if it is in an improved state it shall be valued, and we, the landlords, shall compensate you.' (Hear, hear.) You think there must be something very difficult about this, and that it will be impossible to be done; but it is not. We will give possession of every thing but the land, whether it be wild or tame animals; he shall have the absolute control. There shall be no game, and no one to sport over his property. Take as stringent precautions as you please to compel the punctual payment of the rent; take the right of re-entry as summarily as you please if the rent is not duly paid; but let the payment of rent duly be the sole test as to the well-doing of the tenant; and so long as he can pay the rent, and do it promptly, that is the only test you need have that the farmer is doing well; and if he is a man of capital, you have the strongest possible security that he will not waste your property while he has possession of it. (Hear.)"
When such was the condition of farmers, the condition of labourers could be nothing else than deplorable; and that it was deplorable there was abundant evidence. Mr. Cobden proceeded to show that both tenants and labourers profit by the free importation of food for man and for cattle, and asserted that restricted importation was far more likely to throw land out of cultivation than unrestricted would commerce. What were landowners doing now?
