Proof must be accumulated upon proof, to silence them. With
this view, I shall now direct your attention to some other striking and
unerring indications of our flourishing condition; and they will, in
general, be derived from other sources, but equally authentic: from
other reports and proceedings of both Houses of Parliament, all which
unite with wonderful force of consent in the same general result.
Hitherto we have seen the superfluity of our capital discovering itself
only in procuring superfluous accommodation and enjoyment, in our
houses, in our furniture, in our establishments, in our eating and
drinking, our clothing, and our public diversions: we shall now see it
more beneficially employed in improving our territory itself: we shall
see part of our present opulence, with provident care, put out to usury
for posterity.
To what ultimate extent it may be wise or practicable to push inclosures
of common and waste lands may be a question of doubt, in some points of
view: but no person thinks them already carried to excess; and the
relative magnitude of the sums laid out upon them gives us a standard of
estimating the comparative situation of the landed interest. Your House,
this session, appointed a committee on waste lands, and they have made a
report by their chairman, an honorable baronet, for whom the minister
the other day (with very good intentions, I believe, but with little
real profit to the public) thought fit to erect a board of agriculture.
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