improvement, the positive wealth of the landlord ought, upon the
principles which have been laid down, gradually to increase;
although his relative condition and influence in society will
probably rather diminish, owing to the increasing number and
wealth of those who live upon a still more important surplus(18)
- the profits of stock.

The progressive fall, with few exceptions, in the value of
the precious metals throughout Europe; the still greater fall,
which has occurred in the richest countries, together with the
increase of produce which has been obtained from the soil, must
all conduce to make the landlord expect an increase of rents on
the renewal of his leases. But, in reletting his farms, he is
liable to fall into two errors, which are almost equally
prejudicial to his own interests, and to those of his country.

In the first place, he may be induced, by the immediate
prospect of an exorbitant rent, offered by farmers bidding
against each other, to let his land to a tenant without
sufficient capital to cultivate it in the best way, and make the
necessary improvements upon it. This is undoubtedly a most
short-sighted policy, the bad effects of which have been strongly
noticed by the most intelligent land surveyors in the evidence
lately brought before Parliament; and have been particularly
remarkable in Ireland, where the imprudence of the landlords in
this respect, combined, perhaps, with some real difficulty of
finding substantial tenants, has aggravated the discontents of
the country, and thrown the most serious obstacles in the way of
an improved system of cultivation. The consequence of this error
is the certain loss of all that future source of rent to the