As long as it should be found expedient to retain a given proportion of the present poor tax,the disposal of this should bewholly at the discretion of the minister,churchwardens,and overseers,or the majority of them,subject only to the ordersof a vestry.By this provision the subordination of the poor would be more effectually secured,and the civil magistratewould be at liberty to bend his whole attention to the preservation of the peace,and to the good government of the people.
This plan would be aided and assisted much by laying a sufficient tax upon the alehouses to reduce their number,thesebeing the principal nurseries for drunkenness,idleness,and vice.
Should things be left thus to flow in their proper channels,the consequence would be,that,as far as it is possible accordingto the present constitution of the world,our population would be no longer unnatural and forced,but would regulate itselfby the demand for labour.
There remains one thing more for the legislature to do,which is to increase the quantity of food.This may be done withease,by laying a tax upon all horses used in husbandry,gradually increasing this tax till the farmers have returned to the useof oxen.This change would enable England not only to maintain her present population,but greatly to increase it.The landwhich now supports one horse,in proper working order,would bear two oxen for draft and for the shambles,if not alsoone cow for the pail;or any two of these,with a man,his wife,and his three children.If we consider the number of horsesat present used for husbandry in this island,should only half that number give place to oxen,it would not be easy tocalculate,or even to conceive,all the benefits and advantages which the public would derive from this vast increase offood.In many parishes where they have no manufactures,but the cultivation of the soil,the horses consume the produce ofmore land than the inhabitants themselves require.Suppose a parish to consist of four thousand acres of arable and pastureland;let this be cultivated by one hundred and fifty horses,and let it feed one thousand souls:now if,for the present,weallow only two acres of oats and two of hay for each of the horses,the amount will be six hundred productive acres,whichwill be more than sufficient to feed the given number of inhabitants.But the fact is,that a horse,to be fully fed,requiresfive ton of hay,and from thirteen to three-and-twenty quarters of oats,per annum,according to his work.Some farmersallow the former,and the latter is given by the great carriers on the public roads,which would bring the computation toabout eight acres each for horses used in husbandry;but then few farmers suffer their horses to be highly fed.If we allowthree acres of pasture for each ox or cow,and consider,that in calculating the quantity of land sufficient to maintain a teamof horses,the needful fallows must be carried to account,we shall not be at a loss for food,when we have substituted twooxen,and one family of five persons,in the place of every horse.
It must be confessed,that the tax on horses would be apparently a tax on husbandry,but in reality it would only be a tax onpride and prejudice.Neither would it be a tax for the purpose of revenue,which would certainly be most impolitic;but itwould be a tax for the regulation of trade,beneficial to the public,and highly advantageous to the farmer.In China they usefew cattle in the cultivation of the soil,and therefore they are able to support a more abundant population.By reverting tothe antient practice of ploughing with oxen instead of horses,we should enjoy the same advantage;and till the populationof our country had found its utmost limits,we should rejoice in affluence.
With the same intentions,the legislature should facilitate the laying common fields in severally,leaving the inclosure ofthese lands to every man's discretion.Wherever these allotments have been carried into execution,the value of land hasbeen nearly doubled.Yet,independent of the exertion,the time,and the fatigue,requisite to procure a private act ofparliament for this purpose,the expence of the act itself,and of the consequent inclosure,is more than many are to incur.
