Considering, therefore, the mixed nature of the government of this
country, and its representative form, I have looked with admiration at
the manner in which the wealth and influence and intelligence were
spread over its whole surface; not as in some monarchies, drained from
the country, and collected in towns and cities. I have considered the
great rural establishments of the nobility, and the lesser
establishments of the gentry, as so many reservoirs of wealth and
intelligence distributed about the kingdom, apart from the towns, to
irrigate, freshen, and fertilize the surrounding country. I have
looked upon them, too, as the august retreat of patriots and
statesmen, where, in the enjoyment of honourable independence and
elegant leisure, they might train up their minds to appear in those
legislative assemblies, whose debates and decisions form the study and
precedents of other nations, and involve the interests of the world.
I have been both surprised and disappointed, therefore, at finding
that on this subject I was often indulging in an Utopian dream, rather
than a well-founded opinion. I have been concerned at finding that
these fine estates were too often involved, and mortgaged, or placed
in the hands of creditors, and the owners exiled from their paternal
lands.
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