But there are no colonies of which the progress has been more rapid than that of the English in North America.
Plenty of good land, and liberty to manage their own affairs their own way, seem to be the two great causes of the prosperity of all new colonies.
In the plenty of good land the English colonies of North America, though no doubt very abundantly provided, are however inferior to those of the Spaniards and Portuguese, and not superior to some of those possessed by the French before the late war.But the political institutions of the English colonies have been more favourable to the improvement and cultivation of this land than those of any of the other three nations.
First, the engrossing of uncultivated land, though it has by no means been prevented altogether, has been more restrained in the English colonies than in any other.The colony law which imposes upon every proprietor the obligation of improving and cultivating, within a limited time, a certain proportion of his lands, and which in case of failure, declares those neglected lands grantable to any other person, though it has not, perhaps, been very strictly executed, has, however, had some effect.
Secondly, in Pennsylvania there is no right of primogeniture, and lands, like movables, are divided equally among all the children of the family.In three of the provinces of New England the oldest has only a double share, as in the Mosaical law.Though in those provinces, therefore, too great a quantity of land should sometimes be engrossed by a particular individual, it is likely, in the course of a generation or two, to be sufficiently divided again.In the other English colonies, indeed, the right of primogeniture takes place, as in the law of England.But in all the English colonies the tenure of the lands, which are all held by free socage, facilitates alienation, and the grantee of any extensive tract of land generally finds it for his interest to alienate, as fast as he can, the greater part of it, reserving only a small quit-rent.In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, what is called the right of Majorazzo takes place in the succession of all those great estates to which any title of honour is annexed.Such estates go all to one person, and are in effect entailed and unalienable.The French colonies, indeed, are subject to the custom of Paris, which, in the inheritance of land, is much more favourable to the younger children than the law of England.But in the French colonies, if any part of an estate, held by the noble tenure of chivalry and homage, is alienated, it is, for a limited time, subject to the right of redemption, either by the heir of the superior or by the heir of the family; and all the largest estates of the country are held by such noble tenures, which necessarily embarrass alienation.But in a new colony a great uncultivated estate is likely to be much more speedily divided by alienation than by succession.The plenty and cheapness of good land, it has already been observed, are the principal causes of the rapid prosperity of new colonies.The engrossing of land, in effect, destroys this plenty and cheapness.The engrossing of uncultivated land, besides, is the greatest obstruction to its improvement.But the labour that is employed in the improvement and cultivation of land affords the greatest and most valuable produce to the society.The produce of labour, in this case, pays not only its own wages, and the profit of the stock which employs it, but the rent of the land too upon which it is employed.The labour of the English colonists, therefore, being more employed in the improvement and cultivation of land, is likely to afford a greater and more valuable produce than that of any of the other three nations, which, by the engrossing of land, is more or less diverted towards other employments.