The
landlord supplies the land, the buildings, and the cattle, and pays
the property-tax. The tenant supplies the labour, and pays the other
taxes, and the produce is equally shared between the landlord and the
tenant. The system answers well, and the Adriatic provinces would
hardly seem deserving of pity, if it were not for the brigands, the
inundations of the Po and the Reno, and the crushing taxation I have
described.
These taxes are lighter on the other side of the Apennines. There are
even in the neighbourhood of Rome some landowners who pay scarcely any
at all. In 1854 the _Consulta di Stato_ valued the privileged lands at
L360,000. But we will turn to the subject of the uncultivated lands.
Towards the Mediterranean, north, east, south, and west of Rome, and
wherever the Papal benediction extends, the flat country, which covers
an immense extent, is at once uninhabited, uncultivated, and
unhealthy. Various are the modes in which experienced persons have
attempted to account for the wretched condition of this fine country.
One says,
"It is uncultivated because it is uninhabited. How can you
cultivate without men? It is uninhabited because it is
unwholesome. How can you expect men to inhabit it at the
risk of their lives? Make it healthy, and it will populate
itself, and the population will cultivate it, for there is
not a finer soil in the world."
Another replies,
"You are wrong.
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