Oriental Herald and Journal of General Literature (Volume 10) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ON THE LAW OF PRIMOGENITURE. In times like the present, when want and calamity are every day becoming more and more prevalent among the great mass of the people, it seems to be the duty of every public writer, who can feel for mankind, honestly to indicate what appear to him the causes of these evils. The indispensable brevity of periodical composition must always, however, confine the writer of a public journal to certain branches only of every great subject at a time; but perhaps there is little evil in this; the lapse of a month brings him again before the public, with another part of his investigation, which, though merely the continuation of a former inquiry, can hardly fail, if pursued with moderate judgment, to appear novel and agreeable. At least, such is the persuasion with which we now and then enter repeatedly upon topics like the one before us, which, whatever their importance and utility may be, are much less calculated than many others that could be chosen, to be wrought up into fashionable essays. On these occasions, however, we waive all considerations of fame or pleasure, content if by any means we can be useful. The question at present to be determined is, whether it be for the food of the community that all the lands of the kingdom should elong to a few aristocratical families, to the entire disinheriting of a vast majority of mankind; or that they should lawfully descend in equal portions from the father to all his children, and thus, by degrees, be equitably divided among the citizens of th state. By the laws of England, as they stand at present, all the landed property of the father descends, along with his rank and title, to the eldest son. Against the injustice, and the mischievous and despotic tendency of these laws, we now contend; as it is prin...