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blasted hopes and withered prospects, and with destitute families on 

 their hands, whose health and fortune would have been alike promoted 

 by frugality and honest labor in turning out the fullness of the earth. 



This evil, as well as others, may in a great measure be remedied by 

 your exertions and the action of government in upholding and advanc- 

 ing the art of agriculture, until it shall offer inducements for the invest- 

 ment of capital, and thereby attract from our large cities thousands of 

 men who subsist almost without employment. It would also have a 

 salutary efiect in another point of view. The old world is constantly 

 pouring upon our shores its starving myriads, who are accumulating in 

 our thriving localities without the means of subsistence, and for whom 

 there is not a sufBciency of labor, who, under an extensive and pros- 

 perous system of agriculture and manufacture, might find employment 

 and in a common industry the better learn to assimilate with the people 

 of America and appreciate the value of the institutions of freedom. 



Our vast country contains thousands and millions of acres of arable 

 land as yet untouched by the implements of agriculture, seeming almost 

 to the starving dependents upon our large cities, as the tender mother, 

 who, by displaying her bosom, invited and attracted her child from the 

 brink of destruction to the fountain of nourishment and safety. For 

 one, I can never cease to regret the diversion of my own inclination in 

 youth, from the pursuit of agriculture to the mental drudgery of a la- 

 borious profession. The driving of oxen, it seems to me, would have 

 been more agreeable than the eflfort to drive obstinate juries and learned 

 judges, and the raising of wool preferable to the fleecing of strong cli- 

 ents, and shearing of the feeble. 



Such societies as yours, while they excite emulation in agricultural 

 improvements, and awaken a commendable zeal in that particular branch 

 of industry, may be made also subservient in correcting such evils of 

 policy or of society, as might ultimately affect either the interests of the 

 people, or the character or general prosperity of our nation. An ar- 

 dent love of country, and a due appreciation of the perfect hberties we 

 are permitted to enjoy, will at all times direct the attention of the pat- 

 riot to the welfare and character of his nation, and teach him, while 

 pursuing his individual interests, to advance at the snme time its pros- 

 perity and glory. The character of his country is naturally dear to his 

 heart. Its prosperity is his pride. He is in a measure identified with 



