No. 112.] . 35 



and activity. Its character upon the public opinion which at- 

 taches particular value to particular pursuits. Self interest alone 

 does not furnish the necessary stimulus. History proves that it 

 has failed to perpetuate prosperity jand the condition of the world 

 arounA bears witness that it does not create it. 



It is the result of a diffusion of intelligence furnishing the 

 knowledge necessary to effect purposes, and a decided public 

 sentiment giving direction to energies and selecting the objects 

 which shall be deemed most valuable. The intelligence of any 

 society creates its power. A public sentiment makes its morality 

 and gives the impulses which lead to the exertion of its power. 

 Like the steam in the engine, public sentiment is the great source 

 of action. 



I wish to call your attention to the potency of this public sen- 

 timent, to its importance to our agricultural pursuits, and to the 

 fact that all may influence it. Let us glance at some of the cu- 

 rious and interesting phases which it gives to different communities 

 possessing equal degrees of intelligence and existing under similar 

 conditions of government and position. 



The inhabitants of the New England States justly claim to be 

 among the most intelligent people of the earth. Living among 

 wild and broken hills, with an unpropitious soil and compara- 

 tively ungenial climate, by energy, industry and economy, 

 they have become wealthy, refined and L^fluential. New Eng- 

 land attaches a high value to mechanical skill and ingenuity, and 

 he who can invent that which will save labor or produce property, 

 is admired and rewarded. His skill is at once appreciated and 

 applauded. The thoughts and efforts of their community, direct- 

 ed by the public sentiment to one end, are producing results of 

 the highest value and interest. Intense activity pervades every 

 branch of heo* mechanical pursuits, and her productions of varied 

 beauty and usefulness are created by machinery, in many instances 

 so complicated that we are bewildered in stud\ing their processes, 

 and so accurate in the performance of their delicate duties that 

 we are startled by a suspicion that they possess vitality and 

 thought. 



