MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 417 



liberty and freedom would have no security. The principles of Luther, which 

 our forefathers brought with them in the Mayflower, developed and strength- 

 ened by their agricultural pursuits, gave them that manly courage and heroism, 

 self-sacrifice and sturdy uprightness of character that enabled them successfully 

 to resist the oppressions of the mother country, and fully developed in them the 

 principle that taxation without representation was unjust and ought not to be 

 endured. These same influences enabled them after they had been victorious 

 to establish a government without precedent, based upon the glorious principles 

 embodied in our Declaration of Independence, — "That all men are created 

 free and equal, and endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are 

 life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Thank God the slave-holders' rebel- 

 lion has made those principles a living reality, and freedom is now the birthright 

 of every man and woman upon our soil. A government of the people, combin- 

 ing liberty with order and freedom Avith security, is the natural outgrowth of 

 the development of your honorable calling. In fact, so to speak, we are a 

 nation of farmers, owners of the soil, and this accounts for our marvellous 

 growth and for the great inventions and improvements that have lifted your 

 profession from physical drudgery to the controlling hand and directing mind 

 of the husbandman over the implements of husbandry, by which a large share 

 of his labors are performed. The man who owns his farm, lives upon it, and 

 devotes his labors and energy to its cultivation, feels a consciousness of adding 

 to the world's wealth; he is grateful for the dews and showers that a good 

 Providence orders, and trusts his labor on the divine promise of seed-time and 

 harvest. Such a man must be depraved unless he loves liberty and will fight 

 to preserve it ; cherishes the religious institutions of the country as the true 

 haiidmaid of all our better progress, and will cheerfully encourage and support 

 them. To what class in community were we most indebted for our armies to 

 crush out the slave-holders' rebellion, if not to the agricultural community? 



Make any man the owner of the soil that raises his bread, and his courage, 

 his self-respect, his attachment to his government is immeasurably increased. 

 It gives him that attachment to place so well expressed in the couplet of Scott : 



"Lives there a man with soul so dead, 

 Who never to himself hath said. 

 This is my own, my native land." 



Every thinking man knows that the real security of our free institutions 

 rests with the inhabitants of our rural districts, and not with those of large 

 towns and cities. Where else but ni the slums of New York could you have 

 elected a notorious gambler and prize-fighter as one of your law makers ? No 

 party necessity could induce my Democratic or Eepublican friends in the rural 

 districts to give support to such a wretch as John Morrissey. They would fly 

 from him as from a deadly pestilence. 



Again, no other pursuit is so well calculated to impress us with the goodness 

 and wisdom of our Maker. Who can breathe the pure air of our open fields, 

 and watch the growth and development of the trees, shrubs, plants, and flow- 

 ers, without being profoundly impressed with the mysteries of God's creative 

 power? 



No other employment develops so strongly the strong family attachment that 

 makes so important a part of our social happiness. Who does not enjoy the 

 return to the old homestead, where it has been kept in the family, as it ought 

 to be, if possible, and reflect upon the father's labors that redeemed it from 



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