Vlll INTRODUCTION. 



the attention of its government has been directly turned. 

 In most of even the farthest advanced of the monarchies 

 of the old world, the earth and its mineral treasures, 

 and the animal and vegetable productions of its surface, 

 and of the sea, have been left to the unfostered atten- 

 tion, or to the unrebuked neglect of private intelligence 

 or ignorance. In a few favored spots, a different and 

 wiser course has been pursued. In France, in some 

 of the northern kingdoms, in several states of Germany, 

 and especially in Great Britain, large sums have been 

 expended, and already very much has been done, to 

 ascertain and bring to notice the advantages and wants, 

 the peculiarities of every kind, of the land and sea, and 

 their productions. And the resources developed have 

 uniformly seemed to increase in proportion to the ex- 

 tent and minuteness of the investigation. New objects 

 have been presented to the industry, and new sources 

 of wealth opened to the enterprise of the inhabitants. 

 So that, if we look through the world, we find that it is 

 not those countries whose natural resources are appa- 

 rently greatest, which support the most wealthy and 

 advanced population, but those in which the natural re- 

 sources, whatever they may be, have been explored, 

 and laid open to the greatest extent. 



It need not be repeated, that this truth, of such ac- 

 knowledged importance under all governments, is of 

 still more weighty consideration in a republican country 

 than in any other. In free states like Massachusetts, as 

 every where else, and still more than any where else, 

 the fountains of the wealth and advancement of the peo- 

 ple lie in their intelligence, skill, and industry, applied 

 to the resources of the country. In them, therefore, 

 every possible resource for their present and prospec- 



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