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from the face of the earth. Corruption of 

 morals in the mass of cultivators, is a phe- 

 nomenon of which no age or nation has 

 furnished an example : it is a mark set on 

 those who, instead of looking up to Heaven, 

 to their own soil and industry, as does the 

 husbandman for his substance, depend 

 for it on the casualities and caprice of cus- 

 tomers. Dependance begets subservience 

 and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, 

 and prepares fit tools for , the designs of 

 ambition. This, the natural progress and 

 consequence of arts, has sometimes, per- 

 haps, been retarded by accidental circum- 

 stances ; but, generally speaking, the pro- 

 portion which the aggregate of the other 

 class of citizens bears in any state to that 

 of its husbandmen, is in the proportion 

 its unsound bears to its healthy parts, and 

 is good enough barometer whereby to 

 measure its degree of corruption. While 

 we have land to labour, then, let us never 

 wish to see our citizens occupied a,t the 

 work-bench, or twirling a distaff. Car- 



