HISTORY OF VERMONT. 5i55 



greatest consideiation and encouragement. The 

 wealth drawn from a.^riculture, is permanent 

 and durable ; not subject to the uncertainties 

 attending that, which is derived from commerce ; 

 and not dependent upon the inclinations, the 

 dispositions, or the regulations of other king- 

 doms and countries. The people that thus live 

 by their own agriculture, are independent of 

 other nations, and need not be affected by their 

 wars, revolutions, or convulsions ; but may al- 

 ways have the means of support and indepen- 

 dence, among themselves. While they hare 

 that which is drawn from the cultivation of the 

 land, they will have every thing that nature and 

 society can need, or have made valuable. 



The other professions, those especially of the 

 liberal arts, are of great utility, and of high im- 

 portance, and they are what society could not 

 flourish without. But they derive their impor- 

 tance and utility from the imperfections of man, 

 and of society ; and do not of themselves, add 

 any thing to the wealth of nations. The physi- 

 cian, the lawyer, the divine, the statesman, and 

 the philosopher, are engaged in employments of 

 great utility to mankind. But there is not one 

 of them, that adds any thing to the wealth and 

 property of the community : TJiey must all de- 

 rive their support, from the cultivation of the 

 land. Of all arts and professions then, agricul- 

 ture ought to be esteemed the most useful, and 

 the most important. It is the art which pro^ 

 duceth, and nourishes all the rest. The other 

 arts teach how to preserve the health, the pro- 

 perty, and the morals of men ; to enlarge their 

 understandings, and to give a right direction to 



