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F A R M E R S' REGISTER 



stamp, are exclusive privileges in every form ; 

 and to pillage or steal under the sanction oi' the 

 &laiute books, is no lees lutal to the happiness ol' 

 Hgriculiure, than the hierarchical tyranny over 

 itie soul, under the prctetided sanction of God, or 

 the feudal tyranny over the body, under the equal- 

 ly fraudulent pretence of deiending the nation. 

 In a climate and soil, where good culture never 

 fails to beget plenty, where bad cannot produce 

 famine, begirt by nature against the risk ol inva- 

 fcion, and lavored by the accident with the power 

 ol self-government, agriculiure can only lose its 

 happiness by the lolly or i'raud of statesmen, or 

 by its own ignorance. 



THE RIGHTS OF AGRICULTURE. 



It is lamentable to confess, that this, to be a 

 true, must be almost a negative number. This 

 most useful and virtuous interest enjoys no riglits, 

 except in the United Slates; and there it enjoys 

 no exclusive rights, whilst the tew in which it 

 ehares are daily contracted by the various arts ol 

 ambition and avarice. Every where else, agri- 

 culture is a slave ; here she is only a dupe. 

 Abroad she is condemned by avowed Ibrce to 

 Jiaed voluptuousness, avarice and ambition ; liere, 

 ehe is deluded by flattery and craft, during fits ol' 

 joy or of lury, to squander her properly, to mort- 

 gage her laborers, and to shackle her freedom. 

 Abroad, she suflers contemp', and is sensible of 

 her degratlalion ; here, she is a blind Quixote, 

 mounted on a wooden horse, and persuaded by 

 the acclamations of her Iocs, that she is soaring 

 to the stars, whilst she is ready to tumble into the 

 dust. 



Privileges are rearing by laws all around at her 

 expense, and whilst she is taught to believe that 

 they will only take from her a lew inconsiderable 

 slips, they will at length draw a spacious circum- 

 vallation, within which will gradually grow up a 

 power, beyond her control. Tricks, us well as in- 

 ventions, are daily fortified with leiral bulwarks, 

 called chatters, to transler her wealth, and to se- 

 cure frauds against her efforts. Capital in every 

 Ibrq;, save that of agriculture, is liid by taxes and 

 by bounties, which she must pay ; whilst not a 

 single bounty is paid to her by capital in any form ; 

 and instead of being fiivored with some prizes in 

 the loilery of society, she pays most, and is re- 

 warded hersell by the blauKs of underwriting the 

 projects of statesmen, and bearing the burthens of 

 government. 



The use of society is to secure the fruits of his 

 own industry and talents to each associator. Its 

 abuse consists in artifice or lorce, tor translijrring 

 those fruits Irom some partners to others. Of this 

 abuse, that interest covering the majority of part- 

 ners is the victim. And the difficulty of discrimi- 

 nating laws, transferring such fruits lor tlie benefit 

 of society, from those having in view the gratifica- 

 tion of avarice and ambition, produces a sympathy 

 and combination between these distinct kinds of 

 law. As the members of the government, and 

 members oi legal liaude, both extract power and 

 income from the majority, they are apt to coalesce; 

 and each party to favor the designs of its ally, in 

 llieir operations ujiuii the comtnon enemy. Hence 

 governments love to create exclusive rights, and 

 exclusive r'ghts cling to governmcnte. The liga- 



ment of parent and child, binds them together, 

 and the power creating these abuses, must make 

 ihem props lor its support, or instruments ibr its 

 subversion. lis election between these alterna- 

 tives is certain, and society is thus unavoidably 

 thrown into two divisions. One containing all 

 those who pay, and the other those who receive 

 contributions, required either lor public use, or to 

 Ibster private avarice or ambition. Good govern- 

 ment is graduated by this latter kind of contribu- 

 tion thus unfortunately allied to the former. The 

 highest amount constitutes the worst, and the 

 lowest, the best possible species of government. 

 But as both are drawn from the majoriiy ol every 

 society, vvhenev'er the agricultural interest covers 

 that majority, this interest is the victim of the 

 coalition ; and as it almost universally does cover 

 this majority, the agricultural interest is almost 

 universally its slaves. 



The consequences to agriculture will be demon- 

 strated by converting this coalition between go- 

 vernment and its creatures, or of all who receive 

 tools given by law, into a political pope, and pla- 

 cing in his month an address to agriculture, in a 

 parody of Ernulphus' (brm of excomniunicaiion : 

 " May you be taxed in your lands, your slaves, 

 your houses, your carriages, your horses, your 

 clothinsr, your liquors, your coli'ee, j'our tea, and 

 your salt. JVlay you be taxed by banks, by pro- 

 tecting duties, by embargoes, and by charters of 

 a thousand difi'erent Ibrms. JVlay the exemption 

 of your exports from taxation be removed, and 

 may you then be (axed through your wheat, 

 your cum, your tobacco, your cotton, your rice, 

 your indigo, your sugar, your hemp, your live 

 stock, your beef, your pork, your tar, pitch and 

 tur[!eniine, your onions, your cheese, and your 

 potatoes. May you be taxed for the sufiport of 

 government, or to enrich exclusive or chartered 

 interests, through every article you import, and 

 through every article you export, by duties called 

 protecting, but intended to take away your con- 

 stitutional protection against taxation lor the bene- 

 fit of capitalists. May you be taxed through 

 every article j)roduced by your labor or necessary 

 to your subsistence, comfort and pleasure, by ex- 

 cises. And whilst every species of your pro- 

 ducts, and of your consumptions are thus taxed, 

 may your capital, being visible, be moreover taxed 

 in various modes. May all these taxes, whether 

 plain or intricate, (alter deducting the small sum 

 necessary to produce the genuine end of society,) 

 be employed in enriching capitalists, and buying 

 soldiers, placemen and contractors to make you 

 submissive to usurj)ations, and as quiet under 

 your burthens, as a martyr tied to the stake, under 

 the flames. After you have been taxed as liar aa 

 you can pay, may you by the bounty of God Al- 

 mighty be moreover mortgaged up to your value 

 or credit, lor the lienefit of the said coalition of 

 capitalists. And finally, may none of this good 

 and useful coalition, to whom is given the wealth 

 of this woild, as the kingdom of heaven is to the 

 pope and his clergy, be taxed in their stock or 

 principal held under any law or charter whatso- 

 ever ; nor in their capital employed in any ma- 

 nulticture or speculation, nor in any profit drawn 

 from such principal stock or capital ; nor through 

 any of their sinecures, salaries, contracts or in- 

 comes ; but on the contrary, may such stock, prin- 

 cipal, capilai, profitBj salaries, contraclSj and sixie- 



