Farmer does not object. But may not the inquiry be 

 permitted, why the encouragement oi Agriculture should 

 so seldom be a topic of discussion ? When the Imports 

 and Excises fail to replenish the treasury, we hear much 

 of the productive nature of a Land-Tax, and the certain- 

 ty and ease with which it may be collected ! When an 

 army is to be raised, there is a never-failing resource of 

 recruits among the hardy Yeomanry o{ the country ! It 

 is true, the details of this interest occupy but a small 

 space in our luminous Treasury reports : it is scarcely 

 seen amid the bustle of the wharf and the ware-house. — 

 Nor does it attract the gaze of the traveller like the mo- 

 tions of a steam-engine, the buzz of an army of spindles, 

 or the clatter of a host of power-looms : its progress is 

 gradual and silent, as the growth of its products. But 

 Agriculture is the life-blood of this nation : it clothes and 

 it feeds our ten millions of inhabitants : it forms more 

 than three-fourths of our domestic exports, and more than 

 lialf of all the exports of our extensive commerce : it is 

 the solid Tuscan base that supports the august fabric of 

 civil society* Without it, Labour would languish for em- 

 plovment — Trade and the Arts for materials of workman- 

 ship and articles of exchange — the massy Doric column 

 and the ornamental Corinthian capital would tumble into 

 ruins, and serve only to desolate what they now support 

 and embellish. 



The solid and durable character of the capital stock 

 added to any section of a country by Husbandry, affords 

 a striking contrast to the transitory and fluctuating nature 

 of that acquired by the pursuits of Trade. A Merchant, 

 it has often been observed, is a citizen of the world, and 

 not necessarily an inhabitant of any particular nation : 

 his fortune is literally afloat, and he may change it with 

 every shifting breeze. Not so with the Husbandman : his 

 capital is annexed to the soil he inhabits, and becomes 

 identified with its dearest interests. If, from caprice or 

 disalTection, he changes his domicil, the fruits of his toil, 



