xviii Ji Discourse on Agriculture. 



after all, a very moderate contribution of either time, pecu- 

 niary assistance, or personal attention is required from any 

 individuals. 



Sober and well regulated freedom is the " nursing mother" 

 of agriculture ; and it amplv performs its filial duties. Licen- 

 tiousness and anarrhy are its bane ; because in such a state of 

 things property and person are insecure ; and Despotism, the 

 inevitable consequence of wild and licentious freedom, con- 

 vert, by its ravages and oppressions, the fairest portions of 

 our globe into desarts, cheerless and sterile. Love of country, in 

 which we are not deficient, when our convictions of the neces- 

 sity of exertions are roused, should, therefore, impel us to pro- 

 mote every means for the avoidance of a catastrophe so hor- 

 rid and deplorable, if even the danger should now appear to 

 be very remote. 



True it is, that agriculture has been known to the most ar- 

 bitrary monarchs, to be the foundation of all the means they 

 had, for the support of their population ; too frequently made 

 the instruments of conquest, ambition, voluptuousness and 

 splendour; and it has been fostered, occasionally or perma- 

 nently, by arbritary princes, wise enough to see its importance. 

 But the tillers of the earth had no weight in the government, 

 or control over their rulers. They did not enjoy, or dream 

 of personal independence, or the acquisition of property, 

 which, with any certainty or stability, they could call their 

 own. No system, or durable improvement could exist among 

 them. They were the slaves, either of the monarch, or his 

 satellites, the great lords, and both their persons and the 

 fruits of their labour were stamped with the indelible marks 

 of bondage, " Sic vos non vobis /"* The civilization of modern 

 times has, indeed, produced more liberal views of policy in 

 governments in which the physical power of the people is ei- 

 ther dreaded, or necessarily depended upon ; and a portion 

 (small enough) of emancipation, both of person and property, 

 has been granted freely, or yielded reluctantly. But still the 

 weight of their shacklets precludes those improvements in the 



* Thus do you labour fop others ;— not for yourselves. 



