18 



determinecl by the character of tlie men who hiivc been en- 

 gaged in it, whether by clioice, or it may be from tlie neces- 

 sity of the times. 



I have said before that agricnhure was held in the highest 

 repute amongst the ancient Romans, whose writers loved to 

 tell how great generals, summoned to take command in the 

 crifses of the nation, Avere to be found at the plougli and in 

 the simple garb of the husbandman. Cincinnatus called to 

 the dictatorship, Cato tlie censor, are instances familiar to the 

 classical reader. 



But it is evident that the crude agriculture of the time could 

 afford little scope for anything but mere physical effort, and 

 that the dignity of its position was owing to the fact that 

 o-reat men were accustomed to take ui) the business of hus- 

 bandry when the management of affairs of state, their true 

 calling, iio longer required their undivided attention. In ex- 

 act accordance with the foregoing is the decline of agricul- 

 ture, when at a later day farms were let out, to a class of 

 Roman citizens whose condition was but a slight remove 

 from that of the slave. 



Where in the advance of civilization the cultivatii)n of the 

 arts of peace has become of paramount consideration, though 

 it is true that the nature of a given pursuit will sooner or 

 later modify or even mould the character of its devotees, it 

 nevertheless plainly appears that by the ability devoted to its 

 interests is measured not only the progress of an industry, 

 but the estimation in which it is held before the world. 



Thus it is that mercantile business in this country has at- 

 tained a repute hardly equaled by pursuits immeasurably su- 

 perior in all that pertains to individual manhood. Is that the 

 hio^hest callins: an exclusive devotion to which tends to make 

 money won, or money lost, happiness or despair? To what 

 then is this pre-eminence of mercantile pursuits owing, but to 

 the fact that our merchants have shown themselves great in 

 the ability and indomitable energy by which they ha\e acquir- 



