THE FARMEUS' REGISTER. 



337 



diffjsing information, enftbled by premiums and 

 small pecuniary aids to encourage and assist a 

 tpiril oi discovery and iniprovenieul. 



" This ppecies ol" establishment conlributes 

 doubly lo tlie increase ot improvement, by stimu- 

 lating enterprise and experiment, and by drawing 

 lo a common centre the resu:ts every where of in- 

 dividual skill and observatiot), and spreading them 

 thence over the whole nation. Experience ac- 

 cordingly has shown that they are very cheap m- 

 elruments ol' immense national benefits." 



What wizard spell — what I'alal darkness has 

 blinded the eyes oC our public councils so long to 

 the great agency of human prosperity, and to the 

 parimg counsel of the father of his cowntry 1 



VVtiy m the name of the experience of the 

 world are manufactures and commerce more 

 entitled to governmental protection than agricul- 

 ture I Willie it is true, that seven-eighths of our 

 population live by agriculture, is it not strange, 

 passing strange that, in a country possessing li-ee 

 mstiiutions, it is also true that, from the foundation 

 ol our government up to this time, there cannot 

 be Ibund, either in the statutes of the state, or the 

 nation, tlie word agriculture ; while it is true that 

 the national code irom 1789 to 1836 is replete will) 

 provisions lor the protection of mauuliactures ; 

 while it is true that our commerce in every place on 

 the globe is under the shield ol' national power, 

 is it not strange, that it is also true, that there 

 never has been appropriated, either from your na- 

 tional or state treasury, one dollar lor the direct en- 

 couragement of the art of husbandry. 



The question of domestic inanutactures has 

 occupied the widest space in the public attention. 

 Behold the power of commerce ! P>om 1816 to 

 1836, lor repairs and increase of the navy we 

 have expended $22,000,000 ; during the same 

 period ilie whole naval establishment cost ^66,- 

 000,000. At this expense, our nation, very [)ro- 

 perly, has made the stars and stripes wave over 

 every ocean and upon every sea, lor the protection 

 of our commerce. 



Relerence to a single recent historical fact will 

 illustrate the ascendent power which commerce 

 has acquired over the councils of our country, and 

 ihe sleepless vigilance with which it is guarded 

 in the most remote parts of ihe earth. In the 

 year 1831, the merchant vessel Friendship from 

 Salem, was captured and plundered on the pepper 

 coast of the island ofSumatra. Alter the capture 

 of the Friendship, Capt. Endicot, her command- 

 er, told the islanders that he belonged to a great 

 nation on the other side of the globe, that would, 

 belore the end of twelve months, send a big ship 

 to punish the outrage that had been committed 

 upon him. They laughed at the idea of the ex- 

 istence and power of the United Slates. The 

 news of the captureof the Friendship was brought 

 to our government. The powerful ship Potomac 

 happened just at that time to be ready for sea, 

 and she was forthwith despatched to avenge the 

 outrage which iiad been committed upon the com- 

 merce of the United States. Time rolled on ; 

 the twelve months had nearly elapsed ; the 13th 

 moon was nearly at hand, in two days more the 

 pirates would hail the anniversary of the capture 

 of the Friendship. All but a very few were de- 

 riding the idea of the threatened visitation of the 

 big ahip ; yet tliey could net dismiss the ominous 

 threat from their minds. On the morning of thf^ 

 Vol. IX.— 26 



7ih tf February, 1832, just forty-eight hours be- 

 lure the ex|)iration ol the twelve months, the sua 

 rose on Sumatra ; and, behold ! there stood, eura 

 enough, ihe terrible big ship ! They saw, in the 

 stard and stripes, as they lloated on the breeze, 

 iheliite ol the pirate and the murderer. Their 

 Ions were stormed, and their town laid in asfies ; 

 and such a terrible impression made of the power 

 and justice of the United States, that since that 

 time, the smallest Americaa vessel can float in 

 sattity in these remote piratical seas. 



Thus, it was to protect an inconsiderable branch 

 of our commerce, upon the opposite side of the 

 world, that a national ship circumnavigated the 

 globe, in a voyage of lour years doubling the 

 Cape of Good Hope in going out, and that of 

 Cape Horn in coming in, at the cost of probably 

 a mdlion of dollars. If the national mind, if the 

 national resources, could be brought lo bear thus 

 directly on agriculture, what glorious results would 

 Ibllow ! The expense of this single expedition 

 would have established an agricultural college, 

 with an experimental liirm, in each of the states, 

 and made educated, practical farmers of thou- 

 sands of poor orphans. 



But why has it happened, here in a free land, 

 where farmers constitute seven-eighths of the 

 whole population, that the arts and commerce 

 have been able to monopolize the resources and 

 legislation of the country, while not one hour is 

 ever devoted, by our public functionaries, to the 

 consideration ol agriculture'? These are the rea- 

 sons : — Those devoted to manuliictures and com- 

 merce have been able, Irom their concentrated 

 position, to act together in organized concert ; and 

 concert has enabled them to bring into their service 

 the public prets and public men. They have 

 been able to biing to bear upon public opinion, 

 all the means of popular instruction ; while those 

 devoted to agriculture have been dispersed over 

 the continent, from Maine to Louisiana, and from 

 the Atlantic to the liir west, each man in compara- 

 tive solitude, relying upon his individual efforts, 

 without the means of communicating with his 

 brethren of ihe same class. Having no union, 

 tins mighty, unembodied, disorganized interest, 

 acted not ai all upon the public councils. But the 

 spirit of the age will overcome this difficulty. Most 

 ol' Ihe states have already made agriculture the 

 subject of legislation ; societies are every where 

 springing up ; public journals, devoted to the art 

 ol husbandry, are multiplying; able men, in all 

 parts of the union, are addressing the people in 

 their primary assemblies ; light is shed abroad 

 among the larmeis, and the time has arrived when 

 those who pay nine-tenths of the public revenue, 

 will claim the right to be heard in our public 

 councils. 



It will be impossible, in a free land, for the 

 stupid and absurd notion, that the seven-eighths 

 ol the people, devoted to the cultivation of the 

 earih, should remain ignorant, while education is 

 mainly reserved lor those devoted to the leari»ed 

 professions. It will be impossible, where the bal- 

 lot box is in the hands of' the larmers, lor the 

 emoluments and honors of the government much 

 longer to be concentrated in the hands of oilier 

 proiessions. It will be impossible, in a free land, 

 Ibr those who pay nine-tenths of the public reve- 

 nue, to remain much longer quiet, and see annual 

 thousands ei^iandered in local and trivial legisla- 



