VOI<. XIX. NO. •■(. 



AND H 11 T I C U L t u R A L REGISTER, 



9 



tlm petty war between neig^hbors, to which tlie 

 French proverb piirticnlarly refers, proceeds from 

 the same source — some latent injustice or imper- 

 fection in the law. Can it be our will and pleas- 

 ure that this last imperfection in law continue for- 

 ever to verily the French proverb ? If a hundred 

 land owners were asked whether they had rather 

 hold their possessions free from every chance of 

 litiffation, or take the chance of fjettinn^ some small 

 portion of their neighbor's land by force of law, 

 with all the trouble, heart-burning and costs, how 

 many would vote for litigation ? 



If agriculture, where a few potent, luxurious, 

 idle, profligate landlords were owners of all the 

 land, and its cultivators were slaves or semi-slaves, 

 have been the moans of civilizing Uie world to the 

 degree we now find it, what may be expected in a 

 country where almo.st every cultivator is also a pro- 

 prietor of the soil ? If the increased produLUs of 

 agriculture afforded the leisure and the means of 

 making progress in all the other arts and sciences, 

 including its owi, through the experiments and 

 mental labor of a few wise and philanthropic men, 

 not obliged to exhaust theniseUes by hard work, 

 and not willing to waste their strength in dissipa- 

 tion, what may be hoped from multitudes now simi- 

 larly situated.' Indeed the great majority of our 

 intelligent and independent farmers are well quali- 

 fied to labor in this intellectual field, and do now 

 labor in it most efficiently. In ])roof of this round 

 assertion, which would astonish Europeans, we have 

 but to turn to our patent office, to our manufacto- 

 ries, to the arts generally, including the fine arts; 

 to the learned professions, to commerce, and to our 

 legislative halls, for all these are almost exclusive- 

 ly peopled by the sons of agricultural labor, who 

 have fciund money and leisure enough to qualify 

 themselves to take the lead in them all. When' 

 in old countries one man could aflRjrd to suspend 

 his daily toil for the improvement of his mind, fjr a 

 few short days in the year, hundreds here have six 

 long winter months for the same purpose, and their 

 children have every day of the year. 



I.s it then so extravagant to indulge in the flat- 

 tering hopes of a moral millenium .' Either the 

 abundance furnished by agriculture has ?io< been 

 the means through which our present progress has 

 been made, or increased abundance with more nu- 

 merous laborers in the field of science, must accel- 

 erate that progress. I do not see how to get rid of 

 this conclusion; I will therefore hope on, and re- 

 fer to posterity for the verificat'on of my prophecies. 



Now that I have established my general premi- 

 ses, to my own satisfaction at least, and concluded 

 that we have the means and the disposition to im- 

 prove our talent, and are even now improving it, I 

 will hazard a few remarks on the importance of 

 maintaining entire the sacred means beciueathed to 

 us by our noble sires, for the completion of the 

 great moral work began by them. Those means 

 are, physical and moral independence: — indepen- 

 dence in property and independence in mind ; for 

 they must go together or they both fall. A slave, 

 be he white or black, is not a whole man. lie is, 

 in fact, but the shell of a man. A man in debt is 

 a slave ; and a poor man is a semi-slave Such 

 men can make no progress. The day when inde- 

 pendence in properly shall begin to diminish in 

 this happy country, will be a gloomy day for our 

 children. That day, if it could be ascertained, and 

 fixed in our almanacs, would be celebrated in sack- 

 clotli and ashes, by our miserable posterity. 



We seek not to level property by any other 



means than those afl'orded by the present jujt and 

 eipial distribution of it among all our children, 

 without favor or ):artiality. Nor can we wish to 

 see it heaped up in (;xcessive masses, by any other 

 means than by honest industry ; — and such excess 

 is not to be feared where the laws are just and 

 equal. The ilifl'erence between one man and anoth- 

 er i.s not so great, nor is life long enough to accu- 

 mulate excessive wealth, by sheer labor and econo- 

 my. If our laws be wise and republican, our con- 

 dition will never become aristocratic, by excessive 

 wealth ; and every other kind of aristocracy has 

 become impossible in the present stale of the 

 world. 



Rut how shall we ascertain whetlu^r indepen- 

 dence of property diminish or not, among the great 

 mass of our citizens .' Be it ri'ineinbered that this 

 is no idle question of a statistic-monger. It is one 

 of the deepest significance. It is the infallible 

 monitor, who would tell us trueb), if his voice could 

 be heard, whether we were really rising or falling 

 in the scale of morality and civilization. Need I 

 add, in religion also ? No, — for what is religion 

 without morals ? 



Cannot some of our oldest farmers answer my 

 first question, after looking about and numbering 

 the independent land-holders of the present day, 

 compared v.>ith those of former times, according to 

 the ratio of [lopulation ? By independent farmers 

 I mean to distinguish all those who held then or 

 hold now a house and ever so little land, from the 

 mere day-laborers and tenants. 



If some philanthropist of forecast, had thought 

 of the importance of this question, and had had a 

 voice in Congress, he might have added this to nu- 

 merous queries which the commissioners of the 

 census are now making of every house-holder in 

 the nation. But before the next census, which 

 will be ten years, this hint will have been forgot- 

 ten, I fear. 



The general idea of high civilization, such as 

 nations have heretofore aimed at, is, I am aware, 

 at variance with my present thesis. That idea 

 leads us to look to cities and great accumulation 

 of wealth as the sources of civilization. This very 

 word, from civis, as well as urbanity, another word 

 derived from the Latin for city, load to the idea 

 that cities alone are the schools for civilization, i 

 nnist here admit that if any civilization worthy of 

 .'\mericans could exist wUhout mornlily, then in- 

 deed would the cities have superior advantages to 

 the country. The very vices of the city are, in a 

 manner palliated by the illusions of fashion and the 

 lustre of wealth. True civilization must then look 

 to its own mother earth, for the completion of her 

 great and glorious work. 



In connexion with this subject, I will quote a 

 very significant remark, which I have heard in this 

 city, from a fashionable quarter. I have heard it 

 said that "the city had deteriorated in good man- 

 ners and high polish, by the introduction of so 

 many emigrants from the country ; and that the 

 manners of the country have gained by the more 

 frequent intercourse with the city, and by intermar- 

 riages between them." 



No one will deny the beneficial tendency of the 

 frequent intercourse which an active commerce 

 brinirs about. But may we not have some doubts 

 on the supposed decline of civilization in the cities ? 

 I would not dwell invidiously on this subject ; but 

 I am old enough to remember in the highest cir- 

 cles in this city, gambling to the loss of whole es- 

 tates, and invariable drunkenness at every fashiona- 



ble festival. In these two particulars we have, 

 then, evidently improved in the city, notwithstand- 

 ing tlie great influx of rustic vnljrarily. I wish I 

 could add, that wo had also improved in the moral 

 .-ensc of right and wrong, commercially and legally 

 speaking. 1 leave it to the happy irdiabitants of thp 

 fields to inquire how much their sense of right and 

 wr(uig has been improved by our example. 



I cannot terminate this long letter more appro- 

 priately than bv a quotation from Jefferson to Dr 

 Priestley : 



" There is an overcharge in the class of compe- 

 titors for the learned occupations, and great distress 

 among the supernumerary candidates; and the 

 more so, as their habits of life have disqualified 

 them for retiring into the laborious class. The 

 evil cannot be suddenly, nor perhaps ever entirely 

 cured. Nor should I presume to say by what 

 means it may be cured. Doubtless there are many 

 engines which the nation might bring to bear on 

 this object. Public opinion and public encourage- 

 ment are among these. The class principally de- 

 fective is that of agriculture. It is the first in util- 

 ity and ought to be the first in respect. The same 

 artificial means which have been used to produce a 

 competition in learning, may be equally successful 

 in restoring agriculture lo its primary dignity in 

 the eyes of men. It is a science of the first order. 

 It counts among its handmaids the most respecta- 

 ble sciences, such, as chemistry, natural philosophy, 

 mechanics, mathematics generally, natural history, 

 and botany. In every college and university there 

 might be professorships of agriculture, and that 

 class of students might be honored as the first. — 

 Young men closing their academical education 

 with this, as the crown of all other sciences, fasci- 

 nated with its solid charms, and at a time when 

 they are to choose an occupation, instead of crowd- 

 ing the other classes, would return to the farms of 

 their fathers, or their own, and replenish and invig- 

 orate a calling now languishing under contempt 

 and oppression. Tiie charitable schools, instead of 

 storing their pupils with a lore that the present 

 state of society does not call for, converted into 

 schools of agriculture, might restore them to that 

 branch, qualified to enrich and honor themselves, 

 and to increase the productions of the nation in- 

 stead of consuming them. A gradual abolition of 

 the useless offices, so much accumulated in all 

 ■governments, might close this drain also from the 

 labors of the field, and lessen the burthens imposed 

 on them. By these and better means whicli will 

 occur to others, the surcharges of the learned might 

 in time be drawn ofl' to recruit the laboring class 

 of citizens, the sum of industry be increased, and 

 that of misery diminished." 



I hope, sir, that the sound and philosophic vieira 

 of an old farmer as well as a profound statesman, 

 will atone fiu- the length of this letter. 

 Your ob't serv't, 



WM. FOSTER. 



The Baltimore Sun mentions an instance of a 



hen that lived twentyeight days without either food 

 or drink, having been accidentally fastened in a 

 pile of wood. The hen is still living and likely t9 

 recover. In case of a famine, it would be quite an 

 advantage to be an old hen. 



The ship Henry sailed from Philadelphia last 

 week for London, with a cal^o of 33,7.50 bushels of 

 oaf* .' 



