68 



NEW ENGLAND FAR M E R 



SEPT. a, I ?4 0. 



' GREAT AGRICULTURAL MEETLMG IN | 

 ENGLAND. 



SpEI CH OF TIIK AmEKICAN Ml^■lSTEU. 



We publish below thn speech of lion. A. Ste- 

 venson, our Minister to Enolanil, at the rrinnd ag- 

 ricultural meeting at Cumbriilj^e, Er.g., on the ]4th 

 of July. After the Cattle Show, which lasted two 

 days, there was a splendid dinner, the Duke of 

 Richmond being in the chair. A large number of 

 distingui^;hed gentlemen weie present, and from 

 tiie accounts we have received of the meeting, it 

 must have been a season of great interest and en- 

 joyment to the immense concourse of people as- 

 sembled on tlie occasion. That they dined well, 

 our readers cannot doubt, after reading the follow- 

 ing account of the 



Hill or Fare. 



5G lambs, S.IO chickens, 120 pieces of roast beef, 

 120 pieces of boiled beef, 120 pieces of roast veal, 

 100 hams, 100 tongues, 500 salads, 500 dishes hot 

 potatoes, 100 raised pies, 100 pigeon do., 5.50 fruit 

 tarts, 2 Cheshire cheeses, 4 Gloster do., 12 Stilton 

 do. — 10 barrels of ale(!) and upwards of 2,800 

 pints of wine (! 1) 



After the 'Queen' and ' Royal Family ' had 

 been given, the next toast proposed by the Presi- 

 dent was the health of the Hon. A. Stevenson, the 

 American Minister, &c. 



Mr Stevknson rose to return thanks, and was 

 received with great cheering. He said that it 

 would be an unworthy affectation if he did not say 

 that this was one of the most remarkable and im- 

 posing assemblies that he had ever witnessed in 

 the course of a public life, not very short. He 

 feared that he should not be able to do justice to 

 his feelings or the occasion. The kind and hos- 

 pitable reception which had been given to him, and 

 the very gratifying manner in which his name had 

 been associated with that of tiieir two countries, 

 demanded his grateful acknowledgments. He re- 

 ceived it with pride and satisfaction, greatly en- 

 hanced as it was by the kind motives which had 

 prompted it, and the flattering manner in which it 

 had been received by such a distinguished assem- 

 blage. (Cheers.) Deeply sensible, however, as 

 he was of the high honor done him, he should but 

 inadequately convey what he felt, if he confined 

 himself to an expression of his individual feeling. 

 (Hear.) In relation to himself personally, it was 

 but a matter of little importance; but in another 

 sense, looking li such an assembly as that, repre- 

 senting not only the great agricultural interests of 

 England, but of the United Kingdom, the kind and 

 liberal sentiments which had be('n expressed, would 

 do good, und strengthen those relations of amity 

 and peace which existed between the two coun- 

 tries. (Cheers.) He therefore asked leave to 

 thank them in the name of his country, and at the 

 same time to assure them that nothing would be 

 more acceptable to the goverriinent r.nd people of 

 the United States than sentiments like those which 

 had been so kindly expressed. (Cheers.) Their 

 noble President, said Mr S., had been pleased to 

 express a wish in allusion to the late negociations 

 between the two countries, that tire present rela- 

 tions of peace and concord might happily long con- 

 tinue for the benefit of both. He need hardly say 

 how cordially and sincerely he united in this wish. 

 This was fortunately, he s'iid, for mankind, not an 

 age of war. The time had long since passed, when 

 hostility and war was regarded as the natural state 



of man, and peace only a difficult and dangerous 

 experiment. (Hear.) The soldier and the sword, 

 he thanked God, were no longer ihe on!y security 

 for nation-. The schoolmaster and not the war- 

 rior was abroad- Moral power was taking the 

 place of physical force, and the rulers of the world 

 would soon learn, if they had not already, that they 

 must look for security to their thrones to moral and 

 not physical power, and to the virtue and intelli- 

 gence of their people. (Cheers.) In this enlight- 

 ened age, said Mr S., when the love of peace, knowl- 

 edge, and Christianity was overspreading the earth, 

 was there one IJriton, or American, one wise of 

 good man, who would not look upon a war between 

 two such countries as England and America as one 

 of the greatest calamities that could befal mankind ? 

 A war against interest, kindred, language, and re- 

 ligion, and for what ? — not for principle ; not for 

 national honor, (the only justifiable cause for war 

 between nations,) nor for conquest; but a war to 

 settle tlie geographical lines of a treaty of bounda- 

 ry, the subject legitimately of negociation and 

 peaceable adjustment. (Loud cheers.) But Eng- 

 land and America, he said, were too wise to enter 

 into any such war. Neither, he was sure, would 

 feel Itself called upon in vindication of its honor, 

 or in defence of its rights, to embark in war. The 

 security for peace, he said, was in the wisdom and 

 prudence and foresight of the rulers of the two 

 countries, and in the virtue and intelligence of their 

 people. (Cheers.) Iheir noble chairman, said 

 Mr S., had done hini no more than justice in sup- 

 posing that he had done every thing in his power, 

 both ofiicially and individually, to cherish and in- 

 vigorate the friendly relations of their two countries, 

 upon the preservation of which he believed the 

 prosperity und tiappiness of both nations essential- 

 ly depended. He therefore only spoke the senti- 

 ments of his i>wn country when he assured them 

 that Its people and government desired peace, solid 

 permanent peace with all nations, but especially 

 good understanding with Great Britain, upon terms 

 compatible with the rights and honor of both. — 

 (Cheers.) 



Mr S. then asked whether he might be indulged 

 for a moment in a brief notice of this association, 

 and the great benehis it was calculated to bestow 

 •on agriculture. (Cries from all parts of the pavil- 

 ion to go on.) He rejoiced, he said, in having had 

 it in his power to attend upcm the present occasion. 

 Besides the opportunity it atibrded liiin of witness- 

 ing for the two last days, proceedings so congenial 

 to his feelings, it enabled him to express in person 

 his deep sense of the high honor which the Socie- 

 ty had done him, in deeming linn worthy to become 

 one of its honorary members. (Cheers.) He only 

 regretted that it would not be in Ins power to re- 

 pay such an honor by some corresponding benefit, 

 worthy of such an association, and of the interest 

 he felt at its success. He could, therefore, only 

 ofl'er the humble tribute of his homage and his best 

 wishes. In such an assembly, it would, he was 

 quite sure, be needless, if he were competent, to 

 expatiate upon the subject of agriculture and its 

 claims to support. He however felt a disposition 

 to throw out one or two suggestions, which inight 

 not be entirely unworthy of consideration. (Cheers.) 

 All, he said, concurred in assigning to agriculture 

 a high place in the scale of individual and national 

 interest — (hear, hear) — but yet he thought they did 

 not give it the importance it merited, and to which 

 it justly aspired. In other words, that too many 

 supposed the object of agriculture was alone for 



purposes of subsistence. Now a more fallacious 

 opinion could not, he thought, obtain, than that the 

 responsibilities of agriculture stopped at the pro- 

 duction of food for eaters : far otherwise — the du- 

 ties of agriculture, he said, were like those of mo- 

 rality ; they spread beyond the circle of providing 

 the means of subsistence, into a wide expanse cre- 

 ated by the obligations arising out of a state of so- 

 ciety, and were connected with all the great na- 

 tional interests. (Cheers.) Hence the support of 

 government — the encouragement of commerce — 

 the basis of manufactures— the subsistence of the 

 learned professions, depended upon the importance 

 and interests of agriculture. (Cheers.) It was 

 the source from which all classes not only derived 

 subsistence, but prosperity. As an object of uni- 

 versal benefit then, it was justly entitled to univer- 

 sal patronage. (Cheers.) 



Mr Stevenson said, that agriculture had been 

 justly considered national property; the whole 

 country one great farm, and the inhabitants as one 

 great family ; in which, however, those who worked 

 the least had often the most profit. Now if this 

 was true, as he believed it to be to a certain extent, 

 then those who were not farmers had as great an 

 interest as the farmer himself, inasmuch as the 

 whole class employed in agricultural districts and 

 labor were the first to be subsisted, and that of the 

 other classes out of the surplus ; and of course the 

 larger the surplus the greater would be the profit. 

 This was a selfish argument, it might be said; but 

 yet he thought it not Ihe less strong. (Hear.) Of 

 all the modes which had been resorted to in aid v( 

 agriculture, the most beneficial were associations 

 of this character — societies for the collection and 

 diftusion of knowledge; the introduction of useful 

 experiments; the writings of able and distinguish- 

 ed men; and that excitement and emulation so e.-'- 

 sential to all improvement Science was absolute- 

 ly necessary to modern agriculture — theory and 

 practice reflected light on each other, and this was 

 the more felt, as of all pursuits there was no class 

 so wedded to old habits, and which are so unyield- 

 ing, as those who cultivate the soil. This was the 

 case both in the old and new world. He rejoiced, 

 therefore, in the giant strides which agriculture 

 was making in every quarter of the globe, under 

 the beneficial aids of practical science. 'J'his was, 

 he said, one of the great benefits which this society 

 would accomplish. (Cheers.) If any man doubt- 

 ed the extent to which science had benefited agri- 

 culture, let him visit England and Scotland — Eng- 

 land, really, which had justly been said to be the 

 garden of all Europe. .'\nd why was it so.' simp- 

 ly because its entire surface was cultivated upon 

 principles which were broiight to the test of the 

 most rigid and severe experiment ; because agri- 

 culture was scientifically and philosophically pur- 

 sued, and because she had such excellent farmers. 

 (Cheers.) It was indeed delightful to witness the 

 system of farming and rural economy throughout 

 the land. If a foreigner wished to know what 

 England really was, he must go into the country 

 and mix with her fanners and yeomanry. 



It had been said, he believed, by one of the prin- 

 ces of the reigning family, that the pride of Eng- 

 land was in her yeomaniy. Here-echoed the sen- 

 timent, and was happy to belong when at home to 

 that class. Next lie said, to the proud distinction 

 of being an American citizen, was that of being a 

 farmer. (Cheers.) Who could look upon such an • 

 asse.ubly as this without feeling himself elevated 

 and gratified .' (Cheers ) We see here all classes 



