204 



Quincy^s Jlddress. 



Vol. X. 



two reasons why this call alone was unani- 

 mous. He had nothhig particularly to do, 

 and he kept himself perpetually before the 

 public. He had nothing particularly to do, 

 he had neither wine nor oil, beauty nor 

 sweets to recommend him. He was a fit 

 representative of a class who then existed. 

 Nobody could tell what they were made for, 

 and nobody could divine what they followed 

 for a living-. But yet the bramble was not 

 one to be Ibrgolten. He was always before 

 the public. He planted himself by the way- 

 side, and caught hold of everybody that 

 passed ; there was no getting along for the 

 bramble ; and it may be that they made him 

 king, on the same principle that young ladies 

 sometimes marry an importunate lover — to 

 get rid of him. And how did the bramble 

 receive his nomination? Did he distrust his 

 powers or decline the office] Oh no ! He 

 was up for everything and up to everything. 

 He could not boast much of himself, so he 

 strove to magnify his office. "And the 

 bramble said, if, in truth, ye anoint me king 

 over you, then come and put your trust in 

 my shadow ; if not, then let a fire come out 

 of the bramble and devour the cedars of Le- 

 banon." 



Such was the opinion of Jotham, three 

 thousand years ago, on the probable feelings 

 and conduct of rulers, who were placed in 

 authority without the requisites for office. 

 He believed that a fire would go out of the 

 bramble to destroy the noblest and most ele- 

 vated in the land. By the bramble he meant 

 Abimelech, who was elected king of She- 

 chem, because his mother was a native of 

 the city. His course was as Jotham had 

 foretold ; a fire did go out of the bramble. 

 He slew three score and ten men of his bre- 

 thren on one stone. And as for Shechem, 

 he took occasion of their revolt, and put 

 every man, woman and child to the sword, 

 burned the city with fire, sowed it with salt, 

 and left a warning to future ages, of the 

 danger of putting, through folly or affection, 

 improper men into office. 



If now, as formerly, the prosperity of the 

 state is so intimately connected with the 

 character of the rulers, how great is the 

 power, and how evident the duty of a class 

 of men, who, removed from the immediate 

 struggle, hold, by tiieir numbers, the gifl of 

 office. If they are faithful, our republic will 

 have a stability that no one before it has pos- 

 sessed. If, doubting their importance, they 

 neglect the trust committed to them, they 

 may learn, too late, that they have sold their 

 country's birthrigiit; and when they would 

 recall the blessing of their fathers, they may 

 find there is no place for repentance, though 

 they seek it diligently and with tears. 



But perhaps it will be said that the agri- 

 cultural class, though collectively powerful, 

 are individually of small comparative import- 

 ance. Together they may be likened to the 

 ocean, that supports a nation's navy and 

 tosses it from its bosom, with as much ease 

 as it wafts a feather. Still the^individual is 

 but a drop, resembling others so nearly as to 

 attract neither notice nor admiration. But 

 this is not peculiar to this class. It applies 

 equally to all. Few, from the very defini- 

 tion, can be distinguished. 



But of all tlie professions, it appears to me 

 that the farmers are the last who ought to 

 complain that, as a clas.s, they do not receive 

 a full proportion of the honours of the repub- 

 lic. Our chief magistrates have difiered in 

 many points, but they hav'e generally agreed 

 in this; that before, and in many cases afler 

 the election, they have been farmers. There 

 was the farmer of Mount Vernon, and the 

 farmer of Monticello; the farmer of the 

 North Bend, and the farmer of the Hermit- 

 age ; the farmer of Tennessee, and the farmer 

 of Ashland ; the farmer of Lindenwald, and 

 the farmer of Marshfield. So that it well 

 may be urged, that though all the farmers 

 cannot be presidents, all the presidents must 

 be farmers. 



But besides this there are in agricultural 

 life great opportunities of individual useful- 

 ness. The effects of example and precept 

 extend farther than we can imagine. When 

 you throw wheat into the ground, you know 

 what will be the product; but when you ex- 

 emplify or inculcate a moral truth, eternity 

 alone can develope the extent of the bless- 

 ing. 



About a hundred years ago, there lived in 

 Boston a tallow-chandler. He was too igno- 

 rant to give and too poor to pay for his chil- 

 dren's instruction, but he was a wise and an 

 honest man; and there was one book, upon 

 whose precepts he relied, as being able to 

 instruct his children how to live prosperously 

 in this world, as well as to prepare them for 

 another. We are told that he daily repeat- 

 ed to them this proverb: " Scest thou a man 

 dilijjent in his business? He^hall stand be- 

 fore kings." In process of time this tallow- 

 chandler died, and was forgotten. But tlie 

 good seed had fallen upon good ground. One 

 of his little boys obeyed his father's instruc- 

 tion ; he was diligent in his business, and he 

 did stand before kings, the first representa- 

 tive of his native land ! He lived as a phi- 

 losopher, to snatch the lightning from hea- 

 ven ; as a statesman, to wrest the sceptre 

 from tyrants. And when he died, he con- 

 fessed that it was the moral teachings of his 

 father, added to the little learning he picked 

 up in a town school at Boston, to which he 



