8 ACRTCULTURAL MUSEUM 



file nations from whom \vc receive our supplies? Muy tint 

 our haibouis be blockadcti ? JNlay not our own crops fail, 

 or those of foreign nations be so abundant as not to need 

 our supplies ? All these accidents are cerlainly within the 

 <-ompass of probability. liut <:^rant that none of thcni 

 Jiappcn, still are we not tributary to the nation by whom 

 \ve are supplied? — Let it be remembered that in ever}'' 

 country the manufacturer must be fed. must be clothed, 

 and must pay the taxes antl burdens imposed by liis go- 

 vernment; and that all these expences must be repaid by 

 the consumer. But this is not the only evil that results 

 from our looking to foreign nations for a supply of neces- 

 saries. It debases our national s))irit, by exciting a senee 

 of dependence. It renders commerce a primary instead 

 of a seconilary object, both with the government and the 

 people. It destroys some of the essential advantages that 

 Ave might derive from our distance from the ambitious 

 despots of Europe. It involves us in all their disputes. It 

 places our hopes and our feais on the side of one or other 

 of the contending nations, whose thunders might roll and 

 lightenings flash unregarded by us, if our floating proper- 

 ty did not make us tremble at the storm. 



THE 



CONSTITUTION 



OF THE 



COLUMBIAN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



1st. That the society shall be called, " The Columbian 

 Agri<-ultaral Society for the promotion of Rural and Do- 

 mesLic Economy ;" and be continued for the term of three 

 years from the third vVednesday of May next. 



2d. That there shall be hereafter, in every year, two ge- 

 neral meetings of the society, to be held on the third Wed- 

 ncsday of May and November, at such public house or 

 othcr;plaee, in G-'orgctown, as may from time to time be 

 '.tppoiuted ; at whicli meetings the members present shall 



