AGHlCUr-TURAL, MUSEUM / 



Extracts from the Adruess dd'wcrcd before " the. Sod' 

 etij for /he Promotion of Arts,'' on JVednesdmi, March 

 21, 1810, bi/ihc Honourable RodertII. Livingston, L. 



FROM TEfK ALSANY REGISTER. 



Agriculture has, till within these ^ew j^ears, com- 

 manded our greatest and almost exclusive attention ; not 

 only as it sujjpfies most of our wants, but as it forms the 

 il);isis of that commerce to which we have hitherto looked, 

 not only, for the conveniences, but, unhappily, for too ma- 

 nv of the necessaries of life. I trust, however, that the 

 day is at hand when we shall find in our own country, 

 without any dependence upon foreign nations, all that is 

 esseiitial to our support, and that you, Gentlemen, will 

 contribute, by your personal exertions, to its arrival. No 

 nation is truly independent, which looks abroad for arti- 

 cles that are essscatial to its existence or its defence ; 

 since their arrival may be prevented by wars, commercial 

 restrictions and a thousand other obstructions, over which 

 she has no control. Commerce, as the medium of wealth, 

 and of enjoyments which add to the happiness of social 

 life, merits our warmest support. It stimulates our indus. 

 try, by afifordin*^ a market for our product', and by giv- 

 ing- us in exchange commodities that add to our conveni- 

 ences, or encrease our enjoyments. But unhappy is the 

 nation which is compelled to rely upon it for articles of 

 the first necessity! Should a country be placed in such a 

 situation, as to be driven to seek its bread, by traversing 

 half the globe, instead of raising it at home, such a country 

 could never be secure against farnine. War, a failure of 

 crops in the state from which they were usually supplied^ 

 oi more advantageous markets, might put their very ex- 

 istence at hazard. Clothing is not less essential to us 

 than bread, and yet we rely for it on the precarious issue 

 of commerce, instead of manufacturing for ourselves. It 

 is true that we have hitherto been able to procure it in ex- 

 change for theproduceof our soil; but are we sure that 

 this will always be the case? May we not be at war with 



