154 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Temples of Religion, and for tlie decent Grave- 

 Yard? of (heir ancestora. The traveller may 

 indeed (ind a bloated popiilatioS— he m;iy find 

 fields of rank luxuriance — ho may hear the noise 

 of the Mechanic, and see the husy stir of com- 

 merce ; l)ut it will he a ' barren splendour.'' a 

 ^ sichty greatness,^ a '■Jlorid vigour,'' betokening; 

 disease, decay and death. Instead of the pres- 

 ent ha!)py dislribntion of property, he »vill find 

 the lands and the wealth engrossed by a lew su- 

 percilious lordlings, lookin? down upon the la- 

 bouring Farmer and the Mechanic as an inferi- 

 or racp of beings. Instead of the Church-going 

 hell, summoning him to the house of prayer, he 

 will find the Sabbath hailed as a day of luxuri- 

 ous festivity, of noisy mirlh, and of vulgar dissi- 

 pation. Instead of the general diBusion of learn- 

 ing, he will find a chosen few approj)riating to 

 themselves all the valued treasures of science ; 

 but their knowledge will he loo lofty or too re- 

 fined fo pass current among the people, and ig- 

 norance and darkness will overspread the land. 

 Instead of domestic security, the traveller will 

 find those homes, where once was enjoyed " un- 

 disiurbed sleep within unbarred doors," beset 

 by pscisemeu and gens d''armes by day, an<l in 

 the hours of darkness surrounded by ihe prowl- 

 ingsof the thief, the lurkings of the robber, and 

 the whispers of the assassin. The S[)y and in- 

 former will glide into every retreat, aud follow 

 your descendant even among the birches and 

 shrub-oaksthat will conceal the neglecled lomb- 

 stones of his falhers. '■ Corruption, like a gen- 

 eral flood," will desolate the land, and sweep 

 away in its progress all Ihat is peculiar and val- 

 uable in our equal laws. Discontent and mis- 

 ery will sit brooding upon the countenances of 

 the people, who, wearied out with continual 

 changes, and in listening to a succession of dem- 

 agogues, will be prepared to surrer.der Ihe rem- 

 nant of their liberties lo ihe iron grasp of a Dic- 

 tator. Then "farewell, a long Aircuell" to all 

 New-EnglancPs greatness. 



Political economists have generally traced na- 

 tional wealth to three great ^oxwces, AgricuUure, 

 Manufactures, and Commerce. These form the 

 parts of that vast cord (hat encircles and binds 

 together the discordant elements of jiolitical so- 

 ciety. They are mutually dependant, each upon 

 the other, for the general strength t^iiey uniledlv 

 afford. Essentially injure one of these great in- 

 terests, and you destroy or weaken the whole. 

 In advocating the cause of the one, therefore, it 

 is not Ihe part of wisdom lo manifest any hostil- 

 ity towards the others. We are associated for 

 the promotion of Agriculture and .Manufactures, 

 but not in opposition lo Commerce ; because, 

 without proper facilities for the e.\change of 

 our comuiodiiies, our favourite pursuits would 

 anguish and decay. Neither let il be sup|>osed, 

 hit il our encomiums u[)on Husbandry, »ve in- 

 tend to derogate any thing from the iuiporlai'.ce 

 of Manufacturing. JInst of the handicraft trades 

 are essentially connected wilh Ihe cullivalion ol 

 the earth ; and without these facilities ou;- la- 

 bours would lie almost in vain. \Vhen Iherelore 

 we speak of Agriculture, we wish lo be undt-r- 

 slood as including all those branches of domestic 

 manufacture by which the cultivation of Ihe 

 earth is jiromoted. Without the use of iron, for 

 instance, the fields of -Massachusetts would yield 

 but a meagre harvest. Nor would we be limit- 

 ed lo this view of the subject. No real friend 

 (0 New-England, no wise uiao, that has watched 



her progress, that has compared her situation 

 with that of the wealthiest countries of Europe, 

 but must admit (hat the time is approaching 

 when she must be an extensive manufacturing 

 district. Circumstances beyond our control, 

 have rendered it necessary Ihat some of the 

 streams of our surplus capdlal should be turned 

 into this channel. By a judicious management, 

 this wealth will not be lost to us : it will become 

 absorbed in Ihe soil — it will be prevented from 

 flowing to too great a distance — and thus it may 

 diffuse a more general fertility. In the present 

 languishing stale of commerce, this probably is 

 the only mode by which we can retain our sur- 

 plus population and our resources among our- 

 selves. Time and circumstances will probably 

 accomplish all that the most sanguine "friend 

 to domestic industry" can desire. The contro- 

 versy that basso long agitated the community 

 upon this subject, is merely upon the degree of 

 encouragement that is proper to be given to 

 this branch of employment. 



To adjust the jarring interests of Commerce 

 and .Manufactures, seems to have been, of late, 

 a great part of the business of the Grand Coun- 

 cil of our nation. That tliey should he encour- 

 aged and protected, the enlightened Farmer 

 does not object. But may not the inquiry be 

 permitted, why the encouragement of .Igricul- 

 ture should so seldom be a topic of discussion ? 

 When the Imposts and Excises fail to replenish 

 Ihe treasury, we hear much of the productive 

 nature of a Land-Tax, and the cerlainly and 

 ease wilh which it may be collected ! When 

 an army is to be raised, there is a never failing 

 resource of recruits among Ihe hardy Yeoman- 

 ry of our country ! It ia true, the details of this 

 interest occupy but a small space in our lumi- 

 nous Treasury reports : it is scarcely seen amid 

 llic bustle of the wharf and the war«"-house. — 

 Nor does it atlracl the gaze of the traveller 

 like the motions of a steam-engine, Ihe buzz of 

 an army of spindles, or the clatter of a host of 

 power looms : its progress is gradual and silenl, 

 as the growth of its products. But Agriculture 

 is the life-blood of (his nation: it clothes and it 

 feeds our ten millions of inhabitants: it forms 

 more than three-lourlhs of our domestic ex- 

 ports, and more than half of all the oj;[iorts of 

 our extensive commerce : it is the solid Tus- 

 can base that su|)porls the august fabric of civ- 

 il society. Without it, labour would languish 

 for employment — Trade and the Arts for male- 

 rials of workmanship and articles of exchange 



lated. The volatility of a trading capital may 

 be likened lo the element upon which it is gen- 

 erally earned. Unstalde as the ocean, il ifows 

 and it ebbs at every tide. — while Ihe stock earn- 

 ed by improvements upon the land is as perma- 

 nent as the soil from whence it is derived, fix- 

 ed as our native hills, and as durable as the 

 masses of granite upon which they rest. 



The onlinary events of war, of peace, of 

 changes in Ihe policy of governments, most 

 generally affect the sources of commercial pro- 

 fit, and often leave them completely dried u|) ; 

 but that wealth uhich results from ferlilizin'' 

 the national domain, cannot be materially affect- 

 ed, only by those lasting depredalions that de- 

 vastate whole provinces. As a practical illus- 

 Iralion of these principles, revert fi)r a moment 

 lo Ihe map of the world ; and firsi, behold E- 

 gypt, that celebraled granary of the East, from 

 times of patriarchal antiquity, when the Hus- 

 banilmen of Canaan zcciit down to buy corn. 

 Who does not recognize Ihe period to which we 

 allude, thai recollects the taelve brethren at 

 the Egyptian court? No one can forget .the 

 narrative that is associated with his earliest re- 

 collections, and which he finds as instructive to 

 him as a parent as il was interesting lo him as a 

 chdd. Egypt, throiiirh the long line of her 

 Ph.iraohs and her Ptolemies, ihe succession of 

 her Mamelukes, her Beys, and her Pachas, for a 

 period of more than forty cenliiric^, by Ao-ricul- 

 ti;ro alone, has been enabled to furnish bread 

 to her neighbours; and, it is said, is now about 

 entering into competition wilh this distant re- 

 gion in supplying the European market wilh 

 our most important staple, the article Cotton. 

 .■\nd thu.s, nolwitbslanding the exactions and op- 

 pressions of Ihe worst government, is blessed 

 ivilh resources as redundant as her Nile, and 

 as imperishable as her pyramids. 



Look now at Spain, fallen, degraded Spain : 

 once the [lossessor of both the Indies, and the 

 coiitioller of their wcalih — once rich in enler- 

 jirizing commerce with iier own colonies and 

 the whole world. With the spices of the East 

 and Gold of the West, she commanded the 

 trade of Europe. 



" Proud swellM bcr tides ivitli loads of frcijhted ore, 

 •Ind shouUnj folly liail'd them from her shore." 

 But every galleon thatentered her port brought 

 wilh il Ihe seeds of weakness and decay. ller 

 kings Here furnished wilh the means ofengaging 

 in the most destructive wars. Her nobles were 

 dazzleJ with the glare of boundless wealth. - 



— the massy Doric column and the ornameulal The na'ional industry lost its elasticity. Wrlh the 

 Corinthian capital would tiimble into ruins, ami expulsion of Ihe Jews and the Moors at -least a 

 serve only to desolate what Ihey now supjiorl j million Dl'her most thriving mechanics and hus- 

 anil embellish. | bandmen were lost forever. The most op- 



The solid and durable character of Ihe cj'{- pressive and unequal tax uiion every sale o{ 



tal stock added to any section of a country by 

 Husbandry, aflords a striking contrast to the 

 transitory and lluctualing nature of that acquir- 

 ed by the pursuits of Trade. A Merchant, it 

 has often been observed, is a citizen of liic-zaorld, 

 and not necessarily an inhabitant of any partic- 

 ular nation : his forlune* is literally atloal, and 

 he may change it with every shifting breeze. 

 Not so wilh the Husbandman: his capital is an- 

 nexed to Ihe soil he inhabits, and becomes iden- 

 tified wilh its dearest interests. If, from caprice 

 or disalTeclion, he changes Iiis domicil, Ihe 

 fruitj of his toil, his induslry and his enler|)rize 

 remain, to form an integral part of the capital 

 stock of the the districts where it was accumu- 



cerlain commodities has destroyed her internal 

 trade and her manufactures. And what must 

 be the slate of Agriculture under a system that 

 allows tie privileged orders lo drive their flocks 

 of thousinds through different provinces for the 

 benefit cf pasturage, prostrating in their course 

 alike Ihe crops as well as Ihe fences of the un- 

 fortunate tenantry. Her local situation and phy-_ 

 sical ad'anlages ore probably superiour lo those* 

 of any other nation; hut, deluded by the glare 

 ofcoQinercial wealth, she has pursued, for cen- 

 luries, n |)olicy that has palsied her .Manufac- 

 tures and blasted her Husbandry. Her manu- 

 factures of iron, of steel, and of tin, now furnish 

 employaient to thousands of English labourers. 



