224 



Letter from H. Colmari. 



Vol. VIII. 



to render a more substantial service to them 

 on this side of the water, than I could do 

 even if present. 



If the honour of their co-operation would 

 stimulate the ambition of the American 

 farmers, they may be assured tiiat every 

 where in the civilized world, this great art, 

 the foundation of all subsistence and of all 

 true wealth, is commandino; the labours and 

 zeal of men occupying the highest condition 

 in society, in talent, learning, influence and 

 philanthropy ; and though its progress can- 

 not be expected to meet the impatience of 

 man, now so much accustomed to rail-road 

 speed, that he is satisfied with nothing less, 

 yet it is advancing surely, and I may add, in 

 a manner which has never been witnessed 

 before. This is a most delightful considera- 

 tion to a benevolent and philanthropic mind. 

 Heretofore, as the bloody pages of history 

 record, the great study of those who ruled 

 the destinies of their fellow men, has seemed 

 to be how to subjugate and then to destroy. 

 But military glory has lost much of its 

 splendor in the eyes of the world, and now 

 much oftener pains, than delights the sight ; 

 the peaceful arts are every where gaining 

 the supremacy, and the ambition of tlie 

 great, seems much more directed to nuilti- 

 plying the means of human subsistence and 

 comfort, and to found their claims upon the 

 gratitude of those whom they govern, — not 

 upon the trophies of military success, but 

 upon their contributions to the great cause 

 of physical, intellectual, and moral improve- 

 ment. So may it continue to be, until every 

 weapon of war shall be converted into an 

 implement of art ; until the only conquests 

 to which men shall aspire shall be the con- 

 quest of the rude and unfilled earth, and the 

 only triumphs which they seek, and in 

 which they can find honour, are the tri- 

 umphs of the tasteful arts, of knowledge 

 and humanity, of universal peace and uni- 

 versal plenty. 



My friends may be assured that the hon- 

 ourable mission on which they sent me to 

 the old world, has received the most cordial 

 welcome in the father-land ; and that every 

 facility is offered me for obtaining such in- 

 formation as may be useful to my own coun- 

 try. It would be strange, if there were not 

 much in the accumulated treasures of the 

 experience of centuries to be learned ; and 

 though the intercourse between the two 

 countries is now so direct and speedy, as to 

 put us at once in America, in possession of 

 the improvements of European skill and sci- 

 ence, and a common language removes every 

 impediment to the freest intercommunica- 

 tion, yet there may be obvious advantages 

 from looking at these things with American 



eyes and American experience, rather than 

 in receiving them from those who do not 

 fully understand our particular condition 

 and circumstances, and may not therefore, 

 be able to place them before us in a light 

 best adapted to our comprehension or use. 



I am happy to find everywhere, the kind- 

 est feelings prevailing towards America; 

 and a strong and continually strengthening 

 conviction of a community of interest, and 

 the unnaturalness of a war or any hostility 

 between two countries, who are in truth 

 kith and kin of each other. Political agri- 

 culture here occupies a great share of public 

 attention. With that of course, it would 

 be wholly inconsistent with the objects of 

 my mission to meddle; but I can never fail 

 to express the wish, that every impediment 

 to the most free intercourse and the mutual 

 interchange of their peculiar advantages of 

 climate, soil and place among all the nations 

 of the earth, were removed out of the way ; 

 and instead of merely pecuniary and self-in- 

 terested motives, those who control the des- 

 tinies of government and society, were ac- 

 tuated exclusively by the benevolent motives 

 of diffusing as widely as possible, and ren- 

 dering accessible to all, the poor as well as 

 the rich, the humble as well as the exalted, 

 and the common labourer as well as the 

 capitalist, the blessings which Heaven cer- 

 tainly designed for all. How in the present 

 condition of society, so long under the influ- 

 ence of the most narrow and selfish princi- 

 ples, such a blessed result is to be brought 

 about, human sagacity has not as yet pre- 

 dicted. 



My agricultural friends shall hear from 

 me in due season. In their candor they will 

 not demand of me that which is immature, 

 and so might prove worthless. I shall not, 

 I am persuaded, be thought to overrate the 

 importance of my enterprise, in being anx- 

 ious to give them only that information 

 which is certain, authentic, and useful ; but 

 they may be assured that I shall be more 

 impatient to give, than they can be to re- 

 ceive, the results of my labours as soon as 

 they are worthy of their attention. 



The New York Agricultural Society has 

 already attained a higli character fbr its in- 

 telligence, public spirit, and contributions to 

 agricultural improvement. I may say too; 

 with more confidence than ever, that it has 

 just cause to be proud of its success in intro- 

 ducing valuable live stock into the country 

 and in its productive cultivation, and I beg 

 leave to ofl'er them, through you, my dear 

 sir, my constant and strongest wishes for 

 their further prosperity. 



Your friend and servant, 



Henry Colman. 



