34 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



For the Fanners' Register. 



OX THE KNOWLEDGE, AND IGNORANCE, OF 

 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



A plausible writer, in a miscellaneous essay in 

 the last Register, remarks, that he should be 

 pleased to see a sort ol" day of judgment arrive 

 when all the arguments and all the theories 

 which have been broached since the year 1789, to 

 1836, and especially those onthesubjcu ol'the U. 

 States' tariff', should be brought belore the bar of 

 public opinion. He also states, that the late Cha.'=. 

 Fox boasted his ignorance of political economy. 

 1 was not before aware of this. I have seen some- 

 where, that Mr. Fox admited he had never read 

 Smith's Wealth of Nations — that the reasonings 

 were too abstruse, and the calculations too minute 

 for his comprehension. If Mr. Fox was ignorant 

 of political economy, he was entirely unfit for the 

 station of Prime Minister of England, to the at- 

 tainment of which the energies of his life were 

 directed — one which he held, for a short time in 

 early life, and also in his last days. Perhaps poli- 

 tical economy, in all its ramifications, was never 

 perfectly understood by any man. It fluctuates 

 in a degree with the times — depends much upon 

 the existing state of a country, and its relative po- 

 sition to other nations. But there are some princi- 

 ples established by experience and sanctioned by 

 time — and, that trade, when unfettered is generally 

 most prosperous, is one. The late Mr. Huskisson, 

 who, unlike Mr. Fox, valued himself a little for his 

 knowledge of political economy, attributes to this 

 cause the sujjeriority which England had attained 

 over the nations of the continent of Europe. An- 

 other maxim now received by statesmen is, mono- 

 polies, corporations, premiums and pensions, are 

 generally mischievous to the body politic, and that 

 corporations for profit ought never to be granted, 

 except for some great public benefit, to which pri- 

 vate wealth and individual efforts are inadequate. 

 In Maryland, to our reproach, we find companies 

 incorporated for spinning cotton, making gunpow- 

 der, duck and partridge shot, and digging alum; and 

 when the value of" marl becomes well understood, 

 1 should not be at all surprised if a company be in- 

 corporated for raising marl. Legislators, who pass 

 such laws, may, with Mr. Fox, boast they have 

 no knowledge of political economy. 



The name of Charles Fox, in this country, has 

 been generally associated with liberty, and that of 

 his successful rival, William Pitt, with tyranny. 

 Mr. Fox was a man of high talents, a great de- 

 bater, and a patriot out of power. Had he have 

 been Prime Minister of England, when citizens 

 Robespierre, and Danton, and Marat, were giving 

 practical lessons of liberty to the French, and send- 

 ing the genius of universal emancipation into the 

 kingdoms of Europe to disenthral the people and 

 dethrone the monarchs, I have a suspicion, that 

 Mr. Fox, instead of looking with the indifference 

 he did upon their schemes, from the philosophic 

 shades of St. Ann's Hill, would have been imbued 

 with a little of the same spirit which Governor 

 Mc Duffle now entertains for these philanthropic re- 

 formers, Tappan, Garrison, & Co. Sir Robert 

 Walpole was a corrupt Minister, but a wise man; 

 and he tells us, that nothing sharpens more the 

 edge of patriotism than disappoinlment. If this 

 great Court of Review should embrace politicians 

 from the year 1789 to 1830, each in this land ol li- 



berty, where we were "all federalists, all republi- 

 cans," now all whigs, all Jacksonians — all for 

 the Republic, none for themselves perhaps a few 

 illustrations of Sir Robert's maxim may be found. 

 1 have always deemed the protective tariff a 

 germ of Bonaparte's continental system. At the 

 conclusion of the late war, having foiled Great Bri- 

 tain, in arms, we had good dispositions to check 

 her commercial influence, and by the joint efforts 

 of some hot spirits of the south, some cool spirits 

 of the north, and some calculating spirits of the 

 west, the protective tarifl" was concocted. It is 

 now in a quiet slumber — sleeping away its life — 

 yearly diminishing in vitality, and will finally ex- 

 pire in 1842. I greatly prefer its "day of judg- 

 ment" be postponed till after death. Bringing it be- 

 fore the liar, belore that period, might break the 

 enchantment, and re-kindle the fierce fires which 

 had nearly scorched some of our southern breth- 

 ren. 



Eastern Shore, Md., March 20th, 1836. 



GYPSUM DISCOVERED IN QUANTITY' IN PRINCE 

 EDWARD COUNTY. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Prince Edward, } 

 April 7th, 1836. $ 



Since the attention of the Legislature and the 

 public generally seems to be directed to the laud- 

 able object of developing the resources of Virginia, 

 I shall be gratified, if you have not more important 

 matter for publication, that you will give insertion 

 to the Ibllowing fiicts. 



It is probably known to you that parts of the 

 county of Prince Edward have been supposed, 

 from some cause, to contain that precious metal, 

 gold; and to ascertain the truth of this supposi- 

 tion, ])its have been sunk in various parts of it, but 

 particularly in the upper or western end. It is 

 matter of history, that the alchymists, in their 

 wild schemes of discovering the elixir of health, 

 and philosophers' stone, found out many facts of 

 the utmost importance to the science of chemistry: 

 and thus it has happened with the miners; for al- 

 though they have been unsuccessfiil as it regards 

 the object of their search, yet they have supplied 

 a hint, which, improved upon, has terminated in a 

 most fortunate result. 



My plantation, which lies in the vicinity of 

 Walker's Church, was one of those sites which 

 were thought to give promise of gold; and accord- 

 ingly it was dug upon, though not by myself, for I 

 happen to be one of those who think that more of 

 this precious metal is to be obtained within a foot 

 of the surface, than at any greater depth. How- 

 ever, though no gold-digger by proli^ssion, still I 

 was prompted by curiosity to visit tlie pits frequent- 

 ly, and observe operations. The matter that was 

 excavated, afforded then but little interest to me; 

 and after spending a sufficiency of labor, time and 

 money, and after fairly testing the best specimens 

 of aurili^rous ore, the project of gold-digging was 

 abandoned. 



Previous to this, I had never used any gypsum, 

 and if I had ever seen any, had not noticed it par- 

 ticularly. About a year after gold-mining had 

 ceased on my fitrm, I began the cultivation of clo- 

 ver, and having learned the efficacy of gypsum as 



