1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



43d 



well to justice — farewell to truth — fkrevvell to all 

 the nfreat interests of the strtte. should liiey seem 

 to conflict with the interests of (larfy. Tliis has 

 been more or less trne of all the parlies I have 

 ever known or read of; and therefore, I hope you 

 will not exclude the remark from your Register, as 

 contraband. 



As to the third question—" Iiow can a sufficient 

 interest be excited (o secure a numerous assem- 

 blage" at the proposed convention ? I fear that it 

 is niiich more easily asked than answered. But 

 having cnmmHied inyself to reply, I must take, in 

 making the attempt, the old shooting-match rule, 

 " stick or go through." Here goes then, at a ven- 

 ture. I would suggest, that'you yourself, IMr. 

 Editor, and a few more such good friends of the 

 cause, should earnestly invite, through the co- 

 lumns of your paper, every true agricultural son, 

 both native-born and adopted, of the Ancient Do- 

 minion, to attend this convention, either in person 

 or by proxy. The latter might cerlaiidy be done 

 by all, lor one man might represent a county or 

 district. I would frirther sugirest that the mem- 

 bers of this convention should come prepared, nnt 

 to separate untd something definiiive, and biddino- 

 fair to succeed, should be determined on. Such 

 determination might be much facilitated, if you 

 and your correspondents would avail yourselves of 

 the numbers of your Register which will come out 

 before the meeting, to propose and reromiTiend all 

 such plans as you may deem best to effect our ob- 

 jects ; and especially such as could be effected 

 wilhoul troubling our ?/iiS-representatives either 

 with our wants or wishes — than which, nothing I 

 think, would be more futile or humiliatinij. More- 

 over, it would be an act of extreme f()lTy on the 

 part of the convention : for if we sons of the so'i, 

 and livers by it, joill so far ii)rgef our own best 

 interests, as to choose our law-makers solely for 

 their real and imputed prowess in fighiino- politi- 

 cal party-battles, we have no imaginable rictht to 

 expect them, either to know or to care for any 

 thing else. " Occupet exiremum scabies "—^^ the 

 devil take the hindmost" — is both the law and the 

 gospel of all partj'-men, however imposing and 

 specious their self-assumed titles may be— mid as 

 agriculture must necessarily be hindmost, where 

 the victories of political party are the only objects 

 aimed at, or cared for, by the law-makers of the 

 land, the agriculturists who knowingly and wilful- 

 ly elect such men to represent them,' deserve the 

 worst that can happen to them. They, the elec- 

 tors who act thus, are in fact, much belter subiects 

 for a lunatic hospital, and a strait waistcoat, than 

 agents to exercise the elective franchise for the ge- 

 neral welfare. The general roelfare ! God save 

 the mark ! It is the despicable 'lip-eervice o{' the 

 unprincipled demagogue, at the same time that it 

 is the heart-felt, the constant rule and guide of the 

 true patriot, under all real and imaginlihle obsta- 

 cles; and the fiicility with which the former, the 

 most despicable animal in all God's creation, can 

 impose himself on a credulous and confidina' pub- 

 lic.for the latter, the noblest of God's creatures, 

 is one of the most disastrous, the most deadly 

 evils to which our free institutions are exposecl. 

 This blot, this sligma, this foul cancer on our bodv 

 politic might forever be extirpated, if the Bound 

 sense, sound principle, sound patriotism, (of 

 all which, thank God, we still have a goodly stock 

 in our dear old state,) would only make common 



cause of it, and forever discard both from their 

 service and confidence, every human being, from 

 a president of the United Stales to a scavenger in 

 the streets and sewers of a town, (or, if there i,s 

 any lower office, even fi'om that,) the individuals 

 who would sacrifice the general wellixre — the na- 

 tional good, to parly-inlerests. Poidon me, Mr. 

 Editor, if my zeal tor agricultural improvement, 

 which I most conscientiously believe to be the life- 

 blood of national welliire, has led me a little out of 

 the track which I had determined, in the begin- 

 ning of my letter, to pursue. You may castigate 

 me as much as you please, in your Register, if 

 you will only permit me to speak for mysellj ^^ ver- 

 batim et literatim,'''' as I have addressed j'ou. If 

 any of your readers should be disposed to censure 

 what I have said, pray turn them over to me, and 

 if I do not justify every word and sentence of this 

 communication, let the sin and the punishment be 

 inflicted, not on ynii, but on myself; for /can tes- 

 tily, (on oath, if necessary,) that your editorial 

 privilege of excluding altogether, or " expunging,''^ 

 wlien requested, as in my case heretofore, every 

 thing which you deemed objectionable, has been 

 exercised with the strictest and most conscienlious 

 scrupulosity. That you have been, in a few, very 

 few instances, somewhat too fastidious, according 

 to my notions, I avail myself of this opportunity 

 to tell you; but I must say, that, '■'■take you for 

 all in all,'''' there is no man on whose taste, and 

 judgment and principles, I have more reliance as 

 to all matters to which you have directed your 

 particular attention. This is no compliment, my 

 good sir — but the unvarnished truth, and here sta- 

 ted to prove, as far as one witness can do it, that: 

 in youreditoral character, you extend neither par- 

 tiality nor fijvor, even to your best friends. 



But let me return to my suggestions as to the 

 means of exerting sufficient interest among our 

 agriculturists, to insure a numerously attended con- 

 vention. In addition to those already stated, let 

 the Register and its most active correspondents 

 unite in summoning the agriculturists of Virginia, 

 to "hasten to the rescue." As a class, we are in 

 extreme jeopardy ; and it is only by a very gene- 

 ral and vigorous co-operation, that we can emerge 

 li-om our present most forlorn and portentous con- 

 dition. Virginia land-owners and cultivators must, 

 aye, inevitably must " give up the ship," (to bor- 

 row a phrase from our nautical brethren,) or sink 

 with her, unless they will unanimously resoh^e to 

 do what is indispensable to keep her from foun- 

 dering, in a sea wherein no true gallant seamen 

 would ever desert her. This course of action is, 

 to require, in every case, of those for whom we 

 vote to represent us, that they shall never (ail to 

 promote the interests of agriculture, by every fair 

 means in tlieir power; and that they should ne- 

 ver again show their i'nces among us, as candi- 

 dates for re-election, without sufficient evidence 

 that they have thus exerted themselves. Our con- 

 slant failure to require, nay, to demand such evi- 

 dence, is one of the principal, if not the chief cause 

 of the present depression of Virginia agriculture ; 

 and in a moral point of view, is little, if any better, 

 than committing political suicide. "Clod-hop- 

 pers" we are by name, and the proofs that we are 

 so, in reality, are stronger than I am able, to en- 

 counter. Nay, we have been sarcastically, and I 

 fear jusily, compared to sheep, ready to be shear- 

 ed, without resisiance, by all who know Ihe value 



