212 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Extractsfrorn an Address to the Hampshire, Frank- 

 lin and Hampden Jlgriciiltural Society, JVor- 

 thampton, Mass. October 23, 1823. By Isaac 

 C. Bates, Esq. 



(Concluded from pag;e 203.) 

 " The classification of men in society is not 

 arbitrary, bnt grows out of the nature of things. 

 You may as well, therefore, attempt to change 

 the immutable principles upon which society is 

 founfled, as to change the organization of it in 

 this particular. You cannot do the one, without 

 the other. Each department of industry, whe- 

 ther intellectual or corporeal, is filled, because 

 there is something in it to be done, by which 

 subsistence, or distinction, or both may be gain- 

 ed. This diversity of occupation forms classes, 

 all governed by the same motive, and posting, 

 with what ability they have, to the same results. 

 Were you to take the fiibric of the social state 

 to pieces, therefore, it would make itself up 

 again in the same general form. As in every 

 character, so in every class, there are blemish- 

 es and defects; but much of the unhappiness of 

 men results from magnifying the one and the 

 other. And it will usually be found, that he 

 who is most in fault, is most censorious ; and 

 that the same spirit, which kindles at the re- 

 nown or elevation of another, wniiid plant itself 

 upon the crown of the arch of both, either by 

 mounting to its height, or by levelling it to its 

 capacity. There are lawyers who are the or- 

 naments of their profession ; others >vho are 

 the disgrace of it. There are men of power 

 and authority, who are the benefactors of their 

 country ; others who are its scourge. There 

 are men of fortune, whose riches give means to 

 charity and influence to virtue, that are the 

 golden dpires that glitter upon the capitol of so- 

 ciety — objects upon which the sun Ices to 

 shine and from which to reflect his own beams 

 of munificent glory. There are others, on 

 whom Providence seems to have smiled and 

 around whom to have scattered a profusion of 

 temporal blessedness ami all the radiance of 

 temporal honors, who are nevertheless an iroii 

 bound coast, from which a fellow creature, how- 

 over ho may have been shipwrecked in the 

 storms of life, however much an object of pity 

 and compassion and charity, had better keep off 

 and trust himself to the mercy of the elements 

 — a coast upon which there is no life boat, and 

 along which the passing: mariner, whatever 

 tempests may beat upon him and with whatev- 

 er blackness of darkness cover him, never ven- 

 tures the signal of distress a second time. 1 

 might run thiough all the classes in the circle 

 of society and apply the same general remarks 

 to individuals of each. You meet with farmers 

 and mechanics who are conspicuously worthy, 

 ^vho adorn the station they occupy and would 

 have adorned any other. You meet with oth- 

 ers, the circle of whose being is narrowed to 

 self alone, and whose imagination, in its most 

 playful and discursive flights never ventures be- 

 yond it. 



" But as we are all en>barked in the same 

 vessel, the conclusion is, we have storms enough 

 to encounter and calamities to endure in this 

 voyage of life, without mingling bitterness in 

 each others cups, or infusinsr poison into each 

 others comforts. We mar the incomparable 

 l>cauty of our inheritance, by pettv disputes and 

 rivalries among oursoUes. " Run over the map 



of the world; you cannot select a spot more 

 privileged than that which you occupy. We 

 wish the patriots of South America, of Spain, of 

 Greece, success ; because we look forward to 

 the time, when they may enjoy what you now 

 possess without limitation and may possess with- 

 out end. But, after they shall have gone thro' 

 the struggle of right against wrong, of the peo- 

 ple against power, they will hardly have im- 

 proved their condition, until, by education and 

 moral culture, they shall have formed the mass 

 of population into a race of men, capable of 

 understanding their rights, as well as able to 

 assert them. True, the convulsions of the re- 

 volution break up the old foundations of despo- 

 tism ; lay open the unexplored recesses and 

 dormitories and cells of superstition ; and send 

 the light and air of truth and liberty through 

 the dark domain of many cenluries of mysteri- 

 ous and terrific power; and prepare the way, 

 by thus rolling their scourge fiercely over the 

 earth, for another and a better state of things; 

 yet the time is far distant, when your sun will 

 shine in their firmament ; when the dews of 

 your parochial, religious and civil institutions, 

 will descend upon their mountain', and awaken 

 into life, the countless blessings and beauties of 

 your free and happy land. Here, you have 

 perfect security for life, liberty and property. 

 Here, you have equal rights and equal honors. 

 He who will, may run the race and take the 

 garland, or scale the heights and deck himself 

 with the plumes of glory. I would inspire you, 

 therefore, with the deepest emotions of filial 

 and grateful affection for your pilgrim fathers; 

 — these are the fruits of their toil ; this is the 

 land of their sepulture ; here all your hopes are 

 anchored; — and I would elevate you in adora- 

 tion to Hi.M who has manifested Himself more 

 <listinctively, theirs and yours, than to any other 

 people on the earth. O! it is a subject upon 

 which I would dwell, and grow immortal as the 

 theme. But I am admonished that I have pas- 

 sed the limits of the hour assigned me. There 

 is a time, — whea friends must part." 



Extracts from " An Addrcs of Tiieodorf, Sedg- 

 wick, Esq. delivered before ike Berkshire Asso- 

 ciation for the promotion of Agriculture and 

 Manufactures, at Pittsficld, Oct. 2, 1823. 

 " Perhaps it is one of the greatest blessings 

 of our society, that our habits and institutions 

 are such, as that these meetings are of a cha- 

 racter to draw together, by the pleasure they 

 excite all classes of our citizens. The country 

 can give no better evidence of its intelligence, 

 of its devotion to those great interests, which 

 constitute the happiness of man, than the single 

 circumstance, of the multiplication of these so- 

 cieties, and the zeal with which they are sup- 

 ported. They show, that the laboring man, has 

 here a rank, an importance, which he has ne- 

 ver gained, in other countries, or other peri- 

 ods. The mass of mankind must labor, and the 

 true business of goverimients is, to make this 

 laboring class, respectable by their intelligence 

 and virtue. If ignorant, vulgar, debased, they 

 will be made use of, for the pernicious purpo- 

 ses, of the self aggrandizement of those few, 

 who by their education, have superior cunnin!;- 

 and ability. — These general truths are admitted 

 by most of us, but the practical application of 

 them to our country, is that which is now ex- 

 citing the greatest attention among all men, who 



are inquiring for those means, by which we ar 

 to assume, a still higher rank in the scale < 

 nations. Of one thing we may rest assure; 

 that this will never be accomplished by a mis* 

 rable jealousy one of another, by contempt c 

 the ])art of the rich towards the poor, or env 

 by the poor, of the rich. These miserable pa 

 sions should find no place, among a people lik 

 ours. They are not of a natural growth hen 

 they do not belong to our free and equal cond 

 tion, for among us in the general, no man is ric 

 but by his superior industry and talent. His ii 

 dusfry is the best possession for the public, ar 

 his talent, whether the endowment of naluF 

 or the acquisition of superior skill, gives him. 

 fair claim to private and public regard. The! 

 observations are made with express referenc 

 to your society, and the duties which are r 

 quired of you. However much to be deplore 

 it cannot be disguised, that there is a lurkii- 

 jealousy and ill will towards these societies, ai 

 in some states, the opposition has become ope 

 and proceeded so far, as to endeavor, to depri' 

 them of the government patronage, which thi 

 have heretofore enjoyed. A society like th 

 will in its origin, find its warmest friends amoi 

 the more opulent farmers, among those, wl 

 bavins: the most capital and enlerpiize are soo 

 est excited bv the competition, which it pr 

 duces, and most capable of entering into it. M 

 ny who have loss capital, do not consider tl 

 socielv as in any manner beneficial to them, 

 long as they cannot contend for its prizes. E 

 nothing can be more false. The improvemet 

 introduced by the dissemination of agricullui 

 knowledge, are almost as free as the air. 

 this way, the poor man is enriched by his rich 

 neighbor, without lifting his hand. He has f 

 Iv to open his eyes and his ears, to gain son 

 thins: from the general improvement. 



" If it he a fine animal, its stock is easily pi 

 pngatod, if a fine seed, it will grow on one si 

 of a fence as well as another, if a fine fruit,! 

 sun is as biitrhf, in a poor man's orchard, as 

 Isis richer neighbor's. If the improvement I 

 in superior sicill, economy, industry, the sia 

 of the example is open to every body, and ll 

 the advantage becomes cointnon. Indeed, he 

 lies the foundation of the general progress 

 the country, not of this or that class, not of 

 select few, but of all those, who have the spi| 

 and infelligence to make any observation, up 

 things around them. The rich man's posJ^ 

 sions, are fhe poor man's blessing, if he wo 

 so consider it." 



****** 



"One of the most obvious tendencies of thf f 

 societies is, to raise the standard of refinemc 

 in all our ideas of improvement. This shoi 

 be rightly understood, for when we talk of i 

 finement, many are ready to sny, that is not I 

 us, that is only for the rich, for those who a 

 born with silver spoons in their mouths. ]V 

 so. The refinement we mean, is that whi 

 every being among us, should aspire to. Tlii 

 is money in a man's pocket, it is pleasure toljj 

 eye, comfort to his family, his beasts, and i| 

 about him. It is found in cleanliness, whic6| 

 the mother of industry. Whitfield said, thatt 

 did not see, how a man could go to heaven 

 dirty hanils. It is certain, that a dirty fello* 

 far enough from heaven in this world, foH 

 nine times in ten, he is a miserable, shiftlejL 

 vulgar, ignorant, imbecile, who does not km'" 



