94 



SILK M AN UA L , AND 



ESSEX AGRICULTURAl. SOCIETY. 

 The Salem Gazette gives the following sketch of the 

 remarks of Gov. Everett at the Essex Cattle Siiow. 



7.ytcr the re;)ort of the Committee of Arrange- 

 nients had been read, Governor Everett rose and 

 made his acknowledgments to the Committee for 

 the manner in which they had alluded to the cir- 

 cumstance of his being present. He expressed 

 his gratification at the exhibition of the day ; and 

 h'u confidence that the boutsty of the State was 

 beneficially ajiplied by the Essex Agricultural So- 

 ciety, tie stated that the wish had been ex|)ress- 

 ed tfiat he should address the audience. He felt' 

 that in complying with the request, he stepped 

 beyond the line of usage on such occasions, but 

 he trusted the responsibility of his doing so would 

 be considered as resting- with the Committee, by 

 whom the wish had been expressed. 



The Governor added, that he felt additional em- 

 barrassment in following the orator, who in his 

 very able an.*! interesting discourse, had anticipat- 

 ed many of the general remarks appropriate to 

 such an occasion. His only effort could now be, 

 to sulijoin a few observations, so simple as to pre- 

 sent then)selves without research, and he hoped 

 important enough to bear a rei)etition, should it 

 happen, as was very jirohable, that they had been 

 already made by the orator of the day. 



After some remarks on the nature and objects 

 of cattle-shows, and their beneficial influence on 

 the state of the husbandry of this part of the coun- 

 try, Governor Everett proceeded substantially as 

 follows : 



The benefit which has accntefl to our fartners 

 from these exhibitions, cannot be estimated in dol- 

 lars and cents, or measured by the figures em[)loy- 

 ed to state an increase of agricultural products. A 

 few more t-jus of hay from your meadows ; a few 

 more bushels of corn or potato;-s from your tilled 

 lanrls; a better stock of animals for the dairy, the 

 fold, or the pen, would add sometliing, it is true, 

 to the iiublic and private wealth of tlie comnuini- 

 ty ; but if nothing farther came of it, it would be 

 amatter,in which neither the patriot nor the Chris- 

 tian could take a deep interest. 



l!ut when we consider, that tlie class of hus- 

 bandiiien is tuimerically the largest in the conunu- 

 nity ; and that on their condition it has been found, 

 in the experience of the whole world, that the so- 

 cial, jjoiitical, and moral ch.iracters of countiies 

 mainly de};ends, it follows as self-evident, that 

 whatever imprwves Hie situation of tiie farmer, 

 feeds the life-s. Tings of the national character. Jn 

 proportion as our husbandmen prosper, they not 

 only enjoy themselves a kirger portion of the 

 blessings of life ; but society is kept in a healthy 

 state, and they are enabled to make ampler pro- 

 visions for tlie education and establishment of their 



children, and thus leave behind them a posterity 

 competent not only to preserve and assert, but to 

 augment their heritage. 



It will accordingly be found, that the great dif- 

 ferences in the political condition of different 

 countries coincide directly with the different ten- 

 ures on which the land is held and cultivated. It 

 is not that in one country the Government is ad- 

 ministered by an elective President; is another by 

 a limited monarch ; in another by an absolute des- 

 pot. These things are not unimportant; because 

 forms have a tendency to draw the substance after 

 them. But a far more important question, in de- 

 ciding the political condition of different countries 

 is, hoio is the land held ? The orator has told us 

 what is the case in many parts of Europe ; but 

 there are countries, where the case is still worse. 

 There are countries, where the land, — the whole 

 of it, — is claimed to be the property of an abso- 

 lute despot, rather a chief of brigands than a sove- 

 reign, — who once or twice a year sends out his 

 armed hordes to scour the territory ; to sweep 

 together, without the sliadow of law or pretence 

 of right, whatever they can lay their hands on; 

 leaving the wretched peasant little else than what 

 he actually grasps with his teeth. Such is the 

 system introduced into some parts of Hindostan 

 by their Mahometan conquerors, and it has had 

 the effect of breaking down the civilization of 

 countries once refined, learned, wealthy, and pros- 

 j)erous, into a condition very little better than that 

 of the North American savage. Contrast this 

 with the system on which our lands are held and 

 occupied, in pursuance of which, as a general rule, 

 it is divided into small farms, the property of those 

 Avhotill them, who have every inducement and 

 facility to better their condition, and who feel 

 themselves on an equality with their feliow citi- 

 zens, in every other pursuit, it is plain, that over 

 such a population, no government could exist, but 

 one like that beneath which we live, in which the 

 people are the direct source of power. Where 

 this is the case, it is equally plain, that whatever 

 improves and raises the condition of husbandmen, 

 tends directly to sustain and fortify the social fab- 

 ric. 



A very celebrated ancient poet exclaimed, "Oh, 

 too happy farme-'s, did you but know your bless- 

 ings." If this could be said of the formers of It- 

 aly, at th.; close of the civil wars, — subjects of an 

 absolute prince, and a part of them only the own- 

 ers of the land they tilled, it may well be repeated 

 of the husbandmen of New England, the proprie- 

 tors of a soil which furnishes a competence of all 

 the good things of life ; and the possessor of an 

 amount of blessings never surpassed, if ever equal- 

 led. Not among the least of these privileges, is 

 the rich birthrigiit of patriotic recollections which 

 has come down to us from our fathers ; and of 



