THE LATE MR. COKE. 345 



or four inches lousr, and this was clean farming on a large scale as probably could not be seen in 

 any part of the world.'' 



Now I call upon our anti-scientifics and of the " Good Enoughs," to explain how these 

 results coukl have been produced under any circumstances, upon such an estate as this was, 

 without the aid of the most high and finished system of scientific cvUivation ! One field of 

 three hundred and forty-five acres producing between fourteen and fifteen thousand bnshels 

 of wheat, and four hundred and fifty acres more in luxuriant " tuniips !" Why gentlemen, 

 it must strike the imaginations of these friends of ours as more like the enchantments of fa- 

 ble and story than sober reality. But why speak of him as the most remarkable agricultu- 

 rist that ever lived ? It is matter of history and not to be questioned ! Will you pardon me, 

 in referring to what one of the distinguished writers of the day says of him and his iarming: 



" The country and not alone the country, but the world, it may trulj' be said, acknowledges 

 the benefits of Mr. Coke's exertions in the advancement of the first of Arts. For himself, both 

 as regards his happiness and his after report to posterity, nothing could have been more full of 

 congratulation than his early selection of .such a study. To prosecute with such advantage any 

 pursuit to such a period ; to enjoy so long a duration of uninterrupted health ; to see the patrimo- 

 ny of his ancestors improved beyond all possible computation ; to know that from his example, 

 his spirit, his skill, and his encouragement, not alone his own estate, not the country where he 

 lived, not the country itself only, but every civilized nation on the face of the globe, may be said 

 to owe some portion of obligation to his labors; to be able to assemble the curious, the scientific, 

 and the eminent, in vast numbers around him ; to hear his just praises spoken from the lips not 

 onl}- of men distinguished in arts, in arms, and in letters, but of princes of his own and foreign 

 lands. All these together form an aggregate of fortune that attends but a very few among those 

 •who are born and die. Yet such is the con.summation (and a proud spectacle it is both for the in- 

 dividual and for his country) that Holkham has existed — and that, under Divine Providence, Mr. 

 Coke has been made the instrument of diffusing so many and such great blessings among mankind." 



But, Mr. President, there is another circumstance, of a personal character, connected with 

 our country and one of my visits to Holkham, which I ought not to omit to notice. It is 

 6ti-ongly illustrative of the long cherished attachment of that distinguished individual to Amer- 

 ica and her free institutions. Mr. Coke and myself were walking one morning through the 

 Baloon and stopped opposite to a full-length portrait of himself, taken in his twenty-second 

 year. It was painted by Gainsborough. You see, he said, that I am taken in my shooting 

 costume, with gun in hand, and pointers in the group. Now do you know that this is one of 

 my favorite pictures and said to be the finest likeness ever taken of me ; but I have often 

 ■wished that there had been one change in it, and that is, instead of the shooting dress, gun, 

 and pointers, he had represented me in my ordinary dress of blue coat, leather breeches, 

 boots and spurs, with the Declaration of American Independence, in my hand supporting, 

 with Fox, a motion for acknowledging it. I should then have hung it side by side with the 

 portrait of that great and good man, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, the finest likeness ever taken of 

 Lim. We were devoted friends, and often congratulated one another on the part we had ta- 

 ken in favor of American Independence ; and that we had never voted to put one penny of 

 unnecessaiy burden upon the people, or shed one drop of human blood ! He afterward 

 gave me a printed copy of the Report of the forty-third anniversary of the Holkham Sheep 

 Shearing in 1821, which lasted four days, and was attended by one thousand persons, inclu- 

 ding some of the Royal family, and many of the distinguished noblemen of England, with 

 farmers from all parts of the countiy. From this report let me read an extract from a speech 

 delivered by Mr. Coke, at diimer, on one of the days, in answer to a toast complimentary to 

 himself, and prefacing one he intended giving : 



" Mr. Coke, in proposing the next toast, said every one knew^ his early respect for the Ameri- 

 cans, for their manly and independent assertim of their liberties: he came into Parliament pre- 

 vious to the commencement of that disastrous War which divided the two countries, and which 

 under a mild and wise Government, might have been joined hand in hand, and thus united might 

 now have bid defiance to the rest of the world ! I was the only member (said Mr. Coke) out of 

 twelve from this county who voted against that War, and I thank God for it — I look back with sat- 

 isfaction to that conduct, and have followed the same principies ever since. The motion to put an 

 end to that War was carried by a majority of one, the vote being 177 to 178. Wlien it was car- 

 ried, Lord North moved that the debate should stand over till the following day, but Mr. Fox sug- 

 gested to me to move that the addi-ess be carried up to the throne. The debate lasted until 7 

 o'clock the next morning, and Lord North, seeing that not a man would .stir, at length gave way, 

 and I carried up the address as an English country gentleman, in my leather breeches, boots and 

 spurs. But would you believe it that the traitor General Arnold, when I pre.sented the address, 

 Mood as near to his Majesty as I now do to the Duke of Sussex, a most lamentable proof of that 

 fatal policy of which we have long seen the evil effects! Mr. Coke concluded by proposing the 

 health of Mr. Weeks of America, and he could assure the company that every day during the 

 War did he drink General Washington as the greatest man upon earth." 



And well may England place among her first men, suid her most beneficent benefactors, 

 the man who shed such a histnre upon her Agriculture, and that of the world. Ho did for 

 the Agriculture of England, what Joh?i Hampden did for the liberties of Eiigli.shmen against 

 tj-rarmy. And if the reward of popular praise, and poj)ular honors, are due to those who, 

 guided by a wise philosophy, and whose objects have been the welfare and improvementof 

 mankind, then are they due to Thomas WilUam Coke. 

 (66oj 



