J. S. C. KNOWLTON'S ADDRESS. 561 



The fanners have an especial interest in this form of im- 

 provement. Their property is peculiarly exposed to aggres- 

 sions. Land and products, trees and fruits, stock, yards, and 

 buildings, are all open to depredations. Their security materi- 

 ally depends upon the prevalence of a sense of right in the 

 great body of the people; and this sentiment should therefore 

 be trained np to a quickness to perceive, and a forbearance to 

 offend. Besides these bold invasions of the property of others 

 that inflict substantial wrongs, there are thousands of petty 

 aggressions, often the result of indiscretion and thoughtlessness, 

 more than of malice or evil intention, that wound the possessor 

 of property more deeply than bold infractions of right. The 

 fruit upon a tree, and the flower or shrub in the yard, that may be 

 reached and rudely torn off by the passer-by, may have a value 

 in some idea, association, or memory of their rightful owner, 

 which none but himself can appreciate, and whose loss cannot 

 be compensated by any award that justice could make. 



But there must be, among the whole people, a reciprocity of 

 right, a mutuality of justice. Justice must be rendered as well 

 as received. The laboring classes want justice more than 

 charity ; — the full measure of reward for their industry, 

 promptly acknowledged, rather than an ostentatious charity 

 that has been extorted, it may be, from their scanty and ill- 

 paid earnings. The condition of the laborer needs such a 

 modification as that, in time, he shall not be dependent upon 

 wages; but shall himself become a proprietor. In this, as 

 in other departments of national education and progress, the 

 great agricultural class must take the lead. What they have 

 the power to do, should be entered upon without delay. The 

 past may be looked at, but cannot be touched ; for time 

 closes its massive doors close upon our footsteps. The pres- 

 ent alone is ours. The future must perform what the past has 

 failed to accomplish. The substantial yeomanry of the coun- 

 try must be the university, if I may so say, that is to train up 

 a nation in knowledge, wisdom, and virtue. And just in pro- 

 portion as this moral grandeur of a people progresses, shall we 

 see advancing that golden age, that, in a sort of apocalyptic 

 71 



