VI 



labouring population, justify this conclusion, which is 

 strengthened by the results of successful experiments, 

 by private communications from almost every county in 

 England, and confirmed by the experience of those gen- 

 tlemen whose statements are recorded in the following 

 pages. 



It will be seen that my progress had to encounter the 

 usual routine of oppositions attendant upon every good 

 cause ; and that a faithful history of my discovery of 

 the intrinsic value to the British nation of the flax-crop, 

 rendered the relation of those oppositions unavoidable. 



The fall of the Norfolk Flax Society — the subsequent 

 attempts to frustrate my labours — with the ebullitions 

 of ignorance and animosity, of envy and contempt, are 

 also subjects in themselves unworthy of notice. But I 

 record them as a salutary warning to those who suppose 

 that rank and numbers can annihilate the advocate of a 

 cause sustained by the fundamental principles of Chris- 

 tianity ; and as an encouragement to all who may here- 

 after tread the path of the philanthropist and of the 

 patriot. 



The extensive circulation of my pamphlets — the de- 

 mand for new editions — the interest excited as each 

 number of my Public Letters appeared — and the acknow- 

 ledgments from every part of the kingdom of benefits 

 derived — evince the rectitude of my advocacy. 



Doubly gratifying, therefore, was the task that de- 

 volved upon me, not of composing a new book, but of 

 compiling one that had already appeared in a variety of 

 detached forms, and had long been subjected to the 

 ordeal of public criticism. Not a sentence has been 

 refuted, nor a case of failure produced, where my direc- 



