PRESIDENT HITCHCOCK'S ADDRESS. 181 



and the man of wealth and fashion, to bid God speed, if nothing 

 more, to efforts more fully to execute the first command of God 

 toman, "to replenish the earth and subdue it." Alas, how- 

 small a portion of the earth has yet been subdued ! And how 

 much greater efforts have been made to lay it waste and de- 

 populate it, than to extirpate the thorn and the briar, and to 

 make the golden harvest wave over all its surface ! It is high 

 time that men of every profession should be made to feel, that 

 as patriots and Christians, they can no longer be excused from 

 doing what they can in this great work. 



Finally, let this Society persevere in the pursuit of the noble 

 object they have in view. Do any ask what that object is 7 It 

 cannot be any thing less, it ought not to be any thing less, 

 than to double the produce of this valley before the close of 

 this century, and, of course, to double its population, while the 

 standard of education, and morality, and religion, shall be 

 raised, instead of being lowered. Is this object Utopian ? No ; 

 it can be accomplished. It has been done, to a great extent, in 

 some European countries in a shorter time ; especially in Scot- 

 land, whose soil and climate are far less favorable to agriculture 

 than our own. True, we have in this valley not a little of that 

 kind of soil, which I have represented as one of the greatest 

 blessings Providence ever conferred upon New England ; I 

 mean a poor soil. But I am more afraid that we have so much 

 good land here, that the spirit of industry and perseverance, 

 characteristic of those whose veins are filled with Saxon blood, 

 will not be sufficiently roused. Let it be aroused, and the 

 work will be done. And how many motives and encourage- 

 ments are calling on you, gentlemen, or rather upon the Whole 

 community, to urge on this enterprise with a vigorous hand ! 

 What a voice is there in these rail-roads and canals, and the 

 navigable Connecticut, which have approximated us so closely 

 to the sea -board and the largest markets of the land ! What a 

 voice in that Western and Southern produce, which passes di- 

 rectly through your territory to supply those markets ! Science, 

 too, is going before you to prepare the way and to cheer you 

 onward. Hear you not, also, the voice of your country, and, 

 especially, of New England, whose prosperity is ever so dear 



