30 



without great progress in manufactures, and with lit- 

 tle commerce with his distant neighbors. But with- 

 out the cultivation of the earth, he is, in all countries, 

 a savage. Until he steps from the chase, and fixes 

 himself in some place, and seeks a living from the 

 earth, he is a roaming barbarian. When tillage be- 

 gins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are 

 the founders of human civililization. 



After Mr. Webster closed, Mr. Silliman began by 

 remarking that he was taken wholly by surprise, 

 nothing having been farther from his thoughts than 

 to say any thing on this occasion. Indeed; after the 

 remarks from the honorable gentleman who had just 

 spoken, to which he had, in common with others, the 

 pleasure of listening, there was little that need be 

 said by any one. On an occasion so gratifying as 

 the present, and offering objects of inquiry and dis- 

 cussion so highly important and interesting, he could 

 not, however, withhold the expression of his own per- 

 sonal interest in the case, and what little aid to the 

 cause might be derived from his concurrence. 



In the statement relating to British husbandry, 

 made by the honorable gentleman who preceded him, 

 and in the impressions which that gentleman had 

 gathered from his observation of rural and agricultu- 

 ral life in England, he expressed his entire assent 

 and sympathy. In a visit many years since, made by 

 himself to England, he derived from similar though 



