18 MR. braman's address. 



ly on the advance ; I say the inie spirit, and not every devel- 

 opement of feelmg that takes that name. Some forms of 

 democracy, so miscalled, do not intend to be tied up to any 

 thing that liappens to thwart the inclination of their abettors. 

 The day then seems to be passed of such long periods of 

 leases as were prevalent in the middle ages ; and if De Toc- 

 queville has rightly conceived of the nature and tendency of 

 the democratic- spirit, the present comparatively contracted 

 terms for which they are given, will experience still farther 

 reduction. They must therefore be swept away before agri- 

 culture shall reach that point of excellence and perfection, to- 

 wards which the brilliant career upon which it has entered 

 seems to be pointing. Every tiller of the soil must have the 

 feeling that every particle of energy and productiveness and 

 science, which he adds to the permanent value of his grounds, will 

 be wholly his while he lives, and descend to the objects of his 

 regard when he dies ; or else the investigations of science, 

 the contributions of experience, the motives of interest and 

 affection will be shorn of much of their power to call out the 

 highest resources of his strength and ingenuity. There are 

 connected in England with the institution of tenantry, the 

 laws of primogeniture and entail, and the multiplied legal em- 

 barrassments which attend the conveyance of land from one 

 proprietor to another. The object of this legislation is poli- 

 tical, to uphold an influential and powerful aristocracy. The 

 oldest son inherits the whole landed estate as a matter of 

 course, and the possessor is protected against alienation by en- 

 tails, and other safeguards, whilst the brothers find places in 

 the army, navy, and the chiuch. The effect is. that many 

 persons whom nature designed for excellent agriculturists, are 

 drawn into other pursuits, and those who would acquire re- 

 nown on the deck, or in the camp, are consigned to obscurity 

 on the paternal acres. The admiral oversees a plantation, and 

 the farmer commands the squadron, or to vary the illustration, 

 we see another displacement which has sometimes been ob- 

 served among us. The priest occupies the land, and the farm- 

 er the pulpit. We have all known men in the ministry among 

 us, who, if they cultivated tlieir parishes with as much sue- 



