MR. SALTONSTALL's ADDRKS3. 13 



with agricultural wealth — yielding plentifully every 

 variety of products. Above all, think of its free institu- 

 tions, its increasing means of universal education, its 

 accumulating population and their intelligence and en- 

 terprise, and then gratefully acknowledge that no coun- 

 try on the globe is, or ever was so richly favored of 

 Heaven. Since we have been engaged in the labors 

 and recreations of this day, thousands of mighty trees, 

 the lords of the forest, have fallen beneath the axe of 

 the hardy settler. Millions of acres are reduced to cul- 

 tivation, every year. And still the tide of population 

 flows on, and will flow on, wave after wave, westward, 

 until it shall meet the shores of the Pacific. 



We are indeed " a world by ourselves," and would 

 American farmers, the real strength of the country, 

 feel and fulfil their responsibilities, and their call, 

 elevate their views above all low and sectional consider- 

 rations and go heart and hand for our country — our 

 whole country — we should in truth be independent of 

 all other nations. The facilities of communication, now 

 so great, are constantly increasing, and opening new 

 markets, in every part of the nation. New cities are 

 springing. up, which must be fed from the soil. Our do- 

 mestic commerce, now of vastly greater importance and 

 amount than our foreign, will be increased tenfold, as it 

 will find its materials in the exchange of our various 

 products. The mighty valley of the Mississippi, a wil- 

 derness within the recollection of some of us, already 

 contains a population of more than five millions. By 

 the statistical tables accompanying the last census, it 

 appears, that the value of certain leading articles of ag- 

 ricultural stock and of produce in eighteen hundred and 

 forty, in the Mississippi valley, was ^538,000,000.* — 

 What is to work all these wonders? Agriculture — 

 the plough is the magic instrument which is to work 

 these miracles — to make the wilderness blossom like 

 the rose. 



No other country possesses so great advantages for 



* National Intelligencer, September 9, 1643. 



