Gen. Dearborn^ s Mdress. 109 



Art. III. »^n Address delivered before the Berkshire Agri- 

 cultural Society, at Fittsfield, Oct. 8, 1S40. By H. A. S. 

 Dearborn. 8vo., pp. 24. Pittsfield, 1840. 



This is a most interesting address, abounding in important 

 statistical information, and siiowing the vast resources of the 

 United States, as compared with other nations. Gen. Dear- 

 born is an eloquent speaker as well as an eloquent writer, and 

 we can well imagine the pleasure which must have been de- 

 rived from listening to this address. The interest which he 

 has always taken in rural pursuits, and the information which 

 he is possessed of in relation to agriculture and horticulture, 

 has enabled him to present to the farmers of Berksliire an ad- 

 dress replete with sound reasoning aud valuable statistical de- 

 tails, having an important^bearing upon their profession. They 

 could not have selected a gentleman who would have given 

 more justice to the subject. The address commences with a 

 happy allusion to the importance of agriculture. 



Ajrriculture clothes and feeds nearly the whole civilized population 

 of the »lolje; rigs, spreads the sails, and supplies the great hulk of 

 the freight of navigation; and its multifarious products constitute the 

 chief articles of trade. It has still other and higher claims to re- 

 spect; and among the most imposing are its magnificent achieve- 

 ments and wide-spread conquests; and, however inapplicable these 

 belligerent terms may appear, when a|)plied to that pacific pursuit, 

 it is confidently believed tiiat they have l)een more truly glorious than 

 those of all the fleets and armies which have ever triumphed on the 

 deep and on the land: but in such a gradual, noiseless, and unob- 

 trusive manner have they been accomplished, that they have not 

 attracted that marked attention of the historian to which they are so 

 pre-eminently entitled. There was no remarkalile movement, which 

 became the subject of universal speculation and comment — no splen- 

 did event — no startling incident — no dazzling pageantry, which either 

 excited astonishment from their magnitude, or special and deep in- 

 terest, from their direct or ultimate influence on the civil and mili- 

 tary institutions of nations. Yet, when attentively examined, as the 

 silent, peaceful, and unostentatious, but momentous causes of human 

 advancement, and the extent of their influence is measured by the 

 magnitude and real value of the results, the seemingly rash assertion 

 which has been made, instead of being in any degree extravagant, 

 will be found, on a thorough investiijation, to be fully sustained by an 

 array of facts, which put incredulity at defiance. 



If wars and battles have rendered the names of victorious chief- 

 tains memorable throughout the world, has not agriculture given an 

 infinitely more commendable, precious, and lasting fame to those 



