■244 [Assembly 



Hawthorn Cottage, Roxbury, June 20, 1838. 



Dear Sir — Your two letters and the samples of the foliaceous fibres 

 of the precious tropical plants which you arc desirous of introducing 

 into Florida, have been received. I am extremely obliged to you for 

 this kind attention, and very happy to learn that the letter to my es- 

 timable friend, Governor Lincoln, aflorded you any satisfaction. It 

 •■was but the expression of ray gratitude for the highly commenda- 

 ble efforts you were making to subserve the interests of your country, 

 by furnishing a n-cw source to the agricultural and manufacturing in- 

 dustry of the United States; for every raw material produced, even 

 in the extreme south, is a direct benefit to the mechanical and com- 

 mercial enterprise of the north. I am fully sensible of the difficul- 

 ties you have been compelled to encounter, in your laudable endea- 

 vors, and how laborious and discouraging is the position of a gentle- 

 man who has a favorite and important object to accomplish, which 

 requires the generous co-operation of the national government, and 

 especially if it is of a novel character. The momentous subjects 

 before Congress, growing out of our domestic and foreign relations, 

 have been of such an all-engrossing character, as to require imme- 

 diate action, and have not left the members at leisure to attend to 

 "less pressing matters. Besides, there are comparatively but so few 

 persons who take an interest in political economy, scientific inqui- 

 ries, or any measure which requires much research, that an utter in- 

 difference to them too generally exists in the whole community. And 

 it is not until more complete and exact knowledge is obtained, that 

 the same zeal and promptness of action is induced, as when the end 

 to be obtained is obvious, and universally approved, from the evident 

 advantages which are to follow. 



Be not discouraged, therefore, for facts and truths are mighty in 

 their operations, and will ultimately triumph over all impediments. 

 Columbils was for years a petitioner to no less thfin three sovereigns, 

 iand on the point of appealing to the bounty and energy of a fourth, 

 before his gigantic conception of the existence of a " New World" 

 was credited and his voyage of discovery undertaken. Newton's 

 theory of gravitation was not adopted even by the academicians of 

 France, until forty years after the publication of his Principia; and 

 Galileo was obliged to confess before the assembled authorities of 

 the Romish church, " that the earth did not turn round on its axis." 

 Still that remarkable philosopher did not dcspajr, but as he arose 

 from his humbled position, and brushed the dust from his knees, 

 whispered to a friend, " Nevertheless, the earth does revolve;" and 



