556 [Assembly 



of the United States, in the hands of good masters, who are engaged 

 ill tilling the soil, in raising corn, cotton, rice and sugar, are abso- 

 lutely more free, more intelligent and more happy than the bonda^ 

 gers of Great Brittain, or the miserable serfs who pay homage to the 

 caprices of European nobility. 



Mahomet Bey, the king of Tunis, was dethroned by his subjects; 

 but having the reputation of the philosopher's stone, he was restored 

 by the Dey of Algiers, upon the promise of communicating the se- 

 cret to hira. Mahomet accepted the proposal, and accordingly sent 

 him a plough, with great pomp and ceremony, intimating that the 

 strength of a nation is her love of Agriculture; that the philosopher's 

 stone may be reali:i!ed in a good crop, which in its turn may be rea- 

 dily converted into gold. 



To a benighted country this secret would prove more essentially 

 valuable than the gems of an entire kingdom; and under any gov- 

 ernment the knowledge of it is beyond an estimate. The tawdry el- 

 egance of a sceptered power would soon tarnish and decay if the 

 plough, the main-stay of its support, should be withdrawn; and the 

 control of empire is of no consideration where the implements of 

 husbandry cannot gladden its solitary territory. The earth itself 

 would prove but a cheerless waste without the enlivening charms of 

 human cultivation; and so palpable is this truth, that every civilized 

 nation, throughout all ages of the world, has its chief advantage in 

 protecting the husbandman, and the products of his toil. 



Even the process of manuring, that indispensable aid to the soil, 

 was held in such high esteem by the Romans, that Stercutius was 

 iraracrtalized for the discovery; and although that imperial govern- 

 ment owed its luxury and its fame to the culture of the earth, and a 

 due regard for the calling of the husbandman, it was finally by the 

 neglect and contempt of them that she fell and was forsaken. As an 

 equivocal part of her magnificent career, we are informed that when 

 the city and temple of Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Roman 

 power, the Emperor ordered the plough to be passed over the ruins, 

 and the site was for many years after a place of desolation. 



'' From hence proud cities date their overthrow, 

 When, insolent in ruins, o'er their walls 

 The wrathful soldier draws the hostile plough, ■ *• 



That haughty mark of total overthrow."* 



•Horace. 



