AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUIXISIIED E r JOSEPH BRE^JK & CO., NO 52 NORT.I MARKET STREET, (Agricultubai. WAUEiiouefl 



VOL. XVll.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 16, 1839. 



CNO. as. 



AGRICULTURAL 



AN ADDRESS. 

 hlivered before an jlg^ricultural Jileelinf^ at Plcssis, 



Jefferson coiaity, .V. I'., on the 2Gih September, 



1838. Bi) JostAH T. Marshall. 

 (Cyncluded.) 



Let US now turn otn- attention for a moment to 

 le Political Dignity of tliis class. 



By this T liave no allusion to any party divisions, 

 olitics are one thing-, party is another; the same 

 i is tlie fact that religion is one thing and sectari- 

 iiism another. In my proposilion I mean Wieir im- 

 ortance in perpetuating the welfare and independence 

 ' our nation. This is a theme on whicli I should 

 alight to linger and expatiate for hours. No man 

 r patriotism or humanity casr contemplate it with- 

 it feelings of intense interest. It is a theme 

 ortUy the pulpit and the Senate, the fireside and 

 le forum, and should enter into the teachings of 

 ur schools. 



The history of the worhl teaches us this lesson: 

 -that with wise laws, good morals, and simplicity 

 r living among the mass of the people, a nation 

 ay not only rise to power and happiness, but very 

 ■no- enjoy these blessings. And the same teacher 

 lows us that a nation's foundations are sapped 

 hen a departure is made from these principles. 

 et the laws be trenched upon in any degree, or 

 le morals of the many be adulterated, or extrava- 

 ance of living among them take the place of sim- 

 licity, and an inroad is made upon the general 

 appincss and strength. In high places, as among 

 le very wealthy, these evils may exist, and work 

 o permanent injury to the State, for the reason 

 lat the number of such persons bears an exceed- 

 igly small proportion to the great body. But let 

 le evil leaven spread itself into the mass, and ruin 

 lUst inevitably ensue. Look, for a moment, at 

 ersia, led on by Cyrus to the conquest of empires. 

 ee her victorious banners floating throughout Egypt, 

 isia Minor, Babylon, and Assyria. For a time she 

 ■as mistress of the world. And why was this r 

 lecause of all the then existing nations she alone 

 ad a population whose strength .lay in the com- 

 arative purity of their morals, and their sobriety 

 f living. From the earliest boyhood to manhood, 

 er youth were allo%ved no food but broad and 

 resses, and no drink but the limpid water that 

 urgled from the rock. Their schools were tliose 

 f virtue. Tlie ear of the king was open to the 

 leanest of his subjects. All might enter their 

 omplaints to him, and be sure of redress. The 

 pirit of equal rights was there, though under the 

 jrm of a monarchy. The subject, the meanest 

 ubject, niioht also advise the monarch ; but lest 

 he thousand political quacks tliat then, as now, 

 nfested thi; community, might consume that time 

 a compounding nostrums which should be spent 

 t tlie plough, the adviser was caused to stand 

 pen a wedge of gold wlien offering his advice, 

 f his counsel promoted the general good, the 



wedge of gold was his reward ; if it did not, he 

 received a public whipping. Thus sustained by a 

 simjile minded, frugal, temperate yeomanry,- that 

 nation went on in a bold career of conquest. But 

 silently, and by imperceptible degrees, the mass 

 became corrupted. The iron strength of her peo- 

 ple was sapped; imbecility, and want of courage, 

 consequent upon luxurious living, took the place of 

 firm and manly daring, and before a handful of 

 Greeks she fell to rise no more. 



Thus it was, in turn, with Republican Greece, 

 t'tat Confederation of Independent States, whose 

 p iitical organization was so nearly like our own. 

 Sii long as her people cherished tlie homely virtues 

 to which I allude, she stood, the glory of the world, 

 in Arms, in Arts, in Agriculture. But the canker- 

 worm of luxury went to its silent work, and what 

 the combined powers of antagonist nations could 

 not do, it effected; and Greece sank like lead amid 

 the waters of the past. She has a name to live, it 

 is true, but she is dead — twice dead in all that per- 

 tains to national greatness ! 



But time would fail to enumerate the thousand 

 ])roof3 of the position under notice which come up 

 from the melanchoiy history of the past. Alas ! 

 for that nation, however powerful and seemingly 

 prosperous she may now be, which has not a virtu- 

 ous yeomanry. 



'ri;ere is in this country especial need that wo 

 be guarded on this point. The ease with which 

 our citizens can obtain the- means of luxury, and 

 the great multiplicatiim of cities and villages, 

 which are congenial to its development, give ad- 

 ditional weight to our proposition. These conside- 

 rations give political dignity to the agricultural 

 class ; for their homes are generally the abode of 

 simplicity, frugality, and morality. Let them con- 

 tinue such, and the elements of national perpetuity 

 will never be wanting. There will be some, in- 

 deed many, in our cities and larger commur.ities, 

 of those who will spend their health and wealth in 

 riotous living ; but coradPatively speaking, these 

 are few, and of no importam consideration. They are 

 fungi, or eschars, upon the great body, which, though 

 not to be desired, are not to prove vitally injurious 

 if tlie mass remain pure. Hence, agriculturists, 

 you are the leaven which shall keep wholesome the 

 lump. 



A second feature of your political importance is 

 found in the coinparatively equal dislribution of pro- 

 perty among you. The great principle of our Con- 

 stitution is, that all men are essentially equal. 

 Our theory is, that no distinction of privileges 

 should be known or tolerated. And in precise 

 proportion as this sentiment is recognized and ap- 

 plied in a community, is true Republicanism exis- 

 tent. All admit the theory to be a beautiful one, 

 and the mind cannot conceive of a political propo- 

 sition so perfect snd desirable as is implied in its 

 true spirit and scope. It is the perfection of hu- 

 man government; and it is given the citizens of 

 this Republic to work out the great problem, wheth- 

 er it be susceptible of application to mankind.— 

 The "proposition is admitted by all men, everywhere. 



to be true in the abstract. The crowned and mitred 

 heads of Europe admit this, but tliey say it cannot 

 work in the detail. They forget that tchatever is 

 wise, and just, and lovely in the abstract, must 

 necessarily be so in the practical application. They 

 assume it to be a fact that men c:.nnot long govern 

 themselves by laws of their own making, and e.x- 

 ecutive officers of their own choosing. But it is 

 for the members of your profession in this nation, 

 to prove that intelligent men can carry on an effi- 

 cient and just government; and that of all modes 

 of national rule ours is the most desirable. Re- 

 member, I pray you, that the stake is one of ama- 

 zing magnitude. On the result of American lib- 

 erty depends that of the serfs, and tenants, and 

 peasants of all Europe, and perhaps of Asia too. 

 You have in keeping, it may be, the political rigiits 

 of millions upon millions beyond the sea. As suc- 

 cess or defeat shall attend our experiment will they 

 be freemen or serfs. 



In the ramparatively equal distribution of properly 

 among farmers, I see a most momentous conside- 

 ration connected with this point. The corner stone 

 of the Orders of European aristocracy is the mo- 

 nopoly of the soil. On this it rests as on an ada- 

 mantine base. Let the same land which is hold 

 by the nobility he parcelled out into small foe- 

 simples, and let the tillers of the soil become free- 

 holders, instea;'. of tenants, and the .privileged 

 Orders must tomorrow come down and stand be- 

 side their neighbors. It is obvious that the Great 

 Proprietor of the universe desires that men should 

 not only enjoy essential equality in outward good, 

 but that the soil should be sacred to common use. 

 Hence the distribution of land under the Mosaic 

 economy and the Jubilee provision, which were de- 

 signed to prevent the soil from passing into the 

 hands of monoplists. It was the marked intention 

 to establish, and keep up, an independent yeomanry. 

 Upon this depended the strength of the Jewish na- 

 tion. This was their sheet-anchor; and so long 

 as it was regarded in its spirit, as well as in its 

 letter, tliat people were the happiest, most healthy 

 the best clothed and fed, of any on earth. They 

 had little need of commerce, for their wants were 

 simple and provided for from their own beautiful 

 vineyards, and olive-groves, and folds. They lived 

 in harmony and peace, a nation of agricuUurists. 

 To this general doctrine, namely : the Divine wish 

 that mankind should enjoy essential equality in out- 

 ward good, tlie New Testament seems to add its 

 seal ; if not in its letter, in its spirit. It does not, 

 it is true, give special enactments on this point, as 

 did the Old. But be it remembered, that this is in 

 accordance with the general plan which distin- 

 guishes the hitter from the former dispensation. 

 The Old Code was minute and detailed, specifying 

 with nice and technical accuracy, the precepts and 

 their correspondent penalties. The New Code 

 marked down in letters of living light, certain 

 great principles ; and as if aware of tlie increased 

 facilities which were soon thereafter to be enjoyed 

 by tlie world for diflusing knowledge, and for test- 

 ino- conlMcting sentimerts, it made those the rule 



