10 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JULY la, 1843. 



A n DRESS 

 At the Annual l'<iir of the .Wh; York SUile At;ri- 

 cuUurat Societi/, by His Excellency William II. 

 Sewari), Goi'irnor of llie Slate. 

 Fellow-Citheiis : — The di.splay of animal and 

 vegetable productions, the e.tpo.silions of culture, 

 and the trinl of iuiplcmcnts of tillage, under the 

 patronage of thn New York State Agricultural 

 Society, are completed ; and it only remains to 

 confer the civic prizes which have been so honora- 

 bly won. Shall scenes so anirnatinp;, though so 

 peaceful — so instructive, though so simple, pass 

 without comment ? 



If our country has a citizen imbued with the 

 philanthropy, and learned in the philosophy of ag- 

 riculture, eminent in political wisdom and transcen- 

 daiit in eloquence, here are his forum and his theme. 

 Such a citizen you have expected to hear.* Let 

 my temerity in assuming the place he has left va- 

 cant, and others have declined, find an apology in 

 the gratitude which the abundant kindness of my 

 ft'llow-citizcns has inspired. 



In that time-worn Tower which tells many a 

 deed of treachery and of tyranny, the British Gov- 

 ernment e.\hibits the armor and arms of kings, no- 

 bles, knights, soldiers and seamen who have borne 

 the standard of St. George around the circumfe- 

 rence of the globe. France, with pride more re- 

 fined, displays in the galleries of the Louvre, the 

 chefs d'ouvre of her artists, with what she yet re- 

 tains of the productions of the pencil and the chis- 

 el, of which Napoleon despoiled the nations of 

 Europe. These monuments excite admiration, but 

 they leave generous and grateful sympathies un- 

 moved, while the benevolent mind recognizes in 

 the axe, the plow, and the loom, agents of civili- 

 zation and humanity, and exalts them above all the 

 weapons that ambition and rapine have forged, and 

 even above all the embellishments of social life 

 that arts merely ornamental have ever produced. 



• * Hitherto, civilized men, enslaved or op- 

 pressed, have doubted whether advancement from 

 the savage state of existence was a blessing, and 

 liave struggled for liberty as if mere liberty was 

 the end of human achievement. But we have 

 learned that civil liberty is only one of the condi- 

 tions of human happiness, and is desirable chiefly 

 because it favors that social advancement which is 

 the ever fultilling destiny of mankind. In every 

 stage of that advancement hitherto, agricultural 

 improvement has been the last, though it should 

 always be first. By agriculture, nations exist ; it 

 supports and clothes mankind ; it furnishes the re- 

 sources for protection and defence. Portions of a 

 community, cities, and even Stales, may exist by 

 exercising the mechanic arts, cr by going down to 

 the sea in ships, but there must nevertheless be, 

 somewhere, some larger agricultural community to 

 furnish the productions and fabrics indispensable 

 even in such forms of sociery. The necessary 

 minerals, iron, lead, copper, and others, are bene- 

 ficial only because they are employed in aid of ag- 

 riculture, or in preparing its productions for our 

 use ; and even the metals which by consent of 

 mankind are called precious, have no value, except 

 ns the representatives of the fruits of industry. 

 Other interests may rise and fall, and other masses 

 may combine, dissolve, and re-combine, and the 

 agricultural mass be scarcely aflectcd, but the 

 whole body politic sympathize when this interest 

 is depressed and this class suffers. 



•The Hon. Damel Webster was expected to deliv- 

 er the Address. 



" Prinrcs and lords may flourish or may Tide, 

 A breath can make tlicin, as a breath has made ; 

 13iU a hold peasantry, ihtir country's pride. 

 When once destroyed can nuver lie supplied." 



It is an obvious responsibility of the American 

 people to restore the natural and proper order of 

 social improvement, by renovating agriculture — lor 

 this is the tendency of our institutions. It is a 

 maxim in other countries that society necessarily 

 consists of two classes — the ruling few and the 

 governed many. The latter are designated under 

 the most liberal forms of government ns " the la- 

 boring poor;" in the polished countries of the 

 South as " peasantry," and in the ruder north as 

 "serfs." Here, we know not as a class, serfs, 

 peasantry or poor ; and the laboring many consti- 

 tute society. The legislators of our country are 

 its citizens ; and since the predominating mass of 

 citizens consist of tillers of the soil, the American 

 farmer is the American statesman. The govern- 

 ment, therefore, necessarily lends to sustain and 

 proinote agriculture. 



* * The agricultural interest, though the 

 last to suffer, is always slowest in recovering from 

 any national calamity. Associations in other de- 

 partments deranged, may be renewed. Capital de- 

 stroyed may be supplied, and masses overborne 

 may recover. But agriculture once embarrassed, 

 is with difiiculty restored. War, however justifia- 

 ble or necessary, or however it may stimulate pro- 

 duction for a season, is always a national evil, and 

 in its least desolating form is destructive of agri- 

 cultural prosperity. To cultivate the disposition 

 and the arts of peace, is important, therefore, to 

 the prosperity of agriculture. 



* * Not only was the "primal curse" of la- 

 bor universal, but acquiescence in it was wisely 

 made a condition of health, happiness, wisdom, 

 and virtue. This condition, however, implies that 

 equal rewards are allowed to mankind, while equal 

 labor is exacted from them. Whatever institution, 

 then, on any pretext, relieves any portion of a com- 

 munity of the necessity of labor, or withholds its 

 incentives or excludes them from equal competi- 

 tion for its rewards, not only is unequal and un- 

 just, but by diminishing the whole amount of social 

 labor, increases the burthens of those on whom 

 the subsistence of society depends. 



While the patrons of agriculture will keep stead- 

 ily in view these principles, their most strenuous 

 efforts must be exerted for the diffusion of knowl- 

 edge. As a general proposition, individuals pros- 

 per and exert influence according to the standard 

 of their attainments. This truth applies also to 

 masses in a community. The agricultural class 

 here, as well as in every other country, enjoy com- 

 paratively inadequate compensation and abated in- 

 fluence, because they have a lower standard of 

 education than other classes. There is not, as is 

 often supposed, a certain amount of knowledge 

 which it is profitable for the farmer to possess, and 

 dangerous to exceed. Learned men sometimes 

 fail in this honorable pursuit, but not in conse- 

 quence of their acquirements ; and the number of 

 such is vastly less than those who fail through ig- 

 norance. It is a fact, which, however mortifying, 

 cannot be too frequently confessed, or too often 

 published, that an inferior education is held sufii- 

 cicnt for those who are destined to the occupation 

 of agriculture. * • There is no just leason for 

 this discrimination. The domestic, social, and 

 civil responsibilities of the farmer, are precisely 

 the same with those of every other citizen, while 



the political power of his class is irresistible. The 

 preparation of the soil to receive a germ, the cul- 

 ture of the plant, its protection against accidents, 

 and the gathering of its fruit — each of those appa- 

 rently simple operations involves principles of sci- 

 ence more recondite than do the studies of the 

 learned professions. 



* * Education is necessary to elevate the ag- 

 ricultural masses to their just eminence, and to se- 

 cure their enlightened action in the conduct of 

 government, and of the various interests of social 

 life. Praises of agriculture, and acknowledgments 

 of the purity, patriotism and wisdom, of those wiic 

 pursue that most peaceful calling, are the nevei 

 failing themes of all who court their suffrages 

 Yet it is a sad truth, that the interests of agricul- 

 ture, and of those who subsist by it, are often con 

 sidcred subordinate, and sometimes injuriously 

 neglected. The avenues to preferment are opei 

 to all, but they are seldom travelled by the farmer 

 Questions of peace and war, of revenue, of com 

 inerce, of currency, of manufactures, of physica 

 improvement, of free and foreign labor, of edoca 

 tion, are too often discussed and decided withou 

 just consideration of their bearing upon the inte 

 rests of agriculture. The reason is obvious. Th 

 art of agriculture is learned by imitation and habi' 

 Those who are destined to that pursuit, are no 

 early instructed in the principles of the govern 

 nient, or its relation to other States, in their ow 

 legal rights, their civil duties, the pathology of ih 

 human constitution, the nature of the substance 

 with which agriculture is concerned, or their prof 

 erties, or the laws regulating their developmen 

 or even in the simple art of tracing geometric! 

 lines, and calculating their contents. 



These attainments, though open to all, ar 

 reached exclusively by other classes — and the fai' 

 mcr in mature years, is sent to the Press for polit 

 cal instruction, and to the Clergy he must yield in 

 plicit confidence — must depend upon the Lawyt 

 for the defence of his simple rights, upon the Phy 

 sician for information whether he is diseased, upo 

 the Professor for explanations of the properties < 

 the soil he cultivates, and upon the Civil fc'.nginet 

 for even the measurement of his acres. Whe 

 such dependance upon these various classes is ei 

 tablished, can it be a matter of surprise that pn 

 cedence is conceded to them in the various depnr 

 nients of society ? Let me not be misunderstoO' 

 I deprecate not the influence of the learned cla 

 ses, and I would promote, by every proper mean 

 their higher improvement ; — nor would I exci 

 jealousy against them, or in the least diminish th 

 respect and confidence they enjoy, — but I desii 

 to see the agricultural class equally elevated, ar 

 for that purpose I would stimulate ihem to corre 

 ponding attainments. This is the true theory 

 republican institutions. When it is carried in 

 practical and complete operation, and not unl 

 then, shall we enjoy a regular, safe, equal, and e 

 lightened administration of civil government. 



The agency required in this great work is a 

 ready prepared, and awaits your adoption. Tl 

 primary schools, the voluntary religious establis 

 ments, the academic seminaries, and the iinivers 

 ties which you require, are already founded, ai 

 liberally endowed. In our school district librari 

 an auxiliary is' furnished, whose efficacy is scarce 

 surpassed by the invention of Cadmus, of Faust, 

 of Fulton. With pride and pleasure I add, th 

 this agent was called into action by a farmer 

 Now York. 



