11 



sent imperfect condition. So, again, as regards 

 civil government. What time, talent, states- 

 manship and philanthropy have been expended 

 in redncing to a practical form the best way of 

 rnling mankind, so as to o])tain the legitimate 

 object of all sovmd legislation, '■ the greatest hap- 

 piness of the greatest number." In these mat- 

 ters our knowledge has to be corrected and en- 

 larged by time and experience ; and notwith- 

 standing the progress, particjlarly of late, that 

 has marked the history of many nations, who has 

 the temerity to affirm of any one of t lie in, that 

 it has reached the nc vlus ultra of perfection ? So 

 it may be that the slow advance of agriculture 

 during the past centuries is in accordance with a 'I 

 principle of nature, of a much wider application 

 th.'«,n is geiicrally perceived. 



Whatever causes may have contributed to im- 

 pede the onward march of agriculture, some more ? 

 diHiciilt to modify or remove than others, I have 

 long felt a strong conviction that the most formi- *1 

 dable obstacle to the general advancomcnt of the 

 art in all ages and countries has been, and unfor- 

 tunately still is, the low^ estimation in which it 

 is held, not only by communities, but also by the 

 great mass of its followers themselves; — by this 

 1 mean, the lllile acquisition of an intellectual 



