THE ASSERTIONS OF MR. RlCHAIll^SON. 



175 



cause, because the efforts of the North Walsham Farmers' 

 Club are directed to the welfare of the labourer, the interest 

 of the farmer, and the security of the landowner. Knowing 

 the peculiarity of Mr. Richardson's position relative to those 

 several parties, the club invited him to their meetings, in 

 order that he might be enabled to adopt a system that would 

 tend to improve the barren lands of Heydon and of Cawston, 

 and to confer a permanent benefit upon the proprietor, the 

 tenantry, and the poor. 



It was unquestionably his duty to have inquired diligently 

 into the merits of a measure fraught ^\ith such incalculable ad- 

 vantages to agriculture as the substitution of native produce 

 for foreign oil-cake, and to have tested Mr. Postle's experiment 

 by a similar process, before he ventured to denounce it so 

 unscrupulously and so unjustly. If Mr. Richardson could be 

 "startled" at Mr. Postle's announcement, how will he be 

 alarmed at the sound of my forthcoming report on fattening 

 cattle with native produce ! Severe as the shock may prove, 

 prejudice must at last be conquered. Yes, conquered — be- 

 cause what power can mthstand the force of profit ? for profit, 

 like mercury, penetrates the joints and marrow, conquering 

 more surely than the point of the bayonet. Encountered at 

 every turn by profit, his whole " brigade," too, must ultimately 

 be overcome. 



Without this powerful ally, I am aware that my letters and 

 varied labours would be unavaiUng. Could I call to my aid 

 the eloquence of Demosthenes, and the charms of Cicero, they 

 would fail to move the British farmer ; but when he knows 

 that I am on intimate terms mth profit, he will cease from a 

 contest, the prolongation of which can only serve to retard his 

 o^vn advancement. 



I must now, contrary to my original intention, bring this let- 

 ter to a conclusion, without proceeding mth my main subject. 

 The above strictures will occupy more space in your columns than 

 I expected. Therefore, with your permission, I will resume 

 the even tenor of my course at a future opportunity. In the 

 mean time I shall visit distant counties, by invitation, to com- 

 municate with influential parties on the important subjects 



