MEMOIR OF THE HON. JAMES M. GARNETT OF VIRGINIA. 
105 
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 
In our last we briefly alluded to the death of 
Judge Garnett. We are now favored with a me¬ 
moir of this distinguished agriculturist, by one of 
the members of his family. It will be found par¬ 
ticularly worthy of perusal, for it shows a disinter¬ 
ested devotedness through his whole life, to the 
oest interests of his country. May all, and espe¬ 
cially the youth of our land, emulate the example 
nere set before them. We trust that a selection 
will eventually be made from Judge Garnett’s wri¬ 
tings for publication, accompanied with a more ex¬ 
tended memoir of him, and embellished with an 
engraved portrait. A single volume judiciously 
made up, we are confident would be highly prized 
and sought after by his many friends and admirers. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
MEMOIR OF THE HON. JAMES M. GARNETT OF 
VIRGINIA. 
James Mercer Garnett was born the 8th day of 
June, 1770, at his family residence, Elmwood, in 
Essex county, Virginia. His father was a wealthy 
planter, and a gentleman of the old school, who 
trained his son from early youth to habits of manly 
hardihood; while his mother, a woman of fine 
mind and education, awakened in him a love of 
knowledge, and that native sense of honor and 
duty which alone can impart firmness and dignity 
to the character. 
Mr. Garnett was a member of the Virginia As¬ 
sembly, and afterward of Congress, where he es¬ 
poused the principles, to which he ever afterward 
adhered, of the state-rights republican party, as 
based on the celebrated resolutions of ’98, ’99. 
Yet later in life, he took an active part against the 
protective system, and was a member of the last 
free trade convention, which met in Philadelphia. 
Finally, he was elected to the convention of 1829 
for the amendment of the constitution of his own 
state. But it was not as a politician that he was 
best known. His ambition never lay in that direc¬ 
tion, and if public office came to him, it was as the 
natural incident of his character and position in so¬ 
ciety. His feelingsbecame more deeply interested, 
and his talents more entirely devoted to the great 
causes of agriculture and education with every 
year of his life; and this sprung from that public 
spirit which so eminently distinguished him. 
He saw more clearly than most men, the dangers 
to which our institutions are exposed, by the burn¬ 
ing thirst for wealth, which drives our people for¬ 
ward with a reckless impetuosity that counts 
any means justified by the end. Mr. Garnett 
thought there could be no surer remedy for this 
evil, than to render agriculture profitable, and so 
direct this passion for accumulation to an employ¬ 
ment, which he considered that all ages and expe¬ 
rience have proved the most healthful both to body 
and mind, and which must ever furnish the staple 
of the national prosperity. But this was not 
enough; he wished to see the popular mind en¬ 
lightened, and the tone of public feeling elevated 
by a system of comprehensive education, which 
should be based on moral and religious instruction. 
So important did he consider this foundation, that 
he was almost ready to reject every scheme of pub¬ 
lic education without it. He believed that to give 
man knowledge without virtue, was to create an 
intellectual giant, who would have no better guide 
for his mighty powers than his own blind impulses. 
But Mr. Garnett was eminently a practical man, 
and he was ever ready in suggesting the means to 
effect these objects. For the improvement of hus¬ 
bandry, he was active in recommending the forma¬ 
tion of neighborhood societies, which, with the aid 
of agricultural newspapers and state associations, 
would stimulate individual exertion, and excite an 
intelligent activity in the community. 
The attempt to erect a National Institution of 
Agriculture, where the local societies were to be 
represented, failed, as every one knows. No one 
was more active in its cause than Mr. Garnett, 
though he feared from the beginning that the coun¬ 
try was not ripe for it. His ultimate opinion was, 
that it should become a branch of the National In¬ 
stitute of Science, and unite in efforts to obtain the 
benefit of the Smithsonian fund. He wished also 
that the first step in every state should be the com¬ 
mencement of an agricultural society, and that a 
school of experimental farming should be connect¬ 
ed with every state university. Mr. Garnett lived 
to see his favorite pursuit receive a new stimulus 
from the rapid march of chemistry, and the pro¬ 
found researches of Liebig and Dumas, and viewing 
agriculture in its alliance with all other natural 
sciences, he thought that the day was not far dis¬ 
tant when its practice would be founded on princi¬ 
ples as certain as the laws of mechanics. He look¬ 
ed forward with the pleasure of confident hope, to 
the almost boundless improvement which the pres¬ 
ent condition of agricultural inquiry seems to prom¬ 
ise. Our limits forbid further details of Mr. Gar¬ 
nett’s manner of viewing these subjects; we will 
only add that all his plans were distinguished by 
the fitness and simplicity of the means which he 
adopted for the attainment of his ends. 
One of the most remarkable features of Mr. Gar¬ 
nett’s character, was the youthful enthusiasm, and 
freshness of feeling, which he united to the matured 
judgment of age. This disposition produced a con¬ 
stant activity of mind and body. He was the 
mens sana in corpore sano [a sound and vigorous 
mind in a healthy body], for regular and temper¬ 
ate habits had secured him vigorous health. He ' 
was never weary of well doing, and few days 
passed over his head, that did not see him engaged 
in some labor of love for the public good. A more 
perfectly disinterested and less selfish man never 
ived, and those, who had the inestimable privi¬ 
lege of catching his last words, can witness that 
anxiety for the welfare of his country, and love for 
his honored state, deserted him only with life itself. 
He was a man, just and upright in all the rela¬ 
tions of life; a husband, who joined confidence to 
affection; a father, who secured obedience and 
honor from his children, not by authority, but as 
the free will offering of their love and admiration; 
a citizen, whose zeal counted the public weal his 
own; a gentleman, whose whole life breathed the 
