THE CULTIVATOR. 
21 
were and probably are now as irregular and reckless as their mo¬ 
rals. The answers to the last three questions comprize the whole 
of their difficulties; they embrace the origin of all their troubles, 
and it is to be feared that no safe and permanent remedy can ever 
be found while the cause remains. Labor is disgraceful, the slave 
and the menial only perform it. The establishment and progress 
of diffusive, or even restricted education, has hitherto received lit¬ 
tle attention, and no hope can be entertained that the laborers 
will ever be permitted to participate in it. But I must thus pass 
this local reference on the present occasion, and return to our own 
region, where cause and effect can be more distinctly seen, and I 
think hope of success more strongly indulged by encouraging exer¬ 
tion and fostering perseverance. What is now our state ? Public 
opinion guards with close assiduity against every effort to produce 
permanent family distinction; the very ground work and strength 
of every oligarchy—on this alone can their superstructure rest. 
When this foundation is removed, permanent political distinctions 
must vanish. Our policy has prostrated the fabric and razed the 
foundation. The laws of primogeniture and entail having been abo¬ 
lished, the accumulations of enterprize and the gatherings and 
hoardings of avarice, will be dissipated by prodigality, unlimited 
division among descendants and connections, or generously expend¬ 
ed in acts of beneficence. 
The pride of acquiring and perpetuating distinction to those most 
nearly allied, is so implanted in man and associated with his strong¬ 
est personal feelings, that it always will exist; and constituted as 
we are, is perhaps necessary to the well being of society, if not to 
its very existence. It is important however that the most innocent 
and useful manner of doing it should be strongly presented and in¬ 
culcated. The hope of effecting it by transferring wealth and with 
it power, is impaired at least, by what we have deemed the true 
policy of government- Every lequsite measure has been adopted 
to sap the foundation by which the distinct orders of society might 
be permanently sustained. The channels for enterprize are still 
open. The means to accumulate wealth have been rather increased 
than diminished by the political change; and improvements in the 
facility of intercourse throughout the world, afford additional in¬ 
ducements to adopt those means. Unless intellectual improvement 
and moral energy can be imparted to the more stable population 
of the country, the result appears so inevitable, as to be truly 
alarming. 
The desire to accumulate wealth still existing, but the anxiety to 
retain and perpetuate it decreased by the destruction of all hope of 
success, it follows, that in most instances, the wealth accumulated 
will be expended for the immediate gratification of its possessor, 
without much thought as to the ultimate tendency of such expendi¬ 
ture. Is it unreasonable to believe, indeed have we not demonstrative 
evidence of its truth, that a competition in extravagant, display, and 
with 6uch prodigality, its invariable and more deleterious concomi¬ 
tants, venality and profligacy, will become generally prevalent ? The 
only hope of checking in any degree the injurious effect of such a 
state of things, is presented by adopting an enlarged plan of diffusive 
instruction. The effect of such diffusion will inevitably be to enlarge 
the sphere of competition in all the operations of life; to diminish 
the relative importance of public station, and extend the ability to 
judge of the usefulness and integrity of public agents. 
The influence of mere political combinations will be less felt. 
Now indeed they are viewed, by many upright politicians, as the 
proper and useful means to accomplish good ends; but in the extreme 
of party discipline, honest individual opinion is too frequently re¬ 
strained to an injurious extent. Bender as far as possible each 
person competent to examine and judge; and the influence of such 
combinations would be under a salutary restraint, and never become 
dangerous, or even deleterious. 
The equalization of intelligence as nearly as thedistinction in na¬ 
tural endowments will allow, must also restrain the evil effect of 
profligate example by the wealthy, impair their power of corrup¬ 
tion, and stamp the perpetrators of what would otherwise be deem¬ 
ed venial offences, with the general contempt they merit. The be¬ 
nevolent may find ample opportunity to employ their means usefully 
and gratefully, without be ng required, in the indulgence of the 
kindliest and most honorable feelings, so to act, as to leave their 
minds in doubt whether the aid they may have been induced to give, 
shall not prove more injurious than beneficial. 
A brief reference to two more branches of this important subject 
will close this address. They arise from the present division of la¬ 
bor in mechanics, the manner of its control and government, the 
use of machinery, the dependence of the population thus employed, 
the species of combination to which it is liable, and the danger to 
the peace of communitv from it. It is not indeed possible, in this 
way, to enter into a full examination of the evils, and guards re¬ 
quired to afford a good hope of protection from those evils. In or¬ 
der to do this instructively, a labor of far greater magnitude is ne¬ 
cessary. But your attention should be called to it. A population, 
collected in manufacturing establishments of all sorts, is increasing 
and spreading through your land, for the education, restraint and 
protection of which, very little if any provision has yet been effici¬ 
ently made. 
It should not be thus neglected. The longer it is permitted to 
remain without due attention, the greater will be the difficulty of 
action upon it. So much has been named for future apprehension 
among us, that I dare not portray the lineaments and appalling fea¬ 
tures of this danger; but content myself with the suggestion, that 
protection from extreme foreign competition is here required, for 
far other and more cogent reasons than those founded on pecuniary 
advantages to the employers and employed; or even the great, the 
commanding and prostrating interests of foreign commerce. 
If the manufacturer in the application of ms industry, is pressed 
to his utmost strength in order to sustain himself against both the 
animate and inanimate machinery from abroad, throwing ihe pro¬ 
duct of its labor among us unrestrained, by any th ng save the pow¬ 
er of competition, how can he be given time, for due instruction 
and information in the duties of a citizen of a republic ? The train 
of thought immediately connected with this considera'ion will not 
now be pursued, but it has been named to show, that protection of 
domestic industry is congenial and nec> ssary to the safety of our 
government; that it is not, as has been falsely charged, a mere 
building up of one branch of industry at the expense of another, but 
that the correctness, (nay I will not, and cannot withhold the asser¬ 
tion,) the imperative necessity of the policy arises more from the 
nature of our institutions than any pecuniary considerations what¬ 
ever. 
The other subject requiring also immediate attention to the dif¬ 
fusion of instruction, arises from the great variety of new species, 
and new divisions of property created by factitious means. The 
possessors of which exercise and will continue to possess and exert 
an immense influence in all the operations of society. 
The vast amount of corporate property engaged in the employ¬ 
ment of industry, is already such, as to attract an anxious attention 
in view of it^ political consequences. It is daily, and perhaps may 
be properly increasing. Throughout our whole land the influence 
of this property is felt, and we are not yet prepared to say, or even 
form a probable conjecture what may be the consequence. 
The discussion of this policy is not now designed. By Ihe pre¬ 
sent excited spirit of enterprize, in addition to its former influence 
in commercial and pecuniary matters, it threatens to assume an en¬ 
tire control over a large branch of the industry of the country en- 
paged in transportation and forwarding. 
We must look to our citizens employed by these bodies. Tlieir 
welfare and the welfare of the whole country requires this atten¬ 
tion. 
The species of property which has of late been so abundantly 
created, increased and extended, while it has been and is yet pro¬ 
ductive of great good to the pecuniary interest and resources of 
the country, is also fraught with many dangers, against which the 
public should be properly guarded. 
I must be pardoned for this closing notice. I am not among 
those who think the prosperity of the country consists either exclu¬ 
sively, or even mainly in the increase of its wealth, the magnitude 
of its cities, the splendor of its edifices, the sensual refinement and 
luxury of its inhabitants, the power of its fleets and armies, or even 
the extent of its commerce; but rests wholly on public virtue and 
intelligence. Nor can that virtue and intelligence be best sustain¬ 
ed by a government with permanent and hereditary distinctions, and 
the encouragement of prodigal expenditure by the wealthy. Neither 
is the miserable and envious spirit of levelling agrarianism, that 
political and immoral profligacy which disregards the private rights 
of individuals, in pursuit of what may be considered a public good. 
