
110 — Board of Agriculture cenfured. 
tems of impofition in other countries :. 
and, if, in any inftance, good effeéts have 
been produced, by inftitutions founded 
in error, it has been owing; not to the 
error, but to the truth which has been 
incorporated with it: for, perhaps, no 
fyftem has ever been eftablifhed fo erro- 
neous, as not to contain fome true and 
ufeful principles of religion and morali- 
ty. Inevery age and country, the mul- 
titude have poffeffed a fufficient fhare of 
underftanding, to be capable of receiv- 
ing, from their more enlightened bre- 
thren, a plain and fimple ftate of facts, 
with their obvious conclufions, as the 
ground of general maxims for the con- 
duét of life: and, in order to render 
men virtuous, nothing more feems ne- 
ceffary, than to convince them, from the 
known nature of things, and from cer- 
tain experience, that it 1s their intereft 
to be fo. Had this experiment been fairly 
tried, through the long courfe of ages, 
in which men have been amufed with 
the fictions of prieftcraft, it is impoffible 
to fay to what degree of wifdom and 
happinefs men might, by this time, have 
attained. 
The truth is, it is not only contrary 
to experience, but to the nature of 
things, that error fhould be produdtive 
ef good. In the ftriét language of phi- 
Jofophy, ‘truth and good are one.” To 
treat every being and object according 
to its true nature, qualities, and relations, 
muft be to render it, as much as poili- 
ble, ufeful. Every error in judgment, 
concerning the nature of things, muft 
open the way to fome error in condué, 
and, confequently, be injurious. Thefe 
obfervations rufh upon the mind nearly 
with the force of felf-evident axioms. 
To fuppofe that error thould produce 
good, appears almoft as palpable an ab- 
furdity, as to make darkne(s the parent 
of light. Ic may, therefore, without 
hefitation, be concluded, that no at- 
tempt to impofe upon mankind, by pro- 
pagating error, either “is,” or, “can 
come to, good;’” and that where ap- 
pearances of this kind arife, they are 
the miftakes of mifapprehenfion, or the 
Self=created “illufions of a timid or felf- 
‘ifh mind, 
Prudent men will tread the ground of 
‘new opinions with cautious fteps ; mo- 
defi men will judge with deliberation, 
and afflerr with diffiidence; and polite 
amen will not unneceffarily deviate from 
the eftablifhed forms of language: but 
good men will always prefer eruth to 
a 
[Feb 
error; and wife men will not be eafily 
perfuaded, that truth may not be fafely 
trufted with the great charge of making 
the world hapnov. If the glorious day 
fhould ever arrive, in which the clouds 
of error fhall be cleared away, it will, 
we doubt not, be feen, that truth is a 
luminary fufficiently bright to fhow 
mankind the path to happinefs. 
ee ae - 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
Your correfpondents J. J.and I. H. 
p- 691 and 852, differ very widely 
in their fentiments refpeéting the utility 
of the Board of Agriculture; and this, too, 
will probably be the cafe among fuch of 
your readers as think the queftion to be 
of any importance. 
For my own part, I am very much 
inclined to agree with J. J. upon the 
whole, becaufe the objeéts he points out 
as deferving the rf? attention of the 
board, have been as yet ina great mea- 
‘fure overlooked, and alfo becaufe the 
political confiderations he alludes to, ap- 
pear to have been one of the principal 
caufes of its formation. 
Be this, however, as it may, I. H. cer- 
tainly over-rates their “‘ philanthropic ex- 
ertions,” when he afcribes “ the prefent 
{pirit of agricultural knowledge and im- 
provement in the country”’ to the labours 
of the board of agriculture.. I have, like 
this gentleman, made tours through va- 
rious parts of the country, though not of 
the fame extent, or occupying fo much 
time as thofe he defcribes ; and my in- 
formation authorizes me to fay, that, ex- 
cepting in fome few counties around the 
metropolis, or in the neighbourhood of 
Bath, there is not one farmer in ten, 
who has the leaft knowledge that fuch 
a board exifts. The improvements ta 
which i. H. refers, may rather, therefore, 
be afcribed to a very different caufe, 
viz. to the high price of the preduce of 
land, by which the farmers are encous 
raged and enabled to cultivate their 
farms in a fuperior manner, and to try 
any experiments by which their art 
may be yet farther improved. Reduce 
the value of their produce, and at the 
fame time keep up or increafe the 
prefent enormous taxes, and then I. H. 
will foon find that the benefits of the 
board in queftion are by.ng means 
“incalculable !” 
I. H. juttly obferves “‘ that the prin- 
cipal point is to make the earth produce 
as muck humaa food as podlible.”’ Should 
Wwe 
