UMASS/AMHERST « 
 
 III 
 
 aiaobbDDSiofcba? 
 
MASSACHUSETTS 
 STATE COLLEGE 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 S 
 
 523 
 
 D6 
 
ADDRESS, 
 
 AT NORTHAMPTON, OCTOBER 11, 1826, 
 
 TO THE SOCIETY OF THE COUNTIES OF 
 
 aASlEPSaiRE, FRANKI.IN AND KAMPDEN, 
 
 FOR THE PROMOTION OP 
 
 ^grtculture antr tJie Wfcfiantc ^vtn, 
 
 BY HON. MARK DOOLITTLK 
 
 He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread ; but he thai; 
 followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough." 
 
 NORTHAMPTON '. 
 PRINTED BY T. WATSON SHEPAED. 
 
 1826, 
 

 South Hadley, October 12, 1826, 
 Hon. Mark Doolittle, 
 
 Dear Sir — I 'lave the pleasure to communicate to you the follow- 
 ing vote, passed at the meeting- of the Hampshire, Franklin and 
 Hampden Agricultural Society, the 11th inst. 
 
 Voted — That the thanks of this Society be presented to the 
 Hon. Mark Doolittle, for his interesting and eloquent address deliv- 
 ered this day, and that he be requested to furnish a copy for the press. 
 
 Voted — That Messrs. Strong, of South Hadley, Shepherd, of 
 Northampton, and Mills, of Worthington, be a committee to commu- 
 nicate the above vote. 
 
 JOSEPH STRONG, Per order of said Committee. 
 
 Belchertown, October 18, 1826. 
 Hon. Joseph Strong & others, Committee, 
 
 Gentlemen — Yours of the 12th inst. communicating the above 
 vote, was received the 14th. Please to accept my acknowledgments 
 to the Society which you represent for the approbation of the address 
 expressed by it — a copy of which is at your disposal. 
 
 With much respect, I am, gentlemen, yours, &c. 
 
 M. DOOLITTLE. 
 

 The season has returned, my fellow citizens, when 
 the industrious inhabitants of Old Hampshire have 
 annually assembled for eight years past, rejoicing 
 in the blessings of a beneficent Providence upon 
 the labor of their hands. The period when the 
 crops of the earth are matured and the husband- 
 man is gathering the fruits of his summer's toil 
 and casting his thoughts forward to the comforts 
 which they promise, is especially suited for a tri- 
 bute of gratitude to the great bestower of all our 
 mercies. 
 
 The cultivation of the earth was the original 
 employment of man. It is the support of every 
 other — the stock of which all others are the bran- 
 ches. The necessities of the husbandman in his 
 pursuit have given rise to numerous classes of ar- 
 tificers in shaping and forming the productions of 
 nature and the raw material to meet the wants of 
 society, and from the first ages of the world a 
 knowledge of the mechanic arts has been insepar- 
 
 :^' ably connected with the successful cultivation of 
 
 .Tthe earth. 
 
 
Probably no time has ever been better suited 
 for improvement in the various and useful labors 
 of civilized life than the present. The world is 
 comparatively at peace — science is shedding her 
 lights upon objects hitherto obscured — the inter- 
 course between the inhabitants of distant latitudes 
 is easy and constant — there is a feeling and a 
 sympathy manifested at the sufferings of the de- 
 graded and enslaved inhabitants of one portion of 
 the earth, and at the superstitious and barbarous 
 cruelties of another, which were never awaked in 
 the breasts of those who lived in other times. 
 These feelings and these sympathies have burst 
 forth into the most active energies for the relief 
 of suffering humanity. The improvements we 
 make are rapidly carried by the assisting elements 
 to the most distant lands. Asia and the Isles of 
 the sea are gathering fruits, the growth of Ameri- 
 can culture. Every ray of light cast upon the 
 dark places of the earth discovers new objects to 
 be accomplished, new wants to be supplied, and 
 new sufferings to be relieved. Were it not for 
 the continued and persevering efforts of benevo- 
 lent individuals and societies of men directly ap- 
 plied to supply the necessities and to elevate the 
 characters of their species, the world would pre- 
 sent but one uniform spectacle of a wide spread 
 desolation. Cast your thoughts for a moment up- 
 on the places which were the boast of other days, 
 the very names of Avhich were interchangeable 
 for wealth, for grandeur and magnificence, and 
 where are they ? Where is the extensive and en~ 
 terprizing commerce of the Phenicians, and the 
 
wealth of Alexandria and Tyre drawn from the 
 highly cultivated regions of India? The hand of 
 diligence which once rendered the borders of the 
 Ganges and the Tigris abundant in the richest 
 fruits, has long since resigned the territory to in- 
 dolence and poverty. Even Canaan, above all 
 lands distinguished for the fertility of its soil and 
 the deliciousness of its fruits, described by the 
 pen of inspiration to be " a good land — a land of 
 wheat and of barley and vines and fig-trees and 
 pomegranates and oil and honey, whose inhabi- 
 tants should eat bread without scarceness, and not 
 lack any thing in it," even that land has long since 
 been over-run by the footsteps of the Barbarian, 
 and is now a waste, under the desolations of Turk- 
 ish despotism. Such is the present aspect of the 
 soil, says a late traveller there, that "we ^should 
 judge that nature itself had rendered it incapable 
 of cultivation." 
 
 The recent attempts of some of the European 
 nations and of the American states, to redeem de- 
 graded Asia from its miserable condition have 
 been attended with success in some parts ; in 
 others they are still in the most abject state-^not 
 the least improvement has been made in their me- 
 chanical or agricultural operations for two thou- 
 sand years. To this time the tools of the carpen- 
 ter are nothing but the plane, the chisel, the ham- 
 mer, and the hatchet — the earth is the shop- 
 board, and three days are spent in performing the 
 labor which a Hampshire mechanic would accom- 
 plish in a single hour. The blacksmith travels for 
 his employment with the whole of his apparatus 
 
6 
 
 upon his back. Their implements of agriculture 
 are very rude and imperfectly formed ; the plough 
 consists of two or three pieces of wood put togeth- 
 er in the most clumsy manner, or perhaps a single 
 crooked stick — the hoe and the sickle of equally 
 ill adaptation for the use designed. Their labor 
 is performed in the most indolent and slovenly 
 manner. In the morning of a harvest day the 
 Hindoo peasant goes with his sickle to the field 
 of labor, and at night binds the gleanings of the 
 whole day in a single bundle, and with it on his 
 back repairs to his cottage. The average price 
 of a day's labor is about two and a half cents. 
 
 In this condition those people have their fairs 
 too — annually, triennially, or once in twelve years 
 they assemble upon the banks of a consecrated 
 river, in countless multitudes, bringing their flocks 
 and their herds with them ; and what think you is 
 the business of that assembly ? They buy and they 
 sell, some beasts they offer in sacrifice and some 
 they worship as objects of adoration ; but the great 
 business of the assembly is to perform a pilgrimage 
 and pay their vows to an idol god. 
 
 It is a most interesting subject for investigation 
 to trace the connexion between a free government 
 established and administered by an intelligent, in- 
 dustrious and virtuous population, and the im- 
 provement in ever}^ thing which enriches and 
 strengthens a nation and elevates the characters 
 of men. In despotic governments industry is par- 
 alyzed. It is a fact which history authorises us to 
 assert, that neither agriculture nor its kindred arts 
 have ever attained to a high elevation under des- 
 
potic power. The same debasing ignorance which 
 chains the minds of men to servile devotion under 
 arbitrary power, will chain their animal functions 
 to the business of a brute — they will do no more 
 than they are compelled to do. — The first object 
 of a good government is to provide for all its 
 members, and to bring within their reach the 
 means of making them comfortable and happy. 
 To the accomplishment of this object our govern- 
 ment and our laws — our civil and religious institu- 
 tions — our soil and our climate, lend a helping 
 hand — no despot to wield the rod of oppression 
 Over the lives and fortunes of men — no religious 
 hierarchy to feast a sordid and pampered appetite 
 upon the credulities of a deluded populace — no 
 feudal system requiring the service and active 
 energies of the many to gratify the pride and ca- 
 price of the few. The fatal effects of feudal ten- 
 ures upon agricultural improvements have been 
 witnessed all over Europe for many centuries — to 
 this day England has a rent-charge upon large 
 portions of her lands which render them incapable 
 of alienation, and the value of her landed estates 
 which are yet tithable is about one hundred mil- 
 lions of dollars annually. 
 
 The allodial tenures by which the New Eng- 
 land farmer holds his estate — our statutes of dis- 
 tributions and barring entailments are important 
 in advancing the interests of agriculture. The 
 sciences, which m times past have been confined 
 to halls of learning, are lending their aids in the 
 practical business of life. The discoveries within 
 the last fitty years, in the sciences of chemistry 
 
8 -' 
 
 and geology, have added much to the means of 
 agricultural improvement. A knowledge of the 
 combinations of the different kinds of earth — of 
 vegetable mould, and the various manures which 
 give sustenance to plants, are highly important to 
 the practical farmer. In our progress we shall 
 find many prejudices to be overcome and many 
 errors to be corrected. The grandest improve- 
 ments in the arts have been opposed with most 
 determined obstinacy. The first attempts oi Jlrk- 
 wright in his labor saving machinery, saving forty- 
 nine fiftieths of the labor, was resisted even to 
 blood, and that indefatigable man was compelled 
 for years to wander from place to place with se- 
 crecy in his operations. The same delusions 
 which possessed the minds of the people at Lan- 
 cashire and Nottingham half a century since, in 
 relation to these mventions, now pervade the 
 minds of some of the South Americans on the 
 same subject 
 
 Until the opinions of men shall be governed by 
 evidence rather than prejudice, very little advance- 
 ment will be made in our progress after truth on 
 any subject, whether it be physics or mechanics — 
 morals or religion. 
 
 Industry is the great source of individual and 
 national prosperity. The best mode of applying 
 it to relieve the wants and necessities of society 
 is the grand secret which should engage the at- 
 tention of men in their progress to wealth and 
 distinction. It is a trite remark, that whatever is 
 worth doing is worth well doing. This is pre- 
 eminently true in the business of agriculture. — 
 
9 
 
 The farmer who grasps at more land for improve- 
 ment than he can cultivate to advantage, pursues 
 a mistaken policy ; some portion of it must run 
 to waste. If a debt has accrued in the acquisition 
 the chance is against him that the avails of his 
 labor will ere long find their way into the pocket 
 of a mortgagee under a foreclosure. The idle 
 and slovenly farmer is at best but a co-tenant, in 
 his crops, with the beasts which are continually 
 preying upon them, and with the basest vegeta- 
 bles in the freehold possession. He who contents 
 himself year after year with fifteen or twenty hun- 
 dred of hay, or twenty bushels of corn upon an 
 acre of his best land lacks the skill or industry of 
 the prosperous farmer. There has been great 
 neglect in providing those enriching substances 
 which are peculiarly nutritious to the vegetable 
 kingdom. The labor of a single day in providing 
 compost, under advantageous circumstances, when 
 properly applied, will do more in filling your barns 
 and corn-cribs, than four times the labor spent 
 upon a poor and barren soil. The farmer should 
 learn the defects in the soil which he cultivates, 
 and what can best be applied to cure those de- 
 fects and increase its fertility. If your lands are 
 too moist, add that which will render them less 
 moist — for marshy ground it is found that sand is 
 the best manure ; if your lands are too dry, of not 
 sufficient capacity to retain moisture, apply the 
 gleanings from your ditches and marshes ; if your 
 lands are too adhesive, apply marl and ashes ; if 
 there is an excess of calcareous earth, says Sir 
 John Sinclair, " apply sand and clay ; to soils with 
 
10 
 
 acids or salts of iron apply calcareous earth." By 
 a combination of these, a manure is formed very 
 advantageous to the growth of vegetation. Some 
 soils will receive incalculable advantage from an 
 application which would be injurious to others. 
 The best method of applying vegetable manure is 
 to turn it under the furrow, and the fos? to remain 
 upon the surface ; the reason for this is the oppo- 
 site effects which the earth and the atmosphere 
 have upon the different substances ; the vegetable 
 tending to the surface and to evaporation, and the 
 fossil tending to the earth ; by such an application 
 they act upon each other in the best possible mode 
 to give life and energy to vegetation. When the 
 manuring is by turning under a green crop, a slight 
 dressing with gypsum or lime is highly beneficial. 
 Upon those lands where you do not use the plough 
 after a dressing of vegetable manure to apply im- 
 mediately a small portion of the fossil produces a 
 more rapid decomposition of the vegetable and an 
 incorporation with the soil most conducive to the 
 growth of a healthy vegetation. 
 
 In tillage land it is believed to be a common 
 fault that the earth is not turned to a sufficient 
 depth. I am aware that different opinions prevail 
 on this subject ; but from well tested experiments 
 which have been made, it has been satisfactorily 
 proved that shallow ploughing is injurious — the 
 root of the plant cannot procure the requisite nour- 
 ishment. To make the earth productive, it is es- 
 sential that the atmosphere act upon it, and the 
 more earth which comes under the influence of 
 heat and cold and atmospheric moisture, the more 
 
11 
 
 invigorating power is given to it to sustain a luxu- 
 riant growth. Again, by this method of culture, 
 the earth absorbs more water and retains its mois- 
 ture a greater length of time and at the same time 
 is less liable to have water remain upon the sur- 
 face. Many useful and well directed experiments 
 have been made both in Europe and this country 
 in this branch of agriculture. In Flanders deep 
 ploughing has greatly improved their soil — it has 
 been uniformly adopted there for many years^ — no 
 part of Europe is more fertile. The horticulturists 
 near London plough their lands a foot in depth — 
 no lands are more productive. 
 
 Good fences are essential to the good manage- 
 ment of a farm ; to say nothing of the additional 
 security to crops, or the time saved in being re- 
 lieved from continued calls to remove from mis- 
 chief the trespassing herds, or the expense saved 
 in law-suits (which are often produced as a conse- 
 quence,) by providing exterior fences — there is 
 great actual gain in partitioning your fields into 
 enclosures of moderate extent. The result of cal- 
 culation on this subject is that a given territory of 
 forty or fifty acres, applied to pasturage, will sup- 
 port 20 per cent, more stock, when divided into 
 three or four separate enclosures, than when in 
 one general field. 
 
 The cultivation of the grasses is an important 
 branch in the business of the practical farmer. 
 Linneus has given us an account of not less than 
 fifty different genera, which are cultivated in Eng- 
 land. There may be as many found here ; yet 
 there are comparatively but few cultivated as a 
 
12 
 
 crop upon the lands of the New England farmer. 
 More attention in selecting such seeds as are adapt- 
 ed to the different soils and to each other in the 
 period of their becoming mature for the scythe 
 would find its reward in the results produced. It 
 is no uncommon prospect when casting the eye 
 upon the meadows of even our best farmers, to 
 witness some portions of the crop nearly or quite 
 fit for gathering, and another portion just beginning 
 to come forward. When the latter has become 
 mature the former has become nearly worthless. 
 This may be the case when the grasses are indig- 
 enous to the soil ; and it frequently arises from the 
 practice of stocking lands from the gleanings of 
 the floors and mangers of the barn " where every 
 plant, good and noxious, has left its seeds." It 
 has been found by experiment that many, and is 
 probably the case with most, kinds of grass, that 
 they flourish upon soils where they are never found 
 till they are sown as a crop. The red clover, al- 
 though an exotic plant, has proved to be a most 
 profitable grass here as well as in England, where 
 it was introduced about two hundred and fifty years 
 since from Holland. Such suspicions were enter- 
 tained of its utility in England that it did not gain 
 a general use there till within fifty years. It is 
 more beneficial to the soil than any of the grasses. 
 The principal cause of its fertilizing properties is 
 the broad leaf, which imbibes more nutriment from 
 the atmosphere than any other. It is, however, 
 not durable ; hence other grasses should be cast 
 with it in the seeding. Some of the best farmers 
 in the northern states recommend the oat grass 
 
13 
 
 and orchard grass as the most suitable. The more 
 usual practice in this vicinity has been to sow the 
 herds grass with it. The principal objection to 
 this practice is that the clover is mature for the 
 scythe fifteen days earlier than the other grass, 
 which affords double the nutriment, says Judge 
 Buel, when cut in the seed, to what it does when 
 cut in the flower. Perhaps no grass gives a better 
 reward for cultivation than the herds grass ; it is 
 indigenous; so is the white clover and red top, 
 which afford, by attentive cultivation, rich and 
 abundant pastures. 
 
 I am well satisfied that more attention to the 
 cultivation of Millet would prove profitable to the 
 farmers of old Hampshire. This grain is a native 
 of India ; it has for a long period been cultivated 
 with great success and profit in the south of Eu- 
 rope, and farther north than our latitude. Its pa- 
 trons in the New England and the middle states 
 have found their reward in their attention to it. 
 To the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, Judge 
 Washington says, "I have obtained this season 
 (1823) forty tons from sixteen acres, of which only 
 four had been manured ; and my cattle of all sorts 
 prefer it to white or red clover meadow hay," — 
 Again, says Mr. Powell, of Philadelphia, " Sheep 
 are particularly fond of millet grass, but not more 
 so than horses and other stock." It has been cul- 
 tivated to a considerable extent in the eastern 
 counties of this Commonwealth, and has very gen- 
 erally been approved by the farmers of Essex, 
 Middlesex and Worcester. It has been less raised 
 within our limits and Berkshire, though some at- 
 
14 
 
 tention has been given to it in the western section 
 of the state. The soil best suited to it is a light 
 loam possessing a good degree of strength. Upon 
 such a soil, the seed which you will obtain will 
 usually exceed, in value, a crop of oats upon the 
 same ground, though not over two thirds the quan- 
 tity ; the greatest profit in the crop will be found, 
 however, in the straw for fodder ; and should it 
 never be used for farinaceous purposes it would 
 be found a profitable crop. Its effect in the de- 
 struction of weeds is much the same as that of red 
 clover ; it probably draws more nutriment from 
 the atmosphere than most other crops — it is less 
 exhausting to the soil than oats — it should be 
 sown about the tenth of June, and will be fit for 
 harvest the last of August. 
 
 Those gentlemen who have made exertion for 
 the improvement of our live stock, by importations 
 from abroad, deserve the thanks of the American 
 farmer. The animals now reared amongst us are, 
 no doubt, superior to what they would have been, 
 had they not been improved in this way. Our 
 farmers, however, will find it mistaken policy to 
 rely upon this source for permanent improvement 
 in this branch of husbandry. There is no neces- 
 sity for continuing it. Stock can be found in va- 
 rious sections of our country which would not suf- 
 fer by a comparison with the best which Europe 
 can afford All that is necessary is care in the 
 selection of those that are preserved. Let the 
 drover and the butcher take such as are least use- 
 ful to keep. In this way have the best breeds in 
 Europe been procured. Such has been the mode 
 
15 
 
 of Bakewell, of Princeps, and the CoUings', and 
 all who have been distinguished for rearing the 
 best breeds in England. Mistaken views have 
 prevailed with some of our farmers in selecting 
 with an especial reference to the size of the ani- 
 mal — that is of little importance when compared 
 with shape and form. It seems to have been for- 
 gotten that the animal requires food in proportion 
 to the size, other things being equal. The ordin- 
 ary weight of an ox in England, one hundred and 
 twenty years ago, was about 380, and they were 
 a useful and profitable stock. A few years later 
 the fashion changed, and many of the English far- 
 mers were engaged in introducing a race of ani- 
 mals from Holland of the opposite extreme. The 
 introduction of this breed proved most injurious 
 to the English farmer. Now the best animals 
 there, as here, are not of either extreme. The 
 ox that weighs 800 or 1000, with good grass feed, 
 is more useful in life, and more profitable for the 
 slaughter, than those of the largest size ; and the 
 beef in the English markets, with equal fattening, 
 commands a better price. 
 
 We find ourselves, on this occasion, in a field so 
 vast, and the objects around us so various, that a 
 moment's time only can be devoted to any, while 
 many must be passed by unnoticed. 
 
 The importance of our manufacturing operations 
 to the agricultural interest is too great to be left 
 in silence. The shuttle is hardly less necessary 
 to the success of the farmer than the plough. The 
 opinion which some have entertained, that manu- 
 factories were injurious to agriculture, is most ab- 
 
16 
 
 surd. These establishments raise the value of the 
 land of the farmer; they raise the price of all 
 which the land produces ; they furnish the means 
 of support to a much larger population, upon a 
 given territory, than could otherwise be support- 
 ed ; they are necessary to the independence and 
 prosperity of a people. The manufactories of 
 Great Britain have contributed, more than all oth- 
 er causes united, to increase the wealth, the pow- 
 er, and the commercial importance of that king- 
 dom. The work shops for every quarter of the 
 world have been located in and about London, 
 Liverpool and Manchester; and the markets in 
 every land have been controlled in a great degree 
 by their power. The present pressure upon these 
 establishments in England has arisen from an at- 
 tempt, on their part, to monopolize the markets of 
 the world. The competition which they have met 
 with from our manufactories, in various markets, 
 for the last six years, has taught them as effectu- 
 ally that we can clothe ourselves, as they were 
 taught fifty years ago, that we could govern our- 
 selves. 
 
 This monopolizing policy on their part, may 
 produce for us what the despotic laws of Germany 
 and the Netherlands, and the repeal of the Edict of 
 Nantes, in France, did for England, near the close 
 of the seventeenth century. These measures pur- 
 sued by the governments on the continent drove 
 to England in a short space of time nearly one 
 million of their best and most industrious citizens, 
 carrying with them a great portion of the art, skill 
 and enterprize of their population. These events 
 
17 
 
 were seized upon by William, as auspicious to thf' 
 growth of the English manufactures. Duties were 
 laid upon the importation of some articles, and 
 penalties provided against the introduction of oth- 
 ers. Under these regulations new life and vigor 
 was infused into every branch of industry. The 
 farmer, the mechanic, and the merchant, partici- 
 pated in the wealth which followed. It was not. 
 however, till the great improvements in machinery 
 by Hargreave, Arkwright, and their cotemporaries. 
 that England became mature in her manufacturing 
 establishments. It is hardly possible to conceive 
 of the increase of business and wealth which re- 
 sulted to the nation from them. For forty years 
 next previous to their introduction, the exports of 
 England had increased but about sixteen millions 
 of dollars ; in thirty years next succeeding they 
 increased more than one hundred and twenty mil- 
 lions of dollars. At the period of the introduction 
 of these improvements, about 1772, the importa- 
 tion of cotton was very limited ; probably for ten 
 years it had not exceeded one and a half millions 
 of pounds annually ; at the close of the thirty years 
 it was but a little short of sixty millions ; and al- 
 though at that time but about one seventh of the 
 manufactured article was exported, six sevenths 
 being consumed by the people, they employed 
 thirty thousand tons of shipping in the importation 
 of the raw material, and the exportation of the 
 one seventh of the fabrics, and about fifty millions 
 of dollars were annually paid, as wages, to the na- 
 tive cotton manufacturer of Great Britain. The 
 value of the manufactured article, in relation to 
 3 
 
18 
 
 the raw material, was as great as twelve to one. 
 The population in these districts increased with a 
 rapidity wholly disproportioned to the other parts 
 of the kingdom. 
 
 These facts do but faintly exhibit the increase 
 of the wealth and power derived from her manu- 
 factories to Great Britain. The scene is now 
 changed — she is reaping the fruits of her indis- 
 cretion in attempting to monopolize that which 
 was the preroga.tive of other governments — a fair 
 participation in these means of national wealth 
 and prosperity. When we are told that a single 
 city there has found it necessary in one season to 
 raise by contribution half a million to relieve the 
 distressed manufacturers, our feeliiigs of compas- 
 sion, rather than admiration, are awakened at the 
 detail. These distresses must, however, continue 
 so long as they depend upon foreign markets for 
 the sale of such a proportion of their fabrics. 
 
 Although the duty on the importation of wool- 
 lens here has been, under our tariff, constantly in- 
 creasing, and our manufacturers advancing under 
 that protecting duty, yet we find by the last report 
 of the Secretary of the Treasury, that the* impor- 
 tation of woollens from Great Britain, for the year 
 ending 30th Sept. 1825, exceeded the importations 
 of the year next preceding about two and a half 
 millions of dollars. This fact proves the extreme 
 pressure which is experienced in the British work 
 shops, and at the same time affords a word of con- 
 solation to the wool grower and manufacturer here. 
 It will convince them that the present diminished 
 value of that article and the fabrics from it, arises, 
 
19 
 
 not from the quantity raised here, but from the 
 redundancy of foreign cloths in our markets, by 
 reason of artificial means, which must be of short 
 duration. 
 
 We need not look abroad to witness the advance 
 in the farmers property by reason of manufactures. 
 We have seen it in this state and within our own 
 limits. In view of the growth of these establish- 
 ments, a question has. arisen^ are not we in danger 
 of a similar fate which attended the British manu- 
 factories? In answer to which, we say, our situa- 
 tion is totally different from theirs. Of the two 
 milHons of families which compose the population 
 of England, (the population is somewhat larger 
 than here assumed) about 750,000 are agricuttur- 
 ists, leaving 1,250,000 in trade, manufactures, pro- 
 fessions, and other employments. In the United 
 States it was not long since calculated that ten 
 sixteenths of our plopulation.were agriculturists ; 
 but suppose the number is not over nine sixteenths, 
 it places us at a safe distance from the causes o|, 
 their troubles. 
 
 A wise government will protect its own manu- 
 factories. — " It belongs to the real statesman," says 
 Rosseau, " to elevate his views in the imposition 
 of taxes above the mere object of finance, andcon- 
 vert them into useful regulations." If the little 
 cloud which now darkens the prospects of our 
 manufacturers, arose from causes which were last- 
 ing in their operations, it would deserve the seri- 
 ous consideration of government, whether sound 
 policy did not demand an increase of duty on the 
 importation of rival fabrics. The story that our 
 
20 
 
 woollen manufactories, for example, were suffered 
 to languish under a tariff, falsely called a protect- 
 ing dutj, which secured the sales in our markets^ 
 of woollens from Great Britain, of more than ten 
 millions of dollars annually, would be viewed by 
 those who should come after us as a monument of 
 lasting reproach to the government which should 
 suffer it. But without further interference of gov- 
 ernment it is confidently believed that their in- 
 crease and prosperity is sure, and that the period 
 is not far distant when New England will be to 
 Southern and Western America, what England for 
 a long period has been to the eastern continent. 
 
 Economy in expenditure is as important as in- 
 dustry in the acquiring. If the causes for which 
 taxes are imposed are not guarded with the great- 
 est vigilance, and limited to the obvious necessi- 
 ties of the people, they become sources of indi- 
 vidual oppression. Salaries to public officers 
 should be limited to a reasonable compensation 
 to services rendered ; but the great danger from 
 increase of taxes arises not from this source, but 
 lies concealed under the specious and alluring 
 name of charitable regulations. With such a cap- 
 tion, burdensome laws may find a passport to the 
 pages of your statute books, and unsuspectingly 
 impose unnecessary burdens upon the people. — ■ 
 Ample provision by law for the support of the 
 poor, is an inducement to idleness, and tends to 
 increase the number of the poor and the profligate. 
 Many wise men have doubted the policy of mak- 
 ing any provision by law on this subject, and when 
 we look at England and Scotland we see that such 
 
21 
 
 a doubt may well be entertained. Scotland has 
 no pauper laws, and comparatively no paupers. 
 England has been legislating on the subject for 
 ages, by enacting charitable laws without number, 
 and one seventh of her population are paupers. 
 It is but the part of wisdom to learn by her ex- 
 ample. Although they have seen the precipice 
 before them they have not been able to stay the 
 current. A committee of the House of Commons, 
 in a report to Parliament ten years ago, say, " Our 
 poor rates partake of no one quality which char- 
 acterize true charity. Far from being twice bless- 
 ed, they neither bless him that gives nor him that 
 receives. To the one they are a constant source 
 of vexation, expense and imposition, and to the 
 other a bounty on idleness, indigence and vice." 
 At that time their poor rates were something less 
 than nine millions sterling ; now it is stated that 
 hey are more than twice that sum. 
 
 It is no uncommon case that we find in the his- 
 tory of rentals of the English tenants, that when 
 the honest industrious farmer hires a patch of 
 ground to cultivate for the support of himself and 
 his family he is compelled to pay a poor tax upon 
 the same ground to a greater amount than the 
 whole rent, and it often goes to the support of 
 those who are as able to labor as himself. Eng- 
 land has not seemed to admit the principle in her 
 poor laws that it was " right for charity to be wise? 
 or possible for discretion to be charitable." It was 
 said of the administration of the great Alfred, that 
 none of his subjects were unemployed, and hence, 
 none needed the aids of charity but the sick and 
 
22 
 
 the impotent. In the reign of Elizabeth a law 
 was passed which barred from the charities of the 
 government all except those who from their age 
 or infirmities could not support themselves. Great 
 benefits resulted to the nation under it ; yet strange 
 to tell, it fell into disuse. It is, however, the only 
 principle which can be adopted with success in reg- 
 ulating any charitable code. 
 
 The increase of the pauper expenses within 
 this Commonwealth has gone far in advance of 
 the ratio of the increase of population. From 
 1800 to 1820, while our population had increased 
 but about one to four, our state pauper account 
 increased about twelve to four. Since then the 
 weekly allowance for state paupers has been di- 
 minished, which has diminished the amount of 
 state charges, but the expenses upon the several 
 towns are increasing continually. The whole 
 amount paid is probably not much less than halt a 
 million. This is a subject in which the property 
 and morals of the community are deeply involved. 
 While viewing it every one will lament the exist- 
 ence of the great cause of pauperism in our coun- 
 try. Intemperance is the flood-gate which opens 
 to it, and to every vice. It is lamentable indeed 
 that in a land abounding with the blessings of 
 providence, a class of men should be found bru- 
 talizing themselves in a way appalling to every 
 feeling of our nature, and that too against every 
 restraint which moral considerations can interpose. 
 To the common drunkard, warnings and reproofs 
 are like words upon the desert air — lost without a 
 trace. Ministers may preach — moralists may write 
 
23 
 
 — the press with all its powers may lend its aid — - 
 moral societies may add their influence, and tem- 
 perate societies their example, still the plague ad- 
 vances, and like the overflowing of mighty waters 
 is spreading its branches in every direction, re- 
 gardless of every obstacle. 
 
 You may as well attempt to secure your prop- 
 erty against the aggressions of the pilferer, or the 
 implements of gaming from the hand of the gam- 
 bler, as the intoxicating cup from the lips of the 
 drunkard. Each of these should alike be treated 
 as violators of the rights of the community. The 
 law of the Commonwealth providing a penalty 
 against common drunkards, which has been in 
 your statute books nearly forty years, and enforc- 
 ed in some parts of the Commonwealth, has been 
 but a dead letter with us. It has very seldom if 
 ever been enforced within our limits. If you look 
 at our gaols and our public prisons and inquire 
 into the history of the wretched tenants who in- 
 habit those dreary and life-wasting receptacles, 
 you will learn that in nine cases in ten drunken- 
 ness was the door which opened upon them the 
 crimes that chain them there. Should each county 
 within the Commonwealth be provided with a 
 house of correction, suitably appended with land 
 and work-shops, and the law enforced against com= 
 mon drunkards, the public would soon find one 
 half of their pauper taxes saved, and a check found 
 to that dangerous and wide spreading evil. 
 
 Every successful effort to restrain the vices 
 which are abroad in the land— to promote industry 
 — to retrench unnecessary expenses — to diffiise 
 
24 
 
 useful information to all classes of the people, 
 should be placed among the items of capital in 
 favor of the farming interest. 
 
 Without constant vigilance for the promotion of 
 these objects, no community can expect continued 
 prosperity and happiness. To the promotion of 
 these the fathers of New England were distin- 
 guished for their attachment, and by an adherence 
 to them lived as blessings to successive ages. — 
 The dignity which they wore, was that which 
 alone characterizes true greatness — an unwearied 
 exertion for the benefit of their fellow-men. To 
 this end every enterprize was undertaken, and 
 every achievement accomplished. They laid the 
 foundation of a mighty empire, and through the 
 veil of future years saw the magnificence of its 
 superstructure. Their virtues were steadfast — the 
 test of trials rendered them more conspicuously 
 bright. Their religion was practical ; not like the 
 meteor which astonishes for once and disappears, 
 but like the sun, genial and uniform in its course. 
 The inheritance they have left is seen in all we 
 have — in all we are. While the soil which they 
 cultivated remains, their labors and their virtues 
 will never be forgotten.