AGRICULTURE.

A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE DINNER OF THE MIDDLESEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, AT LOWELL, OCTOBER 21, 1851.

[In reply to a complimentary toast by the President of the Society, the Honorable E. R. Hoar.]

I AM greatly obliged, Mr. President, by the friendly manner in which you have presented my name to the company, and greatly honored by the cordial reception they have given to it. I have come here, as you know, at the invitation of the Middlesex Agricultural Society, most kindly communicated by yourself, as their President, to witness their cattle show and ploughing match, and to listen to the lessons of experience and the words of exhortation which might be addressed to them by my excellent and able friend, Mr. Child.

Let me add, that as one of the Trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, and one of its delegates to the State Agricultural Board, I hardly felt at liberty to neglect such an opportunity of observing the progress of agricultural improvement in this good old County of Middlesex; a County which abounds alike in the memorials of a glorious past, and in the evidence of a prosperous present; whose soil is enriched with the best blood of the fathers, and adorned with the noblest institutions of their sons; and which, in the person and example of its own Prescott, leading on his patriot band at Bunker Hill in a farmer's frock, gave a pledge and an earnest, that no degree of devotion to agricultural pursuits, or to any other material interests, would ever interfere with the readiness and the resolution of its citizens, to do their full share in maintaining and vindicating the rights and liberties of their country.

I need not assure you, Mr. President, that I have been greatly gratified and delighted by all that I have seen, and all that I have heard, here to-day. I only wish that it were in my power to contribute any thing, in return, to the instruction, or even to the entertainment, of this assembly. But "silver and gold have I none." I have no rich crops to tell you of, no fat cattle to describe, no new theories of the potato rot to propose; and the most that I can do, is to express, in a few unpretending words, the deep interest which I cannot fail to feel, as a humble member of the community, in whatever relates to the improved cultivation of the soil, and still more to the improved condition of all who are concerned in it.

It would be quite superfluous, Sir, for me, or for any one, to say a syllable, on such an occasion as this, as to the importance of agricultural pursuits. It is enough for us all to remember, as I am sure we all have remembered while we have partaken of this substantial repast, that it is agriculture, which supplies the table at which the whole human family are fed; that it is agriculture, which is the appointed minister, the chosen handmaid, of our Heavenly Parent, in His gracious response to our morning prayer, that He will "give us this day our daily bread."

And even more superfluous would it be to speak of agriculture as an honorable occupation, and one worthy the attention and pursuit of the most intelligent and enlightened among us. To say nothing of other countries, or of other ages, or of other men, what higher testimony could be borne to the honorable character of any human occupation, than to say that it was the favorite occupation of Washington, -the pursuit which he exchanged with regret even for the highest honors of the Republic, and to which he returned with eagerness at the earliest moment of his retirement from public service. Washington, Sir, is known to us by many titles as the General of our armies, the President of our Republic, the Saviour of his country-and there is really no title too good, or even good enough, to bear his name company. But there is none under which that name will be longer remembered, or more gratefully cherished by posterity, none with which he himself would have been more proud to have it associated, than that of the Farmer of Mount Vernon.

And

But, Mr. President, I am not here to flatter the farmers. if I desired to do so, it would be rather a dangerous experiment at a moment when we are within ear-shot of so many of our fellow-citizens who are engaged in other pursuits. I shall not say to them, as the old Roman poet said, that, when Justice winged its flight from the earth, it made its latest abode, and left its last traces, among the homes and in the hearts of the husbandmen. For, I cannot forget, that that noble Association of Massachusetts mechanics, for which my friend, Mr. Lincoln, has just responded, and of which I enjoy the cherished distinction of being an honorary member, adopted long ago for its motto " Be just and fear not;" and I believe there is no body of men in the land, who more scrupulously "reck their own rede," and practise according to their own precepts.

Nor shall I tell the farmers, as they have been told from high quarters, in more recent days, that they are the "best part of the population;" for I know they would scorn any compliment which should be paid them at the expense of their brethren in other pursuits. It is enough for us all to admit that there is no better part of the population, unless, indeed, it be their own wives and daughters, as represented in yonder group, whose privilege is always to be styled, "the better part of creation." There are none better entitled, certainly, to the respect and confidence of the community, or to the protecting and fostering care of the government of the country. And let me add, Sir, that if the farmers do not receive their full share of this governmental care and protection, it is their own fault; for though our friend, Mr. Child, has clearly proved to us that they do not constitute the most numerous class in our own State, they are unquestionably in a great majority in the country at large, and can have their own way, whenever they see fit to assert their power and vindicate their rights.

Mr. President, I would gladly have said a more serious word, before taking my seat, in reference to the importance of some provision being made, either by the liberality of individuals, or under the patronage of the State, for the promotion of agricultural education, and the diffusion of agricultural science. But the sound of the car-bell is already in my ears, reminding me

that in a few minutes more I must be on my way to Boston. You have your own engagements, too, the distribution of prizes, the election of officers, and other interesting and important duties, with which I would be the last to interfere. I cannot conclude, however, without adverting more particularly to the fact that this is not a mere agricultural occasion.

There is something of peculiar and most agreeable significance both in the title of your Association, and in the time, place, and circumstances of your festival. You are a society of Husbandmen and Manufacturers, and you have chosen as the scene of your cattle-show the very site and seat of our largest and most numerous manufacturing establishments; while the Mechanic Association of the county has prepared a beautiful exhibition, crowded with every variety of curious machine and ingenious implement and exquisite fabric, and is uniting with you in all your arrangements and festivities. Horticulture, too, has lent its choicest fruits and its richest garlands to the occasion. And, above all, a good Providence has shed the selectest influences on the hour, by favoring us so unexpectedly with a day of such unsurpassed loveliness and brilliancy.

The whole occasion, Sir, furnishes a striking and beautiful testimony, on the part of those who understand the matter best, to the union and harmony of interests, which ought to exist, and which do exist, among all the different branches of human labor. It furnishes a noble refutation and rebuke to the idea, too often propagated for mischievous purposes, that there is an antagonism of interest or of feeling between the agricultural and manufacturing population of the country, and especially between the farmers and mechanics of our own State. It declares, in a voice not to be misinterpreted, that the interests of labor are one and the same, in whatever departments it is employed; and that the industrial classes, instead of thriving at each other's expense, find their highest interest and advantage in each other's prosperity. The greatest division of labor-the greatest union among laborers this is the lesson of the scene before us, and I hope it will not soon be forgotten. It cannot be forgotten, Sir, by the farmers at least, while the mechanic arts are providing such implements for agriculture, as those to which you have already

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alluded, the Massachusetts Plough and the Virginia Reaper, which have recently carried off the prizes at the World's Fair, and given new celebrity to American invention and Yankee skill; and which, let me add, are remembered by us not the less gratefully to-day, as having associated in the triumphs of modern art, those two ancient Commonwealths, which were so closely and so gloriously associated in the early struggles of American IndependNor will agriculture forget its indebtedness to invention and the mechanic arts, while it is in the enjoyment of those noble highways of intercommunication whose completion we have just celebrated, and which have brought the markets of Canada home to our very doors. Why, I have heard, Sir, within a few hours past, that since the opening of these roads, during the last week, one of your Middlesex farmers has found a ready sale for thirty or forty bushels of fresh peaches in the city of Montreal!

ence.

But, Mr. President, I am admonished that these railroads are like the wind and tide in at least one respect-"they wait for no man," and I hasten to secure my own passage, as well as to relieve your patience, by proposing as a sentiment, as I most cordially do,

"Success to the Farmers, Manufacturers, and Mechanics of Middlesex, and may they ever continue to cherish and cultivate those feelings of mutual respect and fraternal regard, which have united them to-day in a common and brilliant Festival."