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stances to select their own course of employment, will be more apt to go into one, for which a fellowfeeling exists in the coinmunity,-when the expectation of profit is in some degree ennobled by a generous competition, that engages not only the public sentiment, but promotes the public weal. When emulation is once turned to this kind of improvement, its effects are so obvious, they are so pleasing, from the manner in which they adorn and display the country, that the pursuit is a constant source of satisfaction. The growth of trees, the giving a neat appearance to fields, the reclaiming a rough, savage spot, the making the wilderness to blossom, become at once the most alluring, and the most beneficent of all employments.

A great advantage follows from having men of property scattered over the country, who take an interest in agricultural concerns. Such men are able to take the risk of doing things on a large scale, and if the true definition of economy, in this, as in every other case, be a wise expenditure, they set an example, which their neighbours can imitate on a smaller scale. Their experiments, if they are too costly to be immediately profitable, still furnish hints to others, who may take the substantial part of them, and avoid the expense of what is ostentatious. The influence of such men, in promoting refinement of manners, a wider range of intelligence, and larger views of policy, is of incalculable importance to the moral and political interests of society. This is most strikingly shown in En

gland. The people who fill the higher ranks of the fashionable world, in that country, live in town only for a short season; the rest of the year they are dispersed over every part of the island. Their example and their influence are to be found in every district. They contribute to elevate and enlighten the whole population of the country. The middling classes are prevented from nourishing boorish and coarse dispositions and pleasures, -from being mere Squire Westerns, as was the case with many of the wealthy farmers, two or three generations back; and they themselves are saved from the degradation of becoming profligate courtiers, or narrow-minded cits. On the Continent, the contrary course was too prevalent; it was the policy of the courts to prevent all the men who were powerful, from rank or property, from exercising a local influence in the provinces; by making them the slaves and dependants of court influence, and intoxicating them with the pleasures of the capital. They retained them constantly near the sovereign, till they held a residence in the country as a painful exile, which, indeed, was used as a punishment. In a conversation, one day, with a distinguished individual, of high rank in the Russian service, and who was familiar with every part of the European continent,-he attributed almost the whole strength and energy of the English nation, to the circumstance of the great proprietors residing so much in the country; and the opposite state of things in this respect, in many other coun

tries, he considered a radical vice and weakness in their system.

To return from this digression:-the more we can find men of leisure and property devoting their attention to landed estates, and passing a part of the year in the country, enjoying its pleasures, diffusing intelligence and improvement in every district; the more we shall find the solid prosperity, and, above all, the moral character of the people advanced. Let us hope, then, that every individual, who has made his fortune in the city, may have a taste to spend a portion of it in the country. No pursuit is more useful than tilling the earth; none nobler, none more pleasing. But this topic has been often embellished. Let me conclude with the well-known expressions of that illustrious Roman orator, who was too sound a patriot not to give some of his time to agriculture :-Omnium rerum quibus aliquid exquiritur, nihil est agri cultura melius, nihil uberius, nihil dulcius, nihil homine libero dignius.

LETTER X.

MANUFACTURES.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

THE subject of manufactures has been fruitful of discussion in all its branches; from the previous question of policy, down to the matter of fact one of practicability. There are some folks even who are still doubtful on the first point, though it seemed to be settled by the clear, elaborate report of Hamilton, when Secretary of the Treasury; but this must always be so; if there are some men who advance too far beyond their cotemporaries to be of much use, like the twilight that precedes the splendour of day; there are others who always lag behind the progress of society, like the twilight that is soon extinguished in darkness. Some would deny all encouragement, even that of good-will and cheering approbation for successful efforts; while others clamour for exclusive privileges, prohibitions, bounties, and a whole system of hot house forcing, that can never produce a vigorous growth. While these debates are going on, while patriotism and avarice are alternately appealed to with every argument that can affect either; while some still deny that we can ever carry them on with advantage, and others assert

that we can never be independent without them; manufacturers themselves, in spite of their foes, and in some cases of their friends, are every where selecting the most suitable locations, forming solid establishments, and furnishing the disputants themselves with much of the clothing that protects them.

There are several parts of the United States where certain branches of manufactures are permanently fixed, without including those household productions, which are made to a great extent in every state in the Union. It is my purpose only, in answer to your inquiries, to tell you what has been done in the eastern division; to say something of the advantages it possesses for the prosecution of manufactures, and to remark upon some of the objections, that have been urged against them. In doing this, I do not intend to furnish you with details, to tell you the number of spindles or of triphammers that we have in motion. I have not the facts necessary for the purpose; I am not making statistical tables, but attempting only a general outline of our capabilities in this way.

We have furnished many proofs of the liability of theorists to make false calculations, and how frequently a successful practice will run counter to the most plausible reasonings of theory. Associations to introduce any particular branch of manufacture rarely succeed; numerous instances may be cited of their failures. Two, among others in Boston, may serve as examples of the rest. The first was an attempt to introduce the manufacture of linen;

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