Agriculture, of all occupations, is the one best calculated to rivet upon the heart a love of country. No profession is more honourable, but few are as conducive to health, and, above all others, it insures peace, tranquillity and happiness. A calling more independent in its nature, it is calculated to produce an innate love of liberty. The farmer stands upon a lofty eminence and looks upon the bustle of mechanism, the din of commerce, and the multiform perplexities of the literati, with feelings of personal freedom unknown to them. He acknowledges the skill and indispensable necessity of the first, the enterprise and usefulness of the second, and the unbounded benefits flowing from the last; then turns his thoughts to the pristine quiet of his agrarian domain and covets not the fame that accumulates around the other professions. His opportunities for intellectual improvement are superior to the two former, and, in many respects, not inferior to the latter. Constantly surrounded by the varied beauties of nature and the never-ceasing and harmonious operations of her laws, his mind is led to contemplate the wisdom of the Great Architect of worlds and the natural philosophy of the universe. Aloof from the commoving arena of public life, and yet, through the medium of that magic engine, the PRESS, made acquainted with the scenes that are passing there, he is able to form cool and deliberate conclusions upon the various topics that concern his country’s good and his country’s glory. In his retired domicile he is less exposed to the baneful influence of that corrupt and corrupting party spirit which is raised by the whirlwind of selfish ambition and wafted on the tornado of faction. Before he is roused to a participation in violent public action, he bears much, reflects deeply and resolves nobly. But when the oppressions of rulers become so intolerable as to induce the yeomanry of a country to leave their ploughs and peaceful firesides, and draw the avenging sword, let them beware—the day of retribution is at hand. Thus it was at the commencement of the American revolution—when the implements of husbandry were exchanged for those of war and the farmers joined in the glorious cause of liberty—the fate of England’s power over the colonies was sealed for ever. The commingling phalanx of all professions was irresistible as an avalanche in the full plenipotence of force.