a new realm added to the dominions of your youthful and beloved sovereign, without the cost of a pound sterling, (that does not yield a full return,) without shedding a drop of blood. What is there in all the exploits of all the Alexanders and Cæsars that ever wasted mankind, compared with conquests like these? These, sir, are the triumphs of your society: let them so remain: Hæ tibi erunt artes; not made for England alone, but peaceful triumphs which other nations share; achievements in which all the industrious tribes of man bid you God speed. I propose to you, sir,

SUCCESS TO THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENG

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY AT WALTHAM.*

MY LORD DUKE:

THOUGH you had prepared me beforehand for a kind reception, I must say my most sanguine expectation has fallen short of the reality. The cordiality with which I have been welcomed by this large and respectable company has, I own, taken me by surprise. Indebted to your grace for the unostentatious hospitality which has at once made me at home beneath your princely roof, I am again indebted to you for my favorable introduction to this large and intelligent assembly, who have evinced towards my country and myself a kind feeling which demands my warmest thanks.

I need not say how sincerely I share the satisfaction expressed by your grace, with the evident approval and sympathy of the company, that the discussions so long carried on between the two governments have been brought to a satisfactory close; and that their relations are placed upon a basis, as I firmly hope, of permanent concord. I cordially concur in every thing that has been so kindly said respecting the importance of the two countries to each other. Too much credit, in my opinion, cannot be given to the friendly spirit which actuated her majesty's government in instituting the special mission of Lord Ashburton; and it is doing no more than justice to the government of the United States to say, that they met this amicable feeling half way, and showed themselves sincerely disposed to come to a reasonable understanding on the difficult points which had been so long contested

* In reply to a complimentary toast from the president of the society, (the Duke of Rutland,) at the public dinner, on the 26th of September, 1842.

between the two governments. With these dispositions on both sides, it is not to be wondered at that the intrinsic difficulties of some of the questions were overcome. Although I look at the various matters at issue in the light in which they have with great unanimity been viewed on our side of the water, I am able to do justice to the equally confident opinions which prevail in England on the other side; and I can truly say that, in the treaty lately negotiated, to which your grace has alluded, the points of dispute have, in my judgment, been compromised fairly and honorably to both parties; most creditably to the distinguished negotiators, Lord Ashburton and Mr Webster, and most advantageously to the two countries.

Henceforth let there be no emulation or rivalry between us, but in the cultivation of the beneficent arts of peace. Whatever glory crowns the achievements of war, these arts are still the most beneficial, the most dignified, I will say, the most godlike, which man can pursue. What a striking illustration of their superiority was furnished by your grace, in that intercepted Chinese letter, to which you alluded! When that vast empire, with its almost uncounted millions, was reeling under the blows of the late war, what was it which struck those barbarians, as we are perhaps too ready to call them, most forcibly? It was not the strange spectacle of seventy armed steamers, which you had sent from the antipodes into their rivers; not the three-deckers which prostrated their fortresses with a broadside. The blind Tartar courage was not subdued by these formidable demonstrations. But it was the approach of those who practised the arts of peace the physician and the surgeon, skilful ministers of relief, who did not confine their benevolent aid to their countrymen, but equally extended it to their prostrate enemies. These were the unarmed antagonists with which the Mantchoo sternness could not cope; this was a power to which they were not ashamed to yield.

Of all the arts of peace, none can claim precedence over that of agriculture, for the promotion of which we are this day assembled. It is eminently the handmaid of that over

ruling Providence, to which the reverend chaplain has so appropriately called our attention; the steward which provides their daily bread for the great family of man. Let us hope that our two countries will aid each other in the cultivation of this great and beneficent pursuit. I am sure it would be to our mutual benefit. There are indeed points of considerable difference between the two countries in reference to agriculture; but this circumstance will not prevent their intelligent farmers from studying each other's husbandry to advantage. In the United States, as in many of the British colonies, the government is the proprietor of a vast body of land, lying in a state of nature. Much of it is extremely fertile; but the government offers the fee simple of it to the purchaser at about five shillings sterling an acre. With this temptation to establish new farms in the interior, there is a great emigration from the older states. This keeps the population from becoming crowded; the wages of labor are consequently high; and among other effects of this state of things, that high finish which characterizes the English husbandry is not frequently seen in America. Another difference is in the climate itself. Our summers are hotter than yours. To this we owe that invaluable crop, our Indian Your winters are milder than ours; and to this you are indebted for that turnip culture which is the basis of your husbandry. But notwithstanding these differences, there must be much similarity between the agriculture of almost any two countries lying in the northern half of the temperate zone. In all that concerns implements of husbandry, the modes of draining and enriching the soil, the breeds of animals, the grasses, grains, roots, and fruits, and the enemies that prey upon them, there is an ample field for mutually advantageous inquiry and comparison.

corn.

Our two countries, as your grace has well observed, whatever points of difference in any respect may exist between them, have more in common than any other two nations now on the stage, perhaps than any two of equal strength and magnitude known to history. This is a circumstance which puts it in their power very materially to coöperate with each

It

other in promoting objects of great national concernment. authorizes mankind to look to their joint efforts for all the improvements of which our modern civilization is susceptible. There is something invidious in the predominant influence of a single powerful state; but where generous rivals combine, nothing practicable is beyond the reach of their joint efforts.

My opinion has been asked, since I entered the hall, as to the probable effect of the new corn law (that of 1842) on the importation of grain from America. If, gentlemen, as the noble chairman has stated, there is a general exclusion of political topics on the present occasion, I certainly am the last person present by whom they could with propriety be introduced. But inasmuch as the wish has been expressed that I would say a word on the topic alluded to, I must avow my entire concurrence with the chair, that it is too early to form a confident opinion on that subject. It is, however, my opinion, that whatever may be the case with some other foreign countries, America is too remote to be much affected by the recent modifications of your corn law. From the price of wheat now and for several years past in the United States, I am not of opinion that a great effect will be produced on prices here by importations from America, under the law of last winter. Undoubtedly, in times of great and continuing scarcity, when they unfortunately occur, an important part of your relief will always be derived from the United States. A certain quantity of American flour has always found its way to your markets. The quantity may increase, but in common years I think not greatly. There will, too, no doubt, under the recent modifications of your laws, be a considerable importation of salted provisions from the United States, though not probably to the extent of materially disturbing your markets. Whether the amount of these importations be great or small, they will be paid for (always leaving out of view exceptional cases of great scarcity) by British manufactures. The habits and tastes of the Anglo-Saxon element vastly the preponderating element — in our population lead to a great consumption of British manufactures.