Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1858-11-27
Gbe 1olpuesipn.
Address

Delivered before The State Agricultural Society Of Caltor-
MIA, 1858, By SAMUEL B. BELL.
From the California Culfuria of September Is
last, we make the following eloquent extracts from
the annual address of Mr.. Bell.-His subjects are
sngularly well chosen and well handled, his
style is epigrammatic and impressive.
AS we stand and live upon our great mother
EARTH so the whole fabric of enlightened life stands
upon agriculture Not alone because it feeds our
bodies but because of its moral and philosophical
forces as well as its physical. Egypt the first
cradle of Agriculture 1t was therefore, the first
cradle of civilization. The Israelites-the chosen
people-were no exception to the rule. They, In
their early career did not till the soil. They had
to be taken down into Egypt to learn agriculture,
or they would have been barbarians. The Greek
and the Roman would have been barbarian had
they not imported the agriculture, and the conse-
quent civilization of Egypt and Judea.
Thine and mne-thy fee simpIe-my fee SIM
pie in a spot of grounds omnipotent in produ-
cling enlightened life. The boundary fences-the
exact acres, roods, yards and feet-the precise
line of my land and thy land-are the talsman
that, first of all, converted wild and savage men
into enlightened and mighty nations. Had we no
other eTidence that Rousseau and his sO-called
philosophy were a hallucination, this would be
invented "meum and tuun mime and thine.
Had there been no such invention, Rousseau had
never lived to moralize. Had he lived at all,
he would have been less than our Diggers. The
fee simple farm-its owner upon II cultIyatlng
it himself-it is-it is-it has no comparison
ANY comparison would weaken it. Men mere
tribes-hOrdes; men are mere beasts without 1t.
1t is the mother of stability, with infinite progress
sion. 1t is the mother of wealth-the mother of
L., o-,l ~ y,rIar tna fhar Of 0nntl laf
commerce, arts, and the fine arts. From this
source spring the great emotions of the soul, pa
triotism-and those from whence come schools,
social and political order, churches, science and
religion-ong life, strong life-sbundance, popu
latiOn. Without it, the globe could never be
populated, for the earth could only sustain here
and there drove of men. Pioneering tends to
barbarism because it tends to rowing. Pioneering
is almost buccaneering! We are pioneers-and
vet see here, this early and devout attention 70
agricuture-this Society and its happy influences
upon us-and we are the mildest hammered buc-
cancers of history What had this State been
without it The present generation might have
survived in some sort of repute from the force of
early education. But the generation to come
would have been as the present Arab to the an
cieut Saracen-the present Mexican to the ancient
Spanish Cavalier. Without agriculture there is
no wealth Gold is not wealth; it is its conven-
lent representative. Commerce produces no wealth
it simply exchanges it. Manufactures and the
arts recombine it, Agriculture is the prolific
mother of wealth. The rest simply handle it,
when it is produced and delivered into their hand.
The earth of itself originally spontaneously pro-
duces wherewith to keep the race of man from
starving-only whilst he is making ready to till
the soil. Without il, he soon exhausts nature and
exhausts himself. He soon degenerates into
wild animal-liying here and there 10 small squads
"a little superior to other beasts of prey. The
earth breeds sayages. Agriculture breeds en-
lightened nations. 1t breeds houses and ships,
temples and seminaries it breeds the manufac-
tory Sculpture, painting and music are its of