The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1862-10-08

Inc nation, until Inc enactinent Ot TN
Hortensian laws, dividing lands, and Civ
ing sovereignty to the people, placed th
nation upon substantial basis Of growtl
and prosperity. Romans, unlike tn,
Greeks, admired the occupation of agri
culture.
Pliny, of her historians, says: eth,
earth took delight in being titled by tht
hands of men crowned with laurels anC
decorated with triumphal honors." Eacf
citizen was entitled TO seven Roman acre.
Of land, and from this generous and equa
public provision, estates gradually grew
into fifty acres, expanding, in some in
stances, TO five hundred, while the more
universal sentiment of the people found
expression in the practical maxim that
4" the farmer may praise large estates but
let him cultivate a small one."
War and agriculture were the great
divisions of Roman industry, and to the
largest extent engaged the Roman citi-
zen. Can it be wondered then, that nur-
tured by such elements of personal vigor,
the nation should have risen to such
strength and power, as not only to have
subjected Greece, compelling her to cast
all her refinement, literature aud splendor
at the feet Of her conqueror, but also to
have won scepter of universal conquest ?
Vanquished nations became humble, de-
pendent colonies, contributing TO the
greatness and power of Rome. None
could stay the march of her victorious
hosts so long as the nation was led by
statesmen who, to extricate their country
from temporary peril, could call TO the
dictatorship of State virtuous and he
roic Cincinnatus, who, with his improvis.
ed army Of gallant people, could hurl dis
astrously from the walls of the city the
valiant Sabines, and restoring peace and
safety 10 his country, patriotically surren.
der his sabre to resume the more genial
pursuit of the plow. Such was Rome
and her honored patriot; and yet, her
wealth, her imperial grandeur, forum,
groves Of science, philosophy and rhetoric,
her Pantheon, colosseum, the crowning
splendor of her capitoium, and all her
glorious military renown, stand out in his
tory rs signal monuments of vanished life.
When Rome forsook the policy which car
ried her to the zenith of her fame, and
corrupted by the riches Of her conquests
and courts, abandoned the cultivation of
her soil 10 her slaves, then commenced
that rapid decline which is soon TO event
ually end in the transfer of her imperial
capital TO the sovereign Victor Emanu-
al-of freed Italy. She forgot that Sex
perience is the true wisdom of nations"
and therefore fell from her dazzling
heighth to the depth Of future oblivion.
With these historical examples from
which to CLEAN a harvest of wisdom, let
not the logic of their events pass unheed-
ed upon citizens of Republic who wo'd
carve out an imperishable destiny for their
country from the experience Of the past.
To add to the importance of "experi-
ence," the worlds unsurpassed military
genius and lortiest statesman, who shook
the Eastern Continent with his brilliant
conquests and carried France by his won.
derful sagacity to her high rank in the
scale Of nations, classified the elements of
his prosperous empire into, first, Agricul-
ture-the soul, the first basis Of the En-
pire; second, Industry-the comfort and
happiness of the population.
With the admitted fact, of intelligent,
wealthy, gallant and powerful nations de-
moralized and ruined because they ceased
to encourage agriculture and turned the
public sentiment against it, to which over
whelming fact the Emperor Napoleon lent
his towering logic; the transition to the
argument Of our own country in the dis
cussion Of this vital question is both nat
ural and easy. True, our existence as a
nation has been, comparatively, of short
duration, but our growth, wealth and
power have been unexampled.
Possessed of country vast in its ex-
tent, with soil of the greatest variety,
and climate comprehending every diver
sity, we have, without interruption sprung
from prostrate colony of three million
exhausted and enfeebled by n sanguin-
airy struggle for independence-to the ex-
alted position of a powerful confederacy
numbering thirty million, and ranking
with the first powers of the earth. We
are emphatically apeople living upon the
practical faith that "labor is the source
Of all wealth" In analyzing this indus
try Of the nation we find the gross value
Of our productions in go, 5000, ,OOO,O 900,
of which the product OF agriculture was
2,000,000,000--more than one. half there
fore Of the value Of national industry
comes from the hand of the farmer
The annual products of a country is the
basis of its wealth, and the source of all
its activities.
The Importance Of the agricultural clio.
ment will be forcibly felt when we consid.
er the nation rs partnership, the seve.
raj members of which, those engaged in
the various departments Of industry
Profits and losses of every enterprise be.
ing apportioned according TO the capital
invested by the respective members, It will
be seen how LARGELY the tillers of the sol