Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1868-10-08

| the Macedonian, Whose ah0rt-llNod empire
fell with its youthful founder Had
Alexander tho Great planted trcs IN tho
interval Of his war, aud drank water like
Cyrus, he might have lived 10 establish
tho most extensive empire which the
world has ever seen. but new portend
Of conquest was springing up in the
West, on the frugal acres Of Etrusia and
Latinnm. That Cinoinnatus, who drove
the Equi aud Volsoi from the gates Of
Rome; that Paulus Emilius, who led the
last king Of Macedonia, with his family,
in triumph up the steps of the capitol ;
that Scipio, who at Xama forever broke
the power Of Carthage; those iron.hand-
ed, iron-hcarted consuls who conducted
tho Roman lcgions over degenerate
Greece, and fiery Africa, and effeminate
Asia, were, in the intervals of war and
conquest, filling the soil, and deyoting
the power of their mighty intellects TO
the study and practice Of agriculture. AT
length the Roman civilization persisted,
and new one, resting ON the morality
of the gospel and the hardy virtues Of the
Northern races, took its place, and has
subsistcd with gradual notifications, TO
the present day, and, Notwithstanding
the great multiplication of pursuits in
modern times, the perfection Of the useful
and fine arts, the astonishing expansion
Of commercial, manufacturing and me-
chanical industry, agriculture has kept
pace with the other occupations of sooie-
ty and continues TO be the basis and foun-
dation Of the social system,
But il is not necessary 10 90 back tc
the fabulous periods of Grecian and Ro-
man history to find bright and noble il,
Illustrations of the power and beauty OF
agricultural pursuits The greatest po
litical philosopher, and most consummat'
statesman of modern Europe, Edmund
Burke, who saw farther than any Of hi.
countrymen into the cloudy future which
hung over the close of the eighteenth cen
fury, at the meridian Of his lifc,and while
mos; engrossed in the public business Of
his country, purchased farm and de
: voted every moment lie could spare to it,
! improvement and cultivation. 1t wa.
upon this farm, in the quiet retirement 0
Beaeonsfeld, that those immortal orations
which revived in the British Senate tn,
glories OF her ancient eloquenoe, wer,
meditated and composed; there also wer,
created those inspired appeals which wen'
to the heart of England and of Europe il
the hour of their peril, and did SC
much to expose the deformity and arrest
the progress of that goddess philosophy
speoious arrogant, hypocritical and san
culinary, which with liberty and equality
on its lips, and plumber, murder anC
treason in its heart, waged deadly wa
against the independence Of the American
colonies
In this country our own pccrlcs
Washington, with burden Of pub
lie care upon his mind, unknown t,
other men, and conscious that no
only the American Revolution, bu
of the whole great experiment of repub
| lican government, was dependent in NJ
small degree upon his course and conduct
n yet gave, throughout his life, more Of hi
e time to agricultural studies and opera
tions than to any other object and whe,
l, the last grim messenger came to summoi
!. him to his reward, he was found in hi
Y farmers garb amid the shades and soil
d tudes of Mt, Vernon.
And nearly all the successors OF Wash
Il ington in the Presidency OF the Unite,
States passed the closing years Of thei
le eventful lives in the dignificd tranquilit
n of a farmers life, and in the quiet pie;
or sures of rural pursuits.
> Adams, Calhoun, Clay and Wehste
d the four great statesmen OF the North, til
lie West and the South, whose names are tn
ne pride and the boast Of the last generation
ID forget the colossal anxieties, the ster
IS, contentions,the herculcan labors and the
es thankless sacrifices to the public service
in the retirement Of the country, and Il
I'd calm and hcathful pursuits of agricu
10 ture
ce Thus, ii we study the history of Ii
III wise men OF our race, we shall find tht
he the minds Of all those master spirit
r whose wills have nodded, and who,
he hands have guided the destinies of MAJ
h. kind, have been more or less cngrosse
ar with the subject of agriculture, and tn,
n it has afforded them solacc and respit
from the cares and turinoils Of more uctiy
is, life.
e, The position which the farmer occupic