Chapter I: Part 1

THE

RURAL MAGAZINE,

AND

LITERARY

_EVENING FIRE-SIDE_.

PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY RICHARDS & CALEB JOHNSON,
_No._ 31, _Market Street_.
1820

INDEX.

ADDRESS, preliminary 1
---- Tilghman's to the Philadelphia Agricultural Society 104

Adams, John, original letter from 50

Agriculture, treatise on 13, 54, 90, 129, 165, 211

Arabian horse, account of 31

Ants of Valencia 115

Agricultural education 100

Antediluvian oak 148

Antique nugea ib.

Anecdote 149
---- ib.

Air jacket ib.

Africa 154

Agriculture, essay on 169
---- letters on 332, 370

Agricultural memoranda 172, 227, 317, 380

Appraisement act 182

Agricultural discourse 267

Almanacks, origin of 276

American ginseng 380
---- saltpetre 397

Anecdote of Lycurgus ib.

Agriculture, honour paid to, in China 407

Agricultural school at Hofwyl 205
---- hints 292

Abstracts from Philadelphia Agricultural Society's memoirs 293

Absence of mind 429

American plants and minerals 172

Anecdote 432, 315

African people, the 325

Ants, natural history of 448
---- wars of 458

Advice and Caution 475

Antidotes to poison, vegetable 474

Anecdote 472

Boerhaave, notice of 78

Barrett, Starr, decease of 116

Backster, George, decease of ib.

Botany bay, a view of 141

Bear, sagacity of 147

Boring, legalized 152

Breweries, London 154

Brewing, family machine 248

Benezet, Anthony, anecdote of 273

Bulls, Irish 278

Boots without seams ib.

Bones, &c. as manure 216

Bank note exchange 280, 240, 320, 360, 400, 440

Benevolence 394

Books, on 234

Bees, attack by 422

Banks, Sir Joseph 427

Boon, colonel, death of 472

Botany, curious fact in 475

Cotton, rice, tobacco, sugar, wine, statistical account of 23

Coffee plant 27

Cow tree 29

Cattle, Herefordshire, breed of 35

Cowley, Robert, decease of 117

Congress, list of members of 39

Cottage Society, account of 36

Chestnut wood, for dyeing 115

Cobb, Christopher, decease of 117

Cattle, mill feed for 127

Cow, singular account of one 147

Coaches 148

Charity, ladies ib.

Chimnies ib.

Catwg, wisdom of ib.

Combustion, spontaneous 151

Cold, severe 153

Cotton, exportation of, from New Orleans ib.

Cameronians, account of the 185

Comfortable discovery 196

Cambricks, flax for 380

Characters, weight of great 394

Cave, Weir's in Virginia 396

Camels 398

Corn pounder, Lincoln 220

Caterpillars 172, 223

Curious phenomenon 231

Cattle, valuable breed of 295

Chester Agricultural Society 306

Cider, on making 339

Cabbages for cattle 340

Culinary poisons, letter on, &c. 348

Correspondents, notice to 120, 160

Carpets, cheap and elegant 453

Cement, Turkey 473

Chemistry applied to industrious economy 475

Corrosive sublimate, gluten an antidote for 471

Council Bluffs 473

Christians, new sect of 474

Desultory Remarker, 45, 81, 121, 161, 201, 244, 283,
321, 361, 401, 441

Domestic economist noticed 78

Deaths, list of, in the principal cities of the United States 117

Deaf and dumb marriage 197

Delametaire, Etienne, death of 236

Death, instance of premonition of 290

Diving bell 120

Domestic manufactures, premiums for 174

Drink, parallel of enjoyment and suffering, 314

Diamond, the 461

Drought 474

Druids 477

Dreaming ib.

Disputants 476

Education, agricultural 100

Ellery, William, decease of 116

Economy of Nature 150

Ephraim, my neighbour 262

Education 382

Ellery, Mr. account of 75, 232

Earth, the productions of the 328

Europe, statistics of 352

Edgeworth, Richard L. esq. memoirs of 412

Excursion from Edinburgh to Dublin 444

Economical bread, receipt for making 465

Fig tree, American 28

Fire places, improvement in 37

Franklin, Dr. original letter of 44

Fry, Mrs. account of 126

Flax, on dressing 170

Franklin, Dr. anecdotes of 179

Fulton, Robert, steam-ship 192

Family brewing machine 248

Foreign tongue, the English a 274

Franklin's, Judge, address 366

Farmers, hint to 380

Flemish husbandry 219, 303

Fruit trees, on the oiling of 222

Fruit garden 226

Fruit trees, method of forcing 228

Firmity and Hominy 291

Farmers, encouragement for, on poor land 332

Fuel, economy in 339

French women, 352

Forest trees, on the culture of 223

Fiction, works of 231

Flax for cambricks 280

Fata Morgana 451

Flowers in Holland 453

Food, cheap 457

Fox, Charles J. character of 467

Gas lights 151

Green crops, manures of 168

Glass, method of rendering it less brittle, 195

Grape vine, native 247

Gossip, view of a 262

Glass making, introduction of into France 273

Gimcrackery, on 326

Garrick, anecdote of 355

Ginger 457

Governors, mode of electing 477

Gil Blas and Don Quixote 476

Gourd, Jonah's 465

Grape vine, on the 69, 101

Horses, disease among 30
---- wild, of the west 31
---- cheap food for, &c. 246
---- cure for foundered 227

History, on the study of 49

Holkham sheep shearing 379

Honey, on taking, without destroying the bees 224

Historical sketches 229

Horse, the Arabian 31

Hams, to cure, Westphalia fashion 172

Hartford fair 431

Horse, running 470

Jewish emigrants 76

"Is it peace, Jehu?" 88

Indian jurisprudence 116

Jones, David, decease of 116

Intemperance, expose of the causes of 133

Iron boat 277

Indian corn, its good and bad culture 364

Internal wealth 397

Indian corn, new method of preserving 228

Ice, power of 235

Ivory paper 474

Indian, double-jointed 473

King, the, death of, &c. 145

Letters of a citizen, to his friends in the country 5, 47, 89

Letter to the editors 3
---- from an Englishman in this country, to his friends at
home 11, 51
---- original, from John Adams 50
---- ---- from Dr. Franklin 44
---- On Mrs. Fry's proceedings in Glasgow 126

Light, without heat, or combustion 36

Libraries, public, of Germany 80

Law case 113, 231

Longitude (new theory of) 115

Lane, Thomas, decease of 116

Library, apprentices' 146

London 151

Lapland 152

Leeches 153

Lybia 154

Longevity, extraordinary 155

Law suit 184

Lord Thurlow 277

Locust tree, the 412

Lincoln corn pounder 220

Lycurgus, anecdote of 308

Law work, new 476

Ladies, learned ib.

Lands, public 468

Moral plough boy 15, 59

Mummies 79

Miscellany 75, 115, 145, 193, 223, 274, 314, 354, 394, 433, 471

Modes of salutation 115

Mill feed for cattle 127

Mine, silver 150

Missouri, boundaries of 152

Maple Sugar, on the culture of the 164, 218

Manufactures, domestic, premiums for 174

Manner, on the importance of 177

Mortgage act 184

Maine 275

Modern inventions 278

Madeira, island of 387

Missouri, staples of 418

Marivaux 230

Microscope, beauties of the 345

Martial glory 233

Marriages, list of 155, 197

Mammoth cave in Kentucky, account of 464

Nicholson's prize essay 17, 62, 93

Natural curiosity 386

Niagara falls, route to 289

Needle, variation of the 351

Natural history, curious facts in 428

Nunneries in Rome, visit to two 454

Narrow resources, advantages of 462

Otto, Joseph, decease of 117

Oil spring 145

Oil stones 276

Oxen, on the use of, &c. 309

Oranges 227

O'Groat's, John house 430

Oil, cotton seed 470

Political Economics 26

Peruvian bark, singular effect of 29

Pumpkin seed, oil of 30

Pleasure, on the pursuit of 43

Phenomenon! 147

Paint, a newly discovered 149

Potatoes, seed 151

Portugal 153

Poultry houses, method of preserving from vermin 155

Peaches, to dry 173

Plum trees, canker on 174

Poultry 196

Pickle, Frederick, decease of 197

Pennsylvania hospital 276

Prices current 239, 280, 320, 360, 400, 440

Parmesan cheese dairy 376

Punctuality 384

Prompter, the 391, 417, 466

Plaster, remarks on 223

Pear tree, on the 226

Potatoes, young, in the winter 227

Peaches, to preserve from frost 227

People, the African 325

Pompeia, present state of 341

Potatoes 338

Pyroligneous acid, antisceptic power of 456

Population in America, increase of 474

Ruth, story of 125

Ralp, Elizabeth, decease of 116

Russia, 153

Republican manners 175

Rain gauge, state of, at Philadelphia 197, 239, 280, 320, 360,
400, 440, 479

Rhode Island 275

Rivers, machine for crossing 277

Rain, cattle scenting 278

Rice, wild 377

Rags, conversion of, into sugar 224

Ruta Baga, experiments 225

Rural Magazine, a friend of, to its readers 281

Riddle, Baron Smyth's 476

Raindeer 475

Slavery, extension of 6

Sugarcane 27

Savannah, fire in 76

Straw bonnets 80

Seeds (from the plough boy's cottage) 85

Starch, to make 115

Staughton, Don Juan, decease of 116

Sweden, latitude of, trees in 150

Spider, anecdote of ib.

Snow, red 152

Smokers, hint to 155

Shoes, wooden scaled 175

Sentiments of an old soldier 179

Shepherd's dog 190

Snow Storm, the 253

Seeds, on 378

Salt, remarks on, as a manure 411

Speech, natural to man 419

Strawberry, improved method of cultivating 222

Spanish inquisition 232

Sullivan, O. Theodore, death of 236

Sugar, domestic, on the increase of, in the United States 330

Steam coach, 419

Subscribers, address to 240, 281
----, notice to 480

Scottish adventurers 355

Salt mines of Meurthe in France 357

Stone Floors, &c. 421

Sounds, increase of, during night 476

Silk, domestic sewing 476

Seduction 472

Thermometer, state of, at Philadelphia, 40, 240, 280, 319, 360,
400, 440, 479

Trees, new method of inoculating 173

Turkeys, cheap food for 272

Tortoise, land 276

Turkmans, the 383

Turks, account of the 392

Trees, to prevent decay in 223

Turnips, on the culture of 308

Thrift, lessons on 344

Transplanting wheat, on 434

Travels, Burckhardt's 469

Tooth, drawing the wrong 475

United States, congress of the 471
---- ---- square miles of the 474

Vine dressing, near Vevay 25

Village teacher, 41, 83, 123, 163, 203, 241, 286, 322, 403, 443

Vine grape 173

Variety 363

Vineyards at Vevay 295

Watt, James, Life of 32

Whale fisheries 36

Wool, imports of, into England, 74

Wolf bounty 78

Water, preservation of, at sea 116

Writing, legible 150

Webb, Margaret, decease of 156

Wayne, William, decease of ib.

Winchell, J. M. decease of ib.

Whimsical conflict, 184

West, Benjamin, death of 232

Whale, surprising vigour of a 310

Wild horses and asses, 313

Workmanship, premiums for 313

Waste of life 343

Wooden soaled shoes 175

Whale, Spitzbergen, zoology of the 423

Wonders of nature 452

Wirt, extracts from 461

Whale fishery, Nantucket 470

Wheat, cutting, before it is ripe 472

Yeast, receipt to make 278

POETRY.

The aspen tree 118

Song of gratitude ib.

The hamlet ib.

Verses written after seeing Windsor castle 119

Finland song ib.

Quiet mind ib.

Moonlight and calm at sea 120

Go, idle lays! ib.

The graves of my fathers 157

Auld age ib.

Dreadful hard times 158

Winter 159

To ---- ib.

Versification from the book of Ruth ib.

The peasant and his wife 160

Agriculture ib.

Time 198

Winter evening's amusement for Jane and me ib.

Youth and old age ib.

Cure for trouble ib.

Lines inscribed to M. Wiltshire ib.

On intemperance ib.

Hope ib.

To my wife 200

The Icelander's song ib.

To the snow drop ib.

The soldier's adieu 279

Evening ib.

On the return of the new year ib.

The fox and the cat 399

Stanzas, from Barton's poems ib.

Memory ib.

The deaf and dumb boy 237

On man's dependance on his creator ib.

Ode to imagination 238

An invocation to poverty 239

Glory to God ib.

Prayer and praise to God ib.

Hymn to resignation 318

The beau and the bedlamite ib.

Silent worship 319

Paddy M'Shane ib.

The braes of Yarrow 358

The ivy ib.

To a country girl 359

On prayer ib.

On the duke of Bridgewater 438

On the kitten ib.

An autumnal tale 439

The Cherokee's grave 478

Hope ib.

Angler ib.

The mother's lament 479

Church Fellowship, ib.

THE

RURAL MAGAZINE,

AND

LITERARY EVENING FIRE-SIDE.

VOL. I. PHILADELPHIA, _First Month_, 1820. _No._ 1.

It is not without feelings of anxiety that the editors of the RURAL MAGAZINE issue forth their first number to the public; for they are aware of the lasting effect of a first impression, and that they have now fairly embarked in an adventure, the success and the termination of which are alike uncertain. Diffident however as they are of their own abilities, they have full confidence in the excellence of their plan, and the kindness and assistance of their friends. Of the value of this assistance, the work itself will testify; of the plan which they have marked out, it is but fair that the reader should be informed.

A leading object of the _Rural Magazine_ will be to furnish correct views of the science of Agriculture, and the various improvements which are daily made or suggested in it. For this purpose the best and most recent European works on the subject will be consulted, and selections made from the American newspapers that are devoted or friendly to the cause. The best information on the subject will thus be condensed in a form less unwieldy than a newspaper, and more popular than in scientific books. We also expect original papers from our agricultural friends, being confident that there is much in the farming of our neighbouring counties, well worthy of being widely known and imitated.

Yet, as we wish our Magazine to have an extensive circulation, and to be interesting not merely to the farmer, but to the citizen and the general reader, a considerable part of every number will be occupied with topics of general literature, selections from approved new publications, particularly Biography and Travels, Essays, and information on scientific subjects; and original miscellaneous communications. To original and well written essays, our pages will always be accessible; and we particularly solicit such as will throw light on the history, antiquities, geography, curiosities, and productions of our own country. With the genuine productions of the Muse we shall always be glad to adorn our pages; but we have no desire to patronize the unfledged attempts at versifying, the lamentable ditties with which the public is weekly besieged, for we hold that in poetry there is no tolerable medium.

But to an American and a philanthropist, there are still higher objects to be gained by the circulation of such a paper, than the mere diffusion of agricultural intelligence or general literature. He lives under a system of government which is ideally perfect; and he sees it distorted by the vices and the passions of its subjects. He is the disciple of a religion which breathes good-will to mankind; and on whichsoever side he turns, are to be seen oppression, the darkness of ignorance, self-inflicted wretchedness, and amalgamating corruption. He sees a large portion of the human family held in chains by the very nation that has pronounced all men to be free and equal. The condition of that unhappy race, even when emancipated, excites his deepest commiseration and most anxious fears. He sees the aborigines of our country, a noble race of men, perishing like the beasts of the forest before our approach; and that under every circumstance of wretchedness and degeneracy.--Above all, the great and fatal delusion of war, more bloody than the superstitions of Moloch, still overspreads the world, and renders man the destroyer of man.

To all these subjects will the _Rural Magazine_ be watchful and alive; for the editors believe them to be subjects of the deepest interest, and having relation to our highest duties. He who tills his field, or pursues his occupation with diligence and skill, is a deserving and honourable citizen. He who, in addition to this, cultivates his mind, and stores it with useful and ornamental knowledge, raises himself in the scale of being, and adds to his capacities both for happiness and usefulness. But when he adds to this industry, and to these talents and accomplishments, the benevolence of a Christian philanthropist, and renders them subservient to the welfare of his species, he attains to the highest dignity of his nature, and fulfils all the obligations which devolve on him as a citizen and a man.

Such are the general outlines of our plan; and as we feel no local or political prejudices, they shall never have place in the discussion of any subject which may appear in our columns. Combining in this manner an agricultural, a literary, and philanthropic journal, we look with confidence to the support of our enlightened fellow citizens; and assure them, that no exertions on our part shall be wanting to fill up the measure which we have meted out, and render the _Rural Magazine_ deserving of their patronage.

FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.

_To the Editors._

You are about embarking in a literary voyage, calculated, if ably and prudently conducted, to subserve the best interests of society. Previously, however, to your taking a final leave of terra firma, and before its shores shall recede from your view, it may be the part of wisdom to contemplate the nature and object of your journey, by the steady lights of experience. The legitimate end of every enterprise of the kind, is to enlighten the understanding, and improve the heart. To produce a result so important, no exertion should be omitted, and no means neglected, to impart a useful interest to your miscellany. Of the truth of these preliminary observations, you are no doubt sufficiently impressed. To please every taste, however fastidious, or to gratify in all respects, the wishes of the million, would be a task altogether hopeless; and which a temperament the most sanguine, would scarcely indulge. However transcendent may be the merit of any periodical journal, and however brilliant its success, should the editor listen at all the avenues of public opinion, his ear will notwithstanding be saluted by many an ungrateful sound. Some readers will complain of what they are pleased to call its dull monotony; while others will lament the sacrifice of what they conceive to be matters of importance, in the pursuit of endless variety.--Those who seek for novelty alone, will sometimes be disappointed; while others will start objections, because sufficient respect is not accorded to the venerated opinions of the olden time. The gay may sometimes meet with nothing to excite the smile of merriment, and the grave and reflecting may regret to find so little solid food for the mind. He, however versatile his talents, who would be a favourite with them all, must first be successful in his chase of the ignis fatuus; or obtain from that fairy region in which the rainbow reposes its brilliant arch upon the earth, its treasures of gold. But if your labours should happily tend to give "energy to virtue, and confidence to truth," you will not fail to gratify the wishes of those whose approbation alone is worth desiring--_the well principled_ of all parties.

It has been said, and repeated times without number, that to call a rose by any other name, its odour would be equally delightful. Although the fact may be so, the inference that a name is altogether unimportant, cannot be supported on just principles of deduction. Authors, who have reflected the brightest honours on the cause of literature and virtue by their writings, have encountered a difficulty at the very threshold, in selecting for them an appropriate name. It was after some time anxiously devoted to the subject, by which it would appear _they_ considered it a matter of no trifling consequence, that the pious and elegant _Addison_ adopted that of a Spectator, and the _Sage_ of Litchfield that of a Rambler; under which, with such signal effect, to inculcate the lessons of moral truth. It has been observed by one who knew something of the world, that few circumstances contribute more essentially to general success in life, than an engaging first appearance. So, likewise, the garb in which it appears, as well as the name by which it is distinguished, is more intimately connected with the extensive popularity of a work, intended for the general reader, than at first may be supposed. It is gratifying therefore to find, that both these considerations have had with you their due weight.

The _Rural Magazine_ will not only be a repository for articles of miscellaneous interest, but peculiarly so for every thing connected with agriculture, and a country residence. It is to rural scenes, and rural innocence, and rural employments, that man is principally indebted for many of those blessings and enjoyments, which impart a charm to human existence, and lighten its load of cares and sorrows. The man, whoever he is, that has long been confined to a populous city, will at length with _Shenstone_ sicken with the unceasing recurrence of artificial life, and long to breathe the pure atmosphere of the country. He will hail with delight the blue bird, earliest harbinger of spring, and welcome the primrose, eldest daughter of Flora, and contemplate with rapture the vernal season, in which youth, and beauty, and melody, walk hand in hand, over verdant lawns, variegated with flowers, inhaling the zephyrs of health. Then he will witness summer, with brown, vigorous, and manly aspects; and autumn, groaning with her ripe and mellow fruits; succeeded by winter, clothed in storms and glittering with pendent icicles; who notwithstanding a sternness of mood, and a manner somewhat uncourteous, is in the hands of a beneficent Creator the minister of great good to man. The fury of the tempest may rage, and the clattering hail beat against the windows; the driving snows may deform the face of day, and nature assume the appearance of old age and decay: notwithstanding all this, that portion of the circling year, of which we are speaking, will continue to have its positive pleasures. These will be closely and intimately united in the domestic circle, where in charmful confederacy they will be found clustering round the _Evening Fire-side_. Who does not associate with this delightful scene his earliest images of innocent gayety and exquisite enjoyment; in which garrulous old age and lisping infancy mingle their voices, and where carking care never intrudes? But as the hours are hastening on with feathery footsteps, they should likewise minister to the cause of mental and moral improvement. The _farmer_ should cultivate a taste for reading, and store his mind with useful knowledge; and thus become qualified to assume the dignified station to which, in this happy country, he is fairly entitled. He should remember, that the plough has been guided and venerated by the "awful fathers of mankind;" and that a profession, to which _Cincinnatus_ and _Washington_ were zealously and practically devoted, and for which the emperor _Charles_ V. exchanged his sceptre and his crown, must be intrinsically elevated and respectable. It is among the yeomanry of our country that the love of literature, by whom it is already cherished to a creditable degree, should be more widely and universally disseminated.

In order to promote an object so desirable, may you succeed in assembling at your _Evening Fire-side_ a cheerful happy group, who, bidding defiance to the rude clamours of the storm without, shall entertain topics of public utility, while cultivating and improving the domestic virtues; and with warm and expansive gratitude ascribe their blessings to a benignant Providence, _from whom alone they are all derived_.

E.

FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.

_Letters of a Citizen to his Friends in the Country_.

NO 1.

The establishment of a periodical work, designed in part for circulation among my agricultural fellow citizens, furnishes an opportunity which I have often desired, to address you. In contemplating the dignity and utility which are combined in the occupations of an American husbandman, in estimating the extent of influence which belongs to his character, and regarding his elevated independence, I have long since been led to the conclusion, that the _Farmers_ of the soil form the basis of the nation's strength, and ought largely to contribute to its ornament.

In the occasional communications which I propose to make to you through this medium, I shall adopt a plain, familiar, and candid manner; and endeavour to point not only at those errors which certainly exist, but also attempt to suggest how they can be most effectually removed.

"What!" methinks I hear some hardy son of the field exclaim--"who is this that promises to improve our mode of farming?" _A Citizen, forsooth._ Now let us at the threshold understand each other. I do not intend to meddle much, if at all, with your system of agriculture, though I conceive it quite possible for a man who has been born and educated in a _city_, to furnish important hints for the improvement of rural affairs. My purpose is to interest your attention with subjects which may tend to enlarge and elevate your _minds_. It is a lamentable fact, that too little regard is paid to _intellectual cultivation_, among those who till the earth.

A well managed farm, supplied with substantial buildings, and under good fence, is creditable to its possessor, and forms a part of the public wealth. Every individual who thus improves his land, not only enriches himself, but should be considered as a benefactor of the commonwealth. Here, unhappily, the energies of the farmer are limited. This is a radical error. With the pecuniary means which his industry has accumulated, he should increase his own intelligence, and confer upon his children the benefits of _substantial education_. I do not admit as truth, what is frequently asserted, that the best examples of morality and virtue are to be met with in the country; for whereever the improvement of the mind is neglected, those ennobling qualities will be rarely found. It is idle to suppose that our intellectual capacities will yield fruits which dignify and adorn our nature, if they be solely devoted to increase our worldly possessions. The plough turns up from the soil no nourishment for the mind, neither do the scythe and sickle prostrate the vices of the heart.

Abstractedly, therefore, a man may be as destitute of good principles who lives amidst rural scenes, as he whose pursuits confine him to the busy haunts and contagious influences of the multitude.

But I am beginning to lecture before I have an audience. I took up the pen merely to introduce my proposals to your notice. You have a specimen of my way of thinking. If you like it, so much the better; if not, I cannot promise to serve a more palatable dish--but am always your friend,

CIVIS.

[The subject of the Missouri state bill, involves, in our
opinion, an agricultural question, important to the last degree
to the farmers of America:--Whether that great country west
of the Mississippi, compared with which all the United States
are small, shall, in future ages, be dotted over with pleasant
villages and comfortable farm houses, and cultivated by the
industrious owners of the soil, each vieing with his neighbour
in beautifying the face of nature: or be blotted and defaced by
innumerable wretched habitations of miserable slaves, with here
and there, on distant eminences, the _lone_ mansions of their
masters. Whether that great country, now left rich by nature,
shall be converted into barren wastes by continued exhausting
crops of tobacco and Indian corn, without one shovel-ful of
manure to invigorate the expiring soil, as has been the case
in some of the fine districts of Virginia and Maryland; or
whether it shall be covered with luxuriant fields of wheat, rich
meadows and innumerable herds.--Viewing this great national
question, so intimately connected with our favourite subject, we
feel the more interest by giving an insertion to the following
communication of our correspondent SANDIFORD.]--_Ed._

FOR THE RURAL MAGAZINE.

_Extension of Slavery._

It is the great and distinguishing feature of our free government, that it is built upon the eternal principles of justice and rectitude. The passions and the interests of its subjects or administrators may pervert its original design, and wield the power it confers to the purposes of oppression or licentiousness. So long, however, as we have access to the charter of our constitution, the great original fountain of our laws, we may renew or purify those streams which have become choked up or polluted. It forms a perpetual and unerring standard by which to judge of principles and policy; and whatever measures are found wanting in its scale, may safely be pronounced to be unwise and unsound. The flux and change of opinions and interests, the perpetual encroachments of wealth and power, the decay of old prejudices and jealousies, and the rise of new ones, wear away continually the old landmarks, and imperceptibly give to our institutions a new aspect and new bearings. While we admit this flexibility to be in a certain measure necessary for the conservation of peace and union, we must steadily insist upon its being limited by the great leading features of the constitution, and that reference should constantly be had to first principles, as to a fountain of life and strength.

Never, surely, has there been a question agitated, in which those principles were so deeply at issue, as in the one which is now before the American people. I need scarcely say, that I allude to the Missouri state bill, and to the introduction of slaves beyond the Mississippi. This subject has been ably and repeatedly discussed. A universal expression of sentiment has gone forth from the people of the northern and middle states, and it has awakened powers of eloquence and argument that have seldom been surpassed. That first burst of emotion has subsided; and now that the question is upon the point of being settled, it may not be altogether useless to recall the attention of the public to the subject.

That slavery is a crime against God and nature, and that its existence in our free country is a most dangerous and lamentable evil, cannot be doubted. Our only apology as a nation for its existence, is, that we found it among us, and that an overruling necessity obliged us to leave its extirpation to the hand of time and experience.

The august founders of our republic have not once named it in the constitution, as if they were unwilling that so foul a name should stain the purity of our escutcheon, as if it were a crime against humanity too execrable to be uttered. They looked forward to a period when it should cease and be forgotten, and made ample provision for its future annihilation. Their solemn declaration to the world, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain _unalienable_ rights, and that among these are life, _liberty_, and the pursuit of happiness," had otherwise been the worst of mockeries.

The words of the constitution, "The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states _now existing_ shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress, prior to the year 1808; but a tax may be imposed on such person not exceeding ten dollars for each person,"--clearly show, beyond the possibility of a cavil, that the right to legislate concerning slaves is vested in the general government, and that the convention was fearful that the attempt to exercise it might be made, before the southern states were prepared for any laws upon the subject. The Congress has, in fact, uniformly exercised this right in all its laws for the government of the new states and territories. It prohibited the importation of slaves and their migration into the northwestern territory. The states which ceded the territory south of the Ohio, and east of the Mississippi, were fully aware of this power of Congress; and they ceded it with certain stipulations in favour of the slave holder. Yet even over the states which were formed in this region, has Congress exercised its power, and secured to the slave the right of trial by jury and of the habeas corpus. All these laws were passed without exciting any suspicion that Congress was transcending its powers in thus clogging the constitutions of the new states. They were regarded as decent and becoming in a government founded in justice and freedom, "as extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty." That northwestern territory offered no inducement to the slave holder, or to a slave agriculture. Now, however, the case is altered. A province adapted to the cultivation of cotton and tobacco, and in obtaining which the government made no stipulations in favour of slavery, claims to be elevated to the rank of a state. It is a desirable situation for the planters, and holds out from its situation and fertility a golden prospect. They claim accordingly to be admitted there, with their slaves; and a clamour is raised because the people of the United States are unwilling further to extend slavery--to sacrifice the principles of our republic upon the altar of avarice.

The pretence--it scarcely deserves the name of argument--is, that such restriction would be _unconstitutional_, _oppressive_, and _inexpedient_.

It is UNCONSTITUTIONAL!--The refutation is a part of our history, and is written in the pages of our statute book. It is OPPRESSIVE! It would exclude the southern states from sharing in the benefits of these new settlements. Are not the lands open to all, and disposed of at public sale? They can only be made valuable, it is true, by incessant labour, under severe privations. But this the hardy yeomanry of the eastern and middle states are willing to endure for the sake of independence and an establishment for their families. We see them accordingly in the van of our empire, subduing the forest and filling the wilderness with the busy sounds of industry and contentment. Are the slave holders of the south a privileged order, that these labours would demean them? Are they oppressed by being placed on an equality with their brethren of the north, who leave behind them all the artificial distinctions and luxurious indulgences of society? Are not their arms and limbs as capable of labour, and their bodies of fatigue? Where then is the inequality and the oppression? A citizen of a slave holding state, at home, and under his state laws, may be a petty monarch; and he is apt to fancy that he derives the power from an inherent birth-right. But out of his state, and from under its laws, he is an individual unit, a mere citizen of the United States; and can claim no privilege which is not granted to every American, or which is opposed to the spirit and intent of the constitution. That constitution pays no respect to persons. It does not recognise the existence of slavery; and the petition to admit it in the new states, is a glaring mockery of its character.

It has been contended, that after the state was organized, the inhabitants might assemble in convention, and alter the constitution in this respect. Such an assertion betrays the grossest ignorance of the true principles of the Union. Our government is emphatically a _compact_, originally between the people; and since then, between Congress as their representative, and the new members. It is binding on both sides, and the terms of admission are, that Congress approves of the constitution which the state has formed. Its power of rejection, it is true, is limited to certain points. But upon those points that power is absolute; and amongst them, without a shadow of doubt, is _slavery._ The state which, having accepted of a limitation to its power in this respect, should presume to alter it, would set that power at defiance.

But the restriction is INEXPEDIENT! And what is the amount of inexpediency? Some thousands of dollars less to the public revenue--some hundreds of thousands less in the sale of public lands! Forbid it, Justice! forbid it, the Genius of the Constitution! that we should barter our free inheritance for a mess of pottage; that the countrymen of Washington should coolly calculate the profits of a desertion of principle. But not only is the restriction not inexpedient, it is called for by the clearest dictates of sound policy. We are now entering upon a region of almost boundless extent and fertility, destined at some future day to be the abode of millions of human beings. Upon the decision of the present question, in all probability, will it depend, whether that population will be a free and industrious race, or whether the great majority will be bound in the chains of slavery, stinting the growth and paralyzing the energies of the community.

If it be fairly decided that slavery shall not exist to the west of the Mississippi, we shall soon see the rich vallies of that territory occupied by industrious farmers, proving what is no doubt the fact, that freemen can cultivate the staple commodities of that country more advantageously than slaves. Let us for a moment contrast the opposite pictures which are here presented.

The privileged order of the southern states have, it is true, every temporal blessing they can desire, save that of security. But their hordes of slaves--a million of labourers, chained down to cheerless and incessant toil, shrouded in utter intellectual darkness, cut off from all that ennobles and adorns existence, stationary amidst the general march of improvement, and sold and driven about like herds of cattle;--is there not in this picture, retouch it and soften it as you may, subject for bitter regret? and is there nothing to cheer the heart of the patriot in the reverse? A country studded with villages and farms; a smiling and contented population; intelligent, virtuous, and industrious, and the strength and the pride of the nation, and becoming in its turn the hive for fresh swarms of emigrants. This is no exaggerated or romantic representation. These opposite conditions exist in our country; and Congress have now to decide which of them shall give its features to the western valley of the Mississippi.

But it is from motives of humanity and security, say some, that we plead the extension of slavery. The evil will thus be diluted and lessened. Admirable politicians! profound economists! A poisonous plant has overgrown one of your fields, and you seek to extirpate it by spreading the seeds throughout your possessions! A concealed fire is smouldering in your house, and you would prevent its conflagration by scattering the embers upon your neighbours' dwellings!

It is not thus that slavery is to be mitigated or done away. Confine slavery within its present limits, and we may then hope to see it extinguished. We are young, and may outgrow it. There is a great body of active and enlightened philanthropy in the southern states; and it may yet devise means for its extinction. Build around it a circumvallation of freemen, and you render impotent its fearful threatenings. But give to it that principle of indefinite increase which our white population derives from the inexhaustible extent of our country, and you spread it over the face of the Union; you clothe it a hundred fold with terrors; you render it coeval with our empire.

But not only this. The slave trade from Africa to the United States will never be abolished, if we allow of slavery to the west of the Mississippi. So great will be the value of slaves along the rich bottoms of that territory, that no laws, however severe, can put a stop to their importation. That accursed traffic is even now carried on with impunity, and to an incredible extent. Fifteen thousand victims have been worse than immolated at its shrine within a single year. With greater temptations to engage in it, in more remote situations, and along an unguarded frontier, no human power can altogether check it.

Nor will it be merely a foreign slave trade that this extension will encourage. An internal traffic will take place. The poorer and more healthy states will become the breeders for the new and unhealthy districts; and it will happen as it has ever done, that the pursuit of a trade, wicked and cruel in itself, will entail the commission of crimes, the violation of every moral law, _the begetting of offspring for the purposes of an unholy traffic_. A deadly taint will spread over the morals and character of our country, which not all our professions of liberty can purify; and if there be any prophecy in history, the rights of these long degraded beings will one day be vindicated with awful retribution.

I have treated this subject with warmth; with more warmth, perhaps, than has served my cause. But I cannot think without indignation of the attempt which is now making to extend the empire of slavery--a despotism in the bosom of a republic; and which I believe to be pregnant with the most disastrous consequences. It is necessary that the public mind should be kept awake on the subject; and I cannot refrain from lifting up my feeble voice on the occasion.

One word more, and I have done. The division in Congress upon this subject, has been truly called a geographical division. The members from the south, with scarcely an exception, voted for the introduction of slaves. Yet from the same quarter do we hear of splendid schemes for colonization and emancipation, for eradicating slavery, and pouring the light of civilization and religion upon ravaged and benighted Africa. Many of the most conspicuous actors in this great scheme of benevolence, are the men who have exerted all their talents upon the floor of Congress to increase the evils over which in another place they mourn; to sink us still deeper in the dangers into which they have confessed we are plunged.

What are we to think, Gentlemen, of the purity of your motives, or the sincerity of your professions? Is it that your fears, and not your benevolence, impel you; that you wish to rid yourselves of the free blacks, and rivet and extend your dominion over the slaves? If these imputations are false, show yourselves at least to be consistent. Do not by your own act extend the evils you so eloquently regret. Give us that proof of the sincerity of your benevolence (the only one we can believe) that it is stronger than your sense of private interest. Prove to us that you are honestly bent upon exterminating slavery, and there are thousands who now stand aloof, that will join you with all their strength in any scheme that can effect it; thousands, whose daily prayer is, that the mercy of an all-just Providence may avert from our country the calamities of a servile war and a divided empire.

We ask of you no extravagant or impracticable scheme of emancipation; We do not wish to see your Helots invested suddenly with privileges which they would only abuse; nor do we look _for your relief and theirs_, to any other means than those which time and cautious experience may suggest. But we beseech you, as you are sincere in your plans of colonization, as you value the fair fame of our common country, as you regard the security and prosperity of all future generations--to stay the plague of slavery from spreading, and to give to the inhabitants of the Missouri a charter which shall not disgrace the great principles of our revolution, nor _allow man to be the tyrant of his fellow man_.

SANDIFORD.

FAMILIAR LETTERS

_From an Englishman in this country to his Friend at home_.

(Communicated for the Rural Magazine.)

No. I.

PHILADELPHIA, _Sept_. 8, 1819.

My dear G.--You will perhaps be surprised at my dating this letter from this place, but I shall shortly explain to you the reason. We arrived in perfect safety at Baltimore on the 6th inst., after a very pleasant passage; not unusually short, but rendered exceedingly _comfortable_ (that dear English word, although they have here naturalised it, as they do almost everything that comes from us,) by the kind, social, and attentive manners of Capt. ----. To give you a detail of all the circumstances of our voyage would be unnecessary. I do not wish to nauseate you with the revolting particulars of a landsman's initiation to the ocean. We had not that humiliation to undergo which would have been our lot if the equinoctial had unfortunately crossed our path; but we had enough to inspire us with a perfect sense of our own inferiority to, and dependence on that Power that can rule the winds and the waves. However, our dear Mrs. and Miss ---- were so much affected by the motion of the ship, and other associations, that we enjoyed very little of their company. The first appearance of land, even that land, which since my recollection has been supposed to be inhabited by spirits, hostile in late, although similar in early habits to ourselves, was greeted with most sincere satisfaction. That land was inhabited by Christians, by men like ourselves, derived from the same origin, boasting of equal laws adopted from our code in general principles, and operating like our own upon freemen. We were landed in consequence of an unfavourable wind, at Norfolk; where, although we staid but a few minutes, I was sorrowfully convinced that all the inhabitants of the land I was visiting were not freemen.

A public sale of blacks was about to take place, and my first introduction to the country I had so joyfully pictured, was associated with feelings to which I had till then been a stranger. Poor wretches, thought I, as they passed badly clothed and manacled through the streets, you give an alien a strange idea of the consistency of your rulers, and a lamentable evidence of the truth of the political axiom, that those who feel power, forget right. As I shall probably visit Norfolk in common with the other maritime towns of Virginia, before I return, sufficient interest has been excited in my mind to enable me to assure you, that I shall give you further details of the situation of that unfortunate class of human beings.

From Norfolk our voyage to Baltimore surpassed all my former ideas of rapidity. We passed up to Baltimore in so short a space of time, and in _such_ a steam-boat, that I dread your incredulity were I to give you particulars. Let it suffice that _but a few hours_ brought us to Baltimore, reputed to be in commercial importance the fourth city in the Union. You know it was my first object to visit the respectable gentlemen in this place to to whom I have letters, and most of whom have at one time or another done business with our house. But on the instant of my arrival I was utterly confounded by the intelligence that the yellow fever, that scourge of America, and so justly dreaded by all Europeans, but more particularly by the inhabitants of northern climates, had made its appearance at a place called Fell's Point, either in the vicinity of the city, or forming one of the suburbs; I was in too much consternation to learn which. Indeed I was so much annoyed by the continual reports of the _yellow fever_ at _the Point_, and what they called the _bank fever_ in the city, that I could hardly tell where I was, or what I was to do.--Luckily, a very good looking gentleman, seeing my perplexity, and imagining--for I cannot tell how else he happened to fix upon me--that I was an Englishman, told me that I could not get out of the city of Baltimore too soon, because it had had the curse of Cain upon it ever since the celebrated mob business (that we heard our Maryland friend R. speak about) some years ago, that it had the plague at the Point, and the yellow or white fever, he did not care which, at the other end of the town. This would have been news almost enough to frighten our lamented friend General R. (if he ever could have known fear;) and instead of visiting the spot where he terminated his brief career in this world, which I intended to have done on the moment of my landing, as performing the last pious act of duty to his memory that affection demanded, I determined to fly from this new enemy with almost as much precipitation as the Yankees (by _our_ official accounts) fled from our departed hero in his various incursions in the states, adjoining the waters of the Chesapeake. I ordered a post chaise _instanter_. The servant replied, "it went before day, sir." Is it possible, said I, that at a house frequented as this is, (Mr. G's.) there is but one post chaise. Get me one at any rate, I returned in a pretty quick tone, and have my baggage put to it immediately. "Why, master," rejoined George, (I thought the better of him for his name, and perhaps, novice as I am, because he was black) "there is no other post chaise till to-morrow; but the steam-boat will go at five o'clock, master, if that will suit you." It wanted but a few minutes of that hour. I leaped into a hackney coach, (which by the way I was surprised to see in such a new country, unless it had been moved by steam) and ere the hour had struck, was safe on board a very commodious vessel, furnished with every thing to make a night passage pleasant.

It is upwards of one hundred miles from Baltimore to Philadelphia, by land, even by their lately improved roads; yet, with no interruption except being transported some sixteen or twenty miles over good roads, in very bad stage coaches, we enjoyed ourselves in our births till I was awakened before nine the next morning, by the steward, who informed me we were at the wharf, in the place of our destination.

I forthwith repaired, as my previous instructions directed, to the large and commodious hotel of Mr. R.; where I met with several of my old friends, and some quondam fellow-voyagers, who, influenced by business, or perhaps the same instinctive dread of yellow fever with myself, had found their way to this city.--Here, my dear W., I still remain. In the twenty-four hours that have scarcely elapsed since my arrival, I have seen nothing distinctly; for after the monotony of a sea voyage, and the dizziness consequent on an exchange from the ocean to _terra firma_, some few days must be allotted to repose.

_Treatise on Agriculture_.

SECT. I.

On the Rise and Progress of Agriculture.

The origin of this art is lost among the fables of antiquity, and we have to regret, that in the present state of knowledge, we are even ignorant of the _time_, when the plough was invented, and of the _name_ and _condition_ of the inventor. When therefore we speak of the beginning of the art, we but allude to certain appearances which indicate its existence, and the employment given by it to the minds, as well as to the hands, of mankind. Such were the artificial canals and lakes of Egypt. Menaced at one time by a redundancy of water, and at another by its scarcity or want, the genius of that extraordinary people could not but employ itself, promptly and strenuously, in remedying these evils, and eventually, in converting them into benefits; and hence it was, that when other parts of the world exhibited little more of agricultural knowledge than appertains to the state of nature, imagined by philosophers, the Egyptians thoroughly understood and skilfully practised _irrigation_, that most scientific and profitable branch of the art.[1] Like their own Nile, their population had its overflow, which colonized Carthage and Greece, and carried with it the talent and intelligence of the mother country. The former of these states, though essentially commercial, had its _plantations_, and so highly prized were the agricultural works of Mago, that when Carthage was captured, they alone, of the many books found in it, were retained and translated by the Romans. A similar inference may be drawn from the history of Greece; for assuredly that art could not have been either unknown or neglected, which so long employed the pen and the tongue of the great Xenophon.[2] It must however be admitted, that of the ancient nations, it is only among the Romans, that we find real and multiplied evidences of the progress of the art; _facts_, substituted for _conjectures_ and _inferences_. Cato, Varro, Columella, Virgil and Pliny, wrote on the subject, and it is from their works we derive the following brief exposition of Roman husbandry.

[1] The best practical illustration of this opinion is found in the valley of the Po--where "every rood of earth maintains its man."

[2] Xenophon wrote several treatises on husbandry, and gave public lectures on it at Scillonte, whither a weak and wicked government had banished him.