committee must be, I will trespass on it no longer. If gentlemen on the other side fancy they see, as has been intimated, any disposition to resist this act of Congress for party purposes, they greatly mistake the motive in which my opposition to it originates. I know the majority of this House is actuated by intentions as free as my own from any improper bias; and certainly no one would be less inclined than myself to bring forward or advocate any measure which would be calculated to detract from the respect which the Federal authority may justly claim from every good citizen so long as it acts within its acknowledged boundaries. But, believing as I do that it has trampled down the barriers which the Constitution designed to set up against its encroachments upon the just rights of the States; believing that it is only by a steady adherence to the conditions of the original compact between the States, both in its letter and spirit, that the general government can move in its appropriate sphere, either with safety to itself or with benefit to the common Union; I hold that we should be guilty of high disloyalty to great principles, to our free institutions, to our constituents, whose rights and interests we are bound to defend, if we were to fail to take the attitude in which the resolutions propose to place us,―an attitude of firm and unyielding resistance to encroachment, asserting our own construction of the Constitution in clear and unequivocal language, but acting with the moderation and forbearance becoming the largest State in the Union.

The gentleman from Essex asks whether we expect that the recommendations contained in these resolutions will be adopted? I say in reply that there is one thing which I do confidently expect: that this act will be repealed; that it will not survive the next Congress; that it will go down to the tomb with the alien and sedition laws, the germs of earlier encroachment, to mingle with the kindred clay of those odious and detestable statutes. Nor, sir, do I despair of seeing the Constitution amended as proposed. I know the diffi

culty of accomplishing it. I know that the assent of twenty States must be obtained. But with the evidence before us of the tendency of this power in Congress to run into abuse, warned as we have been of our danger by this violation of the Constitution in its clear and indisputable intention, I trust a sufficient number of the States will be aroused to the necessity of applying the remedy we suggest,-that New York, by the course of forbearance recommended, will carry along with her the general judgment of the country, and secure the adoption of the measure proposed. But if we shall be disappointed in this hope, we shall, at least, have the consolation of reflecting that no effort has been spared on our part to arrest the progress of encroachment on the residuary powers of the States; and if she shall be called on hereafter, as I most earnestly trust she never will, to assume a higher attitude in defence of her invaded rights, she may, from her very moderation now, take it with greater confidence of commanding the approbation of the country and of mankind.

RURAL

RURAL LIFE AND EMBELLISHMENT.

The following Address was delivered on the 2d of October, 1851, at the tenth annual exhibition of the Queens County Agricultural Society, at Jamaica, Long Island.

I

MR. PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN: If I had been governed by a consideration of my qualifications for addressing you on the subject of Agriculture, I should certainly not have ventured to accept the invitation of your Committee. have really very little knowledge of practical husbandry. My occupation until quite recently has not been such as to fit me for making any useful suggestion to you, the farmers of Long Island, known, as you are, throughout the State for your familiar acquaintance with all that concerns a successful cultivation of the soil. But the interest I take in the subject has overruled all other considerations, though in appearing before you I am compelled to throw myself on your indulgence, and to call your attention to topics more remotely connected with agricultural life and occupations than those which are usually discussed on occasions like this. Indeed, gentlemen, I feel that I should justly incur the imputation of presumption if I were to undertake to advise you as to the rotation of crops, the raising of domestic animals, the preparation of manures, or other subjects of a kindred character, subjects on which you are much better informed than myself. It is under the influence of this conviction that I turn to other topics, collateral to these, and I trust intimately interwoven with the lasting interests of an agricultural community.

Before I proceed to the description of these topics, let me call your attention to some local considerations, which con

cern you as residents of Long Island. I believe I hazard nothing in saying that few other districts in the State possess higher advantages. As an agricultural district alone, these advantages are inappreciable. Your county lies upon the very confines of a city destined to become one of the most populous in the world, and increasing with rapidity altogether without a parallel. A circle with its centre at Union Square in New York, and with a radius of two miles in extent, will embrace a population of seven hundred and fifty thousand souls. The annual growth of this immense aggregation of people will far outstrip the ability of surrounding districts to supply its wants. Even now it is, by means of railways, reaching into remote counties and States, and drawing forth their agricultural surpluses for consumption. Your proximity to this extended and unfailing market gives you great advantage in the competition. The Sound and the East River afford you a sheltered communication by water. A railroad divides your county in nearly a central course. By one or the other of these channels of intercourse any farmer in this county may reach the city in a few hours with the surplus products of his labor, and always with the certainty of finding a market for all which he can spare from the consumption of his household.

Considered in reference to fertility of soil, your county will bear a favorable comparison with others in the southern portion of the State. From its characteristic qualities it is doubtless destined to be devoted almost exclusively to tillage. There may be exceptions in the northern portion of the county, but I believe I am justified in saying that nature indicates its superior fitness for the cultivation of grains, fruits, and garden products, and that accidental circumstances confirm this application of your agricultural labor.

I remember often to have heard it remarked in former years, that the profits of farming on Long Island were absorbed by the expenses of manuring. But I have become convinced, by personal observation, that the productiveness of

your agriculture, labor and manures being both taken into the account, will bear a fair comparison with that of other districts in this part of the State. If much of your soil is light and thin, it is at the same time genial and warm; and the rapidity with which vegetation matures gives you an advantage in the market over districts in which nature is more sluggish in her operations, and tardy in her returns. The variety which your soils possess from the deep rich loams of your necks to the light sandy formations on the South Bay - gives you the power of a diversified production which is eminently desirable in a district destined to contribute largely to the consumption of a city, demanding from its magnitude a varied supply.

Gentlemen, your county has other advantages which ought not to be overlooked. Placed, as it is, between the waters of the Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, it is alike exempt from the extremes of winter and of summer; you are neither pinched by excessive cold, nor overpowered by enervating heat. I believe I may truly say that there is no region in this hemisphere which possesses in a higher degree the advantages of health and personal comfort, or which admits of a more uninterrupted application of the physical powers. These are all elements of prosperity, and they should be causes of devout thankfulness to the Sovereign Ruler of the universe for having so bountifully endowed you with the capacity of combining individual enjoyment with high social welfare.

Though you have some sources of prosperity peculiar to yourselves, arising out of geographical position and internal advantages, it is gratifying to know that most other portions of the State enjoy like facilities, though not all to the same extent, for improving their condition. Agriculture, under a variety of forms, will, in all probability, be for a long period of time the ruling interest of this State. The modes of its application may be to some extent varied as the western wilderness is filled up, and the thousands of emigrants who come in from the Old World, and the millions of money they brig