With great respect and esteem, I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, Go. WASHINGTON. There is nothing that could be more gratifying to a person devoted to agriculture, than to have such a correspondent as General Washington; and under his auspices, to have contributed to excite a spirit of agricultural improvement in the New Empire of America,-an empire, which is likely to reach a degree of power and pre-eminence, which the world has not hitherto witnessed. The foundation of its power is fortunately laid in the cultivation of the soil, the only true basis of permanent national prosperity. Without food, not a single individual can exist for any space of time. How is it possible, then, for great communities, composed of multitudes of individuals, to prosper, unless that essential requisite can be procured at home, independently of other countries, and in quantities sufficient to supply every necessary demand? In fact, manufactures, under a judicious system, ought properly to be considered, as the agricultural produce of a country, converted into a more convenient and portable shape; and commerce ought principally to consist, in the exchange of those goods, for such foreign articles as we may require. But none, excepting visionary politicians, or interested master manufacturers, would think of recommending to the attention of their fellow subjects, to exchange manufactures for food. America will, I trust, act upon sounder principles; and if it does, it cannot fail to prove permanently happy and prosperous. Let the Americans keep this political truth in view, "That the duration of states, whose power depends upon commerce, as Tyre, Carthage, Venice, and Holland, has uniformly proved precarious and evanescent;" and the reason is obvious, that want of genuine patriotism, which commerce necessarily engenders, and the luxury, selfishness, and vices resulting from it, uniformly occasion, in commercial nations, an early decay. STATISTICAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND REMINISCENCES. THE object of that great undertaking, "The Statistical Account of Scotland," was to procure from about nine hundred clergymen in that country, an account of their respective parishes. The attempt was almost universally deemed impracticable. It had been tried in various countries; as, 1. Spain; 2. Sweden; 3. France; 4. Several States in Germany; 5. Denmark; 6. Portugal; 7. England; 8. Ireland; and, 9. In Scotland; but in vain *, though in general under the auspices, and sometimes at the expense of these several governments. Nay, after the work had made some progress, its failure was prognosticated in the following terms: "There have not been wanting different persons, public spirited indeed, but perhaps of too sanguine dispositions, who, struck with the subserviency of parochial distinction, to the advancement of both civil and natural history, have addressed letters to the different parishes in Scotland, and particularly to the clergy, inviting them to a correspondence on whatever might appear most curious and interesting in their respective divisions. These gentlemen do See the Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xx. to which there is prefixed, "The History of the Origin and Progress of that Work, Appendix G. p. 69.” An account is there given of the various attempts, in the several countries above alluded to, and the progress made in each. not reflect, that there is no individual, however distinguished by genius, rank, or fortune, or even by a happy or rare union of all these advantages, who can possibly be considered, by a whole nation, as a fit centre for such general cooperation*." This extensive and laborious work, however, was completed in the space of about seven years; exhibiting, in the words of a distinguished political author, "a better picture of the internal state of a country, than has yet been presented to the world †.” From a number of letters received regarding this work, the following extracts are selected, as sufficient to give some idea of the opinion that was entertained of this undertaking, both at home and in foreign countries. No. 1.-Extract of a Letter from the Reverend Dr Robert Henry, the Historian, dated the 19th July 1790. "I had the honour to receive your printed letter, with the inclosed paper, a few days ago. A perfect knowledge of the population, and other circumstances of our country, may be of great utility; greater perhaps than can be at present foreseen. You are much to be commended, Sir, for your efforts to obtain that knowledge, and should be assisted by every Scotchman who hath it in his power. I am sorry that my retired situation, and very precarious state of health, make it impossible for me to be of so much use to you as I wish. Besides, I am engaged in finishing the sixth volume of my history of Great Britain, a work of which you may, perhaps, have heard." No. 2.-Extract of a Letter from George Dempster, Esq. dated 14th February 1791. "The reason of my troubling you at present, is, to return you my thanks for the specimen of the statistical observations. This is a most valuable and useful book. It is a real Doomsday book, and promises to be more read and quoted than any book printed since Doomsday book. The older it grows, the more valuable it will prove. The object of this letter is, to entreat you to go on with it. Your industry • See Newt's Travels, published by Robinsons, London, in 1 vol. 4to. an. 1791, p. 427. ↑ Malthus on Population, 1st edit. 1803, p. 13. and 14. note. |