raising of certain crops than others; but how to remedy these defects, what course of cultivation should be followed, and what applications should be made to different soils, that they may be rendered fertile, it is the office of the chemist to determine. But here it may occur to some, that many important inventions and discoveries are the result of accident, or have been made by practical men, who are directly employed in conducting processes of manual labor.

This is indeed sometimes, though not always, the case. Many important inventions have resulted from long-continued experiments alone; and most of the discoveries that have been made of those great laws and principles of the natural world which serve as the foundation of useful inventions, have been imparted to the world by scientific laborers.

It is also here to be noticed, that in those instances where accidental discoveries and inventions have been made, it is science which has perfected these inventions and tested their value, by referring them to the great principles of nature, and by applying them to the various purposes they may be made to subserve. We might here refer to that wonder of our age, the steam-engine. Any man sitting by his kitchen fire might be the discoverer of the expansive power of steam; but it is science which has investigated the laws. by which this mighty agent is governed, and has subjected it to human control. And then, when the power is created and ready to do our bidding, what mechanical knowledge and skill are required in its various applications! Think, for a moment, of the different directions which are given to this power, and of the different offices it is made to perform. Now it reaches down to the depths beneath, and brings up to the regions of light the hidden treasures of the mine;—and now, burying itself in some subterranean cell, it sends up its Herculean arm and Briarean hands and fingers of iron to do its wonders of skill and of power in the workshop above. At one time it conceals itself beneath the deck of the vessel, and the huge mass, which lies "floating many a rood," becomes instinct. with life and motion; like leviathan of old, "it maketh the sea to boil like a pot, and out of its nostrils goeth smoke and sparks of fire leap out." At another time, "swifter than a post," it speeds its way over hill and valley, hurrying onward, in its rocket-like course, its train of rattling cars. But it is not only in the perfecting of inventions, and in multiplying the useful application of discovered powers, that the aid of science is felt. We might speak of its importance as it teaches men the limits of discovery and invention, telling them not only what may be done, but what may

not be done. How much time and useless labor are thus saved! How many highly raised expectations are shown to be delusive! But we must not dwell longer on this topic, for we have to speak of another class, whose labors are of a mental kind. We refer to those whose employments are more strictly of a literary nature, the historian, the poet, the essayist; and it may be that in the minds of some the connection between the labors of such and the welfare of the community may not be obvious. But here let us ask ourselves, In what way is the general welfare to be promoted-what are the wants of a community? Is it simply that man may be sheltered from the storm, and have food and raiment convenient for him? Are there no other constituents of his happiness, nothing else for which he may reasonably toil and spend his strength? Has the intellectual part no wants to be supplied? Are there no gratifications to be ministered to the mind? But apart from these considerations, which, it may be seen, look rather to the individual than to the community, we may ask, does not literature tend directly and power'ully to the public welfare? Are not the benign influences she exerts intimately connected with a nation's prosperity and happiness? What made ancient Greece and Rome differ from other nations around them? Why had they more elevation of character, more kind feeling, more of mental enjoyment, and of the charities of life? Eloquently has one of our own orators answered these inquiries by telling us what Greece owes to her first-born of song. A nation was cast in the mold of one mighty mind, and the land of the Iliad became the region of taste, and the birthplace of the

arts.

But we need not refer back to ancient nations in proof of the refining influences of literature. We speak of a people as civilized, and we think of a region around which civil government has placed its defenses, and where the arts of life are cultivated, and its decencies are regarded, a region over which knowledge and religion shed their combined radiance. But there is still another principle at work, of powerful and benign efficacy. It is that which makes itself seen in the order and beauty spread over the whole face of the country, which gives a grace and charm to the civilities of social intercourse, and which shows itself in the habitations, the furniture, the dress,-all that even the useful arts contribute for the accommodation of men. And this pervading principle is taste. Most obviously then, whatever tends to the cultivation of the taste is justly to be ranked among the most efficient causes in the great work of civilization. Such, in an eminent degree, is literature. If it were necessary to establish this position, we might here refer

you to England. She has been called the land of classical scholars; and, without doubt, the influence of her literature is widely felt in almost every class of her population. And who that wanders over her fields, and looks on her villages and towns, her cottages and her palaces, her scenes of moral elegance and civic splendor, sees not around him the fruits of a refined and cultivated taste? Who that enters her dwellings and marks the manners of her inhabitants, and the objects around them in their domestic retirements, will fail to discover even here the traces of a refined taste? At least we may ask, who that reads the sketches of these scenes and objects, as they are delineated by one who is the ornament of our own literature, will doubt, that the land of literature is the dwelling-place of taste? We may, then, claim for those who rank themselves as the followers of literature some title to the respect and gratitude of their country. Milton, and Shakspeare, and Addison, did not live in vain, and spend their strength for naught.

There remains one other impression injurious to the interests of the community, to which we would invite your attention. It is a prejudice against men of wealth. Many, indeed, there are around us on whom Heaven has bestowed Agur's desired blessing, giving them neither riches nor poverty; still, in this country, as in all other communities where the rights of property are respected, the distinction of rich and poor is known. Here, too, as in other lands, spring up some of those jealousies and heart-burnings which have their origin in these diversities of outward condition. But it is not to the repinings and murmurs of discontent that we would now advert neither is it our present object to adduce considerations which may moderate the earnestness with which the riches of earth are sought. We would look rather at the bearings of the subject on the public safety and welfare, persuaded, as we are, that let the prejudice, to which we have referred, become deeply fixed and widely diffused, and there is just reason for apprehension of danger. Those who think themselves defrauded of their just share of the national wealth, and who are ready to think that a more just and equal distribution should be made, will not long hesitate to assert and maintain what they esteem their just rights. It will soon be found out that here is work for the reformers of our age. Such indications have already shown themselves among the signs of the times. And it is because attempts have been occasionally made in some parts of our country by political demagogues and ranting partisans, to call out these prejudices in aid of their selfish and dangerous purposes, that we deem it important to mention this topic in this connection.

And here the first thought that occurs to us is, that in every civilized community the distinction of rich and poor will be found. It grows out of the nature of man and the constitution of civil society. Wherever the rights of property are regarded and men are made secure in their possessions, some will acquire and accumulate more than others; and so long as men differ in their habits of industry and frugality, in enterprise, and skill, and good management, this must ever be the case.

And not only is this arrangement necessary, it is beneficial. Many are the processes of industry; and those, too, most intimately connected not only with the prosperity, but with the comfort and existence, of a large community, which could not be conducted without the accumulation of capital. Without capital where would be our internal improvements, our railroads and canals; where our commerce, and our manufacturing establishments, and the multiplied powers of machinery by which the powers and objects of nature around us are made to minister most essentially to the aid of man? On these inequalities of wealth are also based, in part, that division of labor without which the social system could hardly exist. There must then be accumulations of capital in every prosperous community. And we may add, that of all the members of a community, none are more interested in its possessing capital, than such as are most ready to join in the cry against those by whom it is possessed.

There is another general proposition which we offer. Every man of wealth, who, to use a common expression, has made his own fortune, in other words, who has by his own industry and use of the productive powers at his command, created the riches which he possesses, every such individual, while he has benefited himself, has at the same time conferred important benefits on the community in which he lives; and hence, instead of being regarded with prejudice, he should be looked upon as a public benefactor.

It can hardly be necessary to dwell for a moment on this proposition. Every one is fully aware, and readily acknowledges, that a man of wealth, who uses his property so as to give employment to those about him, is a benefactor to the town or village in which he is found. And if, too, as often happens, he places before others an example of industry and frugality, of good management and skillful conduct of his affairs, it is an example worthy of all praise and all imitation too.

But here, perhaps, it may occur to some that there are other ways in which men become possessed of wealth, and other ways, too, in which they employ it; and it may be thought that there will

be found in these other ways of obtaining and using wealth some ground for the prejudice we are considering. We will, then, briefly dwell on this view of the subject before us.

Men sometimes obtain wealth by extortion, by oppression and violence, by grinding the face of the poor, and by defrauding the weak and defenseless of their just dues. No one will complain, that a prejudice exists against those who thus become affluent. Let it not only exist, but let it be manifested, till the oppressed go free, till the strong arm of national justice place those who are thus injurious where they can injure and defraud no more

Nearly allied to extortion and injustice is gambling, in all its forms, whether it be at the fashionable billiard or card table, at the lottery-office, or in those resorts of gamblers emphatically and appropriately called the "hells" of our cities. By such modes of acquiring wealth the community receives no benefit, and many are injured. Small, indeed, is the respect to which the rich gamester may consider himself entitled. Others there are who have acquired wealth by successful speculation. In one of those seasons "when madness rules the hour," they have engaged in some hazardous enterprise, and after venturing all, and having been tossed for awhile by the agitated waves of hope and fear, a fortunate current has brought them, as they think, to a safe and desirable harbor. Hardly knowing why it is, or should be so, they find themselves rich men.

Acquisitions of wealth thus made can hardly be looked upon as attended with any important benefits. Often, indeed, they prove injurious to the speculator himself; for sudden riches bring a snare, and further, as the sad lessons of experience have taught many in our community, to the speculator there often in the end cometh disappointment and perplexity. Evidently, the community is not benefited, because in such acquisitions of wealth there is no creation of value. They are mere transfers from one member of the community to another; and often from the more deserving to those less so. And this is not all the injury done to the public. The established course of things becomes unsettled, the business habits of the community are broken up, and our young men, no longer contented with slow and sure gains, desert the good old ways of their fathers. If to these many evils which attend speculation there is any counterbalancing advantage, it is this, that by these means a new impetus is given to the enterprise and energies of a people; but surely those who dwell in this land of enterprise and exertion need rather the check-rein than the spur.

But having thus adverted to these ways in which the oppressor, the gambler, and the speculator obtain wealth, and having granted