ons of Europe were
young, science was in its infancy; the art of civil government was
imperfectly understood; property was inadequately protected; the
labourer knew not who would reap what he had sown, and the teeming
earth yielded her produce grudgingly to the solicitations of an
ill-directed and desultory cultivation. It was not till long and
painful experience had taught the nations the superiority of the arts
of peace over those of war; it was not until the pressure of numbers
upon the means of subsistence had been sorely felt, that the ingenuity
of man was taxed to provide substitutes for those ineffective and
wasteful methods, under which the fertility of the virgin soil had
been well-nigh exhausted. But with you, gentlemen, it is far
otherwise. Canada springs at once from the cradle into the full
possession of the privileges of manhood. Canada, with the bloom of
youth yet upon her cheek, and with youth's elasticity in her tread,
has the advantage of all the experience of age. She may avail herself,
not only of the capital accumulated in older countries, but also of
those treasures of knowledge which have been gathered up by the labour
and research of earnest and thoughtful men throughout a series of
generations.

Now, gentlemen, what is the inference that I would draw from all this?
What is the moral I would endeavour to impress upon you? It is this:
That it is your interest and your duty to avail yourselves to the
utmost of all these unparalleled advantages; to bring to bear upon
this soil, so richly endowed by nature, all the appliances of modern
art; to refuse, if I may so express myself, to convert your one talent
into _two_, if, by a more skilful application of the true
principles of husbandry, or by greater economy of management, you can
convert it into _ten_. And it is because I believe that societies
like these, when well directed, are calculated to aid you in your
endeavours to effect these important objects, that I am disposed to
give them all the protection and countenance, which it is in my power
to afford. They have certainly been very useful in other countries,
and I cannot see why they should be less serviceable in Canada. The
Highland Society of Scotland was the first instituted, and the proud
position which Scotland enjoys as an agricultural country speaks