scope of this broad field. We thus perceive that it has been in existence about eleven years, and it has already exercised no small influence in furthering the important interests for which it was established.

Besides a series of discourses which have been delivered through its agency from time to time upon some prominent topic within the circle of its view, it has established a journal, (since discontinued,) constituting an organ of correspondence for its members, and a record of all those facts which relate to the interests of the society; and it has moreover provided a general depository for models of inventions in the arts, and has held an annual exhibition of these models, inventions, and improvements, as well as the most approved specimens of cattle, granting premiums to those which are the most valuable, and to the persons who show the most skill in ploughing. An institution of this character, established in the commercial centre of the country, if its objects are faithfully carried out, will exercise an important influence upon our national interests, and we rejoice to know that its branches are extended to a great portion of the country, thus invoking co-operation from all its parts.

The first national interest which this institution is intended to advance is that of agriculture; and what a wide field does this subject open to our view! This nation, from the very extensive tracts of the most fertile soil within our borders, is destined to be a great agricultural nation. If we advance across a comparatively narrow belt upon our Atlantic seaboard, we find hundreds of thousands of square miles of the most productive land, stretching westward from the banks of the Hudson, and the rice and cotton fields of South Carolina, towards the base of the Rocky Mountains, furnishing, by its cheapness and productiveness, the means and motives for agricultural industry. And this branch of enterprise appears to be peculiarly adapted to the genius of our people, developed by the structure of our government, by the independence and substantial comfort which it affords. The encouragement of agriculture, therefore, should be regarded as of the greatest importance, inasmuch as its products constitute the solid basis of other branches of national enterprise. By holding out inducements to agricultural improvement in awarding premiums to the best specimens in stock husbandry, the most approved skill in ploughing, the most excellent models of farming implements, such an institution must tend to lighten labor, and to increase the amount of production, by furnishing stimulus to its enterprise. Who does not wish to see our fields whitened with its harvests, and our hills and valleys vocal with its grazing flocks and herds?

Another object which this society is instituted to advance is that of commerce, and this interest is of no less importance than the one to which allusion has before been made. And what is the nature of commerce, when considered in its true import? It is not the mere importation or exportation of goods to or from foreign states, the sprinkling of the ocean with our sails, but, while it embraces this, it also includes the transportation of agricultural and manufactured products, from one village to the other, from the west to the east, from the north to the south. It is the carrying the products of labor from one part of the country to the other, and from one port to another, and receiving therefor in exchange either money or merchandise, thus returning a reward to the producer. By the constitution of gov. ernment, the condition of men, or the different natural resources of the soil or climate, each country is calculated to produce particular articles which are required to supply human wants. For example, New England

receives the flour which is produced in the valleys of western New York or the prairies of Illinois, and returns the oil of her fisheries. The south transports her cotton to the northern states, and receives in return fabrics manufactured at home or imported from abroad, thus paying the manu. facturer or the merchant for his time or skill; and our ships return from the ocean laden with the silks of France and the cloths of England, because our own people have found that they could employ their time more profitably in other pursuits than in the manufacture of cloth or silk, from the improved state of these branches of manufacture and the cheapness of labor abroad. Commerce, then, acts as an agent to transport the peculiar products of each region to distant parts, and to receive in return a greater value than they could derive in the place of their production. Were it not for commerce, foreign or domestic, therefore, agricultural products would be of little value in exchange, the granaries of our husbandmen would be heaped with comparatively useless harvests, the warehouses of our merchants with manufactured merchandise without purchasers, our lakes and rivers would be dotted only here and there, at remote points, with a white sail or a strag gling steamer, and that wilderness of masts which now borders the southern margin of our city, like a western forest stripped of its leaves, would be diminished to a few ships necessary to the transportation of travellers, or for national defence. A prominent object of this institution is to foster the interests of commerce by granting premiums to its materiel in manufactured articles, to inventions and improvements in naval architecture, whether they relate to the ship worked by sails or the steam engine.

Another interest which the American Institute is designed to advance is that of manufactures, an interest that is of equal importance with the two which have been mentioned. This interest has of late years grown to considerable magnitude, with the increasing enterprise of the country. It is well known that in New England, cut off as it is from the more fertile tracts of the west, it constitutes the principal object of the productive industry of this valuable portion of our country. The waterfalls of that wild and romantic region are enlivened by the clattering of machinery, and villages have sprung up on their margins, as if at the bidding of the wand of Prospero. It even now boasts of a manufacturing town which may soon rival the Manchester of the old world. Although Samuel Slater brought with him from England the first series of Arkwright's patents about the year 1790, we have arrived at considerable perfection in the manufacture of cotton and woollen cloths, notwithstanding the investment in this branch of enterprise has heretofore proved disastrous to many who have engaged in it, from foreign competition. A prominent object of this society is to afford encouragement to manufacturing industry, by providing a public place where its products may be exhibited, and by bestowing premiums upon the most valuable specimens of these products, as well as upon new inventions and improvements in manufacturing machinery. It takes the ground that the encouragement of manufactures is of the greatest import ance, because it may render us at all times independent of foreign nations, if we choose so to be, having the means to produce all that is required within ourselves.

The other interest which the American Institute is designed to advance is that of the arts; and what a wide range of thought does this single word open to the mind! How many objects does it embrace, all tending to hu man intelligence and human comfort! In fact, it has produced all the dif

ference between civilized man as we find him, subjecting nature to his dominion as the despot his slave, himself the lord of the earth and the ocean as he now is, and that half-naked savage, with his mantle composed of the skins of wild beasts, shivering by his log fire, beneath his hut of bark, paddling his canoe through the streams of his forest, or shooting the deer with the arrow-head of flint. The arts are all around us, and exercise an important bearing upon our lives. Every step we take we feel their influence, although we do not appreciate it, because it is so common., The dress that we wear, the book that we read, the carpet we tread upon, the carriage in which we ride, the pavement on which we walk, the ship in which we sail, the pen with which we are writing, all show the value of the arts. It seems to be a law of our condition that just in proportion as they are cultivated, just in that proportion is the comfort of man enhanced. A remarkable feature of this country is its peculiar aptness for the useful arts. He who has looked into the Patent Office at Washington must have perceived the amazing fertility of the American mind in invention connected with the useful arts; and we may well boast that commerce and manufactures have awarded to two of our machinists, Fulton and Whitney, the merit of having made two of the most important discoveries of the present age, in the invention of the cotton-gin, and the application of steam to the propulsion of ships. Nor has invention in this country outstripped the excellence which we have manifested in the construction of machinery. The steam engines manufactured by Norris are in demand in England, and will soon be at work upon the Russian railroads. These facts furnish ample encouragement for us to foster our mechanical genius, and the American Institute appears to be one of the most important agents in furthering that result, by furnishing a general depository for its products, and granting premiums to its best specimens.

It is difficult, when we consider the resources and genius of this republic, to sever the grand interests which this society proposes to advance. They are interlocked like the several links in an iron chain. They are mutually dependent upon, and each is supported by the other. The agricultural products of our extensive country, whether they wave upon the savannas of the west, or the golden cotton fields of the south, furnish cargoes for our ships, feed our factories, and supply food for our inhabitants. What would be the value of these agricultural products did not commerce provide vehicles and agents to transport them to a market, and manufacturers furnish mills to grind them up for use? And how could agriculture, manufactures, or commerce flourish unless the arts came in to supply implements for the agriculturist, tools for the manufacturer, or ships for the merchant? Or how could the mechanic survive unless these three branches of industry provided a market for his products? Doubtless there are various political circumstances which furnish a motive for the encouragement of particular branches of national industry, but they should all be fostered if they increase production and wealth. They should all be fostered if they augment the sum of human comfort, and provide a motive to human industry.

It is well known that from the joint action of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, an immense profit has been heretofore yielded to the nation by the production of cotton, and to this will probably be added the manufac ture of silk. This valuable article has already been produced to a consid. erable amount in the state of Connecticut and other parts of the country, and we hope to see the time when the fair daughters of the republic shall

We

per.

be enrobed in this delicate fabric woven from our own looms. ceive that the attention of the American Institute has during its last fair been particularly directed to this favorite manufacture, which now consti. tutes a source of great wealth to the silk-growing countries abroad.

But we proceed to describe the impression which the sight of the Fair made upon our minds; not that it was remarkable for the number or quali. ty of the objects displayed, because we think that it has been exceeded by many of those which have preceded it. It was held in Niblo's Garden, a fitting place, always reminding us of the grounds of an oriental palace in the beauty of its shrubbery, and its artistical decorations. Upon entering the avenue we were peculiarly struck with the two long ranges of stoves of every size and model which bordered it, indicating that the inventive genius of our countrymen had been especially directed to the improvement of the implements of domestic comfort. Interspersed among these were approved models of ovens, caldrons; and carriages for children, constructed with all the elaborate finish of the most costly which roll in our streets. At the extreme end of the avenue, was a model of Francis' life-boat, which was dis tinguished not less for its extreme beauty than the saving of human life which it must effect were it generally and successfully adopted. To these may be added the array of window curtains painted with landscapes and other devices, which add greatly to the taste and cheerfulness of in-door embellishments. Passing from this avenue, we entered the main hall of the garden, and here were arranged the greatest portion of the articles exhibited. All the products furnished by the pencil or the graver, the tools of the trades, the hammer, the plane, the burnisher, the needle, and the loom, lay before us arranged in perfect order. Here were sofas and chairs of tasteful model, as well as carpets embroidered with the most delicate taste. Porcelain, enamelled with paintings, and chandeliers of glass which sparkled like diamonds, lay by the side of clocks of exquisite workmanship, in one of which we noticed a ship ploughing the ocean under full sail, with the land seen at a distance beyond the tossing waves. Several splendid services of silver, mingled with two or three pitchers which had been presented to individuals as tokens of respect, were much admired for their beauty. They were wrought, we understand, in the workshops of Messrs. Ball, Thompkins & Black, the successors of the far-famed house of Marquand. To these may be added several beautiful musical instruments, horns and trumpets, which were as charming to the sight as they would seem to be in the sound. Many other articles more minute, but of scarcely less beauty, were arranged around the hall, that would require a volume to describe according to their merits.

A sofa bedstead, which was made by M. Graw, at 478 Pearl street, combining in a great degree the useful and the beautiful, a portable bathing tent, invented by Dr. Warren, of Boston, and a new model of a bridge, attracted admiration from the crowds. For the last-named invention we are indebted to the genius of Mr. Rogers, the architect of the New York Merchants' Exchange. Handsome specimens of polished leather, augers, edged tools, and jewelry, and a polished table inlaid with many pieces of wood, we understand some thousands, in the form of mosaic, evinced curious and gratifying taste. An interesting subject of observation was presented in numerous models of vessels of war, which are now building in the dockyards of Constantinople. These vessels are in process of construction under the superintendence of Mr. Rhodes, one of our own countrymen, who

we learn has succeeded Mr. Henry Eckford as the chief architect of the Ottoman navy.

But while articles of mere taste were so profusely distributed in this hall, those of solid use bore their proper proportion. Among these we observed several very finished specimens of hats and boots, and we cannot avoid here alluding to the vast amount of these useful articles that must be already manufactured in this country, to supply the demand of our eighteen millions of people, for it will be recollected that but few of this kind of manufacture are imported from abroad. Among the more minute articles exhibited, we also noticed several models of ships and steamboats of delicate symmetry, an improved machine for the weaving of sattinets, and one for sawing, a machine for winnowing wheat, a number of railroad cars, a steam engine of fifteen horse power in full action, which might easily have been transported by one horse, besides several small models of locomotive railroad cars, and several glossy specimens of silk of our domestic production. Numerous improved models of manufacturing machinery were here exhib. ited, which clearly show that the skill and enterprise of our northern brethren have been turned to good account. Nor would we here fail to mention the array of many cases of finely wrought surgical and dentistical instruments, and pianoes of plain but finished workmanship.

We have thus given a general view of the products of our American industry, which were exhibited at this fair of the American Institute, in order to show the variety and value of the articles here displayed, and the general scope of its objects, although we have not even alluded to the exhibition of choice cattle, and the ploughing, which is of equal interest with the objects that have been mentioned. It is very clear that this institution should be supported by all who wish well to their country. It is hardly to be imagined, of course, that our new republic should compete with the old world in the general interest of manufacture at present; but it is equally evident that a sure and solid advance can be made with ease in this interest by the adoption of the right measures. A great national repository for the exhibition of the products of domestic industry, where the general facts relating to this branch of enterprise may be discussed, and where premiums are awarded for the greatest excellence in agriculture, manufactures, the arts, and stock husbandry, we think should be encouraged by every good citizen. The necessary consequence of such an establishment must be to excite a growing attention to the subject throughout the country, to provide a stimulus for improvement in this department, and to lead us to the organization of measures suited to the genius of the people, which may render us eventually a formidable rival to the country from which our forefathers emigrated, now the most powerful agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial empire upon the globe.

UNITE CARE WITH DILIGENCE.

CARE preserves what industry gains. He who attends to his business diligently, but not carefully, throws away with one hand what he gathers with the other. A man in business should have a constant oversight of all his concerns; for if he leave this to others, it is ten to one that embarrassments and ruin will be the consequence.