1 lay before you the picture of the situation of the kingdom, as well as the administrative measures that have been pursued during four years. You will have the satisfaction of seeing the rapid progress of industry, and to find that if the general prosperity has not yet attained the degree of perfection to which my wishes and the efforts of the government seek to carry it, the cause must be looked for in nothing else than the almost general stagnation of trade in agricultural produce. In other respects, the most advantageous results have been obtained. The national debt approaches to its complete acquittal. Two conventions have fixed the part of this debt, that Austria and Prussia have to support. In a short time a new finance law will regulate the revenue and expenditure of the state. A ruinous deficit had compromised your dearest interests. It has disappeared. The excess of the receipts must be applied scrupulously to the extinction of the national debt. The negotiations entered upon with the court of Berlin, to settle the affairs of commerce between Poland and Prussia, have been crowned with the most happy success, by means of a series of regulations, of a frank and amicable nature, which serve as the basis of my relations with my faithful allies. The convention which I have ratified, affords easy openings to your commerce abroad. That which you have with Russia acquires daily greater activity and extent. The facilities that have been granted to it are doubly advantageous, both by the mutual welfare of which they favor the progress, and by the new ties which draw the two nations together. The debts with which private property is burdened, have, in particular, excited my closest attention. A project for forming an association, in solido, of the land owners, will be laid before you. It is the result of opinions which have undergone long discussion in your council of the Palatines. Religion, that source of every virtue, that indispensable base of all human institutions, appears to command a revision of a part of your civil code. A commission, chosen from among yourselves, has undertaken this important labor, and the project of the first book, which it has already discussed, will be communicated to you. My thoughts will accompany you in the discharge of your functions, and you will find me ever ready to adopt the ameliorations which may be proposed to me; but, at the same time, resolved to reject every species of concession that may be prejudicial to your prosperity. Representatives of the kingdom of Poland, may you, being free from all influence, proceed in your deliberations with calmness! The futurity of your country is in your hands. Consider nothing but its welfare, its real advantage. Render to it all the services that it expects from your assembling together, and second me in the ac complishment of the wishes which I have never ceased to form for it. SWEDEN. TRANSLATION of a Discourse delivered by the King, before the Academy of Agriculture, on the anniversary of its institution. Gentlemen-At the institution of this academy, twelve years ago, I remarked, in my address, that agriculture flourished most where a people may rest secure as to the future, under the protection of guaranties. Our expectations have been surpassed by the results. The influence of law, regard for its execution, individual security, and the assurance that the power of government was engaged to secure them inviolate and lasting, are the causes of our immense productions, notwithstanding the severity of our climate. Twelve years ago, we were dependent on our neighbors for the first necessaries of life; we are now able to send supplies wherever a scarcity may prevail. The ships of Sweden have already exported our grain to the ports of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. But, gentlemen, there is one grand object which should ever be kept in view it is the system of conservation. If this principle regulate enterprise, equilibrium will be preserved, the riches of the country increased, and individual fortunes enlarged. We should, at this time, direct agricultural speculations towards this conservation, rather than to the maintenance of that impulse already given to them, which has been so perseveringly and successfully followed. To conquests there is a limit; the necessity of things, the force of events, and nature itself require it. Let us profit by the lessons which every thing conspires to teach. The good of a nation, the preser vation of its rights, and the establishment of its prosperity, are not secured by precipitation, which effects nothing; permanent im provements must be introduced by time and repeated exertions. There are individuals who do not always perceive the beneficent purposes of the government, and imagine them. selves aggrieved, when it is only intended to break the chains by which custom has bound them; whilst the very extent of knowledge in others impels them to leap the barrier to their wishes. If it be the duty of a citizen to respect the laws-even if they contain errors-the chief of a state himself is often compelled to act cautiously in abrogating usages consecrated by time, how. ever opposed they may be to the development of the richness and greatness of his country. Nations are unlike to individuals. These are eager to enjoy whatever dazzles, captivates and enchains them. Nations, on the contrary, perceive ages to pass away, and await the approach of future ones; the slow march of time and the experience of the past, confirm their existence, and prepare them for a condition that may be the pride of their contemplation. It is this progressive march which I ask for the interests of agriculture. It instructs us that the surplus of agricultural productions should be ex changed against the products of industry of towns: and that while these are cultivators of the soil, and not employed in manufacturing, a country may be tranquil in its interior, and content with the enjoy ment of its labors. But if towns compete with the country in cultivation, this branch of industry must finally be limited. They must, therefore, labor in producing those articles which we require, and for which we are yet tributary. We have the satisfaction to know, that the increase of population, since 1811, is equal to the whole amount of that of the two most populous provinces of the kingdom at that time. A nation studies the legislation of its neighbors, to extract from it what is useful; it should study their agriculture and administration, to profit of their discoveries, and avoid their errors. Agriculture is a branch of industry, and the most important of all; but, like others, it is governed by laws, and these depend on the quantity of consumers. If production be greater than consumption, and have not a home or foreign market for its surplus, the condition of the cultivator will become every day more serious and distressing. Let us take advantage of whatever is useful, and reject what is prejudicial. Let us revert to the past, reflect on the present, and trust in the future with confidence, under the protection of that Providence, which has, in so miraculous a manner, watched over one of the most ancient people of Europe; let us reflect that whilst many nations are obliged to seek new resources to supply their annual deficit, the two governments of Scandinavia have executed great works of internal communication for the benefit of agriculture, and every year have presented an excess of revenue, or subtracted from the burden of taxes which weighed most heavily on the agriculturist. Let us not forget, that to continue free in our domestic, and independent in our political relations, we have but to prove true to ourselves, and to reconcile the love of independence with respect for authority. The two people of the peninsula maintaining relations of union and mutual confidence and attachment, will be powerful in that connection, and no less strong in the policy of their government; for ambitious of nothing abroad, they have nothing to fear. TRIALS AND LAW PROCEEDINGS. Circuit Court of the UNITED STATES for the Eastern District of PENN SYLVANIA. EDWARD D. CORFIELD, vs. DANIEL CARRAL. This was one of a number of actions of trespass, originally brought in the district court for the city and county of Philadelphia, to recover damages for an alleged interference with the rights of oystermen, and the owners of oyster boats, in the cove of Morris river, Cumberland county, New-Jersey. The plaintiff was a citizen of Pennsylvania, and the owner of the Hiram, captured in the act of dredging, on the 15th May, 1821, by the schooner Independence, fitted out from Leesburg, on the river, to enforce obedience to the oyster laws of New-Jersey. The defendant, a citizen of New-Jersey, was one of the crew of the Independence. In these circumstances, the case was removed, under the act of congress, to the circuit court; and, at April sessions, 1823, a verdict taken for the plaintiff, subject to the opinion of the court on all the points in controversy. At October sessions, 1824, the cause was again fully argued by counsel, and held under advisement. J. R. Ingersoll and C. J. Ingersoll, for plaintiff. McIlvaine and Condy, for defendant. At the present April sessions, 1825, the opinion of the court was delivered by Washington, J., as follows: The points reserved present for the consideration of the court many interesting and difficult questions, which will be examined in the shape of objections, made by the plaintiff's counsel, to the seizure of the Hiram, and the proceedings of the magistrates of Cumberland county, upon whose sentence the defendant rests his justification of the alleged trespass. These objections are, First. That the act of the legislature of New-Jersey, of the 9th June, 1820, under which this vessel, found engaged in taking oysters in Morris river cove, by means of dredges, was seized, condemned and sold, is repugnant to the constitution of the United States, in the following particulars : 1. To the 8th sec. of the 1st art. which grants to congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes. |