VII. them to observe. Thus, having both feen and experienced, CHA P. the good effects of the foregoing rules, I may hope to be indulged in recommending them fo warmly to others. СНА Р. VII. GENERAL REFLECTIONS ON COLONIES, AND THE MEANS OF PRO MOTING THEM. 98. ΤΗ glory, by 'HE idea of glory," fays the Abbé Raynal, "is in- Definition of feparable from that of great difficulty overcome, Raynal. great utility refulting from fuccefs, and a proportionate increase of the happiness of mankind, or of one's country." -" Glory effentially belongs to God on high. Upon earth it is the portion of virtue, not of genius; of a virtue useful, great, beneficent, fhining, heroic. It is the lot of a monarch who, during the perils of a boisterous reign, labours, and fuccessfully labours, to promote the felicity of his fubjects. It is the lot of a subject who facrifices his life for the good of the community. It belongs to a nation which nobly refolves to die free, rather than to live in slavery. It is the reward, not of a Cæfar or a Pompey, but of a Regulus or a Cato. It is the just recompense of a Henry IV.” 66 99. Thanks to the spirit of humanity which now begins to inspire all sensible men; conquerors, both ancient and modern, are finking to the level of the most deteftable of mankind*. And I have not a doubt that posterity, which will pronounce an impartial sentence on our discoveries in the New World, will doom our barbarous navigators to a "Heroes are all the fame, it is agreed, From Macedonia's madman to the Swede;The whole ftrange purpofe of their lives to find, Or make, an enemy-of all mankind.”— POPE. lower VII. CHA P. lower state of abafement than even conquerors themselves. Did the love of mankind, or did fordid avarice, actuate them? And can enterprizes, even though good in themfelves, be thought deferving of praise, if the motives of them be vicious*.” Colonial policy of modern Eu rope contracted. 100. But were navigators alone blameable in this respect? And can we candidly affirm that the governments of the colonizing nations of Europe have seriously laboured, as they ought, to give to the selfishness of their subjects, a direction favourable to the real interefts of mankind? I fear not. That enlarged policy which, imitating the source of all perfection, endeavours to extract good out of evil, order out of confusion, seems to have had too little influence on the conduct of those statesmen, who took a part in projecting the modern colonies of Europe.—We will send our superfluous people to South America, said the court of Spain, to explore it's treasures, and, by their means, we will poffefs ourselves exclufively of the finews of war, and the medium of commerce, and thus render Spain the arbitress of Europe. The court of Portugal held fimilar language.— We, faid the Dutch, will get poffeffion of the spices of the Eaft, and not a clove or a nutmeg fhall the Europeans receive, except through our hands.-The British, with more good sense, but perhaps not with less selfishness, refolved to form colonies in North America, to ferve as consumers of their manufactures, and providers of raw materials and naval flores, which, from their bulk, might employ a numerous body of mariners, and give to Britain the empire of the ocean.-France, seeing the acceffion of wealth and power, which Britain feemed to derive from her colonies, but * Hift. Phil. & Pol. T. VI. p. 285. VII. which she principally did derive from her liberty and con- CHA P. fequent industry, at home, was not flow in following the steps of her rival. The Swedes, the Danes, the Pruffians, and the Austrians, have also had their colonizing schemes; but not to the same extent with the nations already mentioned. 101. All those schemes were formed upon a similar principle. Contracted views of commercial and financial advantage, narrowed their foundations, and fuffered them not to spread beyond the limits of a partial and local policy. For, as far as I can learn, the founders of the modern European colonies scarcely ever entertained a thought of enlarging the fphere of human felicity, and extending the bleffings of civilization and religion to distant nations. On the contrary, it is melancholy to trace the progress of the modern European colonization, marked, as it is, with injustice, rapine and murder, in various shapes. ces of this 102. And what advantages have the respective mother Confequencountries derived from their plundering schemes? Why, narrow polithe Spaniards and the Portuguese gained gold, and they cy gained pride; but they loft their home-confumers by exceffive emigrations; and their remaining people loft their industry, and their enterprizing fpirit, which before had made them so refpectable in Europe. The Dutch gained the Spice Islands, on which indeed they formed fettlements, or factories, rather than colonies *. But in the West Indies. * I think it right to diftinguish colonies from fettlements or factories. A colony fignifies a number of families, formed into a regular community, who have fixed themselves on an unoccupied fpot, with a view to cultivate the foil, and rear poftevity. The words colony and fettlement have sometimes the fame meaning; but as the latter is very often ufed for the word factory, I wish to reftrict it to this last signification.-Factories (or fettlements) having only commercial, temporary ends in view, remove as soon as thofe ends are answered, leaving wholly out of fight every kind of cultivation and improvement, either of the people or the land. they VII. CHA P. they formed real colonies, which may perhaps have contributed to fill the bags of the Amsterdam Bank. With money, however, they multiplied drones in their industrious hive, acquired a taste for high living, increased their taxes, banished several of their manufactures, and have brought upon themselves evident symptoms of national decay. The French and the British gained an increased marine which each employed in watching the motions of the other, in taking and retaking West Indian colonies and East Indian fettlements, and in defolating fome of the finest countries. in the world with famine, fire, and fword. We cannot enter into particulars. Suffice it to say, that these two great nations have, by their quarrels about colonies, well nigh ruined one another. The French politicians fucceeded in separating the British colonies from their Mother Country; but, in this enterprize, they ruined their finances. All Europe knows the reft. All Europe has feen the French government fubverted; and has heard of the national debt of Great Britain. May Heaven avert from this highly favoured nation, any ruinous catastrophe! 103. Colonies, as hitherto established and supported, have coft commercial nations nearly as great a facrifice of people as the most destructive wars. For it must be owned, that colonists have been too often regarded by the monopolizing companies, or private merchants, who have generally directed them, in the light in which foldiers and failors are confidered by statesmen; that is, merely as the instruments of their schemes. It therefore becomes a matter of serious confideration, when, where and how to form new ones, which, in their commencement, shall not be so destructive to the human race. While the principals are aiming at the acquifition of wealth, they ought not, as unfortunately has hitherto VII. hitherto been too much the case, to treat with indifference CHA P. and neglect those whom Providence has placed in the humbler, but not less useful, ftation of executers of their plans. 104. Though it be ufual to compare nations and their colonies to parents and their children; yet, as things now fland, I apprehend the analogy is very far from being just. In every family, the procreation and education of children are innate principles, and the evident intention of the Creator. Where is the fenfible parent who does not strive to give his children an education as good, at least, as he himself has received, and to elevate them into a fituation in life equal, or even fuperior, to that which he himself fills. Acting thus, has he any other end than their good; any other purpose to ferve than that of establishing them in fociety, and enabling them, in due time, to become the provident and beneficent fathers of future families? 105. From fuch obligations, it would be a contradiction to infer, that children, arrived at maturity, ought, from a principle of false gratitude, infeparably to abide by their parents throughout life. No! Nature herself then emancipates them from parental authority, and justifies their claim to a separate refidence, even though opposed by their parents. Without this procedure, fociety could not exist, and the human race would foon become extinct.-In a -word, children are fruit hanging on the tree: men are ripe fruit, qualified to produce, in their turn, new groups to grace the forest. 106. The gratitude and filial attachment which children preferve for their parents is, or ought to be, proportioned to I K the Comparison of nations and their co lonies, to pa rents and children. |