policy, and we proved to them that we were selfish enough to insist upon a cramped and restricted trade, though it was plainly mischievous to the colonies, and though it was at every stage of their history strenuously resisted by them. They naturally believed what we taught, and imitated the example which we had so pertinaciously set. The doom, however, of this protective policy is sealed. We are bound, if wise and just, to begin at once, and give the world a proof of our sincerity, by establishing with all our colonies, in every part of the globe, a perfectly free trade; by allowing to the whole world free access to our colonial ports. We thus shall lay the sure foundations of a lasting intercourse by means of a thriving, because unrestricted

commerce.

The object of all the succeeding inquiries of this work will be to ascertain in what way the mother country can best use her powers, in order to create thriving communities of her own people in the territories which she possesses in various parts of the globe, but which are now in a state of nature-the wild home of a few wild tribes-how she can most easily convert a howling wilderness into the secure home of a busy, thriving, happy people.

That she can do this without expense I believe, and shall, I think, be able to prove; and to that proof I now apply myself.

The English, with much self-complacency, call themselves a practical people; and so calling themselves, they are accustomed to search for precedents, as a means to regulate their conduct. This looking for

precedents, and trusting to authority, means, in so far as it is a wise mode of conduct, simply inquiring whether mankind have already had the teaching of experience upon the matter in hand, and whether there are records of this experience, from which rules of conduct for the future may be deduced. Knowing this habit of my countrymen, I naturally, for my own teaching, as well as the persuading of others, have inquired, what examples history offers on the subject of colonization? To ancient history, the philosopher and the scholar may refer with advantage and with pleasure; but the practical politician had better confine himself for the most part to modern experience, and even, if possible, to English experience. Fortunately, there are ample records for his purpose and records of a most special and useful character. We have the means, if we so wish, of comparing the modes adopted by different nations in similar regions, and in similar countries. As for example, the mode pursued by France in her vast North-American territories, with that adopted by Englishmen in the same regions, though in a more restricted field. But we are able to compare the different modes adopted by the same people in the same regions, or by the same people in different regions. As, for example, Englishmen in Massachusetts, and in Maryland and Carolina, and Englishmen in Sydney. The experience and the records of it are so vast and multifarious, that a selection becomes absolutely necessary; and this selection I purpose making, in order to lay before the reader an authority for the conclusions to which I have arrived, and to which I ask his assent.

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Of the examples, then, which modern history affords, I have selected two, both of which have been distinguished eventually, and the first, after various fortunes, with success; and in this first example, there will be seen almost every possible scheme attempted, but success attending only one condition of things, and attending just in proportion as that condition was adopted or departed from.

The conditions upon which success thus depended, were the existence, first of self-government and self-maintenance, and next of free trade. Where there were complete self-government, and an entirely unrestricted trade, there success, even with an adverse soil and climate, was most rapid and extensive; where there was no self-government, there was no success; where there was self-government, but so far checked as a restricted trade implied, there was only a partial, and slowlyadvancing improvement. The authority in favour of this statement is so extensive, as to create difficulty only by its profusion. I shall content myself by advancing some of the more remarkable portions of this evidence.

The two examples of which I speak, and which I intend now to instance, are as follow:

1st. That of England, when she established in America the thirteen colonies, which afterwards became the celebrated United States of America. They were 1. Virginia; 2. Maryland; 3. Massachusetts Bay; 4. Connecticut; 5. Rhode Island; 6. New Hampshire; 7. New York; 8. New Jersey; 9. Pennsylvania; 10. De

C

laware; 11. North Carolina; 12. South Carolina; and, 13. Georgia.

These were all English colonies, though some of them, as New York and New Jersey, were begun by,* but taken from, the Dutch. Emigrants came to them from various parts of Europe; but still their institutions are English; and, with very slight exceptions, their people all eventually spoke the English language. We may say, with accuracy, that this is an English example.

This great scheme of colonization began in the year 1606 with the foundation of Virginia. It was terminated in 1776; when the thirteen colonies (the last of which, Georgia, was founded in 1732) declared themselves independent, and thus put an end to their colonial existence. Between these two years of 1606 and 1776, thirteen communities were called into existence; and they contained, at the last mentioned period, a population of about three millions of souls.

2nd. The second example is that of the United States of America, when, being a sovereign people, they established many new states, and added them to the great federal union. All these new communities, which thus became members of the republic, were originally colonies, planted and maintained by the United States.

This second instance has seldom been considered in the light in which I now place it. The new states of the union have not hitherto been deemed colonies; yet such they truly were; and the system according to which

* Sweden, also, had a share in this attempt.

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they have all been planted and governed is the only regular and predetermined plan for such a purpose which any government has laid down for its guidance; and as might have been expected, the plan being a wise one, the result is the most successful example of colonization ever yet afforded by mankind.