true bond which should unite them; and this bond is very strong, when there is also a common origin. It is even preserved when the force of arms has deranged the connexion. This may be easily perceived in Louisiana, which remains French, although it has been under the dominion of the Spaniards for thirty years; and in Canada, although in the power of the English for the same length of time. The colonists of these two countries were Frenchmen; they are so still, and an obvious bias inclines them always towards us. It is then from a previous knowledge of reciprocal interest, strengthened by the powerful tie of a common origin, that the establishment ought to be formed, and on the strength of this interest, that we must reckon for the advantages to be drawn from it. At a great distance, every other relation becomes in time illusory; or it is more expensive than productive. Hence, there should be no domination, no monopoly; always the force which protects, never that which oppresses; justice, kind offices; these are the true calculations, for states as well as for individuals; these are the true sources of reciprocal prosperity. In short, experience and reason unite in rejection of those pusillanimous doctrines which suppose a Loss wherever there has been made a GAIN. The true principles of commerce are the opposite of these prejudices. They promise to all people mutual advantages, and they invite them to enrich themselves mutually by the exchange of their productions, by liberal and amicable communications, and by the useful arts of peace.

Further; the countries proper to receive our colonies are in very great number: many would fulfil our views exactly.

Upon the supposition that our West-India islands should be exhausted, or that they should throw off our subjection, some establishments on the coast of Africa, or rather in the islands which border upon it, would be easy and convenient. An author deserving regard on account of the views which manifest themselves in his works, and which are always inspired by a love of the public good, I mean Citizen Montlinot, in a very excellent memoir which he has just published, points out along this coast an Archipelago of isles, of which many, although fertile, are uninhabited, and at our disposal.

M. le Duc de Choiseul, one of the men of our age with most of

way

futurity in mind, who so early as the year 1769 foresaw the separa tion of America from England, and feared the partition of Poland, was endeavouring by means of negociations at that time to pave the for the cession of Egypt to France, in order that he might be ready to replace, by the same productions, and by a more extended commerce, the West-India colonies, at the time that they should be lost to us. It is with a similar view that the English government encourages so successfully the cultivation of sugar at Bengal; that it had, before the war began, an establishment at Sierra Leone; and that it was preparing one at Boulam. There is a further truth which we should not endeavour to conceal. The question, so injudiciously agitated, respecting the liberty of the negroes, whatever may be the remedy which wisdom may bring for the evils which have been the result of it, will introduce sooner or later a new system in the cultivation of the colonial products. It is politic to be before-hand with these great changes: and the first idea which offers itself to the mind, that which brings with it the greatest number of favorable suppositions, appears to be, to attempt this cultivation in those very places where the cultivator is born. .

I have barely pointed out some positions; there are others which I could also enumerate: but here especially to announce too much of what one means to do, is the way not to do it at all. Besides, it belongs to the men who have travelled the most, and to the best purpose; to those who have carried into their researches an enlightened and unwearied love of their country; it is to our Bougainville, who had the glory to discover what it has been still glorious for the illustrious navigators of England to trace after him; it is to Fleurieu, who has so perfectly observed all that he has seen, and so well elucidated, by his learned criticism, the observations of others: it belongs to such men to tell the government, when they are interrogated by it, what are the places where a new country, a salubrious climate, a fruitful soil, and the relations pointed out by nature, invite our industry, and promise us rich advantages, for that day at least, when we shall have the good sense to carry there our knowledge and our labor only.

From all that has been here advanced, it follows, that every consideration urges us to occupy ourselves with new colonies: the

example of the most wise people, who have made them one of the greatest means of their tranquillity; the necessity of preparing for the replacing of our present colonies, in order that we may not be found behind-hand with events: the convenience of placing the cultivation of our colonial products nearer to their true cultiva tors; the necessity of forming with the colonies the most natural relations, more easy, no doubt, in new, than in old establishments; the advantage of not allowing ourselves to be outdone by a rival nation, for whom every one of our oversights, every instance of our delay in this respect, is a conquest; the opinion of enlightened men, who have bestowed their attention and their researches upon this object: in short, the pleasure of being able to attach to these enterprises so many restless men who have need of projects, so many unfortunate men who have need of hope.

Inquiry

CONCERNING THE PROPRIETY

OF

Increasing the Import Duty

ON

FOREIGN CORN.

BY JOHN NAISMITH, Esq.

AUTHOR OF ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE, &c. &c.

Certè est miserrimus, cui semper patriæ salus et dignitas, posterior suâ dominatione et domesticis commodis fuit.

CICERO

ORIGINAL.

1814.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Controversial writers generally introduce their works to the public by claiming exemption from prejudice. The claim indeed is seldom well founded; for in the discussion of questions which come home to men's business and bosoms, it is almost impossible for the most vigorous mind to divest itself completely of prejudice. I am far from supposing that I am possessed of this vigor; but I am confident that my prejudices, if I have any, with respect to the following subject, are not hostile to the cultivation of land, having spent a considerable part of a long life in the study and practice of Agriculture, and now, on the verge of life, feel no temptation to misrepresent the truth which experience has taught me. It is only from this experience that I think myself entitled to attention; for I am fully aware that my language wants those graces which have attracted readers to other tracts on this most interesting controversy. Such, however, as this inquiry is, I bequeath it to the public as the legacy of a man who is not likely to intrude himself more upon its attention. If it be found to throw any light on the great question now at issue, my sole end in publishing will be gained.

Stirling, 29th October, 1814.

J. N.