LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 Class 
 
CONCERNING THE 
 
 COMMERCIAL RELATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 WITH 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 BY CITIZEN TALLEYRAND. 
 
 Read at the National Institute, the 1 5th Germinal, 
 in the Year V. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 AN ESSAY 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 ADVANTAGES TO BE DERIVED FROM 
 
 NEW COLONIES 
 
 IN THE EXISTING CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 Read at the Institute, the 15th Messidor, 
 in the year V. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 I'RIKTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORV.E, 
 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1806. 
 
# 0* 
 
 ^,V 
 
 (^ , 
 
 
 J. Wnglit, Fript«r, St, JoVin's-SquBre, Clerfcenwtl'- 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 CONCERNING THE 
 
 COMMERCIAL RELATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 
 WITH 
 
 ENGLAND, 
 
 JL HERE is no science more depen- 
 dent on facts than political economy. 
 Indeed, the art of collecting, arrang- 
 ing, and drawing conclusions from 
 them, constitutes almost the whole of 
 the science And, in this point of 
 view, it has, perhaps, more to expect 
 
 A 2 from 
 
from observation than from genius. 
 For, let the moment arrive when our 
 knowledge must be put to the test, at 
 the risk of evincing our ignorance, and 
 the facts, which were before the ground- 
 work of our knowledge, will then be- 
 come the proof of it. 
 
 Yet we must guard against the folly 
 that would in all cases recur to first ex- 
 periments ; and which arrogates to it- 
 self the right of being ignorant of every 
 thing, in order that it may take nothing 
 upon credit. Nor should we be less 
 anxious to discard that temerity, which, 
 disdaining every thing positive, finds 
 it convenient rather to guess than to 
 examine. 
 
 How must we proceed then? We 
 
 should 
 
.should ever unite the result of our ob- 
 servation to that of our reasoning. 
 Doubtless we should admit the con- 
 clusions arising from certain general 
 facts which arc constant, which agree 
 well together, and which are viewed in 
 their full extent : but, at the same time, 
 we ought to know how in the new 
 questions, and even in the more ab- 
 struse parts of some old ones, to call in 
 the aid of novel, or recently observed 
 facts. We should guard ourselves a- 
 gainst first conclusions, the axioms of 
 idleness and ignorance ; and should 
 have the greatest distrust of those ge- 
 neralising principles, which would em- 
 brace every thing; or rather, correct- 
 ing the meaning of a word which has 
 
 A 3 been 
 
6 
 
 been so much abused, should give the 
 name of principle to that idea only, 
 which is first in the order of our rea- 
 soning, and not to the more general 
 idea ; to that which precedes, and not 
 to that which results. 
 
 Struck with the force of these truths, 
 to which every consideration calls us 
 back, I have undertaken to present to 
 that class of the Institute to which I 
 have the honour to belong, some ob- 
 servations made by me in America, the 
 consequences resulting from which, 
 have more than once struck me with 
 astonishment. 
 
 I have persuaded myself that some 
 of these observations, verified through 
 the whole extent of a country, still in 
 
 its 
 
its early infancy, might be arranged 
 amongst the facts of political economy, 
 and be received there with the same in- 
 terest which in natural history is grant- 
 ed to the most simple of the produc- 
 tions collected by a traveller. 
 
 Unfortunately, the spirit of system 
 is in the sciences w T hat the spirit of 
 party is in common life : it finds cause 
 to abuse facts themselves ; for it mis- 
 represents their nature, and perverts 
 their consequences. And this is a fur- 
 ther reason, not indeed for disregard- 
 ing them, but for learning to appre- 
 ciate well, both what they are, and 
 what they prove. 
 
 It is said, proverbially, that facts can- 
 not be disputed. If this proverb should 
 
 A 4 ever 
 
8 
 
 ever prove true, there will remain very 
 few disputes amongst men. 
 
 A remarkable fact in the histor} T of 
 commerical relations, and which it has 
 fallen to my lot to observe nearly, has 
 served to convince me fully to how 
 great a degree we ought to be atten- 
 tive observers of what is, at the time 
 that we occupy ourselves with the 
 consideration of what will be, and of 
 what must be. This fact is the con- 
 stantly-increasing activity of the com- 
 mercial relations betwixt the United 
 States and England: an activity, which, 
 on account of its causes and its conse- 
 quences, has an equal relation to poli- 
 tical economy, and to the philosophic 
 history of nations. 
 
 When 
 
When, after that bloody struggle, in 
 which the French defended so well the 
 cause of their new allies, the United 
 States of America were free from the 
 dominion of the English, every reason 
 seemed to unite for the dissolution of 
 those commercial connexions which 
 had before existed between two por- 
 tions of the same people. These rea- 
 sons were, the remembrance of the op- 
 pressions which had been heaped upon 
 the Americans ; the still more recent 
 recollection of the evils produced by a 
 seven years war; the humiliation of 
 depending again, for what they stood 
 in need of, upon a country which had 
 wished to subjugate them ; and all the 
 titles of military rank still subsisting in 
 every American family, calculated to 
 
 perpe- 
 
10 
 
 perpetuate defiance and hatred of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 If to these, we add that sentiment 
 so natural, which should have induced 
 the Americans to attach themselves, 
 with confidence, to the French, their 
 brethren in arms, and their liberators ; 
 and if we observe that this sentiment 
 had forcibly manifested itself, when 
 war was declared between England and 
 France ; that, at that period, the dis- 
 course of the American people, a great 
 majority of the public papers, the acts 
 of the government itself, seemed to dis- 
 cover a strong inclination towards the 
 French nation, and an equally strong 
 aversion to the English : all these rea- 
 sons, so powerful when united, would 
 
 lead 
 
11 
 
 lead to this result, that the American 
 commerce was for ever turned from its 
 accustomed channel; or that, if it in- 
 clined towards the side of England, it 
 would require very trilling efforts to 
 divert it entirely towards ourselves. 
 Hence would result new inductions 
 upon the nature of the relations be- 
 tween a mother country and her colo- 
 nies ; upon the influence of taste and 
 habits; upon the most efficient causes 
 of the prosperity of commerce ; upon 
 the direction which it may receive from 
 moral causes, combined with interest; 
 and, in the last analysis, many political 
 
 errors. 
 
 Observation, close observation alone, 
 can prevent these false conclusions. 
 
 Whoever 
 
12 
 
 AYhoever has well observed America, 
 cannot doubt, that still she remains 
 altogether English in the greater part 
 of her habits ; that her ancient com- 
 merce with England has increased, ra- 
 ther than declined in activity, since the 
 epoch of the independence of the 
 United States ; and that, consequently, 
 that independence, far from being of 
 disadvantage to England, has benefited 
 her in many respects. 
 
 This is demonstrated by an undoubt- 
 ed fact. America consumes annually 
 more than three millions sterling of Ens- 
 lish merchandize. Fifteen years ago, she 
 did not consume half that quantity. 
 Hence, there has been, on the side of 
 England, an increase in the exporta- 
 tion 
 
13 
 
 tion of her manufactured goods, and 
 an exemption from the expencc of the 
 American government. This fact, in- 
 scribed in the registers of the Custom- 
 House, cannot be disputed; but, as 
 I have already said, there is no fact 
 which may not be abused. If we re- 
 garded this as a necessary consequence 
 of every rupture of colonies, even of 
 sug-ar colonies, with their mother-coun- 
 try, we should be strangely deceived. 
 If, on the other hand, we should be in- 
 clined to believe that it depended 
 solely upon transient causes, and that 
 it is easy to obtain a contrary result, 
 we should not be the less in error. To 
 escape both these errors, it is necessary 
 
 to 
 
14 
 
 to know thoroughly, and to scrutinize 
 accurately, the causes of the fact. 
 
 I must, without reserve, affirm, that 
 the inconsiderate conduct of the an- 
 cient government of France laid, in a 
 greater degree than is imagined, the 
 foundation of the success of England. 
 If, after the peace which secured the 
 independence of America, France had 
 been sensible of the full advantage of 
 her position, she would have continued, 
 and would have sought to multiply the 
 relations which, during the war, had 
 been so happily established betwixt her 
 and her allies, and which had been 
 broken off with Great Britain: and 
 thus, the ancient habits being almost 
 forgotten, we might at least have con- 
 tended 
 
15 
 
 tended with some advantage against 
 every thing which had a tendency to 
 recal them. But what did France do 
 at that period ? She was fearful that 
 the same principles of independence, 
 which she had protected by her arms 
 in America, should introduce them- 
 selves amongst her own people ; and, 
 at the conclusion of peace, she discon- 
 tinued and discouraged all connexion 
 with that country. What did England 
 do ? She forgot her resentment ; she 
 re-opened speedily her ancient com- 
 munications, and rendered them still 
 more active. From that moment it 
 was decided that America should serve 
 the interests of England. In fact, 
 what was wanting for that ? That she 
 
 should 
 
16 
 
 should wish it, and that she should be 
 able to do it. Now the will and the 
 power were united in this instance. 
 
 That which determines the will is in- 
 clination and interest. It appears at 
 first strange, and almost paradoxical, 
 to assert that the Americans have a 
 bias from inclination towards England. 
 But we should not forget that the 
 Americans are a dispassionate people ; 
 that victory and time have weakened 
 their animosity, and that with them in- 
 clination is reduced to simple habit. — 
 Now all their habits assimilate them 
 to the English. 
 
 Identity of language is a fundamen- 
 tal relation, on whose influence one 
 cannot too deeply meditate. This 
 
 identity 
 
17 
 
 identity places between the men of 
 these two countries a common charac- 
 ter, which will make them always take 
 to, and recognise each other; they will 
 mutually think themselves at home, 
 when they travel into each other's 
 country ; they will have a reciprocal 
 pleasure in the interchange of their 
 thoughts, and in every discussion of 
 their interests. But an insurmountable 
 barrier is raised up between people of 
 a different language, who cannot utter 
 a word without recollecting that they 
 do not belong to the same country ; 
 betwixt whom every transmission of 
 thought is an irksome labour, and not 
 an enjoyment; who never come to un- 
 derstand each other thoroughly ; and 
 
 B with 
 
18 
 
 with whom the result of conversation, 
 after the fatigue of unavailing efforts, 
 is to find themselves mutually ridicu- 
 lous. In every part of America through 
 which I have travelled, I have not 
 found a single Englishman who did not 
 feel himself to be an American ; not a 
 single Frenchman who did not find 
 himself a stranger. 
 
 Nor should one be astonished to find 
 this assimilation towards England, in 
 a country, the distinguishing features 
 of whose form of government, whether 
 in the federal union or in the separate 
 states, are impressed with so strong a 
 resemblance to the great lineaments of 
 the English constitution. Upon what 
 does individual liberty rest at this day 
 
 in 
 
19 
 
 in America ? Upon the same founda- 
 tions as English liberty ; upon the 
 Habeas Corpus, and the trial by 
 jury. Assist at the sittings of congress, 
 and at those of the legislatures of the 
 separate states : attend to the discus- 
 cussions in the framing of national 
 laws • whence are taken their quota- 
 tions, their analogies, their examples ? 
 From the English laws ; from the cus- 
 toms of Great Britain ; from the rules 
 of parliament. Enter into the courts 
 of justice : what authorities do they 
 cite? The statutes, the judgments, 
 
 the decisions of the English courts 
 
 Doubtless, if such men have not an in- 
 clination towards Great Britain, we 
 must renounce all knowledge of the in- 
 
 B 2 rluence 
 
20 
 
 Alienee of laws upon man, and deny 
 the modifications which he receives 
 from all that surrounds him. To no 
 purpose do the names of republic and 
 of monarchy appear to place between 
 the two governments distinctions which 
 it is not allowable to confound : it is 
 clear to every man who searches to the 
 bottom of ideas, that in the represen- 
 tative constitution of England there is 
 something republican, as there is some- 
 thins: monarchical in the executive 
 power of the Americans. This was es- 
 pecially true, as long as the presidency 
 of General Washington continued ; for 
 the force of opinion attached to his 
 person throughout the whole of Ame- 
 rica, readily represents that kind of 
 
 magical 
 
21 
 
 magical power which political writers 
 attribute to monarchies. 
 
 That portion of the American nation 
 in which we expect to meet with the 
 fewest prejudices, the men who unite 
 ease with instruction, those who were 
 the movers of the revolution, and who, 
 in instilling into the minds of the peo- 
 ple a hatred of the English, ought, one 
 should think, ever to have felt it them- 
 selves ; these very men have insensibly 
 been drawn back towards England by 
 different motives/ Many of them were 
 educated in Europe ; and at that pe- 
 riod England alone was the Europe of 
 the Americans. They have no compa- 
 rative ideas of greatness, of power, of 
 elevation, but such as are furnished 
 
 B 3 them 
 
22 
 
 them by objects drawn from England ; 
 and, surprised themselves by the bold- 
 ness of the step which they took in se- 
 parating from that country, they are 
 unconsciously brought back to it by 
 an involuntary feeling of respect. 
 They cannot dissemble, that without 
 France they should never have suc- 
 ceeded in shaking off the yoke of En- 
 gland ; but, unfortunately, they think 
 that the good offices of nations are the 
 result of calculation only, and not of 
 attachment ; they even say that the an- 
 cient government of France, at the very 
 time that it made sacrifices in their fa- 
 vour, did more for their independence, 
 than for their liberty ; that, after hav- 
 ing assisted them in separating from 
 
 England, 
 
23 
 
 England, it intrigued to keep them 
 disunited amongst themselves, in order 
 that they might become emancipated, 
 without lmving either wisdom to con- 
 duct, or power to protect themselves. 
 Thus inclination, or, if you please, 
 habit, incessantly attracts the Ameri- 
 cans towards England : interest does so 
 still more ; for the first and most im- 
 portant consideration in a new country 
 is, without doubt, to increase its riches. 
 The proof of such a general disposition 
 manifests itself every where in Ame- 
 rica : we find evidence of it in every 
 part of their conduct. The customs, 
 with regard to religion, are themselves 
 strongly tinctured with it. I will men- 
 tion the result of what I have observed 
 
 B4 in 
 
ill this respect; its connexion with my 
 subject cannot fail to be perceived. 
 
 We know that, in England, religion 
 has preserved a powerful influence over 
 the mind ; that even the most indepen- 
 dent philosophy has not there dared to 
 divest itself of religious ideas ; that, 
 from the time of Luther, all sects have 
 found their way thither ; that all have 
 maintained themselves, and that many 
 have there taken their rise. We know 
 the share which they have had in the 
 great political changes ; in short, that 
 all have been transplanted into Ame- 
 rica, and that some of the states owe 
 their origin to them. 
 
 It appears, at first, as if these sects 
 would, after their transmigration, pre- 
 serve 
 
&5 
 
 serve their original state, and it is na- 
 tural to conclude that they might like- 
 wise agitate America. But how great 
 is the surprise of the traveller, when he 
 sees them all co-exist in that perfect 
 calm which, as it would seem, can ne- 
 ver be ruffled ; when, in the very same 
 house, the father, the mother, the chil- 
 dren, each follows peaceably, and 
 without opposition, that mode of wor- 
 ship which he prefers ! I have been 
 more than once a witness of this spec- 
 tacle, which nothing that I had ever 
 seen in Europe could have prepared 
 me to expect. On the days conse- 
 crated to religion, all the individuals of 
 the same family set out together ; each 
 went to the minister of his own sect ; 
 
 and 
 
26 
 
 and they afterwards returned home, to 
 employ themselves in common in their 
 domestic concerns. This diversity of 
 opinion did not produce any in their 
 
 feelings, or in their other habits : there 
 were no disputes, not even a question 
 on the subject. Religion there seems 
 to be an individual secret, which no 
 one thinks that he has a right to doubt 
 or to investigate. Thus, when there 
 arrives in America, from any country 
 of Europe, an ambitious sectary, eager 
 to afford a triumph to his doctrine, by 
 inflaming the minds of men, far from 
 finding, as in other places, persons dis- 
 posed to enlist under his banner, he is 
 scarcely even perceived by his neigh- 
 bours ; his enthusiasm is neither at- 
 tractive 
 
27 
 
 tractive nor interesting; he inspires 
 neither hatred nor curiosity : in short, 
 every one perseveres stedfastly in his 
 own religious opinions, and uninter- 
 ruptedly prosecutes his temporal con- 
 cerns.* 
 
 This apathy, which cannot be roused 
 by the most furious spirit of prose- 
 lytism, and which it is our present bu- 
 siness to point out, not to account for, 
 certainly takes its immediate rise from 
 
 the 
 
 * In a time of political factions this •would cease to be 
 the case ; for then every sect would necessarily wish to 
 be an auxiliary of such or such a party, as we have al- 
 ready seen : but when these factions were once calmed, 
 religion would immediately become in the United States 
 what it is at this day ; which is as much as to say, that 
 it has there no fanaticism as a constituent part of ite 
 composition ; and that is an important thing. 
 
 (Note of Citizen Talleyrand, io the month of Yen. 
 rose, year 7,) 
 
28 
 
 the perfect toleration of the different 
 sects of religion. In America no form 
 of worship is proscribed, no one esta- 
 blished by law ; and, therefore, there 
 are no disturbances about religion. — 
 But this perfect toleration has itself a 
 principle ; which is, that religion, al- 
 though it is there every where a real 
 sentiment, is more especially a senti- 
 ment of habit : all the ardour of the 
 moment is employed about the means 
 of speedily improving worldly prospe- 
 rity ; and hence results the chief cause 
 of the entire calm of the Americans, 
 respecting every thing which is not, 
 according to this constitution of their 
 minds, either a medium or an obstacle. 
 We may remark further, that those 
 
 Americans 
 
29 
 
 Americans of the cities, who were not 
 long since colonists, and consequently 
 accustomed to regard themselves as 
 strangers, must naturally have turned 
 their activity towards commercial spe- 
 culations, and have considered as sub- 
 ordinate to these the labour of agricul- 
 ture itself, by which, however, they were 
 under the necessity of procuring imme- 
 diate subsistence. Now such a prefe- 
 rence, which supposes, in the first in- 
 stance, an impatient desire of amassing 
 a fortune, would not fail to increase 
 that desire : for commerce, which ex- 
 tends the relations of man to man, ne- 
 cessarily multiplies his wants ; and 
 agriculture, by confining him in the bo- 
 som 
 
30 
 
 som of his family, has an equal ten- 
 dency to reduce them. 
 
 America, whose population at pre- 
 sent amounts to four millions, and is 
 rapidly increasing, is but in her infan- 
 cy with regard to manufactures : a few 
 iron works, several glass-houses, some 
 tan-yards, a considerable number of 
 trifling and imperfect manufactories of 
 kerseymere, a coarse kind of knitting, 
 and in some places of cotton, serve 
 rather to point out the feeble efforts 
 that have been hitherto made, than to 
 furnish the country with manufactur- 
 ed articles of daily consumption. It 
 results from this that she is under the 
 necessity of importing from Europe 
 not only a great part of what she con- 
 sumes 
 
31 
 
 sumes internally, but likewise a con- 
 siderable portion of what she makes 
 use of for her external commerce. Now 
 all these articles are furnished to Ame- 
 rica so completely by England, that 
 there is reason to doubt whether, in the 
 time of the most severe prohibition, 
 England enjoyed more exclusively this 
 advantage, with what were then her 
 colonies, than she does at present 
 with the independent United States. 
 
 The causes of this voluntary mono- 
 poly are, moreover, easy to be assign- 
 ed. The immense quantity of manu- 
 factured goods Avhich are sent out of 
 England ; the division of labour, at 
 the same time a cause and conse- 
 quence of their immense production, 
 
 and 
 
32 
 
 and particularly the ingenious employ- 
 ment of the mechanical powers, adapt- 
 ed to the different processes of the ma- 
 nufactures, have enabled the English 
 manufacturers to lower the price of 
 all the articles of daily use, below the 
 rate at which other nations have hi- 
 therto been able to afford them. Fur- 
 ther, the great capitals of the English 
 merchants enable them to give more 
 credit than those of any other nation ; 
 this credit is at least for a year, often 
 for a longer time. The consequence 
 is, that the American merchant who 
 receives his wares from England, em- 
 ploys scarcely any principal of his 
 own in this commerce; but trades al- 
 most entirely upon English capitals. 
 
 Therefore, 
 
33 
 
 Therefore, it is in fact England that 
 engrosses the commerce of American 
 consumption. 
 
 Without doubt the English mer- 
 chant must, in one way or other, in- 
 demnify himself for the interest of the 
 sums of which he allows so long a 
 use : but as the orders succeed regu- 
 larly, and are increasing every year, 
 there is established a balance of regu- 
 lar paymentsand of fresh credit, which 
 leaves nothing in arrear but the first 
 accommodation, the interest of which is 
 to be gained from the succeeding or- 
 ders, as well as from the former ones. 
 This first debt establishes, as we see, a 
 connexion between the English and 
 American correspondent, which is dif- 
 
 C ficult 
 
34 
 
 ficult to be broken off. The former 
 fears that, if he fail to send the goods 
 ordered, he may overwhelm a debtor 
 whose prosperity is the only security for 
 his advances ; the American, on his 
 part, is afraid of quitting a creditor, 
 with whom he has too many old ac- 
 counts to settle. It is almost impos- 
 sible for any third nation to interfere 
 with these reciprocal interests, strength- 
 ened by long habit. Thus France, in 
 her commerce with America, is reduc- 
 ed to the supplying of a few products 
 peculiar to her soil ; and does not en- 
 ter into any competition with England 
 in the sale of manufactured goods, 
 which she would not supply to Ame- 
 rica 
 
35 
 
 rica either at so cheap a rate, or on 
 such long credit. 
 
 If it should be objected that, during 
 our revolution, numberless exporta- 
 tions of French merchandise were made 
 to America : the answer is easy. Such 
 exportations have nothing in common 
 with a regular commerce : they were 
 the hasty speculations of those who, 
 frightened by the requisitions, by the 
 maximum, and by all the disasters of 
 the revolution, preferred any loss what- 
 ever upon their merchandise sold in 
 America, to the risk, or rather to the cer- 
 tainty, of a greater loss, if they let them 
 remain in France. It was the tumultu- 
 ous eagerness of people who run away 
 from their house when on fire, and to 
 
 C 2 whom 
 
36 
 
 whom every shelter is good ; and not 
 the judicious exportation of merchants, 
 who have made a calculation which 
 the j realize. Further, these wares 
 were sold ill; and the Americans 
 considered the English goods as far 
 preferable: which supplies us with a 
 further argument in favour of Eng- 
 land's maintaining her monopoly of 
 American commerce. 
 
 Thus the American merchant is 
 united to England not only by the na- 
 ture of his transactions, by the want of 
 the trust which he there obtains, and 
 by the pressure of the credit which he 
 has already indulged in ; but still more 
 by that necessity which the taste of 
 the consumer irresistibly imposes upon 
 him. This union is so real, and there 
 
 results 
 
37 
 
 results from it such constant commer- 
 cial relations between the two coun- 
 tries, that America has no true ex- 
 change but with England : so that al- 
 most all the bills which the Americans 
 draw upon the continent are payable 
 in London. 
 
 Let us take care, however, in thus 
 considering the Americans in a single 
 point of view, not to judge of them in- 
 dividually with two much severity. As 
 individuals, we may find amongst them 
 the seeds of every social quality: but 
 as a people newly constituted, and 
 formed of different elements, their na- 
 tional character is not yet decided. 
 Doubtless they remain English from 
 ancient habit; but perhaps also be- 
 
 C 3 cause 
 
38 
 
 cause they have not yet had time to 
 become completely Americans. It 
 has been observed that their climate is 
 not yet formed : their character is still 
 less so. 
 
 If we consider those populous cities 
 filled with English, Germans, Irish, and 
 Dutch, as well as with their indigenous 
 inhabitants; those remote towns, so 
 distant from one another; those vast 
 uncultivated tracts of soil, traversed 
 rather than inhabited by men who be- 
 long to no country; what common 
 bond can we conceive in the midst of 
 so many incongruities ? It is a novel 
 sight to the traveller, who, setting out 
 from a principal city, where society is 
 in perfection, passes in succession 
 
 through 
 
<39 
 
 - 
 
 through all the degrees of civilization 
 and industry, which he finds constant- 
 ly growing weaker and weaker, until 
 in a few days he arrives at a mis-shapen 
 and rude cabin, formed of the trunks of 
 trees lately cut down. Such a journey 
 is a sort of practical and living analy- 
 sis of the origin of people arid states: 
 we set out from the most compounded 
 mixture, to arrive at the most simple 
 ingredients : at the end of every day 
 we lose sight of some of those inven- 
 tions which our wants, as they have in- 
 creased, have rendered necessary ; and 
 it appears as if we travelled backwards 
 in the history of the progress of the 
 human mind. If such a sight lays a 
 strong hold upon the imagination ; if 
 
 C 4 we 
 
40 
 
 we please ourselves by finding in the 
 succession of space what appears to 
 belong only to the succession of time, 
 we must make up our minds to behold 
 but few social connexions, and no com- 
 mon character, amongst men who ap- 
 pear so little to belong to the same as- 
 sociation. 
 
 In many districts the sea and the 
 woods have formed fishermen, and 
 wood-cutters. Now such men, pro- 
 perly speaking, have no country ; and 
 their social morality is reduced within 
 a very small compass. It has long ago 
 been said that man is the disciple of 
 that which surrounds him ; and it is 
 true. Hence he whose bounds are 
 circumscribed by nothing but deserts, 
 
 2 cannot 
 
41 
 
 cannot receive lessons with regard to 
 the social comforts of life. The idea 
 of the need which men have one of 
 another does not exist in him ; and it 
 is merely by decomposing the trade 
 which he exercises, that one can find 
 out the principles of his affections, and 
 the sum of his morality. 
 
 The American wood-cutter does not 
 interest himself in any thing ; every 
 sensible idea is remote from him. — 
 Those branches so agreeably disposed 
 by nature ; beautiful foliage ; the bright 
 colour which enlivens one part of the 
 wood ; the darker green which gives a 
 melancholy shade to another: these 
 things are nothing to him ; he pays 
 them no attention : the number of 
 
 strokes 
 
4'J 
 
 strokes of his ax required to fell a tree 
 fills all bis thoughts. He never plant- 
 ed ; he knows not the pleasures of it. 
 A tree of his own planting would be 
 good for nothing, in his estimation ; for 
 it would never, during his life, be large 
 enough to fell. It is by destruction 
 that he lives ; he is a destroyer where- 
 ver he goes. Thus every place is 
 equally good in his eyes : he has no 
 attachment to the spot on which he has 
 spent his labour ; for his labour is only 
 fatigue, and is unconnected with any 
 idea of pleasure. In the effects of his 
 toil he has not witnessed those gradual 
 increases of growth, so captivating to 
 the planter ; he regards not the desti- 
 nation of his productions; he knows 
 
 not 
 
43 
 
 not the charm of new attempts : and if, 
 in quitting the abode of many years, he 
 does not by chance forget his ax, he 
 leaves no resrret behind him. 
 
 The vocation of an American fisher- 
 man begets an apathy, almost equal 
 to that of the wood-cutter. His affec- 
 tions, his interest, his life, are on the 
 side of that society to which it is 
 thought that he belongs. But it would 
 be a prejudice to suppose that he is a 
 very useful member of it. For we must 
 not compare these fishermen to those 
 of Europe, and think that the fisheries 
 here are, like them, a nursery for sea- 
 men. In America, with the exception 
 of the inhabitants of Nantucket, who 
 fish for whales, fishing is an idle em- 
 ployment. 
 
44 
 
 ployment. Two leagues from the coast, 
 when they have no dread of foul wea- 
 ther, a single mile when the weather is 
 uncertain, is the sum of the courage 
 which they display ; and the line is the 
 only instrument with whose use they 
 are practically acquainted. Thus their 
 knowledge is but a trifling trick ; and 
 their action, which consists in constant- 
 ly hanging one arm over the side of the 
 boat, is little short of idleness. They 
 are attached to no place ; their only 
 connexion with the land is by means 
 of a wretched house which they inha- 
 bit. It is the sea that affords them 
 nourishment: hence a few cod-fish, 
 more or less, determine their country. 
 If the number of these seems to dimi- 
 nish 
 
45 
 
 nish in any particular quarter, they 
 emigrate, in search of another coun- 
 try, where they are more abundant. — 
 When it was remarked, by some poli- 
 tical writers, that fishing was a sort of 
 agriculture, the remark was brilliant, 
 but not solid. All the qualities, all the 
 virtues, which are attached to agricul- 
 ture, are wanting in the man who lives 
 by fishing. Agriculture produces a 
 patriot in the truest acceptation of the 
 word ; fishing can alone succeed in 
 forming a cosmopolite. 
 
 I have, perhaps, dwelt too long 
 on a sketch of these manners: it 
 may seem foreign to this memoir ; and 
 yet it completes the object of it ; for I 
 had to prove that it was not merely 
 
 by 
 
46 
 
 by reason of their origin, of their lan- 
 guage, and of their interest, that the 
 Americans so constantly find them- 
 selves to be Englishmen — an observa- 
 tion which applies more especially to 
 the inhabitants of the cities. When I 
 cast my eyes upon those people wan- 
 dering amongst the woods, upon the 
 shores of the sea, and by the banks of 
 the rivers, my general observation was 
 strengthened, with regard to them, by 
 that indolence and want of a native 
 character, which renders this class of 
 Americans more ready to receive and 
 to preserve the impression of a foreign 
 one. Doubtless the latter of these 
 causes will grow weaker, and even dis- 
 appear altogether, when the constantly- 
 
 increas- 
 
4? 
 
 increasing population shall, by the cul- 
 tivation of so many desert lands, have 
 brought the inhabitants nearer toge- 
 ther. As for the other causes, they 
 have taken such deep root, that it 
 would, perhaps, require a French esta- 
 blishment in America to counteract 
 their ascendancy with any hopes of 
 success. Undoubtedly such a political 
 project should not be overlooked ; but 
 it does not belong to the subject of this 
 memoir. 
 
 x I have proved that the Americans 
 are English, both in their habits and 
 in their wants : I am far from thence 
 concluding that they have by inclina- 
 tion remained subjects of Great Bri- 
 tain, Every thing, it is true, draws 
 
 them 
 
48 
 
 them towards England, as an industri- 
 ous nation ; but every thing ought to 
 separate them from England, consi- 
 dered as a mother-country. They may 
 be willing to depend upon her com- 
 merce, which they find to their advan- 
 tage, without consenting to depend 
 upon her authority, under which they 
 have so severely suffered. They have 
 rtot forgot what their liberty cost them ; 
 and thev would not be so void of re- 
 
 A/ 
 
 flection as to consent to lose it, and to 
 allow themselves to be led on by the 
 ambition of individuals. They have 
 no longer, it is true, the enthusiasm 
 which destroys; but they have the 
 good sense which preserves. They do 
 not hate the English government : but 
 
 this. 
 
this, no doubt, is from the consi- 
 deration that it can never again be- 
 come their own. They take especial 
 care not to hate each other : together 
 they fought, together they enjoy the 
 fruits of their victory. Parties, fac- 
 tions, hatreds, have all disappeared :* 
 
 like 
 
 * This was literally true when the present memoiiy 
 was read to the Institute. If, since that time, parties 
 have been formed afresh ; if there is one of them which, 
 to its shame be it spcften, labours to replace America 
 under the yoke of Great Britain ; this would confirm 
 but too clearly what I have established in the course of 
 this memoir, viz. that the Americans are still English. 
 But every thing leads me to believe that that party will 
 not triumph ; and that the wisdom of the French go- 
 vernment has disconcerted its hopes : and I shall not 
 have to retract the good which I have here said of a 
 people, of whom I have a pleasure in recollecting that 
 they are English only by habits which affect not their 
 political independence, and not by a sentiment that 
 
 D wonld 
 
50 
 
 like good calculators the} r have proved 
 that these produced no benefit. Hence 
 nobody reproaches his neighbour with 
 the existing state of things ; each en- 
 deavours to turn them to his oavii ad- 
 vantage : they are mariners arrived in 
 a safe harbour, who think it at least 
 useless to be incessantly asking each 
 other why they embarked, and why 
 they followed a particular course. 
 
 In fine, to arrive at a complete proof 
 of the fact which I advanced concern- 
 ing the relations of the Americans with 
 Great Britain, it was necessary to re- 
 ject 
 
 would cause them to regret the having effected that in- 
 dependence. 
 
 (Note of Citizen Talleyrand, in the month of Ven- 
 tose. year VII.) 
 
51 
 
 ject probabilities, and to discard ana- 
 logies. Now, in demonstrative sciences 
 especially, it is of consequence, at the 
 risk of great mistakes, to guard oneself 
 against what is merely probable. 
 
 The knowledge of this fact itself 
 might lead to false conclusions ; it 
 might give reason to believe that the 
 independence of colonies was an ad- 
 vantage to their mother-cou ntries . But 
 when we revert to its real causes, the 
 consequence is reduced within nar^ 
 rower limits. At present we can per- 
 ceive in it nothing more than that the 
 independence of the United States has 
 been useful to England, and that it 
 would be so to every state of the con- 
 tinent which, on the one side, should 
 
 D 2 offer 
 
53 
 
 offer the same advantages to colonies 
 of the same nature, and on the other 
 should be seconded by similar faults 
 in its neighbours. 
 
 The developement of the causes of 
 this fact has led to many ulterior con- 
 sequences. 
 
 In enumerating these causes, we 
 have found reason to conclude succes- 
 sively : 
 
 1st, That the first years which follow 
 peace decide upon the commercial 
 system of states ; and that if they neg- 
 lect to seize the moment to draw their 
 advantage from it, it turns out almost 
 inevitably to their loss : 
 
 2dly, That commercial habits arc 
 more difficult to break through than 
 
 we 
 
53 
 
 we imagine ; and that interest brings 
 together in one day, and often for ever, 
 those whom the most ardent passions 
 had armed against each other for a se- 
 ries of years : 
 
 3dly, That in the calculations of the 
 relations of every kind which may ex- 
 ist amongst men, identity of language 
 is one of the most binding : 
 
 4thly, That religious toleration, in 
 its fullest extent, is one of the most 
 powerful guarantees of social tranquil- 
 lity : for where liberty of conscience is 
 respected, every other right cannot 
 fail to be so : 
 
 5thly, That the spirit of commerce, 
 which renders man tolerant through 
 indifference, tends also to render him 
 
 D 3 selfish 
 
54 
 
 selfish through avidity; and especially 
 that a people whose social character 
 has been shaken by long agitations, 
 ought, by means of wise institutions, 
 to be drawn towards agriculture ; for 
 commerce always keeps the passions 
 in a state of effervescence, and agricul- 
 ture uniformly calms them : 
 
 Finally, That, after a revolution 
 which has changed every thing, we 
 should know how to forego our ha- 
 treds, if we would not for ever renounce 
 our happiness. 
 
 AN 
 
AN ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE ADVANTAGES TO BE DERIVED FROM 
 
 NEW COLONIES 
 
 IN THE EXISTING CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 X HOSE men who have meditated 
 upon the nature of the relations which 
 unite metropolitan countries to their 
 colonies, those who are accustomed at 
 a distance to read political events in 
 their causes, have long been aware that 
 the West India colonies will one day 
 separate themselves from their mother 
 countries ; and by a natural tendency, 
 
 D 4 which 
 
56 
 
 which the vices of Europeans have 
 but too much accelerated, will either 
 unite amongst themselves, or will at- 
 tach themselves to the neighbouring 
 continent. For thus it is decreed by 
 that influence of events which deter^ 
 mines the destiny of states, and which 
 nothing can resist. 
 
 If such events are inevitable, we 
 should at least retard the epoch of 
 them, and turn to our advantage the 
 intervening time. 
 
 Disastrous measures have earned de^ 
 vastation into our colonies. Huma- 
 nity, justice, policy itself, imperiously 
 command, that by firm and wise mea- 
 sures, we at length make an effort to re- 
 pair the mischief. 
 
 But 
 
57 
 
 But in the mean time is it not right 
 to cast our eyes upon other countries, 
 and to prepare in them the establish- 
 ment of new colonies, whose connex- 
 ion with ourselves may be more natu- 
 ral, more useful, and more durable? 
 For it inevitably follows that the sys- 
 tem of our interior government should 
 introduce into our external relations 
 changes analogous to itself. 
 
 The necessary effect of a.' free con- 
 stitution is to tend unceasingly to re- 
 gulate every thing, both within and 
 without itself, for the interest of man- 
 kind. The necessary effect of an ar- 
 bitrary government is to tend unceas- 
 ingly to regulate every thing, both ex- 
 ternally and internally, for the indivi- 
 dual 
 
58 
 
 dual interest of those who govern. 
 According to these opposite tenden- 
 cies, it is incontestible that nothing in 
 common can long exist with regard to 
 the means, as nothing in common can 
 exist with regard to the object. 
 
 Tyranny is irritated at expressions 
 of discontent from the very moment 
 that they shew themselves; indiffe- 
 rence pays no attention to them ; good- 
 ness receives them with interest ; po- 
 licy searches for a counterpoise to 
 them : now the counterpoise of discon- 
 tent is hope. 
 
 The ancients had imagined the river 
 of oblivion, in which, at our exit from 
 life, all our recollections were lost. 
 The true Lethe at our exit from the 
 revolution, is in every thing which 
 
 opens 
 
59 
 
 opens to men the road of expecta- 
 tion. 
 
 " Every change," says Machiavel, 
 " lays the foundation for another/' 
 This observation is just and profound. 
 
 In fact, without speaking of the 
 hatreds which they perpetuate, and of 
 the motives for vengeance which they 
 leave in our minds, revolutions which 
 have shaken every thing, those espe- 
 cially in which every one has taken 
 part, leave behind them a general rest- 
 lessness of mind, a necessity for change, 
 an indifinite disposition for hazardous 
 enterprises, and an ambition in the 
 ideas, which tends unceasingly to alter, 
 and to destroy. 
 
 This is especially true when the re- 
 volution 
 
60 
 
 volution has been made in the name of 
 liberty. " A free government" says 
 Montesquieu, " that is, one always 
 agitated, &c." It being impossible to 
 put a stop to such an agitation, we must 
 regulate it : it must be allowed to ex- 
 ercise itself, not at the expence, but 
 for the promotion of the public hap- 
 piness. 
 
 After the crises of revolutions, there 
 are men worn out and grown old un- 
 der the impression of misfortune, whose 
 mind must in some sort be made young 
 again. There are some who, no longer 
 wishing to love their country, must be 
 made sensible that fortunately it is im- 
 possible to hate it. 
 
 Without doubt time and good laws 
 
 will 
 
61 
 
 will produce happy changes : but there 
 is need also of establishments con- 
 trived with wisdom ; for the power of 
 laws is limited, and time destroys alike 
 both what is o-ood and what is bad. 
 - When I was in America, I was struck 
 by observing that after a revolution, 
 very unlike indeed to our own, there 
 remained such slight traces of ancient 
 animosities, so little agitation, so little 
 inquietude ; in short, that none of those 
 symptoms were there to be found 
 which every instant threaten the tran- 
 quillity of states newly bursting into 
 freedom. I did not fail soon to dis- 
 cover one of the chief causes of it. 
 Without doubt this revolution, like 
 others, has left in the minds of men 
 
 dispositions 
 
 
62 
 
 dispositions to excite, or to receive, new 
 troubles : but this need of agitation 
 has been able to satisfy itself different- 
 ly in a vast and new country, where 
 adventurous projects allure the mind, 
 where immense tracts of uncultivated 
 lands give men a facility of going, to 
 employ a fresh activity, far from the 
 scene of their first dissentions, of plac- 
 ing their hopes in fresh speculations, 
 of throwing themselves at once into the 
 midst of a crowd of new schemes ; in 
 short, of amusing themselves by change 
 of place, and thus of extinguishing 
 within their bosoms the revolutionary 
 passions. 
 
 Happily the soil which we inhabit 
 does not present the same resources : 
 
 but 
 
63 
 
 but new colonies, chosen and estalish- 
 ed with discernment, may offer U3 
 them ; and this motive for occupying 
 ourselves about such, adds great force 
 to those which already solicit the at- 
 tention of the public, on the subject of 
 this kind of establishment. 
 
 The different causes which gave rise 
 to the colonies, in whose origin history 
 has instructed us, were not of more 
 urgent influence : the greater part of 
 them were much less pure. Thus am- 
 bition and the ardour of conquest car- 
 ried the first colonies of the Pheni- 
 cians*, and of the Egyptians, into 
 Greece; violence that of the Tyrians 
 to Carthage ;-j- the misfortunes of war 
 
 that 
 
 * Cecrops, Cadmus, Danaus. + DUlo. 
 
64 
 
 that of the fugitive Trojans to Italy ;* 
 commerce, and the love of riches, 
 those of the Carthaginians to the isles 
 •f* of the Mediterranean, and upon the 
 coasts of Spain and Africa ; necessity 
 those of the Athenians into Asia Mi- 
 nor, J the people becoming too nume- 
 rous for their limited and barren terri- 
 tory; prudence that of the Lacedemo- 
 nians to Tarentum, who by this means 
 delivered themselves from some turbu- 
 lent citizens; and urgent policy the 
 numerous colonies of the Romans, § 
 who shewed themselves doubly skilful 
 in giving up to their colonists a por- 
 tion of the conquered countries, both 
 
 because 
 
 * iEncas. + Syracuse. f Miletium, Ephesus. 
 § A great number of small colonies, of which none 
 became celebrated. 
 
65 
 
 because they appeased the people, 
 who incessantly demanded a new di- 
 vision, and because they thus formed, 
 of the discontented themselves, a sure 
 guard in the countries which they had 
 subdued. The ardour for plunder, 
 and the fury of war (much more than 
 excess of population) sent the colonies, 
 pr rather the irruptions of the people 
 of the North * into the Roman em- 
 pire ; and a romantic piety, greedy of 
 conquest, those of the Europeans into 
 Asia.-f* 
 
 After the discovery of America we 
 saw the folly, the injustice, and the 
 avaricious spirit of individuals, who, 
 
 thirsting 
 
 * Invasions of Huns, Goth?, Vandals, &c. 
 + Crugades, 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 thirsting after gold, threw themselves 
 upon the first countries to which their 
 balks conveyed them. The more 
 greedy they were, the more they sepa- 
 rated themselves from others: they 
 wished not to cultivate, but to lay 
 waste. Those indeed were not true 
 colonists. Some time afterwards, re- 
 ligious dissentions gave birth to more 
 regular establishments : thus the Pu- 
 ritans took refuge in the North of 
 America ; the English Catholics in 
 Maryland : the Quakers in Pensylva- 
 nia : whence Smith concludes that it 
 was not the wisdom, but rather the 
 vices of the European governments, 
 that peopled the new world. 
 
 Other great emigrations are likewise 
 
 owing 
 
67 
 
 owing to a gloomy policy, or to a po- 
 licy falsely denominated religious : 
 thus Spain Rejected the M#«rs 
 from her bosom ; France the Protes- 
 tants; almost all governments the 
 Jews : and every where the error which 
 had dictated such deplorable counsels 
 was recognised two late. They had 
 discontented subjects, and they made 
 enemies of them : these might have 
 served their country, but were forced 
 to injure it. 
 
 This long experience ought not to 
 be lost to us. The art of putting men . 
 into their proper places is, perhaps, 
 the first in the science of government : 
 but that of finding the proper place 
 for the discontented is, assuredly, the 
 
 E 2 most 
 
68 
 
 most difficult; and the presenting to 
 their imagination distant objects, per- 
 spective views, on whicM their thoughts 
 and their desires may fix themselves, 
 is, I think, one of the solutions of this 
 difficulty. 
 
 In the developement of the motives 
 which have determined the establish- 
 ment of a great number of the ancient 
 colonies, we easily remark that at the 
 very time that they were indispensable, 
 they were voluntary ; that they were 
 presented by the governments as an 
 allurement, not as a punishment. We 
 observe this idea especially to predo- 
 minate in them, viz. that bodies poli- 
 tic ought to reserve to themselves the 
 means of placing to advantage, at a dis- 
 
 2 tance 
 
69 
 
 tance from their immediate seat, that 
 superabundance of citizens who, from 
 time to time, threaten their tranquillity. 
 Further, this necessity was founded in 
 a vicious origin; it was either an ori- 
 ginal Agrarian law, giving rise to threat- 
 ning claims, which it became necessary 
 to calm; or too exclusive a constitu- 
 tion, which being made for one class, 
 caused a dread of too great an increase 
 of population in the others. 
 
 It is by making ourselves masters of 
 what was most pure in the views of the 
 ancients, and by guarding against the 
 application which has been made of 
 them by the majority of modern na- 
 tions, that it will be proper, in my opi- 
 nion, to occupy ourselves in the first 
 
 E 3 days 
 
70 
 
 days of peace with this kind of esta- 
 blishment, which, when well conceived, 
 and well executed, may be the source 
 of the most precious advantages, after 
 so many agitations. 
 
 And how many Frenchmen ought to 
 embrace this idea with joy ! How 
 many of them are there for whom, 
 were it but for a few moments, a new 
 sky has become an absolute necessity ! 
 Those who, bereft of their nearest con- 
 nexions, have lost by the stroke of the 
 assassin all which rendered their native 
 soil dear to them ; those for whom it 
 has become unfruitful ; those who find 
 in it nothing but regret, and those who 
 find in it nothing but remorse ; the men 
 who cannot resolve upon fixing their 
 
 hope 
 
71 
 
 hope in that place where they have ex- 
 perienced their misfortunes; and that 
 multitude of diseased politicians, 
 those inflexible characters, whom no 
 reverse can bend, those ardent imagi- 
 nations, whom no reasoning can influ- 
 ence, those fascinated spirits, whom no 
 events can disenchant ; and those who 
 always find themselves too constrained 
 in their own country ; and the greedy 
 and adventurous speculators ; and the 
 men who are born to have their names 
 attached to discoveries, to the found- 
 ing of cities, and to the formation of 
 civilized societies • he for whom France, 
 as now constituted, is still too ao-ita- 
 ted, and he for whom it is too calm ; 
 those in short who cannot put up with 
 
 E 4 equals, 
 
72 
 
 equals, and those likewise who cannot 
 brook any state of dependence. 
 
 And let us not suppose that so 
 many different and opposite elements 
 would not unite : Have we not seen, 
 of late years, since there have been po- 
 litical opinions in France, men of all 
 parties embark together, and go to run 
 the same risks upon the uninhabited 
 banks of the Scioto ? Are we ignorant 
 of the empire which is exercised over 
 the most irritable minds by time, by 
 space, by a new country, by habits to 
 be begun, by obstacles to be overcome 
 in common, by the desire of injuring, 
 giving place to the necessity of mutual- 
 ly assisting each other, by suffering, 
 which softens the soul, by hope, which 
 
 com- 
 
73 
 
 comforts it, by the pleasure of dis- 
 coursing of a country which one has 
 quitted, and even by that of complain- 
 ing of it ? 
 
 No, it is not so easy as we think it 
 to hate for ever. This feeling often 
 requires but a specious pretence for its 
 extinction; it never resists so many 
 causes conspiring to destroy it. 
 
 Let us then hold it for certain that 
 these discordancies of opinion, as well 
 as those of character, form no obsta- 
 cle to new colonies ; and would all be 
 lost in a community of interests, if we 
 knew how to take advantage of the er- 
 rors and prejudices which have hitherto 
 opposed the numerous attempts of 
 
 this kind. 
 
 It 
 
74 
 
 It does not enter into the plan of 
 this memoir to present all the details 
 of a colonial establishment : my aim 
 being only to rouse the attention of the 
 public, and to draw towards this sub- 
 ject more profound meditations, and 
 the knowledge of all those who can 
 present us with local information. 
 
 Nevertheless, I shall not deny my- 
 self the enunciation of some of the 
 most simple principles, upon which 
 these establishments should be found- 
 ed : I have need to buoy myself up 
 against the dread of witnessing the re- 
 newal of disastrous attempts. I think 
 we shall feel the necessity of establish- 
 ing them in hot countries, for they are 
 the only ones which give a quick re- 
 turn 
 
75 
 
 turn to those who employ their indus- 
 try upon them ; in places productive 
 of what we stand in need of, and want- 
 ing what we possess ; for this is the first 
 principle of union betwixt a mother- 
 country and her colonies. We shall 
 occupy ourselves, without doubt, in the 
 formation of vast establishments, in 
 order that men and their schemes may 
 there be at their ease ; and they should 
 be varied too, in order that every one 
 may find there the situation and the 
 labour that suits him. We should es- 
 pecially take care not to allow a multi- 
 tude of men to embark inconsiderately 
 at once, before we have provided for 
 the indispensable necessities of a first 
 establishment; and we shall recollect 
 
 that 
 
76 
 
 that it was by the most idle want of 
 foresight that the expeditions to the 
 Mississippi in 1719, and to Cayenne in 
 1763, swallowed up so many thousands 
 of Frenchmen. 
 
 v Hitherto governments have formed 
 to themselves a political rule not to 
 send, for the foundation of their co- 
 lonies, any but individuals without in- 
 dustry, without capital, and without 
 morals. A principle the most oppo- 
 site possible to this must be adopted : 
 for vice, ignorance, and misery can 
 found nothing; they are calculated 
 only to destroy. 
 
 Colonies have often been made use 
 of as a means of punishment, and those 
 which might serve for this purpose 
 
 have 
 
77 
 
 have been imprudently confounded 
 with those whose commercial relations 
 ought to be the source of riches to the 
 mother-country. We must carefully 
 separate these two kinds of establish- 
 ments ; let them have nothing common 
 in their origin, as they have nothing 
 similar in their destination ; for the im- 
 pression which results from a polluted 
 origin has effects which many genera- 
 tions are scarcely sufficient to efface. 
 
 But what will be the bonds of con- 
 nexion between the new colonies and 
 France ? History offers striking results 
 to decide this question. The Greek 
 colonies were independent ; they pros- 
 pered in the highest degree. Those of 
 Rome were always governed ; their 
 
 progress 
 
78 
 
 progress was scarcely any thing, and 
 their names are hardly known to us. 
 The solution rests upon the same point 
 to this day, in spite of the difference 
 of times and interests. I am aware 
 that it is difficult to convince govern- 
 ments, which know not how to quit 
 their accustomed plans, that they will 
 derive the benefit of their advances 
 and protection without having recourse 
 to co-ercive laws: but it is certain that 
 the interest of the two countries, well 
 understood, is the true bond which 
 should unite them ; and this bond 
 is very strong, when there is also a com- 
 mon origin ; it is even preserved when 
 the force of arms has deranged the con- 
 nexion. This may be easily perceived 
 
 in 
 
79 
 
 in Louisiana, which remains French, 
 although it has been under the domi- 
 nion of the Spaniards for more than 
 thirty years; and in Canada, although 
 in the power of the English for the 
 the same length of time : the colonists 
 of these two countries were French- 
 men ; they are so still, and an obvious 
 bias inclines them always towards us. 
 It is then from a previous knowledge 
 of reciprocal interests, strengthened by 
 the powerful tie of a common origin, 
 that the establishment ought to be 
 formed, and on the strength of this in- 
 terest that we must reckon for the ad- 
 vantages to be drawn from it. At a 
 great distance every other relation be- 
 comes in time illusory ; or it is more 
 
 expensive 
 
80 
 
 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 source 
 of reciprocal prosperity. In short, ex- 
 perience and reason unite in rejection 
 of those pusillanimous doctrines which 
 suppose a loss wherever there has 
 been made a gain. The true prin- 
 ciples of commerce are the opposite 
 of these prejudices; they promise to 
 all people mutual advantages, and 
 they invite them to enrich themselves 
 all together by the exchange of their 
 productions, by liberal and amicable 
 
 com- 
 
81 
 
 communications, and by the useful 
 
 arts of peace. 
 
 Further, the countries proper to re- 
 ceive 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 subjec- 
 tion, some establishments along 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 Mont- 
 linot, in a very excellent memoir which 
 
 F be 
 
82 
 
 he has just published, points out along 
 this coast an Archipelago of isles, of 
 which many, although fertile, are un- 
 inhabited, and at our disposal. 
 
 M. le Due de Choiseul, one of the 
 men of our age with most of futurity in 
 mind, who so early as the year 1769 
 foresaw the separation of America from 
 England, and feared the partition of 
 Poland, was endeavouring by means 
 of negotiations at that time to pave 
 the way for the cession of Egypt to 
 France, in order that he might be 
 ready to replace, by the same produc- 
 tions, and by a more extended com- 
 merce, the West-India colonies, at the 
 time that they should be lost to us. 
 
 It 
 
83 
 
 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 
 begun, an establishment at Sierra Leo- 
 na ; and that it was preparing one at 
 Boulam. There is a further truth 
 which we should not endeavour to con- 
 ceal. 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 pro- 
 ducts. It is politic to be before-hand 
 with these great changes : and the first 
 idea which offers itself to the mind, 
 
 Y 2 that 
 
84 
 
 that which brings with it the greatest 
 number of favourable suppositions, ap* 
 pears to be, to attempt this cultivation 
 in those very places where the cultiva- 
 tor is born. 
 
 I have barely pointed out some po- 
 sitions ; 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 un- 
 wearied 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 Eng- 
 land 
 
85 
 
 land to trace after him ; it is to Flcu- 
 rieu, who has so perfectly observed all 
 that he has seen, and so well eluci- 
 dated, by his learned criticism, the ob- 
 servations 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 sa- 
 lubrious climate, a fruitful soil, and the 
 relations pointed out by nature, invite 
 our industry, and promise us rich ad- 
 vantages, for that day at least, when we 
 shall have the good sense to carry there 
 our knowledge and our labour only. 
 
 From all that has been here ad- 
 vanced, it follows, that every consider- 
 ation urges us to occupy ourselves with 
 new colonies : the example of the most 
 
 wise 
 
36 
 
 wise people, who have made them one 
 of the greatest means of their tranquil- 
 lity ; the necessity of preparing for the 
 replacing of our present colonies, in 
 order that we may not be found be- 
 hind-hand with events; the conveni- 
 ence of placing the cultivation of our 
 colonial products nearer to their true 
 cultivators; the necessity of forming 
 with the colonies the most natural re- 
 lations, more easy, no doubt, in new 
 than in old establishments ; the advan- 
 tage of not allowing ourselves to be 
 outdone by a rival nation, for whom 
 every one of our oversights, every in- 
 stance of our delay in this respect, is a 
 conquest ; the opinion of enlightened 
 men, who have bestowed their atten- 
 tion 
 
87 
 
 tion and their researches upon this ob- 
 ject: 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. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 J. Wriglit, Printer, St. Jolin's-Squarc, Clerkenwell. 
 
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any 
 University of California Library 
 or to the 
 NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station 
 University of California 
 Richmond, CA 94804-4698 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 • 2-month loans may be renewed by calling 
 (510)642-6753 
 
 • 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing 
 books to NRLF 
 
 • Renewals and recharges may be made 4 
 days prior to due date. 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 iUN 23 1SSS 
 
 R k>JhtNED 
 
 J UN 7 299 9 
 
 >»nta Cri'7 Jitnp' 
 
 12,000(11/95) 
 
LD9-20m-9,'60(L.jius4)/ 
 
 / 
 
 10821 ! 
 
 '•■i 
 
 • ■■»«., 
 
'.v. . 
 
 ' ■ 
 
 •MM 5 ?' 
 
 Mm 
 
 TttM 
 
 £1 •* 
 
 
 >m 
 
 HtlKPU 
 
 ill 
 
 81b 
 
 KN 
 
 
 .Xr 
 
 
 si ■■ 
 
 .. ■■■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 .'■'-'■'.'''.•■''■ 
 
 ■ : 
 
 . ' .' ; ■ , 
 
 . ■ .' 
 ■ . ■ 
 
 :. 
 ■.■■■. 
 
 -.■: . ■ >, .; 
 
 ' 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ ' I ; . 
 
 ' : 
 
 
 ' . ■ ■ ' ■ 
 
 ■ : •■ 
 
 I . I .....-.■■.. 
 
 : •: ■ ■ : ■ ' 
 
 ■■ 
 ■ 
 
 KM 
 
 [Jt 
 
 ill 
 
 
 >m 
 
 s» 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 ...■,. , 
 
 rf MffJ 
 
 ■ 
 
 if >' V f .}± }\ * 
 
 
 ilBHolwB 
 
 ' ' ■ * 
 
 TOW 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 ', . : . 
 
 
 • ■ - 
 
 ■• ■-: m . 
 
 . : 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 .-. ■•:-.■ ,