THE discovery of America, the separation of the British colonies, and the present struggle for independence in the colonies of Spain, are three of the most interesting occurrences of the last thousand years. Columbus, in search of a passage which would change the tract of eastern commerce, discovered a new world, possessing greater riches than the East, and capable of sustaining a population nearly equal to all the rest of the globe. Although disappointed in one object, he succeeded in opening sources of wealth to Europe which have changed its condition for the better in every department of life. The discovery of America enabled Europe to reach a point of improvement, which she could not otherwise have arrived at for centuries, if at all. Those who followed Columbus, with little or no scruple, appropriated to themselves whatever was found in the discovered countries, peaceably in some cases, but in most instances, by violence and cruelty. The inhabitants of America, in some districts numerous and far advanced in civilisation, were regarded by the Spaniards with little more respect than the wild beasts of the forest. They were destroyed without mercy, their possessions were seized without compunction, and all the principles of justice and humanity were violated without remorse. The superior skill of the Europeans in the arts, derived from the use of letters, which preserves the discoveries of the ingenious, and enables the human mind to advance towards perfection, necessarily placed the unfortunate Americans in the power of their invaders. The trst discovery of America, and the subsequent encroachments, were alike the acts of enterprising individuals, although their respective sovereigns were careful to come in for the lion's share. As to those portions of the country where

vast regions lay waste, (for the possession as hunting grounds by a few wandering tribes could scarcely be considered an appropriation of the soil,) the laws of God and nature might justify other members of the human family in taking a sufficient portion of the common inheritance for their subsistence. This was the case over nearly all the country now possessed by us; who, as the first of the colonies in forming an independent government, have become peculiarly entitled to the appellation of Americans. Our conquests were principally over the asperities of the climate and the earth; the axe and the plough were the weapons with which they were effected. If the natives have been sufferers, we are not to blame; the hunter cannot subsist by the side of the cultivator; the wild animals, which constitute his support, fly the fixed habitations of man. As in the natural progressive stages of society, so in relative position or vicinity, there must be a separation between these two states of human existence. The hunter and the cultivator could not be neighbors; the hunter, therefore, retired, and our settlements advanced.

merce.

In other parts of the continent the inhabitants were not always found in the hunter's state. Although not possessed of letters, they were as far advanced as men can be without them. They had made no inconsiderable progress in the arts; they had their fixed seats or cities, vying in population with those of Europe or Asia, their cultivation of the soil in a high state of improvement, and they had learned, unfortunately for them, to bestow a factitious value upon those metals which, in the old world, were regarded as the representatives of wealth, and used as the medium of comSuch was the situation of Mexico, of Peru, and parts of Chili.-These unhappy people were assailed by the Spaniards with barbarous cupidity, and every species of violence and injustice. practised upon them. This, it is true, was the work of a few audacious and lawless persons; but it met the approbation of the sovereign, who came in when all was quieted for the larger share of the spoil. The sovereign took possession of these countries by the RIGHT OF CONQUEST; and even after the enterprising and industrious of his own subjects had formed settlements and built cities, the privileges of conquest were never abandoned. Nothing can be more true than that the discovery, settlement, and conquest of America, was the work of private enterprise, but the advantages have been reaped by the different sovereigns. From the first discovery until the present day, they had but one thing in viewto draw the greatest possible advantage from the colonies, without regard to their prosperity. The colonies have furnished vast sums to be spent abroad, or rather squandered in wars and in the extravagance of courts. Their advancement, further than this object

was answered, was regarded with indifference; the misery and wretchedness of the colonies would have been preferred to their prosperity, if this would have produced the greatest supply. They were in fact regarded as mere appendages, very useful and convenient, but forming no part of the state.

The policy pursued by the different European states towards the colonies, received a tinge from their peculiar characters, unavoidably influenced by the situation and nature of the colony itself, keeping always in view the sole advantage of the European Sovereignty, no matter how disagreeable or distressing it might be to the colonies. The Spaniards, for instance, found some districts abundant in the precious metals; here every pursuit was discouraged, and even forbidden, not necessarily connected with the working of the mines. Here neither agriculture, manufactures, commerce, nor even considerable population was of much importance; hence the mine districts have generally been condemned to barrenness, more by the policy of the sovereign than by nature, while the inhabitants have been the poorest on the continent. Nature has established no such law, as that because we reside in countries abounding in the precious metals, we must therefore want the comforts and conveniences of life. If permitted to avail ourselves of these advantages, we should prosper even if the soil were barren, by exchanging for things more necessary. But regarding solely the Spanish interests, these districts have been condemned to barrenness and poverty; they have been closed like caverns where the light of day is not seen. These riches must be transported abroad to gratify the idle debauchery of a court, and unintentionally to benefit the unshackled industry of neighboring nations. This vile and oppressive monopoly appeared in every thing; when the colonies could procure what was barely sufficient to exchange for the commodities which the crown permitted to be furnished them by those of her own subjects, or even the subjects of other nations to whom she sold this privilege, all further advancement was deemed unnecessary, and therefore checked, lest they might cease to want those articles, mostly of the first necessity, which the crown was desirous of supplying. Agriculture in some districts was permitted to grow to a certain extent; manufactures were everywhere forbidden; the native spirit of commercial enterprise was entirely repressed; no commerce was permitted but through the mother-country, and for her benefit. This is the reason why countries which have been settled so many hundred years, are still so thinly populated. Some conjecture may be formed of the state in which South America might have been at this moment, from the progress we have made since our shackles were thrown off. Horses, cattle, and sheep in

South America, have increased without number, while the humani race, compared with this country, has scarcely made any perceptible progress. But small portions of the Spanish colonies have been cursed, or blessed (just as one may choose to consider it) with mines. The inhabitants in general gain their living by the cultivation of the soil and the preparation of articles of commerce; they are cultivators and shepherds, but chiefly the first; for where they were not at liberty to set their own prices on their commodities, but were compelled to accept what the monopolists chose to give, and to pay for European merchandise whatever the vender chose to ask, all agricultural industry, further than was necessary for a subsistence, was necessarily repressed. To countries on which nature has showered her choicest gifts, it is not surprising that thousands of European Spaniards should be enticed; and it is natural to suppose, that population without some check would rapidly increase. Spain would easily discover that it was unnecessary to hold out encouragement to emigration; she could, therefore, without fear of crippling the colonies, impose such burthens as would at the same time retard their progress, and procure a present profit. These burthens were of course to be increased with the growth of the colonies. Possibly this might have been practised with a foresight of the future strength of the colonies, and the fear of their revolt; but most probably it proceeded from the insatiate avarice which instigated her to squeeze from the colonies the utmost they were capable of yielding. Jealousy, which has generally been regarded as the characteristic of the Spaniard, may have had some share in imposing the restrictions. and establishing seclusion from the rest of the world, which has converted the country of the Spanish colonist into a prison, guarded with as much vigilance as the seraglio of an eastern despot; but again, selfish cupidity is the ruling passion-foreigners have been excluded from intercourse with the colonies, for the same reason that every species of industry and enterprise on their part was forbidden, wherever there existed a chance on the part of the crown to sell a privilege, or turn pedlar itself, and supply the subject at the most extortional prices. We shall be asked of what use would colonies be without these advantages? I ask in turn, what men, possessed of sufficient strength, would submit to be colonists on such terms? The history of all colonies, whether Carthaginian, Phenician, Grecian, or Roman, down to those of modern times, amply prove that resistance to these impositions has been uniform; and its cause may be therefore traced to the instinct of our nature, which urges us to oppose, as far as our strength will permit, the authority of usurped power and the exactions of injustice. No reasoning, but that which justifies the retaining a

slave, can justify the placing of the colonies on a different footing from other portions of the empire. It is not surprising that the British colonies, so much later in their establishment, and in a soil and climate so inferior, should have so far outstripped those of Spain.

The British colonies were established under more happy auspices. The spirit of liberty had been fostered by several important occurrences. The human mind had been unchained by the reformation; and the frequent resistance to the exertion of absolute power in the sovereign, had produced such an acknowledgment of many of the essential rights of man, in such a permanent form, as to be easily appealed to. Numerous safeguards of liberty had been established. The colonists carried with them the seeds of liberty, which they transplanted in a more congenial soil, where they could grow up without being overshadowed by kings and nobles. The colonists were the freest of the free. The habit of reducing rights to a permanent and tangible record, had given rise to the various charters under which the different colonies were established. They were permitted to overcome the first difficulties, inseparable from their situation, with little or no assistance; the Indian nations who opposed their settlements, were subdued; the lands were cultivated, and cities began to rise on the shores of the Atlantic. The colonial trade in a short time, gave employment to thousands of Englishmen, and a valuable market was soon opened for British manufactures. Here, with little or no expense to England, a vast treasure of wealth was displayed to her enterprise and industry. The colonies increased rapidly in consequence of their partaking of the freedom which was in some measure peculiar to Great Britain. It was not long, however, before these advantages on the part of Britain were abused; the colonists were disgusted with the dispositions manifested by her, to consult only her own momentary interests; and they were continually insulted by the insolence of the court favorites sent over to enrich themselves at their expense this, in countries where there was no distinction of ranks in society, where the pretensions of birth were but little known, where there was no gentry entitled by hereditary right to admiration and worship, constituted in a word the proper elements of republicanism.-- Fortunately for the colonies, Great Britain had delayed the exercise of arbitrary power until they had begun to feel their strength. Two millions of freemen, after a long and arduous struggle against one of the most powerful states of the old world, was at last acknowledged an independent nation. Our population, our wealth, our strength, has increased with a rapidity unexampled. We have become ten times more valuable even to that nation which endeavoured to chain us down, in spite of all the arts which her