ORIGIN
OF S O C I E
T I E S .
T o us, indeed, who are ufed to live in better regulated focie-
ties, where for many years backwards, anthropophagy has been in
difufe, it is always a horrid idea, that men fhould eat men. But I
cannot help obferving, that this barbarifm is one o f the flops, by
which debafed humanity, is gradually prepared for a better Hate
o f happinefs; in the favage Irate, where man is j uft one remove
from animality, wherein he has no other -impulfe for adtion, than
want, he foon finks into ftupid indolence, which more and -more
debafes all his powers, and faculties : but fcarce have the paflions;
begun to adt as the main fpriags o f human adtions, when man is
carried from the firft excentric afition to a feeond, from one cnor-
* mity to another, and from this or that fhoek-ing feene o f cruelty,
barbarifm and inhumanity to others o f a higher degree : thefe would
grow to an outrageous height, -were -it not for -certain circum-
ftanees, which at laft naturally put a -total flop to thofe inhuman
pradtices. I f therefore barbarians, -who ft'ill prefe-rve -the fhocking
cuftom-of eating men, meet-with other-tribes that‘have the fame
. barbarous cuftom, and are ftrong or adtive enough, either by chance
or bravery, to check their neighbours in their inhuman wrongs,
they will foon be fenfible, that their own numbers muft decreafe
by thefe Ioffes; they will therefore grow more cautious, in provoking
their anger or vengeance by new -outrages, and will gradu-
5 ally
a l l y b e c o m e f o b e r e n o u g h * t o b e c o n v i n c e d , t h a t i t i s m o r e r e a f o n - o r i g i n
_ . . o f s o c i a
b l e t o l a y a f id e t h e c u f t o m o f e a t i n g m e n , a n d t h a t a l i v i n g m a n e t i e s .
is more ufeful than one that is dead or roafted; they in confe-
quence change their unnatural cruelty into a more humane behaviour
; though it be not quite free from injuftice and intereft, it is
however, lefs deftrudtive to mankind, and -prepares the way to a
more humane and benevolent feene. Or let us on the other hand
fuppofe, thefe barbarians meet with unmerited fuceefs, -and always
rout their neighbours, -as often as they take the field ; thefe humiliated
foes, in order to avoid thèir utter ruin and deftrudtion, will at laft
offer terms o f accommodation ; and though their condition fhould
become as abjedt as poflible, they will prefer it to a greater and unavoidable
evil, involving the whole ruin o f their tribe; the con-
quérors will foón difeover, that by preferving the lives o f their fub-
jedted foes, they may reap confiderable advantages from their labour
and united force, which will gradually improve their conditioti, and
render them moré and more happy.
This idea might be deemed imaginary ; but upon examination,
it will appear to.be eftablifhed in truth. In the Northern Ifle. o f
New-Zeeland, in. a diftridt o f more than go miles, Captain Cook,
found in his former voyage, the name o f a great chief, called
T e i r a t o o , to be generally acknowledged; and it fliould feem.
from thence, that the fmall tribes under his dominion, were ei-
U u 2 ther