XXÜ INTRODUCTION.
the ingenuity of man, he rendered accessible ; the
natural productions of those lands may be transported
to the sea-coast in exchange for foreign commodities ;
and commerce, thus instituted, becomes the pioneer of
civilization.
England, the great chief of the commercial world,
possesses a power that enforces a grave responsibility.
She has the force to civilize. She is the natural colonizer
of the world. In the short space of three centuries,
America, sprung from her loins, has become a
giant offspring, a new era in t-he history of the human
race, a new birth whose future must be overwhelming.
Of later date, and still more rapid in development,
Australia rises, a triumphant proof of England’s power
to rescue wild lands from barrenness ; to wrest from
utter savagedom those mighty tracts of the earth’s
surface wasted from the creation of the world,—a
darkness to be enlightened by English colonization.
'Before the advancing steps of civilization the savage
inhabitants of dreary wastes retreated : regions hitherto
lain hidden, and counting as nothing in the world’s
great total, have risen to take the lead in the world’s
great future.
Thus England’s seed cast upon the earth’s surface
germinates upon soils destined to reproduce her race.
The energy and industry of the mother country become
the natural instincts of her descendants in localities
adapted for their development ; and wherever Nature
has endowed a land with agricultural capabilities, and
favourable geographical position, slowly but surely
that land will become a centre of civilization.
True Christianity cannot exist apart from civilization
; thus, the spread of Christianity must. depend
upon the extension of civilization ; and that extension
depends upon commerce.
The philanthropist and the missionary will expend
their noble energies in vain in struggling against thé
obtuseness of savage hordes, until the first steps towards
their gradual enlightenment shall have been made by
commerce. The savage must learn to want ; he must
learn to be ambitious; and to covet more than the
mere animal necessities of food and drink. This can
alone be taught by a communication with civilized
beings : the sight of men well clothed will induce the
naked savage to covet clothing, and will create a
want ; the supply of this demand will be the first