sume a regular government, or fall into a state of general
anarchy. In the former case, they will use every endeavour
to set the rest of their brethren free ; and, in the latter, the
thirst of plunder, and aversion for labour, will drive them to
predatory excursions on the neighbouring islands, where the
slaves will be but too ready to join them. 'VVha'tever the line
of conduct may be which they eventually shall adopt, to
bring them back to slavery would be a task that all the
legions of Buonaparte can never accomplish. The secret
spell, that caused the negro to tremble at the presence of the
white man, is in a great degree dissolved; the supposed superiority,
by which a hundred of the former were kept in awe
and submission by one of the latter, is no longer acknowledged
; the mind has broken its fetters with those of the
body, and freedom of thought has produced energy of action.
I f it should unfortunately happen that our colonies in the
West Indies may ultimately be involved in the fate of St.
Domingo, a considerable mass of property will no doubt be
lost to this country; but, at the same time, it cannot well be
denied that this loss would be productive of a most important
saving to the state, by the number of British subjects who,
in their removal to a better climate, would escape a premature
death. The most valuable productions of the West India
islands were originally transplanted from the East, where the
labour of slaves is, not required, nor any extraordinary waste
of Europeans occasioned. To this source we may again recur,
and India and China may eventually, prove the great
sheet anchors of our commercial prosperity.
7
The ruin of the West India islands, it is to be feared, would
equally affect the tranquillity of those colonies on the con 1-
nent of South America, in the possession of the English
the Dutch, which would tend in a very matena\ d^ ^ '
enhance the value of the possession, of Spam and Port g
on the same continent. A *
t a U . J I »Me* necessarily results from such ¿
» , iuvinciblebarrien, against any
able circumstances might otherwise suggest. ev
ford so great a number or so great a variety o va p t
ductions as the Brazils. Beside the articles described in he
eight paintings, which I took notice of in a former chapter, the
country produces an inexhaustible supply of the fi^ s t t.m ci,
s u i t a b l e f o r a l l the purposes of civil and naval architec j e ,
but the cutting and disposing of it is a mcniop
Crown. The first object of every man, who obtains a.g
of woodland, I g destroy the best trees as fast g | j g g |
because he is not only forbidden to send them to ™a r k e M
may have the additional mortification of being o ige
L a i n the Kings surveyor, whenever he thinks fhtopayAnm
a visit, with a numerous retinue, for the purpose of felling the
timber, which he as owner of the estate has not t e power o
prevent. Yet, notwithstanding this discouraging monopdy
together with the difficulty of transport, on account of the
badness of the roads, and the scarcity of shipwrights, veiy
fine vessels, equal in size to an English 74 gun ship ha C
tt» i C h Q o W a r l r t r a n d S 6 I l t 3 .1 1 0 3 1 5 __