And as the power to raise the moral character of our fellow-creatures in distant lands, and thus to restore them to the image they have lost, is far greater now, on various accounts, than at any former period, so happily is the disposition also. Ever since the first discoveries indeed of new people, whatever injury may have been done to these by the wicked conduct of some, we have seen others glowing with a desire of serving them. We have seen solitary persons going into inhospitable climates upon the pure principle of giving light and life to those, who were wandering in darkness and the shadow of death. We have seen little companies of men scattered abroad with the same laudable design. But of late this beneficent disposition has been most conspicuous. It has moved with a stride and a rapidity beyond all example. At the Cape of Good Hope and on the shores of Asia the name of christianity has been proclaimed. Islands in the Pacific Ocean have even heard her voice. The savage tribes of the continent of America begin to listen to it with gladness. The enslaved inhabitants of its islands hear occasionally, "the glad tidings," the only solace of their woes. With respect to Africa, the nefarious traffic of her children has been prohibited, as the first necessary step to her reform; and an institution has been founded, which may in time carry the blessings of civilization from one end of her territories to the other. These events, have all of them taken place within the last twenty years; and all of them, it is worthy of remark, in consequence of the efforts, not of any government, but of a few enlightened individuals.

Having now spoken of the probability of the power, as well as of the disposition, to accomplish this most interesting object, I shall satisfy myself with making a few remarks on the means to be pursued for the attainment of it.

The means, then, have already been pointed out. It has been shewn, that they consist in the one great principle of the diffusion of knowledge. It has been shown again, that this knowledge must be of two kinds; comprehending, first, that civil and social illumination, which improves the understanding; and, secondly, that moral and religious light, which has a tendency to correct the heart. This being the case, two questions present themselves. The first is, who are to be the agents? The second, how are the means themselves to be executed? In both these cases we must always bear in mind, that we have to do with grown up persons, full of

rooted prejudices and bad habits, but yet who, in consequence of their extreme ignorance, are to be considered as in a childish state.

With respect to the agents, it would be proper that they should consist, in the first instance, rather of husbandmen and mechanics, than of professed missionaries. This may appear a paradox; but it will be unravelled in its proper place.

It is essentially necessary that they should be persons of the strictest moral conduct. They should be such, as should preach daily (till the missionary preaching could be understood) by their example. One act of apparent injustice on their part might frustrate the whole scheme.

They should be such as were principled against undue territorial acquisitions, or the usurpation of sovereign power. They should be but few in number. The fears and suspicions which people in such a barbarous state would be likely to entertain, if a large colony were planted among them, relative to the uprightness of its views, renders this suggestion necessary.

They should consist of persons of both sexes, because it would be proper that a complete picture should be held up to the natives, of the practice, that is, of the employments, manners, habits, and duties, of civilized life.

With respect to the manner of executing the means; this brings me to the solution of what I supposed might appear a paradox, on account of an opinion so generally prevalent, that professed missionaries, and they only, were the proper persons to be employed on such occasions. This solution then, will depend upon that of the following question: "Whether, in the diffusion of that two-fold knowledge, which was said to be necessary to effect civilization, the civil or social should precede the religious in its application to the end proposed, or whether, in fact, we should try first to make the ignorant people, whose case we are now considering, citizens; or to make them christians ?"

I do not know that I can throw light more satisfactorily upon this point, than by selecting the following case from Barrow's account of a journey to Africa, and arguing upon

it.

Speaking of the Bosjesmen, he goes on thus: "It is evident on the face of the above statement, that the chief, and perhaps the sole motive for destroying, or abandoning, the helpless and the destitute, the infants and the aged, is their

extreme indigence. Without any covering to protect his body from the vicissitudes of the weather, without possessions or property of any kind, except his bow and his quiver of arrows, the Bosjesman exists from day to day on what the fortune of the chace may throw within his reach, or a few bulbous roots which the barren soil scantily supplies, or the eggs of ants and the larvæ of locusts; and, when these all fail, he is glad to have recourse to toads, mice, snakes, and lizards. To satisfy the present craving of the stomach is his grand object, and this accomplished in its fullest extent, he seems to enjoy a short lived species of happiness, which either shews itself in an exhilaration of spirits, not unlike that which usually attends the first stage of intoxication, or throws him into a profound sleep. Among such a people it is not surprizing that infants and aged persons, should be left to perish. If the dread of pinching poverty, and the horrors of absolute want, are sufficient to urge the civilized Chinese to the commission of infanticide on their own offspring, it is the less surprizing that a similar, or a still more hopeless condition, should operate similar effects on the savage Bosjesman.'

To try the different effects of the two systems, I will now suppose that certain worthy persons, consisting of men and women, were to fix themselves among the Bosjesmen, with the view of reclaiming them from their barbarous state; and, first of all, that these were to act as mere missionaries, believing they could attain their object by the sole circumstance of becoming preachers of the gospel. One of the first objects, which they would endeavour to bring about, would probably be, to wean these ignorant people from the horrid custom of destroying the aged, the widows, the children, and such others as were unable to provide for themselves. According to the premises, then, they must be earnest in religious exhortation upon this subject. Now I have no doubt, that the very first proposal of the measure would excite laughter on the part of the Bosjesmen, on account of its apparent absur dity, as opposing both the practice of themselves and their predecessors. The missionaries, however, persevere. They urge the extreme wickedness of the practice.-The Bosjesmen cannot comprehend this; for they say, that, situated as they are, it is no crime: it is a matter of imperious necessity, and therefore it is a virtue.-The missionaries, urge text after text from the scriptures, in behalf of their own opinion.-The Bosjesmen, from the shallowness of their intellect or the pau

city of their ideas, do not understand any one of the truths which are told them.-But we will cut the matter short. We will suppose that the latter, though not convinced, yet out of condescension to the strangers settled among them, were to try the experiment for a year. Now what would be the result at the end of it? Would they not be worse off then, than ever? If they were unable to support themselves before, without destroying annually such as could not get their own livelihood, how shall they then be able to do it, with a two years helpless population on their hands? They would find that they were likely to be great losers by the preaching of their missionary friends; indeed, that the whole community, the strong and the helpless, were in the way, without uncommon exertions, of being starved together.

I will now suppose, that other persons with the same views, but attached to the other system, I mean only as previously necessary, were settled among the same people. They condemn, of course, the barbarous custom in question, and they signify their abhorrence of it; but they tell the Bosjesmen, that they are come to put them in the way of providing better for themselves. They hope to be able to give them food with more certainty and less labour. This proposal is at any rate more intelligible than the other. It opposes their prejudices less, and squares with their very wants. It is yet, among a people so ignorant, neither generally understood nor adopted. The plough, however, is introduced: the new settlers work it: curiosity, and the novelty of the thing, brings visitors: the spirit of imitation prompts some of the latter to assist. The time of harvest approaches: the grain is collected and preserved: the Bosjesmen are in want as usual: a part of the produce is given to them: they are told that if the whole tribe would concur, at the next seed time, in doing what individuals among them had done before, they would never want food either for themselves, or their fami lies; but that there would be abundance, so that even the aged, the widows, the children, and all such as could not lend a hand to their own support, might be fed also. This declaration is succeeded by the most earnest entreaties, on the part of the new settlers, that the Bosjesmen would not in future destroy these helpless beings. Now which of the two orders of missionaries would be most likely to see their wishes accomplished?-They, who begged the lives of the helpless, when it was impossible to find food for them, if they had been spared; or they, who asked the same favour, when there was

not the least shadow of a pretext for destroying them?-Is not the answer at once obvious?

We see, then, that it is possible, where a nation is barbarous, to do more, I mean, in the first instance, in the way of weaning it from some of its most criminal customs by the introduction of agriculture and habits of industry, than by offering to them truths, which, however sublime in themselves, are above the reach of their uncultivated understandings. Indeed nothing can be more obvious, than that if, as Barrow says, to satisfy the present craving of the stomach be the grand object of the Bosjesmen," (and this is the case with the North American tribes and others also,) then the first step to be taken towards civilizing them, must be to furnish them with a permanent supply of food. You must do that in fact, which shall render their cruel practices unnecessary. You must first improve the worldly condition of those, whom you mean thus morally to serve. You must produce, with this view, a change in their character and habits. You must bring them from a state of wanderers and emigrants, to a state of settlers. You must introduce agriculture among them, by which they may raise articles of the first necessity. Commerce will arise out of circumstances in due time. This will give birth to industry again. In the course of this period many new perceptions of things will have been promoted. New wants, however, will still obtrude themselves. New perceptions again will accompany these. Thus we see a foundation, laid for a constantly increasing stock of ideas. In proportion as these accumulate, that kind of knowledge, which we termed social, will be extended, and civilization will spread. This is that state, in which the other kind, which we termed religious, may be successfully applied; but it seems most accordant with the ordering of Divine Providence that men should be enlightened as men, before they receive divine truths. A state of knowledge and civilization prepares the way for christianity. Such was the state of a great part of the world, when the apostles went forth to preach. Had it then consisted of wandering tribes only, like those now under our consideration, we know not how, without constant miracles, their conversions to christianity could have been accomplished. But there is not on record a single instance of a country, visited by the apostles for the purpose of spreading their religion, which was then in so barbarous a state. The Roman empire, as I observed out of Pliny, had collected all the known nations under one