great part of the duties which had been paid upon the importation of fuch goods; and in her manufactures, by being underfold in the colony market, in confequence of the easy terms upon which foreign manufactures could be carried thither by means of those drawbacks. The progrefs of the linen manufacture of Great Britain, it is commonly faid, has been a good deal retarded by the drawbacks upon the re-exportation of German linen to the American colonies.

BUT though the policy of Great Britain with regard to the trade of her colonies has been dictated by the fame mercantile spirit as that of other nations, it has, however, upon the whole, been lefs illiberal and oppreffive than that of of them."

any

In every thing, except their foreign trade, the liberty of the English colonists to manage their own affairs their own way is complete. It is in every refpect equal to that of their fellowcitizens at home, and is fecured in the fame manner, by an affembly of the reprefentatives of the people, who claim the fole right of impofing taxes for the fupport of the colony government. The authority of this affembly over-awes the executive power, and neither the meaneft nor the most obnoxious colonist, as long as he obeys the law, has any thing to fear from the refentment, either of the governor, or of any other civil or military officer in the province. The colony affemblies, though, like the house of commons in England, they are not always a very equal representation of the people, yet they approach

Cc4

CHAP.

VII.

IV.

BOOK proach more nearly to that character; and as the executive power either has not the means to corrupt them, or, on account of the support which it receives from the mother country, is not under the neceffity of doing fo, they are perhaps in general more influenced by the inclinations of their conftituents. The councils, which, in the colony legiflatures, correspond to the House of Lords in Great Britain, are not compofed of an hereditary nobility. In fome of the colonies, as in three of the governments of New England, thofe councils are not appointed by the king, but chofen by the representatives of the people. In none of the English colonies is there any hereditary nobility. In all of them, indeed, as in all other free countries, the defcendent of an old colony family is more refpected than an upftart of equal merit and fortune: but he is only more refpected, and he has no privileges by which he can be troublesome to his neighbours. Before the commencement of the prefent disturbances, the colony assemblies had not only the legislative, but a part of the executive power. In Connecticut and Rhode Inland, they elected the governor. In the other colonies they appointed the revenue officers who collected the taxes impofed by those respective affemblies, to whom thofe officers were immediately refponfible. There is more equality, therefore, among the English colonists than among the inhabitants of the mother country. Their manners are more republican, and their governments, thofe of three of the provinces of

New

VII.

New England in particular, have hitherto been CHAP. more republican too.

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THE abfolute governments of Spain, Portugal, and France, on the contrary, take place in their colonies; and the difcretionary powers which fuch governments commonly delegate to all their inferior officers are, on account of the great distance, naturally exercised there with more than ordinary violence. Under all abfolute governments there is more liberty in the capital than in any other part of the country. The fovereign himself can never have either intereft or inclination to pervert the order of justice, or to opprefs the great body of the people. In the capital his prefence over-awes more or less all his inferior officers, who in the remoter provinces, from whence the complaints of the people are lefs likely to reach him, can exercife their tyranny with much more fafety. But the European colonies in America are more remote than the most distant provinces of the greatest empires which had ever been known before. The government of the English colonies is perhaps the only one which, fince the world began, could give perfect fecurity to the inhabitants of fo very distant a province. The adminiftration of the French colonies, however, has always been conducted with more gentlenefs and moderation than that of the Spanish and Portuguese. This fuperiority of conduct is fuitable both to the character of the French nation, and to what forms the character of every nation, the nature of their government, which though

arbitrary

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394

IV.

BOOK arbitrary and violent in, comparison with that of Great Britain, is legal and free in comparison with thofe of Spain and Portugal.

Ir is in the progrefs of the North American colonies, however, that the fuperiority of the English policy, chiefly appears. The progrefs of the fugar colonies of France has been at least equal, perhaps fuperior, to that of the greater part of thofe of England; and yet the fugar colonies of England enjoy a free government nearly of the fame kind with that which takes place in her colonies of North America. But the fugar colonies of France are not difcouraged, like thofe of England, from refining their own fugar; and, what is of ftill greater importance, the genius of their government naturally introduces a better management of their negro flaves.

IN all European colonies the culture of the fugar-cane is carried on by negro flaves. The conftitution of thofe who have been born in the

temperate climate of Europe could not, it is fuppofed, fupport the labour of digging the ground under the burning fun of the West Indies; and the culture of the fugar-cane, as it is managed at prefent, is all hand labour, though, in the opinion of many, the drill plough might be introduced into it with great advantage. But, as the profit and fuccefs of the cultivation which is carried on by means of cattle, depend very much upon the good management of those cattle; fo the profit and fuccefs of that which is carried on by flaves, muft depend equally upon the good management of those flaves; and in the good

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VII.

good management of their, flaves the French CHA P. planters, I think it is generally allowed, are fuperior to the English. The law, fo far as it gives fome weak protection to the flave against the violence of his master, is likely to be better executed in a colony where the government is in a great measure arbitrary, than in one where it is altogether free. In every country where the unfortunate law of flavery is established, the magiftrate, when he protects the flave, intermeddles in fome meafure in the management of the private property of the mafter; and, in a free country, where the mafter is perhaps either a member of the colony affembly, or an elector of fuch a member, he dare not do this but with the greatest caution and circumfpection. The refpect which he is obliged to pay to the mafter, renders it more difficult for him to protect the flave. But in a country where the government is in a great measure arbitrary, where it is ufual, for the magiftrate to intermeddle even in the management of the private property of individuals, and to fend them, perhaps, a lettre de cachet if they do not manage it according to his liking, it is much easier for him to give fome protection to the flave; and common humanity naturally difpofes him to do fo. The protection of the magiftrate renders the flave lefs contemptible in the eyes of his mafter, who is thereby induced to confider him with more regard, and to treat him with more gentleness. Gentle ufage renders the flave not only more faithful, but more intelligent, and therefore,

upon