it is pleafant to obferve, that the fenfe of property is always given where it is ufeful, and never but where it is ufeful.

An ingenious writer, defcribing the inhabitants of Guiana, who continue hunters and fifhers, makes an eloquent harangue upon the happiness they enjoy, in having few wants and defires, and in having very little notion of private property. "The manners of "these Indians exhibit an amiable picture of primeval innocence "and happiness. The eafe with which their few wants are fup"plied, renders divifion of land unneceffary; nor does it afford any temptation to fraud or violence. That proneness to vice, "which among civilized nations is esteemed a propensity of nature, has no existence in a country where every man enjoys in perfection his native freedom and independence, without hurting or being hurt by others. A perfect equality of rank, banishing all distinctions but of age and perfonal merit, promotes "freedom in conversation, and firmness in action; and suggests

no defires but what may be gratified with innocence. Envy and "difcontent cannot fubfift with perfect equality; we fcarce even "hear of a discontented lover, as there is no difference of rank and

fortune, the common obftacles that prevent fruition. Those who "have been unhappily accustomed to the refinements of luxury, "will scarce be able to conceive, that an Indian, with no covering "but what modesty requires, with no fhelter that deserves the name of a house, and with no food but of the coarfest kind painfully procured by hunting, can feel any happiness: and yet to judge from external appearance, the happiness of these people may be envied by the wealthy of the moft refined nations; and juftly; because their ignorance of extravagant defires, and end"lefs purfuits that torment the great world, excludes every with "beyond the prefent. In a word, the inhabitants of Guiana are an example of what Socrates juftly obferves, that thofe who want the least, approach the nearest to the gods, who want

nothing." It must be acknowledged, that the innocence of favages, here painted in fine colours, is in every respect more amiable than the luxury of opulent cities, where fenfuality and selfishness are ruling paffions. But is our author unacquainted with a middle state between the two extremes, more fuitable than either to the dignity of human nature? The appetite for property is not bestow'd upon us in vain: it has given birth to many useful arts, and to almost all the fine arts; it is still more useful in furnishing opportunity for gratifying the most dignified natural affections; for without private property, what place would there be for benevolence or charity (a)? Without private property, there would be no industry; and without industry, men would remain favages for ever.

The appetite for property, in its nature a great blessing, degenerates, I acknowledge, into a great curfe when it tranfgreffes the bounds of moderation. Before money was introduced, the appetite feldom was immoderate, because plain neceffaries were its only objects. But money is a fpecies of property, of fuch extenfive ufe as greatly to inflame the appetite. Money prompts men to be induftrious; and the beautiful productions of industry and art, rousing the imagination, excite a violent defire of fine houses, ornamented gardens, and of every thing gay and fplendid. Habitual wants multiply: luxury and fenfuality gain ground: the appetite for property becomes headftrong, and must be gratified even at the expence of juftice and honour. Examples are without number of this progrefs; and yet the following history deserves to be kept in memory, as a striking and lamentable illustration. Hifpaniola was that part of America which Colum→ bus first discovered anno 1497. He landed upon the territory of

(a) Historical law-tracts, tract 3.

VOL. I.

I

Guacanaric,

Guacanaric, one of the principal Cacics of the island. That prince, who had nothing barbarous in his manners, received his guests with cordiality; and encouraged his people to vie with one another in obliging them. To gratify the Spanish appetite for gold, they parted freely with their richest ornaments; and in return, were fatisfied with glass beads, and fuch baubles. The Admiral's fhip having been toffed against the rocks in a hurricane, Guacanaric was not wanting to his friend on that occafion: he convened a number of men to affist in unloading the fhip; and attended himself till the cargo was fafely lodged in a magazine. The Admiral having occafion to return to Spain, left a part of his crew behind; who, forgetting the leffons of moderation he had taught them, turned licentious. The remonftrances of Guacanaric were in vain: they seized upon the gold and wives of the Indians; and in general treated them with great cruelty. Such enormities did not long pafs unresented: the rapacious Spaniards, after much bloodshed, were shut up in their fort, and reduced to extremity. Unhappily a reinforcement arrived from Spain: a long and bloody war enfued, which did not end till the islanders were wholly brought under. Of this island, about 200 leagues in length and between fixty and eighty in breadth, a Spanish hir ftorian bears witness, that the inhabitants amounted to a million when Columbus landed *. The Spaniards, relentless in their cruelty, forc'd these poor people to abandon the culture of their fields, and to retire to the woods and mountains. Hunted like wild beafts even in these retreats, they fled from mountain to mountain, till hunger and fatigue, which destroy'd more than the sword, forc'd them to deliver themselves up to their implacable conquerors.

* As little corn was at that time produced in the island, and lefs of animal food, there is reafon to fufpect, that the numbers are exaggerated. But whether a million, or a half of that number, the moral is the fame.

There

There remained at that time but 60,000, who were divided among the Spaniards as flaves. Exceffive fatigue in the mines, and want of even the common neceffaries of life, reduced them in five years to 14,000. Confidering them merely as beasts of burden, they would have yielded more profit had they been treated with less inhumanity. Avarice frequently counteracts its own end: by grafping too much, it lofes all. The Emperor Charles refolved to apply fome effectual remedy; but being interrupted for some time by various avocations, he got intelligence that the poor Indians were totally extirpated. And they were fo in reality, a handful excepted, who lay hid in the mountains, and fubfifted as by a miracle in the midst of their enemies. That handful were discovered many years after by fome hunters; who treated them with humanity, regretting perhaps the barbarity of their forefathers. The poor Indians, docile and fubmiffive, embraced the Chriftian religion, and affumed by degrees the manners and customs of their masters. They ftill exift, and live by hunting and fishing.

Affection for property! Janus double-fac'd, productive of many blessings, but degenerating often to be a curfe. In thy right hand, Industry, a cornucopia of plenty: in thy left, Avarice, a Pandora's box of deadly poifon.

SKETCH IV.

Origin and Progrefs of COMMERCE.

THE

'HE few wants of men in the first stage of fociety, are fupplied by barter or permutation in its rudeft form. In barter, the rational confideration is, what is wanted by the one, and what can be spared by the other. But favages are not always fo clear-fighted: a favage who wants a knife will give for it any thing that is lefs useful to him at prefent; without confidering either the present wants of the perfon he is dealing with, or his own future wants. An inhabitant of Guiana will for a fish-hook give more at one time, than at another he will give for a hatchet, or for a gun. Kempfer reports, that an inhabitant of Puli Timor, an island adjacent to Malacca, will, for a bit of coarfe linen not worth three halfpence, give provisions worth three or four fhillings. But people improve by degrees, attending to what is wanted and to what can be spared on both fides; and in that leffon, the American favages in our neighbourhood are not a little expert.

Barter or permutation, in its original form, proved miferably deficient, when men and their wants multiplied. That fort of commerce cannot be carried on at a distance; and even among neighbours, it does not always happen, that the one can fpare what the other wants. Barter is fomewhat enlarged by covenants: a bufhel of wheat is delivered to me, upon my promifing an equivalent at a future time. But what if I have nothing that

my