CORRESPONDENCE. 



and that stranger, be he learned or simple, would stand confounded 

 at the happy result which generally takes place. It would seem 

 more like the effect of ordination than calculation ; more like fate 

 than perseverance ; and we should be set down as madmen for 

 risking, under such circumstances, our means of support, our 

 hopes of independence, and all the benefits resulting from it, 

 to those who lean upon us for subsistence. And yet, with this 

 picture before us, we are literally building up cities out of the 

 product of elements that seem too unstable for self-support. But 

 what a moral does it teach ? That the good, rather than the evil 

 influences of nature and of the heart, are the presiding power of the 

 world ! And sometimes it looks as if that power were enough to 

 control all things for good. But what fools we should be to draw 

 no benefit from our ability to concentrate the wisdom and virtue 

 of states for the promotion of the happiness of all. Now, apply 

 this to our marine colonies. Why should we have governors, 

 judges, and all the paraphernalia of courts, in territories where 

 there is a bare possibility that an Indian may be murdered, or 

 become a murderer ; steal a horse, or have his horse stolen ; and 

 not have a superintending influence abroad, where our ships are 

 daily traversing from island to island, and from sea to sea, with 

 the celerity and precision of the invisible dwellers of the deep ; 

 that the savage may be awed into respect, and the mutineer's hand 

 be bound down in submission ? Would not this change the face 

 of things, and make the merchant lie down more comfortably, 

 when he knew there was a diminution of the chance of misfor- 

 tune by sea, not only by the proximity of aid, but also by the 

 acknowledged influence of moral power which is felt everywhere, 

 that a true and generous hand is extended ? I see no way that we 

 can look for improvement, in this high view of the subject, but by 

 the means which, through your exertions more than those of any 

 other man living, are now appropriated for it ; and may Heavfin 

 prosper you and the enterprise. With our growth it must grow ; 



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