Ch. iv. Of Eiyiigj^ation. 53 



port. These distresses were undoubtedly aggra- 

 vated by the character of the settlers; but those 

 which were caused by the unhealthiness of a 

 newly cleared country, the failure of first crops, 

 and the uncertainty of supplies from so distant 

 a mother-country, were of themselves sufficiently 

 disheartening, to place in a strong point of view 

 the necessity of great resources, as well as uncon- 

 querable perseverance, in the colonization of savage 

 countries. 



The establishment of colonies in the more thinly 

 peopled regions of Europe and Asia would evi- 

 dently require still greater resources. From the 

 power and warlike character of the inhabitants of 

 these countries, a considerable military force would 

 be necessary, to prevent their utter and immediate 

 destruction. Even the frontier provinces of the 

 most powerful states are defended with consider- 

 able difficulty from such restless neighbours; and 

 the peaceful labours of the cultivator are continu- 

 ally interrupted by their predatory incursions. 

 The late Empress Catherine of Russia found it 

 necessary to protect by regular fortresses the co- 

 lonies which she had established in the districts 

 near the Wolga; and the calamities which her 

 subjects suffered by the incursions of the Crim 

 Tartars furnished a pretext, and perhaps a just one, 

 for taking possession of the whole of the Crimea, 

 and expelling the greatest part of these turbulent 

 neighbours, and reducing the rest to a more tran- 

 quil mode of life. 



The difficulties attending a first establishment 



