EXTENSION OF AMERICAN COMMERCE IN THE EAST. 181 



of their products, whether manufactured or otherwise ; and viewing these settlements, not as 

 fortified positions, ever to act on the aggressive, hut merely as trading estahlishments, they 

 could in no possible way excite the suspicion or jealousy of other nations, hut, as before 

 remarked, would rather contribute to their convenience and profit. 



In conclusion, I may make one more quotation, and from another published paper of mine : 



" Objections to an American colony considered. — We proceed now to consider brieflv another 

 point. What are the objections, let us inquire, which may be interposed to the establishment 

 of an American settlement or colony such as we have described ? Can they be sustained by any 

 national argument ? I think not. In truth, colonies are almost as necessary to a commercial 

 nation as are the ships which transport from one country to another the commodities in the 

 interchange of which commerce subsists. 



" The objections hitherto advanced by our wisest men against the admission of detached and 

 distant colonies into our federative organization cannot apply to small and distinct settlements 

 established merely for purposes of trade or some religious or moral object. If once a few 

 Americans determine to congregate and sit down together, whether in the wesiern wilds or 

 upon some remote island in the Pacific, there must be some insurmountable obstacle, indeed 

 which will ever prevent the accomplishment of their designs ; and carrying with them, as such 

 adventurers would, the elements to constitute a useful and happy government, it would not be 

 long before their infant colony would grow into a flourishing settlement; and though, according 

 to the theory of our institutions, it would not at first, if separated from our recognized territory 

 meet with much countenance from the government at Washington, yet the very circumstance 

 of the settlers being thrown upon their own unassisted resources would prompt them to extraor- 

 dinary exertions, and when fairly established in their new home they would themselves deter- 

 mine upon a congenial form of government, and elect their own rulers. 



A general idea prevails that the possession of settlements abroad, however insignificant 

 involves the necessity of their defence against the combined forces of an enemy. This is only 

 true to a certain extent, and with strongholds vitally essential to the prosperity and safety of 

 the institutions of the nation to which they belong ; but in regard to minor places, such as can 

 have no influence upon the results of a war between two great nations, tbey should be considered 

 neutral, so long as they shall keep aloof from any part in the struggle. It is not to be sup- 

 posed, in these enlightened times, that the barbarities practised in former wars are to be any 

 longer tolerated. The extraordinary improvements in the means of destruction in battle, both 

 by sea and land, will render partisan warfare contemptible, and hence there would be little of 

 honor or advantage in making forays upon small isolated colonies, to whatever nation belonging. 

 They should be left undisturbed, and for the very good reason, that if thus regarded, they might 

 be resorted to by the vessels of either of the belligerents in cases of extremity. 



In the late war of the United States with Mexico, the Americans held for a long time many 

 of the principal cities and towns, and all the seaports of the enemy, but so far from molesting 

 the inhabitants of those places, they were actually protected from the exactions of their own 

 rulers ; private property was considered sacred, everything required for our use not belonging 

 to the Mexican government was scrupulously paid for, and no private building was occupied 

 without a just compensation to the owner; such were the facts within the sphere of my observa- 

 tion, and I believe the same liberal policy was pursued co-extensively with all the operations of 

 the Americans pending the war. 



It may, therefore, be assumed that a few small settlements, scattered through the Pacific 



