FREE TOPULATION. 



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rected tliat there should be no division of casts, 

 and very few of those degrading and most gall- 

 ing distinctions which have been made by all 

 other nations in the management of their colo- 

 nies. That this was not intended by the mother- 

 country, but was rather submitted to from 

 necessity, is to be discovered in some few regu- 

 lations, which plainly show, that if Portugal 

 could have preserved the superiority of the 

 whites, she would, as well as her neighbours, 

 have established laws for this purpose. The 

 rulers of Portugal wished to colonise to an un- 

 limited extent ; but their country did not possess 

 a population sufficiently numerous for their mag- 

 nificent plans. Adventurers left their own coun- 

 try to settle in the New World, who were lite- 

 rally adventurers ; for they had not any settled 

 plans of life, and they were without families. 

 Persons of established habits, who had the *wish 

 to follow any of the ordinary means of gaining a 

 livelihood, found employment at home ; neither 

 could Portugal spare them, nor did they wish to 

 leave their native soil. There was no super- 

 abundance of population, and therefore every 

 man might find occupation at home, if he had 

 steadiness to look for it ; there was no division 

 in political or religious opinion ; there was no 

 necessity for emigration, save that which was 

 urged by crimes. Thus the generality of the 

 men who embarked in the expeditions which 

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