400 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
such settlements are themselves fit to become em- 
pires. With colonies it is in some degree as with 
children. ‘They receive the protection necessary for 
their growth, and obey at first from weakness and 
attachment ; but beyond the stage at which they ac- 
quire a right to think for themselves, the attempt to 
perpetuate subordination necessarily excites a hatred 
which effectually quenches the feeble gratitude that 
man, in any condition, is capable of cherishing. The 
political divisions of America,—the land of repub- 
lican principles,—are foreign to our object, and 
would require a more particular description than 
they could receive in this volume. 
