416 



ON THE LEADING PASSIONS 



ditions ; but civil life has passions peculiar to itself, and passions, too, of pe- 

 culiar force and obstinacy, that 



Grow v^ith its growth, and strengthen with its strength, 



which no system of internal discipline seems at all times capable of mode- 

 rating; which, in too many instances, we behold defying-, with equal contu- 

 macy, all the laws of religion and morality ; and, consequently, introducing 

 into the world pains and penalties, mischiefs and miseries, which the tribes 

 of barbarous and uncultivated nature, amid all their evils, know nothing of. 



To a certain extent, it is, however, probable, that the common opinion is 

 correct^ and that the greatest portion of violence and wretchedness is to be 

 met with in savage life. 



Now what are the passions that are chiefly brought into action, in this low 

 and lamentable state of existence ? Let us take a brief survey of them, — it 

 may prove an interesting inquiry, — and examine the changes they undergo, 

 and the new affections they give rise to, as man emerges from chaos to order, 

 from the gloom of ignorance to the light of civilization, morality, and science. 



One common character runs through savages of every kind. The empire 

 of the heart is divided between two rival deities or rather demons — Selfish- 

 ness and Terror. The chief ministers of the first are lust, hatred, and revenge ; 

 the chief ministers of the second are cruelty, credulity, and superstition. 

 Look through the world, and you will find this description apply to barbarians 

 of every age and country. 



It is equally the history of Europeans and Africans; of the Pelasgi, who 

 were the progenitors of the Greeks, and of the Celts and Scythians, the suc- 

 cessive progenitors of the English. All tlie discoveries of modern circum- 

 navigators confirm the assertion ; and though the captivating names of 

 Friendly and Society Islands have been given to two distinct groups in the 

 vast bosom of the Pacific Ocean, and the inhabitants in several of them have 

 made some progress in the first rudiments of civilization and government, 

 there is not a people or a tribe to be met with, who are yet in a savage state, 

 that are not still slaves to these debasing and tyrannical passions. The gen- 

 tleness of courtship, or rather the first proof of affection, among the savages 

 of New South Wales, consists in watching the beloved fair one of another 

 tribe to her retirement, and then knocking her down with repeated blows of 

 a club or wooden sword. After which impressive and elegant embrace, the 

 matrimonial victim is dragged, streaming in her blood, to the lover's party, 

 and obliged to acknowledge herself his wife. Cannibalism, in times of war, 

 is still common to several of the islands ; human immolation to most of theny 

 It was at the bloody shrine of revenge that Captain Cook fell a sacrifice in 

 Owhyee, one of the best informed and most disciplined of all the islands ; 

 ' nor has any one, perhaps, who ever read the interesting history of Prince Lee 

 Boo, forgotten the delight he manifested at St. Helen's, on discovering a bed 

 of groundsel, which he immediately converted to an article of food. All of 

 them believe in magic — are the dupes of priestcraft and witchcraft — and in 

 carving images of their deities, seem to think they can never represent them 

 under figures sufficiently terrific and disgusting. 



The simple but violent passions, then, common to mankind in savage life, 

 are selfishness, lust, hatred, revenge, terror, cruelty, credulity, and super- 

 stition. These are differently modified, as well as combined with other pas- 

 sions according to the force of collateral circumstances, as the dulness oi 

 vivacity of the intellectual faculties, the warmth or frigidity of the climate, 

 the lameness or picturesque grandeur of the scenery, and the political con- 

 stitution and habits of the people. Let us see how far this remark is sup- 

 ported by history. 



From the cap or caf of the Caucasus descended those streams of adven- 

 turers that, under the names of Getes, Goths, Scythians, and Scandinavians, 

 overran all the north of Europe, and progressively spread themselves from 

 the Caspian Sea to the Thames. Born in the midst of snows, brought up in 



