to6 An Hîjîorlcal Journal of 



tife them : Whilft they are little^ they fay they have fio Reafon ^ 

 and the Savages are not of the Opinion, tfiat Punifhment pro- 

 motes UnderSanding. When they are old enough to reafon^ 

 they fay that they are Mailers of their own Adlions, and that 

 they are accountable to no Perfon for them. They carry thefe 

 two Maxims fo far, as to fufFer themfelves to be ill ufed by 

 drunken People, without defending themfelves, for Fear of 

 hurting them. If youendeavour to ihew them the Folly of this 

 Conduél, they fay. Why Jhould hurt them ? They knouj not 

 nvhat they do* 



In a Word, thefe Americans are entirely convinced that Man is 

 born free, that no Power on Earth has any Right to make any 

 Attempts againft his Liberty, and that nothing can make him 

 Amends for its Lofs. We have even had much Pains to unde- 

 ceive thofe converted to Chriftianity on this Head, and to make 

 them underftand, that in Confequence of the Corruption of our 

 Nature, which is the EfFeft of Sin, an unreltrained Liberty of 

 doing Evil differs little from a Sort of NecelTity of committing 

 it, confidering the Strength of the Inclination, which carries us 

 to it ; and that the Law which reftrains us, prings us nearer to 

 our firft Liberty, in feeming to deprive us <i>f it. Happijy for 

 them, Experience does not make them feel in many material 

 Articles all the Force of this Bias, which produces in other 

 Countries fo many Crimes. Their Knowledge being more con- 

 fined than our's, their Defires are flill more fo. Being ufed 

 only to the fimple NeceiTaries of Life, which Providence ha^ 

 fufficiently provided for them, they have fcarce any Ides^ of Su- 

 perfluity. 



After all, this Toleration, and this Impunity, is a great Dif^ 

 order. There is alfo another, in the Defeél of Subordination, 

 which appears in the Public, and ftill more fo in Domeftic Con- 

 cerns, where every one does what he pleafes ; where the Father^ 

 Mother, and Children, often live like People met together by 

 Chance, and who are bound by no Obligations to each other ; 

 where the young People treat of the Affairs of the Family with- 

 out communicating any Thing of it to their Parents, no more 

 than if they were Strangers ; where the Children are brought 

 up in an entire Independence, and where they accuftom them* 

 felves early not to hearken either to the Voice of Nature, or the 

 moft indifpenfable Duties of Society. 



If in the Nations that are moft prudently governed, and which 

 are reftrained by the Reins of a moft holy Religion, weftill fee 

 fome of thofe Monfters which are a Difgrace to Human Nature, 

 they at leaft create Horror, and the Laws fupprefs them : But 

 what is only the Crime of a private Perfon, when it is attended 

 with Punilhment, becomes the Crime of the Nation that leaver 



