594 



MOllAL EFFECT OF FORCE. 



Dec. 



concerned with it.^ In consequence of that ignorance, he 

 must inevitably be more or less guided by the advice of parties, 

 of whose individual interest in the matter so short an acquain- 

 tance cannot give him a proper idea. 



A great deal of prudence, and good management, is required 

 in the commander of a man-of-war, who has any business of 

 consequence to transact with the natives of Polynesia, or who 

 has to deal with his own countrymen in that distant region. 

 A single ship, assisted perhaps by tenders, might, if well com- 

 manded, do more good in a few years among the islands of the 

 Pacific, than can now easily be imagined. But then she must 

 be stationary ; not that she should remain in one place — far 

 from it — her wings should seldom rest ; I mean only that she 

 should stay in the Pacific during three or four years. In that 

 time so much information might be gained, and so much diffused 

 among the natives ; such a system of vigilant inspection might 

 be established, and so much respect for, and confidence in the 

 British nation, be secured — that our future intercourse with 

 Polynesia would, for a length of time, be rendered easier and 

 infinitely more secure, as well as creditable. 



The few ships of war which have remained during any 

 length of time among the islands, have been occupied by ex- 

 ploring and surveying, to an extent that has interfered with 

 the earnest consideration of other matters. But in a ship, em- 

 ployed as I have described, a surveyor might be embarked, 

 who would have ample opportunities of increasing our know- 

 ledge of that ocean. And if a sensible man, whose natural abi- 

 lity had been improved by an education unattainable by sailors, 

 could be tempted to bear the trials and losses of a long sea 

 voyage, in a busily employed ship, how much might Science 

 profit by the labours of three or four such years ? 



Having thus entered freely into ideas which I have so 

 often dwelt upon that they are become familiar, I will venture 

 to suggest the kind of sliip which would do most, in my hum- 

 ble opinion, at the least ultimate expense consistent with 

 efficiency. Moral influence over the minds of natives, as well 

 as over wanderers from our own or otlier countries, is a pri- 



