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disappearance of the quippus, and of symbolic 

 paintings, the introduction of Christianity, and 

 other circumstances, which I have elsewhere 

 developed, have gradually extinguished histori- 

 cal and religious traditions. On the other hand, 

 the colonist of European race disdains whatever 

 relates to the conquered people. Placed be- 

 tween the remembrances of the mother country, 

 and those of the country where he first drew his 

 breath, he considers both with equal indiffer- 

 ence ; and in a climate where the equality of 

 seasons renders the succession of years almost 

 imperceptible, he abandons himself to the enjoy- 

 ments of the present moment, and scarcely casts 

 back a look on the times that are past. 



What a difference also between the monoto- 

 nous history of modern colonies, and the varied 

 picture exhibited by the legislation, the manners, 

 and the political revolutions of the colonies of 

 the ancients ! Their intellectual culture, modi- 

 fied by the different forms of their government/ 

 often excited the envy of the mother countries ; 

 and by this happy rivalship arts and letters at- 

 tained the highest degree of splendor in Ionia, 

 in Graecia Magna, and in Sicily. In our days, 

 on the contrary, the colonies have neither his- 

 tory, nor national literature. Those of the New 

 World have never had powerful neighbours, and 

 there the state of society has undergone only 

 imperceptible changes. Without political exist- 



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