cTTAi'. xvth] A PJTERA'JL DESPOTISM. 255 



til ink we know) that tlie education and industry, and the 

 common usages of civilised man, are superior to those of 

 savage life ; and, as he becomes acquainted with them, the 

 savage himself admits this. He admires the superior 

 acquirements of the civihzed man, and ib is with pride 

 that he will adopt such usages as do not ijiterfere too much 

 with his sloth, his passions, or his prejudices. But as the 

 wilful child or the idle schoolboy, who was never taught 

 obedience^ and never made to do anything which of Ids 

 own free will he was not inclined to do, would in most 

 cases obUnin neither education nor manners ; so it is much 

 TUDre unhkely that the savage, with aU the confirmed 

 habits of manhood aud the traditional prejudices of race, 

 should ever do more than copy a few of the least bene- 

 ficial customs of civilization, without some stronger 

 stimulus than precept, very imperfectly backed by 

 example. 



If we are satisfied that we are right in assuming the 

 government over a savage race, and occupying their country ; 

 and if we further consider it our duty to do what wc can 

 lo improve our mde subjects and raise them up towards 

 (lur own level, we must not be too much afraid of the cry 

 of "despotism" and "slavery," but nmst use tlie authority 

 we possess, to induce them to do work whicli they may not 

 altogether like, but which we know to be an indispensable 

 step in their moral and physical advancement. The Dutch 

 have shown much good policy in the means by which they 

 have done this, Tliey have in most cases upheld and 

 strengthened tlie authority of the native chiefs, to whom 

 the people have been accustomed to render a voluntar}'- 

 obedience; and by acting on the intelligence and self- 

 interest of these chiefs, Imve bmught about changes in the 

 manners and customs of the people, which would have 

 r. veiled ill-f«'eiing and perhaps revolt, had they been directly 

 ei I forced by foreigners. 



In carrj'ing out such a system, much depends upon the 

 cliaracU^r of the people; and the system which suceeeda 

 admirably in one place could only be very partiidiy worked 

 out in another. In Minahasa the natunil docility and 

 intelligence of the race have made their progress rapid ; and 

 \iQ\y impoilant tliis is, is well illustrated by the fact, that in 



