528 
Man. Now there’ is a ftate of fociety, 
if fociety it may be called, where man 
can boaft but little fuperiority above the 
beafts which roam around him; it.is in 
this ftate that climate, if it operates at 
all, operates in full forces Ina period 
of civility and refinement, the reftlefs 
energies of mind counteract, in a very 
confiderable degree, the influence of fuch 
fubordinate agents: a thoufand artificial 
wants roufe the native indolence, awaken 
the dormant ingenuity of Man, and 
conguer that obftimate reluctance to ex- 
ertion which tyrannizes over the barba- 
rian in every fultry climate of the globe, 
and which may fairly be confidered as a 
diftincuifhing charaéteriftic between the 
favage and the citizen. 
The error into which it appears to 
me that Mr. Hume has fallen, is this: 
that all his illuftrations, comprehenfive 
and ingenious as they are, are drawn 
from civilized fociety. If we would 
know the influence of climate, we muff 
not fix our obfervation on the different 
genius which diftinguifhed the dull 
phlegmatic Theban from the acute and 
lively citizen of Athens, and then deny 
this influence, becaufe withfuch oppofite 
difpofition and charaéter, they lived 
within a day’s journey of each other; 
nor muft we deny it, becaufe the courage, 
and love of liberty which formed the 
charaéter of an ancient Roman, may be 
contraffed with the timid and flavith 
difpofition which degrades the modern ; 
_ we muf not deny it, becaufe a mixture 
yof manners and temperament is fome- 
times obfervable in nations, fuch as 
England, of but fmall extent of territory, 
and,confequently, of but little comparative 
difference in climate ; or becaufe an unl- 
formity of character, a fort of monotonous 
difpofition, occafionally runs through the 
yaft dominions of a fpreading empire, 
fach as China, fubjeét to confiderable 
atmofpheric variation. Obfervations on 
fuch countries as thefe, only prove that 
ether caufes, befides that of climate, help 
to form the charaéter, and not that 
climate has no fhare in the formation. 
Let us crofs the Atlantic, and view the 
original uncivilized inhabitants of the 
Weftern World. The fharp invigorating 
air of the Northern regions had rendered 
the natives of them hardy, ingenious, and 
free : and. it was only under the torrid 
zone, or in countries nearly approaching 
to it, that they had loft their liberty, 
were indolent, and ftupid. Inthe Weft 
India iflands, Hifpaniola, Cuba, Ja- 
maica, &c. the dignity of -the Caziques 
On the Influence of Climates 
j [ Auge 
was hereditary, and the power of them: 
almof unlimited: the mbhabitants of the. 
cold climates in South America, and 
thofe eaftward of the Miffifippi, in North 
America, equally difdained the domina- 
tion of a tyrant. So fenfible was Dr. 
Robertfon of the influence which climate 
exerts on the conftitution and temper of 
untutored man, that he has atually made 
a divifion between the nature of the 
Americans in the torrid, and thofe in 
the temperate zones; in the latter, he 
has comprehended thofe who inhabit 
from the river St. Lawrence to the. 
gulph of Mexico, together with the 
Chilians and natives of Patagonia, at the 
extremity of the fouthern continent 5 
the formerare included the dull iflanders, 
and the inhabitants of thofe provinces 
which extend from the Ifthmus of Da-. 
rien, along the coaft of the Andes, to the 
fouthern confines of Brafil. The natives 
of the temperate zones, he fays, are the 
only people in the new world who are 
indebted for their freedom to their va- 
lour ; they are more robuft, more active, 
more courageous, and in them the hu- 
man fpecies appears to be manifeftly 
more perfeét. That there are exceptions, 
is indifputable, but it is probable they 
originate from fome local caufes. Such 
an exception is particularly obfervable 
among the inhabitants of fome of. the 
Caribbean ifles ; the vigorous and effec- 
tual refiftance of a thoufand Caribs in the 
ifland of St. Vincent, to the infamous 
_ projeéts of the Board of Treafury, in a 
very late period of Englith hiftory *, whe 
wanted to wreft from their hands the 
fertile diftriéts of which they were pof-. 
feffed, and to diftribute them among the: 
Englifh fettlers, proved that, however 
reduced in numbers, the courage of the 
natives was daring and unconquerable. 
_& By a refolute exertion of valour,” fays 
Mr. Beltham +, ‘‘tempered as it appears 
with no fmall degree cf difcretion, did. 
this handful of people ultimately eftablifh 
their privileges and virtual independency, 
againft THE ATTACK OF A MIGHTY: 
POWER, WHICH MENACED THEIR 
TOTAL RUIN AND EXTERMINATION; 
and the treaty between the Caribs of St. 
Vincent’s and the King of Great Britain, 
is a monument of hiftorical curiofity, 
fingularly valuable, as a ftriking confir- 
mation of the utility and importance of the 
magnanimous maxim, ‘¢ In no circum- 

* Within the reign of his prefent Majefty. 
+ Memoirs of the Reign of George III, Vol. I, 
- 356, &c 
a ftances 
