The other method, namely, to work upon savages by their own present and obvious interest, can be accomplished only by trade, and appears to be the most just and mild of all; but it must also be accompanied by a certain degree of compulsion and constraint, to produce any rapid and permanent results. The worst effect of the attempts to hasten on the universality of Christianity is doubtless this; that as soon as the savage comes in collision with Christians, they must perceive that the latter,—whether governments, corporations, or individuals—while they preach benevolence, do in fact, in almost every case, act hostilely both to each other and to them. Their simple understandings, which are not rectified by higher culture, can in no way reconcile this contradiction. And as they, like children, take in little of a new faith but the mythos, it is not much to be wondered at if the liberals or free-thinkers among them exclaim, “Fable for fable, murder for murder, slave-dealing for slave-dealing, where is the difference?” Had the Christian powers really abolished the slave-trade, and destroyed the nest of robbers which, to the shame of Europe, still exist on the coast of Africa; had England, instead of sending one solitary traveller after another (men who made themselves ridiculous and contemptible by displaying their Anglo-Christian arrogance without the means of supporting it,) to be assassinated by the natives, or to die of the climate,—sent into the interior an expedition fitted to command respect, and seasoned by previous residence on the coast;—had this expedition been so constituted as, by its dignity and by beneficent compulsion, to give a more humane character to trade; and had it sought to remove all obstacles to this object, even were it sometimes by force of arms;—it is indubitable that a great part of Africa would at this moment be infinitely more civilized than it will be by centuries of missions and Bible importations. Some may ask, ‘A quoi bon tout cela?’ others, what right have we to meddle in other people’s affairs? The answer to these questions would lead us too far. For my own part, I confess I so far agree with the Jesuits, that I acknowledge that a noble end,—that is, a project calculated for the greatest possible advantage of others, and united with the power of carrying it into effect,—sanctifies all appropriate means which are, in the same sense, noble, so far at least as open force is concerned; for deceit, treachery, and dishonesty can never lead to good.—Edit.
[115] In German all substantives begin with a capital letter.—Transl.
[116] A fictitious name, which might be Englished, Mr. Cant.—Transl.
[117] It is a great mistake to think that this is a subject only for ridicule or for rational indignation. The alliance of the so-called SAINTS, is not without danger to all men of large and liberal opinions. There is a fermentation of Jesuitical masses, who avail themselves of the form of Protestantism, because Catholicism will no longer answer their purpose. They are guided by the same principles to which the Jesuits owed their power, governed by the same ‘esprit de corps,’ constituted according to a like regular organization; instead of the ‘aquetta,’ indeed, they use, and with signal success, the ten times more formidable poison of calumny, which, like other instruments of darkness, is so easily employed by a secret association.—Germany has much more to dread from such saints, than from the dreams of freedom, promulgated by a set of enthusiastic young students on the Wartburg.—Edit.
[118] Wappenvögel (armorial-birds,) an expression which appears affected in English, though the passage is unintelligible without it.—Transl.
[119] A warning to all makers of puns and jeu de mots to know their tools. Our author probably is still in blissful ignorance of the i which spoils his joke.—Trans.
[120] “To come out,” as applied to young girls in England, means to go into the world. Parents sometimes let them wait for this happiness till they are twenty, or even older. Till then, they learn the world only from novels; in later life they consequently often act upon them, where the principles of domestic virtue (for there is such a thing now and then in England) have not been deeply and firmly laid.—Editor.
[121] Nothing can be more ridiculous than the declamation of German writers concerning the poverty which reigns in England; where, according to them, there are only a few enormously rich, and crowds of extremely indigent. It is precisely the extraordinary number of people of competent fortune, and the ease with which the poorest can earn, not only what is strictly necessary, but even some luxuries, if he chooses to work vigorously, which make England independent and happy. One must not indeed repeat after the Opposition newspapers.
[122] Probably presented by Macpherson himself.—Editor.
[123] The common people in England put the knife as well as the fork to their mouths. The higher classes, on the contrary, regard this as the true sin against the Holy Ghost, and cross themselves internally when they see a foreign Ambassador now and then eat so;—it is an affront to the whole nation.