Ed. Yes; but not like civilized men, sure?
Mr. B. I know no important difference between ourselves and those people we are pleased to call savage, but in the degree of knowledge and virtue possessed by each. And I believe many individuals among the Greenlanders as well as other unpolished people, exceed in these respects many among us. In the present case I am sure the Danish sailors showed themselves the greater savages.
Ed. But what did they take away the Greenlanders for?
Mr. B. The pretence was, that they might be brought to be instructed in a Christian country, and then sent back to civilize their countrymen.
Ed. And was not that a good thing?
Mr. B. Certainly, if it were done by proper means; but to attempt it by an act of violence and injustice could not be right: for they could teach them nothing so good as their example was bad; and the poor people were not likely to learn willingly from those who had begun with injuring them so cruelly.
Ed. I remember Captain Cook, brought over somebody from Otaheite; and poor Lee Boo was brought here from the Pelew islands. But I believe they both came of their own accord?
Mr. B. They did. And it is a great proof of the better way of thinking of modern voyagers than former ones, that they do not consider it as justifiable to use violence even for the supposed benefit of the people they visit.
Ed. I have read of taking possession of a newly-discovered country by setting up the king’s standard or some such ceremony, though it was full of inhabitants.
Mr. B. Such was formerly the custom; and a more impudent mockery of all right and justice can scarcely be conceived. Yet this, I am sorry to say, is the title by which European nations claim the greatest part of their foreign settlements.