PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

AgritUJture, and Cotnmtrte. 46!
or discouraged. But emigrants may relinquish their
country· from a sense of insecurity, oppression, annoyance,
and inconveniency. Neither, again, i'ere is
it emigration which wastes the J>E'Ople, but the evils.
that occasion it. It would be in vain, if it were prae.
ticable, to confine the inhabitants at home;- for tIle
same causes which drive them out of the country,
.would prevent their muitiplica!ion if they remained
in it. Lastly, men may be tempted to ~hange their
situation by the allurement of a better dimate, of a
more refined or luxuriou~ manner of liviLg; by the
pro~pect of wealth ; or, sometimes, by the mere nominal
advantage of higher wages and prices. Fj llis class
of emigrants, with whom alone the laws can interfere
with effect, will never, I think, - be numerous.
With the genercdi~ of a. people, the attachnlent of
mankind to their hom~ and COUDtry, tile irk.,~meness
of seeking new habitations; and of living amongst
strangers.. win outweigh, -so long as men possess the
necessaries of life in safety, or at I ~st so long as they
tan obtain a proyision for that mode of subsistence,
which the class of citjzeD~ to- which they belong are
accustomed to enjoy, all the inducements that the ad..
v~es of a foreign land can eifer. There ~pear,.
therefore, to be few cases in which emigration can
be prohibited with advantage to the state; it appears
also that emigration is an equivocal symptom, which
will probably accompany the decline of the political
body, but which may likewise attend a condition ot
peTtect health and vigour.
/ II. COLONIZ.ATIf)N. The only view under which
our subject will permit us -to consider" colonization, if; in
its tendency to augment the population of the parent
st~te:) Suppose a· fertile, but ~mpty .island, to lie
WIthIn the reach of a country , ~ whIch arts an~
ma~ufclctUl'eS are already established ; suppose a colo ...
ny set out from such a country to take possession of
the i~;land, and to live there under the 'lrotection and
•
authority of their native government ; the new set ..
tiers will naturally convert their labour to the culti­
~~ti(~n of the vacant so-iI, and \\,ith th~~ produee of