THE FREE POPULATION.
THE insufficiency of the population of Portugal to the almost unbounded
plans of the rulers of that kingdom, has, in all probability, saved
her South American possessions from the dreadful contests which are
to be apprehended in the neighbouring Spanish colonies, between the
Creole white inhabitants and those of colour. The struggle yet rages
with exterminating violence between the descendants of Europeans, born
in South America, and the natives of Old Spain; but when this is at
an end, another equally, if not more destructive, is to be looked for
between the former and their countrymen of mixed casts. The appeal
which the creole whites have made to the people, and the declarations
which they have publicly set forth, of directing their proceedings by
their voice; the exposure of those abstract principles of government
which are so delightful in theory, but so difficult of execution,
will, most probably, bring down upon their heads the destruction which
has thus been courted. In the Portugueze South American dominions,
circumstances have directed that there should be no division of
casts, and very few of those degrading and most galling distinctions
which have been made by all other nations in the management of their
colonies. That this was not intended by the mother country, but was
rather submitted to from necessity, is to be discovered in some few
regulations, which plainly shew, that if Portugal could have preserved
the superiority of the whites, she would, as well as her neighbours,
have established laws for this purpose. The rulers of Portugal wished
to colonize to an unlimited extent; but their country did not possess
a population sufficiently numerous for their magnificent plans.
Adventurers left their own country to settle in the New World, who were
literally adventurers; for they had not any settled plans of life, and
they were without families. Persons of established habits, who had
the wish to follow any of the ordinary means of gaining a livelihood,
found employment at home; neither could Portugal spare them, nor did
they wish to leave their native soil. There was no superabundance of
population, and therefore every man might find occupation at home, if
he had steadiness to look for it; there was no division in political
or religious opinion; there was no necessity for emigration, save that
which was urged by crimes. Thus the generality of the men who embarked
in the expeditions which were fitted out for Brazil, were unaccompanied
by females, and therefore, naturally, on their arrival in that country,
they married, or irregularly connected themselves with Indian women,
and subsequently with those of Africa. It is true that orphan girls
were sent out by the government of Portugal[198], but these were
necessarily few in number. In the course of another generation, the
colonists married the women of mixed casts, owing to the impossibility
of obtaining those of their own colour; and the frequency of the
custom, and the silence of the laws upon the subject, removed all idea
of degradation, in thus connecting themselves. Still the European
notions of superiority were not entirely laid aside, and these caused
the passing of some regulations, by which white persons were to enjoy
certain privileges. Thus, although the form of trial for all casts is
the same, in certain places only can capital punishments be inflicted
upon the favoured race; the people of colour are not eligible to some
of the chief offices of government, nor can they become members of the
priesthood.
From the mildness of the laws, however, the mixed casts have gained
ground considerably; the regulations which exist against them are
evaded, or rather they have become obsolete. Perhaps the heroic
conduct of Camaram and Henrique Dias, the Indian and negro chieftains,
in the famous and most interesting contest between the Pernambucans
and the Dutch, and the honours subsequently granted by the crown of
Portugal to both of them, may have led to the exaltation of the general
character of the much-injured varieties of the human species of which
they were members. Familiarity between the chieftains of the several
corps must be the consequence of their embarkation in the same cause,
when the war is one of skirmishes, of ambuscades, of continual alarm,
of assistance constantly afforded to each other; a patriotic war,
against a foreign invader, in which difference of religion exists,
and each party mortally hates the other. On these occasions all men
are equal, or he only is superior whose strength and whose activity
surpasses that of others. The amalgamation of casts which is caused
by this consciousness of equality could not have had a fairer field
for its full accomplishment, than the war to which I have alluded;
and the friendships which were formed under these circumstances would
not easily be broken off. Although the parties who had been so united
might have been, in their situations in life very far removed from
each other, still the participation of equal danger must render dear
the companions in peril, and make the feelings which had been roused
on these occasions of long duration; they would continue to act, long
after the cessation of the series of occurrences which had called them
forth.
The free population of Brazil at the present time consists of
Europeans; Brazilians, that is, white persons born in Brazil; mulattos,
that is, the mixed cast between the whites and blacks, and all the
varieties into which it can branch; mamalucos, that is, the mixed
cast between the whites and Indians, and all its varieties; Indians
in a domesticated state, who are called generally Caboclos; and those
who still remain in a savage state, and are called generally Tapuyas;
negroes born in Brazil, and manumitted Africans; lastly, Mestizos,
that is, the mixed cast between the Indians and negroes. Of slaves,
I shall speak by and by more at large; these are Africans, creole
negroes, mulattos, and mestizos. The maxim of the civil law, _partus
sequitur ventrem_, is in force here as well as in the colonies of other
nations.[199]
These several mixtures of the human race have their shades of
difference of character as well as of colour. First we must treat
of the whites. The Europeans who are not in office, or who are not
military men, are, generally speaking, adventurers who have arrived
in that country with little or no capital. These men commence their
career in low situations of life, but by parsimony and continual
exertion directed to one end, that of amassing money, they often attain
their object, and pass the evening of their lives in opulence. These
habits fail not, oftentimes, to give a bias to their dispositions,
which is unallied to generosity and liberality. They look down upon
the Brazilians, or rather they wish to consider themselves superior
to them; and until lately the government took no pains to remove the
jealousy which existed between the two descriptions of white persons;
and even now, not so much attention is paid to the subject as its great
importance seems to require.[200]
The Brazilian white man of large property, who draws his descent
from the first Donatory of a province, or whose family has for some
generations enjoyed distinction, entertains a high opinion of his own
importance, which may sometimes appear ridiculous; but which much
oftener leads him to acts of generosity,—to the adoption of liberal
ideas,—to honourable conduct. If he has been well educated, and has
had the good fortune to have been instructed by a priest whose ideas
are enlightened, who gives a proper latitude for difference of opinion,
who tolerates as he is tolerated, then the character of a young
Brazilian exhibits much to admire. Surrounded by numerous relatives,
and by his immediate dependants, living in a vast and half-civilized
country, he is endued with much independence of language and behaviour,
which are softened by the subordination which has been imbibed during
his course of education. That this is general, I pretend not to say;
few persons are instructed in a proper manner, and again, few are those
who profit by the education which they have received; but more numerous
are the individuals who now undergo necessary tuition, for powerful
motives have arisen to urge the attainment of knowledge.
I have heard it often observed, and I cannot help saying that I think
some truth is to be attached to the remark, in the country of which
I am treating, that women are usually less lenient to their slaves
than men, but this doubtless proceeds from the ignorant state in which
they are brought up; they scarcely receive any education, and have
not the advantages of obtaining instruction from communication with
persons who are unconnected with their own way of life; of imbibing
new ideas from general conversation. They are born, bred, and continue
surrounded by slaves without receiving any check, with high notions
of superiority, without any thought that what they do is wrong. Bring
these women forwards, educate them, treat them as rational, as equal
beings, and they will be in no respect inferior to their countrymen;
the fault is not with the sex, but in the state of the human being. As
soon as a child begins to crawl, a slave of about its own age and of
the same sex is given to it as a playfellow, or rather as a plaything;
they grow up together, and the slave is made the stock upon which the
young owner gives vent to passion; the slave is sent upon all errands,
and receives the blame of all unfortunate accidents;—in fact, the
white child is thus encouraged to be overbearing, owing to the false
fondness of its parents. Upon the boys the effect is less visible in
after-life, because the world curbs and checks them, but the girls do
not stir from home, and therefore have no opportunities of wearing off
these pernicious habits. It is only surprising that so many excellent
women should be found among them, and by no means strange that the
disposition of some of them should be injured by this unfortunate
direction of their infant years.
As vegetation rapidly advances in such climates, so the animal sooner
arrives at maturity than in those of less genial warmth; and here
again education is rendered doubly necessary to lead the mind to
new ideas, to curb the passions, to give a sense of honour, and to
instil feelings of that species of pride which is so necessary to a
becoming line of conduct. The state of society, the climate, and the
celibacy of the numerous priesthood, cause the number of illegitimate
children to be very great; but here the _roda dos engeitados_, and
a custom which shews the natural goodness of the people, prevent
the frequent occurrence of infanticide, or rather render it almost
unknown. An infant is frequently during the night laid at the door of
a rich person, and on being discovered in the morning is taken in,
and is almost invariably allowed to remain; it is brought up with the
children of the house (if its colour is not too dark to admit of this,)
certainly as a dependant, but not as a servant; however a considerable
tinge of colour will not prevent it from being reared with the white
children. These _engeitados_ or rejected ones, as individuals who are
so circumstanced are called, are frequently to be met with, and I
heard of few exceptions to the general kindness with which they are
treated. Public feeling is much against the refusing to accept and rear
an _engeitado_; the owner of a house, who is in easy circumstances,
and yet sends the infant from his own door to the public institution
which is provided for its reception, is generally spoken of in terms
of indignation. Sometimes a poor man will find one of these presents
at his door, and he will generally place it at the landholder’s
threshold on the following night; this is accounted excusable and even
meritorious, for at the Great House the child has nearly a certainty of
being well taken care of.
I have observed that, generally speaking, Europeans are less indulgent
to their slaves than Brazilians; the former feed them well, but they
require from the poor wretches more labour than they can perform,
whilst the latter allow the affairs of their estates to continue in the
way in which it has been accustomed to be directed. This difference
between the two descriptions of owners is easily accounted for; the
European has probably purchased part of his slaves on credit, and has
during the whole course of his life made the accumulation of riches
his chief object. The Brazilian inherits his estate, and as nothing
urges him to the necessity of obtaining large profits, he continues
the course that has been pointed out to him by the former possessors.
His habits of quietude and indolence have led him to be easy and
indifferent, and although he may not provide for the maintenance of his
slaves with so much care as the European, still they find more time to
seek for food themselves. That avaricious spirit which deliberately
works a man or a brute animal[201] until it is unfit for farther
service, without any regard to the well-being of the creature, which
is thus treated as a mere machine, as if it was formed of wood or
iron, is however seldom to be met with in those parts of the country
which I visited. Instances of cruelty occur (as has been, and will yet
be seen,) but these proceed from individual depravity, and not from
systematic, cold-blooded, calculating indifference to the means by
which a desired end is to be compassed.
Notwithstanding the relationship of the mulattos on one side to the
black race, they consider themselves superior to the mamalucos; they
lean to the whites, and from the light in which the Indians are held,
pride themselves upon being totally unconnected with them. Still the
mulattos are conscious of their connection with men who are in a state
of slavery, and that many persons even of their own colour are under
these degraded circumstances; they have therefore always a feeling
of inferiority in the company of white men, if these white men are
wealthy and powerful. This inferiority of rank is not so much felt by
white persons in the lower walks of life, and these are more easily
led to become familiar with individuals of their own colour who are in
wealthy circumstances. Still the inferiority which the mulatto feels is
more that which is produced by poverty than that which his colour has
caused, for he will be equally respectful to a person of his own cast,
who may happen to be rich[202]. The degraded state of the people of
colour in the British colonies is most lamentable[203]. In Brazil, even
the trifling regulations which exist against them remain unattended
to. A mulatto enters into holy orders or is appointed a magistrate,
his papers stating him to be a white man, but his appearance plainly
denoting the contrary. In conversing on one occasion with a man of
colour who was in my service, I asked him if a certain _Capitam-mor_
was not a mulatto man; he answered, “he was, but is not now[204].” I
begged him to explain, when he added, “Can a _Capitam-mor_ be a mulatto
man[205]?” I was intimately acquainted with a priest, whose complexion
and hair plainly denoted from whence he drew his origin; I liked
him much, he was a well educated and intelligent man. Besides this
individual instance, I met with several others of the same description.
The regiments of militia which are called mulatto regiments, are so
named from all the officers and men being of mixed casts; nor can
white persons be admitted into them. The principal officers are men of
property, and the colonel, like the commander of any other regiment,
is only amenable to the governor of the province. In the white militia
regiments, the officers ought to be by law white men; but in practice
they are rather reputed white men, for very little pains are taken
to prove that there is no mixture of blood. Great numbers of the
soldiers belonging to the regiments which are officered by white men,
are mulattos, and other persons of colour. The regiments of the line,
likewise, (as I have elsewhere said) admit into the ranks all persons
excepting negroes and Indians; but the officers of these must prove
nobility of birth; however, as certain degrees of nobility have been
conferred upon persons in whose families there is much mixture of
blood, this proof cannot be regarded as being required against the
mulatto or mamaluco part of the population. Thus an European adventurer
could not obtain a commission in these regiments, whilst a Brazilian,
whose family has distinguished itself in the province in former times,
will prove his eligibility without regard to the blood which runs in
his veins. He is noble, let that flow from whence it may.[206]
The late colonel of the mulatto regiment of Recife, by name Nogueira,
went to Lisbon, and returned to Pernambuco with the Order of Christ,
which the Queen had conferred upon him[207]. A chief person of one
of the provinces is the son of a white man and a woman of colour; he
has received an excellent education, is of a generous disposition,
and entertains most liberal views upon all subjects. He has been made
a colonel, and a degree of nobility has been conferred upon him;
likewise the Regent is sponsor to one of his children. Many other
instances might be mentioned. Thus has Portugal, of late years from
policy, continued that system into which she was led by her peculiar
circumstances in former times. Some of the wealthy planters of
Pernambuco, and of the rich inhabitants of Recife are men of colour.
The major part of the best mechanics are also of mixed blood.
It is said that mulattos make bad masters; and this holds good
oftentimes with persons of this description, who have been in a state
of slavery, and become possessed of slaves of their own, or are
employed as managers upon estates. The change of situation would lead
to the same consequences in any race of human beings, and cannot be
accounted peculiar to the mixed casts. I have seen mulattos of free
birth as kind, as lenient, and as forbearing to their slaves and other
dependants as any white man.
Marriages between white men and women of colour are by no means rare,
though they are sufficiently so to cause the circumstance to be
mentioned when speaking of an individual who has connected himself
in this manner; but this is not said with the intent of lowering him
in the estimation of others. Indeed the remark is only made if the
person is a planter of any importance, and the woman is decidedly of
dark colour, for even a considerable tinge will pass for white; if the
white man belongs to the lower orders, the woman is not accounted as
being unequal to him in rank, unless she is nearly black. The European
adventurers often marry in this manner, which generally occurs when
the woman has a dower. The rich mulatto families are often glad to
dispose of their daughters to these men, although the person who has
been fixed upon may be in indifferent circumstances; for the colour of
the children of their daughters is bettered, and from the well-known
prudence and regularity of this set of men, a large fortune may be
hoped for even from very small beginnings. Whilst I was at Jaguaribe,
I was in the frequent habit of seeing a handsome young man, who was a
native of the island of St. Michael’s. This person happened to be with
me on one occasion when the commandant from the Sertam was staying at
my house. The commandant asked him if he could read and write, and
being answered in the negative, said, “then you will not do,” and
turning to me, added, “I have a commission from a friend of mine to
take with me back to the Sertam a good-looking young Portugueze of
regular habits, who can read and write, for the purpose of marrying him
to his daughter.” These kind of commissions (_encommendas_) are not
unusual.
Still the Brazilians of high birth and large property do not like to
intermarry with persons whose mixture of blood is _very_ apparent, and
hence arise peculiar circumstances. A man of this description becomes
attached to a woman of colour, connects himself with her, and takes
her to his home, where she is in a short time even visited by married
women; she governs his household affairs, acts and considers herself
as his wife, and frequently after the birth of several children, when
they are neither of them young, he marries her. In connections of this
nature, the parties are more truly attached than in marriages between
persons who belong to two families of the first rank; for the latter
are entered into from convenience rather than from affection; indeed
the parties, on some occasions, do not see each other until a few days
before the ceremony takes place. It often occurs, that inclination,
necessity, or convenience induce or oblige a man to separate from the
person with whom he has thus been connected; in this case, he gives
her a portion, and she marries a man of her own rank, who regards
her rather as a widow than as one whose conduct has been incorrect.
Instances of infidelity in these women are rare; they become attached
to the men with whom they cohabit, and they direct the affairs of the
houses over which they are placed with the same zeal that they would
display if they had the right of command over them. It is greatly to
the credit of the people of that country that so much fidelity should
be shewn on one side, and that this should so frequently as it is,
be rewarded by the other party, in the advancement of those who have
behaved thus faithfully, to a respectable and acknowledged situation
in society. It should be recollected too that the merit of moral
feelings must be judged of by the standard of the country, and not by
our own institutions. I have only spoken above of what occurs among the
planters; for in large towns man is pretty much the same every where.
The Mamalucos are more frequently to be seen in the Sertam than upon
the coast. They are handsomer than the mulattos; and the women of
this cast particularly surpass in beauty all others of the country;
they have the brown tint of mulattos, but their features are less
blunt, and their hair is not curled. I do not think that the men can
be said to possess more courage than the mulattos; but whether from
the knowledge which they have of being of free birth on both sides, or
from residing in the interior of the country where government is more
loose, they appear to have more independence of character, and to pay
less deference to a white man than the mulattos. When women relate any
deed of danger that has been surmounted or undertaken, they generally
state that the chief actor in it was a large mamaluco, _mamalucam_; as
if they thought this description of men to be superior to all others.
Mamalucos may enter into the mulatto regiments, and are pressed into
the regiments of the line as being men of colour, without any regard to
the sources from which their blood proceeds.
Of the domesticated Indians I have already elsewhere given what
accounts I could collect, and what I had opportunities of observing.
The wild Indians are now only to be met with at a great distance from
the coast of Pernambuco; and although they are very near to Maranham,
and are dreaded neighbours, I had no means of seeing any of them.
I now proceed to mention that numerous and valuable race of men,
the creole negroes; a tree of African growth, which has thus been
transplanted, cultivated, and much improved by its removal to the New
World. The Creole negroes stand alone and unconnected with every other
race of men, and this circumstance alone would be sufficient, and
indeed contributes much to the effect of uniting them to each other.
The mulattos, and all other persons of mixed blood wish to lean towards
the whites, if they can possibly lay any claim to relationship. Even
the mestizo tries to pass for a mulatto, and to persuade himself and
others that his veins contain some portion of white blood, although
that with which they are filled proceeds from Indian and negro sources.
Those only who can have no pretensions to a mixture of blood, call
themselves negroes, which renders the individuals who do pass under
this denomination, much attached to each other, from the impossibility
of being mistaken for members of any other cast. They are of handsome
persons, brave and hardy, obedient to the whites, and willing to
please; but they are easily affronted, and the least allusion to their
colour being made by a person of a lighter tint, enrages them to a
great degree; though they will sometimes say, “a negro I am, but always
upright”[208]. They are again distinct from their brethren in slavery,
owing to their superior situation as free men.
The free creole negroes have their exclusive regiments, as well as the
mulattos, of which every officer and soldier must be perfectly black.
There are two of these regiments for the province of Pernambuco, which
consist of indefinite numbers of men, who are dispersed all over the
country. These regiments are distinguished from each other by the
names of Old Henriques and New Henriques[209]. The name of Henriques
is derived from the famous chieftain, Henrique Diaz, in the time of
the Dutch war. I have heard some of the most intelligent of those with
whom I have conversed, speak in enthusiastic terms of the aid which he
gave to the whites in that struggle. I have seen some portion of one of
these regiments, in Recife, accompanying the procession of our Lady of
the Rosary, the patroness of negroes. They were dressed in white cloth
uniforms turned up with scarlet, and they looked very soldier-like.
They were in tolerable discipline, and seemed to wish to go through the
duty of the day in the best manner that they were able; they acted with
an appearance of zeal and the desire of excelling. Those of which I
speak formed a finer body of men than any other soldiers which I had an
opportunity of seeing in that country. On gala days the superior black
officers in their white uniforms, pay their respects to the governor,
exactly in the same manner that the persons of any other cast, holding
commissions of equal rank are expected to go through this form. These
men receive no pay, so that their neat appearance on such occasions
bespeaks a certain degree of wealth among them; neither are the
privates nor any other persons belonging to these regiments paid for
their services. Some of the whites rather ridicule the black officers,
but not in their presence; and the laugh which is raised against them
is caused perhaps by a lurking wish to prevent this insulted race from
the display of those distinctions which the government has wisely
conceded to them, but which hurt the European ideas of superiority.
The old regiment of Henriques was, at the time that I resided in
Pernambuco, without a colonel, and I heard much discussion on several
occasions among the Creole negroes, about the fittest person to be
appointed to the vacant situation.[210]
The creole negroes of Recife are, generally speaking, mechanics of
all descriptions; but they have not yet reached the higher ranks of
life, as gentlemen, as planters, and as merchants. Some of them have
accumulated considerable sums of money, and possess many slaves, to
whom they teach their own trade, or these slaves are taught other
mechanical employments by which they may become useful. They work for
their owners, and render to them great profits, for every description
of labour is high, and that which requires any degree of skill bears
even a higher comparative value than the departments of which a
knowledge is more easily attained. The best church and image painter
of Pernambuco is a black man, who has good manners, and quite the air
of a man of some importance, though he does not by any means assume
too much. The negroes are excluded from the priesthood[211]; and from
the offices which the mulattos may obtain through their evasion of the
law, but which the decided and unequivocal colour of the negro entirely
precludes him from aspiring to. In law all persons who are not white,
and are born free, class equally; manumitted slaves are placed upon the
same footing as persons born free. However, although the few exclusions
which exist against the negroes are degrading, still in some instances
they are befriended by them. They are unable, owing to their colour,
to serve in the regiments of the line, or in any regiments excepting
those which are exclusively their own; but by means of this regulation
they escape the persecutions under which the other casts suffer during
the time of recruiting. The officers and men of the Henrique regiments
are so united to each other, that the privates and subalterns are
less liable to be oppressed by any white man in office even than the
soldiers of the mulatto regiments. Of these latter the officers, having
a considerable tinge of white, sometimes lean towards the wishes
of the _capitam-mor_, or some other rich white officer, instead of
protecting his soldiers.
The men whose occupation it is to apprehend runaway negroes are, almost
without exception, creole blacks; they are called _capitaens-do-campo_,
captains of the field; and are subject to a _capitam-mor do campo_
who resides in Recife, and they receive their commissions either
from the governor or from this officer. By these they are authorised
to apprehend and take to their owners any slaves who may be found
absent from their homes without their master’s consent. Several of
these men are to be found in every district, employing themselves in
such pursuits as they think fit, when their services are not required
in that calling which forms their particular duty. They are men of
undaunted courage, and are usually followed by two or three dogs, which
are trained to seek out, and if necessary to attack and bring to the
ground those persons whose apprehension their masters are desirous
of effecting. The men who bear these commissions can oblige any
unauthorised person to give up to them an apprehended negro, for the
purpose of being by them returned to his owner.
It is scarcely necessary to name the mestizos, for they usually class
with the mulattos; nor are they to be easily distinguished from
some of the darker varieties of this cast. A dark coloured man of a
disagreeable countenance and badly formed person is commonly called a
mestizo, without any reference to his origin.
Yet one race of human beings remain to be spoken of; but the
individuals who compose it are not sufficiently numerous to permit
them to take their place among the several great divisions of the
human family which form the population of Brazil, and therefore I did
not rank this among the others which are of more importance. Still
the _çiganos_[212], for thus they are called, must not be forgotten.
I frequently heard of these people, but never had an opportunity of
seeing any of them. Parties of _çiganos_ were in the habit of appearing
formerly once every year at the village of Pasmado, and other places
in that part of the country; but the late governor of the province
was inimical to them, and some attempts having been made to apprehend
some of them, their visits were discontinued. They are represented as
being a people of a brownish cast, with features which resemble those
of white persons, and as being tall and handsome. They wander from
place to place in parties of men, women, and children; exchanging,
buying, and selling horses, and gold and silver trinkets. The women
travel on horseback, sitting between the panniers of the loaded horses,
and the young ones are placed within the panniers among the baggage.
The men are excellent horsemen, and although the pack-horses may be
overburthened, these fellows will only accommodate matters by riding
slowly upon their own horses, and never think of dividing the loads
more equally; but they preserve themselves and the animals upon which
they ride quite unencumbered. They are said to be unmindful of all
religious observances; and never to hear Mass or confess their sins. It
is likewise said that they never marry out of their own nation.
There are now several British merchants established at Recife, and a
consul likewise resides at that place; but at the time of my coming
away, there was no protestant chapel, no clergyman, nor even a burial
ground for our countrymen. An Act of Parliament has, I believe,
provided for the establishment of these things, but no steps have been
taken towards the accomplishment of the directions of the legislature.
Without any outward appearance of religion, how are we to expect that
the people of Brazil are to regard us as any thing better than what we
were represented to them as being in former times?—as pagans, animals,
and horses—_pagoens_, _bichos_, and _cavallos_, this is literally
true; and although they are now aware that at any rate we have the
forms of human beings, that we have the power of speech, and that we
have our share of intellect in all the common transactions of the
world, still how are we to look for respect from them towards a set
of men, who have no appearance at least, of possessing any religious
feelings? It should be recollected that we are living among a people
who are deeply rivetted to their own forms and ceremonies of worship,
whose devotedness to their church establishment surpasses every
other feeling. It is not thus that the British nation is to become
respectable; we may have relations of trade with these people, but we
must be content to be merely regarded according to our utility; there
can be no respect for our general character as a body of men, none of
that regard which would make us listened to in any great question,
which would make our opinions and our assertions depended upon as
coming from men of steadiness,—of religious habits. Nor can we be
accounted as more than residents for a time, we cannot be considered
as an established community, who are thus without any common bond of
union, who have not any general place of meeting, who have not any one
point to which all are directed; we have no appearance of belonging to
one nation, as if we were brethren meeting in a foreign land. To these
political reasons for the establishment of a place of worship are to
be added those which are of far greater importance, those to which no
Christian ought to be indifferent. I well know that it is not with the
merchants that the evil arises;—but enough, I will go no farther,
although I could tarry long upon this subject. I wish however that I
could have avoided the mention of it altogether. I might have done so,
if I had not felt that I was passing by unnoticed a subject upon which
I have often spoken whilst I was upon the spot; and there my sentiments
are well known to most of those persons with whom I associated.