coast, leaving the reader to agree with me or not, as he may be
disposed. How is it, as I have already observed, that all the colonies
founded by other nations, either languish or have been swept away,--not
all, perhaps, as yet, but the major portion of them; while every colony
founded by our little island appears to flourish, till it becomes so
powerful as not only no longer to require the nursing of the mother
country, but to throw off its dependence, and become a nation of itself?
How is it that it can so truly be said that the sun never sets upon the
English flag? It cannot be from any want of energy, or activity, or
intelligence, or judgment in other nations; for surely in these
qualifications we are not superior to the French or to the Dutch,
although we may be to the present race of Spaniards and Portuguese. Our
colonies have not been more carefully fostered than theirs: on the
contrary, they have been neglected, and, if not neglected, they have
been but too often oppressed. Why, then, should this be? Can religion
have any thing to do with this? Can it be that Providence has
imperceptibly interfered, and has decided that England shall perform
the high mission; that she has been selected, as a chosen country, to
fill the whole world with the true faith, with the pure worship of the
Almighty? Has it been for this object that we have been supported in our
maritime superiority? Has it been with this view that we have been
permitted to discomfit the navies of the whole world? May it not be that
when our naval commanders, with a due regard to propriety, have
commenced their despatches with "It has pleased the Almighty to grant us
a splendid victory," at the same time that they were trusting to the
arms of flesh and blood which have so well supported their endeavours,
and in their hearts ascribed their successes to the prowess of man,--may
it not be, I say, that the Almighty has, for his own good reasons,
fought on our side, and has given us victory upon victory, until we have
swept the seas, and made the name of England known to the uttermost
corners of the globe? Has this been granted us, and have we really been
selected as a favoured nation to spread the pure light of the gospel
over the universe? Who can say? "His ways are not our ways;" but if so,
it is a high destiny, which we must act up to at every sacrifice and at
every expence.
THE END.
London:
Spottiswoode and Shaw,
New-street-Square.
Transcriber's Notes:
The author's original (and inconsistent) spelling of place and person
names has been preserved, although in some cases, the modern equivalents
are substantially different.
In the original text, most illustration captions had terminating
punctuation but a few did not. In this transcription, terminating
punctuation has been added to those captions which did not have them in
order to remain consistent with the style most commonly seen in the
text.
Lithographs facing pages 85, 142, 199 and 201 were missing a line
specifying the publisher "Longman & Co" which is present in the other
lithographs. It is possible that the pages used for this transcription
had been physically truncated. The original appearance of the physical
page has been preserved and the publisher line, if missing, has not been
added.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation of words preserved. (orang outang,
orang-outang; blowpipe, blow-pipe; bow-man, bowman; daylight, day-light;
flagstaff, flag-staff; goodwill, good-will; gunshot, gun-shot;
lighthouse, light-house; parang, pa-rang; pineapples, pine-apples;
tomtoms, tom-toms; whitewashed, white-washed; pic nic, pic-nic; Nepa
palm, nepa-palms)
In the original text, the characters in abbreviations were separated by
either a half-space or a full-space. This has been standardized to a
full-space in all cases for this transcription.
Pg. 19, unusual or archaic spelling of "musquitos" retained. (musquitos,
scorpions, lizards, and centipedes)
Pg. 20, there is a reference to date 27th May. Context suggests it
should probably be 27th July. The original text has been preserved. (On
the 27th May every thing had been prepared)
Pg. 21, "wth" changed to "with". (delightful bay studded with small)
Pg. 35, unusual or archaic spelling of "phrensy" retained. (The lovers
were in a state of phrensy)
Pg. 90, unusual or archaic spelling of "segars" retained. (We had plenty
of wine and segars)
Pg. 206, word after comma begins with uppercase, most probably it
represents the start of an unspoken thought in the author's mind.
Original text retained. (and we became more rational, Why were we
ordered home?)
Pg. 211, "dépot". On Pgs. 227 and 230, it is spelled "dépôt". Original
spelling preserved in all cases.