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HISTORY OF SETTLEMENTS AND TRADE

B o o k be injured, either by my own ignorance, or by your
.   wy   , cunning, vain is the oath I have taken ; heaven and
earth will releafe me from it.
As long as ye Shall feparate the good of the nation
that has received you, from your own advantage, ye
will be oppreflbrs and tyrants ; and it is by the title
of benefactors alone that we can conciliate affedion.
If the man who dwells near you fhould bury his
gold, you may be aflured that he curies you.
To what purpofe is it that ye oppofe a revolution,
which, though diftant, will certainly be accompliih-
ed, notwithftanding all your efforts to prevent it?
Tbe world that you have invaded muft free itfelf
from that which you inhabit. Then the feas will
only feparate friends and brothers. What great ca-
lamity do ye fee in this, ye unjuft, cruel, and inflexi-
ble tyrants ?
The edifice of wifdom is not eternal : but that of
folly is continually tottering, and foon falls to pieces.
Wifdom imprints its lafting c.haraders upon the
rocks ; Folly traces hers on the fand. Settlements
have been formed and fubverted ; ruins have been
heaped op. ruins ; countries that wrere, well peopled
have become defert ; ports that were full of build-
ings have been abandoned ; vaft trads that had been
ill cemented with blood have feparated, and have
brought to view the bones of murderers and of ty-
rants confounded with each other. .It feems as if from
one region to another profperity had been purfued by
an evil genius which fpeaks our feveral languages, and
which diffufes the fame calamities in all parts.
Let our firft vidims no longer feel themfelves
avenged, and rejoice at fight of the rage we are con-
tinually exerting- againft each other. May thefe,
ideas, thrown out without art, and as they prefented
themfelves to my mind, make a deep and lafting im-
preffion ! May it pleafe Heaven, that henceforth I
ihould have nothing but your moderation and wif-
dom to celebrate : for it is agreeable to me to praife,
and painful to cenfure.    Let us  now examine what