EUROPEAN NATIONS. 271 rounding natives, with a knowledge of the language principally used in their intercourse, would be in- dispensable. The reputation of these acquirements, with a character for justice and integrity, are sure to attach the natives of the Indian islands to a sur- prising degree. Persons of high rank in possession of these qualities acquire over the native mind an unbounded sway, and there is hardly any limit, in- deed, to the confidence they repose in them. A moderate impost upon external commerce, which that commerce, well protected, should cer- tainly afford, with the sale of public lands, and an excise on objects of vicious luxury, would afford a sufficient revenue to defray the expences of go- vernment, and the charge of public works. I shall conclude this sketch with a short enu- meration of some of the benefits which would be derived from such establishments. They would na- turally become great emporia. The native trader would find them the best and safest market to repair to, and the scattered productions of the Archipelago would be accumulated and stored at them in quantity for the convenience of the distant and inexperienced trader of Europe. The European voyager would find them also the best market for his goods ; and the sacrifice of a large nominal profit would be compensated by the ex- pedition with which his business would be dis- patched, and by his immunity from those risks.
