have been dictated by the very spirit of philanthropy. But these are rarely enforced, or if they are, delay vitiates their effect. That this colony, the most favoured perhaps under heaven by nature, should have remained till the present day almost a forest, is a circumstance which has generally excited surprise in those who are acquainted with it, and has as generally been accounted for by attributing it to the laziness of the Spaniards and Indians. This is but a superficial view of the subject; one of those general remarks which being relatively a little flattering to ourselves, pass current as facts, and then "we wonder how any one can doubt of what is so generally received."—The cause lies deeper, man is not naturally indolent. When he has supplied his necessities, he seeks for superfluities—if he can enjoy them in security and peace;—if not—if the iron gripe of despotism (no matter in what shape, or through what form it is felt), is ready to snatch his earnings from him, without affording him any equivalent—then indeed be becomes indolent, that is, he merely provides for the wants of to-day. This apathy is perpetuated through numerous generations till it becomes national habit, and then we falsely call it nature. It cannot be too often repeated, that from the poles to the equator, man is the creature of his civil institutions, and is active in proportion to the freedom he enjoys. Who that has perused the History of Java by Sir S. Raffles,[1] and seen the effects of government planned
- ↑ A higher and purer praise is due to this gentleman than having written the work alluded to: it is that he acted on its spirit, and first taught the "red man" to know himself as man, and (a far more arduous undertaking), he taught the white man that his prosperity was essentially connected with that of the native. The country in which the foundations of our power were laid on such a basis, should not have been given away like a ministerial snuff-box.[2]
- ↑ Java was conquered by England in 1811, but was restored to Holland five years later. During that time the island was governed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826), who published a History of Java (London, 1817); he was afterward governor of the English settlements in Sumatra (1818-24), in both these posts ruling with great ability and vigor and an enlightened and liberal mind. Gilbert Elliot, Baron Minto, a noted English statesman, was governor-general of India during 1807-13, and went with Raffles to Java to organize its government.—Eds.
