hess the rights which belong to that condition. Accustomed to be the absolute masters of their own conduct, they disdain to execute the orders of another; and having never known control, they will not submit to correction. Many of the Americans when they found that they were treated as slaves by the Spaniards died of grief, many destroyed themselves in despair.

4. Among people in this state, government can assume little authority, and the sense of civil subordination must remain very imperfect. While the idea of property is unknown, or incompletely conceived, while the spontaneous productions of the earth, as well as the fruits of industry, are considered as public stock, there can hardly be any such subject of difference among the members of the same community as will require the hand of authority to interpose in order to adjust it. Where the right of exclusive possession is not introduced, the great object of law and jurisdiction does not exist. When the members of a tribe are called into the field against a common enemy, they perceive that they are part of a political body. But during the intervals between such common efforts, they seem scarcely to feel the ties of political union. The names of magistrate and subject are not in use. The right of revenge is left in private hands. If violence be committed, the power of punishment belongs not to the community, but to the family or friends of the person injured or slain. The object of government among savages is rather foreign than domestic. They labour to preserve union among themselves that they may watch the motions of their enemies, and act against them with vigour and concert. Such was the form of political order established among the

greater part of the American nations, and this de scription will apply, with little variation, to every people, both in its northern and southern division, who have advanced no farther in civilization than to add some slender degree of agriculture to fish. ing and hunting.

In the New World, as well as in other parts of the globe, cold or temperate countries appear to be the favourite seat of freedom and independence. There the mind, like the body, is firm and vigor. ous. These men, conscious of their own dignity, stoop with reluctance to the yoke of servitude. In warmer climates men acquiesce, almost without a struggle, in the dominion of a superior. Accordingly, proceeding from north to south along the continent of America, we shall find the power of those vested with authority gradually increasing, and the spirit of the people more tame and passive. In Florida the authority of the sachems, caziques, or chiefs, was not only permanent but hereditary. They were distinguished by peculiar ornaments, and enjoyed the prerogatives of sovereign power. Among the Natchez, a tribe now extinct, formerly situated on the banks of the Missisippi, the body of the people was considered as formed only for subjection. The great chief was reputed to be a being of a superior nature, the brother of the sun, and the sole object of their worship. His will was the law, to which all yielded implicit obedience. Nor did their dominion end with life, but their principal officers, their favourite wives, together with many domestics, were sacrificed at their tombs, that they might be attended in the next world by the same persons who served them in this and such was the reverence in which they were held, that those victims welcomed death with

exultation; deeming it a recompense of their fidelity, and a mark of distinction, to be selected to accompany their deceased masters. In Hispaniola, Cuba, and the larger islands, the caziques or chiefs, possessed extensive power. Their subjects executed their orders without hesitation. They delivered their mandates as the oracles of heaven, and pretended to possess the power of regulating the seasons, and of dispensing rain or sunshine, according as their subjects stood in need of them.

V. After examining the political institutions of the rude nations in America, we are next to consider their provision for public security and defence. The small tribes dispersed over America are not only independent and unconnected, but engaged in perpetual hostilities with one another. Though most are strangers to the idea of separate property vested in any individual, the rudest of the American nations are well acquainted with the rights of each community to its own dominions. This right they hold to be perfect and exclusive, entitling the possessor to oppose the encroachment of neighbouring tribes. As their territories are

extensive, and the boundaries of them not exactly ascertained, innumerable subjects of dispute arise, which seldom terminate without bloodshed. Even in this simple and primitive state of society, interest is a source of discord, and often prompts savage tribes to take arms, in order to repel or punish such as encroach on the forests or plains to which they trust for subsistence. But interest is not so much the motive with savage nations to commence hostilities as the principle of revenge, which acquires a degree of force unknown among those whose passions are dissipated by the VOL. XXIV. K

variety of their occupations and pursuits. The desire of vengeance, which takes possession of the heart of savages, resembles the extinctive rage of an animal rather than the passion of a man. It turns with indiscriminating fury even against inanimate objects. If struck with an arrow in battle, they will tear it from the wound, break and bite it with their teeth, and dash it on the ground. When under the dominion of this passion, man becomes the most cruel of animals. He neither pities, nor forgives, nor spares.

The force of this passion is so well understood by the Americans themselves, that they always ap ply to it in order to excite the people to take arms. "The bones of our countrymen," say they, "lie uncovered. Their spirits cry against us: they must be appeased. Let us go and devour the people by whom they were slain. Sit no longer inactive on your mats; lift the, hatchet; console the spirits of the dead, and tell them that they shall be avenged." Animated with such exhortations, the youths raise the song of war, and burn with impatience to embrue their hands in the blood of their enemies. A leader is chosen, but no man is constrained to follow him. Each individual is still master of his own conduct, and his engagement in the service is perfectly voluntary.

The maxims by which they regulate their military operations, though extremely different from those which take place among more civilized people, are well suited to their political state, and the nature of the country in which they act. Their armies are not incumbered with baggage or military stores. Each warrior, besides his arms, carries his mat, and a small bag of pounded maize, and with these he is completely equipped for any ser

vice. While at a distance from the enemy's frontier, they support themselves by hunting or fishing. As they approach nearer to the territories of the nation which they intend to attack, they collect their troops and advance with greater caution. Even in their most active wars they proceed wholly by stratagem. They place no glory in attacking their enemies with open force. To surprise and destroy is the greatest merit of a commander, and the highest pride of his followers. They regard it as the extreme of folly to meet an enemy who is on his guard, upon equal terms, or to give him battle in an open field. The most distinguished success is a disgrace to a leader, if it has been purchased with any considerable loss of his followers; and they never boast of a victory, if stained with the blood of their own countrymen. To fall in battle, instead of being reckoned an honourable death, is a misfortune which subjects the memory of a warrior to the imputation of rashness and impru dence.

This system of warfare was universal in America, and the small uncivilized tribes dispersed through its different regions and climates display more craft than boldness in carrying on hostilities. But where their communities are more populous, so that they can act with considerable force, and can sustain the loss of several of their members, without being sensibly weakened, the military operations of the Americans more nearly resemble those of other nations. Though vigilance and attention are qualities chiefly requisite where the object of war is to deceive or surprise, yet, when the Americans are led into the field in parties, they can seldom be brought to observe the precautions most essential to their own security. Such is the