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THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF

tion, and legislative authority of the mother city. The send-ing out a colony of this kind not only gave some satisfactionto the people, but often established a sort of garrison too in anewly conquered province, of which the obedience mightotherwise have been doubtful. A Roman colony, therefore,whether we consider the nature of the establishment itself, orthe motives for making it, was altogether different from aGreek one. The words accordingly, which in the originallanguages denote those different establishments, have verydifferent meanings. The Latin word (Colonia) signifies sim-ply a plantation. The Greek word (anot/aa), on the contrary,signifies a separation of dwelling, a departure from home, agoing out of the house. But, though the Roman colonieswere in many respects different from the Greek ones, the in-terest which prompted to establish them was equally plainand distinct. Both institutions derived their origin eitherfrom irresistible necessity, or from clear and evident utility.

The establishment of the European colonies in America and the West Indies arose from no necessity: and thoughthe utility which has resulted from them has been verygreat, it is not altogether so clear and evident. It was notunderstood at their first establishment, and was not the mo-tive either of that establishment or of the discoveries whichgave occasion to it; and the nature, extent, and limits of thatutility are not, perhaps, well understood at this day.

The Venetians, during the fourteenth and fifteenth cen-turies, carried on a very advantageous commerce in spiceries,and other East India goods, which they distributed amongthe other nations of Europe . They purchased them chieflyin Egypt , at that time under the dominion of the Mamnie-luks, the enemies of the Turks, of whom the Venetians werethe enemies; and this union of interest, assisted by themoney of Venice , formed such a connexion as gave the Ve-tians almost a monopoly of the trade.

The great profits of the Venetians tempted the avidity ofthe Portuguese . They had been endeavouring, during thecourse of the fifteenth century, to find out by sea a way tothe countries from which the Moors brought them ivory andgold dust across the Desart. They discovered the Madeiras,the Canaries, the Azores , the Cape de Verd islands, thecoast of Guinea, that of Loango, Congo, Angola , and Ben-guela, and, finally, the Cape of Good Hope . They hadlong wished to share in the profitable traffic of the Vene-