qzz Geo. II. Naval Expeditions , &c. of the English, Book VI

1734. others, are a valuable Consideration fortheir so doing.

The wise Projectors of this great andnoble Undertaking must have been veryconversant with the just and reasonableDesigns of the Ancients. They have,without Doubt, had in View those Mi-grations and Colonies of the earliestTimes, by which the whole World wasfirst peopled. The Colonies sent by theGree'ks into Asa and Italy have beentheir Ensamples. They have judicious-ly observed the Bent of the Romans , whoreduced the Establishment of Colonies in-to an Art, and made that the Basis ofUniversal Empire, their Grand Elixir ,and the Cure of all their Political Evils.They, with our great King Edward III.(whose Genius surmounted the Darknessand Ignorance of the Age he lived in)have wifely considered, that there is nobetter Means to preserve Foreign Acquis-tions than by settling Colonies in them ;And, on the contrary,seem to have beensensible, by what wrong Policy,and per-verted Counsels, LewisX. IV. and CharlesXIl. of Sweden, so depopulated theirDominions, that Hands were wanting totill their Grounds. They have dulyweigh’d by what Means the Colony ofVirginia, from a regular Establishment,fell into loose Settlements, and the In-conveniences thence arising, as well asevery Difficulty all our other Colonieslabour under. Upon a deliberate Viewof all these Things, they have, I fay,undoubtedly, formed their Design.They have improved upon the greatPlans of the Ancients, according to thedifferent Circumstances of Times andThings, by adopting whatever theyhave found conducive to their End, thePublick Good, and, on the contrary, byrejecting every Inconvenience and Evil,which have attended either them, or ourModern Colonies, and which have occa-sioned the Destruction and Miscarriageof some of the latter.

By this great Design, the Nation is,and gradually will be, freed from thoseExcrescences (if I may be allowed theExpression) which feed on her Substance,without bearing any Fruit, or contribut-ing any Thing to the Publick Weal.They are transplanted into a more pro-per Soil, where they may, they mustthrive, and be of Publick Advantage :And this without any Charge to the Go-vernment. These exuberant and sa plessBranches are loot off, and, at the sameTime, the Crown, instead of loosing,

gains Subjects, and is enrich’d by their 1734*Removal.

It is a vulgar Error, tho’, I hope, oflate Years, pretty much exploc^u, uiatthe sending out of Colonies depopulates,and consequently impoverishes a Nation. 1The Greeks sent forth Colonies, as theBees do Swarms, without weakening theHives; Nay, it is evident, that theygrew populous by it; And it was notkill the Power of the Romans preventedtheir Continuance of this Custom, thatthey, by Degrees, were depopulated.

The Romans en creased so prodigiously,by their sending out Colonies, that theNumberof their Citizens was augmented,in the Space of 290 Years, from 80,000.to near 300,000. Notwithstanding theysuffered greatly, during this Time, byPlagues and Famine, and were, thewhole Time, engaged in Wars. In thisSpace of Time, they established eigh-teen Colonies, which generally consistedof six Thousand Families; And as longas Justice and Liberty stood unshaken,all the Colonies, sent out by Rome, suc-ceeded.

It is, indeed, an unquestionableMaxim, that the Wealth of a Nationconsists of the Number of its People ;

But then it is upon a Supposition, thatthese People are all well and duly em-ployed ; For as much as every Man earnsby his Labour, so much does the Countryhe lives in get by him, and no more. ANumber of People unemployed are adead Weight, and a Burden to a Nation,and will soon cease to be a People.

In Georgia, as, by the very Natureof the Establishment, Children will be aProfit, instead of a Burden to their Pa-rents, no Man, out of his Aprenticesliip(tho' here perhaps he must have spenthis Days in Celibacy) will remain un-married. The Number of Subjects must,therefore, encrease, and every one willbe a useful Subject, and of Benefit tothe Community; And, besides, thatAugmentation of Subjects there will na-turally and demonstrably draw on anEncrease of Subjects here, in a three- ifnot four-fold Proportion.

None of our former Colonies wereerected upon se rational a Scheme, andin so regular a Manner, as that of Pen-sylvania. William Pen, the great Pro-jector of that Establishment, had athorough Norion of the Method of theAncients in Establishing Colonies, whichhe not only followed, but improved up-on, by adding the Chrifiian Meekness

to