To Come And Inhabit
A Little Sandbank, To Which Nature Had Refused Those Advantages; To
Dwell On A Spot Where There Scarcely Grew A Shrub To Announce, By
The Budding Of Its Leaves, The Arrival Of The Spring, And To Warn By
Their Fall The Proximity Of Winter.
Had this island been contiguous
to the shores of some ancient monarchy, it would only have been
occupied by
A few wretched fishermen, who, oppressed by poverty,
would hardly have been able to purchase or build little fishing
barks; always dreading the weight of taxes, or the servitude of men-
of-war. Instead of that boldness of speculation for which the
inhabitants of this island are so remarkable, they would fearfully
have confined themselves, within the narrow limits of the most
trifling attempts; timid in their excursions, they never could have
extricated themselves from their first difficulties. This island, on
the contrary, contains 5000 hardy people, who boldly derive their
riches from the element that surrounds them, and have been compelled
by the sterility of the soil to seek abroad for the means of
subsistence. You must not imagine, from the recital of these facts,
that they enjoyed any exclusive privileges or royal charters, or
that they were nursed by particular immunities in the infancy of
their settlement. No, their freedom, their skill, their probity, and
perseverance, have accomplished everything, and brought them by
degrees to the rank they now hold.
From this first sketch, I hope that my partiality to this island
will be justified.
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