Such Intelligence The Hebridians Probably
Receive From Their Transmarine Correspondents.
But with equal
temptations of interest, and perhaps with no greater niceness of
veracity, the owners of the Islands spread stories of American
hardships to keep their people content at home.
Some method to stop this epidemick desire of wandering, which
spreads its contagion from valley to valley, deserves to be sought
with great diligence. In more fruitful countries, the removal of
one only makes room for the succession of another: but in the
Hebrides, the loss of an inhabitant leaves a lasting vacuity; for
nobody born in any other parts of the world will choose this
country for his residence, and an Island once depopulated will
remain a desert, as long as the present facility of travel gives
every one, who is discontented and unsettled, the choice of his
abode.
Let it be inquired, whether the first intention of those who are
fluttering on the wing, and collecting a flock that they may take
their flight, be to attain good, or to avoid evil. If they are
dissatisfied with that part of the globe, which their birth has
allotted them, and resolve not to live without the pleasures of
happier climates; if they long for bright suns, and calm skies, and
flowery fields, and fragrant gardens, I know not by what eloquence
they can be persuaded, or by what offers they can be hired to stay.
But if they are driven from their native country by positive evils,
and disgusted by ill-treatment, real or imaginary, it were fit to
remove their grievances, and quiet their resentment; since, if they
have been hitherto undutiful subjects, they will not much mend
their principles by American conversation.
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