since this settlement was first made, how such a mass of
building and such a concourse of people can have been collected.

It certainly does appear strange, but it is no less true, that no nation
can colonise like the English, and I have often made that remark in my
wanderings and visitings of the various parts of the globe. England
fills the world and civilises the world with her redundant population,
and all her colonies flourish, and remind you of a swarm of bees which
have just left the old hive and are busy in providing for themselves.
The Dutch colonies are not what you can call thriving; they have not the
bustle, the enterprise, and activity which our colonies possess. The
Dutch have never conciliated the natives, and obtained their goodwill;
they have invariably resorted to violence, and to a disregard of
justice. One would have thought that the French, from their _bonhomie_,
would have been one of the very best nations to civilise, and certain to
have succeeded; but such is not the case. What can be the cause of this,
if it be not that, instead of raising the character of the native
population by good example and strict justice, they demoralise by
introducing vices hitherto unknown to them, and alienate them by
injustice? There was an outcry raised at the French taking possession
of Taheite, as if any attempt on their part to colonise was an
infringement on our right as Englishmen of universal colonisation. I
think if we were wise, we should raise no objection to their colonising
as much as they please. The whole expence of founding the colony,
raising the fortifications, and building the towns, and, if I may use
the phrase, of settling every thing, may safely be left to them. If a
war breaks out, they will have done a great deal of expensive work for
our benefit, as we are certain then to take possession. Algiers has cost
an enormous sum to France, and will cost still more, and yet it can
hardly be considered as a colony. It is a military possession, an
African barrack, no more; and what will be the result in case of the
breaking out of hostilities? Their possession of Algiers will be most
advantageous to England, for defend it they will with all their power.
We, with Gibraltar as a rendezvous, shall of course have a most
favourable position for assailing it, and the consequence will be, that
the whole focus of the war will be drawn away from our own coasts, and
the Mediterranean will be the arena of all the f