vessels are English
seamen, who have become expert in the profession. It is much to be
lamented that the laudable exertions of Mr. Enderby and others to revive
this lucrative employment for our vessels and seamen has hitherto
failed, and that some part of our surplus capital has not been devoted
to an object so important to us as a maritime country.

I shall conclude with a reflection which I made while I was on the
coast, leaving the reader to agree with me or not, as he may be
disposed. How is it, as I have already observed, that all the colonies
founded by other nations, either languish or have been swept away,--not
all, perhaps, as yet, but the major portion of them; while every colony
founded by our little island appears to flourish, till it becomes so
powerful as not only no longer to require the nursing of the mother
country, but to throw off its dependence, and become a nation of itself?
How is it that it can so truly be said that the sun never sets upon the
English flag? It cannot be from any want of energy, or activity, or
intelligence, or judgment in other nations; for surely in these
qualifications we are not superior to the French or to the Dutch,
although we may be to the present race of Spaniards and Portuguese. Our
colonies have not been more carefully fostered than theirs: on the
contrary, they have been neglected, and, if not neglected, they have
been but too often oppressed. Why, then, should this be? Can religion
have any thing to do with this? Can it be that Providence has
imperceptibly interfered, and has decided that England shall perform
the high mission; that she has been selected, as a chosen country, to
fill the whole world with the true faith, with the pure worship of the
Almighty? Has it been for this object that we have been supported in our
maritime superiority? Has it been with this view that we have been
permitted to discomfit the navies of the whole world? May it not be that
when our naval commanders, with a due regard to propriety, have
commenced their despatches with "It has pleased the Almighty to grant us
a splendid victory," at the same time that they were trusting to the
arms of flesh and blood which have so well supported their endeavours,
and in their hearts ascribed their successes to the prowess of man,--may
it not be, I say, that the Almighty has, for his own good reasons,
fought on our side, and has given us victory upon victory, until we have
swept the seas, and made the na