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nations, almost every reason, which, among savages, concurred to the establishment of hospitality, has ceased, and the practice, in the ancient sense, has ceased of course. The arts of writing and printing have furnished innumerable vehicles of intelligence always at command. Knowledge of all the arts of life is diffused with facility, safety, and accuracy, as far as the use of letters is known. The cultivation of the gentle passions, an improved sense of the duties of humanity, a knowledge of its rights, and the protection afforded to those rights, by the law of nations and the civil laws of most countries, have superseded the necessity of individual protection; and public accommodations have been much more convenient for travellers, than private hospitality. The universal introduction and currency of money, and the facilities of commerce, have given men the command of a kind of property, which may with ease and safety attend their persons, and provide for them in their peregrinations. Most men, who travel at this day, are engaged in pursuits of interests or gratifications of a private nature. In this state of things, hospitality, in the ancient practice, would be unnecessary, unjust, and intolerably burdensome. It has therefore been well exchanged for those courtesies, that better accord with the manners as well as the interests of civil society: and why should we regret the exchange? Let those who entertain such an enthusiastic veneration for hospitality and other ancient virtues of the same origin, reflect, that they cannot have the effect without the cause; and that those precious gems of savage virtues would lose their lustre and estimation without the foil of savage vices. This short sketch is sufficient to prove, that the first rude state of man, or if we choose the expression, the first simple state of society does not most abound in virtue and happiness. I have given, indeed, a short, but in a general view I believe, a true sketch of every uncivilized tribe on earth.

This opinion of a preference of the savage to a civilized state of society has been inculcated by some, who, irritated and disgusted with the numerous abuses of a corrupt government, have unjustly attributed to civilization those evils, which we always find aggravated, the nearer we approach to the savage state, their favorite state of nature; and by the glowing minds

of some whose zeal in the cause of virtue exceeded their information. Had they attended to the science of human nature, the development of the human mind, the powers, faculties, passions and appetites of man; had they studied attentively the history-not of battles and sieges only, the intrigues of statesmen, and the revolution of empires-but the history of man in society, the history of the human mind, they would have found reason for correcting their opinion. This science, so important to man, has been too much neglected. In the first stages, none are capable of making or recording proper observations, and one half of the progress has generally passed unnoticed. In the following ages, historians, hurried away by the more splendid events of history, have too much neglected to mark the progressive improvement of the mind; and readers have been equally inattentive to the few facts that have been recorded, throwing any light upon the subject. In America, the best opportunity that ever presented for supplying these deficiencies in the early history of man, by actual observation on real life and manners, has been too much, neglected, and suffered to escape hitherto with but little improvement.

CHAPTER II.

Of the appetite or propensity for society-the appetite which leads to the propagation of the species-ambition-sympathy.

We will now, briefly, inquire how far man, without a consideration of mutual wants, or a necessity for mutual defence, arising merely from a sense of weakness or wickedness, is by nature fitted for society. That, surely, is to him a natural state, to which the laws of his nature, general and particular, all tend. Here let me premise, that, with man, a state of improvement is not opposed to a state of nature. Perhaps as good a definition as any which has been given of man is, that he is a being capable of improvement, in a progression, of which he knows not the limits. Deity has implanted in his nature the seeds of improvement, furnished him with powers and faculties for the cultivation, and to these superadded a sense that the cultivation is a duty. The first thing which strikes the mind, in the course of our inquiry is an appetite for society. Man desires to associate with man, and feels a pleasure at the approach of his kind.

The appetite is so universally prevalent, it cannot be denied, that it originates in his nature. The same appetite, under the name of instinct, produces all those associations which are found to prevail among all gregarious animals of the brute creation and with them, it is allowed to be natural. Why not allow it to be so with man, to whom it isso much more extensively useful? This appetite, which may with equal, or perhaps, more propriety be denominated a propensity to society, is common to all men ;—and although I have compared it to

instinct, in the lower order of animals it is I conceive, in its origin a susceptibility merely of certain mental impressions, that is, such as excite feelings in the mind, either agreeable or disagreeable, according to the constitution of nature. The infant receives its first impressions from its mother or nurse; these are effected by soothing attentions to the wants of the infant, in its helpless state; exciting pleasurable sensations: until the presence of the soothing object constantly suggests, or is accompanied with those pleasurable sensations agreeable to the laws of association, by which the pleasure excited in the mind, by any object, is transferred to that object and considered as an inherent quality. These feelings are soon extended from the mother or nurse to all whose presence has become familiar; until it embraces every acquaintance. The pleasurable sensation is frequently counteracted by another, that of fear excited by some new and unusual object; which, however, is removed by familiarity, and gives place to the former agreeable impressions. This appears to be the origin of the social affections. The susceptibility, only, is innate and is common to all; and as the very life of every infant, that comes into the world, necessarily depends on the kind attention of others, every one, that lives, must necessarily experience the impressions, and the social affections become as common as the susceptibility. They vary, indeed, in degree and extent, from circumstances; from constitution, which renders one less susceptible than another; but more frequently from education and habit, which are, principally, effected through a propensity to imitation. If there be any thing instinctive in man, it is this propensity to imitation. It was long ago observed by Aristotle, that man is an imitative being. In the early stages of life, this propensity to imitation opens the only avenue to improvement. Infants, children, and youth take, by imitation, not only their actions, but their feelings, sentiments, and opinions, from others, particularly from those to whom they are most attached, and for whom they have the greatest respect.

It has been made a question whether the propensity to society be limited in the number of its objects? This question, I think, will admit, though not a precise, yet a satisfactory answer. It is adapted to the occasions, the powers and faculties of men,

and admits of equal extension by improvement; accordingly, in the early stages of society, while the powers and faculties of men were in their infancy, men have every where been found associated in families and small independent tribes. If at any time, larger associations were formed, like some of the great empires of antiquity, they were not the effect of choice, but of superior force. Agreeable to this opinion, we find the parts were but loosely connected, and every where crumbled in pieces, as soon as that force was removed. As mankind increase in knowledge, as their powers and faculties extend, and the comprehension of the mind is enlarged, they voluntarily extend their associations; to determine therefore the limits of the social propensity, or the social affections, we must determine the limits of social improvements. This appetite is accompanied with other appetites, propensities, and passions, that nature has made essential parts of the constitution of man, which have no use, no gratification but in society. Hardly can we find one which terminates wholly in self, not one that stands opposed to society. Of compassion, sympathy, and the train of benevolent passions and emotions, society is clearly the ultimate object. The principal end of some is the preservation of the individual; of others, the continuation of the species-such is the hoarding appetite, and the passion for riches to which it gives rise; the appetite which leads to the propagation of the species and its consequent passions ;--even these are not solitary ;-they do not terminate wholly 'in self-no, not the hoarding appetite, which, if any, might be thought an exception. Here, self often predominates; but in general the passion for riches, stript of every view to society, becomes very faint, if not totally extinct. The man, who is intent upon gain, has some connexion, some friend, whom he wishes to benefit, by his acquisition. views the acquisition of riches as a mean, not an end; a mean of future support and personal indulgence, it is true; but at the same time, as a mean of benefiting some, and of acquiring esteem, confidence, and influence among all. Some instances have, indeed, been known of solitary misers, who have made. the amassing of riches the sole end of their pursuits: some individuals have, likewise, conceived an aversion for man, and secluded themselves from society. These are considered as

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