220 ON THE MOTHER-COUNTRY upon the English possessions; for, as the world turns round to it, the sun shines either upon one portion or another of the globe which is a colony to our country." Yes, I understand perfectly, papa; but now tell me why are England and other nations so anxious to have what you call colonies?" replied William. "Because they tend so much to the prosperity of the mother-country. In their infancy they generally are an expense to her, as they require her care; but as they advance, they are able to repay her by taking her manufactures, and returning for them their own produce; an exchange mutually advantageous, but more so to the mother-country than to the colony, as the mother-country, assuming to herself the right of supplying all the wants of the colony, has a market for the labour of her own people, without any competition. And here, my boy, you may observe what a parallel there is between a colony and the mother-country and a child and its parent. In infancy, the mother-country assists and supports the colony as an infant; as it advances and becomes vigorous, the colony returns the obligation; but the parallel does not end there. As soon as the colony has grown strong and powerful enough to take care of itself, it AND HER COLONIES. 221 throws off the yoke of subjection, and declares itself independent; just as a son who has grown up to manhood, leaves his father's house and takes up a business to gain his own livelihood. This is as certain to be the case, as it is that a bird as soon as it can fly will leave its parent's nest. We have had a great example of it in the United States, which, fifty years ago, were colonies to Great Britain, but are now fast becoming one of the most powerful of nations." "But is it not very ungrateful of a colony to leave the mother-country, which has protected it so long, as soon as it no longer requires its assistance?" : "It may at first appear to be so; but, on reflection, we must decide otherwise the mothercountry has been more than repaid for what it has done for the colony long before the colony is able to throw off its dependence; and, after a certain time, the rights assumed by the mother-country become too onerous to bear: you must not treat a grown-up man as you would a child." "Now, father, answer me another question. You said that nations rise and fall; and you have mentioned the Portuguese as a proof. Will England ever fall, and be of no more importance than Portugal is now?" THAT night Ready sat up for two or three hours working by candlelight (William keeping him company), very busily engaged fitting up the fishinglines with leads and hooks. At last two were complete. "What bait must we use, Ready?" "I should think that the best would be one of the fish out of the shells which are in the sand; but a piece of pork fat will, I dare say, do as well." "We can only decide that question by looking into history; and history tells us that such is the fate of all nations. We must, therefore, expect that it will one day be the fate of our dear country. At present we see no appearance of it, any more than we perceive the latent seeds of death in our own bodies ; but still the time arrives when man must die, and so it must be with nations. Did the Portuguese, in the height of their prosperity, ever think that they would be reduced to what they are now? Would they have believed it? Yes, my dear boy, the English nation must in time meet with the fate of all others. There are various causes which may hasten or protract the period; but, sooner or later, England will no more be mistress of the seas, or boast of her possessions all over the world.” "I hope it will be a long while first." "And so does every Englishman who loves his country. Recollect that when the Roman empire was in the height of its power, Great Britain was peopled by mere barbarians and savages. Now Rome has disappeared, and is only known in history, and by the relics of its former greatness, while England ranks among the highest of nations. How is the major portion of the continent of Africa |