The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-11-24
Err.
RICHMOND
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER "a, so4.
PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
NO. /.

PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
NO. /.
There is regular s, natural progrefs in the po-
pulation & Improvement of observation-disclosures
try, which the experience of amoit every nationis
defined to exhibit Parti cular caufes may in.
deed reverfc this order. An ignorant or de-
fgnng government may create infurmountable
obtacies TO Its attainment, or perhaps the indo-
lence or enthuiiafIn of individuals, NAV give
A new turn TO the exertions and deftiny of the
nation. Yet fill this is the regular and natural
courie. II is courie, which almoft every agri-
cultural country has been hitherto feen to pur-
fuc; it is courfc, which the hiftory of almoft
every country, from the very nature of things,
mutt be defined to defcribe.
Tribes of men, like particular individuals,
will be determined in the Election of their pla-
ces of rskfdenee, by their peculiar wants and &C.
equations. The farmer will not fettle himfcf
on barren heath fit5r viii Jcwciicr find 1t to
be his intereft to difplay his cotly wares in a
poor and fimple village. Each individual will
ieleet that particular ftuation, which is bcft
adapted to his particular puriuits And the
lame motive will operate upon whole hordes Of
individuals or upon nations. A filming or A
hunting tribe will prefer that part of a country.
where their favourite food can be mott plentiful
y procured; the firf will feleet the fea-coaft or
the margin of fome river, where the fifth delight
to refort, while the latter will nhabt that part
of the country where extenive meadows or
tracklefs woods, prefcnt them with the objects of
the chace. When the nation has advanced to
the fecond degree, on the fcae of civilization,
the ihepherd fate, it will experience the influ-
| ence of new indictments. A change in the man
ner or fubiftence, now produces demand for
new modes of accom- odct;oaS' viii leave.
the neighbourhood of woods and wlds, & refort
to the rich and luxuriant paftures, where their
hocks and herds may browfc in fecurity and
plenty. Their reGdence will be varied ac-
cording to the fertility of the country in differ
ent parts or at different feafons: but at no time
will they approach the COATS of the fea, or the
margins of their rivers, unlefs they find there
more abundant heritage for their cattle, or I'M
lefs they Witt the fettlement of fome enterpri-
ring merchants, to diipofe of their fupernume-
nary furrs and hides.
from this general ketch of the hunting and
ihepherd ftates offcciety, it will require little
philosophical ingenuity to defcribe the conciiti-
on and fettlement of the country, which con-
tains fuch inhabitants. TIE Landfcape which
is fPread before the eye of the speculative OFFER
yer, IS nearly the fame as when it came from the
rude hands of nature. No populou. towns, no
cultivated fields, no elegant country houfes, no
large vetlels navigating the rivers or the fea,
SHN SidNS anu dliIildliOn 10 the iCene hlt E.
very where we behold the monuments of the
power OF nature, her grafs-grown fields, her
mountains covered with forefts, and her woods
unconquered by the froke of the axe. Here &
there perhaps our eye catchesthe fnoke that rifles
from the cottage or the tents the untutored ma
tiVes, VINO without the powers of art, or the at
tainments OF fcience, are contented with the
icanty produce of their hunting or their herds.
Such is nearly the phyfical condition of thofe DIFF
tricts which areinhabited ytheIndians ofAmeri-
ca & the hunting tribes of Africa: and fuch too
IS the condition of the territory, which fup-
ports the two mot diflinguifhed ihepherd tribes
on earth, the wandering Arabs and the Tartars
of Alta.
But the hftory of an agricultural nation ex-
hibts very different, & more interefing fpeeta
Gle. The cultivation of the earth produces
new and powerful relations. The mott memo
rable of thefe is the relation which is 70 apt to
be formed between the cultivator and the foil
itielt. There are fome nations indeed, who Gull
tivate the earth, that have formed with it no
permanent connections; they may change their
rehdence from year to year, and they may exhi-
bit mott of the qualities of wandering tribe.
Such was the Sueyi, aD ancenttribeof Germans,
who had not even the right of inhabting and
cultivating tract of ground longer than for one
year; but for which Cefar afterwards a6Iigns
tHiS very satisfactory r6dtOn-" neQue multum
frumento, fed mailman partem laete acque pc
core vivunt, muitumque funt in venationibus:"
they live very little upon corn, but principally
on the milk and neih Of their cattle, and on the
produce of the chace. But thele nRances are
rare, and they rather conititute the exception,
than the rule of agricultural fettlemeuts.
Very few of thole anociations indeed, are dif-
unguihed by that curious feature which Cpfar|
has introduced into the manners Of the Suevi ::
"pnvati &C feparati agri apud eos nihil eft -
that is, they have no land exclufvely fet apart
for particular individuals. Among all fuch ma
tions, the value of the enclofures and the i'm
provemeots OF farm, the difficulty of gather
ing IN one crop before it is time to make prepa-
rations for another, and thofe vivid attach'Aents
which we ate ali accufomed TO feel for the
fcenes that We haze 70 often trayerfed, and in
which we have 70 often INDUCED the mot int.
reting emotions ;hefe will gradually introduce
more permanent tenure of the foil. Every
cultiystor viii be ccnyer,,d into a proprietor or
"A tenant.
This fri 6ep being once taken, in the Ettle-
- - ~