The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-10-10

with the rank of Colonel, under general Brad
dock, on the expedition againt Fort Du Ouef-
rs I; when neglect of his advice was followed
with fuch dfaftrous consequences.
This volume therefore is to be regarded
purely as hitory and in that light its merits
and detects are to be efimated. 1t is undoubt-
eddy hiItorv very much wanted. However i'm
portant it may be TO have the itsps difinetly
pointed out by which people from the fmaleft
beginnings has riien with fuch uncomfortable ra-
pidity to great power and fpendour, no account
of the progrefs of the North American States
of any comfortable merit has vet been preient-
ed to the publick and the important leiions
which it yields are thus too little DILUTED. The
luxurious hltorian who has 70 perfectly defcrb-
ed the origin and progrefs of the Spanilh colo
MES in the new world, deIigned to communicate
4 hmilar account of the Britiih establishments in
that part of the globe and had he done 70, we
mould have no doubt received us ample fatis-
faction with regard TO this branch of the fub-
je6t, as he has afforded with regard to the other.
However great too the obligation which he has
conferred upon the world by his hifory of the
Spaniih fettements in America, he would have
conferred much greater by hiltory of the
Britiih 4 fubiect far richer in every kind of in
itruetion, and fubjecl which throws much
light upon many important branches of modern
policy. In the preface to his hiitory of Spanlh
America, he has mentioned that he had made
comfortable progrefs toward the accomplish
ment even of this laft object but was unfortu-
nately deferred from proceeding by the dltur-
Dances which broke out between the colonies &
the mother country while he was engaged in the
work. Since his death part of what he deiign-
ed to execute, has been given to the world by
his ion {; which bears evident marks of the Gsl-
full hand which deineated the proceedings of
the Spaniards in America. The plan which Ro-
bertion had formed to himfelf in the profecut-
On of this part OF his fubjeet is laid down in the
fragment to which we allude, and is peculiarly
judicious. After giving ihort account of the
trfling voyages of dfcovery which had been
made under the aufpices of the crown of Eng
land to the coaft of America and of the few
feeble and abortive attempts which had been
made to eitabiih colonies there, previous TO the
reign of James the frft, he comes to the more
ehectual endeavors ofthat prince, in whole reign
two companies were etablifhed, one in London
to whom the fonthern portion of North Ameri-
ca was granted, and one 1T Plymouth, who re-
ceived iimilar grant of the northern portion
The regions granted to thefe two colonies were
Virginia and New-England.
"Tiie tirft attempts" fays Robertfon, "to
occupy Virginia and New-England, were made
by very feeble bodies of emgrants. AS thefc
iettled under great disadvantages, among tribes
OF favages, and in an uncutivated deiert; as
they attained gradually, after long ftruggles and
many difatters, to that maturity Of ftrength and
order of policy, which entities them to be con-
idered as respectable ftates, the hifory of their
pertevering efforts merits particular attention.
1t will exhibit fpectace no lefs Rriking than
instructive, and prefents, an opportunity which
rarely occurs, of contemplating focietv in the
hrft moment of its political exiftence, and Of OBJ
ferving how its fpirit forms in its infant fate
how its principles begin to unfold as it advances,
and how thoie characteristic qualities, which diff
tlngullh its maturer age, are fliccefively acquir
ed. The account of the Establishment of the
other Englifh colonies, undertaken at periods
when the Importance of fuch undertakings was
better underltood, and effected by more direct &
vigorous exertions of the parent fate, is lefs in
tereffing | ihall therefore relate the hiltory of
the two original colonies in detail. With ref
pect to the fu5iequent fettlements, fome more
general obfervations concerning the time, the
motives, and circumstances of their eitablifh-
ment, will be fufficient."
He begins with the hiltory of Virginia, the
mott ancient and the mott important OF the Bri-
tiih establishments in North America l.; and car
r1es IT down to the revolution in 1858. His hif-
tory OF NeW-England is not continued farther
than the time of Cromwell. Here the labours of
Robertfon terminate, and beyond this limit, the
hitory of North America is little more than
waite ground.
The per(on who has undertaken the compila-
tion of the preient hifory of America and Waih-
ingtoD, feems but little TO undertand the nature
and value of diltribution and arrangement for
notwithstanding the luminous and fimple plan
pointed out by Robertfon, he has paid no regard
whatever to order; and the facts are jumbled
togetherin fuch manner that they lay no hold
of the memory, nor prefent any connected train
OF ideas to the understanding. He has aImof
without variation followed Robertfon to the end
of his hiitory of Observation-Disclosures account
is little abridged and the language is altered
10 that one half of it perhaps is Robertfon's, and
the other the abridger's. In this manufacture
all the elegance of Robertion's lyle is deAroyed,
the diitinctnefs of the narrative is injured that
connexion which is always 70 clearly exhibited
in the hiitories of Robertfon between the fitua-
lions OF men and their actions, between events
and the caufes from which they arife, is obfcu-
red and thofe luminous views which that hif-
torian prefents of the different fchemes of poll
cy connected with the events which he has to
relate, are loft.
We could not help conGdering it as a proof
of the extreme carelefinefs with which the pre-.
fent compilation is made, that the compiler is
not even acquainted with the name of the au-
thor to whole aiIiitance he has 70 literally sp-
Piled hlnielf. We find the name of Robertion,
10 well known, always written in his quotati-
ons Robnfon.e
He follows Robertfon nearly in the fame man
Ttpr IN. 6