Kitabı oku: «A Proposal for the Better Supplying of Churches in Our Foreign Plantations, and for Converting the Savage Americans to Christianity, By a College to Be Erected in the Summer Islands, Otherwise Called the Isles of Bermuda», sayfa 2
If his majesty would graciously please to grant a charter for a college to be erected in a proper place for these uses, it is to be hoped a fund may be soon raised, by the contribution of well-disposed persons, sufficient for building and endowing the same. For as the necessary expence would be small, so there are men of religion and humanity in England, who would be pleased to see any design set forward for the glory of God and the good of mankind.
A small expence would suffice to subsist and educate the American missionaries in a plain simple manner, such as might make it easy for them to return to the coarse and poor methods of life in use among their countrymen; and nothing can contribute more to lessen this expence, than a judicious choice of the situation, where the seminary is to stand.
Many things ought to be considered in the choice of a situation. It should be in a good air; in a place where provisions are cheap and plenty; where an intercourse might easily be kept up with all parts of America and the islands; in a place of security, not exposed to the insults of pyrates, savages, or other enemies; where there is no great trade, which might tempt the readers or fellows of the college to become merchants, to the neglect of their proper business; where there are neither riches nor luxury to divert, or lessen their application, or to make them uneasy and dissatisfied with a homely frugal subsistence: lastly, where the inhabitants, if such a place may be found, are noted for innocence and simplicity of manners. I need not say of how great importance this point would be toward forming the morals of young students, and what mighty influence it must have on the mission.
It is evident the college long since projected in Barbadoes would be defective in many of these particulars; for though it may have its use among the inhabitants, yet a place of so high trade, so much wealth and luxury, and such dissolute morals, (not to mention the great price and scarcity of provisions;) must at first light seem a very improper situation for a general seminary intended for the forming missionaries, and educating youth in religion and sobriety of manners. The same objections lie against the neighbouring islands.
And if we consider the accounts given of their avarice and licentiousness, their coldness in the practice of religion, and their aversion from propagating it, (which appears in the withholding their slaves from baptism) it is to be feared, that the inhabitants in the populous parts of our plantations on the continent are not much fitter, than those in the islands above mentioned, to influence or assist such a design. And as to the more remote and less frequented parts, the difficulty of being supplied with necessaries, the danger of being exposed to the inroads of savages, and above all, the want of intercourse with other places, render them improper situations for a seminary of religion and learning.
It will not be amiss to insert here an observation, I remember to have seen in an abstract of the proceedings, &c. annexed to the Dean of Canterbury's sermon, before the society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts; that the savage Indians, who live on the continent, will not suffer their children to learn English or Dutch, lest they should be debauched by conversing with their European neighbours: which is a melancholy, but strong confirmation of the truth of what hath been now advanced.
A general intercourse and correspondence with all the English colonies, both on the islands and the continent, and with other parts of America, hath been before laid down, as a necessary circumstance, the reason whereof is very evident. But this circumstance is hardly to be found. For on the continent, where there are neither inns, nor carriages, nor bridges over the rivers, there is no travelling by land between distant places. And the English settlements are reputed to extend along the sea-coast for the space of fifteen hundred miles. It is therefore plain, there can be no convenient communication between them, otherwise than by sea; no advantage therefore, in this point, can be gained by settling on the continent.
There is another consideration, which equally regards the continent and islands, that the general course of trade and correspondence lies from all those colonies to Great Britain alone: Whereas, for our present purpose, it would be necessary to pitch upon a place, if such could be found, which maintains a constant intercourse with all the other colonies, and whose commerce lies chiefly or altogether (not in Europe, but) in America.
There is but one spot that I can find, to which this circumstance agrees: and that is the isles of Bermuda, otherwise called the Summer Islands. These having no rich commodity or manufacture, such as sugar, tobacco, or the like, wherewithal to trade to England, are obliged to become carriers for America, as the Dutch are for Europe. The Bermudans are excellent shipwrights and sailors, and have a great number of very good sloops, which are always passing and repassing from all parts of America. They drive a constant trade to the islands of Jamaica, Barbadoes, Antego, &c. with butter, onions, cabbages, and other roots and vegetables, which they have in great plenty and perfection. They have also some small manufactures of joyner's work and matting, which they export to the plantations on the continent. Hence Bermudan sloops are oftener seen in the ports of America, than any other. And indeed, by the best information I could get, it appears they are the only people of all the British plantations, who hold a general correspondence with the rest.
And, as the commerce of Bermuda renders it a very fit place, wherein to erect a seminary, so likewise doth its situation, it being placed between our plantations on the continent, and those in the isles, so as equally to respect both. To which may be added, that it lies in the way of vessels passing from America to Great Britain; all which makes it plain, that the youth, to be educated in a seminary placed in the Summer Islands, would have frequent opportunities of going thither and corresponding with their friends. It must indeed be owned, that some will be obliged to go a long way to any one place, which we suppose resorted to, from all parts of our plantations; but if we were to look out a spot the nearest approaching to an equal distance from all the rest, I believe it Would be found to be Bermuda. It remains, that we see whether it enjoys the other qualities or conditions laid down as well as this.
The Summer Islands are situated near the latitude of thirty-three degrees; no part of the world enjoys a purer air, or a more temperate climate, the great ocean which environs them, at once moderating the heat of the south winds, and the severity of the north-west. Such a latitude on the continent might be thought too hot; but the air in Bermuda is perpetually fanned and kept cool by sea breezes, which render the weather the most healthy and delightful that could be wished, being, (as is affirmed by persons who have long lived there) of one equal tenour almost throughout the whole year, like the latter-end of a fine May; insomuch that it is resorted to as the Montpelier of America.
