I shall conclude with a reflection which I made while I was on the coast, leaving the reader to agree with me or not, as he may be disposed. How is it, as I have already observed, that all the colonies founded by other nations, either languish or have been swept away,--not all, perhaps, as yet, but the major portion of them; while every colony founded by our little island appears to flourish, till it becomes so powerful as not only no longer to require the nursing of the mother country, but to throw off its dependence, and become a nation of itself? How is it that it can so truly be said that the sun never sets upon the English flag? It cannot be from any want of energy, or activity, or intelligence, or judgment in other nations; for surely in these qualifications we are not superior to the French or to the Dutch, although we may be to the present race of Spaniards and Portuguese. Our colonies have not been more carefully fostered than theirs: on the contrary, they have been neglected, and, if not neglected, they have been but too often oppressed. Why, then, should this be? Can religion have any thing to do with this? Can it be that Providence has imperceptibly interfered, and has decided that England shall perform the high mission; that she has been selected, as a chosen country, to fill the whole world with the true faith, with the pure worship of the Almighty? Has it been for this object that we have been supported in our maritime superiority? Has it been with this view that we have been permitted to discomfit the navies of the whole world? May it not be that when our naval commanders, with a due regard to propriety, have commenced their despatches with "It has pleased the Almighty to grant us a splendid victory," at the same time that they were trusting to the arms of flesh and blood which have so well supported their endeavours, and in their hearts ascribed their successes to the prowess of man,--may it not be, I say, that the Almighty has, for his own good reasons, fought on our side, and has given us victory upon victory, until we have swept the seas, and made the name of England known to the uttermost corners of the globe? Has this been granted us, and have we really been selected as a favoured nation to spread the pure light of the gospel over the universe? Who can say? "His ways are not our ways;" but if so, it is a high destiny, which we must act up to at every sacrifice and at every expence. THE END. London: Spottiswoode and Shaw, New-street-Square. Transcriber's Notes: The author's original (and inconsistent) spelling of place and person names has been preserved, although in some cases, the modern equivalents are substantially different. In the original text, most illustration captions had terminating punctuation but a few did not. In this transcription, terminating punctuation has been added to those captions which did not have them in order to remain consistent with the style most commonly seen in the text.