to declare, that he never saw any appetite, hunger and thirst excepted,
gratified in public. It is too true, that for the sake of gaining our
extraordinary curiosities, and to please our brutes, they have appeared
immodest in the extreme. Yet they lay the charge wholly at our door, and
say, that Englishmen are ashamed of nothing, and that we have led them
to public acts of indecency never before practised among themselves.
Iron here, more precious than gold, bears down every barrier of
restraint. Honesty and modesty yield to the force of temptation." A
remark may be made here of some consequence. In estimating the momentum
of temptations, we ought to consider not only their direct strength, but
also what is known or believed of the extent of their influence on the
society to which people belong. A man, it is certain, will much more
readily acquiesce in those which he has reason to think common to his
fellow creatures, than in others exclusively directed to himself. In the
one case he anticipates sympathy, should he transgress; in the other, he
is deterred by the apprehension of being singular in guilt. The
Otaheitans were in the former predicament, and accordingly were perhaps
universally accessible to the charms of nails and hatchets and beads.
Whereas, it is probable, that had even similar solicitations been
attempted in any instances unknown to each other, they would perhaps
have been resisted. But vice once known to be established in society,
becomes daily more prolific of its kind, and, like the Fama of Virgil,
_vires acquirit eundo_. It is but fair to give these islanders the full
benefit of this principle, when we sit in assize on them. Pray who can
tell what would be the consequence of a visit from some of the
inhabitants of Saturn, or the Georgium Sidus, should they open up their
ultramundane treasures in sight of the British court? Is it conceivable,
that the lovers of embroidery, and lace and diamonds would resist the
witcheries of the strangers?--or that the marvellous effects of their
liberality in distribution, should be confined within the walls of St