conquest, is represented by Ulloa as containing fifty thousand
inhabitants near fifty years ago.6 Quito, which had been but a
hamlet of indians, is represented by the same author as in his
time equally populous. Mexico is said to contain a hundred
thousand inhabitants, which, notwithstanding the exaggerations of
the Spanish writers, is supposed to be five times greater than
what it contained in the time of Montezuma.

In the Portuguese colony of Brazil, governed with almost
equal tyranny, there were supposed to be, thirty years since, six
hundred thousand inhabitants of European extraction.

The Dutch and French colonies, though under the government of
exclusive companies of merchants, which, as Dr Adam Smith says
very justly, is the worst of all possible governments, still
persisted in thriving under every disadvantage.

But the English North American colonies, now the powerful
people of the United States of America, made by far the most
rapid progress. To the plenty of good land which they possessed
in common with the Spanish and Portuguese settlements, they added
a greater degree of liberty and equality. Though not without some
restrictions on their foreign commerce, they were allowed a
perfect liberty of managing their own internal affairs. The
political institutions that prevailed were favourable to the
alienation and division of property. Lands that were not
cultivated by the proprietor within a limited time were declared
grantable to any other person. In Pennsylvania there was no right
of primogeniture, and in the provinces of New England the eldest
had only a double share. There were no tithes in any of the