DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11638#0330
And lower egypt. 30^
equally unknown, and who cannot be denied the
privilege, whether he be attended to and consulted
or not, at least of speaking out with some confi-
dence on a subject of which he has taken pains
to make himself master.
It may have been observed in the course of this
work, that I looked upon the project of substituting
in room of our distant and perhaps insecure colo-
nics, another colony whose proximity to the mo-
ther-country, the almost miraculous fertility of the
soil, its adaptation to agriculture, its singularly fa-,
vourable situation which renders it the medium of
the commerce of the wealthiest nations, its vicinity
to countries abounding in the most costly produc-
tions; in a word, whose speedy means of commu-
nication render it of far higher importance ; I say,
it may have been observed that I looked upon this
project as a sublime thought, as the happiest of
conceptions, and its execution as one of those un-
common acts which shed a lustre on nations, and
which bears upon itself the evident stamp of im-
mortality.
Infallibly the possession of Egypt will secure to
an enlightened and industrious nation the com-
merce of the Levant and of Barbary, and that of
the wealthy land of Yemen. The Indian seas, roll-
ing their waters with violence across its sands, dis-
play the practicability of a navigation, and of a
x 2 commerce,
equally unknown, and who cannot be denied the
privilege, whether he be attended to and consulted
or not, at least of speaking out with some confi-
dence on a subject of which he has taken pains
to make himself master.
It may have been observed in the course of this
work, that I looked upon the project of substituting
in room of our distant and perhaps insecure colo-
nics, another colony whose proximity to the mo-
ther-country, the almost miraculous fertility of the
soil, its adaptation to agriculture, its singularly fa-,
vourable situation which renders it the medium of
the commerce of the wealthiest nations, its vicinity
to countries abounding in the most costly produc-
tions; in a word, whose speedy means of commu-
nication render it of far higher importance ; I say,
it may have been observed that I looked upon this
project as a sublime thought, as the happiest of
conceptions, and its execution as one of those un-
common acts which shed a lustre on nations, and
which bears upon itself the evident stamp of im-
mortality.
Infallibly the possession of Egypt will secure to
an enlightened and industrious nation the com-
merce of the Levant and of Barbary, and that of
the wealthy land of Yemen. The Indian seas, roll-
ing their waters with violence across its sands, dis-
play the practicability of a navigation, and of a
x 2 commerce,