del savages, for having come so far,
endured so many perils by sea and land, and taken such unwearied pains,
for no other purpose but to improve their forlorn, uncivilized, and
heathenish condition; for having made them acquainted with the comforts of
life; for having introduced among them the light of religion; and,
finally, for having hurried them out of the world to enjoy its reward!

But as argument is never so well understood by us selfish mortals as when
it comes home to ourselves, and as I am particularly anxious that this
question should be put to rest for ever, I will suppose a parallel case,
by way of arousing the candid attention of my readers.

Let us suppose, then, that the inhabitants of the moon, by astonishing
advancement in science, and by profound insight into that ineffable lunar
philosophy, the mere flickerings of which have of late years dazzled the
feebled optics, and addled the shallow brains of the good people of our
globe--let us suppose, I say, that the inhabitants of the moon, by these
means, had arrived at such a command of their energies, such an enviable
state of perfectibility, as to control the elements, and navigate the
boundless regions of space. Let us suppose a roving crew of these soaring
philosophers, in the course of an aerial voyage of discovery among the
stars, should chance to alight upon this outlandish planet. And here I beg
my readers will not have the uncharitableness to smile, as is too
frequently the fault of volatile readers, when perusing the grave
speculations of philosophers. I am far from indulging in any sportive vein
at present; nor is the supposition I have been making so wild as many may
deem it. It has long been a very serious and anxious question with me, and
many a time and oft, in the course of my overwhelming cares and
contrivances for the welfare and protection of this my native planet, have
I lain awake whole nights debating in my mind whether it were most
probable we should first discover and civilize the moon, or the moon
discover and civilize our globe. Neither would the prodigy of sailing in
the air or cruising among the stars be a whit more astonishing and
incomprehensible to us than was the European mystery of navigating
floating castles through the world of waters to the simple savages. We
have already discovered the art of coasting along the aerial shores of our
planet by means of balloons, as the savages had of venturing along their
sea-coasts in c