Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/438

 SDlf PORTUGUESE HISTORY ty of the times could admit, and the commodities were obtained at their natural price, the cost of bringing them to market. Tlio Europeans, able, by the passage round the Cape, to appear in force at the very sources of production, began from the first moment to exact the produce of the country at inadequate prices ; and could the nature of the pro- ductions which excited their avarice have admit- ted, like the gold of America, of being directly pillaged, they would not have scrupled to have done so. This is the conduct which every European nation has actually pursued, and the principle which unfortunately still continues to be acted upon. The state of society which existed in Europe at the moment of the discovery of the Indian islands was, of all others, the worst for the unfortunate na- tives of the Archipelago. -Could we suppose the Europeans of the darker and more barbarous ages to have achieved the conquest of these islands, we can readily imagine them either to have made a pre- datory incursion, and abandoned the country, or a thorough conquest, colonized it, and mix- ed and assimilated with the inhabitants, render- ing the evils of conquest of temporary duration. But the Indies were discovered at the first dawn of commercial enterprise, when mercantile cupi- dity had just awakened, but before trade had had time to produce its legitimate effects, humanity