The "excellent use" of Colonies. A Note on Walter Moyle's Justification of Roman Colonies, ca. 1699

he antiquarian, bohemian, and whiggish Walter Moyle (i6721721) was deeply involved in the political controversies of i695-98. A member for Saltash in Cornwall, his native county, for the third parliament of the reign of William 1II, he was associated in London coffee houses like the Grecian in Essex Street, with opponents of the policies of the administration. With the economist, Charles Davenant (1656-1714), the independent whig, John Trenchard (i663-1723), and the Scots republican, Andrew Fletcher (i655-17i6), he composed tracts which endeavored to discover causes and remedies for the present politic distempers. As Moyle wrote to a friend, Ministry hunting is a noble sport. In An Essay upon the Constitution of the Roman Government, he described the excellent use of to that commonwealth, colonies being the only way by which an infant state can propagate her empire. Before placing Moyle's colonial theory in its time and circumstance, his arguments must be briefly summarized.' Although wise Romulus (the legendary founder of the Roman state, cc. 753 B.c.) recognized the importance of colonies, neither regal nor aristocratic successors were interested in that kind of aggrandizement. A

Art · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Scottish History and National Identity

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