312 JOHN LEDYARD. 



wpre it not for the mischievous laws and bad 

 examples of some governments I have passed 

 through, I am persuaded I should be able to give 

 you a still better account of our fellow-creatures. 

 But I am hastening to countries where goodness, if 

 natural to the human heart, will appear independent 

 of example, and furnish an illustration of the charac- 

 ter of man not unworthy of him who wrote the De- 

 claration of Independence. I did not hear of the 

 death of M. de Vergennes until I arrived here. Per- 

 mit me to express my regret at the loss of so great 

 and so good a man. Permit me, also, to congratulate 

 you, as the minister of my country, on account of 

 the additional commercial privileges granted by 

 France to America, and to express my ardent wishes 

 that the friendly spirit which dictated them may 

 last forever. I was extremely pleased at reading 

 the account, and, to heighten the satisfaction, I 

 found the name of La Fayette there. 



" An equipment is now on foot here for the Sea 

 of Kamtschatka, and it is first to visit the north- 

 west coast of America. It is to consist of foui 

 ehips. This, and the expedition that went from 

 here twelve months since by land for Kamtschatka, 

 are to co-operate in a design of some sort in the 

 Northern Pacific Ocean, the Lord knows what, 

 nor does it matter what with me, nor indeed with 



