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immediate direction of the scientific officers of the Uni- 

 ted States. Such a work is required by the best inte- 

 rests of the country. Its completion would develop the 

 vast resources of our extensive possessions, enable the 

 Government to comprehend all their relative advan- 

 tages, and to open new avenues of commerce. It would 

 aid the emigrant in his search after advantageous set- 

 tlements, direct the merchant to the readiest route for 

 the transportation of goods, teach the farmer where to 

 seek a market for his produce, point out to the soldier 

 whence to draw his supplies, the shortest lines of com- 

 munication, and the best sites for encampment, or for 

 the erection of permanent works of defence. In short, 

 such a work would be eminently useful to all classes of 

 our fellow-citizens, and contribute largely to the com- 

 merce and security, and to the rapid settlement and im- 

 provement of our country. All the Governments of 

 Europe have been sensible of the importance of geo- 

 graphical knowledge, and trigonometrical surveys of 

 every empire and kingdom are completed or in progress 

 there. In those countries geography was first culti- 

 vated for warlike objects ; their maps were originally 

 military, and many of them are constructed with such 

 minute accuracy, that armies may march and encamp, 

 and sentinels be posted, with no other knowledge of the 

 country than such maps afford. With their aid alone 

 positions are chosen, and all the chances of war calcu- 

 lated in the closet as on a chess-board. By their means 

 the statesman can determine on the expediency of open- 

 ing a canal or of constructing a road, and becomes pos- 

 sessed of a perfect knowledge of the climate, the struc- 

 ture, and the physical resources of the country, the 



