134 CORRESPONDENCE. 



relative to her colonies in the East and West Indies, and the ad- 

 joining seas. She was exchanging the results of her observations 

 with other nations. But when she looked to the United States for 

 information as to our coast, she found that a public survey of it had 

 been begun only to be abandoned; that the books and charts in use 

 concerning it were the imperfect productions of private individuals; 

 and that, while we had done so little for the exploration of our own 

 waters, we had done absolutely nothing, in comparison with the 

 efforts which England, France, Russia, and even Spain herself, 

 were making, to acquire accurate knowledge of the remote Atlantic 

 and Pacific seas. 



Don Martin presented these views to me very strongly; and I 

 confess, when I reflected on the relative conditions of Spain and 

 the United States, and saw what the one was doing and what the 

 other was not doing, I could not but feel the force of his re- 

 proaches. Since that time, the public survey of our own coast 

 has been commenced, and pursued with vigour ; and the expedition 

 now in contemplation will do still more to set us right in the esti- 

 mation of other cultivated nations of Christendom. 



I think great credit is due to you for the successful exertions you 

 have made to awaken the attention of the public and of congress to 

 this subject ; and I hope that justice will be done to you in the 

 arrangements to be made for the expedition. 

 I am, dear sir, 



Very faithfully, yours, 



C. GUSHING. 



J. N. REYNOLDS, Esq., 

 New York. 



