CORRESPONDENCE. 157 



Under these circumstances, it would be improper in me, as an 

 officer of that society, to enter here into the discussion of matters 

 of detail, on this important subject. It would be disrespectful to 

 my colleagues, whose views may differ from mine, and by which 

 mine may be corrected, and to our government, to whom our opin- 

 ions are due in the first instance. But I am free to say, that I 

 fully concur with your learned correspondents, in considering the 

 intended expedition as a source of high honour, as well as of ad- 

 vantage to the United States and to the world at large. Its most 

 immediate objects are the safety of our navigation, the increase of 

 the skill of our hardy seamen, and the facility of our commerce, 

 by which its prosperity will be promoted. Such, if favoured by 

 Providence, will, I hope, be its results. Our national honour is 

 also to be considered. England, France, and Russia, must no 

 longer claim the pre-eminence over us as maritime explorers of 

 the surface of our globe. We must have our Ansons, our Cooks, 

 our La Perouses, our Rosses, our Parrys, and our Kruzensterns. 

 Our charts and our maps must be the guides of navigators through 

 the world. The expense that will be incurred in this expedition, 

 however great it may appear to those who do not take a correct 

 and an enlarged view of its objects, will be but trifling, when com- 

 pared with the immense benefits that will flow from it. 

 I am, respectfully, dear sir, 



Your most obedient servant, 



PETER S. DUPONCEAU. 

 J. N. REYNOLDS, Esq., 

 New York. 



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