250 COMMITTEE ON 



nurseries for our seamen. An expedition, such as that proposed, 

 would be calculated to increase that class of citizens an increase 

 in which the government and nation are deeply interested. 



" We now navigate the ocean, and acquire our knowledge of 

 the globe, its divisions and properties, almost entirely from the 

 contributions of others. By sending an expedition into that im- 

 mense region, so little known to the, civilized world, we shall add 

 something to the common stock of geographical and scientific 

 knowledge, which is not merely useful to commerce, but connects 

 itself with almost all the concerns of society ; and while we make 

 our contribution to this common stock, we shall not fail to derive 

 the best advantages to ourselves, and be richly paid, even in a 

 calculation of expenditure and profiu" 



On the 25th of March, the committee made their report to the 

 house, and expressed themselves in the following terms :- 



" In relation to the interests, individual and national, connected 

 with such an expedition, the committee refer to a statement sub- 

 mitted to them by Mr. J. N. Reynolds, on the 10th February, 

 1828, in answer to inquiries addressed to him by order of the 

 committee. So much of the statement as exhibits the amount 

 of our commerce in the Pacific seas, the committee think is fully 

 sustained by the reports of the officers of our navy, who have, 

 by order of the Secretary, heretofore made reports upon that 

 subject, to which Mr. Reynolds refers, and with which his state 

 ment has been compared, as well as with the accounts of others 

 familiar with those branches of our trade. 



"The dangers to which an immense amount of property is 

 exposed, as well as the hazard to human life, for the want of 

 knowledge, by more accurate surveys, of the regions to which 

 our commerce is extending, and the probable new sources of 



