PLANS OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 351 



by the reflection that eventually the things discovered 

 will be of great service to mankind. It is wrong to expect 

 that a voyage of curiosity will pay a dividend. But it 

 is right to be sure that " advantages without number, 

 foreseen and unforeseen, will be drawn from a vast unknown 

 continent, which extends from the Line to the Antarctic 

 Circle." 



And if a State should undertake with ardour and with and by 

 constancy this glorious work, it should be France ! It France 

 was the French Gonneville who " first discovered the 

 Austral world ! " Yet his countrymen, " forgetting next 

 day the happy chance of an enterprise so honourable, have 

 by their natural levity lost all advantage, and have allowed 

 themselves to be robbed by Spaniards and Portuguese 

 of all honour of the first discovery." x And now's the 

 day that the French should press their claim to this glory. 

 In a voyage of curiosity, knowledge must be the first 

 thought; but let it be remembered that knowledge will 

 give wealth and strength. Discovery means commerce, 

 and commerce means Sea Power. What time more 

 fitting to think of Sea Power than the year 1756, "when 

 a neighbouring Power (Great Britain) visibly affects the 

 universal monarchy of the Sea without respect or con- 

 sideration for any other nation ! " In such circumstances, 

 a voyage of curiosity is of interest to the citizen as well 

 as to the geographer. 



And what, shortly, is the argument that proves the pro- One-third of 

 posal to be useful, as well as noble ? Observe, first, the the globe ! 

 enormous extent of the region that is covered by our phrase 

 " the Southern Lands." It is a region that includes 

 everything South of the Cape of Good Hope, of the Moluccas, 

 and of the Straits of Magellan. It is a region of eight 

 or ten million square miles, and is more than one-third of 

 the Globe ! 



Now the contents of this huge region are partly known, The known 



partly unknown. The known Southern lands are the 



Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, New 



Holland, Carpentaria, and New Guinea. The unknown 



1 De Brosses, vol. i. p. u. 



