INTRODUCTORY. 



9 



This sublime conception infused into my spirit the idea that the time 

 had arrived to realize the views of the Emperor; and, with this object, I 

 addressed myself to the French government, in April, 1840, when the 

 Chambers decreed trans-atlantic steam navigation, to the end that there 

 should also be established a river line between French Guyana and the 

 republics of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. All the ministers 

 who governed until February, 1848, including also the monarchy, ap- 

 proved my project, and took the preliminary measures necessary for 

 beginning a system of navigation without equal since the days of 

 Columbus and Vasco de Gama. 



Officers of the French navy, stimulated by the example of those of 

 the English, who had preceded them in the exploration of the Amazon, 

 made also important hydrographical observations of the course of that 

 river, which show that its principal outlet is along the shores of French 

 Guyana, whence France may command the fluvial navigation and the 

 commerce of those vast regions. 



I thought that this advantage, which a glance at the geographical 

 position of French Guyana shows, would work effectually in the 

 judgment of M. Arago, then Minister of Marine and member of the 

 provincial government of the French republic. 



The reply of this wise astronomer, of April 14th, to my note of the 

 2 2d April preceding, smothered, not only my hopes, but closed the 

 doors to the prosperity of the French colonies, and to that of those 

 nations whose streams form the Amazon, and whose people desire with 

 eagerness this new and short way of communication between Europe 

 and meridional America. 



The grandeur of this plan, which is found set forth in my notes, 

 memorials, and writings, which may be found in the different ministe- 

 rial bureaus of France, together with the opinions of many French 

 writers and travellers, among whom the most distinguished is M. 

 Castelnau, demonstrate the utility of encouraging the growth of 

 Guyana. 



To all the information furnished by these ought to be added the 

 verbal communications which I have received from the commander of 

 the "Astrolabe," M. Montravel, who is now on the station of the river 

 Plate, under the order of Vice Admiral Le Predour. M. De Montravel, 

 in the corvette Boulognaise, is the officer who made the exploration of 

 the Amazon, and whose most valuable information, which exists in the 

 department of the French marine, corroborates all that I have expressed 

 to the French government for these ten years, and now animates me to 



