INTRODUCTION. 



V 



Had we known the nature of the different 

 countries, it would have been deemed im- 

 prudent to have forwarded to them expen- 

 sive machinery, to have given liberal sala- 

 ries to every individual connected with the 

 speculation, to have invited the Natives to 

 share the profits, to have intrusted the Capi- 

 tal to solitary individuals, &c. Still had the 

 Foundation been good, the Building was 

 nobly planned, and it was undeniably the 

 act and the invention of a country teeming 

 with energy, enterprise, liberality, unsus- 

 pecting confidence, and capital. 



Without lamenting over losses which are 

 now irrecoverable, it is only necessary to 

 keep in mind that the Cause which produced 

 them still exists, and that we are still in 

 ignorance of the countries in which our 

 money lies buried. Many of the indivi- 

 duals who had charge of the different Com- 



b 



