TO THE 
CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
I HAVE indulged many of my friends by permitting 
them to peruse my Journal, and all have requested me 
to publish it, assuring me, that the public expected me 
to give some detailed account of my cruize, and that it 
would be received and read with much interest. I had, 
however, formed a determination not to publish it, unless 
some more imperfect account should be printed; in 
which case I intended to employ a friend to embellish 
and present it to you. I have waited from day to day; 
none other has appeared ; my friends have become more 
pressing; and I have at length consented. I have 
snatched a moment from my public occupations to re¬ 
peruse and give it to you, as it was written in the midst: 
of anxious duties. 
If there are faults in style and grammar (and no 
doubt there are many), they are the faults of my edu¬ 
cation. I have only occupied myself with facts, and 
some few reflections arising from them. The whole is 
my own; and were it in a more polished state, this 
might be doubted. 
Many readers will perhaps find some of my nautical 
remarks dry and uninteresting. Navigators will view 
them differently, and will not esteem them the less for 
not having had the ornamental touches of a fine writer. 
