to be put in execution, either at public or private expence, there seems next to a moral certainty that it would succeed.  Another expedition might, and probably would be attended by fewer difficulties; at least, it certainly might be undertaken at much less expence; and, besides all the advantages resulting to such private persons as became proprietors, this inestimable advantage would accrue to the public, that we should once more have a number of able marines, well acquainted with the navigation of the South Seas, which we never can have by any other means.

“I would not be understood at all to lessen the miseries and distresses of these who were employed in this voyage; and all I would endeavour to aim at is to convince the reader that the difficulties and discouragements met with in this voyage are not sufficient to ground a decisive opinion by the few in opposition to the sentiments of the many, that all attempts on this side ought to be abandoned.  And I really think that the setting the difficulties and discouragements encountered by the Centurion in the strongest light, will serve my purpose much better than lessening or extenuating them.  For, if after being ruined in a manner by storms, diseases, and hardships, they landed rather skeletons than men, on the island of Juan Fernandez; if, after their long cruize in the South Seas, their distresses came to be as great when they took shelter in the island of Tinian; if the lying at Macao was attended with many inconveniences; if the taking of the Spanish galleon be a thing almost incredible, considering the small number of men, and the condition they were in, who attacked her in the Centurion; if the difficulties they afterwards met with in the river of Canton, and the hazards run by the commodore in visiting the viceroy, and thereby putting himself into the hands of such a people as the Chinese, who could not but be displeased with his proceedings, are circumstances which aggravate the matter:  If so perilous a navigation as that from Canton, through the Straits of Sunda, and thence to the Cape of Good Hope, with little or no refreshment, with a crew that wanted it so much, is still more amazing; and if the bringing the ship home from thence, with a crew composed of so many different nations, in the midst of a French war, and without the least assistance from home, swell the whole into a kind of miracle, what does all this prove?  Since all this, under God, was entirely owing to the prudence, moderation, and wise conduct of the commanding officer, it certainly proves, if a right choice be made of commanders, that there are no difficulties which may not be overcome, and therefore that the adverse circumstances attending this voyage ought not at all to discourage us.