It was a golden age, which united humanity and science, exempted men of liberal minds and education, employed in the noblest of all occupations, that of exploring the distant parts of the Globe, from being any longer degraded, and rated as little better than the Buccaneer, or pirate, because they had, till then, in manners been nearly similar.
It is well known, that an uncertainty had still remained concerning the form, quantity, and consistence of the earth; and this, in spite of all their abilities and improvement, met philosophers in many material investigations and delicate calculations. Universal benevolence, a distinguishing quality of Your Majesty, led You to take upon Yourself the direction of the mode, and furnishing the means of removing these doubts and difficulties for the common benefit of mankind, who were all alike interested in them.
By Your Majesty's command, for these great purposes, Your fleets penetrated into unknown seas,fraught
