The Only Difficulty That I Can See Would Be The Getting A Fair And Honest Account Of This Expedition When Made; For Private Interest Is So Apt To Interfere, And Get The Better Of The Public Service, That It Is Very Hard To Be Sure Of Anything Of This Sort.

That I may not be suspected of any intent to calumniate, I shall put the reader in mind of

Two instances; the first is, as to the new trade from Russia, for establishing of which an Act of Parliament was with great difficulty obtained, though visibly for the advantage of the nation; the other instance is, the voyage of Captain Middleton, for the discovery of a north-west passage into the south seas, which is ended by a very warm dispute, whether that passage be found or not, the person supposed to have found it maintaining the negative.

Whenever, therefore, such an expedition is undertaken, it ought to be under the direction, not only of a person of parts and experience, but of unspotted character, who, on his return, should be obliged to deliver his journal upon oath, and the principal officers under him should likewise be directed to keep their journals distinctly, and without their being inspected by the principal officer; all which journals ought to be published by authority as soon as received, that every man might be at liberty to examine them, and deliver his thoughts as to the discoveries made, or the impediments suggested to have hindered or prevented such discoveries, by which means the public would be sure to obtain a full and distinct account of the matter; and it would thence immediately appear whether it would be expedient to prosecute the design or not.

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