Besides All Which Advantages, As It Was Never
Hitherto Visited By The Dutch, They Cannot, With Any Colour Of
Justice, Take Umbrage At Our Attempting Such A Settlement.
To close
then this subject, the importance of which alone inclined me to
spend so much of mine and the reader's time about it:
It is most evident, that, if such a settlement was made at Juan
Fernandez, proper magazines erected, and a constant correspondence
established between that island and the Terra Australis, these three
consequences must absolutely follow from thence: 1. That a new
trade would be opened, which must carry off a great quantity of our
goods and manufactures, that cannot, at present, be brought to any
market, or at least, not to so good a market as if there was a
greater demand for them. 2. It would render this navigation, which
is at present so strange, and consequently so terrible, to us, easy
and familiar; which might be attended with advantages that cannot be
foreseen, especially since there is, as I before observed, in all
probability another southern continent, which is still to be
discovered. 3. It would greatly increase our shipping and our
seamen, which are the true and natural strength of this country,
extend our naval power, and raise the reputation of this nation; the
most distant prospect of which is sufficient to warm the soul of any
man who has the least regard for his country, with courage
sufficient to despise the imputations that may be thrown upon him as
a visionary projector, for taking so much pains about an affair that
can tend so little to his private advantage.
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