He Pointed Out That The Task Could Only Be Taken In
Hand By A Government; It Was Too Large For Individuals.
But the result
was certain.
In truth, to succeed in the complete discovery of the Terres
Australes, it was not necessary to have any other end in view than
success: it was simply necessary to employ proper means and sufficient
forces.
De Brosses discussed the probably most advantageous situation for
settlement in the South Seas, though in doing so he was hampered by
insufficient knowledge. Relying upon the reports of Tasman, he considered
New Zealand and "la terre de Diemen" - that is, Tasmania - too distant and
too little known for an experiment; whilst the narratives of Dampier did
not make those parts of New Holland that he had visited - the west and
north of Australia - appear attractive. On the whole, he favoured the
island to the east of Papua-New Guinea - known as New Britain (now New
Pomerania), and the Austrialia del Espiritu Santo of the Spanish
navigator Quiros as very suitable. It is interesting to note that the
present French settlements in the New Hebrides embrace the latter island,
whilst their possessions in the New Caledonia group are quite close; so
that ultimately they have planted themselves on the very spot which a
century and a half ago the savant of Dijon considered best fitted for
them. De Brosses admitted that the establishment of such settlements as
he recommended would not be the work of a day. Great enterprises require
great efforts. It is for individuals to measure years, he loftily said;
nations calculate by centuries. Powerful peoples must take extended views
of things; and kings, as their chiefs, animated by the desire of glory
and the love of country and of humanity, ought to consider themselves as
personalities persisting always, and working for eternity.* (* The
passages summarised are to be found in De Brosses, 1: 4, 8, 11, 19; and
2: 368, 380, 383.)
The elevated tone of De Brosses' book was calculated to make a telling
appeal to the French nation, with their love of eclat and their ready
receptivity. It was made, too, in the age of Voltaire, when the great man
was living at Lausanne; and when, too, another of equally enduring fame,
Edward Gibbon, was, in the same neighbourhood, polishing those balanced
periods in which he has related the degeneracy of the successors of the
Caesars. It was an age of intellectual ferment. Rousseau was writing his
Contrat Social (1760), the Encyclopedie was leavening Gallic thought.
There was a particular proneness to accept fresh ideas; a new sense of
national consciousness was awakening.
The effect of the President's work was almost immediate. De Brosses
published it in 1756; and in 1766 Louis de Bougainville sailed from
France in command of La Boudeuse and L'Etoile on a voyage around the
world.* (* See the Voyage du Monde par la frigate du Roi La Boudeuse et
la flute L'Etoile en 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, by Louis de Bougainville,
Paris, 1771.) A eulogy pronounced on De Brosses before the Academy of
Inscriptions by Dupuy* (* Memoirs of the Academy of Inscriptions 42 177.)
hardly put the case too strongly when it was said that before he died he
had the satisfaction to see in Europe men animated by his spirit, who had
gone forth, braving the risks of a long voyage, to make discoveries;
though the prophecy that centuries to come would doubtless count to his
glory the achievements of navigators has not been verified.
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