An anonymous response to news of US plans for the Wilkes expedition.
p. 11: My task is done. It would be presumptuous to suppose that the appeal of an unknown individual can have much weight with the Geographical Society; but under a deep and abiding conviction that my country’s future glory is identified with the encouragement of British enterprise; and that she would lose her high character among the nations of the civilized world by ceding to another [Wilkes] this glorious opportunity of completing that great work first traced out by the immortal Cook, I could not refrain from recording my sentiments….