Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/21

mental in reſtoring to France any papers or effects whatſoever, which may belong, or may have belonged, to their expedition:

"Decrees, farther, that the King be petitioned to give orders for the fitting out of one or more ſhips, having on board men of ſcience, naturaliſts, and draughtſmen, and to charge the commanders of the expedition with the twofold miſſion of ſearching for M. de la Pérouſe, agreeable to the documents, inſtructions, and orders which ſhall be delivered to them, and of making inquiries relative to the ſciences and to commerce, taking every meaſure to render this expedition uſeful and advantageous to navigation, geography, commerce, and the arts and ſciences, independently of their ſearch for M. de la Pérouſe, and even after having found him, or obtained intelligence concerning him."

Compared with the original, by us the Preſident and Secretaries of the National Aſſembly, at Paris, this 24th day of Feb. 1791.

(Signed) Duport, Preſident. Liore,
Boussion, $\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$ Secretaries

 

From my earlieſt years, I had devoted myſelf to the ſcience of natural hiſtory; and, being per-

ſuaded,