I beg leave to prefent my tnojl grateful aclnowledg~
jnents fo r this public tejiimony o f your favour; and am*
With great refpeB,
S I R ,
Tour mojl obedient
Humble Servant,
George Dixon.
London, 7
f P I >789-,J
I N T R O D U C T I O N .
IN the early periods of Navigation, it does not feem
that the exteniion o f Commerce was altogether the
aim of the enterprizing Adventurer ; and though generally
patronized by the reigning Powers, where thefe de-
figns originated, yet, a third after glory, and a boundlefs
ambition o f adding to the ftrength and extent o f territory,
on one hand, or a rapacious delire of accumulating
wealth, or, perhaps the fame of making difcoveries, on
the other, appear to have been the only obje&s in view.
There cannot be a greater proof o f the truth of this
polition, than the uniform behaviour of the Spaniards, in
the whole courfe o f their almoft unbounded acquilitions
of difcovery, conqueft, and wealth. The Ihocking barbarities
pra&ifed by them when they conquered what was
then called the New World, call fuch an indelible ftain on
that period of their annals, as time can never obliterate.
To