15. The merit of discovery has too often been stained with
avarice, cruelty, and fanaticism; and the intercourse of
nations has produced the communication of disease and
prejudice. A singular exception is due to the virtue of our
own times and country. The five great voyages, successively
under-taken by the command of his present Majesty, were
inspired by the pure and generous love of science and
mankind. The same prince, adapting his benefactions to the
different stages of society, has founded a school of
painting in his capital, and has introduced into the islands
of the South Sea the vegetables and animals most useful to
human life.