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e particularly from the entrance of the English Channel to the frozen regions of the North. And when we recollect the vast commercial fleets which the enterprise of our merchants adventures into every sea, and during every season; when more than a thousand sail of British vessels pass the sound of the Baltic each year; ought we not to bear in mind to what hazards the subjects and vessels of Great Britain are constantly exposed, on the whole of so extended a coast, and in every stormy and dangerous sea? and shall we not be wanting to them and to humanity, if we do not endeavour to obtain for our own shipwrecked countrymen, in every foreign land, the same effectual aid in the hour of danger, which, I doubt not, it will become one of the proudest objects of this Institution to extend to the vessels of every nation which may be in distress on the British shores?--Even during the most arduous prosecution of war, the cause of humanity, and the progress of civilization, would be eminently promoted by these noble and generous efforts, for the rescue of those, whom the fury of the elements had divested of all hostile character, and thrown helpless and powerless on a foreign coast. Thus would nations be drawn by mutual benefits into more strict bonds of amity during peace, and thus might the rigours of war be ameliorated, by having one common object of benevolence remaining; in the exercise of which the jealousies and angry passions incident to a state of hostility could not have any part with a generous and a high-minded people; whilst the experience and penetration of liberal and enlightened governments could, without difficulty, form such arrangements as would prevent that which was intended as a benefit to mankind, from being made subservient to any political abuse. My utmost wishes would be accomplished by seeing these international regulations established, in connexion with one great Institution, to extend to the most remote province of the empire, on the exalted principle, that wherever the British flag should fly, her seamen should be protected; and that those who risked their own lives to save their fellow-creatures from the perils of shipwreck should be honoured and rewarded; whilst every stranger, whom the disasters of the sea may cast on her shores, should never look for refuge in vain. DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN, 28th Feb. 1823. APPENDIX. A year had scarcely elapsed after the first edition of the precedi
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