Page:Baylee's Method of Finding the Longitude.djvu/17



method of finding the longitude, &c., which I have now, with high respect, the honour of presenting to the British Public, I had also the honour of presenting to the Board of Longitude, with the high respect and deference due to that learned body, on the seventh instant, but unaccompanied by any elucidation, because I had been, on inquiry at the admiralty, informed, that an outline only was necessary: and, on the evening of the eighth instant, I was honoured with a negative from the Board of Longitude, through their secretary, as follows:—

Admiralty, 7th November, 1822.

I am directed to inform you, that your communication respecting a method of finding the longitude, the meridian, the variation, and the time, of this day's date, has been taken into consideration by the Board of Longitude: but that the Board is of opinion, that no satisfactory result can be obtained by the method you propose.

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your very obedient servant, (A copy, signed) Sec. Bd. Longit.

If a feeling, which to me is dearer than life, did not induce me to give candour her full sanction, by stating the opinion which the Board of Longitude has expressed of my method, the disclosure would become an imperative obligation; because any address to England, the queen of nations, must be not only founded in truth, but it must also be supported by candour: for the lofty fame which England has acquired by her strict adherence to those main