But even if the pursuit of a northwest passage had been a laudable object; if our fisheries could have been increased in number or in extent by the continuance of such researches; and if questions of profound science could have been solved during the prosecution of these more secular objects the prime movers and directors of our northern expeditions failed in the performance of the high duties confided to their care. Even in the tree of knowledge the worm of corruption lies gnawing at its tendrils; and though its canker may not always be displayed in the bursting of the leaf, or in the expansion of the flower, yet it never fails to be conspicuous in its empty seed-vessels and its shrivelled fruit. We have neither inclination nor space to justify these views by a running commentary upon nine expeditions of discovery, but the following important facts, published for the first time by Captain Ross, will supply the want of any such discussion.

It is not generally known that the question of "a north-west passage," which had been lying dormant since the voyage of Captain Phipps, was, in 1817, revived by Mr William Scoresby, a highly-gifted and talented navigator, who then commanded a ship on the Greenland fishery, but now a respectable and useful member (minister) of the Church of England, at Exeter. This gentleman, in a well-penned letter to Sir Joseph Banks, represented that so great a change had taken place in the seasons and the position of the ice in the Arctic Regions, that the time had probably arrived when the long-agitated problem might be solved.

His object was, no doubt, employment on this arduous service, that as he had been the proposer, he might share in the glory of the enter prise. Why his services were rejected does not appear; but I have his own authority for saying that he would have accepted" any situation in

Ross's labours, or those of his predecessors in discovery. He has himself hazarded nearly the same opinion in the Introduction to his present Voyage. I have elsewhere said,' he remarks, how much I regretted that Commander Ross was prevented from extending the journeys which he undertook towards the west, so far as to have completed this connexion, which would thus have left nothing for future examination, between this point and Behring's strait, but the other spaces already mentioned. I must, however, admit his plea, grounded on the difficulty of carrying, or procuring provisions, rather than on any impediments offered by the country or the climate; unavoidably regretting, nevertheless, that we could not command the means of completing this very short portion of the coast, and of thus drawing on our chart that line, of which, perhaps, the only satisfaction that can ever be derived would be, THAT

THERE IS ON A PIECE OF PAPER A BLACK LINE INSTEAD OF A BLANK.Introduction, p. xxi.

the expedition which a gentleman could hold." He cannot, however, be deprived of the merit of being the promoter of all the attempts which have been made since that time. Sir Joseph Banks's high recommendation of his proposal to the Government was attended to, and a circular was written to discover what officer of the navy had served most among ice. In the mean time ships were purchased, and were not only in a great state of forwardness before I was selected to command them, but all the junior officers were appointed; the purser and my nephew, then only seventeen years of age, being the only individuals of my own selection.

I believe there is no instance on record where an officer was appointed to command such an enterprise without his having been consulted as to the qualities of the ships he was to conduct. But with me it was not the case; and when I arrived in London, I was concerned to discover that the ships (by that time half finished) were totally unfit for such a service; but my remonstrances were too late, and I was told, that if I did not choose to accept the command, some one else would,— and as I had left the Driver, it was the only chance I had for promotion. I must here remark, however, that I throw no blame on the late Admiralty on this account. Their lordships consulted, before I was selected, people well qualified to give them information; but these people had ships to sell or strengthen, and the temptation of gaining 6 or 70007. was sufficient to turn the scale; and I alone, who had the whole responsibility, was doomed to be the sufferer. The truth of my assertion is fully demonstrated in the narrative of my first voyage, and in the employment, subsequently, of ships of a totally different class. The officers were all, certainly, as seamen and navigators, well qualified, but none had ever wintered, or had any considerable experience among ice. The service was entirely new to them, and for this reason ice-masters and mates were appointed, whose opinions of course had much the more weight; but if I had had officers of my own selection, I could have found those who combined those qualities with experience among ice, even more than my own; and I would certainly have employed Mr Scoresby.'

The facts here stated respecting the Rev. Mr Scoresby have been long known to the friends of that accomplished and excellent individual. His high merits and services to science were rudely overlooked by that very Government which availed itself of his labours and suggestions; but we trust that the statement of Captain Ross, so creditable to his professional candour, will attract the attention of the public, and that Mr Scoresby will speedily receive, in ecclesiastical preferment, that reward for his discoveries, to which his piety and his learning would alone entitle him.

The series of Arctic expeditions to which we have referred, terminated with the unsuccessful attempt of Captain Parry in 1827 to reach the North Pole. The public curiosity was satiated. The zeal of the Government sank into apathy, and, like children tired of their toys, they broke in pieces and trampled under foot the mechanism with which they had been so agreeably occupied.

They not only repealed the statute which offered a Parliamentary reward of L.20,000 for the discovery of a northwest passage, but abolished the Board of Longitude, the only scientific board in England, and one which had performed so active and important a part in the history of Arctic discovery.

The narrative of Captain Ross's voyage affords more than one remarkable instance in which providence baffles the devices of human wisdom, avails itself of the blunders of human ignorance, and employs the failures of human enterprise, in accomplishing its own pre-ordained arrangements. The most singular of these examples is that in which the repeal of the statute above mentioned-an act of meanness unworthy of the British name-actually led to the accomplishment of those very objects for which the statute had been enacted!

In the year 1827 the Duke of Wellington had declined Captain Ross's offer of making a new voyage to the northern seas. The ardour of our countryman, however, was not to be damped by this refusal. He appealed from the parsimony of the premier, to the liberality of individual wealth, and submitted the whole of his plans to the consideration of his friend, Mr Felix Booth, an opulent London merchant, with whose munificence and public spirit he had reason to be acquainted.

As the statute which offered a parliamentary reward of L.20,000 for the discovery of a northwest passage was still in force, Mr. Booth declined to embark in an enterprise which might be regarded in no higher light than a mercantile speculation. Thus baffled, from motives which it was more easy to admire than to overcome, Captain Ross again submitted to the Government an improved scheme of exploring the Arctic Zone, which, as might have been foreseen, was again rejected; but by an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances, the unexpected repeal of the northwest passage act in the same year (a measure which Captain Ross appears to view with the same disapprobation as we do, and which in reality seems to have been intended to crush his and all similar schemes), led to the removal of Mr Booth's scruples; and induced him to embark with ardour in the views of his friend, when no suspicion of interested motives could any longer rest on the undertaking, and when he could have no other object in view than the advancement of the honour of his country and the interests of science, and to gratify the feel'ings of a friend.'

Under the influence of such noble views, this generous patron expended between L.17,000 and L.18,000 in the equipment of the expedition. He gave Captain Ross unlimited powers to provide, at his expense, all that was deemed necessary for its success;

and the only condition which he stipulated was, that his connexion with the expedition should not be made known. The secret was accordingly kept till Captain Ross's return, when he had the gratification of requiting the generosity of his friend, by inscribing his name on the new Continent which he had added to geogra phy. To this appropriate compliment the civilized world will add its tribute of praise, and posterity will preserve and honour the memory of Felix Booth, when the lustre of higher names shall have waned, and the more imposing achievements of legislation and of war shall have passed into oblivion.*

In doing justice to the motives and liberality of Sir Felix Booth, we must not forget that a similar debt is especially due to those of Captain Ross. Our readers will doubtless remember, that in returning from the circumnavigation of Baffin's Bay in 1818, Captain Ross passed Lancaster Sound without recogni sing it to be an opening in the coast, and delineated the land as continuous in his chart of that voyage. Some of his shipmates, on their return to England, charged him with having neglected that part of the coast, and with having turned a deaf ear to some of their suggestions on the subject. When Captain Parry discovered the existence of Lancaster Sound in 1829, and actually sailed across what was laid down as land in Captain Ross's map, the previously existing feeling on the subject was naturally increased; and the circumstance of Captain Ross having never been again employed in subsequent Arctic expeditions, led the public to presume that the Admiralty had regarded him either as having been remiss in his survey of Baffin's Bay, or, as being less qualified than other officers for the management of similar undertakings. The general presumption, therefore, that his reputation had been injured was not a very unwarrantable one; and when, after the lapse of eleven years, he undertook his last adventurous voyage, it was rather a natural and, in our judgment, a compli mentary mistake, to suppose that he had hazarded his fortune and his life to replace himself in the good opinion of the public. It

* The Committee of the House of Commons, in their Report on Cap tain Ross's claim for a Parliamentary reward, has noticed in terms of just admiration the conduct of Mr Booth. To Mr Felix Booth, to whose modest public spirit and rare munificence this expedition is entirely due, your Committee regret that they have it not in their power to propose some fit token of public acknowledgment; but they cannot forbear offer ing the tribute of their admiration and respect.' The acknowledgment here referred to was left to the King, who granted the dignity of a baro

net to Mr Booth.

is the wicked man only that triumphs in his wickedness; the truly virtuous, who, under temptation or calumny, may have sunk in the estimation of society, will never abandon the struggle to regain the honourable level from which he has fallen.

But whatever view we may take of these matters, one thing is certain, that Captain Ross was unfortunate in missing the discovery of Lancaster Sound, which the very next expedition had effected; and we cannot regard it as any thing but honourable to him, that he should have been desirous of removing any unfavourable misinterpretation of this circumstance, by undertaking the more daring adventure from which he has returned.*

In justice to Captain Ross, we must add the following statement from himself. After observing that he had declined receiving any subscriptions on his own account, and that he had depended on the liberality of Government for the payment of the wages of his men, he adds: 'I had no alternative but to apply to Parliament, and my case having been brought before the House of Commons by the Right Hon. R. Cutlar Fergusson, was discussed on the 17th of March, when, for the first time, I learned that it was supposed my undertaking this enterprise was to recover a lost reputation. My case was, fortunately for me, submitted to a select committee of the House of Commons, and I had before this high tribunal an opportunity of refuting calumnies which had been industriously circulated against me, by producing documentary evidence that my conduct on the former expedition had been approved of by the Admiralty, as will appear by the following extract from the minutes of the committee:

Question-Did you conceive your reputation had been placed at all in question in consequence of the result of your first voyage?

Answer-No, certainly not. The Admiralty approved of my conduct by giving me promotion subsequent to my return. When I was attacked anonymously, I applied for a court-martial on my conduct, and was told by Lord Melville that I had received my promotion, and the court-martial was therefore unnecessary, and that I must not take notice of any thing that was written against me.

Question-Did he at the same time state that you would not have received your promotion if the Admiralty had not been satisfied with your conduct?

Answer-Yes. I have a letter from Lord Melville in proof of that fact, which I will read :

"I entertain no doubt whatever from the general impression in my mind, and from reference to the dates of your promotion to the rank of a commander and captain, and to your employment in the intervening period, that your commission in 1818 was in consequence of former services. On the other hand, if your conduct as commander of the Isabella had been disapproved of at the Admiralty, most assuredly you would not have been promoted so soon after your return."