94 Rev. Mr Scoresby on Circumstances connected with the 



*' There are no circumstances, that we are aware of, which should in- 

 duce us to be silent ; indeed, we feel ourselves specially called upon, and 

 for this reason — it was the Quarterly Review that took the initiative in 

 reviving and discussing the question of a North-west Passage — of ex- 

 amining the grounds of a probability for its existence — and recommend- 

 ing that expeditions should be sent forth to decide, if possible, a question 

 of itself highly interesting and important, and which had excited an ar- 

 dent and devoted zeal in the naval worthies of Oreat Britain, under the 

 fostering protection of Government, many centuries ago." 



Then, in a note attached to the commencement of this pas- 

 sage, it is stated : 



" Here we may observe, that, at the very threshold — in his silly ' intro- 

 duction* — Sir John Ross starts with a misrepresentation. ' It is not ge- 

 nerally known,' he says, ' that the question of the North-west Passage, 

 which had been lying dormant since the voyage of Captain Phipps, was, 

 in 1817, revived by Mr William Scoresby,' &c. — that ' he wrote to Sir 

 Joseph Banks, and that on Sir Joseph Banks's recommendation his pro- 

 posal was attended to,' &c. ' Now this statement,' proceeds the Re- 

 viewer, ' is wholly incorrect. Mr Scoresby did write to Sir Joseph Banks, 

 but not about the North-west Passage ; he merely acquainted him with 

 the fact of the disappearance of the ice from the coast of Greenland. We 

 happen to know that Sir Joseph Banks never made any recommendation 

 to the Government, nor corresponded with any of the public officers on 

 the subject, except with Mr Barrow, the Secretary of the Admiralty. 

 Mr Scoresby published two volumes, one on the Arctic Regions, the other 

 on the Greenland Whale-Fishery, but not till 1820 ; and in his remarks 

 on the celebrated question he constantly refers to Nos. xxxv. and xxxvi, 

 of the Quarterly Review." 



Now the censure herein thrown upon Sir John Ross, by his 

 generously claiming for me some portion of credit for the re- 

 vival of the question of the North-west Passage, demands, in 

 common justice, that I should endeavour to substantiate his 

 statement ; and, so far as either myself or my friends have 

 yielded him the information from which he writes, that we 

 should be willing to bear our share of the responsibility. 



The following sketch of my participation in the revival of the 

 subject of polar research, with the apparent influence of my 

 correspondence with Sir Joseph Banks thereon, may serve, I 

 trust, to place the matter fairly before the public. 



My personal participation in the revival of the subject in 

 question, was commenced by a letter addressed to Sir Joseph 

 Banks, from whom I had received many marks of kindness, 



