170 Mr. Edmonston on the Situation and Prospects [March, 



station far remote, casting many a longing look in vain for help, 

 and wasting under the accumulated horrors of cold, disease, and 

 starvation ! This may be thought an overcharged picture ! Per- 

 haps it is so. May it not turn out the true one ! 



Upon such a view of their situation, what does it become the 

 duty of the country to do? 



Whatever speculative enthusiasts may say in their closets of 

 the national honour, maritime glory, eclat, and so forth, to be 

 derived from the discovery of a north-west passage, the expos- 

 ing of men's lives to the greatest hazards for the attainment of 

 such an object is at all times a matter of serious import. We 

 know, indeed, that Capt. Parry and his companions went on this 

 adventure upon their own sole responsibility, and with the full 

 knowledge of its perils, " for all are volunteers from the highest 

 to the lowest," says a journal of some authority, when speaking 

 of the former voyage. Yet this requires qualification ; many 

 circumstances may conspire to render a service strictly and 

 severely compulsory, without the aid of the impress ; and at 

 all events the fact takes nothing from the heavy responsibility 

 resting on all who have charge and superintendence in this 

 business. And this brings us at last to the main object of the 

 present memoir. 



' To use the words of a celebrated commander, " England 

 expects " Capt. Parry and his associates " to do their duty." 

 — They will do it ; — but they have a right to expect the coun- 

 try to do its duty by them. 



When men are sent on an imminently dangerous enterprise, 

 the least that the country can do is to evince a constant sensibi- 

 lity to their condition, and to be forward in using every practi- 

 cable means for their preservation, never losing sight of the 

 maxim, that it is both wiser and more humane in such cases, to 

 do too much than too little. 



We may be all but certain, that they are wintering for the 

 second time in a high northern latitude, an act in itself not 

 exempt from risk, even under the most favourable circumstances ; 

 but under any disaster, dangerous in the extreme. What would 

 have been the fate of Capt. Franklin and his party, had they not 

 arrived when they did at the friendly post of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company ? 



Let it not be understood for a moment that I am here putting 

 forward these surmises as disheartening forebodements, calcu- 

 lated to wound the sensibilities of relatives and friends. Such a 

 design would be as base as the attempt would be futile. Besides, 

 my hopes have always been strong, and will continue stedfast. 

 But on behalf of our voyagers, I do frankly confess to a degree of 

 anxiety, bordering on impatience and restlessness. Besides, I 

 wish the whole matter should be seen, that the country may be 

 made thoroughly sensible of the greatness of the services which 



