NOTES. 301 



the worst features of the whaleman's case. You, however, 

 who are fully committed to the work of the philanthropic and 

 Christian reforms, who do not fear to speak out plainly and 

 boldly, who care more for the groans and degradation of 

 humanity than for the groans of its oppressors ; who love to 

 plead for the dumb, and whose honest boast it is that you 

 faithfully hold up the mirror to reflect the evils which require 

 to be repented of and reformed, as well as the good in which 

 we may exult, surely of you and in your columns may be ex- 

 pected the full unmasking of whatever abuses and perversions 

 have been allowed to spring up, and for a long time have been 

 tolerated in silence ? 



From one whose position gives him ample facilities for un- 

 mistaking knowledge of the facts in this case ; who has not, 

 by a long course of familiar observation of flagrant abuses, be- 

 come indurated to a sense of their turpitude ; who, on the one 

 hand, has no interest prompting him to concealment, or gloss- 

 ing over frightful evils, nor, on the other, any feelings of goad- 

 ing retaliation for personal injuries, real or supposed, to cause 

 an exaggerated picture ; surely, from such a one, you ought to 

 be able to rely on the simple truth. The former position, the 

 subsequent tendencies, and the present state of the whalemen, 

 in their physical and intellectual, their moral and religious 

 condition, shall pass in brief review ; and certain it is, that in 

 more capable hands, it could not fail, in a surpassing degree, 

 to awaken the deepest concern of the wise and good. 



Only two or three generations since at the very time when 

 Burke poured forth, in the British Parliament, his splendid 

 eulogium on the exploits of this class of men they were, for the 

 most part, the sturdy, intelligent, and comparatively virtuous 

 yeomanry of New England. Not only the officers, but the 

 crews of whale ships were of this character. But such is 

 not the case now. Whether the deterioration of character in 

 the crews especially has resulted from the hardships of the ser- 

 vice, inducing all but the mentally imbecile to prefer some 

 other branch of marine adventure, or whether the falling off 



