ADDRESS. 23 



when the results are made known. This is an immutable law of 

 nature, and applies to all matters of science or invention, as well 

 as to the progress of geographical discovery. On this point his- 

 tory teaches us an important and instructive lesson. Let us profit 

 by it, and take courage in our own efforts. To the attempts made 

 by England in a past age to discover a northwest passage, we owe 

 the knowledge of North America itself; a result and, be it 

 remembered, a contingent result pregnant with consequences 

 which swell beyond the grasp of human computation. By the 

 same exertions was opened the Hudson's Bay fur trade, one of 

 the most valuable monopolies recorded in the annals of commerce 

 To these may be added the Newfoundland cod fishery, the whale 

 fishery in Davis' Straits, and many other vast commercial and 

 political advantages, derived from the same adventitious sources ; 

 sources from which Great Britain has obtained immense, almost 

 incalculable treasure. Yet not one of these rewards of enterprise 

 was anticipated, or formed an element in the calculation, when her 

 Cabot, her Davis, her Hudson and Baffin, were despatched on 

 their perilous voyages. Thus has it ever been ; and thus, we 

 venture to predict, will it be with us, in the great national under- 

 taking, the importance of which we have now assembled to 

 discuss. 



Indeed, I do not believe that there is a record of a single voyage 

 since the days of Columbus, or, even, since that remote period of 

 fabulous history, when the celebrated son of Alcimede embarked 

 on his daring expedition, the youngest and bravest of the Greeks 

 sharing his toils and his glory, in search of the golden fleece, 

 which does not contain in it the evidence of some contribution to 

 the knowledge of mankind, worth vastly more than the cost of the 

 enterprise ! 



On taking leave of this branch of our subject, in order to place 

 in a yet more striking light and stronger contrast the efforts of 

 other nations as compared with our own, we will state the simple 





