382 LETTERS OF A FRIEND TO THE NAVY. 



and to show that the scientific corps selected are not of the school 

 of the savant in question, shall be the peculiar care of 



A FRIEND TO THE NAVY. 



August 10, 1837. 



IV. 



Among the gross misrepresentations on the part of the " Citi- 

 zen," published in the Times, none is more frequently repeated 

 or pertinaciously adhered to than this, that the secretary of the 

 navy considers the great object of the South Sea exploring expe- 

 dition to be an approach as nearly as possible to the South Pole. 

 This, after being stated in a variety of ways, is repeated for the 

 last time in his No. VI. in these words : " Like your statement 

 that to approach as near as possible to the South Pole was the 

 object of the enterprise, it is, to say the least, an evasion of the 

 true purposes designed to be accomplished." And then he ex- 

 claims, " If the great objects of the expedition be to go as near 

 as practicable to the South Pole, for what purpose do you send a 

 botanist to that region where no vegetation exists ? Why do you 

 incur the expense of sending a philologist to attend to the interest- 

 ing department of language where there are no inhabitants ?" &c. 



Now all this going as nearly as possible to the South Pole is 

 the work of the " Citizen's" own imagination. The language of 

 the secretary in his report laid before the House of Representa- 

 tives is, w The great objects of this expedition, as understood by 

 this department are to explore the seas of the southern hemi- 

 sphere, more particularly in high latitudes and in regions as near 

 the pole as may be approached without danger" &c. 



To approach the pole as nearly as practicable, or possible, 

 would be to encounter much danger ; but it is distinctly to be un- 

 derstood, from the language of the secretary, that it was not ex- 

 pected that such danger should be incurred ; and, of course, it 

 could not be expected that the expedition should approach as 

 nearly as possible or practicable to the South Pole ; nor, indeed, 

 make any nearer approach to it than could be accomplished with- 

 out danger. 



The language of the secretary was calculated to remove the 



