NOTES. 303 



you faithfully hold up the mirror to reflect the evils which re- 

 quire 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 expected the full unmasking of whatever abuses and per- 

 versions 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 interests prompting to concealment, or glossing 

 over frightful evils, nor, on the other, any feelings of goading 

 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 whale- 

 men, in their physical and intellectual, their moral and relig- 

 ious 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 vir- 

 tuous 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 

 service, inducing all but the mentally imbecile to prefer 

 some other branch of marine adventure, or whether the fall- 

 ing off has been occasioned by the grinding conditions as to 

 remuneration which the ship-owner imposes, who is chiefly 

 anxious to enrich himself, or perhaps some favorite officer in 

 his employ, while the poor seamen are left to endure priva- 

 tions, and expose themselves to hazards of life and limbs in 

 bootless disinterestedness ; or whether the rapid extension of 



