m 
LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
to partake of the march of intellect, and to lose in the perusal 
of religious tracts, the genuine and noble character of the 
Briitsh sailor. Far be it from our design to instil the doctrine, 
that the principles of religion ought not to be strongly and 
deeply implanted in the breast of the sailor, for perhaps there is 
not any avocation of life, in which a full reliance on a divine 
providence is more necessary than in that of a sailor, but it is 
the attempt which has been made to bring the mariner within 
the influence of sectarian principles, which has met with the 
reprobation of every one, who evidently sees in that attempt a 
degenerating influence upon the peculiar and original character 
of the sailor, which it is the interest of the country to uphold, 
and on which it may be said that its very safety depends. It is 
impossible to withhold our encomiums on Capt. Ross, for the 
strict adherence which he exacted from his crew in the observance 
of the sabbath, but the circumstance particularly alluded to is 
that several of his crew could neither read nor write, and there¬ 
fore they were deprived of every opportunity of self improvement. 
The bible lay before them, as so many pages of paper stained 
with certain black characters, but of the import of which they 
were as ignorant as of an autograph letter of the emperor of China. 
Through the long dreary season which was before them, with 
few or no amusements to beguile the tedium of an arctic winter 
the perusal of the bible would have afforded them not only the 
highest intellectual enjoyment, but would also have confirmed 
them in their religious principles, and from the mouth of their 
Saviour they would have learned, that in the day of trouble and 
tribulation, God forsakes not those who truly and in spirit call 
upon him. The circumstance having been reported to Capt. Ross, 
that it was the earnest desire of several of his crew to learn to 
read and write, it was determined that a school should be opened, 
by which not only the wishes of the ignorant part of the crew 
would be gratified, but it would prove a source of amusement and 
employment to the educated part of the crew, who perhaps for 
the first time in their life, were to be called upon to undertake 
the arduous task of education, and 
To teach the old idea how to shoot. 
