LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
441 
magnet, we will unhesitatingly express our firm conviction, that 
not even the talented Sir Robert Peel, the gallant Sir Edward 
Codrington, nor Ireland's champion, Daniel O'Connell, all being 
members of the committee, would have thought of the buttons 
on the coat, if, like the toasts, which are given to the toast¬ 
master, it had not been set down in the list , as a question, 
which could be very easily answered, and to which very little 
consequence was attached, whether answered in the affirmative 
or the negative. At all events, we are certain, that no sailor 
will substitute brass buttons for cloth ones, in consequence of the 
discovery of Capt. Ross; or that he will make any difference 
in his reckoning, whether he has on a plain Flushing jacket, or 
his best Sunday coat, with a double row of brass buttons glit¬ 
tering on either side. 
It must, however, be remarked, that Capt. Ross, in several in¬ 
stances, intimates to the committee, that he withholds from them 
certain points of information, as it might prove prejudicial to 
his forthcoming publication; and, therefore, we can only com¬ 
ment upon that part of the evidence, which is before us ; and 
we do not hesitate to affirm, that Capt. Ross is highly obli¬ 
gated to every member of the committee, who questioned him; 
for, had they been well-paid advocates, they could not have 
exerted themselves more strenuously for the benefit of their 
client, by putting such questions to him as tended to enhance 
the merits of his services, although they had no immediate re¬ 
ference to the voyage, for which the reward was to be awarded to 
him. Thus, a considerable portion of the examination is taken 
up in discussing the extent of his discoveries during the first 
voyage in 1819, every question of which is so regulated as to 
lead to an affirmative answer, and declaratory of the great 
services, which he rendered to commerce, and particularly to 
the whale fishery, as he was the first, who proved to the whalers, 
that it was possible to cross Baffin’s Bay from Disco to Lancaster 
Sound; and that he had also discovered the place where the 
whales resort to breed : which place, however, if he did dis¬ 
cover it, he has forgotten wholly to mention in the history of his 
voyage. 
19. 3 l 
