LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
491 
Two days after the transmission of this list to the board of Ad¬ 
miralty, a Letter was received by Capt. Ross, from Mr. Barrow, 
the secretary to the Admiralty, in which he states, that he is 
commanded by the lords of the Admiralty, to inform Capt. Ross, 
“that although the men have no claim on his Majesty s govern¬ 
ment, inasmuch as the expedition was not sent out by the Board 
of Admiralty, yet, in consideration of its having been undertaken 
for the benefit of science ; of the sufferings, which the men 
underwent; the perilous situation, in which they were placed, 
for so long protracted a period, and their uniform good conduct, 
under circumstances the most trying, to which British seamen 
were,perhaps, ever exposed; and their lordships being moreover 
satisfied of the utter inability of Capt. Ross to fulfil the engage¬ 
ments entered into by him, and of the destitute state, in which 
these people have providentially arrived in their native country, 
have been induced, under such peculiar circumstances, from a 
feeling of humanity, immediately to relieve him from his engage¬ 
ments, and the persons employed in the expedition, from press¬ 
ing necessity, rather than wait till Parliament shall be as¬ 
sembled, to which it is intended to submit the case—their lord- 
ships have therefore directed the accountant general of the navy 
to advance to Capt. Ross, the sum of 4,580/. 12s. 3d. as the amount 
which Capt. Ross felt himself under an engagement to pay to 
the persons mentioned in the list.” 
Now, in regard to this grant, we may say, with my uncle Toby, 
that the lords of the Admiralty acted very right as men, but very 
wrong as officers of the crown. Here, we have an individual, 
who, from wounded feelings, or from a love of science, or, from 
the conviction, that he was cut out by nature, to be the dis¬ 
coverer of the NorthWest Passage, or, from a combination of all 
the three motives in equal proportions, determines, upon his 
own risk, and at his own expense, to undertake a particular 
voyage, of which the government of the country, officially, are 
ignorant of every particular, and with which, they announced to 
the individual so undertaking it, that they would not have any 
thing to do, either directly or indirectly ; the speculation fails, 
he comes home a bankrupt, and wholly unable to meet the 
demands, that are made upon him. His creditors become cla- 
