LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
601 
could possibly exist for a falsification of the principal circum¬ 
stances of the voyage, and which were collected at the time, 
without the most distant view of them ever being submitted to 
the public eye. Let it also be considered, that Capt. Ross was 
the first to commence hostilities, by advertisements in the news¬ 
papers and his circulars, in which he declared to the public, that 
we were not in possession of any authentic information respecting 
the expedition; nor that any documents or other vouchers had 
been furnished us, by any individual, who had accompanied him 
on the expedition. Sufficient evidence, however, has been adduced 
to show that the public statement of Capt. Ross had no foundation 
whatever in truth: and we candidly tell him, that we have waited 
anxiously for the appearance of his publication, in order that 
we might contrast his own statement of certain circumstances, 
with that of which we are in possession, and where the most 
decided blame was attached to him, by the whole of his crew. 
The undertaking, it is said, was a noble one : and, therefore, if 
an error of judgment now and then exhibited itself, it ought 
not to have been visited by the keen inflictions of satire or of 
ridicule, but it should have been softened down, on account of 
the respect, which is due to that character, who, without any 
selfish motive, could brave the perils of an arctic voyage, and 
incur the probable loss of his fortune, gained perhaps in the 
honorable service of his country, from a noble and laudable 
disposition to advance the interests of science, and the honor of 
the nation, to which he belongs. Far be it from us, to treat a 
character of that stamp with indignity or disrespect : but, dis¬ 
posed as we may be, to mete out our applause and approbation 
of such a character, wherever we may happen to fall in with it, 
we have still some right to expect that, before a person com¬ 
mences any great undertaking, he should calmly and dispassion¬ 
ately enter into a close examination of his own abilities, and 
whether he can perform with vigor and accuracy, those duties, 
on which the accomplishment of the great end, which he has in 
view, must necessarily depend. It is an easy thing for a man 
to project some great undertaking :—a man may project the 
junction of the Red Sea with the Mediterranean: another may 
project the enditing of an epic poem on the glorious benefits of 
26, 4 h 
