LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
691 
your Journal, whether or not, as Government are about re¬ 
warding Capt. Ross for his services , some compensation ought 
not to be made to myself and brother sailors, for the loss we 
have sustained in the breach of the engagement made with us, 
after having undergone the perilous hardships, to which we 
were exposed, and during which we were so unfairly treated. 
“ I am, Sir, 
Your humble servant, 
Barney Lackey , 
His -f mark.” 
Previously to entering into any disquisition of the conduct of 
Capt. Ross towards his men, as contrasted with the character, 
which he gives of them in his Letter to Mr. Barrow, it may be 
necessary to mention a few circumstances, in which the crew 
considered themselves treated by Capt. Ross with the most 
marked display of inhumanity and injustice. 
Shortly after the arrival of the crew, subscriptions were set 
on foot in several places, purporting to be for *ihe benefit of 
Capt. Ross and his crew. Now, whether the feelings of Capt. 
Ross were of so sensitive and delicate a nature, as to be wounded 
with the idea of receiving a sum of money raised by subscrip¬ 
tion, or whether he considered that having received nearly 
£10,000 from the public purse, the crimes of avarice and 
extortion might be imputed to him, were he to receive any do¬ 
nations from private individuals, are questions, which we will 
not now stop to discuss: but the fact is established, that he no 
sooner heard of the subscription, that was set on foot in Ply¬ 
mouth, for the benefit of himself and crew, than, in a fit of noble 
disinterestedness, he took the most efficient method of putting 
a stop to its further progress, although it was the opinion of 
the crew, that if his own sense of delicacy prompted him to 
put an end to the subscription, he might have confined the 
stoppage as far as himself was concerned, leaving it to pro¬ 
ceed for the benefit of his crew, who might thereby have 
received a compensation for the loss, which they had sustained 
in the defalcation of their wages. 
