IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I I^|2j8 ■ 50 '''^" " 132 2.5 1.8 1.25 i 1.4 1.6 P^. > J o- 014^^ /^/f) LETTER TO JOHN BARROW, ESQ. ON THE POLAR EXPEDITIONS. {JPricQ One Shilling,) % y A >..» X ■-V^A-:^ t\ -^ .■ .:> S 4 ■ T i : "' r T ■■-/ i . 'I' > ! CHARLLS WOOD, Printer, Poppin's Court, Fleet Street, London. 'mtiii ii'lfci .«.J«t. LETTER TO JOHN BARROW, ESQ. ON THE SUBJECT OF THE POLAR EXPEDITIONS; OR, THE REVIEWER REVIEWED. " There thou might'st behold the great image of authority— a Dog's obey'd in office." Lear. LONDON: PRINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY. I8I9. Lis"} "iil>.,»ll 'mtftmr—r-imr—^mmifimt^ ■fi>- 'f [ r ' I . at: ■I i ■ . i > May I request to be informed, for <^^ benefit of the public, in what pos- sible manner the discoveries of these officers could have been written pre- viously to their return home, and before it was known whether any dis* eateries reaUy had been made, or what had been the is»ue of their efforts! i 1 fs con- extra- I giving isco- there inex- * Dis- 9 and h for pos- these pre- and dis^ vhai ml .7 How this could have been effected, you may perhaps have sufficient saga- city to find out; whether the rest of the world may be capable of compre- hending such a paradox, I will not venr- ture to predict ! The fact is, that the paper in ques- tion does not contain one word rela- tive to the subject on which it pro- fesses to treat; it bears only upon its face the strongest evidence of be- ing a florid account of your own feats, in which you quote* your own writings, to prove your own asser- tions ! It is the puff of an empiric upon himself, in which he endeavours to * Note to page 376| of Voyages into the Polar Regions. B 2 if •y^' I I m'''aeaimltUaLm ■ [ i ! ' * anticipate the event of our late ex- pedition, by preoccupying the public mind with an high sounding state- ment of its fitness, its liberal equip- ment, and its scientific and disinterested arrangements. To me, the account alluded to is, I confess, in perfect unison with the same vaunting self- conceit, with the addition only of a little cunning, which dictated your unmanly remarks upon Captain Burney, and, your unjustifiable attack upon Lieutenant Chappie. In the one case you attempt to refute the arguments of an old and distinguished oflBcer, who has actuallif been to the place of which he treats, by telling him, that his respectable old ag^ has destroyed I I .1 ,1. 1 his memory ! and you make a zealous young officer the butt of your un- feeling sarcasms, solely for the pur- pose of introducing to the world your own ideas upon the practicability of a North West Passage to the Pacific. In the other, you contrive to write Discoveries, not yet made, in order to persuade the world, that of all expe- ditions, that of which you had the direction was the best, and the most efficient, that human wisdom ever yet planned ; and thus endeavour to veil the blundering, rapacious self-sufficiency, which struck Baffin's Bay, that " gra- tuitous boundary,'' from the charts of the Northern Latitudes. On this subject, however, I will 6 ■m t : i I 1 ^l be silent, and extend to your false premises and fallacious conclusions, that lenity, which, had you shown to others, would have been more creditable to yourself. How far, as is stated in these soi- disant Discoveries*, that " every sugges- tion that appeared to merit consideration was attended to," or at least how far they were attended to with that propriety which was due to the rank and zeal of those by whom they were offered, I leave to your own conscience to answer; and I could refer you to a letter, signed " John Barrow," in which the sneer of fancied superiority, the gall of criticism, and the insolence of * Page 370 of Voyages i;o the Polar Regions. f , 1 ys III: a I I office, are so thoroughly and curiously combined, that it forms a compound of all that could be either offensive or disgusting; and it proves, that, by you at least, anxiety for the service is accounted only for impertinent interfe- rence. Whatever may be the estima- tion in which you hold the zeal of officers for the welfare of the service, others think differently; and it may therefore be an act of friendship to remind you, of the station which you fill, and of the acceptation in which the world consider it. They deem the Secretary of a Public Board to be the humble organ of its resolutions, whicli it is his duty to comnmnicale I with decency and civility, " reverence and respect." i ^ i !i .•;.', j You next proceed* to inform us, that the officers sailed " in the full confidence of attaining the great object of the Ex- peditions, or at least with the determi- nation of establishing the fact of its utter impracticability/' v i . i Whether these your Arctic Prophecies have been fulfilled, in this or any other particular, recent events have rendered it unnecessary for the public to inquire ; but of this I would inform vou, that'^ the officers of his Majesty's Nav^y never have, and I believe from my soul never will require any such paragraphs as * Page 370. • '■'I M «!?■ •f these, either to stimulate their exertions or enhance the confidence which their countrymen repose in them. Like other fallible beings, they may want success, from accident, from an error in judg- ment, or from being tied down by the orders they receive: that they ever did quit the shores of England, but with the firmest resolutions of fulfilling the trust reposed in them, or of establishing the impossibility of its performance, no one but yourself ever yet deemed it re- quisite to contemplate. We are told also, that where certain objects of Natural History could not be preserved, " accurate drawings would be made of them by such and such officers." Allow me to remark, that if these Expe- _|-.ll^^ 10 . V i ditions were properly equipped, it was fair to presume, that all these circum- stances would follow as corollaries to a scientific undertaking; and that a great Expedition, performed by the first mari- time nation in the world, ought not to have stood in need of having its merits and its probable benefits set forth in a shape so questionable as this, bearing indeed no faint resemblance to the hand bill of a conjuror, or the programme of a French spectacle. Again, it would appear ex* tremely odd, that among the various things set forth in your list of oflUcers, instruments, and artists, the names of any nautical and scientific draughtsmen do not once occur. How is this ? Were they unnecessary, or could none be found ? :i. *' 11 was I i :i ■f That one of these cases is correct, the detailed accuracy with which other por- tions of this Expedition have been set forth renders it almost impossible to doubt. Of these points some explanation will I hope be given, or else the world cannot but suppose, that where such bolstering and propping was deemed right, there must have been something " rotten in the state of Denmark/' . In another passage of the won- derful book in question, the pubUc are informed by you, with much pomp and circumstance*, that two gentlemen, one a young man, who it seems was on the point of taking orders, and the other an officer of artillery, were * Page 367, Polar Voyages. 184413 t *->H It f I 12 recommended by the Royal Society as astronomers to the Expeditions, and to perform its scientific duties. Alas ! our gallant Navy, how are they lessened in their own, how degraded in the eyes of others. '^ Quantum niutatus/' \ Gracious Heaven! shall it be told in England, and will it be believed, that the Navy of England, whose skill and science have enabled them to ex- plore the trackless deep in every clime, and to hunt our enemies from pole to pole, should be unable to produce even two officers capable of being as- tronomers to such an Expedition? Are the Navy then so fallen, that military men and civihans must supersede them in their ozcn profession? Are sailors . f ;.- ,*l. w i •;•#> 13 to command armies, and soldiers fleets? Or are our seamen to be insulted and neglected, and made the victims of intrigue, by those very persons who should most strenuously support them? I shall perhaps be told, that as the object was general science, talent was to be sought in every quarter. The object no doubt was general sci- ence ; but it was only to be attained by naval means ; and while that ser- vice did possess one man adequate to tlie duties which were required, he and he only should have been em- ployed. It is an imputation upon the Navy, which they feel, and an eternal stigma upon those who cast it. 14 !J 1 Be these things as they may, both Expeditions have now failed, whether from the fault of those who arranged, or those who executed them, we have yet to learn, and shall no doubt be very candidly informed; as well by seeing the orders issued to the com- manders on the subject of their voy- age, as by having the return of one of them accounted for, apparently from the very entrance of that passage, the existence and investigation of which was the peculiar object of the enterprize. That these things should attach themselves to the officers^ we can scarcely sup- pose, since they were, by your state- ments,, selected with the most scru- \ IS , both hether anged, > have bt be U by com- voy- one from , the I was That elves sup- tate- jcrii- ^w pulous disregard to interest, and from the most satisfaaory proofs of their mathematical and nautical acquire- ments. In every ray, however, what- ever blame there may be, it must rest with those who directed these undertakings : were they ill planned, they alone are answerable ; were the officers ill selected, then they aiC doubly responsible, to the country, for com- promising its honour, and to these brave men, for sending them to lose and not to gain distinction ^ for you should remember, that as men are born with different capacities, so they are to be variously applied : that each one is best in his proper sphere; Soldiers on land, Sailors at sea, Clergy- / ?' '" le / men in the pulpit, and Secretaries transmitting, not presuming to give orders, . Ui-l'iniu Jb :: Ij;a;J;Si;icJl/tf,. .v^7o, lam. Sir, ' ni • ! ^ . Your obedisnt humble Servant, ^ ^ VJ- „• i- . . i 4 .* ■ J * w' U* . i » r f • A FRIEND TO THE NAVY, f t » > -/4 .1 11 f; J ). i;o'> ':cH 5";"J-^:{.' j:.) ^.-i oj i'> a: > ^ \-^.ri ^01 1 J c, - THE END. ,r'i:'-\ 4 ^Vli'ul .;• 05 ,:'■.'..:••'/. -^ ^:..;;.:^D 7...:^; inc.} f * ' ''f en r^ 1 ,1 -'.. 1^ >^« ' s ir:--"-! 1^ . • ■ •, -1 ' T-T . f!/^ "^ - •-* ■^l:•■■ . . -/ f ,.I CHARLES WOOD, Printer, Poppin's Court, Fleet Street, London. <> . '■"It. 1 '-;»I R J! a retaries ) gke I irant, NAVY. ' .'■'■•.0.: f uluQ^id ' mod