'The death of this eminent and valuable man was a loss to mankind in general; and particularly to be deplored by every nation that respects useful accomplishments, that honours science, and loves the benevolent and amiable affections of the heart. It is still more to be deplored by this country, which may justly boast of having produced a man hitherto unequalled for nautical talents; and that sorrow is farther aggravated by the reflection, that his country was deprived of this ornament by the enmity of a people, from whom, indeed, it might have been dreaded, but from whom it was not deserved. For, actuated always by the most attentive care and tender compassion for the savages in general, this excellent man was ever assiduously endeavouring, by kind treatment, to dissipate their fears, and court their friendship; overlooking their thefts and treacheries, and frequently interposing, at the hazard of his life, to protect them from the sudden resentment of his own injured people.——
'Traveller! contemplate, admire, revere, and emulate this great master in his profession; whose skill and labours have enlarged natural philosophy; have extended nautical science; and have disclosed the long concealed and admirable arrangements of the Almighty to the formation of this globe, and, at the same time, the arrogance of mortals, in presuming to account, by their speculations, for the laws by which he was pleased to create it. It is now discovered, beyond all doubt, that the same great Being who created the universe by his fiat, by the same ordained our earth to keep a just poise, without a corresponding southern continent, and it does so. He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing, Job XXVI. 7.
'If the arduous but exact researches of this extraordinary man have not discovered a new world, they have discovered seas unnavigated and unknown before. They have made us acquainted with islands, people, and productions of which we had, no conception. And if he has not been so fortunate as Americus, to give his name to a continent, his pretensions to such a distinction remain unrivalled; and he will be revered while there remains a page of his own modest account of his voyages, and as long as mariners and geographers shall be instructed, by his new map of the southern hemisphere, to trace the various courses and discoveries he has made.
'If public services merit public acknowledgments, if the man, who adorned and raised the fame of his country, is deserving of honours, then Captain Cook deserves to have a monument raised to his memory by a generous and grateful nation.
"Virtutis uberrimum alimentum est honos."
Val. Maximus, lib. ii. cap. 6.'
The last character I shall here insert of Captain Cook comes from a learned writer, who, in consequence of some disagreements which are understood to have subsisted between him and our great navigator, cannot be suspected of intending to celebrate him in the language of flattery. Dr. Reinhold Forster, having given a short account of the captain's death, adds as follows: 'Thus fell this truly glorious and justly admired navigator. If we consider his extreme abilities both natural and acquired, the firmness and constancy of his mind, his truly paternal care for the crew intrusted to him, the amiable manner with which he knew how to gain the friendship of all the savage and uncultivated nations, and even his conduct towards his friends and acquaintance, we must acknowledge him to have been one of the greatest men of his age, and that reason justifies the tear which friendship pays to his memory.' After such an encomium on Captain Cook, less regard may justly be paid to the deductions from it, which are added by Dr. Forster. What he hath said concerning the captain's temper seems to have received a tincture of exaggeration, from prejudice and personal animosity; and the Doctor's insinuation, that our navigator obstructed Lieutenant Pickersgill's promotion, is, I have good reason to believe, wholly groundless. There is another error which must not pass unnoticed. Dr. Forster puts in his caveat against giving the name of Cook's Straits to the Straits between Asia and America, discovered by Beering. But if the Doctor had read the Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, published by authority, he would have seen, that there was no design of robbing Beering of the honour to which he was entitled.
From a survey of Captain Cook's character, it is natural to extend our reflections to the effects of the several expeditions in which he was engaged. These, indeed, must have largely appeared in the general history of his Life; and they have finely been displayed by Dr. Douglas, in his admirable Introduction to the Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Under the conduct of so able a guide, I shall subjoin a short view of the subject.
It must, however, be observed, that, with regard to the three principal consequences of our great navigator's transactions, I have nothing further to offer. These are, his having dispelled the illusion of a Terra Australis Incognita; his demonstration of the impracticability of a northern passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean; and his having established a sure method of preserving the health of seamen in the longest voyages, and through every variety of latitude and climate. Concerning each of these capital objects, I have already so fully spoken, that it is not in my power to add to the impression of their importance, and of Captain Cook's merits in relation to them, which, I trust, is firmly fixed on the mind of every reader.
It is justly remarked, by Dr. Douglas, that one great advantage accruing to the world from our late surveys of the globe, is, that they have confuted fanciful theories, too likely to give birth to impracticable undertakings. The ingenious reveries of speculative philosophers, which have so long amused the learned, and raised the most sanguine expectations, are now obliged to submit, perhaps with reluctance, to the sober dictates of truth and experience. Nor will it be only by discouraging future unprofitable searches, that the late voyages will be of service to mankind, but also by lessening the dangers and distresses formerly experienced in those seas which are within the actual line of commerce and navigation. From the British discoveries many commercial improvements may be expected to arise in our own times: but, in future ages, such improvements may be extended to a degree, of which, at present, we have no conception. In the long chain of causes and effects, no one can tell how widely and beneficially the mutual intercourse of the various inhabitants of the earth may hereafter be carried on, in consequence of the means of facilitating it, which have been explored and pointed out by Captain Cook.
The interests of science, as well as of commerce, stand highly indebted to this illustrious navigator. That a knowledge of the globe on which we live is a very desirable object, no one can call in question. This is an object which, while it is ardently pursued by the most enlightened philosophers, is sought for with avidity, even by those whose studies do not carry them beyond the lowest rudiments of learning. It need not be said what gratification Captain Cook hath provided for the world in this respect. Before the voyages of the present reign took place, nearly half the surface of the earth was hidden in obscurity and confusion. From the discoveries of our navigator, geography has assumed a new face, and become, in a great measure, a new science; having attained to such a completion, as to leave only some less important parts of the globe to be explored by future voyagers.[17]