Five years have now elapsed since the schooner United States crept to anchorage through the murky vapors of Boston Harbor. The terrible struggle then first realized by me, as at hand, is now over, and has become an event of history. The destinies of individuals are ever subordinate to the public weal; and in the presence of great social and political revolutions, when ideas are fringed with bayonets, and great interests are in conflict, men have little leisure for the consideration of questions of science, or of remote projects unconnected with the national safety.
PLANS POSTPONED, NOT ABANDONED.
Therefore it is that the further exploration of the Arctic regions was lost sight of by me during the past few years. The facilities which I had acquired, and the advantages which I had gained, have been in a great measure sacrificed since my return to Boston in October, 1861, and I cannot therefore speak with confidence as to the time when the exploration will be renewed. The scheme has not, however, been abandoned, nor are my views in any respect changed. I still contemplate the execution of my original design, and hope at an early day to carry into effect the plan of discovery indicated in the concluding chapters of this narrative. It is still my wish to found at Port Foulke such a colony as I have hitherto described, and, with a corps of scientific associates, to make that the centre of a widely extended system of exploration. The value of such a centre will be evident to every instructed mind without illustration, and the availability of the situation is shown by the experience of my own party. The project has the more interest at this time in connection with the effort by way of the Spitzbergen Sea, contemplated by the Prussian government, the inception of which is due to the eminent geographer, Dr. Augustus Petermann. As with my own enterprise, that of Dr. Petermann has temporarily given place to the necessities of war; but I have been informed that the expedition is contemplated for the coming spring. The organization of this expedition is founded upon, I think, a correct assumption that the Open Sea and the North Pole may be reached with steam-vessels by pushing through the ice-belt to the west and north of Spitzbergen. This route possesses some advantages over that of Smith Sound, while it has some disadvantages. The temporary colonization at Port Foulke gives to the Smith Sound route its chief claim over the other, to the consideration of the explorer.
ADVANTAGES OF ARCTIC EXPLORATION.
CONCLUSION.
It is not needful that I should here demonstrate the advantages to be derived from a continuation of the line of exploration which I have indicated;—the age in which we live has too much profited by researches into every department of science, which, not immediately prosecuted with the view to practical advantage, have, by a steady enlargement of the boundaries of human knowledge, promoted the interests of commerce, of navigation, of the arts, and of every thing which concerns the convenience and the comfort and the well-being of mankind. In truth, civilization has profited most by those discoveries which possessed at the outset only an abstract value, and excited no interest beyond the walls of the academy. The vast system of steam communication, which weaves around the world its endless web of industry, began in the apparently useless experiments of a thoughtful boy with the lid of his mother's tea-kettle; that wonderful net-work of wires which spreads over the continents and underlies the seas, and along which the thoughts of men fly as with the wings of light, results from the accidental touching of two pieces of metal in the mouth of Volta; the lenses of the mammoth telescope of Lord Rosse, which reduced to practical uses the celestial mechanism, came from observing the magnifying powers of a globule of water; the magnetic needle which guides the navies of the world to their distant destinations, succeeds the casual contact of a piece of loadstone and a bit of steel: everywhere, indeed, we witness the same constant growth from what seemed unprofitable beginnings;—the printing-press, the loom, the art of solar painting, all sprang from the one same source,—from minds intent only upon interrogating Nature, and revealing her mysteries, without knowledge of the good to come therefrom. The progress of scientific discovery is indeed the progress of the human race, and the question, Cui bono? is now no longer asked of him who would reveal hidden truths. Wherever men have sought wider fields of gain, or power, or usefulness, there has been science in the midst of them,—guiding, supporting, and instructing them. Wherever men have sought to plant, among barbarous peoples, the emblem of the only true religion, there has she gone before,—opening the gates and smoothing the pathway. She has lifted the curtain of ignorance from the human mind, and Christianity, following her advancing footsteps, has banished from the West the ancient superstitions, and the dark Pantheism of the East and the Fetich worship of the savage tribes are passing away. The light of science and the gospel of our Christian faith have moved hand in hand together through the world, and, overriding the barriers of custom, have, with unselfish zeal, steadily unfolded to the human understanding the material interests which concern this life, and to the human soul the sacred truths of Revelation which concern the life to come.
Transcriber Note
Minor typos were corrected. Both Esquimau and Esquimaux were retained. Some paragraphs were split to accommodate placement of the images or Side-notes. The missing illustration on pages [296] and [380] were added.