The Rhode Island American, And General Advertiser

"Honour to whom honour is due."

The following extract of a letter from one of our townsmen in Chili, dated at Valparaiso, in October last, does ample justice to our gallant countryman, Captain Ridgely, of the Constellation, who, it would seem, has been ungenerously despoiled of the praise which is the meet reward of his humane and patriotick services :

"You may remember, that in one of my former letters I gave you an account of an American whale ship having been sunk by an attack made upon it by a whale, and of the fate of the crew. Three were said to have been left on Ducie’s Island. At the time of the arrival here of the mate and two men, the Constellation was laying in the Bay. Every assistance was humanely rendered by Captain Ridgely and officers and crew. The English ship Surry, Captain Rayne, being then bound to New South Wales, Captain Ridgely gave the Captain $400 dollars to stop at the Island and take off the surviving remnant of that unfortunate crew. On the—

—arrived his Britannick Majesty’s sloop Dauntless, from New South Wales, bringing letters to Captain R. with the information that they had succeeded in their endeavours, but instead of Ducie’s, they were found at—Island. By papers brought from Port Jackson, I observe that Captain Rayne is deified by the inhabitants.—

Captain R. does not once mention his having been employed by Captain Ridgely, and his having been paid for his trouble, but arrogates to himself, in true English style, the whole honour and humanity of having done this praiseworthy deed, merely out of fellow-feeling. This man could not be persuaded to engage in the affair, until prompted by an offer of money. But the humane and philanthropick disposition of Captain Ridgely, in this, as in many other instances, ought not to pass unrewarded, without the many acts of his benevolence being made known to the publick. Every enterprise, however trivial, for the benefit of his countrymen, is always entered into with willingness and zeal."