The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-05 00:00:00

THE BELLOT jESTINIONIAL,

INTERESTING NATIONAL MEETING.

A public meeting was held yesterday afternoon,
at Willies Rooms, St. Jsmes'e, to take measure, to do
honour to the mentor; of the late Li, ut. Bellot, of the
French navy, who was lost while engaged as 1 volunteer in
the Arctic expedition, under Capt. Inglefield, in search of
Sir John Franklin. The room was densely thronged by an
audience of the highest respectability, who manifested the
greatest interest in the proceedings. The chair was taken
by Sir R. St raciti,ox, who had on his right Sir J.
Graham, the First Lord of the Admiralty ; and on his left
Sir Edward Parry. The following gentlemen were also
present :—Capt. Inglefield, Col. E. Sabine, Cu!. \iel
Campbell, Col. Boyle, M.P., Mr. J. Wyld, Capt. Fitzroy,
R.N , Capt. Trotter, R.N., Capt. N. A. B. Hamilton,
Mr. H. Robertson. Mr. J. Brown, Mr. J. Barrow. Sir
B. Outrun, C.D., Dr. Forbes Winslow, Professor Wheat-
stone, Sir R. Inglis, M.P., Mr. Arrowsmith,
Suspended from the wall at the back of the chair was a
portrait of the deceased lieutenant, which attracted much
attention.

The CirAinu.ex said at a meeting like that his first duty
was to offer moue apology for appearing in such a position.
It might seem strange to persons who were unacivainti.d
with the progress of geographical 'Timms that so humble an
individual should occupy the enviable post of president of
such an assembly. The explanation was vsry short. For 30
years he had taker a deep and continuous interest in the pro-
gress of Arctic research. After witnessing the triumphs Ut dii-
tioguished men like Sir E. Parry—(cheers) —it fell to lii• lot
to be President of the Royal Geographical Society; and in that
position he was honoured with the acquaintince of many
of those heroic men who had gone farth in the hope of
rescuing Sir John Franklin. Among those whose as-
. quaintance he had thus formed there was no one for whom
he felt a deeper regard than the very ingenious and modest
(and successful, and brave as he was ingenious and modest)
officer to whose merits they then desired to erect a me.
morsel. (Cheers.) That excellent young man, though he
was taken from them at an early age, had had a career
which might really be called brilliant; and as there were
portions ofi that career which might not he known to the
auditory whom he was addressing, he would relate a few
particulars of the life of Lieut. Bellot. Educated, to the
honour of his country—for his family was not in rich cir-
cumstances—educated in a great measure by the town of
Rochefort, he soon distinguished himself in the naval ser-
vice of his 'country; but that to which be desired
especially to point tho attention of Englishmen was, that on
one occasion, while serving under the French flag, he co
operated with British officers in a brilliant operation in the
Rio de la Plata; and that on another occasion, on the coast
of Madagascar, being again in co-operation with a British
force, he cut out a slaver and released a number of human
beings from slavery and chains. (Cheers.) These facts he
mentioned as antecedent, as it were, to the Arctic life of
Lieutenant Bellot. On returning to his country he aspired
to apply that science with which he was so gifted in the
only mariner in which it could be applied in these peaceful
times; and, admiring sincerely the character of Sir John
Franklin, he wrote to that nohle-minded woman who bad
made such remarkable sacrificos to succour her absent hus-
band. He offered, in case he could obtain permission
to do so from the French government, to serve in the pri-
vate ship under the command of Mr. Kennedy ; and he
proceeded with Mr. Kennedy to the Arctic regions in 1851.
The nature of his exploits was well known to all geogra-
phers. The occasion which terminated Ps fatally was not
the first one on which Lieutenant Ballot was drifted away
on a floe of ice. When he accompanied Mr. Kennedy in
the I'rince Albert, fitted out by the munificenc of Lady
Franklin, the ship drifted considerably to the south; and
the other officers being all on shore, he had t 3 take the
command, and ultimately, in the face of very great dangers,
he succeeded in bringing back all his missing com-
panions to the ship. (Cheers.) This was the first
Arctic exploit of a youth of five-and-twenty. (Cheers.)
He then accompanied his gallant commander on an expedi-
tion over the ice. Being of short stature, and driving his
own sledge, he accomplished a most difficult and arduous
journey of at least 1,100 miles over the ice, determining on
the way a great geographical feature, which was previously
quite unknown, and which very properly hears his name,
and will bear it in all the maps of the world ; he referred to
Bellot's Straits. (Hear, hear.) On returning to his native
land, his first effort was to induce the French government
to send out a sep .rate expedition in search of the gallant
Franklin. In the meantime reps ditions, private and
public, were projected in this country. This youth now
volunteered to serve under Mr. Kennedy a second time, and
he would mention, to the honour of a British seaman, that
so ready was Mr. Kennedy to acknowledge the ability of
M. Bellot, that he said for his part he would be perfectly
contented to serve under him. (Cheers.) Just at that pe •
rind, however, the expedition of his distinguished friend,
Captain loglefield, was resolved on by the Admiralty ; and
not being able at that time to obtain an independent com-
mand, he procured from his own government permission
to accompany Captain Ingleffild as a volunteer to Welling-
ton Straits, hoping thereby to achieve something so deci-
sive, that on his return the French government would Do
induced to send out an expedition much further to the
north than any which had yet been attempted ; desiring by
means of a screw steamer to navigate bays and straits hi-
therto unknown to seamen. He (the chairman) would not
enter into that question ; he only referred to it for the
purpose of showing with what noble aspirations
Lieutenant Bellot was inspired. (Hear, hear.) Siuce then
be had been swept away by a hummock of ice—he had met
with a sailor's grave. (Hear, hear.) It was now his duty
to call the attention of the meeting to ihe sympathy which
his fate had excited in the public mind in England. No
sooner had this movement been commenced than letters
wero received from several el' the most distinguished public
men. The first letter which he received came from a
nobleman who had been first minister of this country, and
for whom all geographers must entertain profound respect,
and whom all seamen must love, because he so generously
came forward to assist the expedition of Lieutenant Pim
over 500 miles of Russian territory, in search of Sir John
Franklin; he need not say that he alluded to Lord •101111
Russell. (Cheers.) Lord John Russell was followed by
his friend on his right Sir James Graham, and, while Lord
J. Russell said that he (the chairman) might put down his
name fur any sum which he thought proper, to mark his
sense of the worth of Lieut. Bellot, Sir J. Oraham said
that that meritorious officer deserved every tribute of
respect, and that he should feel the greatest pleasure in
having his name placed on the committee. (Cheers.)
Then came the Earl of Clarendon, who, being like Lord
John Russell quite unsolicited, wrote to him begging him to
make use of his name in any way that he might deem best.
He now paned from this expression of British feeling, official,
public, general, he might &lomat say universal, io this
country—for from all classes hail he received assurances of
support—(cheers)—he passed from this to the consideration
which the subject had received in the neighbour-
ing country of France. In order to put the meeting in
possession of the facts which had led to the resolutions
about to be proposed, he would read the following report OR
behalf of the committee :

"In the performance of their duties, and in preparing
the resolutions to be submitted to the general meeting, the
committee have been guided by the desire to carry out the
wishes of the British public in such a manner that the
French nation may perceive that in honouring the memory
of Lieut. Bellot the English have the strongest desire to
do full justice to those national feelings which arc known
to exist in his native land. Those feelings have prompted
the Emperor of the French to grant, from his private purse,
to the family of the deceased an annuity of 2,000 francs
—ln act which is in accordance with the great interest his
Majesty has taken in Arctic researches, end which, bath
personally and by the medium of the Empress, he has
testified in the most gracious manner to Lady Franklin.
When, indeed, some of their countrymen, wishing to
avoid display, and looking only to the succour of the
bereaved family, suggested that the chief amount of our
subscriptions should be applied to the support of the rela-
tives of M. Bellot, the committee entertained the convic-
tion, that France, solicitous as she has always been for the
welfare of her bravest sons, would never be behind hand in
such a cause. Nay, more, it is now believed, that it is the
intention of the French government to erect a monument at
Rochefort to tho memory of their deceased officer. The
committee would therefore beg to impress upon the meeting
that the circumstances have materially changed since the
first generous impulse suggested to same of their country-
men, that the monument which the English proposed to
erect should be placed at Rochefort. They further request
the meeting to recollect that both the letter of the French
Minister of Marine, which has been published in ehe
public journals, and that of the Mayor of Rochefort,
which has been communicated by the Earl of Cla-
rendon, were written in ignorance of the Empe-
ror's liberality, and under the supposition that an
English monument at Rochefort bad been decided upon
though that subject had then undergone no public or
general consideration. AVhatever may be the monument,
and wherever it may he placed, the committee are of opi-
nion, that it must stand forth distinctly as the tribute of
England to the devotion and exploits of the gallant French-
man. Anil, as two monuments could not be with pro-
priety erected in the same town, it became very difficult to
determine what other place in France except Itochaort
could be fixed upon; for whilst many persons might natu-
rally wish to see it in Paris, the city which gave birth to
M. Bellot, an eloquent appeal was sent from Calais, urging
that that ancient port through which so many French
and English were continually passing, ought to be pre-
ferred to any other, even to Rochi fort. Under these cir-
cumstances, and being Ansured that the Trench govern-
ment will cordially approve their decision, the committee
have come to the conclusion, that Englishmen, wishing to
honour in the most emphatic manner the memory of one
who was so esteemed and beloved among them as
Lieutenant Bellot, should 'say to him the same respect as to
their own illustrious dead. In this ease, if it be decided
that a cenotaph, column, or monument be placed on the
banks of the Thames, at or nest the Royal Hospital at