The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC. JOURNALS.
'!'DlES.—biro have'received from. the Admiralty the
copy of a correspondence, which contains the fullest in-
fermatiou with regard to the two ships- seen by the Re-
novation off Newfouedlend, in. April; 1851. The result
of these documents would certainly appear to be in favour
'of the correctness of thp story. The only point raised in
opposition to this inference will be found in a suggeitive
letter from the President of the Chamber: of Commerce
at Sr. John, Newfoundland. 'From -the , nature' of the
question it follows that mere prerumptions cannot avail
to set aside positive tostithony. When the whalers of the
Pacific bring us home some wonderful tale of sea ser-
peen) or other monsters of the deep, there is so much
antecedent improbability about the whole case that even
the most positive -testimony cannot but be regarded
with a certain degree of suspicion; On the whole- it is
more likely that even a number of iedividuals tvhei
were present at tho Same 'tithe, and who' agree in
their story, should be mistaken, than that the ex-
perience of navigators for twenty centuries should
have made Meeks But in the present instance of the
two ships which were Seen by the crew 'of the Renova-
tion upon the feeberg off Newfoundland, there is no such
violent antecedent improbability as should induce us to
discard the concurrent testimony of many competent
witnesses. Mr. Thames, the President of the Sr. John's
Chamber of Commerce, contends-that it is " almost int-
poseible that an iceberg of the Magnittide and descrip-
tion spoken of by the crew of the Itenovation could have
passed along the coast froin the north, and have reached
the latitude of Capri Race, without baying been seen by
some of the numerous sailing vessels which constantly
intersect the field ice in the months of March and
April." This gentleman, furthereaore, makes mention
of the many vessels which, at the dine spoken of,
passed over the water in question on their way to or
from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia, and
New Brunswick, and of the weekly steamers which
run between Halifax and Liverpool. Because the ice-
berg in which the two ships were embedded escaped
the notice of all these vessels, therefore ho concludes that
the 'crew of the Renheation have_ been the victims of an
ocular deception, " occasioned by the appearance that
icebergs assume under some peculiar action of the at-
mosphere." The question remains, Is it, on tho whole,
more probable that a ship's company, accustomed to the
sights and wonders of the frozen regions, should have
been 'so deceived; or that the iceberg should have
escaped the notice of so many vessels? We are of
opinion that, when the whole of the correspondence is
carefully weighed, any impartial reader must be con-
vinced that the story brought home by the crew of the
Renovation must prevail. There is no conceivable
motive why half a dozen men should unite to palm such
a story upon the public. The love of notoriety could
scarcely supply inadequate reason, because the master
and crew of the Renovation by no means distinguished
themselves throughout the whole transactions. We
may find a certain excuse for Captain Coward, drawn
from his Weak state of health at the time, from his
anxiety to prosecute his voyage in the then state of the
weather, as his ship' was underhanded, and the loss of a
boat's crew might have seriouely imperilled the safety of
his ship. But when wo have said this we have said all.
Mr. Lynch and the mate tell us that they were anxious
to send out a beat, or at any rate to approach nearer to
the ice. But nothing was done. The opportunity was
given to a ship's crew of solving rs mystery which for
many years past eceupied the attention of the Civilized
world. They neglected that opportunity. No matter
from what cause their neglect arose, they certainly do
not come before their country in any very chivalric light.
fTahv
oe ruerf onrse 'rat h
ayestoryhe comesdrawn wi
th h
eitic h
want
nt o presumptions
interest
the
part of the relatori. Captain Coward, Mr. Lynch, and Mr.
nimPson the mate, have comported themselves since
the termination of the voyage exactly as might have
beeri anticipated from persons who had really seen the,
eight which they professed to have seen. There can be.
no great difficulty in ascertaining whether or no, imme-
diately on his arrival at Quebec, Mr. Lynch mentioned
the discovery of the chips as stated in his letter. It was
made a matter of notoriety. The strongest.p6int, per,
hap, ugainst the reality of the story—as derived from
intrinsic evidence—may be found in the absence of all
mention of the occurrence in the log of the Renovation 1
on the 17th of •April, 1851. We find it recorded on the
day and about the hour in question " that there was a
very strong current 'setting to the S.E."—nothing more.
This was the direction in which the iceberg was drifting
—according to the testimony of the witnesses. A few
hours before mention was made of several large ice-
bergs; but not a word of the two ships. Then, again,
there are various slight discrepancies in the accounts of
the three chief witnecses—but not greater than might
have been expected from three persons—not being in col-
lusion—each of whom wished to place himself before the
public in as favourable a light as possible with regard to a
given transaction. If, however, testimony can support a
story at ail, the account given by the three cbief wit-
nesses on board the Renovation would appear entitled
to belief. More than this, we have recently obtained
additional confirmatory evidence from the master of a
aYlrreicvkallenabturzigelawbryigo—rkt,hoenDthoce t4otrhlioineiviip—a77lhBo, 21,onhis
stated
that ho had met with a great deal of ice on the Banks ;
he had also seen two vessels "abandoned and water-
logged." The exact date is not yet made out with suf-
ficient accuracy. It remains to be seen whether or no
the Doctor Kneip Was at the time—which should be
exactly ascertained—in the position to which the two
vessels would have drifted when released from the ice-
berg upon which they were seen by the crew of the Reno-
vation. Navigators inform us that the drift would have
sot exactly in such a direction as would have brought
them into the course of the Doctor Kneip, The
arrival of this ship in New York on the 4th of May
would appear to indicate that
she must, about the ne-
cessary time, have been crossing the track of the
drift-
ing ships. Assuming for a moment that the
story sent
home by the people of the Renovation and the Doctor
Kneip is correct—and assuming further that the ships
were really Sir John Franklin's, we might draw as an
inference from the position in
which they were seen
that all
from the deck of the Doctor Kneip, the stores
and contents of the ships' had been removed Franklin's
human
agency, and presumptively so by the hands of
p,s,grged ty. It
soonis
as
eertathey inthwaetrethey
they had been so long exposed to severe weather a o
drying winds. It is also clear that had they been
liberated
frombectohme e
ice,
watero
ltr-
heavily laden they would, under these conditions, have
gone to the bottom at once. Upon the assumption that
everything had been cleared oat of them that could be
takenhlb
cacwoamye, they
thoroughly would s notatsaturated
r sinkated the timber
and
had lost its
buoyancy. It is melancholy enough to reheat that
during the four years that have elapsed since the dis-
patch ,of the Enterprise and Investigator under the
command of Sir James Ross, and of the land expedi-
tion under Sir John Richardson, all the labour employed
in the search seems to have been wasted on a wrot)g
direction. The opinion ot competent persons now p -
pears to be that after wintering near Cape Riley
and on Beechey
Island—at the .entranceof the. Wel-
lington Channel—Sir John Franklin found that
it would be useless either to advance in "a
northerly direction by Wellington Channel, or south.
erly and westerly by. Cape Walker. It is.now. pre-
sumed that ho turned his ship% head homewards some
time after breaking up from his winter quarters, bat
that previously to giving up theeobjects of his voyage
he determined to make another attempt by way either
of Alderman Jones' Sound, or ,Smith's Sound, at the
head of Baffin Bay. Of' course, the chief objection to
this theory is that in all probability Sir John Franklin
would have left some record of his intention, either at
Navy Board Inlet, 'or at, some prominent point in Lane
caster Sound, whore the notice could not but have fallen
into the bands of one or other of the numerous searching
parties. If this be so, well-nigh all the pains we have
taken have been thrown away, and we are left with no
greater advantage than results from the knowledge of
where Sir John Franklin is not. Sir Edward Belcher
and his companions may possibly benefit by the errors
of their predecessors—and that is all that can be said.
Seven years have now elapsed since Sir John Franklin
quitted. England—it is difficult to admit the possibility
of his return in safety.

LATE FATAL ACCIDENT AT LIVER'

POOL CORN EXCHANGE.

Yesterday an inquest Wil9 held before P. Finch Curry,
Esq., upon the bodies of Edmund Colebourn, labourer,
and John Stevens, joiner, who were 'killed on the pre-
ceding day by the tailing in of the arches of the Corn
Exchange. The court was densely crowded, and the
deepest interest was manifested in the proceedings, in
consequence of a statement that the mortar and work-
manship were both of an inferior quality, to which the
origin of the fatal occurrence vitas said to be mainly
attributable.
Mr. Lace, solicitor, appeared for the committee of the
Corn Exchange; and Mr. Blenkinsop on behalf of Mr.
Pieton, the architect.
The CORONER called in the assistance of Mr. Edwin
Woods, civil engineer,
bodies and Mr. Weightman, the borough
(n
surveyor,etT
to report upon the probable cause of the acci-
ieasnedg te, oin n tlus7ee the
nat accompanied
building, wthhee n jaunr y toview
the bodies
adjourn-
ment was agreed upon until Monday next, in order that
a model of the Exchan ,r, e, as it was before the falling in
of the floor, might be prepared, and that the professional
gentlemen might have
their report. time 'to investigate and prepare
Mr. J. R. Jeffery was oho,
by whom as a subscription Iv on as foreman of the jury,
the sufferers. proposed for the families of
Colebourn has left a widow and Ste-
two
children rlncr
Yens a widow and five children, to deplore
their loss.

bpeart of the
generally
rarernt
districts in ItlVieALnEOrst.hee crops
throughout the th°ervsarioluN various d
principality are most luxuriant. The wheats
in a thriving condition, and the early potatoes soPef
especially are
a very healthy appearance. The grain crops
well, and notwithstauding the loag drought and easterly
k
winds that have been experienced, there is every likelihood
of an abundant bay harvest.
_.
14101.1EIGN Srrarrs IN, TRANSITU.—The Lords of
the Treasury have directed the Commissioners of Customs to
anthorise brandy, entered for immediate transhipment to a
foreign port, to be sampled under the following conditions—
viz., that duty is to be paid thereon when it exceeds one
:lining, and that the taking of samples be limited to the
casks or packages ojected fig exctrilinAtion by dig Odom Of
Oaf) OVNIIIce