The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-13 00:00:00

(From the Times.)
The intelligence received from the Arctic Expedi •
tion, which, under the command of Sir Edward
Belcher, is engaged in the perilous adventure of ex-
ploring the seas of the Northern Pole, is to a certain
extent satisfactory. We may at least indulge the
expectation that this time the task will be fairly ac-
complished. It would be premature, after the long
interval that has elapsed since the departure of Sir
John Franklin and his brave companions, to give
vvay to hopes that may prove visionary; but at least
we shall know whether all hope of seeing them again
alive must be absolutely resigned. This time the
my seas will in all probability be fairly searched ; for
Sir Edward Belcher appears to have commenced his
progress into their secret recesses under circum-
stances as favourable as those which attended upon
Franklin's own advance. In the case of every
single expedition which has been directed into
these icy regions in search of our missing coun-
trymen an inclement sky and a premature setting in
of the frost have baffled the efforts of the navigators.
There may have been vacillation of purpose ;
there may have been involuntary error, such
incidents are almost inseparable from all human
struggle, but it may well be doubted whether, until
the present moment, the utmost amount of energy and
skill would have enabled any officer to follow closely
upon the track of Sir John Franklin and his com-
panions. It should also be remembered, in justice to
the conductors of all previous expeditions, that, al-
though they certainly failed in accomplishing the
direct purpose of their mission, their efforts have not
been without beneficial result. Warned by their
failures, Sir Edward Belcher is enabled to concentrate
his energies upon a single point, end that point the
one which offers the most reasonable chances of sue-
t: ,ss. The process of examining these regions with
effect is an exhaustive one. Oar missing countrymen
may have advanced into the Polar Seas by any one of
four or five routes ; but it was difficult—not to say
impossible—to de-ermine a priori in favour of which
route lay the balance of probabilities. We are
now speaking in some measure at our ease—we
are judging calmly after the fact. 'We now know
that the must reasoaab!e hope of getting on Sir John
Franklin's track lies in pursuing the route by Wel-
lington Channel; but our knowledge is the result of
experience and the fruit of failure. It should be a
subject of thankfulness to all persons interested in the
fate of Franklin that an unusually " open season" has
favoured the efforts of the present searching expedi-
tion, now that so much of certainty had been obtained.
It is very probable that Sir Edward Belcher is ad-
vancing in the right direction, and it is also probable
that he will be able to advance in that direction with
effect. Such is, in point of fact, the sum and sub-
stance of the intelligence which was brought home
by the Prince Albert searching vessel, and which
was published on Monday last in the columns
of this journal. Very considerable efforts appear
to have been made by Mr. Kennedy—the gen-
tledeocso con-
doomteadn_unaocd,r whhhosepodoiprleectitoonsdtihsoeovseearrcoho
ywtraas
Franklin's expedition that might yet be forth-
coming, but without effect. Late in June the Prince
Albert searched the ice, and proceeded by Pond's
Bay up Lancaster Sound. When she reached Bar-
row Straits, in the beginning of September, the ice
had already barred the passage. It was determined
to proceed to Port Leopold. At this point Mr. Ken-
nedy and a boat's crew well nigh met with a death
as dreadful as the Polar region could inflict. He had
landed to make inquiries, but before he could return
on board a barrier of ice was interposed between the
shore and the ship ; to cro n the misfortune the
Prince Albert was carried away by a current up
Prince Regent's inlet. Fortunately for the bold ad-
venturers Sir John Ross had left a store of provisions
near the point at which they had.landed, and so they
were enabled to pass six dreary weeks without un-
dergoing any very intolerable privation. They were
finally relieved from their disagreeable situation by the
efforts of M. Bellot, a French gentleman who accom-
panied the expedition, and succeeded in reaching Batty
Bay, where the ship was housed for the winter.
From this place Mr. Kennedy and M. Bellot, with a
party of fourteen men, set out on sledges, crossed
Melville Bay, and discovered a new channel to the
westward. Six of the party set out to explore the
channel, while the others were sent back to the ship.
It is unnecessary for us very minutely to follow the
enterprising travellers in their perilous journey, as it
may be found detailed at length in the Times of
Monday last. Suffice it to stay that their exertions
"re-7 to have been or the enost creditable kind, al-
though untortunately not attendee with success. No
new traces were found of Sir John Franklin and
his companions. Without the slightest wish to detract
from the merits of the search, we cannot but feel
that the most important portion of the intelli-
gence brought home by the ship's company of the
Prince Albert is that which informs us of the move-
ments of Sir Edward Belcher and the greater
expedition. We find among the correspondence
which has been received a letter from Captain Pullen
to the Secretary of the Admiralty, written on the 23d
of August. Sir Edward Belcher had started up
Wellington Channel on the 14th of the same month.
Now this is the language of the officer who witnessed
the departure of the expedition,
and was acquainted
with the condition of the water at the time in ques-
tion :—" All were in good health and high spirits, and
with every hope of success. This season I cannot help
thinking is very open, for from the summit of Beechy
Island, which I visited on the evening of our arrival,
on the 9th instant, as far as the eye could reach up
Wellington Channel, or to the westward, both were
open, and little or no ice to be seen." Captain Kel-
lett in the Resolute, with her tender, bad sailed on
the 15th of August—the day after iSir Edward
Belcher's departure—for Melville Island, to de-
posit there all necessary supplies of provisions,
fuel, and clothing for any parties which might
have been dispatched from the expedition under
Captains Collinson and M'Lure, and have reached
a point so distant from Behring Straits. Captain
Pullen in the North Star was to remain as depot at
Beechy Island. We will not, after so long and so
afflicting a delay, permit ourselves to play upon the
feelings of those who are deeply and directly in-
terested in the fate of Franklin and his companions.
All appears to have been done for their relief, if
they yet survive, that human sagacity could suggest
or human energy carry out. Now or never the seas
of the North Pole will be thoroughly searched, and we
shall know all that can be known with regard to the
fate of our gallant countrymen. It will be an honour
to humanity that a deep sympathy with the suffer-
ings of absent men has roused their country to greater
exertions than scientific curiosity or love of enter-
prise. If ever the problem of a north-western pas-
sage be solved, that solution will have been attained
by Englishmen, not for its own sake, but in order to
relieve a gallant band of their adventurous country-
men from a dreary confinement in the icy regions of
,he Polar seas.

(From the Daily News.)
The expeditions to the icy North have thrown no
light upon the fate of the gallant seamen who sailed
with Sir John Franklin in the Erebus and Terror.
Those who have watched from time to time the re-
sults obtained by each successive navigator who has
gone on the search must have noted that the only au-
thentic and undoubted information which has been
gleaned is that which Captain Austin, R.N., and
Captain Penny obtained in the autumn of 1850, at
Cape Riley and the neighbouring points of the coast
of Wellington Channel. It was ascertained that Sir
John Franklin passed on those shores the first winter
of his hazardous enterprise—that during that winter
only two deaths occurred amongst the companies of
his two vessels, and that in the ensuing spring the
squadron again set sail, without leaving behind it
any indication of its course. This is the sum total of
the knowledge we possess. Yet, small as this is, it is
highly probable that if the unhappy
obstacles about
professsional jealousies and naval etiquette which at last
obstructed Captain Penny's exerti ons had been
_equally
formidable at an earlier portion of his career, neither
Sir H. Austin nor ourselves would now have even
ture probable. uent re-
owleydegtewtoe beoraesteeotwiAthlolubteysoomnde
istchlUal
searches—and for these we must not forget that the
tee f modicum
to t oe
I cli okneje
ecoetfue
jrkee
en. Subseq
bounty of Lady Franklin—have ascertained almost
country is indebted to the energy and unfailing
beyond the p:)ssibility of doubt that Sir
John Franklin is squadron, on leaving their
winter quarters, did not pass either to the
southward or westward of Barrow's Straits. The
nelabours
Prince Albert, a little vessel of some 80 tons, twice
equipped by her Ladyship for the enterprise, has now
e
gaaftbelre Pas 3
wards of a twelvemonth in the Arctic circle. The re-
sultst u
rd
ing ucommander,p-
Mr. Kennedy, in that perilous investigation, were yes-
terday communicated to the public. his now perfectly
returned
of the from her secondof her voyage,
indefatigable
defati
clear that even if Sir John John Franklin and the lost
ships reached Cape Walker, they never
got beyond it.
Captain Penny's discoveries have made it tolerably
clear, that northward and north-west of the Wel-
lington Channel there exists a passage open when
Barrow's Straits are closed, leading into a climate
comparatively temperate, and fitted for the habitation
of man, and extending probably to the eastern shores
of northern Asia. It further appears, that some five
days before the arrival of the relic? Albert atßeechy