The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-05 00:00:00

THE SUN,

p
fln- u;

LoNDOPT, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1851.

A. revolution at Paris, without some opposition
and some little bloodshed, would be almost an impos-
sibility. It will not, therefore, create any surprise
in the minds of the English public to learn that the
recent events in the French capital have led to some
degree of excitement. What, in the name of com-
mon sense, the antagonists of the Government are
fighting for it would be difficult to conjecture—unless
it be to inaugurate Communism by wholesale rapine
and massacre, or to grind' down the liberty of the
country under the heel of a new Restoration. The
honest Republicans have nothing whatever to obtain
by overthrowing the power of Louis NAPOLEON—
but rather everything to lose. They have Universal
Suffrage. What more can be required for the con-
servation of the liberties of the multitude ? Happily
for thirty millions of free citizens, there is now at the
head of affairs a BONAPARTE, who will not yield
to the clamours of a faction, however desperate,
but who will employ, with the utmost imaginable
rigour, the vast military powers now at his disposal.
As will be seen, from the latest intelligence, given
else where in our impression of this evening,
the insane attempt at a movement on the
part of the Reds in Paris has been
utterly crushed by the energetic measures adopted by
the PRESIDENT. The few miserable barricades
erected appear, from those accounts, to have been
stormed by the soldiers, and taken in every in-
stance, some of them having to be de-
stroyed by artillery. From the departments, more-
ever, notwithstanding the sinister rumours previously
in circulation, the most satisfactory intelligence seems
to have been forwarded to the authorities through
the medium of the telegraphs. The disaffection of
some has been more, immeasurably more, than com-
pensated by the adhesion of the vast majority.
Already it has been reported that the soldiers,
with scarcely an exception, have decided in
favour of the PRESIDENT. We await with con-
siderable anxiety the confirmation of the news
thus satisfactorily conveyed to us after the dis-
astrous accounts by which they had been preceded.
tinder any circumstances we cannot doubt that
the friends of France, of Order, and of Freedom
will wish well to that gallant Chieftain who has
drawn his sword in defence of the national sove-
reignty against anarchists and conspirators—mani-
festing the sincerity of his patriotic ambition by the
re-establishment of the Ballot as well as of Universal
Suffrage.

A fortnight ago we exposed the shameful manner
in which Captain PENNY was treated on the occasion
of his late expedition in search of Sir JOHN FRANKLIN.
A blue book has just been published in which are
comprised the various documents connected with
these transactions. They contain the revelation of
facts already commented upon by ourselves. They
show, as we have before shown, that Captain PENNY
was impeded in his exertions by those who depre-
ciated his abilities, apparently for the sole reason that
his name is not followed by certain magical initials.
Had this very intelligent officer been able to append
R.N. to his signature, he would not, we are satisfied,
have been compelled to return to this country
without having penetrated much further north-
wards, according to his original intention. This
we maintain is most unfortunate, whether considered
as a circumstance injurious to the cause of science or
as detrimental to the interests of humanity. It is pos-
sible to revert to the occurrences here alluded to at
the present instance without finding our regrets, as
formerly, altogether unalloyed. Lieut. Pim has enabled
us to regard the facts stated in these Parliamentary re-
ports with some degree of equanimity from the re-
flection that exertions are at the present moment be-
ing made to carry assistance to the missing expedi-
tion. Aware that while we are talking over the
blunders committed in past efforts of relief, we
are not frittering away time wholly inestima-
ble to the gallant men still presumed to be
shut up by the eternal ice of the Arctic Regions, we
can with more calmness turn to the records of pro-
ceedings such as must otherwise have been fraught
alone with the most melancholy considerations.
Glancing through the pages of the official publica-
tion before. mentioned, it is impossible not to be im-
pressed with the accuracy of the ♦iews long since put
forward by us in these columns—views of which the
blue book in question contains only the threadbare
repetition. Upon the very first page of the " Mi-
nutes of Evidence" taken before the Com-
mittee will be found, for example, the
important assertion from the lips of Captain
PENNY himself, that the last expedition in search of
Sir Joss( FRANKLIN came to a premature termination,
notwithstanding his judgment pronounced against
any such precipitate course with all the distinct-
ness and resolution imaginable. He states among
other things, for instance, that the ice was broken up
in Wellington Strait as far on the 25th of duly,
1851, as it was on the Bth of the preceding Septem-
ber. "At the time we left that country," says he,
"it was too early to decide whether the channel
would clear away or not. We could have stopped
there one month longer, and had strong north-east
winds come it would have cleared away the ice through
Queen Victoria's Channel." A month longer—mark
that—and the passage opening then before them ! Is
it not lamentable, with a statement like that here
inscribed on the pages of the blue book under con-
sideration, that no effort was made to test the practi-
cability of such an experiment ? Might not that
single month have effected more than all the rest of
the time consumed in these operations ? Might not
the venture here pointed out as by no means impos-
sible, have led at last to the discovery of the
whereabouts of Sir Joins FRANKLIN ? Again
we ask, is it not lamentable that from four or
five weeks as precious as those indicated should
have been neglected simply—it would appear—be-
cause Captain PENNY was so unfortunate as not to
be a commander in the Royal Navy ? It is, unhap-
pily, very far, indeed, from being the first time that
this professional jealousy has been manifested. The
public have, however, in some measure been accus-
tomed to incidents of a similar character—but we
doubt very much if they have ever been made aware
of one so signally disgraceful of its kind, because so
shamefully interfering with the rights of humanity,
by shutting a door of relief against men entitled to
every generous consideration.
What renders yet more melancholy the fact of this
hasty abandonment of the search in opposition to the
wishes and suggestions of Captain PENNY, is the re-
flection that the channel already spoken of (Queen
Victoria's Channel) is only open (according to the
decisive assertion of that officer) to navigation about
once every two years. That it was closed in 1850 is
passed. That
tthis
iist migh
ist, on the
known
contrary,
with
scarcely
have
read
certainty, though
yearth actual proof of the fact
.the premature return of
was denied to us be
the exploring vessels, obedience to the de-
mend
forceedCuonpsoenqueonutrly.
mindsthe
mend of Captain
that, by neglecting the o_so .
unpleasant conviction is
vp rtunity pointed
out by Captain PENNY, we have lost the chance of
sending our ships again in that particular direction
until 1853 has arrived. The loss of time is therefore
dreadful to reflect upon—and all in consequence of a
very able and intelligent navigator happening by ill
luck not to be immediately connected with " the
service." It may be objected, however, that in this,
only one quarter is closed for a while against the
conveyance of relief. But what say the Minutes of
Evidence before us upon this point ? Why, in
answer to the 14th question of the Chairman of the
Committee, "Do you think Sir Jous FRANKLIN
went through this channel ?" Captain Plat replies,
" I have no doubt on my mind that he went through
it in clear water ; my conviction has always been so ;
nobody has heard me say anything else." From this
evidence we also learn that, as it was, the farthest