The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-22 00:00:00

THE AMERICAN ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

Sir Elward Belcher appears to have been somewhat
premature, as far as order of publication is concerned, in
giving the title of the " Last of the Arctic Voyages " to
his two recent volumes. Dr. Kane's very remarkable
expedition up Smith's Sound will, no doubt furnish an.
other tale of romantic adventure and hardship in these
icy regions. It will be remembered that in the summer
of 1852 Commander Inglefield, having failed in dis-
covering any traces of Sir John Franklin in Wolsten-
holree Sound, and seeing the water before him clear of
ice, made a bold dash up Smith's Sound. On the 27th
of August, at noon, the Isabel had reached 78 deg. 28
min. N. At this point this enterprising young officer
could discern no obstacle to his northerly prograss—
nothing was before him but loose ice. A contrary breeze,
however, which soon freshened up into a contrary gale,
sprang up, and the Isabel was fairly driven to the south-
ward. We note these facts the more particularly as
these very waters were the scene of Dr. Kane's recent
exploits in the United States' brig Advance. That gen-
tleman left New York on the 30th of May, 1850, and
on the 7th of August of the same year passed the head-
land of Smith's Sound. He penetrated beyond the
highest point attained by Captain Inglefield, and the
same spectacle was presented to his eye which his pre-
decessor had beheld. Open water was before him.
Dr. Kane might have used the very language em-
ployed by Captain Inglefield on the former occasion
to express his own feelings. "I involuntarily ex-
claimed," wrote Captain Inglefield on entering the
Sound, " that this must lead to the great Polynia of the
Russians, and as the eye streamed forward into the clear
expanse of apparently open water, which now occupied
from seven to eight points of the compass due north of
our position, I could not but admit to my mind that a
great sea was beyond." Dr. Kane', onward progress
was, however, retarded by a bolt of heavy stream ice,
followed by a drifting pack. His object, of course, was
to push through the pack, but at 78 deg. 45 min. the
drifting ice caught the brig, and drove her on to the
Greenland coast. By great efforts, on the 29th of
August he regained his former position, and then started
with boat and sledge to select a fitting spot for a winter
encampment. The adventurers reached a cape 1,100
feet in height, and from this spot gazed around them
upon the awful solitudes of the Polar Sea. Thera was
a dark glacier, which terminated the view on the Green-
land side. Huge icebergs were driving hither and thither
in the channel, while far, far away to the northward, a
frozen sea, like the sea which Parry travelled upon dur-
ing his advance from Spitzbergen, was all that could be
seen. At a spot called Rensellaer Harbour, amid a
group of rocky islets, the brig was frozen in, and imme-
diately parties were despatched in various directions.
In this way the Greenland coast was followed northerly
and easterly for 125 miles, when all thought of further
discovery for that season was stopped by the disappear.
ance of the min. For 120 days the luminary remained
be'ow the horizon, and the adventurers were left to the
unutterable dreariness of an Arctic winter.

The nature and extent of the hardships to which they
were exposed may be inferred from afe of the scientific
phenomena mentioned by Dr. Kane. The mean tempe-
rature of the spot selected for the winter encampment
appeared to be 20 deg. lower than the mean temperature
of Melville Island, and we know the terrible intensity of
the cold at that place. The lowest point registered on
the thermometers was 70 deg. of Fahrenheit, anti that
was in February. Chloroform froze, essential oils be-
came solid and liquid, and on the 24th of Feb., writes
Dr. Kane, " chloric ether was congealed, for the first
time, by natural temperature. It is satisfactory to find
that the great curse of Arctic navigation- as it was in
former days the curse of navigation generally—the
scurvy, was by these adventurers entirely conquered.
This, however, was replaced by a particular type of
spasmodic disease which appears to have occasioned
great suffering and annoyance. The dogs were attacked,
and no fewer than 57 of these useful animals perished
with every symptom of hydrophobia. Extreme cold had
produced the effect of extreme heat. The winter, how-
ever, was passed in one fashion or another, and with
returning spring travelling parties were arranged, and
expeditions organi,ed.. The most important of these
was pushed forward in a northerly direction. The

result is noted by Doctor Kane in the fullowinz
words : " Open water washed the shores of the
channel, and terminated in a sea, the heavy
surf of which checked all further progress." The
furthest point attained was a cape in lat. 81 deg. 22 min.
N., and long. 65 deg. 35 min. W. Parry's furthest point
when he conducted his memorable sledge-boat expedition
from Spitzbergn was 82 deg. 40 min. 23 sec. N., in long.
19 deg. 25 min. E. No successor on the path of Arctic
adventure has yet snatched his chaplet from the brow
of that great navigator. Parry is still the champion of
the North. It was gracefully done on the part of Dr.
Kane, that he named the most distant mountain which

they could discern wtth their instruments after Sir E.
Parry. This mountain lies, by estimate, in lat. 82 deg.
30 min. N., and was only discerned, not visited. Winter
after winter, passed away in such occupations, and it
was not until the summer of 1854 that Dr. Kane finally
determined upon retracing his steps. It was necessary
to abandon the good ship which had so long been their
home, and on the 6th of Atgust in the year 1854 the
voyagers reached the Danish settlement of Upernavik,
83 days after leaving their ship. Such appear to be, in
as succinct. a form as we can give them, the principal
facts of this remarkable expedition, in which great dan-
gers were confronted with singular courage, great hard-
ships endured with unflinching fortitude, and great suc-
cess achieved by a combination of all the qualities which
have distinguished the most daring among Arctic voya•

gerr„
If we are next to say what advantage has resulted
to the world from this achievement, we are com-
pelled to say that the result does not appear commen-
surate with the dangers incurred. The voyage was,
however, undertaken, like so many others, for the
purpose of seeking for traces of Sir J. Franklin and his
ill-fated companions. We now know that they are not
to be looked for in this or in any other direction. Dr.
Kane, however, was as ignorant as the resC of the
world upon this point when he threw himself into the
ice upon his philanthropic errand. All honour to him,
then,l for his courage and perseverance I It was ne
fault of his that he was not the man destined to discover
the melancholy relics which have at length changed con-
jecture into certainty as far as Franklin is concerned. If
we look at the result of the expedition from other points
of view, we confess ourselve4 wholly unable to discover
what advantage will result to the world from the confir-
mation of Capt. Inglefield's discoveries up Smith Sound.
Scientific men, who make such pursuits their business,
may, no doubt, be able to indicate some slight advan-
tages to the hydrographer and natural philosopher as
the consequence of Dr. Kan'e voyage ; but are these
at all sufficient to counterbalance the risks incurred anl
the perils run by men of such hardihood and note ? How
are we benefited if at a futere day we oven receive plenary
proof that there is a Polar Sea within 80 deg. N. ? If it
exists, can it be navigated ? Hitherto all attempts to
penetrate its secrets have just sufficed to bring the ex-
plorers upon the fringes of this hypothetical sea. One
adventurer may advance a few minutes more north than
his predecessors, but what then '.• All we know as cer-
tainty is. that within the circle of 80 deg. N. there is a
region which, under no appreciable circumstances, can
ever be turned to account by man; It may contain a
little mere rock, or a little more water, but water and
rock in such latitudes are alike useless to the human
family.—rilliej.

GOVERNMENT CARE OF LITERART
MEN.

Let those whose duty it is, in the name of her gra-
cious Majesty the Queen, to appoint and bestow Go-
vernment pensions on men who have deserved well of
their country, rejoice—let them triumph, carouse, and
he merry—Joseph Haydn died on Thursday night, and
25/. per annum is saved ! If, in his physical pain, his
anguish, misery, and destitution, he could have been
brought to learn how grateful the country was fer his
eerviees—how it appreciated his energetic exertions—
how it rewarded his long suffering, toil, and trouble—
he must have bad a happy reflection before he breathed
his last. If his family around him, who.have been, we
are told, literally starving, could have made him compre-
hend how their future welfare was ensured by the pen-
sion of is 4J per day, his heavy heart must truly have
been cheered, and his care for their fate lightened. And
this is the reward of general usefulness in England—a
land boasting, right and left, far and near, of its free in-
stitutions, its growing wealth, its unswerving liberty and
liberality. The staunch, stiff, true disciples and children
of John Bull turn up their virtuous noses at the lightness,
vivacity. and what they are pleased to call immorality
of our French neighbours and Allies, but we can defy
them to point out a single instance in which a man who
has passed an honourable career ig the pursuit of lite-
rature and art, has in France been left in his misery to
starve and die. If literary men see that the Government
and the country care not a job for their suffering, why
do they not render themselves independent of such in-
, iTratii,nde, by forming an institution or society, which
might afford relief to the distressed and indigent We
heard a good deal at one time of the dramatic perform- .
ances, provincial and metropolitan, of a body of gentle-
men wishing to establish a guild of literature and art ; a
considerable amount of money was realised, but of what
has become of that amount the public is not informed.
If the project cannot be carried out, why not employ the
money judiciously to relieve such as that of the ahove
Unfortunate man. If facts such as those of Joseph
Haydn's death be the fruits of our civilisation and intel-
ligence, by all means let us go back a century—to a
time when, if there was more vice amongst the
higher classes, which we doubt, there were fewer
false protestations of virtue, and less cant of charity...—.
Sundv Times,

An order arrived at Chatham yesterday from the
Horse Guards that the wh; lct of the men of the depot
of the 12th Regiment under 19 years' service are to be
inspected, previously to their embarkation for Austrahr,
to join the head-quarters cf their corps.