The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-03 00:00:00

sbme promises held out by the U overi?
right to put his hand in. the public purse,
robuetut 'mere were
wished to put forward in his present application.ff . An 1850
a proclamation was issued by the it
xOO
to, ," tins re-
wards in three cases ; first, a reward of L 20,000 J any party
etn.hteocfrethwesAofdmb:rralmtya,
jeshewou)sasdbi. stover and
who,effoot inla
lit the e ips Erebus
and Terror • secondly, a reward of £10,0"00 to any person
relievedgm
who should any of the crew of those sivips, or con-
vey such intelligence as should lead to the relic); f of such
crew or any of them. There were, he need scarce ly say, no
claimants for either of those rewards. Lastly, tt Lem was a
reward of £lO,OOO to any party who, in the judge lent of the
Admiralty, in virtue of their efforts, should firs' t succeed in
ascertaining the fate of those crews. It was to the last he
meant to call attention. Let him in the firs'. /lace remove
any confusion which might exist in the minds of those who
were unacquainted with the facts. With regard to the
reward to Captain M'Clure the sum of money granted to
him had not been granted under any of the conditions of
the- proclamation of 1850. It was for an altogelsher different
matter; and after an investigation of Captain M‘Clure's
claim by a committee of this house, it was given to him as
being the first to discover the North-West passage, and
had no reference whatever to the question he was about
to bring them. In 1856, Dr. Rae made a claim for
a reward, and the Admiralty gave him the £lO,OOO pro •
raised under the third condition. lie did not blame in the
least the Board of Admiralty for the liberal and generous
view they had taken, but when they came to look at what
had subsequently taken place—when they saw the disco-
very made by the gallant crew of the Fox, what they had
done and how they had fulfilled to the letter every condi-
tion in the proclamation—he thought he might almost ar-
gue it as a claim—he would not say as a legal claim-Lat least
that the good faith of this country was pledged that those
brave men should not go unrewarded. He asked his noble
mend to colder the claim in that generous spirit with
which he felt sis`te the country would wish such a claim to
be considered, for .I'4 did not put it as a legel claim, as he
bad already stated. Coa word as to what had been done
and crew of the Fox. They had
by the commander, officers',
le of Eng-
landbeen trying to effect—they had btnlved for the peep-
done in a small ship that whjch this country had foryears
anxiety ; ,and it was no small satisfaction to feel that that
that question about which the
yad been the deepe
was the last time this subject was likely to come before that
house. lie did not know what the feelings of any other
hon. gentleman might be, but he knew that when he came
to the conelusion of Capt. M'Clintoas's narrative—that aim-
ple and painful narrative—the last few pages struck him
with deep pain. When he read the heavy enemies of the
expedition, and when ho perceived upon whom those ex-
penses had fallen—(hear, hear)—he had no right i,•.`S use—
in point of fact he believed it was against the wish of LaVIY
Franklin in any shape to introduce the name ; but he did
not think it was for Lady Franklin, but for the house to
say, the expenses should not fall upon her, but upon the
country. There was a celebrated monument of one of the
best generals in the Austrian service who fell dyeing the
seven years' war, who after the narrative of his services
concluded with a few words which he should repeat to the
house, " Non pat la, nen imperator sect conjux posuit.”
(Cheers.) It was not the country that he had served, it was
not the imperial master whose battles he had fought, but
it was the widow who had raised the monument. Having
spent so much money in searching for Sir John Fran'-'in
and his companions, the country ought not to let the ex-
pense of the last mark of its respect for those gallant and
distinguished men fall on Lady Franklin, but the country
should claim it as its right to pay them. (Hear, and eheers.)
He knew well that she had her reward, and if perchance,
as he feared was the case, her exertions had weakened her
means and diminished her comforts for the remainder of her
life, everybody who knew her would feel that she would re-
joice in any sacrifice incurred in the noble task which it
had been the great effort of . her life to accomplish. The
house perhaps permit him to call to their minds who Sir
John Franklin was. They knew him as a navigator of the
Arctic regions. In early ltfe he was a gallant sailor, who
had fought at Copenhagen, who had fought at Trafalgar,
who had distinguished himself as a volunteer on board
an East India ship in the celebrated defence of Capt. Dance
in beating off a squadron. He subsequently served Ms
country in a civil capacity, and when his services were
afterwards required he did not shrink from giving them,
though he was of an age and in a position which world
have fairly entitled him not again to engage in laborious
work—he did not shrink from facing those dangers whibh
he knew so well, nor from meeting that death which he had
found. Such men as those did honour to their country, they
honoured it fully as much as those who fell in the battle-field
and to whom a grateful country raised monuments in that
place where the greatand the good were laid. (Cheers.) Ho
died in the execution of his duty, obedient to the orders he
had received, and at that very moment when he lead seen—
he could not exactly say he had made the discovery of the
north-west passage, if passage it could be called—what he
had been sent out of the country to discover. In speaking
of their chief, let him not forget the conduct of those who
served under hits—of Crozier, Fitzjames, and many gal-
lant and younger officers, who if their lives had been spared
would have been ornaments of the profession. The conduct
of such men raised the character of England, and the cha-
racter of the flag under which they served. (Cheers.) Ho
did not ask his noble Mend any specific question. He was
anxious to leave the matter in his hands; and he knew no-
body in whose hands he would be more ready to leave a
case of this kind, which required not more delicate discre-
tion than generous and gentlemanly feeling. He was
ashamed of having so long trespassed on their attention,
but the manner in which he had been received proved that
he dealt with a subject in which the feerngs of the house
were warmly interested. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. WHITESIDE hoped the house would allow him to
say a few words on the subject, in consequence of the inte-
rest he had taken in it, and of his personal friendship for the
gallant commander of the Fox. In June, 1857, his right
hon. friend, Mr. Napier, moved that the Government of the
day should fit out anotheri Arctic expeditionto endeavour to
discover what had been the fate of that brave sailor and his
comrades. That motion was not resisted by the Government
from any desire to oppose the wish of Lady Franklin, but, as
it was truly expressed by the right hon. gentleinan then at
the head of the Admiraltysbecause they believed it would be
a fruitless enterprise, and that it would probably cost the
sacrifice of life. After that motion some persons contributed
to an expedition, but she greater part of the expenses of the
last voyage were borne by Lady Franklin. Capt. M'Clintock
did not undertake the command of the ship in a spirit of a
rccklessadventurer, for he (Mr.Whitside) happened to know
from a scientific gentleman that Capt. M'Cliutock had care-
fully and clearly studied the whole question, and believed
that if he were enabled to reach the Polar regions he could
discover what had become of Sir J. Franklin and his•com-
panions. He went in a ship the smallest by which such a
voyage had ever been undertaken, and with a small crew.
He sailed in July; in September his ship was embedded in
the ice; they were not released until the April following,
during which interval they had drifted 180 miles. The day
they were releas4d, instead of returning to England, they
only became the more determined to prosecute their enter-
prise and achieve the object of their voyage. He must say
the simple narrative possessed almost a romantic interest,
one of the most interesting and useful portions of it being the
sledge travelling, and what could be accomplished by means
of it. The mystery of Arctic voyages had been cleared up by
25 brave and gallant men, whose merits—he spoke this with
all deference—were equal to any achievement on the battle
field. There was the soldier's death or a joyful victory ; but
here there were required more enduring- spirit, loftier reso-
lution, greater qualities of mind and body than in any other-
enterpr me. (Cheer..-.) He happened to know Capt. M'Clure,
and to him he must say that the noble lord at the head of
the Government behaved with the utmost generosity.
(Hear.) He (Mr. Whiteside) had told Capt. M'Clure that
there was no assembly in the world which was more ready to
reward con spicuousmerit than the House of Commons. Lady
Franklin had declined to accept auypecuniaryreward from
the Government of this country—her hopes and wishes h id
been that her husbond might be recognised as the true dis-
coverer of the North-West passage, as many men of science
said he was. He was of opinion that a national monument,
or some other such public recognition of the services of Sir"
John Franklin would be just gore the country, but he was
content to leave it to the generous nature of the noble
viscount how that object might be best effected. It could not
be in better hands ; and to the noble lord he (Mr. Whiteside)
begged to return his sincere thanks for that mark of distinc-
tion already conferred on his friend and countryman, Cap-
tain M'Clinbock. (Loud cheers.),
THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
Mr. LOCKE asked the noble lord at the head of the Go-
vernment if it was in contemplation to remove the natural
history collection from the British Museum; and if so, to
what place it was proposed to remove it ?
After a few words from Mr. CONINGHA3f,
Lord PALMERSTON rose to reply to the several ques-
tions which had been put to him. Ho said—l will first
answer the question put to me by the hon. gentleman op-
posite regarding the selection of designs for public offices.
I have to say that no decision has yet been come to with
regard to the designs best adapted for the purpose. When-
ever a selection shall be made the designs shall be submitted
in the way in which the designs were last year, to members
of the house, who will have an opportunity of seeing them.
With regard to the question of my hon. ft:end who spoke
lest but one, there have been two meetings of the trustees
of the British Museum at which the question was consi-
dered whether the ea. ;sting buildings wer e sufficient in point
of space to accommodate not only the existing collection,
tut
the annually incrcasingnumber of these collections, and
if not, whether it would be desirable to iacreaee the space
by adding to the buildings of the British Museum, or
whether it was better torezova to some other place some
portion of the collection in
opi-
nion of the trustees was that it would British
bMuseume
bettert.
o removeT he
t
portion of them to some other a building place where •
lding could
be obtained at a comparatively
go to the east of purchasing lanToderate expense than to
the British Museum, in order toimmediately adjoining
erect upon it adequate
buildings. They were further of opinion that if
m any por-
tion of the collections were to be reoved th
tory collection was that wh easilyich'was moste natural his-
and advan-
tageously removable. No decision has, however,
yet been
come to as to the spot to be chosen, but Government will '
further consider the matter and the best way of dealing with
the collection, the matter standing over for the present, but
the trustees have agreed at tbe meeting that the books and
other articles of the kind shall remain where they are. An
hon. member below the gangway has asked me whether I
have received a memorial front certain Irish Catholic peers
and commoners bearing on the arrangements now going
forward in Italy, and respecting the temporal dorairions of
the Pope. I beg to answer that I did receive a memorial
being numerously and respectably signed, the object of
which was to request the Government to encourage and
concur in any arrangement which would tend to ma'ntain
the integrity, independence, and neutrality of the Papal
dominions. The only answer I could give to that memorial
was to acknowledge its receipt—(a laugh)—and state that
we would take it into consideration. If we had gone into
any answer, I sin afraid there are matters in that memorial
in which my opinion is not exactly in accordance with the
memorialists, and it appeared to me better not to enter into
any explanations. It is well known that it, is the wish of
her Majesty's Government to leave the Italians to settle.
their own affairs, and that their Zona the Bt itish Government
would not exert themselves in doing anything which
should prevent the Italians from taking their own affairs
into their own hands. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the
point to which try right hon. friend has adverted, and
which I am sure is a subject which engages the sympathy
and attentjen not only of the house, but the whole country,
it is impossible to speak too highly of the courage and de-
votion manifested by Sir Leopold M'Clintock and hisbrave
companions in the expedition which they undertook in
search ofthe remains of Sir J. Franklin. It is quite true, as
stated by the right hon. and learned gentleman, that those
services were not less honourable when performed in so
distinguished a manner than those performed on the field of
battle, and • that they manifested in as high a degree the
qualities which adorned the soldier and
the
sailor, and upon
no occasion were , those qualities mote honourably developed
than by that brave man in his
iseovery of, the remains of
the Franklin • •'
expedition. At the same time it is due to say
that there were
though they did not
who, though not equally successful,
where the Franklinnot in the same manner arrive at the spot
rem •
less display all those high
ams were found, they did neverthes
qualities which were manifested