The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-23 00:00:00

Commence at 7 o'clock;

CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS.—
EVERY EVENING.—The }finale of Verdi's Opera of
MACBETH (now first made public In England at these Con-
eerts). the extraorainiuy Violin Performances of the cele-
Lrated Infant DELEPIERRE FAMILY, and the usual
Vocal Concert.
Comic Vocalists—Messrs. George Hodson (the Irish Come-
dian and Mimic), W. T. Critchfield, and E. W. Mackney.
Several interesting Pictures are added to the Fine Arts
Gallery. The suite of Halls have been re-decorated and
beautified, and Constitute one of the moat unique and brilliant
eights of the metropolis.
Will shortly be produced, a Grand Selection, from Meyer-
beefs new opera of DINNORA.

THE WEATHER.-StrN OFFICE, SEPTEMBER 23.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
64—highest since noon yesterday.
8-4owest this morning and during the night.
67—this day at noon.

BeitoKETEA-29.78.
WIND, South• Westerly; fresh, with dull cloudy weather,

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
This DAr.—Morning, 10h. 50m.—Afternoon, 11h. 30m.
To-Moscow-Morning, Oh. Om.—Afternoon, 12h. lm.

THE SUN.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1859.

The story of the last Great Arctic Expedition is
now as a tale that is told. There is an end, at
length, to all this protracted and agonised suspense
in regard to the fate of FRANKLIN and his Com-
panions. We know but too distinctly now that we
may never hope more to look upon the face of one
—not even of one of that heroic band. Yesterday
the tardy tidings came to us, all too late for aught
save a heartfelt yet bootless sympathy. Fourteen
years, three months, and twenty-seven days have
elapsed since the sailing from Woolwich, on the
26th of May, 180, of the Erebus and the Terror,

with their gallant crews, under the command o:

Sir JOHN FRANKLIN. Not until the 22d of Sep-
tember, 1859, do we learn in England the actual
fate of the enterprise. And now, when the news
does finally come to us—the news as to the fate
of these brave seamen—lo and behold! it is news
absolutely more than ten years old ! Upwards of
ten years, in effect, proves to have slipped
by since the doom of that glorious little band was
in a manner thus definitively pronounced. We
know now for certain—for the record is under the
kandwriting and authenticated by the signature of

the dauntless old chief's second in command and
successor, Captain CROZIER—we know now at last

for certain that Sir JOHN FRANKLIN is dead—and

more than that, we know the very day upon which
hs breathed his last tranquilly, surrounded by his
companions. It was on the 11th of June, 1847—as
long ago as twelve years and more from this pre-
sent date—that poor Lady FRANKLIN was widowed.
It is some solace at least, now that the hoping
against hope down to the very last has been
crushed out of our hearts for ever—it is some
consolation, at any rate, to learn that the
true-hearted, dauntless old tar died thus peacefully
in the midst of his little band: not crushed to death
by some sudden and agonising catastrophe among
the eternal icebergs, not slowly tortured to death
by frost and starvation. Nearly two months after
FRANKLIN'S death, namely, on the 22d of April,
1848, her MAJESTY'S ships Erebus and Terror were
abandoned by—the " Survivors." That one word
tells its tale of endurance and suffering. During
those twe months between the death of FRANKLIN
and the final abandonment of the two ships, others
besides the heroic old commander had expired.
The survivors, however, amounting in all to 105
souls, took their leave of the Erebus and Terror—
names of evil omen to send forth upon an expedi-
tion full of Terror—to a fate dark as Erebus ! They
took their leave of their two ice-bound vessels thus
on the 22d of April, 1848, and, under the command
of Capt. CROZIER, set forth across the blinding snows
in quest of the Great Fish River—in prosecution
of their grand design—and in the hope of finding
assistance among the Esquimaux. We have the
statement of all this under the hand of Captain
CROZIER. The record has been brought home at
length, though dated as far back as the 25th of
April, 1848, and it is duly signed by Captain
CROZIER himself, and by his second, Captain
FITZJAMES. It was discovered at last but very
recently on the NAv. coast of King William's
bland, at a spot, called Point Victory. The
dauntless seaman who
has won this precious but
melancholy prize for England, and brought it home
to terminate, by one poignant
Certainty, a long
agony of doubt and hope deferred, is no other than
the leader of the last and concluding Forlorn Hope
in search of Sir JOHN FRANKLIN'S Expedition.
Captain M'CLINTOCK, chosen by Lady FRANKLIN
herself to conduct this her final searching expedi_
tion, has, with the most brilliant success, completed
his daring and perilous undertaking. He has
carried his little yacht, the Fox, further than
any Arctic voyager has ever yet ventured, into
those everlasting realms of winter. He has, by
sledge journies during this expedition with the
little Fox, added eight hundred miles of coast line
to previous discoveries. He has in effect contrived,
ahi he himself writes, " to unite the explorations of
the former searching expeditions to the north and
west` of our position, with those of JAMES Ross,
DEAS,E, and RAE to the south." He has thus trium-
pb.antlyoompleted and perfected the discovery of the
North -1,04 Passage. And while incidentally solv-

ing the last geographical problems left for solution
in those wild and scarcely penetrable regions round
the northern pole, Captain M'CLINTOCK has
brought back to us not only positive and reliable
facts and dates as to the FRANKLIN expedition, so
long missing, and so long left alone entirely to our
conjectures ; but with these written records he
carries home to us in England —ah ! such
mournful relics of those long dead and
heroic navigators. It
.is scarcely pos-
sible to read with eyes undimmed by sym-
pathy the catalogue of some of these poor little
awful relics ! Beside a boat that was found, for
example, in lat. 69 deg. 08.43 N., long. 90 deg.
24.42 W., upon the west coast of King William's
Island, May 30, 1859—beside this boat " Two
double-barrelled guns—one barrel in each loaded,
found standing up against the side of the
boat." In the boat some clothing and two
human skeletons ! One of these skeletons undis•
turbed—the other disordered, in the fore part of the
boat, as if by animals ! A small Prayer-book—
" The Vicar of Wakefield"—the cover of a small
book of Family Prayers—" Christian Melodies,'
with an inscription on the cover to G. G.—a small
Bible, " interlined in many places, and with nume-
rous references written in the margin "—a New
Testament in the French language. What an elo-
quence there is in these few items ! What a true
and simple pathos ! Again—turning to Captain
M'CLINTOCK'S own detailed narrative of the proceed-
ings of his little party of adventurers—we read
at one part—" Re-crossing the Strait to King
William's Island we continued the examination of
its southern shore without success until the 24th of
May, when about 10 miles eastward of Cape
Herschel a bleached skeleton was found, around
which lay fragments of European clothing. Upon
carefully removing the snow a small pocket-book
was found containing a few letter ; these, though
much decayed, may yet be deciphered. Judging
from the remains of his dress this unfortunate
young man was a steward or officer's servant, and
his position exactly verified the Esquimaux's asser-
tion [previously given in the narrative], that they
dropped as they walked along." There are two or
three anomalies, and ono or two contradictions no-
ticeable in the few documents yet given to the public
by Captain M'CLINTocK. These it is but fair and
right that we should notice—though they may be
each of them, it is possible, very easily explained.
For example, among the original papers stated to
have been found by Captain M'CLINToCK on Prince
of Wales' Island, there is one under date—" May,
1847," and signed " Sir JOHN FRANKLIN." The
question naturally arises, would Sir JOHN FRANK-
LIN have signed himself " Sir JOHN FRANKLIN ?"
A signature all the more curious when in the docu-
ment to which it is appended we read : " Having
wintered in 1846-7 at Beechey Island." A circum-
stance so bewildering, coupled with the previous
account given as to the fate of the Expedition,
that we find it noted at the Admiralty yesterday,
through this little Mem. :—" The words ' Having
continued in 1846-47 at Beechey Island,' should be
in 1845-46,' as in 1846-47 they were beset in the
ice, and the ships abandoned in April, 1848." Still
anomalies and inaccuracies may have crept in thus
in the copying. Spurious signatures would be in-
stantly recognisable. The veritable autographs
will, at a glance, put an end to all uncertainty.
Having thus completely accomplished the
end of his heroin enterprise, the brave
Captain M'CLINTOCK and his hardy seamen of the
little Fox will be now recognised assuredly as
having won a right to claim evidence of the
national gratitude, no less than earnest as-
surances (like these heartfelt assurances of
our own) of the popular admiration. The
red ribbon of a Companion of the Bath would
suit well the sea-blue of that gallant sailor's
uniform. The Victoria Cross might shine, and
shine deservedly, upon a less dauntless breast than
that of M'CLINTOCK !

One good result may follow from the Chinese
disaster. It will surely revive, and at an opportune
juncture, the practical alliance between France and
England. While two nations, or Governments,
like two individuals, have no pursuit in common,
they are ever liable to the influence of small dis-
turbing causes; but let some object of great im-
portance, and especially some common danger re-
quire joint action, and trifles are soon brushed aside.
Even parties in the House of Commons can merge
their minor differences, when the question is which
shall occupy the Treasury benches. The Chinese
treachery has presented such a uniting object to
both Governments. They were jointly insulted,
and their representatives murderously attacked.
The treaties they had jointly obtained were refused
ratification, though not a word of accusation, as to
anything unfair in them, bad been heard. Before
all the East, almost within hearing of the newly-
opened commercial kingdom of Japan, the vessels
of the Western Powers have been assailed by over-
whelming force, and with such success that nothing
but the thorough humiliation of the traitors to all
international law, can restore to us, in the eyes of
barbarians, the position necessary to our safety.
Though nothing official has yet transpired, it
cannot be doubted that Louis NAPOLEON will fully
do his part. The proportion of ships and men
which he would have to send to China, of men espe-
cially, would be hardly missed by him. And pro-
bably, as there is no demand for his navy in Europe
at present, he may be pleased, rather to show that
he does not need our aid in conveying his soldiers,
than to accept it as he did in taking them to the
Baltic. He will most likely also prefer to be well
represented in naval force, also, in the Chinese
waters. He will desire to show his naval equality
with England, not only at Cherbourg or Toulon,
but on the waters of distant oceans. We, of course,
cannot fail to do our part. Men we have ready in
the East, if we can but catch them. Men coming
home from where they are wanted, and whom we
could have made sure of, but for the foolish govern-
mental parsimony, which has failed to regard elec-
tric telegraphs to the East as a national affair.
However, if the discharged Europeans do
return, we shall not be in want
of soldiers acclimatised to the tropics ;
We have Sikhs in abundance—too many of
them, indeed; ten of them would, if led by a
British officer, thrash a hundred Chinese led by a
mandarin, and laugh at their task. With the
most ordinary good management we might send to
China even twenty thousand of these fine fellows,
who with a third of their number of Europeans
could march through China from north to south
and east to west without an enemy which would
dare to face them.
But while the two Governments are thus en-
gaged,
practicallyth eywill of course be brought into that
friendly association which must increase
their real friendship. From this we may hope for
some good to Italy.
Louis NAPOLEON knows
well that cur Governors cannot, cannot if they
were so disposed, change their position in regard
to Italy. He knows that it would be fatal to any
English Government to assent to the restoration of
the Dukes in opposition to their people, torefuse the
annexation of the Duchies to Piedmont, when all
parties concerned desized it, and much more, to
place over thou a French viceroy instead of

Austrian lieutenants. English statesmen might •
not go to war or even break off diplomatic inter-
course if any of these iniquities were perpetrated ;
but no English statesmen dare sanction these
things. Other great Powers would follow England
in refusing their sanction to such wrongs, and
the accomplishment of some or any of them
would therefore be no European settlement.
It would be a mere temporary arrangement, for
which Louis NAPOLEON could hardly wish.
When English Ministers press these considera-
tions upon him, he must feel that he at least is not in a
position which pledges him to anything. Cleverly
enough he has kept out of all pledges. The Dukes
were to come back if they could, but he is not
pledged that they shall. He is supposed to wish—
indeed, no one pretends to doubt it—that his cousin
should be an Italian King rather than a Paris
trouble to him ; and he would, therefore, be but too
happy had his Counts, RETSET and PONIATOWSKI,
but pleaded unsuccessfully for Grand Dukes,
and whispered successfully for his cousin ; but
he is not pledged—his honour or reputation in
no way involved. On the contrary, glory and
honour in Italy, in his case, are in conflict with
selfish and dynastic ambition. His personal
aggrandisement is concerned in filching from
Italy a kingdom for his cousin, but'
his reputation will be better secured by listening
to the wishes of England. Italian Liberty would
be a far more noble monument to his honour 'than
a King of Etruria who might, in a few years, be a
beggar for shelter at Brighton.
May we not hope, therefore, that the closer con-
tact into which the Governments will now be
brought, and their common interest in an important
military and naval expedition, will give to Eng-
lish counsels the ascendancy which their in-
trinsic excellence deserves. Our statesmen
cannot fail, we imagine, to do their duty
in the way of representation; and, if the
Italians do but steadily maintain their pre-
sent course, it seems impossible they should fail of
their object. Their moral position is so unassail-
able, the conscience of all civilisation must be so
strongly on their side, that bad as Rulers may be,
we can hardly believe them to have lost all sense
of decency. Legitimacy may be a darling idea, bu t
there are such things as the rights of nations ;
and if it be not one of them for nations to be
ruled and governed by whom they wish and how
they wish, it is hard to say what their rights are at
all. Our HAPSBURGS and ROMANOFFS, and HOIIEN-
ZOLLERNS are hardly got so far, yet, as to
affirm that nations are made for Royal Families,
and not Monarchs for nations. One thing is cer-
tain, the two greatest thrones of Europe ought to
be vacated, if the right of peoples to do what the
Duchies have just done be not admitted. How
little thought the Emperor of CHINA and her
Mandarins that they might be securing the cause
of Italian liberty !

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