The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, _NOVEMBER 15, 1859.

d•RW,V..
T 0 ist; DON LIFE ASSOCIATION,
.1J 81, King William-street, London, E.C.
Instituted 1800.
President—CHAßLES FRANKS, Esq.
Vice-President —JOHN BENJAMIN HEATH, Esq.
TRISTEES.
Francis Henry Mitchell, Esq. I Robert Hanbury, Esq.
Alfred Head, Esq. Bonamy Dobree, Esq.
The London Life Association was established more than
fifty years ago, on the principle of Mutual Assurance, the
whole of the benefits being shared by the members assured.
The surplus is ascertained each year, and appropriated so'ely
to a reduction of the premiums, and not to any increase of the
sum assured by the policies, the members being entitled to
such reduction after they have been assured for seven years.
The Society has paid in claimi more than
And has Policies now in three amounting to
For the payment of which it possesses a capital
exceeding 2,670,050
And a gross income from premiums and interest
of more than
Assurances may be effected fbr any sum not exceeding
£lO,OOO on the same life.
The Society has no agents and allows no commission.
EDWARD DOCKER, Secretary.

C-4 P T.l IN .23.PCLINTOCK AND THE
1112-4 NK I, IN EXPEDITION.

Last night, at ono of the largest meetings, per-
haps, ever held of the members of the Royal Geo-
graphical Society, Capt. M'Cliutock, the distin-
guished Arctic navigator, read a memoir of his voy-
age on board the Fox in search of the survivors of
the expedition of Sir John Franklin. The meeting,
convened at half-past 8 o'clock, and at which Sir
Roderick Murchison presided, was held in Bur-
lington-house, Piccadilly, and among the company
present were Oa Earl of Sheffield, Sir T. Freman-
tle, Sir H. Peily, Sir J. Kay Shuttleworth, Sir Jus- '
tin Shiel ; Generals Sir George Pollock, Portlock,
Fox, and Beatson ; Admirals Austin, Fitzroy, and
Love; Captains Sherard Osborn, Collinson, Hob-
son, Allen-Young, Sir E. Belcher; Mr. Warre,
M P., Mr. Danby Seymour, M.P., Mr. Ralph Grey,
M.P., and Colonel James.

Sir R. MURCHISON, on taking the chair and intro-
ducing Capt. M'Clintock to the audience, regretted
that the Earl of Ripon, the president of the society,
was prevented from being present in consequence
of the death of his relative Earl de Grey, adding
that, of all occasions, this was one on which the
noble earl would have desired to be in attendance.
Capt. M'CLINTocK, who was cheered on present-
ing himself to the meeting, then proceeded to read
his memoir of the incidents and results of his voy-
age, which, in point of fact-, eaThodied the more in-
terestinr, portions of his despatches to the Admi-
ralty published in The Sun the day after his return
to this country, and which are still so fresh in the
public recollection as to render a repetition of them
unnecessary. At its conclusion, however, he said
there were two important questions which had been
so frequently asked him that he gladly availed him-
self of that opportunity of offering some explane-
tion upon so deeply interesting a subject. The first
question was, whether some-'of the 105 survivors
might not be living among the Esquimaux ? The
various families or communities of Esquimaux met
with by Rae, Anderson, and himself, at different
times and places, all agreed in saying, "No, they
all died." The western shore of King -William
Island, along which they were compelled to travel
for two-thirds of their route, was uninhabited, and
all that was known to us of the mouth of the Back
River was derived from the journeys of Back,
Simpson, Anderson, and himself. None of them
had met natives there, consequently it was very fair
to conclude that the Esquimau' but seldom resorted
to so inhospitable a locality. In fact their life was
spent in a struggle for existence, and depended
mainly upon their skill in taking seals during the
long winter—a matter which required such long
training that no European had ever succeeded in
acquiring it. His (Capt. M'Clintock's) two Green-
land Esquimaux tried various methods at Bellot
Strait, yet did not succeed; and without dogs trained
to scent out the small breathing holes of the seals
through the ice, and through the snow which over-
lays the ice and conceals them from observation,
he did not think that even the Boothian Esquimaux
could live. It required not only that a man
should possess a trained dog, but that he himself
should be so well trained in the only successfo
mode of seal-hunting in this locality in order to
subsist. It was therefore evidently an error to sup-
pose that wkere an
.Esquimaux could live a civilised
man could live there also. Esquimaux habits were
so entirely different from those of other people that
he believed there was no instance on record of
either a white man or an Indian becoming domes-
ticated among them or acquiring tolerable expert-
ness in the management of a kayak. With regard
to the probability of procuring the means of sub-
sistence independently of the Esquimaux, he stated
what was shot by his own sledge party—and they
never lost a chance of shooting anything—during
the journey along the lands in question, which
occupied them for 79 days, and covered nearly
1,000 geographical miles of distance. Tho sum
total amounted to 2 reindeer, 1 hare, 17 willow

grouse, and 3 gulls. The second question was, why
had the remains of so few of our lost countrymen
been found ? It was indeed true that only three of
the 105 were discovered, but it was to be borne in

mind that from the time they left their ships they
were dragging sledges and boats, and therefore
they must have travelled almost constantly upon
the ice—not upon the land—consequently all traces
or remains there vanished with the summer thaw
of 1848. There was no doubt that many relics still
remained strewed along the uninhabited shore of
King William Island, beneath the snow; but as it
was most carefully examined three times over, he
could not think that any conspicuous object, such as
would be put up to indicate where records were
deposited, could possibly have escaped them. The
summer at Port Kennedy proved a warm ono, yet
the ice did not permit them to move until the 9th
of Augest, and the object of the expedition having
been attained they commenced their homeward
voyage.
Sir RODERICK MURCHISON said, it was with
no slight emotion that he rose to say a few words
on this subject. When his illustrious friend Sir
John Franklin, who was the Vice-President of the
Royal Geographical Society, sailed on his last ex-
pedition, he (Sir R. Murchison) looked forward
with hope to his return to fill the place which he
(Sir Roderick) had since so unworthily occupied.
The Government of the United States, and indivi-
dual subjects of that Government, had joined in
the search for our countrymen, but sought in vain.
The most distinguished of our Arctic explorers, se-
veral of whom ho now saw around him, including
Capt. Sherard Osborn, Capt. Collinson, Admiral
Austin, bir Edward Belcher, and many more emi-
nent seamen, had all sought and sought in vain for
that record which had been so happily discovered
by the last expedition, and which had revealed to
us, for the first time, the fate of Franklin. That
certainly was a triumph, a triumph for the British
nation, and it had been accomplished by the devo-
tion and energy of an Englishwoman. (Loud
cheers.) To Lady Franklin must be accorded the
great praise of having never desisted in her Efforts
until she had sent out the fourth expedition, none
of those undertaken by the Government having been
successful; and to have shown the devotion which
she did in such a cause was, perhaps, the 2reatest
honour that ever fell to the lot of an Englishwoman.
(Cheers.) He would not enter into any analysis of
the views which Capt. M'Clintock had stated in so
clear and able a manner. lie would only announce
that there was forthcoming a work which be (Sir
R. Murchison) bad had the privilege of reading, in
which would be narrated in a much more detailed
and attractive manner—for his distinguished friend
had not done justice to himself in the very brief ab-
stract he had read to the meeting—the marvellous
'Arils which he had gone through. Two of Captain
M'Clintock's distinguished associates now sat near.

him, Captain Hobson and Dr. Walker. (Cheers.)
The exploints of those gentlemen had been al-
luded to in the narrative of Capt. M'Clintock, but
there was a fourth member of the expedition whose
rnodtsty had induced him to conceal himself in some
corner of the room—Captain Allen Young. (" Hear,
hear," and a laugh)—a gentleman who, leaving the
merchant service, to which he belonged for a time,
threw not only his o services into this venture,
but also subscribed £5OO towards carrying it into
practical effect. (Cheers.) To geographical science
the results of Captain M'Clintock's expedition were
little less than glorious, for, among others, it had de-
termined for the first time the navigability of Bellot
Strait, and the northernmost part of the American
continent. In the forthcoming narrative the diffi-
culties which those gallant men had surmounted
weuld be presented to the world in detail. The very
first incident of their voyage in a little yacht of
only 170 tons, was that when they had nearly
reached Baffin-bay they were drifted back 1,200
geographical miles into the Atlantic again. But
they returned to the charge and eventually suc-
ceeded for the first time in revealing the fate of the
illustrious Franklin and his associates. There was
no doubt that Franklin went further to the north
in a ship than any British seaman—he (Sir R.
Murchison) was speaking of the search made in
Wellington Channel—and then he returned, and
performed that extraordinary voyage round Corn-
wallis Island, by which, in the first year of his en-
terprise, he proved it to be an island. (Hear.)
An interesting discussion followed on the results
of Capt. M'Clintock's expedition, principally as de-
termining the fate of Franklin, and also as it bore
upon the progress of geographical discovery, in
which several of the experienced explorers of the
Arctic regions present took part, including Sir Ed-
ward Belcher, Capt. Collinson, Capt. Sherard Oa-
born, Capt. Hobson, Capt. Snow, and Capt. Kenne-
dy. Capt. Collinson gave it as his opinion that after
Franklin and his comrades abandowd the
ships, it was almost impossible, having re-
gard to the question of provisions, and to
tho probable rate at which they would be
able to travel, encumbered as they were with
sick, with boats, and facilities for prosecuting their
journey, that they could have reached further than
the bottom of the estuary of the Great Fish River,
and that they all perished. He thought that
Captain M'Ciintock had nobly carried out the
motto with which he entered upon his expedition,
" Persevere to the end ;" and, in after times, it
would be remembered, that after the nation's

treasure failed, " the Widow's mite" prevailed.
Captain Sher and oAorn, as an Arctic navigator,
said, he could not resist the conclusion that the
search for Franklin was now closed. 1-Iz, had read

Captain M'Clintock's journal, which was written
from day to day, without any wish to arrive at a
particular theory, and therefore on that ground
eminently valuable, and he felt that, whatever the
track Franklin and his comrades took after aban-
doning the ships, it was their last journey upon
earth, and that they must have perished.
Captain SNOW, in an animated speech, stated the
reasons for believing it possible that some members
of the Franklin expedition still survived, which ho
had already propounded in the public journals. lie
submitted that the evidence was not conclusive that
they were all lost, and that it would be to the
honour of England to make an attempt worthy of
her honour to ascertain their fate. Tie pledged his
word, if health was spared to him, and whether he
was assisted or not, that he would depart next
sokng with the view of going over the whole ground
and, if need were, would ally himself with the
Esquunaux until the riddle was solved.

Sir R. MURCIIISON, in adjourning the meeting,
said, it was a great fact in which all those naval
officers who had taken part in the discussion,
whether belonging to her Majesty's service or to
the mercantile marine, agreed that although Cap-
tain M'Clure was worthily rewarded for making a
North-west passage, Franklin was the man who
made the North-west passage. (Hear.)

A vote of thanks havin,, been unanimously
accorded to Captain Al‘Cliitock for his memoir,
the meeting separated at nearly 11 o'clock.

FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

(From Ca Times.)
We cannot doubt that our readers have perused
with much interest, and that interest by no means
of an agreeable kind, the account whish we pub-
lished on Saturday last of the statements and argu-
ments in the _Revue Independante, a French periodi-
cal published in London, conducted with much
literary ability, and with as complete a knowledge
as any one not connected with Government can
have of the present state of affairs in France. We
have no doubt that the facts which it states are
true, though we do not feel ourselves called upon
to adopt implicitly the conclusions to which they
lead. We must not forget that the writers of this
periodical would rejoice in nothing so much as in
the overthrow of the present state of things in
France, and we must be very careful not to allow
ourselves to be carried away by their eloquence and
their ability beyond the point to which calm and
dispassionate reason would lead us. Rightly to
appreciate the existing state of things on the other
side of the British Channel is a problem of enormous
—of overwhelming, importance. Wo know no
family having any claim to the throne of France
from which wo have anything to expect which
should render us desirous of a new dynastic revolu-
tion, and we are only too anxious to bellow:, if that
belief can by any means be maintained, that the
Emperor Napoleon entertains towards this country
those sentiments of amity and goodwill which he
has so earnestly and repeatedly professed.
We think it cannot be denied that, without, so
far as we are aware, the slightest provocation on
the part of England, there exists in France at this
moment a very strong and very wide-spread
hostility to the Government and people of this
country. We do not lay particular stress on
any one conversation, either at a military festival,
when the tongue is loosened by wine, or in a rail-
way carriage, where the speakers are unknown

to each alio r ; but from- information derivogl
from a vast number of independent sources we
entertain no doubt that a feeling of hostiiity more
bitter that has existed in France since the peace of
1815 is at this moment entertained towards this
country. The French press, so guarded on all
other subjects, is on this outspoken. The moderato
and reasonable Journal des _Debuts contains attacks
upon England such as never before, in moments of
the greatest irritation, have appeared in its deco-
rous columns. The Gazette de France lacks lan-

guage to express the bitterness of its detestation,
and the Univers is still more 'virulent than the organ
of Legitimists. The talk of the Army and Navy is of
revenge for victories 45 and 55 years old, and their
firm belief, as well as their ardent wish, is that in
a few months the signal will be given for the inva-
sion of this country. The inhabitants of the de-
partments from Brest to Calais experience a revival
of the hostility of 50 years since, and, strange to
say, burn with ardour for a war of which they must
bear the brunt. We believe this to be a fair repre-
sentation of the present state of feeling in France
—nay, more, we believe the Emperor Napoleon
himself would, if the question could be put to him,
admit it to bo so. We believe he would tell us
that he is our only friend, and that to his interven-
tion alone we owe it that the two most powerful
States of the world are not already involved in an
exterminating conflict. The fact we state—namely,
that England is hated, and a war with her earnestly
desired by the clergy, the Legitimists, the Army,
and the inhabitants of the Northern provinces of
France—we think we may assume as perfectly well
proved, and we do not expect that any of the jour-
nals of France will be bold enough to deny it.
The next question is, how does it happen, after a
peace of 45 yc.,2s, that this should be the feeling
of France towards us ? To what cause are we to
attribute it? 'What provocation have we given?
What offensive claims have we put forward P What
have we done in the last ten years to make the
France of 1859 more hostile to us than the France
of ten years ago? We have fought and bled toge-
ther, without, as far as we arc aware, any imputa-
tion on the good faith or honour of either nation.
We are even now preparing a joint expedition, and,
so far as we are aware, there is no part of the globe
in which our interests come in direct and hostile
contact. We are utterly unconscious of having put
forward any claims or entered upon any negotia-
tions which even the most perverse ingenuity can
construe as hostile to(French interests. The French
subjects whom the fortune of war has placed under
our Government are admitted precisely to the same
rights and privileges as our own people, and, as far
as hospitality goes, it has been our honour and our
pleasure to receive the representatives of every
dynasty that has occupied the throne of France
since the Revolution. There remain, certainly, the
injuries given and received during the wars of the
Revolution and of Napoleon ; but they in no degree
account for the phenomenon which we are examin-
ing—the great increase of French animosity against
England at the present moment, and a wish and
expectation in a time of what ought to be profound
peace ()fan almost immediate descent upon our shores.
We fear that the fact which is unfortunately so no •
torious can be accounted for in no other way than by
the assumption that these evil passions have re•
ceived a powerful impulse from the French Govern-
ment itself. The time is come when it is most
friendly and most wise to speak plainly and
openly. In England the manifestation of a feel-
ing in different and remote parts of the country.
is very easily accounted for. By the agency of
railways and electric telegraphs all the informa-
tion that can be procured on any subject of public
interest is simultaneeusly laid before the nation in
the sheets of a free press, and it is not marvellous
if from tho :same facts people should arrive for
themselves at the same conclusions. In France
there are but two ways in which the whole body of
the nation can be acted upon. The one is by the
press, and the other by the action of the centralised
authority, civil and military. The French press is
not exposed to censure, but the power of punishing
a newspaper in France is so summary, so complete,
and so irresistible, that the director of the journal
is forced to perform the office of censor himself,
under pain of the immediate and total confiscation
of the valuable property committed to his charge.
If he violates the law—and nothing is easier than
to do so without the slightest moral or political
guilt—he is liable to punishments of
of severity; and, if he does not violate the every
law,deg
may be warned, or his journal sup pressed without
the
ee
warning, at the pleasure of the Government. Not
only must he insert nothing which the Govern-
ment disapproves ; he is blund to insert any article
which the Government may transmit to him as if
it had emanated from himself—a fact which has
been made laughably manifest by the appearance
of the same sentiments, expressed in the same
words, in the most remote parts of the country at
the same time. It is not, therefore, too much to
say that for so much of the present irritation of
enr
Nntvimemuetl ndt threeoycifuailFr.
eer anioice exercise
isi• e•
feeling as arises from the attacks of the press
suppeonnoswihEeilie.i.g lTaAen
nde
hi
ntehetiiettnGtahtoeisoin'
he
tni a
tiGovernmenton
has
never
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ghaveiven s. u ffiTeheed , and
other
t way
i ot
iofi. t pidispleasing
by w h which hm
etheN
,e
di s
through opinion o f F rtahnee e may be l
hierarchy.
neously
bT he Minister of the Interior in Paris wields a power
more tremendous than was ever vested in any Mi-
nister of any Government. Re has but to express
a wish, and an enormous bureaucracy, whose rami-
fications extend to the smallest commune in France,
is immediately set in motion. Their advancement
' depends on their diligence ; their power penetrates