The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 15, 1866.

'SSE

100
100
100
all
100
100

92 94
90 92
00 n
76 78
75 7 7
103 165
102 104
1(2 101
1(3 105

87 P.O
lt3 105
lud Its

105 1( 7
104 106
105 107
1( 6 108
96 100
90 02
90 92
90 05
85 87
96 08
82 84

101}

107 Of

,ITIE.

77} k

86 6}
98
b 4 }

93j

IC4k

THE FRANKLIN MEMORIAL.

1 Uncovering of the Statue.--(This Day).
According to arrangements entered into some
time since by the authorities, but not very generally
made known beforehand to the public at large, this
noble and beautiful memorial to Sir John Franklin
and his gallant associates in the most famous of all
our Arctic Expeditions, was this afternoon formally
unveiled and inaugurated. And, for once in a way,
we have now at last had displayed to view in the
public streets of the metropolis A National Monu-
ment that may be pronounced to be in every es-
sential respect, perfectly satisfactory. It is a Monu-
ment that—to begin with—has been erected solely
and wholcly at the expense of the Nation, and in the
name of the Government—and this in obedience to
au unanimous vote of the Imperial Parliament. It
is—besides this—well-placed so far as its actual
site is concerned, though it would perhaps have
been better if the back, no less than the front and
sides of the monument, could have been inspected
from the pavement of the splendid thoroughfare it
adorns. It is, moreover, exquisitely designed and
admirably well executed—the whole work as a work
of art being not only complete in itself, but most
harmoniously proportioned. The responsibility of
designing this monument to Sir John Franklin, it
may be remembered, was entrusted to Mr. Matthew
Noble, the eminent sculptor, of Bruton-street,
Mayfair, and this in accordance with the judi-
cious• selection of the then First Commissioner
of Public Works—Woods and Forests as they used
to be called, Parks and Palaces as they are termed
now—the Right Hon. William Cowper. The
Statue itself, which is of enduring bronze—being,
moreover, an admirably conceived effigy no less
than eight feet four inches in height—was cast at
the foundry of the Messrs. Harrison and Cotam
—the substantial pedestal upon which it has been
erected being formed of a no less enduring ma-
terial, namely; of polished granite, from the works
of the Messrs. Macdonald and Field. The
evident notion of the sculptor, in designing
this vera effigies of Sir John Franklin, is this
—The moment selected for representation is the
one in which Franklin bad (as he is now known for
certainty to have had !) the immense and indescrib-
able satisfaction of announcing•to his officers and
men—(though not one amongst them, alas ! was ever
enabled to announce the same fact to the nation they
one and all of them had served so well)—that the
North-west passage had at last been discovered ! He
is seen grasping in his band—telescope chart, and
compass ! He is arrayed, of course, in the uniform
of a Naval Commander. But over the true-
blue he wears a loose outer-coat of fur, as a protec-
tion against the extreme inclemency of the Arctic
climate. Having decided thus as to the fittest
moment of all that he should select, the artist's
endeavour has clearly been—and it is an object that
he has accomplished with a truly surprising success,
and one upon which he may be very heartily con-
gratulated—not only to indicate the character of
Franklin in the statue itself, in its general aspect
and demeanour, but to indicate, also, that is
to say so far as is in any way possible
by outward form, those inner qualities of the
mind which enabled Sir John, by his deeds in
life and by his example of heroic endurance in
death, to add (as he has added) to the fame and
glory of his country. The likeness is pro-
nounced—by the best authority of all, in regard to
its accuracy, that is, by Lady Franklin herself, and
by others who were no less intimately acquainted
with her dauntless husband—to be not only excel-
lent in its literal truthfulness of feature, but won-
derfully characteristic as well in the subtler expres-
sion of the countenance no less than in the general
deportment.
The bas-relief adorning the front of dm pedestal
is profoundly affecting in both theme and treatment.
It represents the Funeral of Sir John Franklin—at
which the Burial Service was read over that glori-
ous seaman's coffin by his brave second in command
over the Expedition, Captain Crozier—thenceforth,
of course, until his own lamented death, the head
of it, as Sir John's natural successor. Crozier,
swathed in furs, stands there surrounded by the
other surviving officers and men of the two ill-
fated ships, the Erebus and die Terror. And gazing
upon the group, there comes to our memory, that
thought from Campbell's " Hohenlinden," that—
there and then—each of them might have said of
the others, could he but have had any prescience at
all of the dreadful future before them—
" 'None ' shall part where many meet,
The snow shall be their winding-sheet,
And every clod' beneath their feet
Shall be a sepulchre."
For—not one out of their whole number, as is well
known, was to survive,
was ever fated to return !
Happily—now that this beautiful monument has
been completed—their names, the names of every-
one among them—the huMblest tar and even the
poor little ships'
boys—are now, together with the
famous name of their heroic Chief, recorded on
the granite sides of the pedestal of this Memorial
Monument to Sir John Franklin—and themselves !
Upon the north side the list of names there en-
graved is as follows :

HER MAJESTY'S SHIP EREBUS.
OFFICERS. John Cowie John Morfin
Sir J. Franklin, Rt. John Sullivan Charles Best

•
James Fitzjames Phiiipßeddington Thomas M'Convey
Graham Gore John Murray Henry Lloyd
H. F. D. Le Vesconte John Bridgens Thomas Work
J. W. Fairholmo Thomas Watson Robert Ferrier
Robert 0. Sergent Thomas Plater Jusephus Geater
Chas. F. Des Veoux 'William Smith George Williams
Edward Couch Francis Dunn Thomas Tadman

James Reid Edmund Hoar Abraham Seely
Stephen S. Stanley Daniel Arthur Feancis Pocock
Charles H. Osmer William Bell Robert Johns
Harry D. S. Goodsir John Downing William Mark
Henry P. Collins James Hart ROYAL MARINES.
Thomas Terry Richard Aylmore Daniel Bryant
John Weekes James Rigden Alexander Paterson
John Gregory ABLE SEAMEN. Robert Hoperoft

PETTY OFFICERS. George Thompson William Pilkington
Samuel Brown John Hartnell William Brains
Richard Wall John Strickland Joseph Healey
Robert Sinclair Thomas Hartnell William Reed
Joseph Andrews William Orren BOYS.
William Fowler William Clossan George Chambers
James W. Brown Charles Coombs David Young
" They forged the last link with their lives."