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

THE SUN, LONDON, •TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 15, 1859.

LONDON LIFE ASSOCIATION,
81, King William-street, London, E.C.

Instituted 1806.
,'President—CHARLES 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 solely
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 claims more than £3,840,000
And has Policies now in force amounting to 6,250,000
For the payment of which it possesses a capital
2,670,000
exceeding
And a gross income from premiums and interest
of more than
Assurances may be effected for any sum not exceeding
£lO,OOO on the same life.
The Society has no agents and allows no commission.
EDWARD DOCKER, Secretary.

CAPTAIN M'CLINTOCK AND THE
FRANKLIN EXPEDITION.

Last night, at one of the largest meetings, per-
haps, ever held of the members of the Royal Geo-
graphical Society, Capt. M'Clintock, 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 tha Earl of Sheffield, Sir T. Freman-
tle, Sir H. Pelly, Sir J. Kay Shuttleworth, Sir Jus-
tin Shia ; 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 Seymourj- 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 incidentsJand results of his voy-
age, which, in point of fact; embodied the more in-
teresting 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 som*xplane-
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
bad met natives there, consequently it was very fair
to conclude that the Esquimaux 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 thp snow which over-
lays the ice and conceals them from observation,
he did not think thit even the I3oothian 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, successful
mode of seal-hunting in this locality in order to
subsist. It was therefore evidently an error to sup-
pose that where an.Esquimaux could live a civilised
man could live there also. Esquimaux habits were
so entirely different from those of other people that

ho belie;ed 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 k4ak. 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. The 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 one, yet
the ice did not permit them to move until the 9th
of August, 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 he now saw around him, including
Capt. Sherard Osborn, Capt. Collinson, Admiral
Austin, Sir Edward Belcher, and many more emi-
nent seamen, had all Bought 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 Governmenthaving been
successful ; and to have shown the devotion which
she did in such a cause was, perhaps, the greatest
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. He would only announce
that there was forthcoming a work which be (Sir
R. Murchison) had 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
perils 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
modesty 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 own 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 lesi 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 11.
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 Os-
born, Capt. Hobson, Capt. Snow, and Capt. Kenne-
dy. Capt. Collinson gave it as his opinion that after
Franklin and his comrades abandon the
ships, it was almost impossible, having re-
gard to the question of provisions, and to
the 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 Groat Fish River,
and that they all perished. He thought that
Captain M'Clintock 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 Sherard Osborn, as an Arctic navigator,
said, he could not resist the conclusion that the
search for Franklin was now closed. Ile had read

Captain M'Clintock's journal, which. was written
from day to day, without any wish to arrive at a
particular theory, arid 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 be
had already propounded in the public journals. He
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. He pledged his
word, if health was spared to him, and whether ho
was assisted or not, that he would depart next
aping with the view of going over the whole ground
and, if need were, would ally himself with the
Esquimaux until the riddle was solved.

Sir R. MURCHISON, 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 having been unanimously
accorded to Captain M'Cliritock for his memoir,
the meeting separated at nearly 11 o'clock.