The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-03 00:00:00

DR. KING AND THE FRANKLIN-

PARTY

The medical officers who have accompanied those Arctic
expeditions which have so greatly glorified the name of
English seamen and honoured English enterprise, have
always been distinguished for the intelligent contributions,
embodying the results of the voyages, which they have
offered to the literary and scientific world. Among the
most distinguished of Arctic medical officers is Dr. King,
whose published works have attested equally his zealous
devotion to the great Arctic question and his intimate ac-
quaintance with the geographical and meteorological rela-
tions of this terra incognita.

When the continued absence of the Franklin party first
excited the fears of English seamen, and became the subject
of comment among the sevens, Dr. King discussed with great
minuteness and ingenuity the probability of Sir John
having taken one of the several routes open to him, and
maintained that he must evidently have taken the route
towards the Great Fish River. These views DA King
again and again brought before the attention of the Admi-
ralty, and volunteered to conduct an expedition in the pre-
sumed route of the ill-fated party, which might have been
arranged with ease and at little cost. At the very time
that he was pressing his offer upon the Government Sir
John Franklin and his devoted followers were traversing
that path and pursuing the very course which he marked
out. The reasons which Dr. King adduced were fully
stated, and so powerful was their united bearing, that one
would imagine that only a foregone acquainance with other
facts not known to Dr. King could have justified the refusal
on the part of the authorities to entertain his proposition.
It now appears that they were not in possession of any
such facts, and the motives which operated to prevent them
from allowing Dr. King to follow up the traces of these
brave and devoted men are as mysterious as that refusal has
been disastrous and deplorable.—laneet, Oct. 1, 1859.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge,
attended by Col. Tyrwhitt, has returned to town from visit-
ing the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., and Mrs. Her-
bert, at Wilton House, near Salisbury.
His Royal Highness the Count de Flandre, ae-
compr.nied by Major Burnell, arrived at Grillion's Claren-
don Hotel on Saturday, from Balmoral.

The Duke of Somerset, who accompanied the
Board as First Lord of the Admiralty on their official visit

to Pembroke Dockyard, arrived at Maiden Bradley, his

seat in Wiltshire, on Saturday.

The Earl of Jersey, since his retarn to town, has

been suffering from ve;ylndifferent health, and we regret
to learn fears are entertained that his lordship is gradually

becoming weaker. The medical reports yesterday were

rather more favourable.

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston are enter-
taining a succession of visitors at Broadlands, near Romsey.
Lt.rd and Lady Taunton, who have been making
a series of visits in Scotland, have arrived at Dunrobin
Castle, N. 8., on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of
Sutherland.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mrs. Glad-
stone have arrived at Hawarden Castle, Chester, from
Penmaenmaur, Conway. _ _

We learn from an authentic source that the Em-
peror of Russia will be at Warsaw on the 15th instant, and
that the Russian ambassadors in England, France, Prussia,
and Austria have received orders to repair to the Polish
capital. They are expected to be there on the 17th in order
to confer with their Sovereign.
- - -

The prospectus has been issued of the East India
Steam Navigation Company, with a capital of £120,000
in £5 shares. The object is to send out steamers to
navigate the inland rivers of India—the principal
existing company engaged in that trade having for years
past realised great profits.
ROYAL CALEDONIAN HUNT AND PERTH RACES.
—This, the most aristocratic turf gathering annually held
in Scotland, and which last year afforded a brilliant re-union
of sportsmen, will be held on 'Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday next at Pertb, and the programme promises three
good days' sport.
A POTIIECARIES'-HALL.—The following are the
names of gentlemen who passed their examination in the
science and practice of medicine and received certificates to
practise, on Thursday, the 29th of September :—R. Parker,
Churton, Cheshire ; W. Riste, Bere-Regis, Dorset ; John
Arminson, Preston, Lancashire ; H. Horsley, Croydon,
Surrey ; J. Jackson, Leicester ; J. B. Shepherd, Skidhill,
Kent; A. C. Gaye, Minehead, Somerset; and N. Green-
wood, Truro, Cornwall. The following gentlemen also on
the same day passed their first examination :—W. C. Wise,
Plunistead, Kent; H. Hume, Newcastle-on-Tyne; F. 0.
B. Wither, Basingstoke, Hants; T. Bowling, Birming-
ham ; L. J. Lee, Devonshire-square ; and T. Kitching,
Campbell-road, Bow.
TIIE TORY BANQUET AT LIVERPOOL.—We hear
that the Tory banquet, which Will take place on Saturday,
the 29th inst., in the Philharmonic-hall, is to be on a scale
of magnificence never before equalled in Liverpool ; that
the demand for tickets (at two guineas) is very great, and
that the boxes and stalls will be crammed with those who
can only afford to see the " Lions" feed. It is said that the
Earl of Derby, Mr. Disraeli, and most of the leading men
of the Conservative party already accepted invitations.
We have also heard that on the same vvening his worship
the Mayor will entertain the Right Ron. James 'Wilson at
a banquet in the Town-hall. These are current rumours,
and we therefore only give them as such.—Liverpool
Albion.
TIIE GOLDSCHMIDT CONCERTS.—The concert last
night brought together the largest audience ever assembled
in the A themettni, nearly fourteen hundred persons being
present. The reserved seats, presented the most brilliant
array of beauty and fashion it has ever been our good for-
tune to witness in this city ; and, indeed, we will go so far
as to say, we think, for the extent of the population, it
would not be equalled in any other city in her Majesty's
dominions. In addition to the portion of the Rotundo set
apart as unreserved, the entire orchestra was converted to
the same purpose, and crowded. This, added to the gal-
leries filled to overflowing, proved the talismanic effect of
the name of Jenny Lind; and this not alone on the music-
loving portion of our community, but also on numbers who
reverence the noble qualities, kindly sympathies, and
charitable impulses that actuate the heart and govern the
conduct of Madame Goldschmidt, one of whose latest acts
of generosity has been to volunteer her valuable services in
singing gratuitously at the Mercers' Charity Concert, to
come of in Dublin in a few days ; and to which is owinc,
the chance of her being in Ireland, as nothing but the
cause of charity would have induced her to cross the
Channel, particularly at this uncertain season of the year.
—Cork Daily Courier.
THE REVIVAL.—The subjoined extract from the
Dublin Evening Mail supplies a piece of information which
may well stagger the staunchest Revivalist—namely, that
since the commencement of the movement in Belfast crime
has rapidly increased, a strange fruit of the Spirit :—" Bel-
fast Criminal Statistics.—A return of the criminal eases
disposed of at the Belfast petty sessions for the eight months
of 1858 and 1859, ending on the last of August in each year,
shows the following result :—ln the months of January,
February, March, and April, 1858, the number of persons
brought before the magistrates amounted to 2,890, while in
the same four months of the present year—those imme-
diately precedent to the revival—amounted to 2,761 cases,
being a falling off of 129 cases in the four first months of
the present year. In May commenced the revivals. In
the four months from May to August, 1858, the number of
prisoners brought before the magistrates of Belfast amounted
to 3,457, while in the same four months of this year the
number of personsonale and female, sentenced to punish-
ment for being drunk and disorderly' ran up to the sum
total of 3,939 being an increase of no fewer than 482 of-
fenders."

Dr,. SMETHURST.—This prisoner still remains in
Horsemonger-lane Gaol under a respited sentence of death,
and not the least intimation appears to have been given as
to what will be the final decision of the advisers of the
Crown in reference to his ultimate fate. In answer to in-
quiries that have been made of the gaol officials it has
been stated that no communication whatever has been
received from the Home-office respecting the prisoner,
except the order for his respite, and this is all they know
upon the subject; but every day an order is expected from
the Secretary of State, directing what punishment shall be
inflicted in lieu of the capital sentence. During the last
few days a paragraph, copied from an evening journal, has
been going the round of the papers to the effect that in-
quiries were being instituted with regard to other crimes
supposed to have been committed by the prisoner ; but from
all the information that can be acquired from the best
sources it appears that this statement is entirely without
foundation, and that no such inquiries are going on; the
only question under consideration being what ought to be
done with the prisoner under the very peculiar circum-
stances of the case.
A MARE,IAGE OF CONVENIENCE.—A very un-
pleasant, but not wholly 'unexpected, affair has occurred
in high quarters in Paris. The Prince N. left Paris about
ten days ago to travel in Switzerland. His Royal and
Imperial spouse, hearing that the suite of her husband
comprised other persons than those strictly necessary to
keep up the state of a prince, resolved to join him without
further delay. Her unexpected arrival at Geneva angered
her lord and master beyond control, and he asked the lady
by whose authorisation and by what right she dared fellow
him. " The right that every wife has to join her husband,"
she replied ; " but since my presence is so obnoxious to
you, I will return to my father, whose love for me will pre-
vent his considering State interests before the happiness of
his child." So saying, the young Princess C. left the
Prince, who has just spent the dowry she brought him in
the purchase of an estate in Switzerland. The Princess is
now in Paris, making all the necessary arrangements for
her final and entire departure from the scene of (to her) so
much unhappiness. One cannot but applaud her resolve
—young, noble, kind hearted, a fearful realisation must it
have been to her, of all those tender fancies of a husband
which every girl has, to find herself linked to a man almost
old enough to be her father—a man of vulgar tastes, corrupt
ideas, immoral tendencies—everything that one f an af-
fectionate heart despises and abhors. Alas for the marriage
de conrenance .'—lady's Newspaper.
THE CHINA SQUADRON.—Our readers will be
glad to observe that that gallant officer, Commander J. E.
Commerell, has been appointed by the Commander-in-chief
to the command of the Magicienne, vice Captain Vansit-
tart, decease]. Captain Commerell entered the navy as
midshipman, gallantly distinguished himself at the battle
of Pai:ana, and was present in Captain (now Rear-Admiral)
Hope's gig at the cutting of the chain of the boom at Obli-
gado, under a murderous fire. He was promoted to the rank
of Lieutenant in 1818, and served several years in the
Dauntless on particular service. In February, 1854, he
was appointed to the Vulture, in the Baltic, which he re-
linquished on his appointment to the Weser, 6, paddle gun-
boat, in the Black Sea, and while in command of that vessel,
lie rendered most efficient services in destroying immense
quantities of corn and forage belonging to the enelAy- in the
rankS nak
NlO
October,
VictorialB 5 8,
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Sea of Azoff, and fin. which he was highly commended by
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the late Lord Lyons in his despatches, and also raised to the
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oamr dms
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February, 1856, till that vessel was paid off in 1857. In
paddle-sloop, on the East India and China station, which
he commanded with his usual gallantry at the late unfor-
tunate affair in that country. Captain Commerell has also
for his valuable
services received the foreign orders of the
Medjidie of the sth class, and Knight of the Legion of
Honour.