The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-05 00:00:00

understood what the outrage on the lorcha meant.
They took YEH at his meaning. He meant,
"Resist me if you dare," and they showed him
that they dared. He meant that he had cut off the
heads of 70,000 Chinese rebels, and he would do
as he pleased with theEurapeans who rebelled against
his determination to deal with them by violence, and
not by treaty. They showed him, however, that as he
had outraged the Treaty he must now be brought
to fulfil its terms. And this, whatever party be
in power, will be the result. Intercourse with
China must be freer than ever, even though it
should compel the very conquest of China. Such
a result all would deprecate. The CZAR would
look very crossly towards the Amoor to find him-
self forestalled, for he means one day to treat
China as he does Poland. JONATHAN would bite
his lips at the Britishers, and another country
would cry aloud—perfide Albion ! But certainly a
worse thing might happen for China than for the
Mandarins to become the officials of a Governor-
General of China instead of the servants of his
MANTCHOU Tartar Majesty. It would be a glorious
thing for China to be governed by the commercial
policy of Manchester. Let not Mr. COBDEN,
however, be alarmed. We do not want to sup-
plant the MA.NTCHOUS j but we can tell him we
would rather do this than bow the knee to his
Viceregal and gentle friend Y.

Several days have now elapsed since Lady
FRANKLIN and the sympathisers with Lady FRANK-
LIN received an answer—at last—a bitter and de-
cisive answer, from the Cabinet of Lord PALMER-
STON. That conclusive decision was recently an-
nounced in the House of Commons by the Right
Hon. Baronet the First Lord of the Admiralty. Sir
CHARLES WOOD then enunciated the resolution
at which himself and his colleagues had arrived
in words the most explicit and unmistakeable.
" Her MAJESTY'S Government," he said, "will
not give any encouragement to the proposal to
send out another Arctic Expedition." Now, al-
though we cannot, of course, but acknowledge at
once that we are deeply grieved at this decision,
we must confess, at the same time, that we are
not by any means surprised at it.
We are grieved, but we are not surprised. We
are grieved, in the first place, at the cruelly pro•
tracted and unnecessary delay there has been in
giving to the world this definitive determination
of the Government. We are grieved, moreover,
that the Ministry did not content itself with the
simple and perfectly sufficient declaration
that they, the Government of England,
would not themselves undertake to send out
another Arctic Expedition. Instead of going out
of their way, as it appears to us, in their gratuitous
endeavour to repress all further efforts at re-
search after Sir JOHN FRANKLIN and his heroic
companions. Implying this plainly enough by
the very phrase employed by the First Lord of
the Admiralty when he announced that Her MA-
JEBTY'S Government would not give any " en 111
-
couragement " to the mere " proposal" of any
further expedition. Emphasise the words as you
may, they are cruel words, and words that are es-
pecially cruel, because, as we have said, so wholly
gratuitous and unnecessary. The Government,
observe ! " will not give any encouragement"—
" will not give any encouragement"—to what ?
To another expedition No—" to the proposal"
for another Expedition ! To the mere proposal
of any such expedition, Ministers deny the smallest
modicum of—even encouragement I
Yet while we grieve at the tardiness as well
as at the manner of the reply at last vouchsafed
in this matter by the First Lord of the
Admiralty, speaking not merely in his own name,
but in the names also of his colleagues in the
Government—we are not, we admit, in any way
surprised at the nature of this Ministerial an-
nouncement. We cannot forget, of course, that
"much has been done" already—what though
" more remains* to do !" We cannot lose the
remembrance, for example, of the fact that no
less than five ships of the Royal Navy have had
to be abandoned in the icy regions of the Arctic
Seas, in the course of these researches alter Sir
JOIN FRANKLIN and his gallant comrades, any
more than we can shut our eyes to that other
fact of large import and significance, that not less
than 600,0001.
have already been expended in
these ill-starred expeditions. Those five vessels,
and those 600,0001. help to exonerate Govern-
ment, so far, from the guilt of indifference I But
even such losses fail to acquit them from the shame
of bungling in these researches, from the blame of
procrastinating in their final reply to Lady
'FRANKLIN and her sympathisers ; above all, from
the cruelty of the manner in which Sir CHARLES
WOOD at last made a clean breast of it—in the
House of Commons—as to the ultimate
decision arrived at by her MAIESTY's Government.
So that the pathetic and impressive appeal of
Lady FRANKLIN has been in vain. The argu-
mentative and convincing enforcement of that
appeal by Lieut. Piny has been in vain. Nay,
mo
volume*by Dr. c
more thanthis, the realty masterly and unanswer-
able ING,
setting forth the
whole case from beginning to end—setting it
forth in the broad light of reason—has been all
in vain in like manner ! And so the Arctic Ques-
tion, alas I is closed up, sealed—and thrown aside
to be forgotten like a tale that is told,—at leas);
so far as it concerns the future policy in regard
to Arctic Research of her Britannic MAJESTY'S
Government.

* The Franklin Expedition from First to Last. By Dr,
King, M.D. Svo., pp. 224. London John Churchill,
1855.

Lord Panmure has taken the mansion in Cheshain
place, late, the residence of Lord John Russell.

_ .
Lord Crewe has left the Clareudon, for Crewe Hall,
Cheshire.

THE LATE DlVlSlON.—Forty•eight Liberal members
voted for Mr. Cobden's resolution, and against the Go-
vernment. They are : --Mr. T. Alcock, Right lion. Sir
T. Baring, Mr. J. B&ll, Mr. T. Believe, Mr. G. Bowyer,
Mr. J. Crook, Mr. Dunlop, Mr. W. J. Fox, Viscount
Goderich, Hon. A. Gordon, Mr. Greene, Lord R. Gros-
venor, Lord Redd° Mr. Hadfield, Hon. C. Hanbury,
Mr. Heywerth, Sir J. Hogg, Mr. T. Kennedy, Hon. P.
King, Mr. Laing, Mr. Laslett, Dr. Layard, Mr. W. S.
Lindsay, Mr. J. Locke, Mr. M'Mahon, Mr. Meagher,
Mr. Miall, Mr. Murrough, Mr. Otway, Sir J. Paxton,
Mr. A. Pella% Sir T. E. Perry, Mr. J. G.
Philti-
more, Mr. Pilkington, Mr. J. R.cardo, Mr. Roebuck,
L"rd 3. Russell, Captain Scobell, Mr. J. B. Smith,
Mr. Starkie, Mr. M. Sullivan, Mr. R. Swift, Mr. G.
Thompson, Mr. The, Lord H. Vane, Mr. G. Vernon,
Mr. Warner, Mr. W. Williams. The Government also
lost the votes of the Peelites on this occasion. The Ayes
include the Right lion. E. Car3svi 11, Mr. Gladstone,
Right Hon. Sir James Graham, Right Hon. S. Herbert,
Mr. Rounded Palmtr, Mr. R. J. Phillimore. On the
other hand, 25 Conservative members support the
Ministry—viz,, Mr. Antrobus, Mr. W. Beckett, Mr. G.
W. I3entinck, the Marquis of Blandford, Mr. I. Butt,
Lord W. H. Cholinandeley, Sir C. H. Coote, Mr. E.
Derreon, Mr. H. Drummond, Mr. E. C. Egerton, Vic-
count Burly!), Mr. G. G. Harcourt, Mr. G. F. llenoago,
Mr. T. B. Horsfall, Mr. Kendall, Mr. G. C. Legh, Mr.
Masternian, Sir John Owen, Mr. G. F Robertson, Vs-
count Sandon, Sir W. Saiiith, Colonel Smyth, Lord A.
V. Tempest, Mr. Tollernache' and Sir J. Tyrell.
The advices from Mexico by the West India mail yes-
terday throw no additional light on the rumoured intcn
tion of the American Government to grant a loan of
3,000,0001. or 5,000,0001. to that republic. According
to some representations a portion of any sum that may
be received is to be applied to the claims of the English
bondholders, but this statement is perhaps circulated
merely to lull their vigilance and prevent opposition
NORTH BRITISH RAILWAY.—The report of the direc-
tors states that the gross revenue of the half-year ending
the 31st of January amounted to 139,4531., showing an
increase of 2,9421. over the corresponding period of last I
year, mainly derived from passenger trains. The direc
tors declare a dividend upon the ordinary stock of the
company at the rate of 2 per cent, per annum, leaving
8991
; •