Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-10-30
THE BRITISH ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

from THE LONDON OF OCTOBER 49, 1862.
The intelligence received from the Arctic Expedition
which, under the command Of Sir Edward Becher is
gagged in the perous adventure Of exploring the
the Northern Pole is TO certain extent satisfactory We
may least indulge the expectation that this time the
task will be fairly accomplished 1t would be premature
after the long interval that has elapsed the depar
ure Of Sir John Franklin and his brave companions
give way to hopes that may prove visionary but at least
shall know whether all hope of seeing them again alive
must be absolutely resigned This time the icy will
in all probability be fairly searched for Sir Edward Bel
cher appears have commenced his progress their
secret under circumstances favorable those
which attended upon Frankin's own advance. In the
Of every single expedition which has been directed
into these 10y regions search Of missing country
inclement sky and premature setting in of the
frost have bacd the efforts Of the navigators There
may have been vaclation Of purpose there may have
been involuntary error such incidents are almost nse
parable from all human struggle; but it may well be
doubted whether until the present moment the utmost
of energy and skill would have enabled any officer
follow closely upon the track Of Sir John Franklin and
his companions 1t should also be remembered in Justice
to the conductors of all previous expeditions, that al
though they certainly failed in accomplishing the direct
purpose of their mission their efforts have not been with
beneficial result Warned by their failures Sir Ed
ward Becher enabled to concentrate his energies upon
single point and that point the which offers the
most reasonable chances Of The process Of
aiming these regions with effect is m exhaustive
Our missing counymen may have advanced into the Po
lar Seas by any Of four five routes but it diff
fcultnot to say mpossbleto determine priori in ia
vor Of which route lay the balance Of probabilities We
are now speaking in measure at ease--we are
judging calmly after the fact. We know that the
most reasonable hope Of getting Sir John Frankins
track lies in pursuing the route by Wellington Channel
but knowledge the result of experience and the fruit
OF failure II should be subject Of hankfnlness to all
persons interested in the fate Of Franklin that an unusu
ally open has favored the efforts of the present
searching expedition, that much Of certainty had
been obtained Is very probable that Sir Edward Bel
cher is advancing in the right direction, and II is also
probable that he will be able to advance in that direction
with effect Such is in point Of fact the and SUBJ
stance Of the intelligence which brought home by the
Prince Albert searching vessel and which published
on Monday last in the columns of this journal.
Very considerable efforts appear to have been made
by Mr. Kennedythe gentleman under whose directions
the search was his people discover any
traces Of Franklns expedition that might yet DO forth
coming but without effect Late in June the Prince AZ
bert searched the ice and proceeded by Ponds Bay mp
Lancaster Sound When she reached Barrow Straits in
the beginning Of September the ice had already barred
the passage II determined to proceed to Port Leo
pold AT this point Mr. Kennedy and boats crew well
nigh met with death dreadful the Polar region
could infct He had landed to make inquiries but be-