Kanawha Valley star. [volume] (Charleston, Va. [W. Va.]) 1856-1861, 1859-10-17
From The New York Timess
) The Arctic Revelations.

: unfortunate comrades has at last beef
\ rent asnnder. Nine years at leas
have already elapsed since all hop
3 of their return was lost, but the de
I SPAR. of seeing them did not lesser
I the interest felt BY everybody in thei
fate, the desire to know where, how
2 land when they met it--by which o
the thousand dangers which the,
brayed, and on what spot of the aw
J fful wastes which they undertook Il
explore. There was something ter
} Iribly stantalizing in the disappear
lance of two ships.of-war, manned b
Hull crews, and provided with every
thing which could give . chance o
lsafety within the frozen wilderness
whose secret two centuries Of cour
} ageous endeavor on the part Of tbs
1 greatest maritime nations OF the
world, and unheard of fortitude Of
/ the. part Of the explorers they en-
Il ployed, have not sufficed to reveal, III
4 There il hardly a man Of this gener
alton whom the noble story Of Arctic
Explorations has net moved to thu
depths of his soul, and franklin was
Zone of the ablest, oldest and braves
men who had trodden that peri!ou;
4 path. For nearly ten years he him.
.Eself has occupied in all our eyes the
place of interest which he had pre-,
yiously assigned 10 natural mysteries
which he sailed to unfold. He has
j himself, during that period, been
sought with more courage and more
devotion, with deeper tortitude and
heller enthusiasm, than those he OF
his predecessors ever displayed great
as their herolsm undoubtedly was. in
| the search for the Northwest Passage
iIt is but two years sincefthe United
States sent on his track . man Of
whom lineage may we'll be proud, and
Of whom his country may well boast
as long as religions heroism is a
thing to boast Of. Only two winters
ago, around every fireside in Eng.
land as we'll as here, there were eyes
wet with tears over Kane's noble re-
cord Of the long Arctic night through
which lie watched in the braYe hope
that he might tell the world where
franklin and his men had persisted,
and we had hardly done perusing il
when Kane himself. had died in the
tcanse. The world had we'll nigh de.
SPARED of ever getting another ray
IofIightF thrown on tile mystery. Tie
ships had sailed away into. the frozen
seas. Eight years u the pursuit had
brought no bette i traces ofsthe expe-
dition thanSa few graves q few in
struments, d few vague Esquimaux
rumofss; and the public had almost
been reeonciled to the pain Of uncer-
tainty as to the exact nature of its
fate, BY the perfect certainty which
time had brought that no member of
lie was now, living. Happily, lady
Franklin hoped against hope, was
proof against demonstration and
against failure and whenfboth Eng
land land America had recoiled from
the icy barrier in despair she launch
ed one more ship on the track. 1t
was small screw steamer, command
ed by Capt, McCintoek, manned by
425 men, and, and as the result proves,
all worthylof neIanother andjof the
duty they undertook. This last tire
serve of d wife's devotion has done
what all else failed to accomplish
The fate OF franklin ana his ships
and men is at last known. He died
twelve yearsago. A geaisafterwaris
the two ships were abandoned, and
the surviving crews-z105 men mall
started on their march southwark
over tile ice. They persisted miseras
bly,, man by man, along the frozen
waste, and their track remains mark
| ed by. skeletons, clothing, arms, and
food, lying as they dropped.
There was but one thing wanting
to have made this Franklin expedi-
ton worthy Of as noble al epic as
that which has inlmortalized the fall
of Troy and the conquest Of Jel'usa-
lem land that was, thatthe man who
laid bare the mystery, which has per!
picked us for twelve years should be
worthy Of the men in whose foot
steps he followed and we are glad
to say, this, too, has been Fehchsafed
Eus. The story of Capt. McCIintock's
wanderings, as told in his own mar
rative, forms a worthy close to this
great tragedy. There are incidents
Calmly recorded lib it which. no tale
fof adventure has supplied anything
to sarpass, and which we. hope will
be mentioned with honor as long as
courageous devotion to duty, Iin the
face Of theInost appalling perils finds
anybody to- admire it. Our age is
after all The age of chiiyalry. The
march of Christian civilization may
have turned the fire which precipitates
a murderous shock, but it has fed the
fcalmer and nobler heroism which, for,
dutg's sake, supports the hardest
strain, and fiercest struggle, and
sorest trial. not for an honr. az far q