The daily press. (Cincinnati [Ohio) 1859-1859, 1859-05-25
Does Sir John franklin stun Livoi


We fondly cherish hopes that our distin:
guished exile, and his gallant crew, are stu
pfvIervea to their friends and their countryj
yet II is but a hops-a faint hope, toet+to which
ws cling with failing grasp and With bitter
tsars. Time has worn to a shadow, evanescent
To the eye of Reason, yet looming brightly on
the horizon Of Fancy. Still we must not des-
pair. When hopo quits the earth, she often
alights again, embalmed and invigorated, amid
the prayers of the faithful. In the chronicles
Of the ocean, when the wrecked mariner has
boen cast among it's raging billows, an unseen
hand has often guided him to happy shorej
and in the annals of mortal suffering, whom
hearts have sunk, and hands have failed, n me-
teor ray has often flashed upon the soul, and
an arm Of strength been commissioned to de-
liver.
"In asking, then, with the poet-whero are
the friends whom we mournY let us accept OF
the consolation which he offers, when it shall
appear that God has not aided the efforts Of
the resolute:
''where Ia heS wheref silence and darkness dwell
About him; ~ soul cut off from mem
shH mort, TS p'hSld @ wi iSt &. sStnTs SszsP 70 tell
prisoner from Winters very citadel,
Broken FORTH what he before has told again
How tn the hearts and hands of resolute mon,
God aiding, nothing Is lmpossiblel
Alasl 'he enclosure of tho stony wave
Is strong, and dark the depths Of polar night;
Yet Ono there is omnipotent TO save,
And this we know, 10 comfort still wo crave,
Into that dark he took with him light:
Tho lamp that can illuminate the grave"
"Still then, the question is asked, does Frank
lin now survive? Captains 0mmanney and
Austin, experienced Arctic navigators, are
clearly of opinion that neither he nor any por-
ton Of the crews are now living; and they
ground such OPT ION upon two considerations;
first, that even n second years residence in the
Arctic circle impairs the mind and dobilitates
the body of Europeans; and secondly, that it
must have been impossible for the crews to
procure suHiciency of food after their stock was
exhausted. Captain Penny is of contrary
opinion, but the weight of evidence appears to
be against him.
"To expect, therefore, a favorable result now
seems like hoping against hope. A mystery
like that which rests upon the fate Of the Pres
ident, but a mystery, alas. in which reasonable
conjecture supplies the place of facts, rests also
upon the lot of our gallant countrymen. To
them, if no more, may be applied In spirit, if
not literally, the words of Collins beautiful
hymn:
"How sloep the brave who sink to rest
When Spring. with dewy fugers cold,
Returns to deck their halowed mould,
She thero shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod
BY fairy hands their knel Is rung,
By forms unseen their dirge is sung;
Their Honor comes, pilgrim grey,
And Science shall awhile repair
To dwell a weeping hermit thore."
"But whether they return or not return,
whether they remain in their prison of ice,
from which there is no escape, or have perished
amid the storms and rigors of a polar winter,
whether they have reached a more genial eli
mate, where the remnant of life can be spent
without pain, or are doomed to drag out n
weary existence under the united pressure of
hunger and cold, ever looking for deliverance,
and never finding it-whatever be their condi-
tion, their adventures, chronicled as they may
yet be by themselves, or painted by others, in
the lights and shadows of fancy, will ever be
| q subject Of romantic interest, and their fate
a source Of unmiugled joy or of deep lamen-
| tation.
"Nor will It be In England alone that thi;
interest will be felt, and this sympathy ava.
kened. Nations whom political differences have
estranged, and parties who, on every other
subject are at variance, have, with united
hearts, striven to discover the adven. .urou'
exiles; and as hope languished, and despair
succeeded, the general anxiety for their safety
and return increased in the same proportion
He who sacrifices his life for his country ha
but his oountrymen TO mourn his loss. II
| who makes the sacrifice for science and philan
thropy, is lamented throughout wider sphere
! The teara nf tho Old World and the New ar
shed over his tomb, and universal humanit,
bewail the departed sago. The fate of th,
Arctic traveller has, therefore, excited an inter
est ooeKtensiye with civilization"