New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-07-04
POLAR RESEARCH.

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carried out, the third important American expedi
ton to the Arctic Seas will set sail from Boston.
Its two predecessors althOughth the scientific achieve
mcnts of the second one deserve an honorable men
ton, originated in a sentiment OF philanthropy.
The mission of DR.. Hays is purely and exclusively
scientific promising no direct benefit to any class
of mankind beyond that which results from the
advancement of science. 1t is intended, should
no insurmountabe obstacle intervene, to reach the
North Pole; to ascertain the character of the
Watery domain which surrounds it; to study the
movements of that subtle magnetic power whose
laws are still so i'll understood, and whose mysteri
GUS influence affects all the operations Of nature;
to investigate the phenomena of the Arctic currents,
especially in their connection with the great Gulf
Stream of the North Atlantic; and finally to collect
all the facts which may prove of interest concero-
ing the natural marvels of the highest terrestra'
latitudts. The little vessel which carries the ell
thusiasc adyenturers, in spite ofis limited capac-
ity, will not lack, we believe, any of the convent
ences calculated to render their task less difficult,
nor any of those appliances whose utility has been
demonstrated by extended experience.
Simultaneously with its departure from our
shores, another company, impeDed by the same
motives, leaves the nOrtbernmost point of the
United Kingdom Of Scandinavia. The goal of the
Swedish-Norwegian expedition is aleo the North
Pole, and the character OF the distinguished
PHYSICISTS and experienced explorers who accom-
paDy it, as well as tie generous and prOyident com.
pleteness Off outfit, give promise of a noble and
earnest rivalry. That theory, which may be called
American, that designates the marrow strait be.
tween Greenland and Grnnell land as the readiest
route to The extreme North, and that other and OPP
posing theory, which moy be styled European, that
points to the waters around the Island of Spitzber-
gen as the easiest entrance to the Polar Ocean,
will thus, both at the time, be submitted to
the severe test of practice.
But loftier interest attaches to these expedi-
tions as the pioneers in a new field Of Arctic re-
search. The earlier efforts of that nation which
has made itself conspicuous above all others in the
zealwith which, has explored the frozen seas, were
directed toward the accomplishment of rorth-
west passage, whose inutility was acknowledged
long before its discovery was effected. Its later
endeavors have been expended upon unsuccessful
attempts TO save the lives of some scores of its
venturesome sons cast away in bleak, distant,
and desolate region. 1t cost century of toll TO
sound the bays, lay down the islands, and mark
out the shores which stretch from Bailins Bay to
Behring's Straits. The Dutch, in the days of
their greatest commercial activity, sought
sometimes for NORTHWESTERN sometimes for
a north. eastern route to the Indies. The
energy of the Russians employed in tracing the
icy limits of their territories, aud succeeded 10 sail
ing along those boundaries from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. But now the scene of Arctic effort is
totally changed. The definite knowledge Obtaiaed
concerning the fate of franklin has put an end to
all expeditions upon large scale to the Northern
Regions of America, and terminated the first pc
Rod in the history of Arctic exploration. Hence
forth the labors of the hypeIbOrean navigator will
DO longer be confined to the vicinity of the north
ern continental lines, but will be bestowed
upon the unknown sea which those cOast-llncs in
close. Governments will cease to offer prizes for
the discovery of ali impracticable passage between
the two oceans, but will be ready to reward with
merted honor those who shall first plant the flag
of their country upon that spot which marks the
northern termination of our earths axis.