The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1876-11-10
Arctic EaiInrea.


The return of the Alert and Dis
covery, without having attained OBJ
jecis valuable in a geographical point
of view, is more significant event
than the brief telegraphic dis
patches would lead us to believe.
For two centuries, one expedition
has followed another into Attic
Seas, each pursuing nearly the same
track as his predecessor; and,
though each added somewhat to the
aggregate amount of human knowl-
edge of these high attitudes, no one
was completely successful, and sew
eral were exceedingly disastrous.
The fate of Franklin acted both as
q warning to ardent explorers and
as an incentive to greater dill
gence, so that the majority of the
really important discoveries have
been made by the searchers for that
unfortunate sailor.
The two great objects which have
caused so much interest to center in
the frozen regions of the North,
have been the discovery of a north
west passage by which the Pacific
may be easily reached from the At
lantic, and the voyage from Europe
to China reduced to mOiety of its
present length; and the consumma-
ton of, the journey to the North
Pole. The northwest passage has
been proved to exist, but the same
commander who demonstrated its
existence, also gave irrefutable evil
dence that as a path of commerce,
it is utterly useless. Clicked with
ice, as it is during seven IN onths in
the year. no ship, save one specially
armed against the icebergs, dare ev-
en- attempt its intricscies, while the
ice fees drifting hither and thither
leave the way sometimes, open some
times closed, but always uncertain.
The discovery of the North Pole,
or that spot on the surface of the
earth where the polar star is exact
ly overhead, is not supposed to
have q practical, but solely q scien-
tific interest. There have been the
orists, it is true, who claim that the
region around the Pole must pos
sess q much milder climate than
that further south while others ar
que that the open sea must be there,
and that somewhere in the vicinity
islands must exist, since birds of
species which raise their young on
ly on islands are known 10 migrate
past the furthest point reached by
the explorations of men. But these
are mere speculations, and when we
consider the slim data on which, as
scientific conclusions, they rest, they
are hardly entitled to serious con-
sideration. In science nothing must
be received as truth without the
most indisputable evidence in its
favor. Science must rest on fact,
not on speculation, though the latter
sometimes leads to the former.
The Alert and Discovery started
for the Arctic regions;a year and
a-half ago, under the most favora-
BILE auspices. They were fitted up
in the best possible style, and car
ried an abundance of provisions
and fuel for a three-years' stay.
They were well manned, and, what
ls OF quite as much importance,
their crews were well disciplined
and under the control of two of
the most trusted officers in the En-
glish navy. Every appliance that
could give the expedition q chance
| to realizs the end desired was fur
nished by the liberal hand of Gov
eminent which, when it gives at ali,
gives right royalty. No expense
was spared, in order that the off,
GERS and men might be saved every
needless peril, and furthered in
their way as much as possible; and
of thel scores of expeditions that
have sailed between Greenland and
America, not one was better provi-
ded, or started out with a brighter
prospect of ultimate success.
But in spite of all these circum-
stances in its favor, the expedition
just returned and accomplished lit
orally nothing. It was expected
that during the summer of 1875 the
shl ps would penetrate almost to the
Pole, and would complete the jour-
ney in the open season of 1876.
But they did nothing of the kind.
In 1879, with their best exertions,
| they could get no further than Iati-
tude SO degrees z minutes, 81 de-
grees further Dorth than the point
whore the Polaris, under Capt. Hall,
passed the winter of 1S7I-72. The
officers of the English expedition
claim credit for having made sIedge
Journeys to latitude 85 degrees, but
Hall did as much. penetrating to
within 400 miles of the Pole, and
that without 1.-THE of the resour-
ces at his command which were
possessed by the commander of the
English party.
II is pretty evident that the ill
| fortune of the Alert and Discovery
will throw a damper on Arctic ex-
pioratlon for long time in the fu-
ture. Hall and Mares did every
thing they could 20 succeed, and
both deserved success. People and
Governments are now ready to say
that, could anything have been done
In Arctic explorations by the bra
very, the perseverance, or the inge-
nufiy and labor of man, it would
have been accomplished by these
two. individuals will henceforth,
probably, be more chary of their
means, and Governments more stin-
gy of their appropriations, for Arc
tic exploration purposes. There is
evidently nothing to be gained in
futher attempts by the Baffin's Bay
route, and if adventurous men still
desire to tempt Providence by
providing through eternal SHOWS.
the region north of Asia offers
more attractions and q greater
chance of success. It is a little Gu
rious, and something of a reflection
on the sagacity of the Arctic ex-
plOrers, that few of them seem to
have thought of trying to go north
in the direction that the warm cur
rents from the south actually flow.
So long as vast ''rivers in the sea"
sweep past the British isles, past
the rock bound coast of Norway,
past Spitzbergen, and pass on to the
north, it is reasonable to suppose
that there is better opportunity of
success in that quarter, where wind
and tide are both in favor, of the
explorer, than in the intricate water
passages north of America, where
all the forces of nature are appar-
entity lea2ued to oppose his prog