The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-05-09
WELLMAN IN LONDON.
ENGLISH OPINIONS OF HIS UNIQUE
POLAR EXPEDITION.
The Thunderer" Shrugs It's Shout
ally Favorable - Scientific Men APP
prove of the PIan--An EngIishman's
Proposed Trip.

description of our aims and movements,
1t Is only a matter of justice to the
British press and people TO tell our
American people that on this side the
ocean we have been greeted with a
friendly interest which is the more well
come because it was wholly unexpected.
More than that the English have quick
ly perceived and recognized the merits
Of the scheme which we are pursuing
and have said so in right manly fashion.
This is the more surprising because of
the well-known unwillingness of John
Bull to do anything in a way different
from that in which his grandfather did
It, Just as the English yachtsman is
said by the jokers to trim the sails of
his yacht in a certain manner because
that was the way Noah did it, so the
English, in planning any polar explora-
ton for themselves, are sure to follow
the very methods adopted by Franklin
and the pioneers in that field many
years ago. But while the English make
no innovations themselves they recog-
nize the virtue Of. progress in others. At
least they have given us even more en-
coura cement than we had at home and
have to certain degree made us feel
the force of the old adage about the
prophet and his own country.
Before our arrival here the English
newspapers had printed short accounts
Of what we proposed to do and how we
think we can DO it, or just enough to
rouse curiosity as TO the full details of
the plan. Those early accounts. brief
and unsatisfactory, struck the English
in peculiar way. Mingled with that
feeling common to all Englishmen when
an American talks Of doing something
of this sort. he is very likely to know
his ground and to do it was another i'm
preston that this mad rush for the
pole. this dash of a single summer. this
attempt to capture in a sortie what all
others had failed to get within sight of
through many long. weary sieges. was
just a trifie visionary. Though we were
not here TO see them our English cOus-
ms doubtless shrugged their shoulders
and smiled as they read and talked of
the latest American ambition in the po-
lar world. But they were too fair and
perhaps too cautious to indulge in much
definite criticism without further infor-
nation.
The good old Times. that historical
| newspaper of an empire. did give a per-
ceptible shrug to its stately shoulders
and say in quotation marks that we
are assured Mr.. Walter Wellman is
one Of the best known newspaper men
| in Washington, " and added:
1T is evident from the many columns
in the American newspap ers in which
he tells the story not of what he has
done, but of the great things he is GO
ing to do, that he is a skillful journalist
Of the American type"
over here, and according TO the
! English standard. it is not necessary to
call a man a horse thief or to accuse
him of having murdered his mother-in-
law. II Is only necessary to say he is
something or other "of the American
type" That does quite as well. Aside
from this, the Times contented itself
with a fair resume of the plans of the
expedition, closing its article with the
following words:
Thus the pole might be reached in
fifty days, and some time next Septem-
Der or October the world may be excited
| by a telegram from Tronso that a smart
American journalist has. in something
like four months, accomplished a task
which has baffled humanity for as many
centuries.
When we came, the English wanted to
know all about it. They sent their in
| reviewers TO see us-the best of the
| lot were Ame-icans-and the papers pub
lished all we could find time TO tell them,
and that was a great deal. 1t was
which public opinion changed when the
whole story of our plans was made
| known. The press, ever cautious and
conservative, discussed the details IN
diligently and pointed out the advant-
ages of our method of approach to the
pole. 1T certainly seems promising"
said one paper. perhaps, after all. this
plan of dashing in, doing all one can in
the favorable season and getting as
quickly out is the best that can be de-
vised.'' remarked another. 1T looks
feasible, but we should have more con-
fidence in 1t if there had not already
been so many failures in the arctics,'
| cautiously commented a third.
when We first read Of your scheme"
said Secretary Kelley of the Royal geo.
graphical society, I'VE thought you had
gone crazy, but now that we see the
whole method we are half inclined to
pin our faith to you. If we had not seen
so many arctic expeditions spring up in
promise and go down in failure, even our
English conservatism might be swept
away by your brilliant proposition" So
with Prof. Hardness, the famous analyst,
who analysed all of Dr. Nansen's food
supplies and has also tested many of
those which we are taking. Il confess L
have been converted" said he. "At first
I thought your dash plan wholly imprac-
tical, but your methods stand close in
spection. Your aluminium boats and
sledges show a distinct advance and
great adaptability. We are afraid you
are at least going to do so much in the
arctics that there will be little left for
our countryman, Mr.. Jackson, to do
So many works of encouragement like
these have come to our ears through
the press or from the lips of men whose
opinions are worth something that we
have begun to feel that perhaps we are
sane after all, and that our friends in
America who thought we We're not may
be mistaken. The following from the
Morning Leader of London is sample
of the kind expressions with which the
British press has teemed during our
brief sojourn in this country;
at Is in reality somewhat strange that
no one has ever yet conquered the re-
gions of ice and snow. The records of
the expeditions Of Hudson, Phipps,
Scoresby, Ross, Sir John Franklin, Mark
ham, Greedy and Mares show that 1t is
not for want of courage and zeal that
| the polar problem has never been solved.
But science has made immense strides
| in the last few years, and the arrange
ments which Mr.. Wellman has made
| seem admirably calculated to attain the
end he has in view. There is no Div-
| ingstone TO be discovered and rescued,
| but it is not too much to say that II
| Mr.. Wellman and his companions sue
coed in their quest and arrive not ac-
| tually at the pole, but even within meas
| urable distance of it, they will be well
| coined back as few explorers have ever
| been welcomed. Such is the impression
logged perseverance against terrible
| odds ever makes upon he world. 1t may
| be that the tangible results of polar ex-
petitions are practically nil. That will
| not hinder Mr.. Weilman and his COM
4 tut t1anfr nnd of