October, 1854, the officers and crew of Sir Edward Belcher's squadron arrived home, with Captain M'Clure and the crew of the Investigator. The Assistance and Resolute, with their tenders, Pioneer and Intrepid and the Investigator, were so firmly blocked up in the ice, that it was found impossible to liberate them; and after making al secure, they were abandoned by Sir Edward Belcher's orders, and their officers and crews arrived home in the Phoenix, North Star, and Talbot store ships, which had been sent to their relief. During the whole of her perilous voyage of nearly four years, the Investigator lost but one officer and five men out of a crew of sixty-five.

HOPES AND FEARS, AND COURSE OF OPERATIONS FOLLOWED FOR TERMINATING THE SEARCH.

In an ably written and interesting letter from Lady Franklin to the President of the United States, expressing her sincere and profound gratitude for the service which has already been rendered to the Arctic cause by the United States Government, she says, "The result of the late operations of the allied squadrons, though falling short of our hopes and expectations, are neither insignificant nor devoid of great encouragement for the future. They prove, in the first place, that the missing ships escaped all the catastrophes which the faint-hearted and despairing had predicted of them in their outward voyage, and arrived in safety at the first winter quarters, where were the graves of those men belonging to the discovery ships, and buried, apparently with great care and decorum; attesting that the ships' companies were not only in life, but, as other unmistakeable signs combine to prove, in circumstances of security, comfort, and plenty, and full of vigour. Again, the future field of search has been narrowed, and the exploration of Captain Austin's officers over the ice, carried on with a spirit and perseverance which makes me proud that they are my countrymen, having shown that our ships could not have pursued a south-west course; while the discoveries of Captain Penny, conducted with equal energy and spirit, in a north-west direction, leave no room to doubt that the clear water he there came upon was the first opened by my husband's ships, and that they pursued their way towards Behring's Strait in a high northern latitude. Thus our future efforts have a more confined and definite

aim. It may be affirmed that the lost navigators are now

to be looked for with every hope of success, in the space lying between 100° and 180° of west longitude and any parallel of latitude north of 75°. It would appear, therefore, that to secure the completeness of the search, it should be commenced simultaneously at both ends, and that no single expedition going up Wellington Channel should be considered to have exhausted its work till it emerged in Behring's Strait, or, in other words, accomplished a northwest passage; nor any expedition starting from Behring's Strait deem its object attained till it comes out in Wellington Channel or Baffin's Bay; or, in other words, performed the north-west passage. We derive infinite comfort from the proofs which the late expeditions have given us, that considerable resources exist in those northern portions of the Arctic regions which have now been approached, for the support of human life, and very satisfactory, also, is the additional experience gained in confirmation of all former evidence, that the Arctic climate is in itself favourable to health, and that the loss of life attending the expeditions is, in spite of the risks and accidents incidental to them, far less than the average in any other quarter of the globe. With these facts before us, and with no proof or even sign of any sudden calamity having overtaken them and cut short their progress, it seems not presumptuous, but within the bounds of a reasonable and modest calculation of probabilities, to conclude the lost navigators have only not been found because they were already beyond the reach of the efforts which have been made to come upon their track, limited as their efforts have hitherto been to the duration of a single season. The discovery ships were years ahead of all their pursuers, and, while the latter had advanced hardly beyond the starting post, they were struggling towards the goal. If misfortune has indeed overwhelmed them,-and how shall I dare refuse to believe in such a possibility ?-it has been in the strenuous ardent pursuit of their duty, and not in the early and timid abandonment of it, as they would seem to imply who gratuitously suppose that our brave countrymen turned back at the end of a single winter, and perished on their way home. It was the known determination of my husband, and is recorded by him in his last letter from the borders of the ice, to renew his attempts year after year, and if foiled in one direction to try another. * * * I cannot but regard the rescue of my husband and his companions, and the accomplishment of the new passage, as nearly identical objects. Had the researches which have hitherto been made in vain been

subjected to no other restrictions than the accomplishment of the one object or the other, so long as the lives of those employed were not necessarily sacrificed, we might not perhaps have had to mourn over a series of bitter disappointments. It is only by having the same objects in view as the original expedition, and pursuing it with the same steadfast perseverance, that we can hope to solve the mystery."

Another searching expedition, consisting of the Advance, fitted out again by Mr. Grinnell, left the American shores in April, 1853. The former surgeon, Mr. Kane, promoted to Lieutenant, was in charge of it. A more judicious selection could not have been made.Though before serving in but a subordinate capacity, he signally distinguished himself for his intelligence and energy. In one essential qualification he stood especially pre-eminent; that qualification was faith. He firmly believed that Sir John was yet a living man, and that he could be rescued from his place of confinement by human means. His heart was thoroughly in the enterprise, and his zeal, it was certain, would not fail so long as a vestige of hope remained.

On July 23rd, 1853, he was at Uppernavik, in Greenland, and was pushing on in his brig for some safe harbour on the eastern side of Smith's Sound, then he would leave his ship, and proceed with an exploring party of twenty or thirty men towards the north, with sledges, dogs, and gutta-percha boats. This locality is 230 miles to the north of Beechy Island, the starting point of Sir Edward Belcher, and seventy miles north of the utmost limits seen or recorded in Wellington Channel. At a meeting of the St. John's Lodge of Newfoundland, in June of that year, after the receipt of a cordial address and a masonic flag, Dr. Kane thus explained to his brother masons his hope and sentiments in regard to the further search for our long absent brother of the mystic tie, Sir John Franklin:

"Allow me to explain to you the rationale of the present undertaking, and to state the grounds on which our hopes of its success are based, as this may be desirable to remove misapprehensions which too widely and too generally prevail upon this subject. To those whose knowledge is obtained and whose judgment is formed at the fireside, this may indeed appear to be a wild and hopeless expedition; but those whose practical knowledge is derived from exploration, scientific research, and hard experience in

those regions towards which our course is now directed, have formed a far different opinion, and their acquisition of knowledge constitutes them the best judges; for in their belief the probability amounts to all but certainty, that either Sir John Franklin, or at least the greater part of his brave band, and most likely all of them, are still alive, and may yet be restored to their families, their friends, and to the world.

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Against this probability are only to be placed the mutations and chances to which, under ordinary circumstances, human life is everywhere liable; for it is almost certain that Sir John and his noble crew could not have been exposed to danger arising from any catastrophe: icebergs in the region to which he has been traced are things unknown, nor yet are there seas there, in a nautical sense, by which their lives would be imperilled :-the only accident that could befal them would be from the sudden closing in of the ice, characterised by the term of 'nipping,' but even from that there are almost always time and means to afford escape; and, consequently, a carefully-formed opinion, based on reliable data, is now entertained among scientific and experienced men, such as Sir Roderick Murchison, and Commander Penny of your own nation, and of numbers among us, whose practical knowledge of those regions adds weight to their authority,—that this little band of martyrs to science, or at any rate, the greatest part of them, are still alive, and if the search be faithfully persevered in, that they will yet be found."

Lieut. Kane's expedition, although energetically conducted, added nothing to our stock of knowledge respecting the missing expedition, because it was directed in a wrong channel. It was doubted whether Sir John Franklin proceeded in the spring of 1857 westward, or northward up Wellington Channel. His instructions expressly enjoined the former course, but an extensive search by means of sledges, in that direction, extending to 103° 25' along the south shore, and to 114° 20′ along the north shore, afforded no indication that such was the course actually pursued. It was the opinion entertained generally by the officers of both the English and American expeditions, that Sir John prosecuted his course by the open sea north-west of the Wellington and Victoria Channels, and was shut up in the almost boundless region of water, ice, and land that extends between Victoria Channel and the high and extensive lands north of West Georgia, considered by some to be a continuation of the

range of mountains seen off Cape Jakan on the coast of Asia. That there is a great polar basin with a higher temperature than that of the Arctic zone, abounding with animal life, and ample means for human subsistence, was plainly set forth by Captain Penny, in 1850, as his decided conviction. This opinion was substantiated by Captain Inglefield, when he returned from a short steamer cruise of four months up Baffin Bay, in 1852, and presented a report of his observations to the Royal Geographical Society. That gallant navigator attained the latitude of 78° 35', about 120 miles farther north than the highest point ever before reached. He passed through a channel some thirtyfive miles in width, and found an immense extent of open water before him; but was prevented from proceeding forward by a tremendous gale which his little steamer was poorly adapted to encounter. It is Captain Inglefield's opinion that Baffin Bay is misnamed, and is in fact an arm of communication between the Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans.

On the 31st of May, 1845, we have a pleasant account of the missing expedition and its commander, in a letter from Captain Fitzjames to Mr. Barrow, of the Admiralty. He writes thus:

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Sir John Franklin is delightful, active, energetic, and evidently even now persevering. What he has been we all know. I think it will turn out that he is nowise altered. He is full of conversation and interesting anecdotes of his former voyages. I would not lose him for the command of the expedition, for I have a real regard-I may say, affection-for him, and believe this is felt by all of us. I have not seen much of Crozier yet, but what I have seen I like, and I think he is just made for a second to Sir John Franklin. In our mess we are all very happy; we have a most agreeable set of men, and I could suggest no change, except that I wish you were with us."

Again, on the 1st of July :-"The only difficulty I had was to get Sir John to shorten sail when it was wanted. He is full of life and energy, with good judgment and a capital memory,-one of the best I know. His conversation is delightful, and most instructive; and of all men he is the most fitted for the command of an enterprise requiring sound sense and great perseverance. I have learnt much from him, and consider myself most fortunate in being with such a man; and he is full of benevolence and kindness withal."

The following extract of a letter from Lieutenant Fair