INAUGURATION OF THE STATUE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AT SPILSBY.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1715, 16 August 1862, Page 4

INAUGURATION OF THE STATUE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN AT SPILSBY.

[From the “ Stamford Mercury. i The statue now erected in this town, the birth-place ! of Sir John Franklin, had its origin in a subscription first set on foot by a few of the tradesmen who were desirous of doing honour to the memory and of perpetuating among them the name of their illustrious . townsman, soon after the melancholy termination of J his earthly career was unhappily placed beyond the possibility of doubt. The project was afterwards taken up by the gentry of the town and neighbourhood, with an earnestness which does them the greatest credit; and to the zeal and perseverance of one of them (the Rev. Thos. Hollway, A.M., late Vicar of Spilsby) in soliciting subscriptions and carrying forward the work to its present triumphant consummation, must mainly ■ bo attributed the complete success with which the whole has been crowned. The granite pedestal was, during hist week, erected by Mr. George Smith, architect, of Spilsby. The statue arrived on Monday last, and in the course of the afternoon was safely placed upon the pedestal, amid the loud shouts of the numerous spectators. It was afterwards covered with drapery, and was again exposed to the gaze of the asj sernbled multitude during the inaugural address by Sir John Richardson. 1 • The statue has been produced by Mr. Chas. Bacon,; { a young sculptor of much promise, chiefly known by I his statue of Mendelssohn, the inauguration of which i took place at the Crystal Palace last year. The | statue of Franklin stands on a granite pedestal in front | of the Town Hall, and has a noble appearance. The, [ casting, which is of bronze, took place on Wednesday,, i October 2nd, at the Grove Foundry, Southward, under L the immediate superintendence of Mr. Rogers, who ■i was for many years foreman sit the foundry of Messrs. Cottman and Robinson, and until lately directed the casting of all statues made by that firm. Mr. Bacon s ij statue of Sir John Franklin is an honest, manly, and 0; \ unaffected piece of work. The illustrious navigator n ljstands upright, leaning one hand on an anchor, and fi i grasping a telescope with the other. The face is C( watchful, open, and intelligent; and the sculptor (who made his first sketch under the immediate supenntenle deuce of Lady Franklin) has the testimony of all the fls relatives and the friends of Sir John to the fidelity of co the portraiture. The details of dress and aecoutrcments are faithfully rendered, being free from any m “ high art” idealization, and the treatment of the whole figure is broad and simple. When undraped on Tuesday it called forth the most unqualified approbation of ha the assembled multitude, among whom were some who Ki knew the great Arctic nav Igator when a boy, and rat others who had al-er wards made his acquaintance, lof 1 Tuesday the 26th was the day appointed for the inin anguration, and at two in the afternoon a procession was formed near the residence of the Rev. Thomas Hollway: it proceeded in the following order through the principal streets of the town, and then formed around the statue in the Market-place, facing the White Hart Hotel. Policemen; flags; the Spilsby Rifle Corps, preceded by their band, under the command of Capl. Hollway; the members of the original and present committee, with many other gentlemen of | the town and neighbourhood; Mr. Bacon (the artist), IN Mr. Rogers (from the foundry where the statue was j cast), and Mr. Smith, architect; completed by a long line of children belonging to the different schools of C O l the town, including those of the Spilsby Union. On Pj arriving in the Market-place the vast assembly were formed round the statue, and standing on a small platform Sir John Richardson proceeded to deliver the following address:— “ The dedication of the statue to a deceased beneI. factor of his country has been in all ages considered as ' the noblest honor a grateful nation can bestow. This p recognition of the public virtues of the late Captain Sir John Franklin has been declared by the supreme . assembly of the British people, in the solemn vote o! a J||| statue to bo erected to his honor in the metropolis, an ’ act alike praiseworthy in the Legislature who decreed , it, and suitable to the memory of an officer who died J! 01 . carrying the national flag into that North-West pasi sage which had previously been sought for in vain by or . the most celebrated navigators that England has proc*" duced. Such national homage to departed worth does pj? not however preclude a more domestic tribute of aflec- . ■** lion and respect from those among whom ho was born, 10n who knew more particularly the sterling worth of his 8 private character, who have lived in familiar intercourse with his family, and who watched a public career with the interest which every one feels in the rise and progress of a townsman. The purpose for which wcjarc this day met is on all these accounts a most appropriate one, and it is one that reflects credit on the town of Spilsby, and on the county of Lincoln at large, which has liberally lent its aid. By this I'Ot beautiful work of art which I proceed to uncover, Franklin lives again among the friends of his child- —“* hood. This statue will not only serve to call the lineaments of a departed friend to those who knew 6 Franklin in his manhood, it will also be a consolation and an object of just pride to his surviving relatives, most of whom reside in your neighbourhood, and will : be shown hereafter by parents to their children as an incitement to honest and patriotic action, whereby they also may earn a civic crown, and live in the

memory of their countrymen. “A brief enumeration of the leading incidents of Sir John Franklin’s life will show how justly he won the honors which we this day pay to his memory; but before passing to that part of my address I must beg your permission to say one word of personal import, in A explanation of the appearance so conspicuously before you this day of one who is not a native of the county. The oflice 1 have been entrusted with is one of which any man ought to be proud, and the committee have done me great honor in asking me to undertake it, but n I must state that it was unsought by me, and the conviction that many residents in and near this town ' could have done it much more justice would have ■ caused me to decline it, but the desire of paying every mark of respect in my power to the memory of a dear and commanding officer has led mo to overlook my Will personal disqualifications. Having served under Franklin in two of his most important expeditions, A from one of which we hardly escaped alive, and having in the intimacy of many days and nights spent in his company on that occasion, when hope of returning to the world was at its lowest ebb, bad the advantage of witnessing his unaffected piety and resignation, the Will excellencies of his character became known to mo more fully than they could have been through the interA course of civilized society. Moreover, having from that time kept up a confidential correspondence with him, and having become nearly connected with him by family tics, I had every means of knowing that the honors which flowed in upon him in a full stream never weakened his gratitude to God, by whom his steps were sustained through life. Entertaining as I Will ( i° a f conviction of the truthfulness of his character I feel that the remarks I have made or shall have ocF r casion to make in that respect, though eulogistic, have nothing of the nature of flattery, “ John Franklin descended, as his family name im- ■ * ports, from a lino of freeholders, and first saw the light in this town of Spilsby in 178 G. At St. Ives, in the •yyjjj neighbouring county of Huntingdon, ho acquired the primary rudiments of education, and afterwards received two years’ instruction in the Grammar-school SI of Louth; but having shown a very decided inclination for the naval service, he was taken from school in his i in a merchant vessel, was entered on the quarter-deck ! of the Polyphemus line-of-battlo ship in 1800. His Will s education having been arrested thus early, his acquaintance with the learned languages and classical history SIX was naturally limited, for at that period the schoolmaster seldom went afloat, and seamanship and nautical astronomy were almost the only branches of science taught to a naval cadet. But Franklin, young as he was, took with him into the service a sturdy independence and inquisitive mind, and a determination to avail himself of every source of information that SIX? was open to him, and to work his way to future dis--0 tinction by persevering industry. His career shows on TB how truly this resolution was kept, and his conduct uniformly revealed an abiding sense of duty. mmmm “In the battle of Copenhagen, in 1801, the Polyphemus led the van of the attacking squadron, and our young aspirant for naval honors was for the first time under the fire of an enemy, in an action which ME has beep considered the hardest that Nelson ever fought. Two months after this desperate fight our kau, a; cadet was removed to the Investigator, then fitting out dimens for discovery and survey of the coast of Australia, and groove) under the command of his relative, Capt. Flinders, current Three years of training under that able officer laid the List foundation of that practical knowledge of surveying to and correctness of astronomical observation for which Franklin was afterwards noted. Ho also learned in Aucl the society of that chief of botanists, llobt. Brown, and of his skilful coadjutor, Ferdinand Bauer, members of the expedition, to value the natural sciences, and ho ever afterwards showed an enlightened desire for their | promotion, which was shared but by very few of his OS brother officers of that day.—-In 1803, the Investigaa r { tor, through decay of her timbers, was condemned, and her officers and men having moved into the Porpoise, were on their voyage home to England wrecked on a coral reel', 200 miles distant from Australia. There, on a narrow bank, nowhere more than 4 foot above the water, and not exceeding ICO fathoms in length, !»4 1 persons remained for . r >o days before relief came to MEC them fiom Port Jackson. After their rescue from this perilous position, Franklin accompanied First-Liout. TH Forbes to Canton, where they obtained a passage to England in the Earl Camden, [East ludiaman, comO 1

manded by Capt. Nathaniel Dance, commodore of the China fleet of 16 sail. This nch sqaadron of dcck-en-cnmbercd merchantmen, on the 16 thFebruary, 180 , confronted a strong French fleet, led by the renowned Admiral Linois, and beat it off by a senes of skiful manoeuvres. A service of so much importance to the commerce of England, procured for the commodore the honor of knighthood, and ho, Nathaniel, in his offic report, warmly acknowledged his obligations to t.e two officers of the Royal Navy embarked in his ship for their professional services during the action. Franklin’s next appointment was to the Belerophon, in which ship he was mate of the signals during the great battle of Trafalgar. This very important duty needing coolness and presence of mind as well as bravery, was discharged, and he had the good fortune to escape without a wound, with only four or five others, amidst the carnage which swept away all the other combatants stationed on the poop deck. In the Bedford, his next ship, Franklin attained the well earned rank of lieutenant; and in the course of six years’ service rose to be first lieutenant in that ship. He was successful in that difficult office, his kindness gaming him the affection of the sailors, while he commanded their respect by the readiness of his resource and knowledge of seamanship. . “As an officer Franklin showed no little force of character and moral courage, in openly avowing his religious sentiments, for at that epoch any one who carried on the duty of the ship without oaths, and shunned the low dissipation of a seaport, was ridiculed as a psalm-singer and Methodist, terms then held to imply a want of bravery and manly virtue. Lieut. Franklin’s warlike employment, when in command of the Bedford contingent, was in an attack made by the boats oi the fleet on the United States flotilla at New Orleans. In this successful skirmish, which was perhaps the sole well-planned and well-executed affair in

that ill-judged enterprise, he boarded and carried one of the American gun-boats, and received a slight wound in a hand to hand fight. “ a general peace having closed the avenues to distinction through the ordinary course of service, Franklin turned once more to the scientific branch of the navy, and having consulted Sir Joseph Banks, placed himself by his advice under a London teacher of surveying; and in 1818, the search of the Northwest Passage being resumed, he was selected for employment in that field of discovery. As Lieutenant in charge of the Trent he was second in command of the expedition appointed to sail northwards through the Spitsbergen seas. This expedition having been compelled to return to England in consequence of the ship of the senior officer being shattered by the ice, Franklin was despatche’d the following year (1819) to Hudson’s Bay, and instructed to make the best of his way to the Arctic Sea, and to survey as much of the coast as his means permitted. In the execution of this task Franklin passed three years and a half in this inclement country, and travelled throughout it, in going and returning, 5550 miles. He succeeded, under the most adverse circumstances, in surveying that part of

the arctic coast-line which he designated Coronation Gulf, and was the third European who looked on the Polar Sea from the American continent, Flearne and Mackenzie being the two who had preceded him. The retreat of the party from the sea through the deep snows of a premature winter, attended with a lamcnt r able loss of life, excited general commisseration. Franklin had been promoted to the rank of Commodore in his absence, and on his return he was made Post Captain, and was also elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. “ The survey of the shores of the Arctic Sea was greatly extended by Franklin and the officers under his command as the Second Overland expedition, which left England in 1825, and his discoveries now embraced 44 degrees of longitude, or considerab y more then a third of the entire distance between Baffin’s Bay and Behring’s Strait. In recompense he received the honor of knighthood, was made Knight Commari-

der' of Hanover, the Degree of Laws was conferred upon him by the University of Oxford, the Gold Medal was adjudged to him by the Geographical Society of Paris, and at a later period he was elected to be a Correspondent Member of the Institute of France in the Academy of Sciences. “ Sir John was next employed in the Mediterranean in the command of the Rainbow, and in acknowledgment of services rendered off Palras in the war of liberation. King Otho bestowed upon him the Cross of the Redeemer of Greece. In 1836 Sir John was nominated to the important post of Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, which he held for six years. When ho was preparing to leave, friendly addresses were presented to him from every district of the island, and the

respect of the inhabitants of Hobart Town was manifested by a numerous procession of all classes of the community, headed by the Bishop, accompanying him to the place of embarkation. “In 1845, having resolved that the Arctic ExpcdU tion, which had been intermitted for some years, should be resumed, Franklin was directed to commission the Erebus, fitted out for that service, and the Terror, Captain Crozier, was placed under his orders. He was now on the verge of 60 years, but was still vigorous in body, with the powers of his mind in full force. The utmost confidence was placed in him by the Board of Admiralty,and the instructions under which he sailed were drawn up in accordance with his ovyn suggestions. The route which he followed, as revealed by the too brief but only record of his proceedings that has been recovered, was exactly that which his instructions dictated. On his arrival in Lancaster Strait,

being, as wo confidently infer, shut off from Ope Wnlker by intervening ice, ho adopted the alternative assigned to him in contemplation of such an event, and carved his ships to Wellington Sound. He found, as we know from more recent explorations he was sure 10 do, an impenetrable barrier of ice to the westward of that Sound, and turning therefore southward, he passed through a channel west of Cornwallis Island, back to Beachy Island, at the mouth of the Sound, whore ho wintered. " Next year (1846) when the sea became navigable, he sailed in the hope of accomplishing the main clause of his instructions, and steering southwards and westwards passed Cape Walker, whether on the right or the loft is not known, but on such a course as led him to the north end of King William's Island, and in a lino with a wide opening into the known channel along the continent distinctly marked on the Admiralty chart which ho took out with him. There in what he and his intelligent officers must have viewed as the fair way of tho passago they were sent to search for, his shins were enveloped by densely packed drift-ice, on the* 12th of September, 1846. On the Uth June, 1847, about six weeks before tho sea could be expected to open, Franklin ended an activo and honorable course —dying at his post, in the execution of his duty, in the *6lst year of his age. Up to the time of his death, the members of the expedition must have considered this progress to bo a success. They had already traced out new and important areas of the Arctic Seas, and if, according to their reasonable expectations, the ice

gave way within the next two months, one or at most two days of free navigation would find them rejoicing in the solution of tho long-sought-for problem of the north-west passage. But it was not to be. Whether from the peculiar meeting of the polar tides at that place, as lias been supposed, or from some other cause, the pack remained impenetrable, and the survivors, after a second winter in the same thick-ribbed ice, were obliged to abandon their ships that they might seek for food on the Great Fish River; but in the attempt they perished to a man. It is foreign to our present purpose that I should enter on tho heartrending details of that forlorn march, first heard of from Dr. ltae, and more fully disclosed by tho gallant Sir Leopold McClintock, whose affecting narrative is familiar to us all. Nor shall I detain you by speaking of tho search which was pursued during 11 years for the lost expedition. Suffice it to say that tho most promising officers of tho British navy pressed forward to take a part in it, and that other nations gave their sympathy and generous aid. From tho first Lady Franklin employed all her resources in promoting tho rescue of her husband and his companions. Her powerful and pathetic appeals urged our own Government to now efforts, and awakened throughout tho length and breadth of tho civilised world a deep interest in the fato of the lost mariners. Her time and pecuniary means were devoted exclusively to tho search, and it is not too much to say that henceforth her name will bo inseparably connected with the history of tho North-west passage. " Having now briefly, as the season of tho year demands for an open-air address, glanced at the events in the life of your townsman, which have earned for him tho high honor of a memorial statue in tho place of his birth, I may add that the contemplation of a life spent iu serving his country honestly and faithfully in various employments, though it may induce us to judge of the place he ought to take in tho future history of our naval heroes, will not give us a true picture of tho man and Christian, unless wo take also into account his unassuming pioty devoid of ascetism, and that kind disposition and tho playful manner which added tho love of his intimate friends to tho respect which his public character excited. " Note.— Sir John left an only child, who, after years of activo bcnovolcnco and domestic virtuo as a clergyman's wife, has been summoned at an early age to rejoin her father; but her eldest son is this day with us, and I will conclude this address by expressing a hope that iu his future progress through life ho may emulate tho excellencies and rival the lame of his late grandfather. A second son, Major Franklin, filled an important civil office in the Fast India Company's service, and did much in tho survey of their possessions, and Sir John Franklin had earned an European reputation before his father's death, When Sir .John

returned to England, after his second Arqtxc e x pcd> tien, his father was then a bind, white-haired old man, but in full possession of his mental faculties, active, made to ring with the loud and repeated cheers of the vast assembly. The company then and while a largo company adjourned to to to partake of a cold collation provided by Mr. Kirkham, a bun in commemoration ,of the event was given to every child who bad taken part in the addition to 500 buns given to the children, 80 old females of the town received each an ounce of tea, and 79 old men each a pint of ale, thejnoney for which had been collected in the town by Mr. Henry Hobson and Mr. John F. Phillips, of the house ofcorrwtion At the Town-hall we found seated round the festive board a numerous and highly respectable o ladies and gentlemen. The Rev. Thomas HoUway ocpied the chair, with Major Amcotts (High Sheriffof the county) on his right, and Sir John Richardson on his left. Among others who were present we observed C. H. J. Mundy, Esq., the Revs. E. Rawnsley, Arthur Wright, L. D. Kennedy, T. W. Booth, J. Ahngton, J. Pickford, J. Oheales. W. Morley. R. Cracroft, J. L. Whiteford, and R. G. Walls, Mr. Gell, son-in law of Sir John Franklin, Thos. Garfit, Esq., Capt. Bedford Pim, C. Bacon, Esq., Mr. Foster, b. Vessey > Esq., Thos. Wingate, Esq., Capt. Hollway, Lieut. Mackinder, Ensign Preston, John Jones. Esq., G. W. Maddison, Esq.7Dr. Walker, W. Walker, Esq., Thos. Thnnbleby, Esq., West J. Rainey. Esq., Rev. R. Franklin Wnght, Sir Edward and Lady Brackenbury, J. H. Hollway, Esq., Mr. Finlay, and most of the principal inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood. The cloth having been drawn, the Rev. T. Hollway, chairman, proposed “ the Queen,” followed by the

“ Army and Navy and Ist Lincolnshire Volunteers, coupling with the army and the volunteers the name of Major Amcotts, and with the navy that of Captain Bedford Pirn. x Major Amcotts (who was greeted with loud cheers) observed that he had had in former years the honor to serve her Majesty both in the army and in the mihtia, and now he had the honor to serve in the volunteers, and it was doing no dishonour to the army or militia to say that in point of efficiency the volunteers were equal to any other corps. It was. enough for him just to allude to the respect they had gained for us among foreign nations, and the confidence they had inspired at home. lie could only apply to the volunteer force what the Duke of Wellington once said to the militia, “ it is capable of performing any duty which may be assigned to it.” (Loud cheers.) Captain Bedford Pim had hoped that some one more worthy of the duty would have returned thanks on behalf of the navy: he would much rather be on the quarter-deck of a ship than engaged in making a speech. It was difficult now to return thanks for the navy, for since the commencement of the present century the navy had had comparatively nothing to do: he could only say of them what had been said of an empty bottle—it had done its duty once, and was ready to do it again. So it had been with the British navy, and so it would be again: while they had such men as Sir John Franklin, Sir John Richardson, and a host of others whom he might name, they need not fear, the navv would always be found ready to do its duty. The Chairman: Deeply lamenting the dreary destiny which refused to allow him and his companions to return to their native shores, let us drink standing but in solemn silence the memory of Sir John Franklin. (The whole company rose, and while the toast was being drank the most profound silence prevailed throughout the hall.) The Chairman next gave the health of Sir John Richardson, with thanks for his attendance, and for his excellent inaugnral address, which had added so much to the interest of the day’s proceedings (loud cheers.) _ Sir John Richardson said the manner in which his

health had been drank had taken him by suqjrise, as he did not expect to be called upon to address them again. It was 40 years since he became acquainted with the family of Sir John Franklin, and although now unknown except by name to most of them who were present to-day, he received the same hearty Lincolnshire welcome as he received then. It was his duty to thank them, rather than the company to thank him. The manner in which his address had been received entitled them to his gratitude. Under Sir John Franklin ho had been acquainted with both parts of the service, and as a noncombatant he could say from the spirit which had before prevailed and which prevailed now they had nothing to fear. Their enemies might encase themselves in as strong armour as they please, but it ever the day should come—and he hoped it never might —when they would try their strength with that of the British navy, our naval officers wopld crush them as a lobster is crushed in its shell. He had been highly gratified te sec so large a muster of the volunteers, and although Lincolnshire could not boast of the mountains of his native county, he saw’ it had its stalwart men, who knew how- to use the rifle (cheers).

Mr. Bacon begged the Chairman and the company to accept his thanks. He had done his best to execute the work entrusted to him in a manner that he hoped would be satisfactory to the family of Sir John Franklin and to the committee, and he was glad to find that he had not been disappointed. He proposed the health of the Kev, Mr. Cell. Mr. Gell (the son-in-law of Sir John Franklin) said, from his close relationship with the honored name they had that day commemorated, he felt his thanks were due to all his friends, for such he called them, and especially to the llev. Thomas Holhvay, who had been the means of causing the erection of that noble statue which was so honorable to the town of Spilsby. It was always in itself a sufficient reward to be able to sympathise with a great and good man—a man -who had done so much and suffered so much in behalf of

science and his country, and to delight in doing honor to his name —a name which would be remembered when theirs would be forgotten—was its own reward. He remembered the last departure of Sir J. Franklin from his native land; he knew the full sympathy which

was felt by his family and friends as year after year passed away, and still no tidings could be heard of him or his companions. He knew how hope so long indulged had gradually died away until there was none left. But after the burying of so much hope there was a feeling that he yet lived—he lived in the grateful remembrance of his countrymen, and in the noble monument of art that day set up, and which would be admired when they shall be mouldering in their graves. There was that in the proceedings of this day which would in some measure tend to heal the wounds of her who was now away in far distant lands. There was hope, too, that when his grandchildren shall grow up they will be inspired to obtain for themselves the honor bestowed upon hint. She who was now on the shores of the Pacific must be united with him in the thanks which were justly due from all to whom Franklin was near—to the worthy chairman, who had been so well selected for carrying out that great work they had celebrated this day. It had been the chairman's good fortune to lead in this undertaking, and he had led them well. That day had risen in tears, but it had ended in smiles. He had heard of obstacles and difficulties, but they had all been overcome. His thanks were due to their worthy chairman and all who had been associated with him in this great work, and lie hoped that he, as the representative of all those, would receive from him his heartfelt thanks, and that at the dose of a well-spent life he would look back with pleasure on the proceedings of that day (loud cheers.) He proposed the health of the Chairman.

The Rev. Thomas Hollway (who was received with loud applause) said, it would readily be conceived that the terms in which his health had been proposed filled him with embarrassment, and ho could only receive them in connection with the two committees by whom he had been so much assisted. Without these committees he never could have succeeded. In works of this kind there must bo difficulties, aud such had been their'B, that at times he had been ready to give up all hopes of success; but what had been sometimes shrouded in clouds had ended in brightness. It seemed possible that their labours would end in disappointment: there was a time when he almost despaired of ever reaching the success at which they had arrived; hut a propitious Providence had favoured them. It was not to him they must ascribe the triumphant success of this work, but to the well-calculated means which members of the committees had from time to time brought forward. It was solely to the circumstance that ho had more time at his command, and was able to devote it to the prosecution of this groat work, that ke hud any claim to the thanks which wore given to him that day. When he looked at this small and apparently insignificant town, standing upon the verge of the county, with nothing to bring it into notico but the moral character of its inhabitants, and saw that they had succeeded in erecting a memorial which would stand for all time, he thought they might well bo proud of their success. He thanked the inhabitants of Spilsby for what they had done, and he thanked gentlemen from other places who were present for their generous consideration of our efforts, for they felt that when the Lincoln scheme failed, that was no reason why the native town should not have its memorial of Sir John Franklin. He thanked them for the manner in which his health had been drunk, and bogged they Would accept of his thanks in connexion with those of his townsmen (cheers). The next toast was " the Ladies." Capt. Hollway responded. The Chairman then proposed " Prosperity to the town of Spilsby," and Mr. Palliscr, draper, tlio occu- ; pier of the house in which Sir. J. Franklin was born, responded,