THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. [From the Times, October 13.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 793, 9 March 1853, Page 4

THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. [From the Times, October 13.]

The intelligence ' received frotu. the Arctic expedition, which pnder tbe command of Sir Edqptd Belcher, is euglgft* ifi^^be perilous adveritur^of exploring the teas of tbe Northern Pole, is to a certain extent satisfactory. We may at least indulge the expectation that ibis time the task will be fairly accomplished. It would be premature, after the long interval that has elapsed since the departure of Sir John Franklin and his brave companions, to give way to hope that may prove visionary; but at least we shall know whether all hopes .of seeing them again alive must be absolutely resigned. This time tbe icy seas will in all probability be fairly -searched ; for Sir Edward Belcher appears to have commenced his search into their secret recesses under circumstances as favourable as those which attended upon Franklin's own advance. Id tbe case of every single expedition which has been sent into tbese icy regions in search of our missing countrymen an inclement sky and a premature setting in of the frost have baffled the efforts of the navigators. Tbefe may have been vacillation of purpose ; there may have been involuntary error; such incidents are almost inseparable from human struggle ; but it, may well be doubt* ed, whether, until the present moment, the utmost amount of energy and skill would have enabled anj to follow close upon the track of Sir John Franklin and bis companions. It should also be remembered, in justice to the conductor! of all previous expeditions, that although they certainly failed in accomplishing the direct purpose of their mission, their efforts have not been without beneficial result. Warned by their failures, Sir Edward Belcher is enabled to concentrate bis energies upon a single point, and that point tbe one which offers the most reasonable chances of success. The process of examining these regions with effect is an exhaustive one. Our missing countrymen may have advanced into the Polar Seas by any one of four or five routes ; but it was difficult — not to say impossible — to determine d priori, in favour of which route lay the balance of probabilities. We are now speaking in some measure at our eaae — we are judging calmly after the fact. We now know that the ' roost reasonable hope of getting on Sir, Jobn Franklin's track lies in pursuing the route by Wellington Channel ; but our knowledge is the result of experience and the fruit of failure. It should be a subject of thankfulness to all persons interested in the fale of Franklin, that an unusually " open season " has favoured the efforts of tbe present searching expedition, now that so much of certainty bad been obtained. It is very probable that Sir Edward Belcher is advancing in the right direction, and it is also probable be will be able to advance in that direction with effect. Such i«, in point of fact, the sum and substance of tbe intelligence which was brought home by the Prince Albert searching vessel. Very considerable efforts appear to have been made by Mr. Kennedy — tbe gentleman under whose directions the search was conducted — and his people, to discover any traces of Franklin's expedition that might jet be forthcoming, but without effect.. Late in Juue the Prince Albert searched the ice, and proceeded by Pond's Bay up Lancaster Sound. When she reached Barrow Straits, in the beginning of September, tbe ice had already barred the passage. It was determined to proceed to Port Leopold. At this point Mr. Kennedy and a boat's crew well nigh met with a death as dreadful as the Polar region could inflict. He had landed to make enquiries, but before he could return on board, a barrier of

ice was iuterpoied between the shore md the ship ; to crown the misfortune the Prince Albert wu carried away by a current up Prince Regent's Inlet. Fortunately for the bold adventnrers, Sir John Ross bad left a store of provisions near the point at which they had landed, and so they wero enabled to pass six dreary weeks without undergoing any very intolerable privation. They were finally relieved from their disagreeable situation by the efforts of M. Bellot, a French gentleman who accompanied the expedition, and succeeded in re«cb»ng Batty Bay, where the ship was faousI°!m ii W ,i DtW ' Fr ° m tbis P lace Mr - Kennedy and Iff. Bellot, with a party of U men, set out on sledges, crossed Melville Bay and discovered a new channel to the westward. Six of the party set out to explore the channel, while the other, were sent back to the ship. It \ a unnecessary for us very minutely to follow the enterprising travellers in their perilous journey, as it nj a y be found detailed at length in the Times of Monday last. Suffice it to say that their exertions appear to have been of the most creditable kind although unfortunately not attended with success! No new traces were found of Sir Joh,n Franklin and his companions. Wilhout the slightest wiah to detract from the merits of the search, we cannot but feel that the most important portion of the intelligence brought home by the ship's company of the Prince Albert h that which informs us of the movements of Sir Edward Belcher and the great expedition. We find among the correspondence which has been received a letter from Captain Pullen to the Secretary of the Admiralty, written on the 23rd August. Sir Edward Belcher had started up Wellington Channel an the 14tb of the same mouth. Now this is the lan* guage of the officer who witnessed the departure of the expedition, and was acquainted witji the condition of the water at the time in question : "AH were in good health and high spirits, and with every, hope of success. This season I can-, not help thinking is very open, for from the summit of Beachy Island, which I visited on the evening of arrival on the 9ih instant, ttfarai the eye could reach up Wellington Channel, or to the westward, both were open, and r little or no ice to be seen. Captain Kellet in the Resolute, with her tender, bad sailed on the 15th August —the day after Sir Edward Belcher's departure — for Melville Island, to deposit mil necessary supplies of provisions, fuel, and clothing for any parties which might have been despatched from • the expedition under Captains Collinson and M'Lure, and have reached • point so distant from. Behring Straits. Captain Pullen in the North Star was to remain as a depot at Beachy Island. We will not, after so long and so afflicting a delay, permit ourselves to play upon the feelings of those w,ho axe deeply and directly interested in the fate of Franklin and bis companions. All appears to have been done for fbeir relief, if they yet survive, that human sagacity could suggest or human energy carry out. Now or never the seas of the North Pole will be thoroughly searched, and we shall know all that can be known with regard to the fate of oar gallant countrymen, It will be an honour to humanity that a deep sympathy with the sufferings of absent men has roused their country to greater exertions than scientific curiosity or love of enterprise. If ever the problem of a north-western passage be solve*, * that solution will have been attained by Englishmen, not for its own sake, bul in order to relieve a gallant band of their adventurous countrymen from a dreary confinement in the icy regions of the Polar seas.