year, as well as to meet all eventualities, the Lady Franklin is to be despatched to Beechey Island this spring in charge of Commander Inglefield, accompanied by the Phoenix steam-sloop. The employment of this successful navigator of the Polar Seas argues well for the prospects of research and relief; but, truth to say, all the officers and men now employed on these adventurous expeditions are alike distinguished by their zeal, their resolution, and their experience. Such is the state of things in the Eastern Arctic Archipelago, whither another American expedition of succour is also generously bound this year. A sailing vessel and steam tender in Melville Strait-the northwest passage par excellence; a sailing vessel and steamer up Queen's Channel; a sailing vessel at the entrance of Wellington Channel; a house on Beechey Island; a sailing vessel, bound to the same with stores; a steamer for succour; and an American expedition in the van or the reserve.* Truly the Arctic plot may be said to thicken. And when we consider that in that dim and mysterious Polynia to which three different great openings have been found within a year or two, and yet into which, as into that bourne from which no traveller returns, none have yet ventured and come back; possibly not only the Erebus and Terror, with their gallant crews, lie perdu, ever struggling in vain to release themselves from a land and ice girt, and possibly a land and ice encumbered ocean; but that the Investigator, with Commander M'Clure and his brave crew, are also exposed to the same difficulties, and engaged in the same perils, the mind is filled with wonder and awe at the efforts made, the dangers encountered, and the dangers wo'ed by our gallant sailors in these dark, inhospitable icy regions, soon, as with the enchanter's wand, to be almost filled with life, brave ships and their gallant crews, dogs and sledges, and their cheerful indefatigable guides, and even a wooden home springing up-" Northumberland House" transplanted to the regions of perpetual ice! We have just perused an interesting and curious little work, called "Franklin's Footsteps," written by Mr. C. R. Markham, one of the officers of the Assistance, who was engaged in those remarkable sledging expeditions which we have previously described, and which is exceedingly amusing from its graphic descriptions of Arctic life, but which contains deductions with which we cannot coincide. One of these is, that it is perfectly decided that Sir John Franklin's party did not proceed by any part of the unexplored sea between Cape Walker and Banks's Land; we do not think it likely; but the mere shallowness of the sea off Prince of Wales's Land, or the absence of records on Cape Walker, are not satisfactory to conviction. A second is, that it is highly improbable that Sir John Franklin's party passed up Wellington Channel, which is blocked up by islands! If so, where the use of Sir E. Belcher's expedition? A third is, that Sir John Franklin's party were destroyed in Baffin's Bay, in attempting to return home, or while enclosed by the ice, and having drifted helplessly along, as Sir James Ross did in 1849, and the American expedition in 1850-51. Such a sad event is not impossible, but it is * It is also stated that Lady Franklin contemplates offering the Prince Albert to the Admiralty as an additional store-ship. + Franklin's Footsteps; a Sketch of Greenland, along the Shores of which his Expedition passed, and of the Parry Isles, where the last traces of it were found. By Clement Robert Markham, late of H.M.S. Assistance. Chapman and Hall. March-VOL. XCVII. NO. CCCLXXXVII. Y rendered improbable by the fact of there being two stout ships, which would hardly both have suffered the same fate, and if they had so, it is likely that some portions of wreck would have been met with. If carried away upon an iceberg, what became of the crews; and would not some of the exploring vessels, more especially the Isabel, have encountered their relics? A fourth is, that Mr. Markham not only does not believe in a Polynia, or open Arctic Ocean, but he says, that the further north Captain Penny went in Wellington Channel, the colder was the climate. Now this is against all experience, as further and still more remarkably illustrated by Commander Inglefield's exploration of Smith's Sound, or Inlet,. which is far away to the north of Wellington, or even Queen's Channel. Lastly, Mr. Markham believes that, from want of observations, the distances given by Captain Penny are greatly overrated, and that the land. on both sides of Wellington, or rather Queen's Channel, closes in, and forms a large bay. Supposing the surveys of Captain Penny and his companions not to be so accurate as those of Commander Inglefield, still as to the results obtained by the gallant Scot, as well might doubts be thrown upon the similar evidences obtained by the exploration of Smith's and Jones's Sounds. To turn to the eastern portion of the same inhospitable regions, the Plover wintered at Port Clarence, in Behring's Straits, in 1851-52, and was joined in the spring of 1852 by Commander Maguire, who succeeded in command to Captain Moore, promoted, and by the Amphitrite, Captain Frederick, with provisions, &c. It having been reported by Captain Frederick that the whole of the preserved meats on board the Plover, amounting to upwards of 10,000 lbs. (with the exception of 650 lbs. supplied from Deptford, the 10th December, 1847, the contractor's name unknown), were of Mr. Goldner's contract, he directed a survey to be held on them, when the whole was found to be "in a pulpy, decayed, and putrid state, and totally unfit for men's food," and was thrown overboard as worse than useless. This meat, be it remarked, was meant to sustain the brave follows on board the Plover at an advanced station in the Arctic Regions, on the look out for their missing countrymen, during the present winter! The Plover having had her defects made good by artificers from the Amphitrite, and having been revictualled from the same source, Commander Maguire resolved upon proceeding in her to the edge of the main pack, or, if possible, as far east as Icy Cape, and thence to proceed in boats to Point Barrow, to determine upon an appropriate winter station. This duty accomplished, the Plover was to return from Icy Cape to Cape Lisburne, to speak with the Amphitrite, previous to taking up her winter quarters. The boats having left the Plover, as arranged, off Icy Cape, Lieutenant Vernon, in command of her, returned to Cape Lisburne to speak the Amphitrite, and then back again to Icy Cape by the 3rd of August (the sea in this neighbourhood is only navigable for six weeks in the year), where, not seeing Commander Maguire's party, he at once returned, without even attempting a landing, to Cape Lisburne, to request a boat of sufficient size to search the coast for them. Commander Maguire and his party had in the mean time, after a very trying journey, reached Point Barrow on the 22nd of July, and having found a suitable place, had returned to Icy Cape by the 28th of July, and remained there till the 5th of August, when, no succour coming from the Plover, the party made the best of their way in the boats to Cape Lisburne, where they were providentially received on board the Amphitrite. It is but fair to say that Lieutenant Vernon asserts that he had no boat which he could send with safety on shore; and Commander Maguire says, that up to the 3rd of August it blew so hard from the north-east, with a heavy surf, that his boats, which had been hauled up, could not be launched.' Captain Frederick considered-it would appear to us very properlyhowever, that the leaving the rendezvous had been premature, and that the Plover should certainly have remained until a boat could have been sent on shore for information; and having supplied her with a boat, he despatched her at once to the succour of Commander Maguire and his party at Icy Cape, while he himself examined the coast between that cape and Cape Lisburne, where the Plover was to rejoin. Lieutenant Vernon, however, on his return, made sail at once for Behring's Straits; and Captain Frederick called upon him for an explanation, in which Lieutenant Vernon states that he had never received any direction as to the "exact position" of the rendezvous; and which he seems, therefore, to have thought must have been in Behring's Straits! This is one of the first cases of apparent indifference to the fate of others, or of exceeding wilfulness, that has been presented to our notice during the whole of these trying Arctic expeditions. The Plover started once more for Point Barrow on the 21st of August, and as remarkably fine weather prevailed for a fortnight after his departure, Captain Frederick has very little doubt but that it reached its destination in safety. The account of the untoward boat journey of Commander Maguire is rendered peculiarly interesting, not only by the trying circumstances in which the party were placed, but also from the number of natives seen, and their thievish propensities. The sea is also described as abounding in animal life. On entering the ice, it was literally covered with birds, most of them excellent eating, and the crews were nearly supplied with them from two guns in each boat. Further to the southward walruses were numerous, and to the northward seals were found in great abundance. The Enterprize, Captain Collinson, does not appear (luckily, probably, for its gallant commander and crew) to have succeeded in penetrating the great barrier that encloses the Polynia to the west even more firmly than in the east; for that vessel is reported to have been seen by some American whalers who arrived at the Sandwich Islands from Behring's Straits. It is further, after this brief account of the state of things in the eastern Arctic Sea-the Investigator, in all likelihood, engaged in the ice, or struggling either to the westward or to get out of the ice-bound Polynia, and the Plover at or near Point Barrow-agreeable to know that the Rattlesnake, Commander Trollope, is to be despatched to the same regions this spring, and that in company with a steam-tender. It was so obvious that the Rattlesnake, without the aid of such a steamer, might not be able to carry relief to the Plover, that Lady Franklin, "whose devotion," the French Minister of Marine has truly said, is the admiration of the whole world," resolved to devote a sum of This money subscribed by the inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land-where Sir John Franklin was governor for five years-to that noble purpose. seasonable reinforcement to her funds, already nearly exhausted by so many private Searching Expeditions, at once determined this amiable lady to send out a steamer to assist--or as may be more truly said-to enable the Arctic Relief Expedition to Behring's Straits to be successfully penetrated carried out; and to this effect the Isabel, the same vessel that Smith's and Jones's Sounds, is now having her rigging renovated, previous to her departure in the first week in March, when she will follow in the wake of the Rattlesnake,* Thus, with the American Expedition, it is not impossible, unless the Enterprize is on her way home, that there will be sixteen vessels with their crews in the Arctic Regions this summer; and if the Prince Albert Or in a tabular view: is employed, seventeen! Ditto. Captain Sir John Franklin 1845 Position unknown. Captain R. Collinson, C.B. ....... Commander R. J. McClure United States' Expedition, say two vessels... Overland Searching Expedition, under Dr. Rae S 1848 Barrow Point. 1850 Probably on her way home. 1850 Position unknown. 1852 Beechey Island. 1852 Queen's Channel. Ditto. 1852 Melville Strait. Ditto. Bound to Behring's Strait. 1852 1852 Commander Trollope ....... 1853 1853 Ditto. (Bound to Beechey Island. Ditto. 1853 Unknown. 1853 Isthmus of Boothia. Heaven protect them in their labour of love, and grant them success! Science gains by such manly devotion, and a gallant, zealous set of fellows are perfected in professional hardships and experience, in a manner far more agreeable to contemplate and to record, than if engaged in warlike exploits. This is a contest of humanity, in which we can look with pleasure upon English, Americans, and French united in one common cause. Would it were always so with civilised nations! * Add to this that Captain Penny has succeeded in forming a company for the purpose of carrying on whale and other fisheries, and founding a permanent settlement in the Arctic Regions. The site of this settlement is to be the inlet known as Northumberland Inlet, or Hogarth Sound. The company propose sending two new screw steam whalers, of 500 tons each, in the spring months, to the seas between Greenland and Nova Zembla-seas into which that Sir John Franklin may be finding his way, or by which the relics of the expedition might be reached, we pointed out as far back as in October, 1851 (see New Monthly Magazine, vol. xciji., p. 202), and long before Mr. Petermann called attention to the same line of approach to the Arctic Regions. THE NEW NORMAN CONQUEST; OR, HOW PAUL BRIOCHE MEANT TO HAVE PITCHED INTO us. BY DUDLEY COSTELLO. I. THE MAN WHO KNEW ALL ABOUT FRANCE. 1. Ir was on a dull, drizzly evening, within a few days of the close of the last wet November, that one of the omnibuses which ply between the town of Abbeville and the railway station, received as its sole freight the person and carpet-bag of a middle-aged English gentleman. He was a spare, plain-looking man, whose features wore an ingrained smirk of self-satisfaction, that showed their owner was on the best possible terms with himself, and they would have been forgotten almost as soon as seen but for an habitual expression of inquisitiveness, which seemed to say that he was always making some grand discovery, and that, after no end of mares'-nests, he had hit the mark at last. And this, of course, was the case, for it would have been hard measure if one who was perpetually asking questions had not obtained some kind of information in return. Whether his information was invariably of the right sort may, perhaps, admit of a doubt, seeing that the traveller had learnt the language he spoke in a popular way, "without a master," had constructed his own idiom, and retained his native accent. But he was not of a nature to be daunted by difficulties of this description, nor had he any notion that they existed, since he made a point of setting down as matters of fact whatever answers he received to his numerous questions. It was all the same to him whether his hearers understood him or not; he had made up his mind to certain consequences, and never failed to arrive at the conclusion that his own opinion-no matter upon what subject-must be the right one. To impress the world with the belief that he actually knew what he talked about, he had taken advantage of the interval between the general election and the meeting of the new Parliament, of which he was a prominent member, to take a trip with his family to France. He landed at Dieppe, where he left his wife and daughter to benefit by the sea-bathing, while he pursued his journey by a circuitous route to Paris; and, after an absence of nearly two months, his head and his carpet-bag being both cram-full, was now following his family home, to dispense the knowledge he had so studiously hived. His reason for pausing at Abbeville was to obtain the latest and most authentic information on the feeling towards England of the agricultural population of France; and as Abbeville is a manufacturing town, the chance of his getting what he wanted seemed highly probable. That no time might be lost, nor any opportunity neglected, our intelligent traveller entered freely into conversation with the conducteur of the omnibus, and when he was deposited at the Hôtel de l'Europe, he was almost as well up in his subject as an equally-acute Frenchman might be who should endeavour to learn the state of parties from the cad on the door-step of an "Atlas" between Baker-street and Charing-cross. |