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Leader (1850-1860), 24th September 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1072, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      1072 THE LE A DEB . - 1 ** ° - 496 . Sept . 24 , 1859 . stationswhere tickets had

      Untitled Article

      SIR JOHN'S FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION , RETURN OF CAPT . M'CLINTOCK , R . N . The Fox screw discovery vessel ( Captain M'Clintook ) , which was sent to the Arctic regions at the expense of Lady Franklin , to discover traces of the missing expedition , arrived off the Isle of Wight on Wednesday . On landing Captain M'Clintock at once came on by train from London , bringing with him two cases containing relics of the long missing expedition of Sir John Franklin . We have received the following from the Admiralty : — " Sept . 22 , 1030 a . m . " The Secretary of the Admiralty presents his compliments to the Editor , and forwards the accompanying letter for insertion . " " Yacht Fox , R . Y . S .

      it sjj . i be ° - you will inform the Lords Commissioners ' of the Admiralty of the safe return to this country of Lady Franklin ^ Final Searching Expedition , which I have had the honour to conduct . " Their Lordships will rejoice to hear that our endeavours to ascertain the fate of the ' Franklin Expedition' have met with complete success . "At Point Victory , upon the north-west coast of King William ' s Island , a record has been found , dated the 25 th of April , 1848 , and signed by Captains Crozier and Fitzjames . By it we were informed that her Majesty ' ships Erebus and Terror , were abandoned on the 22 nd of April , 1848 , in tb . e ice , five leagues to the N . N . W ., and that the survivors—in all amounting to 105 souls , under the command of Captain Crozier—were proceeding to the Great Fish River . Sir John Franklin had died

      on the 11 th June , 1847 . " Many deeply interesting relics of our lost countrymen have been picked up upon the western shore of King William ' s Island , and others obtained from the Esquimaux , by whom we were informed that subsequent to their abandonment one ship was crushed and sunk by the . ice , and the other forced on shore , where she has ever since ^ been , affording them an almost inexhaustible mine of wealth . " Being unable to penetrate beyond Bellot . Strait , the Fox wintered in Brentford Bay , and the search —including the estuary of the Great Fish Iliver and the discovery of 800 miles of coast line , by which we have united the explorations of the former

      searching expeditions to the north and west of our position with those of Sir James Ross , Dease , Simpson , and Rae to the south—has been performed by sledge jourrfeys this spring , conducted by Lieutenant Hobson , R . N ., Captain Allen Young and myself . " As a somewhat detailed report of our proceedings will doubtless be interesting to their Lordships , it is herewith enclosed , together with a chart of our discoveries and explorations , and at the earliest opportunity I will present myself at the Admiralty to afford further information , . and lay before their Lordships the record found at Port Victory . " I have the honour to be , &c , " F . L . M'Clintook , Captain R . N . " To the Secretary of the Admiralty . "

      Long and highly interesting details follow of the ¦ proceedings of Captain M'Clintock and his brave followers , from which we learn that the record of the death of Sir John Franklin , and of the departure of the 105 survivors for the Great Fish River , was found in a cairn upon Point Victory , in King William ' s Island . Round the cairn lay , strewed about , clothing , stores , boats , oars , cooking utensils , and everything that was likely to impede their progress . The track of their subsequent wanderings was marked out by several cairns , most of which had been disturbed . No further records were found . But at long intervals relics were found which left no doubt of the ultimate fate of the party , and wluoh completely bear out the testimony of the Esquimaux . Here a skeleton was found with tattered European clothing clinging to it . Farther on a coat , with the

      remains of two more Europeans , was discovered . Two guns were lying by its side—one loaded and cocked— silver spoons and forks , a few religious books , chocolate and ammunition , and fuel in abundance . A sad but interesting light ia thrown on the memory of those gallant sailors in the following description of the relics found in the boat . — " In one parcel--A small Prayer-book , cover of a small book of Family Prayers , ' Christian Melodies , ' an inscription within the cover to « G . G . ' (? Graham Gore ) j Vicar of Wakefleld , ' a small Bible , interlined in many places , and with numerous , references written in the margin ., a New ^ Testament in the French language . " The natives stated that the white men had gone up to the Fish River , and had dropped ono by one In the attempt to roaoh it . From first to last , says Captain wGUntook , " perfect order seems to haye

      existed . " The arrangements for the abandonment of the ships were deliberately entered upon during the hard winter , and carried out . with careful forethought . He concludes that their strength had been greatly reduced during their protracted stay , in the ice fields , and that they sank fromthe effects of exposure and fatigue . From the horrors of starvation and the attacks of Indians we may fairly believe them to have escaped . . The tracing out of the last relics of the Franklin expedition , as a contemporary well observes , has added tothe reputation of the British

      navy , not more by the proofs it has given of the fortitude of the brave men who have perished , than by the evidence it has afforded of the high resolve and the self-sacrificing energy which has brought Captain M'Clintock and his little band , twenty-three in all , through so many perils . In our naval annals there is no instance of greater devotion to a noble cause , nor of a more triumphant success over overwhelming obstacles . It is to be hoped that it will be the last of Arctic enterprises . Enough has been done for science and for reputation . It is time that the cause of humaity made itself heard .

      The following are copies of original papers found by Captain M'Clintock on Prince of Wales Island : — « —of May , 1847 . " Her Majesty ' s ships Erebus and Terror wintered in the ice in lat . 70 deg . 5 min ., long . 93 deg . 23 min . W . " Having wintered in 1846 ^ 7 at Beechey Island , in lat . 74 deg . 43 min . 28 sec . N ; , long . 91 deg ; 39 min . 15 sec . W ., after ascending Wellington Channel to lat . 77 deg ., and returning , by the west side of Cornwallis Island . " Sir John Franklin , Commanding the expedition . " All well . i " Whoever finds this paper is requested to forward it to the Secretary of the Admiralty , London , with a note of the time and place at which it was found , or , if more convenient , to deliver it for that purpose to the British Consul at the nearest port . "

      The same in French . The same in Spanish . The same in Dutch ; ; The same inUanish . The same in German . " Left the ships Monday , the 24 th May , 1847 , the party consisting of two officers and six men . ? ' G . M . Gore , Lieutenant . " Chas F . Des VcEtJx , Mate . " / The words " wintered in 1846-47 at Beechey Island " should be " in 1845-46 , " as in 1846-47 they were beset in the ice , and the ships abandoned in April , 1848 . The same mistake occurs in both papers .

      Untitled Article

      THE REVIVALS IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND . The new " movement , " which has created such a sensation in the neighbourhood of Belfast has at length apparently reached its climax , and is approaching the decline which eventually becomes the fate of all impostures . The hysterical symptoms which are the most remarkable developments of this pseudo-religious mania have been explained by several medical men and other philosophers on perfectly rational grounds , and the absurdity and wickedness of fostering these germs of disease both of mind and body have been fully demonstrated . The crowning humbug of the affair has probably been the getting up of a " monster revival meeting , " at Armagh , last week , on the 14 th instant ; the affair being doubtless intended to put a large sum of money into the pockets of the Ulster Railway Company , and thougU not so successful as was expected , the scheme did credit to the clover managers of that railway . From the Irish correspondent of a contemporary we condense the following account : —The " friends of the cause " in Belfast had made arrangements with the managers of the Ulster Railway Company to run a cheap train to Armagh on the occasion ; the distance , about thirty miles , and the return , were covered by a fare of Is . 6 d . It was a very cheap excursion . The fare , of course , did not permit any luxury of accommodation , so the

      train consisted wholly of third-class carriages and cattle vans . It was announced that the company would not issue a single ticket beyond the number of passengers it could convey comfortably . In this community , at this time , ana on this occasion of all others , it might have been expected that the railway managers would have kept faith- with an anxious public . But I am sorry to say the besetting sin of all railway boards is as strong at Belfast as anywhere else , As many tickets wore sold as possible , and the engagemont kept with the minimum of wear and tear to the rolling scook . Money was taken just as readily as If a more profane -spectacle awaited us at the end of the journey , and the most reprehensible pleasure excursionists could not have been kept longer waiting or been more tightly packed . This was the case in starting from Belfast , At the

      intermediate , been sold with the most cheerful readiness all the morning the difficulty was solved in the coolest manner — by leaving the expectants behind ; and the train passed along amidhowls of disappointment from those who were " staying for waftage . " They were picked up I heard , two hours later , by a " scratch" train of cattle waggons and ballast trucks , and arrived on the prayer ground when the proceedings were more than half over .. The company promised too much , and the delay produced an unchristian amount of bad temper .

      The meeting itself was to be " for all Ireland , " and it was expected that eminent divines would attend it , specially , from " the three kingdoms . " Rumour even included Mr . Spurgeon and—singular combination ^ the Bishop of Exeter in the list . The result , in the present state of the public mind , might have been anticipated to be something extraordinary , but on the closest observation I could not so rate it . ' Belfast is a city of some 130 , 000 inhabitants , and is the head and centre of this movement ; j'et it would have been a very liberal calculation that could have

      made 800 of the number that filled the " great prayer meeting " train . The . platform was not inconveniently crowded , and the " unusual excitement" described in the local reports exists only in the prevailing disposition in all who are mixed up with the agitation to see an excitement in . everything . Even a congregation that exhibits the ordinary external appearance of people in a place of worship , I have seen described as " solemnly impressed . " The same might be said with quite as much truth of any London congregation at this moment , except St . George ' s in the East .

      Some time after the hour appointed ^ the train started ; it was a slow one , but in due course , leaving the flax fields and bleaching grounds of the country round Belfast , and also the expecting passengers at the intermediate points , behind , it pulled up at Portadown , and made a long stop . As time wore on without moving , the thing was growing tedious . At last a small party struck up a hymn , but the eflect was not quite what I should have expected ; So far-from all joining in , some persons in another compartment hooted and whistled , and expressed unmistakeable contempt of the manifestation . The pious sang on steadily ; so the opposition gave out two lines of a burlesque hymn , the words of which will not bear type , and sang it , without mitigation or remorse of voice , with a running accompaniment of more hoots and more vile noises and whistling . So it proceeded ,

      " strophe" and " antistrophe "—a very unseemly contrast , for some time . Finally , the train moved on again , the singing ceased , and the comparative harmony of silence was restored . The vein , however , had been touched / and bursts of vocal fervour were heard occasionally during the rest of the journey from different carriages along the line . The malcontents were satisfied by getting on again , and offered no further interruption . The effect of all this was not edifying , but the reverse . The opposition was indecent ; but what provoked it was execrable as music , and as sentiment out ot ¦ T # » ^_ a * -d k *« . < 4 _ - ^ . i i _ — _» a . 'I ^ vavtil' f li fl r After this incidentthere ould be doubt that

      _ * , c no all the passengers by the great prayer-meeting train had not the same object . On arriving at Armagh , fully half the number , instead of turning into the prayer field , close to the railway station , left it behind them , walked into the town , ana dispersed into the houses and side streets . A sftW them go certainly ; I did not see them return . Why should they have come at all , then , it mayDe asked ? " Sixty miles for eighteen pence is tne answer . The prayer-meeting train was a cheap opportunity of doing a little worldly business . Ana a felt slightly " sold , " after hearing so much of Belfast piety , to find it so much alloyed by Belfast thrift . ' . < , j . 1 ,.:,. The Armagh meeting might have opened tiieir eyes as to the sort of men who will bo the reai leaders of this movement among the lowest class . « the

      is " regretted " that on this great occasion peop'o could not be kept at tl * e centre of intelligence > and piety combined . They broke into separate audiences round more violent and more exciting prowlww . There were at ono time five smaller circles in ww . field , besidps the main body . And I oan assoit tiw the most successful preachers , tested by tlioamoM « of " mental agony" they produced m * ho UfltonoM , were not the ton ordained ministers . ' 1 Mb 01 «> "V of internal suffering is regarded as thei proof of tno !• operation of tho Spirit , " which is not s » PP ° sc to triumph entirely until the spirit is " struck doj n , ust sWt of this are those " deeply affected . « was in the oirclos round the wildest and m 0 "* " ™ * herent preachers that the most numerous aaisw oi the " deeply affected " were to be seen . Whoio _ tu vine religion" was actually being made "a rhtvpsouy of words , " there the most effect was P' ' "" ' " '' .,,.,, " ono group I counted twenty poor wrotohes on uwu cnees at the feet of an Ill-looking , vxilgar , timl ow

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1859, page 1072, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2313/page/4/