242 IMPORT OF INSTRUCTIONS. 



the ships so proceeding, or if they should be too firmly 

 fixed in the ice to be extricated during the summer of 

 1853, they are to be abandoned, and the crews brought 

 down to the depot" 



With this opinion of the Committee, their Lordships 

 determine on the Expedition, which I was appointed to 

 command. About eighty days intervened for explana- 

 tion, and my Instructions contain the consolidation 

 thereof. (Vide Vol. I. p. 1 et seq.} 



Paragraph 2 does not indicate any reference to se- 

 condary opinion, but distinctly defines the confidence 

 entrusted to me. 



At paragraph 4 the extract of the report of the Com- 

 mittee is alluded to : " The plan of future operations 

 there proposed is to be considered as the basis of your 

 operations." 



At paragraphs 10 and 11 it is distinctly intimated that 

 my Instructions to the officer despatched to Beechey 

 Island are to be stringent to be in accordance with my 

 obligations, referred to in paragraph 2, and even to admit 

 of his return to England in 1852 ! 



At paragraph 15 the intention conveyed by their 

 Lordships is not, that, in case of my absence, the officer 

 who succeeds may proceed as he pleases ; but, in con- 

 formity with my obligations, he shall carry out faith- 

 fully the mission confided to me until I resume the 

 command. 



The 20th and final paragraph distinctly commands 

 the return, on the question of provision, in the summer 

 of 1854. 



The orders of 1853 do not vary in any manner from 



