May 28, 1.860] LADY FRANKLIN— ROYAL AWARDS. 115 



" ' To no one could I make this request more fitly, as it seems to me, and. 

 with more confidence, than to the faithful friend of my dear hushand and my- 

 self, who, during many long years, has made the cause of the lost crews of the 

 Erehus and Terror his own, and to whose untiring and enlightened energy, 

 exerted in behalf of our latest, and, as it were, dying effort, the little expedi- 

 tion of the Fox has been so conspicuously indebted. 



" ' In giving expression to my natural feelings on receiving this precious 

 Medal, you will feel assured that its chief value to me is the recognition by 

 the most competent authorities, which it testifies to, of the life-long services 

 of my husband in the cause of geographical research, and especially of the 

 crowning discovery of the North- West Passage by himself and his companions, 

 which cost them their lives. 



" ' In the contemplation of so just and so generous an act towards the dead, 

 all personal considerations are well-nigh absorbed, yet not so entirely but that 

 I feel deeply the great and exceptional kindness of which I have myself 

 become the object. Disclaiming, as I must ever do, all merit for efforts which 

 originated in the natural impulses of love and duty, and which never could 

 have been successful without the stedfast help of all those who upheld and 

 served me so well, I shall not the less cherish, with great pride as well as 

 gratitude, the touching and distinguished proof so generously accorded to me 

 of the approbation and sympathy of the Eoyal Geographical Society. 



*' ' Believe me, dear Sir Koderick, sincerely and gratefully yours, 



" ' Jane Franklin. 

 " * Sir Roderick Murchison, Vice-President of the Eoyal 

 Geographical Society ^ ^c' 



•' Breathing as this letter does the fulness of a grateful woman's 

 heart, yet does it not give full vent to all those feelings by which 

 Lady Franklin is animated. She has, indeed, enjoined me to say that 

 the honour conferred upon her is vastly enhanced by knowing that 

 she only shares in that approbation of the Geographical Society 

 which has been and is so warmly bestowed upon Captain Sir Leo- 

 pold M'Clintock and his gallant associates. 



" A still more deeply-seated sentiment, however (as yet ungra- 

 tified), is implanted in the breast of the widow of Franklin — a 

 sentiment which was no sooner broached in the Honse of Commons 

 by Sir Francis Baring than it met with general applause, and 

 elicited the commendation of the Prime Minister and of eloquent 

 speakers on both sides — namely, that setting aside all pecuniary 

 reimbursement for that large expenditure of money which she could 

 ill afford, she hopes that the Parliament will be thus far generous 

 as to reward the officers and crew of the Fox, and provide for the 

 erection of a monument to the memory of her husband and his com- 

 panions in a public place, on which shall be recorded that they 

 died in being the first to discover a North-West Passage. 



*' Let then our gift of the Gold Medal, solemnly and unanimously 

 conferred by us on Lady Franklin for her devotion in her husband's 

 cause, be followed up both by a suitable grant to the brave officers 

 and crew of the Fox and by raising a monument to Franklin in 

 Trafalgar Square, so that his earliest services under the immortal 

 Nelson may be blended with the nation's recognition of his Arctic 

 fame. 



