Nov. 14, 1859.] IN SEARCH OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. 13 



although the lamented Dr. Kane has told us how gladly he would have taken 

 refuge amongst the Esquimaux to escape starvation and disease on board, yet 

 we know that those who did actually desert their ship, could not find refuge or 

 the means of subsistence amongst the Esquimaux, and were compelled to return, 

 as their only hope, to the vessel they had so confidently left three months 

 before. He had no wish to throw cold water upon the hopes of any enthusiastic 

 persons who might wish to go out to re-search that locality. He would remind 

 the meeting that all the way from the mouth of the Back River to the 

 Hudson Bay territory had been searched in 1855 by Messrs. Anderson and 

 Stewart, and, therefore, the entire route intended to be pursued by the lost 

 crews had now been explored. 



Dr. R. King observed that it must be remembered the search made by 

 Captain M'Clintock had been made in the cold season, when the land was 

 covered with ice and snow, but that more traces — even the journals or the 

 log-books — might possibly be discovered by a search during summer. 



Sir R. Murchison, in adjourning the meeting, said it was a great fact, in 

 the truth of which all those seamen who had taken part in the discussion, 

 whether belonging to Her Majesty's service or to the mercantile marine, 

 agreed, that, whilst Sir Robert M'Clure had been worthily rewarded for his 

 intrepid conduct in making a north-west passage, Franklin was the man who, 

 by the self sacrifice of himself and his brave companions, had previously, by 

 common consent, made the north-west passage. 



Second Meeting, Monday, November 2^th, 1859. 



Sm KODERICK I. MURCHISON, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Presentations. — The Hon. Rolert Marsham, William Fryer, and 

 George Lee, Esqrs., were presented on their election. 



Elections. — Captain H. H. Godwin Austen; Captain the Hon. Arthur 

 A. Cochrane, r.n. ; Lieut. -Colonel C. Lygon Cocks; Major W. E. Hay ; 

 Captain A. Cooper Key, r.n. ; the Earl of Lichfield; Colonel W. Pinney, 

 M.p. ; Sir Erskine Perry ; the Rev. Frederick Silver, m.a. ; Captain Charles 

 Sim, R.E. ; Captain William Strutt ; Lieut. -General Sir Charles Yorke, 

 K.c.B. ; Rolert E. Alison ; P. Watson Brayhrooke ; Richard Cull ; G. Wing- 

 field Dighy ; R. H. Wallace Dunlop ; John P. Gas$iof,jun. ; Isidor Gersten- 

 berg ; H. Hucks Gibhs ; H. Harwood Harwood ; Chandos Wren Hoskyns ; 

 Louis Levinsohn ; John C. M^Grath; Thomas Maclear, Astronomer at the 

 Cape; George M^Leay ; G. Sholto Douglas Pennant; William Perry; 

 Charles Phillimore ; William H. Purdon, c.E. ; E. G. Ravenstein ; Edward 

 H. Richards ; Christopher Sykes ; J. M. TVowsow, m.d., r.n. ; and William 

 Westgarth, Esqrs., were elected Fellows. 



Announcements. — The Chairman announced that he had that day 

 received, from the Duke of Newcastle, a notification of the safe 

 arrival of the British North American Expedition under Captain 

 PaUiser, at Fort Colville. 



