(888 .) 
Miscellanea, 
Arctic RESEARCHES. 
From the Address of Sir R. I. Murcutson, at the Anniversary Meeting of 
the Royal Geographical Society of London. May 247H, 1852. 
WHEN quitting the chair of the Society in the spring of 1845, I announced 
the departure of my valued friend, Sir John Franklin, on his third expe- 
dition to determine the problem of a north-west passage: I then felt the 
fullest confidence, that every thing which could be mastered by human 
skill, and a chivalrous devotion to the object, would be accomplished by 
that eminent navigator and his associates. Alas! that seven years should 
have elapsed without tidings of them; but honour to the Englishmen who 
still cling tothe hope that these brave men, or a portion of them, may yet 
be discovered, and who cheer on the new expedition which has just left our 
shores under Sir Edward Belcher and Captain Kellet—men, whose reso- 
lution, knowledge, and experience well qualify them to carry out their 
arduous mission of tracking their long absent friends. On the last day 
which he passed on the shores of N. Britain, Sir E. Belcher thus wrote to 
me from Stromness:—‘“‘ One feeling seems to pervade us all—a stern 
resolve to deverve a little of what has been too freely supposed we may 
merit. Under the blessing of God, we hope to prosper; but our predeces- 
sors have left us a hard game to play. I can, however, foresee much 
interesting matter for the Geographical Society, even if the great object of 
our mission be not successful.” 
As it is not my part to advert, on this occasion, to the efforts which have 
been made in former years to obtain intelligence of the missing expedition, 
I will simply take up the subject from the point at which my predecessors 
left it. * 
The Reports of the recent Arctic Committee, composed in great part of 
eminent northern navigators, have elicited graphic accounts of the services 
performed by Captains Austin and Ommanney, and the officers under their 
command, in exploring the bays and headlands beyond Barrow Strait. The 
diaries of the officers who were detached with sledges to search in different 
directions from their winter head-quarters, and particularly the lively and 
highly descriptive work just published by Lieutenant Osborne, afford 
proofs pregnant of what can be accomplished by British officers and seamen 
* See a very useful compendium of the recent ‘' Arctic Searching Expe- 
ditions,” by our associate, Captain Mangles, R.N. Second Edition 8vo. 
