Search for Sir John Franklin. 3557 



happiness in that eternal state to which in the course of nature he 

 was approaching. Mr. Kirby resumed his seat, and after a short 

 pause in a scene most affecting, he rose again to express his ac- 

 knowledgment : — e I beg to return my sincere thanks for the kind 

 notice your Lordship has been pleased to bestow upon me. I am a 

 poor old man. I look forward with trust and hope. It cannot be 

 long before I shall go, and I trust that I shall be happy. May God 

 bless you all ! May you all have the same hope when you die, that I 

 hope to have ! God bless you all ! ' "—P. 502. 



And here we must conclude a notice which has been prolonged be- 

 yond all precedent, because the subject is beyond all precedent inte^ 

 resting : and much as we dislike the occasional tone of the author ; 

 clumsy and unconnected as is his narrative; yet we pronounce it a 

 work that will of necessity command a large circulation, and will have 

 a tendency to improve and instruct those who read it. The Kirby 

 correspondence abounds in the richest ore, but requires to be washed 

 and sifted ; and this task, which has been neglected by the author, 

 now devolves upon the reader. An Index also is much required, enu- 

 merating the principal subjects, and the authors of all the correspon- 

 dence. K. 



The Search/or Franklin. * 



The public press has kept alive the interest in the fate of Sir John 

 Franklin with a remarkable and praiseworthy perseverance. Scheme 

 after scheme has been projected, some with, some without, the most 

 remote chance of success. Unanimous as is the verdict both of mari- 

 ners and scientific geographers of the utter inutility of a north-west 

 passage, if discovered, it is equally unanimous in deciding that every 

 reasonable effort should be made to discover whether those who have 

 perilled life in seeking it are still living; and, if living, to restore them 

 to their homes. On the part of the government, or perhaps, more ri- 

 gidly speaking, on the part of those who receive government pay and 

 command our ships of war, there has been a general coolness and list- 

 lessness that is difficult to account for, and impossible not to con- 

 demn. The evidence published of the expedition under Austen, 

 exhibits a far greater amount of jealousy and petty persecution of the 



* * The Search for Franklin, a Suggestion submitted to the British Public.' By 

 Augustus Petermann. London: Longmans. 1852. 



