ARCTIC VOYAGES. 
41 
u To The Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great 
Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled. 
“ The Humble Petition of the undersigned Bankers , Merchants , and Ship-owners of 
Liverpool. 
“ Sheweth :—That your Petitioners have been informed that an Arctic Expedition 
is now being fitted out at Aberdeen, at the expense of Lady Franklin, the object of 
which is to search by the Eastern, or Lancaster Sound route, the limited region of the 
Arctic Seas not previously explored (being 370 miles of coast), for the survivors (if any) 
of the crews of the Erebus and Terror, and the invaluable records belonging to those 
ships. 
“ That your Petitioners, while abstaining from an expression of opinion as to the 
prudence of that Expedition, believe that it is desirable to render it as safe as is consis¬ 
tent with circumstances over which man has no control, by despatching an Auxiliary 
vessel through the well-known and easily navigable route of Behring’s Straits, to serve as 
a point of support to Lady Franklin’s Expedition, in case of extremity arising from loss 
of ship or otherwise. 
“ That your Petitioners believe the Resolute, lately restored to this country by the 
American Government, to be a vessel well adapted for such a purpose ; and that such a 
use of said vessel would be highly acceptable to, and hailed with satisfaction by, the 
American nation. 
u That as the Fox schooner, under the command of Captain M‘Clintock, R.JST., will 
leave Aberdeen on the 26th inst., your Petitioners believe it to be important for her 
Commander to know, previous to his departure, whether he can depend upon the support 
of a vessel sent by the Western route or not. 
“ That some of your Petitioners are personal friends of Captain F. L. M‘Clintock and 
his officers, and naturally feel much interested in the safety of his Expedition. 
“ For the reasons above mentioned, therefore, your Petitioners humbly pray your Ho¬ 
nourable House to place the Resolute at the disposal of Lady Franklin, in the condition 
in which that vessel was restored to this country by the American nation, to be navi¬ 
gated at her expense, and that of friends, through Behring’s Straits, as a support to the 
Fox Expedition. 
“ And your Petitioners will ever pray.” 
Owing to some misunderstanding between the advocates of rival 
plans among Lady Franklin’s friends, nothing followed from a proposal 
which, we have no doubt, would have been most liberally aided by those 
who signed the Petition. 
A similar attempt was made at the Meeting of the British Associa¬ 
tion in Dublin, which terminated in the following singular proposal of 
a method of aiding M‘Clintock’s Expedition:—It was determined to 
apply to Government to send out an Expedition to look for the Aurora 
Borealis, and to make magnetic observations, at the mouth of the Mac¬ 
kenzie Biver; it being expected, we presume, that the sailors should be 
instructed, while watching the auroral arches with one eye, to keep the 
other on the look-out for their brother tars of the eastern route. We 
hope the Government will good-naturedly pretend not to see the manoeu¬ 
vre, and beeome possessed of a desire to have the electrical condition of 
the atmosphere at the Mackenzie Biver accurately ascertained. 
For our own part, we confess we think it would be a more manly 
and a more straightforward course, and also one more likely to succeed, 
to ask simply for what we want, and to instruct our representatives in 
the House of Commons to give the Government a hint that they would 
vote accordingly. 
VOL. v.— KEY. 
G 
