SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

Wellington Independent, Volume VI, Issue 563, 5 March 1851, Page 4

SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

11.M.5. North Star, which went out in 'iBK), with provisions for the Arctic Ex-' podition, has returned without bringing any news of Sir John Franklin. "She brought lengthy despatches from Sir John Ross and other officers of the Discovery ships, which are described by the Times as very unsatisfactory. We subjoin the precis by the Times, dated 2nd October, but before doing so, submit the following extract of two days, later date, or 4th October, from the same journal :-—" News has been communicated to the Port Admiral this afternoon, of the discovery of the remains of an encampment in the Arctic Regions believed to have been a wintering place of Sir John Franklin." Referring to tho information conveyed by tho Despatches iibovc alluded to, the Times of the 2nd October writes as follows :— Despatches of some length and apparent particularity have just been received from the Arctic regions. We wish we could add that the intelligence conveyed - is either satisfactory or conclusive, but even our suspense receives unfortunately Ho relief from tho tidings now communicated. On the contrary, a report of the most deplorable character has been put into circulation, and although tho concurrent impressions of tho officers employed ai'o clearly, and, as we think, reasonably, against its credibility yet the wholo story is so loosely related in the despatches before us that the general reader would find it difficult to extract sufficient evidence either for his information or his judgement. Wo are sure, therefore, that wo shall be doing the ■public un acceptable service by placing before themtho facts and tho obscurities of tho case in a somewhat more intelligible form. : About the middle of August last, certain of the vessels composing the several expeditions in search of our lost voyagers appear to have encountered each other somewhat to the head of tho wellknown Arctic gulf called Baffin's Bay. On tho 13th of August Captain Onmtmey in tho Assistance, and Sir John Ross in tho Felix,- being somewhere , oil' Cape York, observed three male Esquimaux on the ice closo by, and with these people il was prudently resolved to communicate. Accordingly, Lieutenant Cator in the hiticpid steamer, tender to the .Assistance and Commander Phillips in the whaleboat of the Felix, put off on this service. The Intrepid's people arrived first, but apparently without any means of expressing their desires, so that when the boat of the Felix containing an Esquimaux Interpreter/joined the party, the natives •immediately gave signs'of recognition and satisfaction, came into the boat without tho least hesitation, and engaged themselves presently in a long and aniniated conversation with their countryman, the interpreter. Half an hour, was devoted to ' this interchange of intelligence/but with no immediate:..result, for the interpreter could .only (nwslute hie

native language into Danish, and as no person in the boat understood Danish, the information remained as inaccessible as before.

In this predicament the boats returned with the intention of confronting the interpreter—whose Christianized name is Adam Brcck—with Sir John Rost himself. As Sir John, however, was pushing a-liead in the Felix towards Cunt Dudley Diggs, and as Adam appeared anxious to disburden himself of his newly-acquirod information, the boats dropped on board tho Piince Albert, another of the exploring vessels in the neighbourhood, and there put Adam in communication with the captain's steward John Smith, who " understood a little of the language," as Sir John Ross says, or " a good deal," as Captain Phillips says, aud who presently gave such an account of the intelligence as startled everybody on board. Its purport was as follows:—That in the winter of IS4G, when tho snow was fallintv, two ships were broken by the ice a good way oil' in the direction of Cape Dudley Diggs, and afterwards burned by a fierce and numerous tribe of natives: that the ships in question were not whales,and that epaulettes were worn by some of tho white men; a pint of the crews were drowned, that the remainder were sometimes in huts or tents apart from the natives, that they had guns but no balls, and that being in a weak and exhausted condition, they were subsequently killed by the natives with darts or arrows. This was the form given to the Esquimaux' story by John Smith, captain's steward of the Prince sllbcrt.

Impressed with the importance of these tidings, Captain Omaimey and Captain L'hiilips immediately made their report to Ciiptuin Austin in the Resolute, which was then in company with this Felix near Cape Dudley Diggs. Captain Austin at once decided upon investigating the credibility of the story, and with this view despatched a message to the Lady Franklin, another of the exploring ships, which lay a few miles oil', and which had on hoard a regular Danish interpreter. The interpreter duly arrived, but proceeded forthwith to translate the story by a statement " totally at variance" with the interpretation of " the other," whom, as we are told, he called a liar and intimidated into silence, though no sooner was the hitter left to himself than lie again repeatccHiis version of the tale, and stoutly maintained its accuracy. Meanwhile an additional piece of information became known, namely, that a certain ship had passed the win'.er safely housed in Wolstenholine Sound—a statement soon ascertained by actual investigation to he perfectly true, and since fully elucidated! by the return to this country last week of the vessel in question—the North Star. Such are the heads of the tale to be extracted from the despatches. In estimating the character of the report, we observe that Captain Penny, commanding the ship Linhj Franklin, roundly states in his official letter of the 21st August, that "having offered his services, together with those of his interpreter (the Dane above mentioned,) he was happy to find tho sole foundation for the tidings to be that the North W«j-had wintered in the place referred to." This plain and unhesitating statement is exceedingly acceptable, for Sir John ltoss' communications either confuse us or leave us in the dark on almost evenpoint which it is. as wo huvo said, extremely difficult to make them yield an intelligible and consistent narrative. The leading piece of evidence is that of Adam Beck, and if the question turned solely on the comparative accuracy of the interpretations given to his story/first by John Smith, and next by the Dane, we might hope that the depositions of'the Esquimaux himself, which we yesterday printed in the original tongue for public edification, might be applied by some learned philologists to solve tho problem ; and this, from one of Sir John's despatches, wo should have imagined to be the real case ; but from the other it would rather appear that the credibility questioned was that of Adam Beck, himself, and that the Dane was confronted, not with John Smith, but with Adam Beck in person, before the face of the original native informants, and that on tins'evidence lie confirmed the story of the North Star, but charged Adam with the puro invention of all tho rest. Even here, however, thero is a possibility of Adam's justification, for the natives themselves might have varied in their statements at their different interviews with our officers. Captain Penny, we observe, speaks of " the Esquimaux from whom the report was obtained" as having been on board his ship for several hours without making any such communication, though he was, doubtless, subjected to questions in abundance.

On the whole there seems every reason to concur in the clear opinion of the inquirers on the spot that the circumstantial narrative of the two lost crews is without any foundation.