| Show fro from th the kew york alj times J the neve latious the veil which so act long hung over the fate te of sir john franklin and gunj big is unfortunate mate comrades has at last been rent asun hinder derp nine years at least have alady 11 elapsed e d since all hope of their re rn we was loat but the despair of seeing aein uri val by everybody ery body in their fate the desire to know w here how and when they met mel it b by w lich of the thousand dangers which they ey braved and tid on what spot of the awl wastes which they undertook to exore there w m as something terribly tan izing in the disappearance of two ships of war manned by full crews and pro aided vided ded with everything which could give them em a chance of safety within the frozen wilderness Ud erness whose secret two cen centuries 8 of courageous lu endeavor on the part of the greatest eanest maritime nations of the world and id of unheard of fortitude on the part of the ie explorers they employed have not suf faced ed to reveal there is hardly a man of this lia generation whom the noble story of arctic explorations has riot not moved to the depth pabs of his bis soul and franklin was one 1 we the blest ablest oldest and bravest men who aho had id trodden that perilous path fornear for near ly ten years he himself has occupied in all our ir eyes the place of interest which he be had id previously assigned to natural mys teries rles which he sailed to unfold he has myself during that period been sought with ith more courage and more devotion with ith deeper fortitude or holier enthusiasms enthusiasm than an those he or his bis predecessors ever dis dig ia ayed Y ed great as their heroism undoubted v w was a in the search for the northwest V a issace ag age it la I 1 s but t two wo years since the cited it e d states sent on his track bracic a man of W how horn the age may well be proud and of whom horn ilia his country may well boast as long as i religious heroism is a thing to boast of only aly two winters agog ago around every fire anre side de in england as well as here there were ere eyes wet with tears over kaneg noe ble record of the long arctic night through which aich he watched in the brave hope that he i might tell the world where franklin and id his men had perished and we had bardl ardly y d done one perusing i it when kane him me if died I 1 ed in the cause the world had well ell nigh despaired of ever getting adoth er ray of 0 f light thrown on the mystery ile he ships had bad sailed away into the frozen seas as eight years of pursuit had brought no i better traces of the expedition than a few w graves a few instruments a few vague igue Esqui maux rumors and the public had id almost been reconciled reconcile to the pain of uncertainty as to the exact nature of its s fate by the perfect perfect certainty which me had brought that no member of it was now aw living happily lady franklin hoped aped against hope was against demonstration on and against fd failure flure and when both ath england and america had recoiled from om the icy barrier in ili despair she launch e d 1 one more ship on oil the track it was a small nail screw steamers steamer commanded by capt mcclintock manned by 25 mend men and as the ie result relt proves all worth worthy of one another and of 0 the duty they undertook UnTer undertook took this last reserve of a cifes devotion has done what hat all else failed to accomplish the fate ite of franklin and his bis ships arid and men I 1 is at t last known he died twelve years ago A year after the two ships were abandon ed 1 and the surviving crews men in all 11 et started arted on their march southward over er the tee ice they perished miserably maa ian by man along the amen waste ate and their track remains rema insy marked by skeletons clothing arms and food lying as they draped dropped anere I 1 ariere was but one thing wanting to have made mad this franklin expedition worthy of as noble an epic as that which has immortalized the fall of 0 troy tro and the conquest of jerusalem and that was that the man who ho laid bare the mystery mastery which has perplexed us for twelve years should be worthy 0 Y of f the men in whose footsteps he followed I 1 0 1 and we are glad to say this too he has been vouchsafed us the story of capt mcclintockk McClin tocks wanderings as told in lis bis own narrative forms a worthy close to this great tragedy there are incidents calmly recorded in it which no tale of adventure has anything to surpass ura and which we hope will be mentioned 1 I A with honor as long as courageous d devotion e i 0 n to d duty t i y t in the e f face a of th the most 0 s t a fin 0 appalling t i n g aps ri f finds anybody n y b cadot codot t to 0 a admire adim m ir e it our age is is after ails all the age of chivalry the march ot of christian civilization may have turned the fire which precipitates a murderous shock but it has fed the calmer and nobler heroism which for du tys sake supports the hardest strain and fiercest struggle and sorest trial not for an hour or for a day but for weeks weaks and months and years |
